Consumer intention to purchase and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from an experiment in an entrepreneurial context

Previous research has addressed the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on consumer purchase intention (CPI). However, most of the empirical evidence is based on the analysis of mature large-scale firms; much less examines the effects of CSR initiatives on CPI in entrepreneurial contexts. In this study, we address this gap by investigating whether entrepreneurial start-ups' declaration of CSR engagement affects consumers' purchasing intent. We assert that consumers may consider firms' CSR engagement as a signal for unobserved product quality. We exploit a vignette experimental approach to test our theoretical predictions. In our experiment, participants received online invitations to subscribe to an electronic catalog that advertised various products supplied by entrepreneurial start-ups. The invitations are of five types, some of which presenting different CSR-related information on the suppliers to the participants. Overall, we find that the displayed information on CSR engagement promotes participants' willingness to subscribe to the electronic catalog, indicating that consumers will increase their purchase intentions for ethically oriented suppliers. Moreover, we find that among all the initiatives, external CSR initiatives (social contribution and environmental responsibility) promote consumers' intentions to purchase most effectively. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to explore the effects of different CSR initiatives on entrepreneurial start-ups in entrepreneurship literature. We highlight the heterogeneous effects of CSR initiatives on CPI, contributing new insights to research on CSR and consumer behavior.     

How does exposure to masked individuals affect White Americans' attitudes toward Asian American and Pacific Islanders?

Across three studies, conducted between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021, we tested whether exposure to an Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) target person wearing a face mask would increase or decrease White Americans' perceived threat from and positivity toward AAPI individuals. Although results varied by study, a single-paper meta-analysis revealed that the masked (compared to unmasked) AAPI target resulted in greater positivity toward AAPIs, due to reduced perceptions of both symbolic threat to group values and realistic threat to group health. Positivity toward AAPIs did not reliably differ after exposure to a masked versus unmasked White target. Implications for interventions that encourage COVID-safe behaviors and combat anti-AAPI attitudes are discussed.     

科技侵扰与恋爱关系满意度:有调节的中介效应

采用问卷法对454名处于亲密恋爱关系中的未婚个体进行调查,考察了沟通质量在科技侵扰与亲密关系满意度之间的中介效应,及信任对这一中介过程的调节效应。结果表明：(1)科技侵扰对亲密关系满意度具有显著负向预测作用;(2)沟通质量在科技侵扰与亲密关系满意度之间起中介作用;(3)科技侵扰通过沟通质量对亲密关系满意度的中介受到信任的调节,具体来说,个体对伴侣信任水平较高时,将减弱沟通质量变差对亲密关系满意度的破坏作用。本研究在新的时代背景下探究智能手机使用在亲密互动中的影响及其中的机制和边界条件。研究结果提示,科技侵扰可以通过破坏沟通质量影响恋爱个体的亲密关系满意度,且在此过程中信任可以缓冲沟通质量变差对亲密关系的影响。     

Voluntarily-generated unimanual preparation is associated with stopping success: evidence from LRP and lateralized mu ERD before the stop signal

According to the race models of the stop-signal paradigm, stopping success (successful vs. unsuccessful stopping) is attributed to the finishing times of a go and a stop process. In addition to those factors involving processing times, in the present study we sought to use electrophysiological measures to find factors involving activations that could affect stopping success. We hypothesized that voluntarily-generated unimanual preparation would be a factor. To assess voluntarily-generated unimanual preparation in the stop-signal paradigm, we used a selective-stopping task without any precue. The selective-stopping task also allowed us to assess reaction times (RTs) even when stopping was successful. We demonstrated shorter RTs in signal-respond (i.e. unsuccessful stopping) than in signal-inhibit (successful stopping) trials, as is predicted by the race models. More importantly, we also demonstrated different pre-signal lateralized readiness potentials between the two types of trials and larger lateralized mu ERD in signal-respond than in signal-inhibit trials, suggesting that voluntarily-generated unimanual preparation affects stopping success. In addition to what is described in the race models of the stop-signal paradigm, the present results therefore demonstrated measures of pre-signal activations that could influence stopping success.     

Teachers’ high maintenance behaviour as perceived by university students in Taiwan,and their coping strategies

Using a questionnaire survey, this study probed into interpersonal cues and characteristics of teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and their coping strategies, and then analyzed the relationship between their perceived high maintenance behaviors and the dimensions of their coping strategies. The Scale of Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors and the Scale of Coping with Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors were used as the measurement tools. The subjects were 248 university students, of which 59.3 % were male and 40.7 % were female. According to the research results, the subjects mostly suggested that they define teachers as being high maintenance after getting along with them for one to two weeks and communicating with them using 6–20 sentences. The subjects also suggested that the ranking of the behavioral characteristics of the most significant high maintenance behaviors of teachers is: being old-fashioned, followed by rule followers, idealization, and irresponsible opinions. According to the scores, the ranking of the subjects’ coping strategies for high maintenance behaviors of teachers is obedience and endurance, followed by gentle resistance, compromise, and obvious unhappiness. There is a significant correlation between teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and the dimensions of their coping strategies. It was found that teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students could significantly predict the dimensions of coping strategies. Based on the above, this study proposed some suggestions and provided a discussion for university teachers and future studies.     

Identity Distress During the Era of Globalization: A Cross-National Comparative Study of India,China, and the United States

In recent decades, globalization has become a growing concern for developing countries. Eastern countries in particular, who have traditionally adhered to group-focused interests and the development of an interpersonal sense of identity, have endured sweeping changes as Western values, opinions, and attitudes begin to pervade its younger generations. With the ease of connection that technological advances such as the Internet provides, late adolescents and emerging adults must negotiate between adopting an identity that is based on the traditional viewpoints of their local culture and adopting an identity that is consistent with the values of a global culture. In this study, the identity distress reported by 422 late-adolescent college students in India, China, and the United States was compared as it relates to the endorsement of individualistic and collectivistic value systems. Identity distress was found to significantly vary by country, with participants from China and India scoring significantly higher than those in the United States. Collectivism was associated with less identity distress in India and more distress in China. Reasons for this disparity are explored and questions for future research are discussed.     

Educators' implicit perspectives on wisdom: A comparison between interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives

This research aimed to investigate educators' implicit perspectives on wisdom in order to compare interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives and to help identify similarities or differences between these two theoretical perspectives. A total of 56 educators in Taiwan were interviewed individually. We utilised the grounded theory method to analyse the qualitative data. Results showed that both interpersonal and intrapersonal perspectives converged on four core components of wisdom: intrapsychic integration, actions in service of problem solving and ideal implementation, positive results and feedback and adjustments. The interpersonal perspective referred to external characteristics, and admiration and influence, whereas the intrapersonal perspective included greater detail about intrapsychic integration and action strategies than did the interpersonal perspective. We close with a discussion both of how wisdom appears to span across different fields and how the present results might feed into the teaching of wisdom in schools.     

Differential Effects of Personality Traits and Environmental Predictors on Reproductive and Creative Imagination

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to analyze the effects of both personality and environmental variables on the imagination of video/film major university students; and (2) to test the mediator effect resulting from the variable of social climate. The results of this study supported both indicators of imaginative capabilities and environmental influences. The hypothesis of the study—that the variable of social climate mediates the effects of personality/environmental predictors and both types of imagination—was partially supported. The structural model also showed that most personality traits have direct effects on imagination, whereas most environmental predictors have indirect effects. Practical applications of this study were suggested, future inquiries were discussed, and limitations were acknowledged.