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Book part
Publication date: 19 June 2019

Yayun Yan and Sampan Nettayanun

Our study explores friction costs in terms of competition and market structure, considering factors such as market share, industry leverage levels, industry hedging levels, number…

Abstract

Our study explores friction costs in terms of competition and market structure, considering factors such as market share, industry leverage levels, industry hedging levels, number of peers, and the geographic concentration that influences reinsurance purchase in the Property and Casualty insurance industry in China. Financial factors that influence the hedging level are also included. The data are hand collected from 2008 to 2015 from the Chinese Insurance Yearbook. Using panel data analysis techniques, the results are interesting. The capital structure shows a significant negative relationship with the hedging level. Group has a negative relationship with reinsurance purchases. Assets exhibit a negative relationship with hedging levels. The hedging level has a negative relation with the individual hedging level. Insurers have less incentive to hedge because it provides less resource than leverage. The study also robustly investigates the strategic risk management separately by the financial crises.

Book part
Publication date: 1 August 2008

Samuel R. Sommers

This chapter examines the processes by which a group's racial composition affects its performance and the social-cognitive tendencies of its individual members. Drawing on…

Abstract

This chapter examines the processes by which a group's racial composition affects its performance and the social-cognitive tendencies of its individual members. Drawing on published and unpublished experiments regarding group composition and interracial interaction, this review demonstrates that the information exchange perspective on diversity – in which demographic heterogeneity is expected to translate into informational heterogeneity – is more complicated than some have suggested, and is not wholly responsible for the positive performance effects of racial diversity. Indeed, many of the benefits of diversity can be attributed to the impact of heterogeneous settings on White individuals, as well as to motivational and other non-informational processes.

Details

Diversity and Groups
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-053-7

Abstract

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A Sociological Perspective on Hierarchies in Educational Institutions
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-229-7

Book part
Publication date: 23 November 2023

Christopher Sommer

This chapter examines changing attitudes towards exhibiting Chinese immigration in New Zealand. Drawing on archival research and qualitative interviews with subject experts and…

Abstract

This chapter examines changing attitudes towards exhibiting Chinese immigration in New Zealand. Drawing on archival research and qualitative interviews with subject experts and visitors, three museums are discussed: national narratives at the New Zealand Maritime Museum in Auckland and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington; and regional representations at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin.

The exhibition analysis shows that multicultural narratives of tangata tiriti immigration including Chinese only became prevalent in the 1990s, when changing attitudes in society at large and progressive immigration legislation influenced strategies of display.

These modernised national narratives propagate a multicultural paradigm. However, exhibiting Chinese immigration history constitutes only a small part of the larger mission of national museums. Accordingly, narratives of Chinese immigration remain superficial, serving celebratory representations of ethnic communities, while racism and discrimination are an important, but not central aspect of these narratives.

At the regional level, Toitū re-invented itself into a social history museum with a more inclusive and reconciliatory agenda, with a redesign in 2013 subsuming Chinese immigration into an intercultural narrative, featuring alongside other minority groups with a focus on cultural contact and exchange.

Nevertheless, all three museums still rely on narratives based on minorities and majorities arranged around a stable hegemony. Consultation and cooperation with Māori also reveal the wish to be presented as first people, set apart from tangata tiriti. That way biculturalism seems to act as a dividing force spatially, but thematically both immigration histories are more and more intertwined.

Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2014

Janet Marie Bennett

In the context of intense intercultural experience, the individual’s identity is often transformed by the forces of acculturation. Unexpectedly powerful demands, influences, and…

Abstract

In the context of intense intercultural experience, the individual’s identity is often transformed by the forces of acculturation. Unexpectedly powerful demands, influences, and resistances buffet the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the sojourner, leading to confusion, and eventually resolution of profound identity issues. The resulting sense of being between two cultures or more, living at the edges of each, but rarely at the center, can be called cultural marginality. When these issues remain unresolved, the person is often confounded by the demands, and feels alienated in a state called encapsulated marginality. The constructive marginal resolves these questions by integrating choices from each culture of which the person is a part, choosing the appropriate frame of reference, and taking action appropriate for the context.

Global leaders need to recognize the characteristics of the marginal identity and leverage the skills the marginal brings to the organization. The mindset of hybrid professionals fosters increased creativity, culturally appropriate problem solving, and collaboration with other culture partners. Educators, trainers, and coaches can design developmental opportunities for sojourners to acculturate to new environments in a way that potentiates their intercultural competence and comfort with their bicultural mindset. By viewing a complex cultural identity as an asset to the organization, global leaders can avoid the common pitfall of overlooking cultural marginals and instead maximize their contribution to globalization.

Book part
Publication date: 12 January 2021

Daniel R. Clark and Jeffrey G. Covin

The literature on international entrepreneurship offers two competing views on why new ventures internationalize: (a) the nature of the opportunity pulls them international or (b…

Abstract

The literature on international entrepreneurship offers two competing views on why new ventures internationalize: (a) the nature of the opportunity pulls them international or (b) the founder pushes the firm international. While these two internationalization drivers are not independent, they do represent unique causal mechanisms. Previously, the tools available to understand the entrepreneur’s disposition toward internationalization were limited. The present study uses the theoretical foundation of the international entrepreneurial orientation construct and from it develops and tests an attitudinally-based individual-level measure of disposition toward internationalization. To ensure the validity and reliability of the new measure, termed International Entrepreneurial Orientation Disposition, studies were conducted to: develop new scale items, examine their psychometric properties and construct validity, and demonstrate criterion validity. A strong measurement model is developed using structural equation modeling (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.07), and the measure is shown to be useful as a predictor of perceived international venture attractiveness.

Details

Entrepreneurial Orientation: Epistemological, Theoretical, and Empirical Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-572-1

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Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2008

Siddhartha Chib and Liana Jacobi

We present Bayesian models for finding the longitudinal causal effects of a randomized two-arm training program when compliance with the randomized assignment is less than perfect…

Abstract

We present Bayesian models for finding the longitudinal causal effects of a randomized two-arm training program when compliance with the randomized assignment is less than perfect in the training arm (but perfect in the non-training arm) for reasons that are potentially correlated with the outcomes. We deal with the latter confounding problem under the principal stratification framework of Sommer and Zeger (1991) and Frangakis and Rubin (1999), and others. Building on the Bayesian contributions of Imbens and Rubin (1997), Hirano et al. (2000), Yau and Little (2001) and in particular Chib (2007) and Chib and Jacobi (2007, 2008), we construct rich models of the potential outcome sequences (with and without random effects), show how informative priors can be reasonably formulated, and present tuned computational approaches for summarizing the posterior distribution. We also discuss the computation of the marginal likelihood for comparing various versions of our models. We find the causal effects of the observed intake from the predictive distribution of each potential outcome for compliers. These are calculated from the output of our estimation procedures. We illustrate the techniques and ideas with data from the 1994 JOBS II trial that was set up to test the efficacy of a job training program on subsequent mental health outcomes.

Details

Bayesian Econometrics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-308-8

Book part
Publication date: 21 November 2016

John D. Salamone and Mercè Correa

Classical definitions of motivation typically involve two main components: direction and activation. Motivated behavior is directed toward or away from particular stimuli (i.e.…

Abstract

Classical definitions of motivation typically involve two main components: direction and activation. Motivated behavior is directed toward or away from particular stimuli (i.e., appetitive and aversive motivation). Furthermore, activational aspects of motivation refer to the observation that motivated behavior is characterized by substantial activity, vigor, persistence, and exertion of effort in both the initiation and maintenance of behavior. Although separate neural systems direct organisms toward distinct motivational stimuli (e.g., food, water, sex), there appears to be a common circuitry regulating behavioral activation and the exertion of effort. Mesolimbic dopamine is one of the brain systems mediating activational aspects of motivation and exertion of effort. This system integrates aspects of motivation and motor control functions involved in the instigation of action. Research on the neurobiology of effort has contributed to our understanding of the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by motivational dysfunction.

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Recent Developments in Neuroscience Research on Human Motivation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-474-7

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Book part
Publication date: 11 December 2007

Renee R. Anspach and Sydney A. Halpern

Let us return to Nancy Cruzan's story. Hopeful that Nancy would eventually recover, her parents, Lester and Joyce Cruzan, agreed to have doctors insert a feeding tube to deliver…

Abstract

Let us return to Nancy Cruzan's story. Hopeful that Nancy would eventually recover, her parents, Lester and Joyce Cruzan, agreed to have doctors insert a feeding tube to deliver artificial hydration and nutrition – a decision they would one day regret. Although the Cruzans visited frequently, Nancy was unable to respond to their attention. After four years had elapsed, the Cruzans concluded that Nancy would never regain consciousness and should be allowed to die.

Details

Bioethical Issues, Sociological Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-7623-1438-6

Book part
Publication date: 9 May 2023

Josephine Wolff

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many organisations’ reliance on the Internet, with schools, companies, and government agencies, among other institutions, all shifting their…

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated many organisations’ reliance on the Internet, with schools, companies, and government agencies, among other institutions, all shifting their operations online in a relatively short period of time. This sudden shift created opportunities for cybercriminals, as did the burden on the healthcare sector, the rush for unemployment benefits, and the desire for up-to-date information about outbreaks and health precautions. This chapter examines the trends in cybercrime during the COVID-19 pandemic that were spurred by these changes, as well as the mitigation measures implemented by government and private industry stakeholders to help protect critical infrastructure and online operations. It argues that the nature of cybercrime and the most common forms of criminal activity did not change substantially during the pandemic, but rather that criminals’ focus on whom to target and how to exploit evolving current events enabled them to wield existing criminal tools to greater effect, and potentially also at greater scale, though reliable statistics on the frequency and size of cybercrimes are scarce. Finally, the chapter considers how these trends in cybercrime forced private organisations and governments to undertake new cybersecurity measures and programs and whether the long-term effects of the pandemic might actually include stronger cybersecurity if these efforts continue past the end of the public health crisis.

Details

Beyond the Pandemic? Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Telecommunications and the Internet
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-050-4

Keywords

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