Young Chinese consumers' brand perception; the role of mianzi as moderator

The basic purpose of this study was to investigate the role of exposure and past experience on consumers' brand perception, as mediated by three variables (perceived quality, brand recall, and satisfaction) and moderated by mianzi. Using data collected from a survey of 331 customers, brand perception models for two diverse kinds of products (high and low involvement) were tested. SmartPLS structural equation modeling was applied to produce models for both types of products. Exposure and experience significantly influences brand perception in different product categories, which suggests that customers perceive both high and low involvement. Our study also established that mianzi has a significant moderating role in high‐involvement product category. Ultimately, the findings suggest significant differences in the brand perception of product types with respect to mianzi and the mediational role of perceived quality and satisfaction, providing a structure for future research on brand perception.     

Impact of financial leverage on sustainable growth,market performance,and profitability

Economic Change and Restructuring - The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of financial leverage on the performance of 424 Pakistani nonfinancial listed companies over the...     

Deportation, Detention and Medical Intervention

In the UK the foreign national prisoners who have breached immigration rules suffer deprivations from which the ordinary citizens are exempt. Their subjection to prison regimes often on pain of deportation leads to psychological illnesses that cause them long term damage. The deportation regime that arises by default under the Border and Immigration Act 2007 has made it difficult to avoid prison for the breach of immigration rules. The research published by NACRO shows that it can lead to trauma because there is duress accompanied by an uncertainty of fate. The decision by the Court of Appeal in R (Medical Justice) v Secretary of State for the Home Office (2011) has brought this issue of deporting ill patients into the limelight. There are expert reports that reveal that those foreign nationals who are refused permission to stay are at risk from psychiatric illnesses when they are detained. The findings are that the mental illnesses are particularly severe in the most vulnerable prisoners who develop symptoms of long term mental disease. It is critical for the medical professionals to consider their involvement at an early stage when they will be able to supervise and diagnose illness before there is damage. This is particularly the case as the NHS treatment is denied to prisoners who are foreign nationals which is makes it necessary to implement a strategy with local agencies to prevent the onset of debilitating illnesses.     

Transfers from prison to hospital under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act between 2011 and 2014

In England and Wales, prisoners with mental disorder of such severity as to warrant inpatient treatment may be transferred to hospital under the Mental Health Act. UK Government guidance recommends that this process should be completed within 14 days; however, evidence suggests that in many cases it can take much longer. This retrospective service evaluation of 64 male prisoners, who were transferred under Section 47 or Section 48, aimed to evaluate transfer durations. The mean time from referral to admission was 76 days. Prisoners with a psychotic disorder were admitted more quickly. Remand prisoners were admitted more quickly than sentenced prisoners. Findings suggest that, in the UK the transfer time of prisoners under Sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act continues to far exceed the 14-day target which raises concern about equivalence of care for prisoners. Our findings support arguments for fundamental amendments to the admissions process.     

Diasporan students social entrepreneurship intention: The moderating role of institutional support

The daunting global challenges saddling polities and governments alike have resultantly created a situation whereby governments and corporate civil society have inadvertently reneged on delivering public good and services to citizens. In ensuring and strengthening a public–private actor synergy, with particular emphasis on leveraging acquired knowledge and skills of diaspora‐based students, social entrepreneurship activities could be harnessed to provide sustainable remedies to social challenges such as unemployment, famine amongst others by utilizing social entrepreneurship as a tool. Using the theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical framework, the study elicited data from 322 respondents to empirically investigate determinants of social entrepreneurship intentions of Ghanaian students, with the moderating role of institutional support. Study results revealed that sense of social responsibility and service learning have significant relationship with social entrepreneurship intention. However, social volunteering experience had no significant relationship. Moreover, whereas attitude to social entrepreneurship intention demonstrated a positive relationship, institutional support as a moderator was also revealed to influence the relationship between attitude and social entrepreneurship intention. From the study findings, we discourse on the implications for social entrepreneurship in Ghana to policy makers and stakeholders.     

Anatomy of creeping authoritarianism in Bangladesh: a historical analysis of some events that shaped the present state of Bangladesh’s culture and politics

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a critical analysis of creeping authoritarianism in Bangladesh’s culture and politics. Political events since the 1940s that have shaped the presently unstable state of Bangladesh’s society are interpreted specifically in terms of their cultural and political significance. One important aspect of this unstable political state is the ongoing search for Bangladeshi national identity. Accordingly, the paper seeks to answer the questions of why and how the present sociocultural and political divisions in Bangladesh have emerged from the fundamental debate over whether (1) Bengali ethnicity, language, culture, and secularism, (2) Muslim nationalism or (3) a combination of both should become the marker of Bangladesh’s national identity to secure social and political stability. Furthermore, recent social, religious and political developments across the Muslim world suggest that attempts to introduce ultra-secularism in some Muslim-majority countries since the 1950s have led to authoritarianism, a movement which has ultimately ended or will soon end through popular Islamic upsurges. Bangladesh seems to be moving toward such social and political change, as the people have become restless in their desire to remove creeping authoritarian, the mark of a repressive regime that has emerged since the early 1970s. The key lesson that can be drawn from the extant literature on this issue in the context of Bangladesh is that the extreme form of secularism or ultra-secularism, which the present ruling Awami League and its left-communist allies continue to advance and impose from above, is neither desirable nor acceptable to Bangladeshi Muslims whilst there is clear movement away from ultra-secularism by other Muslim-majority countries. This paper draws the conclusion that since neither assertive secularism nor theocratic Islamism can flourish in Bangladesh, a competitive democratic political order that accommodates aspects of both secularism and Islamic ethical-moral codes could be a feasible model for the achievement of social, cultural and political stability that is so fundamental to the promotion of steady economic growth and social justice.     

Antecedents of task performance: An examination of transformation leadership,team communication,team creativity,and team trust

Higher education requires best leaders and collaborative environment to stimulate staff and student because of facing more challenges and to make the educational institutions remain relevant in a competitive global context. Considering the fruitful academic outcome, ideal leadership style and collaborative work are essential among teachers and students. Therefore, an empirical study was performed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership and team communication on task performance. The proposed model was verified by quantitative study to clarify the complex relationship between predicators and outcomes. Research data were collected from a sample of 273 master students from the University of Science and Technology of China. The collected data were examined through partial least square analysis technique. The results suggested that team perception of transformation leadership has positive effect on team communication and team trust to measure high task performance. In addition, team communication has positive effect on team trust, whereas team trust has a significant effect on team creativity, which enhances the task performance.     

The Changing Politics of States' Reorganization

This essay highlights the change in altitude, among the Indianruling elite, in no longer treating states' reorganization asthe emergence of parochial identities. Different regions establishedtheir identity on the basis of language, culture, administrativecoherence, economic development, or lack of it. Gradually, ithas been recognized that the reorganization of states leadsto good governance if such reorganization stems from administrativeconvenience, economic viability, similarity in developmentalneeds of a subregion, and cultural-linguistic affinity.