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The important influence of peer recommendations on consumer purchases has been strongly established. However, the growth of electronic discussion boards has created a channel for online word‐of‐mouth (OWOM) between people who have never met. This study aims to examine and compare the frequency and content of postings on digital camera electronic discussion boards within US and China based websites.

Data was collected from the “Photography” discussion boards on eBay and EachNet (a China based website). A total of 552 discussion postings from 257 participants over a three month period were analyzed and coded.

The analysis showed quantitative and qualitative differences in the content across the two sites. There were differences in the pattern of brand mentions across the two websites, and requests for information seeking behaviour also varied across the two sites; users of EachNet were more likely to request information, thus possibly increasing the likelihood of, and influence of, OWOM on this website. There were also significant differences in content, with higher country of origin (CoO) effects on EachNet. CoO effects were largely strongly negative, in particular showing high levels of negative references to brands originating from Japan.

A limitation is the inability to ascertain the nationality of the participants on the discussion boards. Future research will also benefit from an extension of product categories.

The study is the first to examine word‐of‐mouth (WOM) in online discussion boards and thus provides valuable insight for marketers into this growing source of WOM.

The purpose of this study is to build the Android-based applications for parent to supervise, control and restrict the children’s usage of the smartphone and tablet.

The method used is the method of analysis, i.e. collection of necessary data. The data are collected from journals, articles, books, questionnaires and the similar application analysis.

The GPS tracking feature of the parental control application facilitates searching the children’s location by indicating the location where they used their Android device. The history feature of the parental control facilitates finding out what application was accessed by their children through their Android-based application, and the time limit feature of the parental control application facilitates restriction on time that the children spend on their Android-based gadgets, so that they will not be addicted to the gadget.

The parental control application for the Android platform provides users or parents a means for managing the young generation’s usage of an Android-based mobile device.

The level of R&D spending of a country tends to increase the national patent rate and, in consequence, can collaborate with its economic development. However, there are a few empirical studies investigating this phenomenon by comparing countries from all over the globe. The purpose of this paper is to disassemble the sources of R&D spending and identify the role of national patent applications as a mediator in the relationship between R&D spending and national development.

Panel data on patent applications in 35 countries of all continents (except Africa) over 15 years (from 1999 to 2013) regarding four levels of national R&D intensity (i.e. by enterprises, governments, higher education institutions and private non-profit organisations), gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, gross national income (GNI) and human development index (HDI) were collected from the OCDE. Then, two-stage panel regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses.

The empirical findings indicated that R&D spending from firms and higher education institutions (public and private) help to directly improve national patent applications, thus contributing to the national development (measured by GDP per capita, GNI per capita and HDI).

The importance of this study was to show that the investments in R&D made by universities and firms are more effective in leading to patent applications, which contributes to promoting national development. With these findings, governments can focus their efforts on stimulating these types of investments if they want to foster the growth of national patent rates.

Project delays and cost over-runs are few common major problems arising from conventional contracts. To overcome these issues, the Hong Kong Government has been practicing the use of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) forms in several public works projects. However, despite the successful outcomes and the positive signs of adopting NEC, it appears that NEC forms of contracts are not widely adopted in the Hong Kong construction industry even after 25 years of their first introduction. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges and barriers for not implementing NEC widely in Hong Kong.

Based on a questionnaire survey data collected from 45 senior industry professionals, and six semi-structured interviews, the study evaluated the perceptions of construction professionals as to why NEC is still not popular in the industry and reported the relative importance of challenges in the implementation of NEC in Hong Kong.

The results reveal that “People are not willing to change,” “Limited number of trained professionals” and “Insufficient case law and adjudication experience” are the most significant challenges and barriers in adopting NEC. These findings are also supported by the opinions of construction professionals through semi-structured interviews.

The findings are relevant and would benefit to the industry stakeholders for adopting NEC contracts by informing them of the most significant challenges so that proper strategies may be devised to overcoming them for early contractors’ involvement, controlling cost and time overruns in infrastructure projects.

The empirical evidence of the study provides an insight into the challenges faced by the construction industry of Hong Kong. NEC form of contract is the way forward in order to create a better working environment conducive for all the parties that would result in better construction project performance and productivity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states in 2018 that safeguarding “civil liberties is critical” to their official duties. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within DHS, as its website explains,

reviews and assesses complaints from the public in areas such as: physical or other abuse; discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability; inappropriate conditions of confinement; infringements of free speech; violation of right to due process … and any other civil rights or civil liberties violation related to a Department program or activity.

My chapter tracks the centrality of deportability in shaping the civil liberties and rights that DHS is tasked with enforcing. Over the course of the twentieth century, people on US soil saw an expanding list of civil liberties and civil rights. Important scholarship concentrates on the role of the courts, state and federal governments, advocacy groups, social movements, and foreign policy driving these constitutional and cultural changes. For instance, the scholarship illustrates that coming out of World War I, the US Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect something the Justices labeled “irresponsible speech.” The Supreme Court soon changed course, opening up an era ever since of more robust First Amendment rights. What has not been undertaken in the literature is an examination of the relationship of deportability to the sweep of civil liberties and civil rights. Starting in the second decade of the twentieth century, federal immigration policymakers began multiplying types of immigration statuses. A century later, among many others, there is the H2A status for temporary low-wage workers, the H2B for skilled labor, and permanent residents with green cards. The deportability of each status constrains access to certain liberties and rights. Thus, in 2016, when people from the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within DHS act, they are not enforcing a uniform body of rights and liberties that applies equally to citizens and immigrants, or even within the large category of immigrants. Instead, they do so within a complicated matrix of liberties and rights attenuated by deportability, which has been shaped by the history of the twentieth century.

The purpose of this paper is to employ competitive analysis and accounting (CAA) spectrum to analyze the growth and development of social networking site (SNS) service industry in China. SNS service is a modern social cultural issue that affects communication channels and mannerisms.

This paper mainly utilizes archival resources as company financial reports and newspaper clippings online to provide a business and social developmental context to the study. Competitor analysis and accounting framework and organizational life‐cycle stages are utilized.

The study illustrates competitive analysis and accounting in modern telecommunication business. It explores the perception of contemporary management accounting, and then raises an awareness of the relationship among accounting, business strategy, and social life.

This paper is based on two case studies; the findings may not be generalizable to other contemporary culture service companies. The cases have shown certain reasons why different CAA techniques are used by the companies in various stages of the organizational life cycle.

First, in their start‐up stage, both Tencent and Renren, two SNS service companies, engage in product development to obtain founding resources and acquire customers so as to enhance market share. Second, in their growth stage, the two companies engage in product financing through capital market. Tencent even further extends its business to trade financing.

Accounting has attained an increased importance for SNS in the social media culture. Such connection is especially found in competitor analysis and accounting in different stages of the organizational life cycles as addressed in the study.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” When Sir Walter Scott penned these words, he probably did not have diversity or universities on his mind. Those of us that are genuinely engaged in diversity, inclusion, equity, social justice, and/or multicultural education work can ruminate on his words and think of how university campuses tout their diversity initiatives and sometimes brag about being the “most diverse” are in actuality deceiving themselves and the constituents they serve. Even though diversity awareness has become an important topic in academe in recent years, so many campuses have largely failed to address it in any substantive way, thus creating an environment where students and even employees sometimes become disengaged. Davies (2007) argues that “university leaders who claim openness to diversity do not acknowledge the presence or participation of Others in activities that are characteristic of a free and democratic society” (p. 154).

Many institutions of higher learning honestly believe that in showcasing a campus program based around food, festival, or fun, they can check the diversity box. Yet, when diversity practitioners push the campus in becoming multicultural competent by addressing diversity outside the proverbial realm of “race,” questions like, “Why are they doing this?” arise. The struggle to sustain a comprehensive and meaningful campus diversity program is real for many agents for change. In order for diversity advocates to have a seat at the table, the campus attitude and practice of “diversity need not apply” cannot continue to exist.

Leaders within academia must be cognizant of their campus culture, which governs the law of the land. More importantly, it is vital to understand that sometimes your campus culture may not be receptive to cultural differences, although university verbiage may state, “We will promote diversity and maintain an environment that celebrates and values the many perspectives, cultures, and […]” Institutions of higher learning in this new millennium (twenty-first century) are deeply entrenched in organizational culture that has become its cornerstone over time, and is resistant to change.

Campus culture is real. Stewart and Dottolo (2005) state that universities should strive to ensure that any groups that fall outside of the traditional culture do not encounter an unwelcoming and threatening institutional environment. However, not every university strives or desires to create a campus climate where diversity is welcomed, celebrated, and/or embraced. It is paramount that educational institutions that serve diverse populations strive to become proficient in multiculturalism (Roach, 2004). Institutions of higher education are socially obligated to provide a learning environment for students with varied backgrounds (Bridges et al., 2008). It is essential that universities take a very close look at how they can contribute to the greater good of society by instilling a sense of worth in all students, regardless of ethnicity and other features of student identities. Williams and Swail (2005) argue that “attending college can be a liberating, developmentally powerful experience with the potential to increase individual productivity and, to some degree, the quality of life of the larger society” (p. 222). This can only occur if or when all aspects of diversity can apply and become an integral part of the university.

We offer a new perspective on group affective diversity by introducing the construct of mixed group mood, denoting co-occurring positive and negative mood states between different members of a group. Mixed group mood is characterized by four facets, namely members’ distribution between two positive and negative subgroups, subgroups’ average mood intensity, subgroups’ mood intensity heterogeneity, and individual members’ mood ambivalence. Building on information/decision-making and social categorization/similarity–attraction perspectives, we explore the performance consequences of mixed group mood along these four facets and we discuss implications and directions for future research.