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1 – 10 of 881The purpose of this paper is to examine whether education and training affect pro‐social behavior. Economics students are often accused of being less pro‐social. The explanations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether education and training affect pro‐social behavior. Economics students are often accused of being less pro‐social. The explanations given are that less pro‐social people choose to study economics or that economics studies indoctrinate students to selfish behavior. The paper experimentally tests these postulations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the prisoner's dilemma game and stag hunt game to study cooperation across different groups of students.
Findings
The experiment supports neither of the postulations: economics students would be indoctrinated or less pro‐social people choose to study economics. However, the study shows that police cadets, who go through an education where teamwork and cooperation is promoted, become more cooperative and pro‐social after their completed education.
Originality/value
In contrast to earlier studies, this paper does not simply study economics students, but also examines if students in educational programs that promote loyalty and cooperation and encourage teamwork are more pro‐social than other students.
Robert K. Perrons and Ken Platts
Some research in the area of make‐buy decisions for new technologies suggests that it is a good idea for a company to pursue a fairly rigorous “make” policy in the early days of a…
Abstract
Some research in the area of make‐buy decisions for new technologies suggests that it is a good idea for a company to pursue a fairly rigorous “make” policy in the early days of a potentially disruptive innovation. Other studies prescribe exactly the opposite, promoting instead a “buy” strategy. Drawing from observations and lessons from the Prisoner's Dilemma, this paper seeks to bridge the gap between these perspectives by suggesting that both strategies are valid, but that they are most successfully applied in different market environments. The “make” prescription may be more suited to either extremely fast or extremely slow rates of technological change, while a “buy” strategy might be more appropriate in market sectors where technologies evolve at a medium pace. This paper highlights the importance of industry clockspeed and supplier relationships in make‐buy decisions for new technologies, and puts forward two new hypotheses that require empirical testing.
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This paper uses an inductive approach to define “gray copyright.” It is needed to describe those situations in which the practical degree of copyright protection can best be…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper uses an inductive approach to define “gray copyright.” It is needed to describe those situations in which the practical degree of copyright protection can best be measured in shades of risk rather than in simple terms of black and white.
Design/methodology/approach
Two methods are used. One is an inductive definition builds up the term's meaning example by example and layer by layer. The second is a behavioral experiment in the spirit of the prisoner's dilemma game.
Findings
In the examples of gray copyrights the deciding factor in the grayness is not its legal status, but the economic value of enforcing the usage rights. In the experiment the students have an opportunity to acquire a personal sense of the risks and choices involved in copyright infringements.
Originality/value
This analysis shifts the emphasis from the question of legal right and wrong to the economic issue of what risks are potential infringers and rights holders prepared to take.
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Shihan Meng, Wenxiang Dong, Hong Hu and Yuejiang Li
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the supply chain's resilience in crowd networks from both static and dynamic perspectives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the supply chain's resilience in crowd networks from both static and dynamic perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first defines the supply chain’s resilience, then proposes a graphical and game-theoretic framework to evaluate the resilience.
Findings
In this framework, an equilibrium with high resilience will be achieved after the iterated prisoner's dilemma in the supply chain. The two-stage update mechanism contributes to higher profits, higher stability and stronger risk resistance capability. The reputation-based tit-for-tat strategy in the second stage helps to realize society cooperation.
Originality/value
This work pays more attention to the dynamic evolution of interactions between organizations in the supply chain. It provides an important theoretical basis for future work such as how to effectively control and guide the evolution of events in the intelligence network and how to stand sudden changes and avoid collapse.
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Explains the option of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) when formal insolvency proceedings are taken against a UK individual, noting their rapid growth since they were…
Abstract
Explains the option of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) when formal insolvency proceedings are taken against a UK individual, noting their rapid growth since they were introduced by the Insolvency Act 1986. Applies games theory (the prisoner’s dilemma) to previously published research data (Pond 1988) on the choices made by debtors and creditors for IVAs in order to analyse and discuss their srrategies. Shows that creditors can do better by assessing the risk of IVA failure, using it to discount the projected dividend and comparing the result with the returns from bankruptcy. Considers the implications for policy makers and others involved.
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Ian Yeoman, Marcela Palomino-Schalscha and Una McMahon-Beattie
The world is changing and key change agents include climate change and scarcity of resources. The purpose of this paper is to address how New Zealand and tourism could address the…
Abstract
Purpose
The world is changing and key change agents include climate change and scarcity of resources. The purpose of this paper is to address how New Zealand and tourism could address the future and generate appropriate strategic responses.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the process of scenario analysis and drawing upon recent research from the www.tourism2050.com project, this paper describes the circumstances, drivers, economic consequences and key decisions that New Zealand would have to take in order to position itself as an eco paradise. The background to the scenario presumes overarching behaviours in a cooperative world in which resources are scarce.
Findings
The scenario portrays a future of collective individualism, where a high degree of personal freedom exists but within the constraints of a world in which there is a scarcity of resources. A communitarian ethos drives policy making with an emphasis on efficient resource use and waste minimisation. New Zealand is a nation favoured by climate change. Environmental intellectual property is one of the nation's key resources and in the spirit of achieving a global environmental equilibrium these technologies are shared with the rest of the world. Life is simple. Competitive individualism is equated with excess and resource waste, while cooperation, harmony, and the continuation of a global cooperative psyche are seen as the foundation stones of the continued, relatively comfortable survival of humanity. Tourism is a luxury and activities are environmentally ethical. Visitors are well‐off, purposeful, highly respectful and careful to prove their worth.
Originality/value
Eco paradise represents the classic tale of a prisoner's dilemma in which decision makers and consumers ponder the betterment of humankind against individualism. The scenario concludes with a strategic map of the core decisions New Zealand's tourism industry would have to take. The significance of the paper is its portrayal of a possible future to industry leaders, researchers and stakeholders thereby facilitating decision making in order to adapt to this future.
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Social dilemmas take many forms but all share the property that individual benefits, at least in the short run, conflict with group benefits. This chapter examines how information…
Abstract
Social dilemmas take many forms but all share the property that individual benefits, at least in the short run, conflict with group benefits. This chapter examines how information about the characteristics of group members and the parameters of the dilemma affect decision-making. Particular attention is paid to transformative crises, sudden changes in the dilemma setting that for a short period of time lead to incomplete information. It is posited that these crises cause relatively dramatic shifts in the importance of information.
The purpose of this paper is first, to explore communicative practice in conflict resolution in its unitary and pluralistic forms; and second, to highlight ways in which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is first, to explore communicative practice in conflict resolution in its unitary and pluralistic forms; and second, to highlight ways in which interpersonal conflict negotiation and resolution may be recapitulated in organisational or international experiences of conflict resolution.
Design/methodology/approach
The methods of research are qualitative discourse analysis in the new critical paradigm. The approach to the topic is one of reflective interlocution of defined topic areas.
Findings
A tension exists between unitary and pluralistic components of rational arguments in organisational communication. This is observable in the claims to relational authenticity in both scientific arguments and in the management of conflict negotiations. The main drivers of this tension are the scalability of arguments and the contexts in which they occur. Determining the ontological validity and mutually understood “reference points” of participant perspectives are essential in reaching understandings that have elements of successful communication, clarity and mutuality.
Research limitations/implications
The research is theoretical in design and mimetically reflects developments in pedagogy and practice in its designated area.
Practical implications
Scientists, media commentators need to be mindful of argumentational bias. Conflict resolution negotiators will have a better understanding of the ethical dynamics of their interaction and processes.
Social implications
As the title suggests, the article highlights tensions between the unitary and pluralistic components of rational arguments and conflict resolution in organisational communication.
Originality/value
The originality and value of the paper is its analysis and juxtaposition of the communication ethics of rational arguments used by scientists, and conflict resolution negotiators.
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