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1 – 10 of over 25000Gabriele Ballarino and Cristiano Vezzoni
Purpose – In order to study how religious behaviour is evolving in contemporary societies, the chapter looks at the relation between the individuals' position in social…
Abstract
Purpose – In order to study how religious behaviour is evolving in contemporary societies, the chapter looks at the relation between the individuals' position in social stratification and their participation to the weekly mass, and at its evolution in contemporary Italy.
Design/Methodology/Approach – The data come from the Italian National Election Study (ITANES) database, including national representative surveys from 1968 to 2006, and are analyzed with logit models.
Findings – Weekly mass participation has decreased from 1968 to 2006. The trend was rapid in the 1960s and 1970s, has slowed in the 1980s, but it has started again in the 1990s. Ceteris paribus, the upper class, shows a consistently more religious behaviour than the intermediate and the lower ones, and that the least educated are more religious. There is also evidence of a strong and consistent cohort effect, persisting across the considered period. Each cohort does not change much its participation to the weekly mass over time, but each new cohort shows a lower level of participation.
Research limitations/Implications – The findings give support to the classical secularization thesis, despite the many critiques addressed to it since the 1990s. Given that Italy is one of the most religious Western countries, this is a quite important finding. Some support is also given to the hypothesis of religion as an ‘instrumentum regni’, according to which it is in the interest of the higher social strata to be more religious, as religion supports and legitimates existing patterns of social inequality. Findings concerning cohorts point to socialization as the actual mechanism changing behaviours and attitudes.
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Scholars have long argued that churches play a critical role in mobilizing communities marginal to the political process, primarily by pooling resources, disseminating…
Abstract
Scholars have long argued that churches play a critical role in mobilizing communities marginal to the political process, primarily by pooling resources, disseminating information, and providing opportunities for members to develop community networks, leadership, and civic skills. However, recent research suggests that churches only serve as effective mobilizing institutions when they engage in direct political discussion and recruitment. Even so, churches may face economic, legal, and institutional barriers to entering the political sphere, and explicit political speech and action remain rare. Through an analysis of two years of ethnographic fieldwork following faith-based community organizers attempting to recruit Spanish speakers throughout a Catholic Archdiocese into a campaign for immigrant rights, this paper explores the institutional constraints on church political mobilization, and how these are overcome to mobilize one of the most politically marginal groups in the United States today: Hispanic undocumented immigrants and their allies. I argue that scholars of political engagement must look beyond the structural features of organizations to consider the effects of their institutionalized domains and practices. While churches do face institutional barriers to political mobilization, activists who specialize their recruitment strategy to match the institutional practices of the organizations they target can effectively overcome these barriers to mobilize politically alienated populations.
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Md Jahidur Rahman, Hongtao Zhu, Yiling Zhang and Md Moazzem Hossain
This study aims to investigate whether gender diversity in audit committees affects the purchase of nonaudit services in China. Results from family and nonfamily firms are…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether gender diversity in audit committees affects the purchase of nonaudit services in China. Results from family and nonfamily firms are compared and the critical mass participation of females are further examined.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprises 1,834 Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2021, among which 910 are family firms. The Heckman (1979) two-stage model is used to mitigate the potential endogeneity issue in the selection of gender diversity. Propensity score matching is also used to further alleviate the endogeneity problem in relation to family firms.
Findings
Results show a significant and negative correlation between the gender diversity in audit committees and nonaudit service fees. This association is more apparent in nonfamily than in family firms. Findings are consistent and robust to endogeneity tests and sensitivity analyses. The analysis of critical mass and symbolic participation shows that three female directors can more significantly restrain nonaudit fees than one to two females on the board.
Practical implications
This study contributes to literature on resource dependence theory, which posits that audit committees help enterprises establish contact with auditors, improve the company legitimacy, assist in communication and provide relevant expertise. This study also relates to agency theory, which holds that differences in the severity of types I and II agency problems between family and nonfamily firms lead to differences in auditor selection and related costs.
Originality/value
Extending from previous research on the relation between the gender diversity in audit committees and nonaudit fees, the present study delves into this connection within the context of China, an emerging economy. As a result, this investigation offers novel insights and expands upon current knowledge. In addition, the correlation between the gender diversity of audit committees and nonaudit fees is explored for family and nonfamily firms.
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Frank den Hond, Frank G.A. de Bakker and Patricia de Haan
Activist groups apply a range of tactics in order to improve labour conditions in the global sports and apparel industry. The accumulation of these tactics leads to the build‐up…
Abstract
Purpose
Activist groups apply a range of tactics in order to improve labour conditions in the global sports and apparel industry. The accumulation of these tactics leads to the build‐up of pressure on firms within this industry (brands, retailers) to change their policies and activities on labour issues in their supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to explore how activist groups instigate change within an industry.
Design/methodology/approach
By re‐examining a series of previously published accounts, eight conflict situations in the global sports and apparel industry, involving Nike, Reebok and Adidas, were analysed.
Findings
The paper demonstrates how an industry‐level approach is helpful in understanding how the sequential patterning of tactical choices evokes change in an industry. Studying activist groups’ tactics from this approach provides a richer understanding.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the growing literature on activists’ influence strategies in conflicts with firms and speaks to current attempts at bringing together social movement and organization theories.
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Liangjun Zhou, Jerred Junqi Wang, Xiaoying Chen, Beth Cianfrone and Nathan David Pifer
Since 2014, “sport for all” has been promoted as a new national strategy in China, which injects powerful dynamism and vitality for its development in numerous aspects. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Since 2014, “sport for all” has been promoted as a new national strategy in China, which injects powerful dynamism and vitality for its development in numerous aspects. However, there has been very little feedback on sport service provision in community, and the satisfaction level of community participants is largely unmeasured. To promote physical and mental health of residents and form a stronger foundation of sport culture, more attention should be directed to community sports. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of community-sport service provisions on participants’ satisfaction and, in turn, on their sport participation behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Community-sport program participants in China (n=576) responded to a survey measuring the proposed concepts.
Findings
Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that community-sport services in the areas of sport facility, grassroots sport organizations and sport activity programs had strong influences on participant satisfaction and, in turn, their desire for participation, which highlighted the demand for high-quality sport service provision by community.
Originality/value
The study contributed to the literature by proposing two clear dimensions (core sport service and peripheral sport service) for the measurement of public sport service provision in community sports. A second theoretical contribution of the study relates to the clarification of the relationship between the two dimensions of community-sport service provision (both core and peripheral services) and community participants’ satisfaction levels.
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Qurat Ul Ain, Xianghui Yuan and Hafiz Mustansar Javaid
This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity and foreign ownership on innovation in Chinese firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of board gender diversity and foreign ownership on innovation in Chinese firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use data for Chinese manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, for a sample over the period 2008–2017. Ordinary least square (OLS) is used as the baseline methodology, with cluster OLS, two-stage Heckman test, Blau index and Shannon index used to address endogeneity issues.
Findings
The results show that gender diversity on the board has a positive effect on corporate innovation as measured by the total number of patent applications, invention patent applications, utility model patent applications and design patent applications. Our findings also provide support for the critical mass participation of female directors on the board being associated with more innovation. They also reveal that innovation output does not vary across state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. These outcomes reveal that SOEs' advantages, such as easy access to funding and more support of government, are likely offset by their disadvantages, such as different goals and having more agency issues. Because of intense political power and networks in Chinese firms, qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIIs) are less motivated to enhance innovation activities.
Practical implications
This study highlights the role of board gender diversity in enhancing innovation among Chinese manufacturing firms. Our findings provide support for regulatory bodies' role regarding women's participation on the board.
Originality/value
This research adds to literature by addressing the largely ignored questions of whether providing a gender-diverse board enhances innovation, whether critical mass participation has a greater effect on improving firm innovation and whether the influence of women directors varies with ownership structure.
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Yanling Duan and Bing Liu
The purpose of this paper is to propose and examine an integrated model of spectator satisfaction in mass participant sport events.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and examine an integrated model of spectator satisfaction in mass participant sport events.
Design/methodology/approach
The Wuhan marathon, held in the middle of China, was selected serve for the study to examine the antecedents and consequences of spectator satisfaction at mass participant sport events. Data were collected from 956 spectators of the event on the day of the race. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the research model proposed by this study.
Findings
Structural equation modeling results indicate the following. First, the event image and perceived social impact of the event are important predictive factors of spectator satisfaction. Second, spectator satisfaction is positively associated with behavioral intentions toward the event and the sponsors' product. Third, spectator satisfaction plays a significant mediating role between the antecedents and consequences; specifically, compared to perceived social impacts of the event, event image has greater indirect effects on both event-related behavioral intentions and event sponsors' products.
Originality/value
Until now, there has not been an integrated research study on the sport spectator satisfaction model in the context of mass participant sport events. This paper thus extends the understanding of the spectator satisfaction in the context of mass participant sport events, and the findings provide valuable implications for holding cities and event organizers of mass participant sport events in emerging countries.
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Kirstin Hallmann and Pamela Wicker
The purpose of this paper is to identify consumer profiles based on behaviour of runners at marathon races and to determine key drivers for their intention to revisit the marathon.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify consumer profiles based on behaviour of runners at marathon races and to determine key drivers for their intention to revisit the marathon.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants of three marathons in Germany (Cologne, Bonn, Hanover) were invited via e‐mail to take part in an online survey after the race (n=1,370). They were questioned about the trip to the city, the marathon event, and their socio‐demographics.
Findings
The cluster analysis revealed three clusters that are named holidayers, socialisers and marathoners. The results of the logistic regression analysis show that the intention to revisit is determined by the length of the trip, the daily spending in the city, and the satisfaction with the event.
Research limitations/implications
Non‐probability sampling represents a limitation of this study. Questions relating to the involvement and knowledge of running (first timer and repeat participant) could serve as valuable indicators to further differentiate between different types of runners.
Practical implications
It is suggested to offer special packages to the runners when they register for the race. One package could, for example, include the starting fee and two nights at a hotel. Moreover, the event organisers could offer more targeted side events such as athlete workshops on nutrition, training, and medical advice.
Originality/value
This paper offers an insight into different consumer profiles of marathon runners based on their behaviour and spending. Key indicators of the runner's intention to revisit the marathon are presented. This study contributes to close a research gap and allows marketers to better understand their consumers.
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Amarendra Kumar Dash and Rajendra Kumar Dash
With the increasing realization of the importance of communication for sustainable development, strategic issues such as institutional alliances, public participation and media…
Abstract
Purpose
With the increasing realization of the importance of communication for sustainable development, strategic issues such as institutional alliances, public participation and media integration have emerged as indispensable tools in any environmental campaign. This study is an inquiry into India's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (2014–2019) which is one of the major strategic sustainable development campaigns of the 21st century. The twin research questions raised are (1) What were the major action-plans and the key outreach strategies adopted in SBA? and (2) How the discourse of swachhata (cleanliness) was propagated in SBA?
Design/methodology/approach
With response to research question 1, a seven-fold analysis of the strategic aspects of the SBA is undertaken utilizing Willner's (2006) strategic approach to the promotion of sustainable development campaigns. Research question 2 is addressed through a multimodal analysis of the discourse of swachhata (cleanliness) following the Grammar of Visual Design framework of Kress and van Lieuwen (2006).
Findings
The campaign employed a 360-degree promotional strategy. It involved print, electronic and social media; promoted inter- and intra-institutional alliances; roped in opinion leaders and opinion formers; and encouraged massive public participation. Strategically, SBA's discourse of cleanliness adhered to the “3R” principles of the United Nation's Sustainability Goals: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Tactically, the discourse of cleanliness was framed in the ideas of shame versus dignity and was entrenched in the ideals of commitment to nation and neighborhood, and good citizenship.
Research limitations/implications
One major limitation of this study is the exclusion of certain intervening variables such as (1) access to the state of the art of green technology, (2) green financing, (3) green incubation, (4) sustainable PPP models for SBA and (5) for-profit approach to environmental cleanliness. Future studies can expand the scope of research by incorporating these variables in their analytical frameworks.
Originality/value
This is the first study to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the communication aspect of SBA. This case study, in particular, can be useful for the young research scholars and postgraduate students of Communication, Management and Public Policy.
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