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Book part
Publication date: 19 October 2012

Richard Machalek and Michael W. Martin

Purpose – Uses Kenneth Boulding's concept of “serial reciprocity” in conjunction with information about the evolution of emotions and social exchange processes to identify…

Abstract

Purpose – Uses Kenneth Boulding's concept of “serial reciprocity” in conjunction with information about the evolution of emotions and social exchange processes to identify possible mechanisms that can help explain the rise of early Christianity.

Design/methodology/approach – Using the concept of serial reciprocity as a central organizing principle, a theoretical account is developed that integrates ideas from evolutionary sociology, the sociology of emotions, and exchange theory in order to extend Rodney Stark's analysis of social forces responsible for the success of early Christianity as a social movement.

Findings – Patterns of serial reciprocity may develop when evolved emotions such as gratitude, sympathy, and empathy are activated by recipients of altruism who, in turn, become motivated to repay their benefactor by transmitting a benefit to a third-party recipient. Historical evidence reviewed by Stark is consistent with the claim that serial reciprocity may have conferred benefits to victims suffering from plagues that swept the Roman Empire during the early history of Christianity. Similar processes may be operating today in regions of the world in which aid workers provide assistance to victims of natural and man-made disasters.

Originality/value – This analysis demonstrates the value of integrating conventional sociological analysis and evolutionary theory to gain new explanatory insights about social processes such as serial reciprocity that have received relatively little prior attention by sociological researchers.

Details

Biosociology and Neurosociology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-257-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2021

Ngoc Lan Nguyen

Applying social commitments theory, this paper aims to study the effect of shared responsibility as a structural characteristic of project teams to foster tacit knowledge sharing…

Abstract

Purpose

Applying social commitments theory, this paper aims to study the effect of shared responsibility as a structural characteristic of project teams to foster tacit knowledge sharing with the mediating role of affective bonding. Besides, the moderating effect of normative conformity is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative method was applied through surveying senior auditors representing 263 audit teams in Vietnam to examine the model.

Findings

This study found that in the joint projects, when team members perceive high shared responsibility for both success and failure, the affective bonding among them are generated. The affective bonding becomes salient to tacit knowledge sharing only when the team members perceive high obligations to conform the general knowledge sharing norms and the serial reciprocity norms.

Originality/value

This study provides the evidence for partial confirmation and expansion of the social commitments theory. The practical takeaways are provided for managers of project-based organizations in the social aspects for facilitating sharing culture.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 54 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

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Article
Publication date: 2 September 2014

Caterina Presi, Charalampos Saridakis and Susanna Hartmans

This study aims to focus on the motivation of service customers to create user-generated content (UGC) after a negative service experience. In examining this relationship, the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to focus on the motivation of service customers to create user-generated content (UGC) after a negative service experience. In examining this relationship, the moderating role of “extraversion” personality trait is also taken into consideration. Furthermore, the paper examines how differently motivated service customers react to a firm’s service recovery strategies, whilst insights into the relationship between UGC creation and specific online platform usage are also provided.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural Equation Modeling is used to test the conceptual model, based on an empirical dataset collected from an online survey research of 239 service customers. The dataset pertains to international travellers and their UGC behaviour after a negative travel experience.

Findings

Altruistic, vengeance and economic motivations are strong drivers for UGC creation after a negative service experience. Motivations also correlate to participation in specific online platforms. Furthermore, it is shown that highly extraverted customers create more UGC after a negative service experience when motivated by vengeance. Finally, higher levels of altruistic and self-enhancement motivations correlate with a positive attitude towards a firm’s response, whereas customers who are motivated by vengeance have a negative attitude towards a firm’s response.

Practical implications

Customers who share their negative service experience by creating UGC in social media can be segmented according to their motivation. Service providers should inspect the UGC of their customers to understand the motivation behind it. The motivation to create UGC varies across platforms, and hence, customized service recovery strategies are required.

Originality/value

This paper examines UGC creation in relation to motivation, extraversion, and attitude towards a firm’s response. This is the first reported application which collectively examines important issues like these in a unified theoretical framework.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 48 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

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Article
Publication date: 7 January 2021

Felix Septianto and Nitika Garg

This study aims to investigate how gratitude, as compared to pride, can leverage the effectiveness of cause-related marketing, particularly a donation-based promotion. Drawing…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how gratitude, as compared to pride, can leverage the effectiveness of cause-related marketing, particularly a donation-based promotion. Drawing upon the appraisal tendency framework, this study establishes the underlying process driving these emotion effects. It also examines the moderating role of product type (hedonic vs utilitarian).

Design/methodology/approach

Five studies are conducted to test the predictions. Importantly, this study examines the predicted emotion effects across different sources of affect (dispositional, incidental and integral), different subject populations (students and Amazon Mechanical Turk panel) and different product categories (water bottle, chocolate and printer), leading to robust and generalizable findings.

Findings

Results show that gratitude (vs pride) increases the likelihood of purchasing a product with a donation-based promotion. This effect is mediated by gratitude’s other-responsibility appraisal and, in turn, increased reciprocity concerns (a serial mediation). Further, this study finds that how the gratitude (vs pride) effect is attenuated when the product is hedonic (but not utilitarian) in nature.

Research limitations implications

Past study on emotion and cause-related marketing has emphasized the role of negative emotions such as guilt. This study provides empirical evidence on the potential benefit of using positive emotions such as gratitude in cause-related marketing.

Practical implications

The implications of this study can benefit marketers by highlighting the use of gratitude appeals in their cause-related marketing campaigns.

Originality/value

The findings of the present research are significant because they highlight the potential role of a discrete positive emotion – gratitude – in leveraging the effectiveness of cause-related marketing and establish the underlying process driving this effect.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 55 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 October 2012

Will Kalkhoff, Shane R. Thye and Edward J. Lawler

This volume begins with two chapters that draw on evolutionary sociology to advance our understanding of interpersonal processes and their role in social organization. In “The…

Abstract

This volume begins with two chapters that draw on evolutionary sociology to advance our understanding of interpersonal processes and their role in social organization. In “The Biology and Neurology of Group Processes,” Jonathan H. Turner and Alexandra Maryanski draw on three areas of evolutionary sociology (cladistic analysis, comparative neuroanatomy, and ecological analysis) to show how understanding the selection pressures acting on the brain over millions of years can help us get a better grasp on the biologically based capacities and propensities that are involved in group processes such as role-taking and role-making. An improved understanding of these processes means better explanations of how humans create, sustain, and change social structures and culture – topics that lie at the core of sociological inquiry. At the same time, Turner and Maryanski's chapter will give sociologists much to think about and debate, as one of the main conclusions of their argument is that neurology explains human capacities to develop non-kin groups more than culture. The next chapter entitled “Sacrifice, Gratitude, and Obligation: Serial Reciprocity in Early Christianity,” by Richard Machalek and Michael W. Martin, may be seen as giving more equal explanatory weight to culture and biology in a theoretical analysis that combines a focus on cognitive processes (historically unique meanings and ideas) with evolutionary sociological insights about emotions in order to generate better explanations of complex socio-historical developments. Specifically, Machalek and Martin extend Rodney Stark's analysis of how ideas contributed to the rise of Christianity by showing how the evolved features of human emotionality related to “paying it forward” (or serial reciprocity in more formal terms) may have also played an important role in this historical process. Both chapters provide excellent examples of the value of combining multiple theoretical perspectives and paying attention to the interplay of social and biological forces.

Details

Biosociology and Neurosociology
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-257-8

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2020

Philip Fei Wu and Roberta Bernardi

The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how community attachment to an OHC reduces the OHC users' emotional distress and therefore improves their emotional well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey study was conducted in one of the largest online health communities (OHC) for people with diabetes.

Findings

OHC participants are likely to experience reduced emotional distress when they have developed an attachment to the community. This attachment is, in turn, positively associated with the normative expectations of reciprocity and the affective feeling of gratitude. However, some commonly used behavioral measures of community participation, such as visit frequency and membership tenure, have little to do with either community attachment or reduced emotional distress.

Research limitations/implications

The research highlights the pivotal role of community attachment in appraising the much-debated benefits of OHCs. However, the cross-sectional survey study has its limitations in terms of establishing causality.

Practical implications

OHC managers need to look beyond some of the commonly used metrics, such as monthly visits and number of new postings, and focus on fostering a sense of attachment among existing users in order to fulfill the OHC's potential of emotional support. Our study implies that design features facilitating reciprocation and gratitude expression among users can lead to a strong emotional bond.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies on the antecedents of community attachment and the relationship between community attachment and emotional distress in the context of OHC.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

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Article
Publication date: 18 August 2010

Patience Seebohm, Carol Munn‐Giddings and Paul Brewer

This article discusses the labelling and location of self‐organising community groups ‐ ‘self‐help’, ‘peer support’ and ‘service user’. It notes the increasingly close…

Abstract

This article discusses the labelling and location of self‐organising community groups ‐ ‘self‐help’, ‘peer support’ and ‘service user’. It notes the increasingly close relationship between these groups and statutory authorities, and how this relationship may put the benefits of the groups at risk. Historical, cultural and social factors are discussed to help explain differences and separate developments within African, Caribbean and other Black communities.

Details

Mental Health and Social Inclusion, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-8308

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2019

Jaewon Hwang and Wujin Chu

In social networking services gift giving, the decision to send a gift is often initiated by spontaneous news about others, who may have recently experienced fortune or…

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Abstract

Purpose

In social networking services gift giving, the decision to send a gift is often initiated by spontaneous news about others, who may have recently experienced fortune or misfortune. The purpose of this paper is to show that the valence of the other’s event can affect the empathy experienced by the giver and that the level of empathy affects gift selection behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 investigated the relationship between empathy and valence of other’s event and the underlying mechanism of changes in self-esteem. Study 2 explored how different levels of empathies lead to different gift selection behavior. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 2 using a different measurement approach.

Findings

Across the three studies, findings consistently suggest that the empathy arising from unexpected news of the others’ fortune was lower compared to that of the others’ misfortune because of threats to self-esteem. In addition, greater empathy prompted gift givers to spend more time and effort in gift selection.

Practical implications

Understanding how valence of event experienced by others might motivate givers to engage in selecting a gift online can help retailers increase predictive insights for recommendations.

Originality/value

While past research focused on ritual gift giving, this research examined spontaneous gift giving. The study is also unique in that the empathy gap between the giver and the receiver is a result of the changes in the psychological state of the giver.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 53 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Xueqi Wang and Graham Squires

This paper aims to define intergenerational housing support and assesses and synthesizes the existing literature on intergenerational support for housing to identify trends and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to define intergenerational housing support and assesses and synthesizes the existing literature on intergenerational support for housing to identify trends and possible areas for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology employed in this paper is a systematic literature review. A total of 32 articles were chosen for assessment. Upon thorough review, summary and synthesis, general trends and three specific themes were identified.

Findings

The review of 32 papers found that intergenerational support is a crucial strategy to help younger generations achieve homeownership. However, it also highlights the potential for social inequity resulting from unequal distribution of housing resources within families, especially regarding housing. Several potential gaps in the current research are identified, including the need for explicit attention to the provider's intention, exploration into the size and form of financial support for housing, understanding how parental housing resources differ in their transfer behaviors, and examining how parental motivations influence them to provide housing support.

Originality/value

This paper provides recommendations for further research on the topic, while also adding perspective to understand the micro-social mechanisms behind the intergenerational reproduction of socioeconomic inequality, especially in the housing market.

Details

Property Management, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2012

Anna Davies

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, the threats associated with economic crises, social inequalities, and human-induced environmental change focused…

Abstract

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, the threats associated with economic crises, social inequalities, and human-induced environmental change focused unprecedented attention on global development trajectories. While questions about how the nature and impact of economic growth should be managed have long featured in environmentalist thought, the stark conditions created a new policy landscape of opportunity for alternative development strategies. National governments around the globe began to disseminate policy statements calling for ‘green growth’ and some, for example the United States, even developed stimulus packages aimed at restructuring economies towards a low carbon future. At the same time international non-governmental organisations such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have developed entire initiatives focused on shaping what has come to be termed the ‘green economy’ (UNEP, 2011). Even large multinational corporations, such as Shell and their dialogues mechanism, are engaging with green economy discourses. New partnerships are emerging across governance sectors with Microsoft Corp and UNEP signing an agreement in 2009 to share knowledge collaboratively around green economy issues. In the United States, the BlueGreen Alliance is consolidating activity of labour unions and environmental organisations in order to maximise the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. With such a broad spectrum of actors and interests involved, it is unsurprising that there is no one agreed vision for a green economy. Some argue for development scenarios that promote reduced or no-growth pathways (Scott-Cato, 2009), others see the current crises creating innovation opportunities for new growth in different areas through processes of ‘creative destruction’ (Florida, 2010).

Details

Enterprising Communities: Grassroots Sustainability Innovations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-484-9

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