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Environmental legislation has received extensive empirical scrutiny; however, to my knowledge, no one has analyzed the congressional vote on the 1990 Clean Air Act (Wirth‐Wilson) Amendment. The Congressional votes on environmental issues that have been analyzed suggest constituent preferences or personal ideology explain roll call voting. Three works suggest that members of Congress respond to constituent preferences. Simon and Alm (1994) state that public opinion can in certain instances be powerful enough to get different issues (such as acid‐rain legislation) onto the governmental agenda. Junor (1994) presents results that suggest that a state's constituency preferences influence the likelihood of a Superfund site being declared in that state. Ferejohn (1974) suggests that officeholders considering government funded projects act in a manner that would benefit them in regards to reelection and/or constituent approval. Contrastingly, John A. Hird (1991) found that Senators may be motivated by ideological concerns rather than typical constituent pork barrel concerns.

Studies of destination management and leadership may over-emphasize unity and collaboration, thus producing romanticized accounts for such processes. This paper discusses destination leadership from a less romanticized perspective – pointing to the various ways in which it intertwines with power.

The authors focus on the relationship between destination leadership and power networks offering a fresh look at the reality of collaborative processes in destinations. By exposing the latent or manifest networks of complex power relations in destinations, the authors disentangle the analysis of destination management and leadership from romanticized perspectives. A non-conventional vignettes approach is applied.

The concept of power offers more realistic descriptions and “thick” conceptualizations of destination leadership. Moreover, the predominance of more inclusive and bottom-up approaches to destination development necessitates advances in understandings of power relations at work at the destination. Furthermore, if DMOs are to successfully establish themselves as destination leaders, they need to position themselves in the midst of the power networks entailing relationships and interactions with and between destination stakeholders.

The paper demonstrates that power is not a characteristic of individual actors, but is instead a characteristic of relations. Moreover, power is defined as a potential and might therefore be latent and only occasionally be activated. Furthermore, in a destination multiple power-relations co-exist, effecting attempts to lead the destination. Therefore, the paper points to the existence of a series of bases of power and effects hereof on destination leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue on “the ‘new’ policy partnership”.

The paper highlights the significance of policy‐academic partnerships and outlines the papers included in this issue.

It is important to form and maintain partnerships and collaborations with new nontraditional stakeholders. One place where this is evident is in academia.

The special issue includes original articles that address innovative ways in which researchers and policy makers can collaborate to move policy agendas forward.

An audit of 100 referrals made to anger management groups provided by a forensic community mental health team over a four‐year period was carried out to help identify the characteristics of those who benefit from the group programme. It was hypothesised that certain factors might predominate in unsuitable referrals. Only 43 individuals actually attended the initial assessment, and 17 completed the group. Chisquare tests of association established no association between attendance and any of the variables identified. Clinical assessment suggested some differences between those who completed the groups and those who did not, but the numbers were small. Given the low completion rate and the fact that variables which characterise unsuitable referrals have not been identified, it is concluded that it may be more useful to use resources in other ways.

There can be few who will regret the departure of 1966. As he makes his way towards that dim hall where the years are supposed to sit on their granite columns there will be few sighs at the parting. The year has been ‘a holy terror’ to almost everybody. Contraction has been its forte and uncertainty its foible. There have been severe restraints on enterprise, the crushing of many hopes and an air of apathy verging on despair. Future historians may well describe contemporary events as taking place ‘in the year of the Freeze’, much as it was once common to say ‘in the year of the French Revolution’.

SOCIAL scientists have not yet been able to formulate any general laws about behaviour in industry that are capable of broad application. In recent years, however, they have made many useful case studies of which the one just published by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is typical. It is an approach to the problem which can do much to increase the understanding of the way in which people react to common industrial situations.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight work with older people being undertaken by public libraries.

The paper draws on responses from libraries working with older people, outlining their approaches, and also on the report, “Library services for older people – good practice guide”.

There is a large and varied programme of work being delivered by public libraries and their partner organisations. However, much of it is “under the radar”, so, when spending cuts are made, the knock-on effects are often not recognised.

Highlights examples of work that other library services could replicate. Also highlights work that potential partner organisations may not know about, and therefore can use this paper as a “way in” to libraries. Stresses the importance of recognising the wide range of people under the umbrella term, “older people”.

This paper aims to draw attention to a key area of work which may not be well known outside libraries themselves, with the potential to bring other partners and funders on board.

The paper draws together examples of different initiatives developed by public libraries, all of which have an enormous impact on the older people (and their families) involved.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if team personality composition has any effect on group work performance of undergraduate students in China.

Using a questionnaire based on the Big-Five framework to collect data on personality traits, this study investigated whether in the Chinese education setting overall effectiveness of university students working in groups was related to the different personalities of the group members. Students of two undergraduate business programs jointly run by an Australian university and a Chinese university in Shanghai participated in the research.

The findings reveal that aggregated personality traits have no effect on team effectiveness but homogeneity in emotional stability among group members does have a positive impact on group performance. Based on a comprehensive review of studies concerning the Chinese education approach, it is believed that the outcome of this study may reflect to a certain extent the influence of traditional learning method on how university students interact with team members in group work hence affecting group performance.

This study has surveyed 166 undergraduate students on their personality traits and performance in group work. A larger sample size can help improve the generalizability of the findings.

The findings of this study shed light on how group work can be used more effectively in learning through proper assessment task design and guidance from the facilitator.

The outcome of this research also provides insight on how group work in higher education can better prepare students for the Chinese workforce.

While studies on relationship between personality mix and team effectiveness in business setting are plenty, there is relatively little research on how team personality composition can impact on group performance in education especially in Asian countries. This study is one of the first attempts to supplement the inadequacy in this regard.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effects of cognitive style dimensions on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ optimism and persistence.

This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 198 small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana.

The study’s empirical findings are that the relationship between entrepreneurs’ optimism and entrepreneurial persistence is enhanced at higher levels of cognitive planning and creating styles. Somewhat interestingly, cognitive knowing style negatively moderates the relationship between optimism and entrepreneurial persistence.

The cross-sectional design of the study does not permit causal inferences to be made regarding the variables examined. Future studies may use longitudinal design to examine the causal links of the variables.

The results of this paper can assist entrepreneurs and policy-makers in understanding the dynamics and processes involved in entrepreneurial decision making. The understanding of this issue can promote the development and maintenance of entrepreneurial ventures.

The paper has a strong theoretical value as it relies on cognitive explanations of human behaviour, and seeks to advance the theoretical field by demonstrating the value of cognitive style within the domain of entrepreneurship.