Aspiration Levels Research Articles

How are firms motivated to greenly innovate under the pressure of ESG performance? Evidence from Chinese listed firms

The impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance gaps on firm green innovation is examined in this paper by a panel database of A-share Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2021. Using multiple linear regression and conducting a series of endogeneity tests and robustness checks, our empirical analysis shows that firm ESG performance gaps have significantly positive effect on green innovation. Both ESG performance below historical aspiration and social aspiration levels enhance a firm’s green innovation. Confucian culture negatively moderates the positive relationship between ESG performance gaps and green innovation, suggesting that firms more influenced by Confucian culture exhibit reduced green innovation than those less influenced. Additionally, firm digitalization positively moderates the positive relationship between ESG performance gaps and green innovation, indicating that firms with higher levels of digitalization are better equipped to improve green innovation when facing ESG performance shortfalls. This study extends the existing knowledge of firm ESG performance and motivation of green innovation. The research findings offer practical insights for leveraging the motivation and capabilities of green innovation to attain firm ESG objectives.

The paths of career aspiration for intern nursing students: A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

AimThis study was conducted to explore the combination of different conditional variables that led to high career aspiration of intern nursing students. BackgroundA severe shortage of nurses exists nationwide, and nurses’ low career aspiration contribute to high turnover rates and hinder the high-quality development of the nursing field. Nursing students undergoing clinical practice will become the backbone of future nursing staff. Enhancing their career aspiration is crucial for developing nursing career education and stabilizing the nursing team. DesignThis was a cross-sectional study. Using the cluster sampling method, 521 intern nursing students from Henan and Anhui in China were selected as participants from December 2023 to January 2024. MethodsThis study employed the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the configuration for paths of leading to high career aspiration among intern nursing students. General information questionnaires, career aspiration scale, clinical practice maladjustment scale, self-reflection and insight scale were used as measures in this study. ResultsThe results showed that students’ origin, professional attitude, GPA, self-reflection and insight, relationship with preceptors and clinical practice maladjustment have a combined effect on career aspiration. This study found that eight configuration combined into four models could explain 75.9 % of high-level career aspiration (solution consistency = 0.786; solution coverage = 0.759). ConclusionThe level of career aspiration among intern nursing students is the result of the combination of different conditional variables. Using a configurational perspective to intervene in nursing students with various characteristics is expected to enhance the career aspiration of intern nursing students.

A Two Phases Multiobjective Trajectory Optimization Scheme for Multi-UGVs in the Sight of the First Aid Scenario.

Timely delivery of first aid supplies is significant to saving lives when an accident happens. Among the promising solutions provided for such scenarios, the application of unmanned vehicles has attracted ever more attention. However, such scenarios are often very complex, while the existing studies have not fully addressed the trajectory optimization problem of multiple unmanned ground vehicles (multi-UGVs) against the scenario. This study focuses on multi-UGVs trajectory optimization in the sight of first aid supply delivery tasks in mass accidents. A two-stage completely decoupling fuzzy multiobjective optimization strategy is designed. On the first stage, with the proposed timescale involved tridimensional tunneled collision-free trajectory (TITTCT) algorithm, collision-free coarse tunnels are build within a tridimensional coordinate system, respectively, for the UGVs as the corresponding configuration space for a further multiobjective optimization. On the second stage, a fuzzy multiobjective transcription method is designed to solve the decoupled optimal control problem (OCP) within the configuration space with the consideration of priority constrains. Following the two-stage design, the computational time is significantly reduced when achieving an optimal solution of the multi-UGV trajectory planning, which is crucial in a first aid task. In addition, other objectives are optimized with the aspiration level reflected. Simulation studies and experiments have been curried out to testify the effectiveness and the improved computational performance of the proposed design.

Evolutionary Dynamics of Population Games With an Aspiration-Based Learning Rule.

Agents usually adjust their strategic behaviors based on their own payoff and aspiration in gaming environments. Hence, aspiration-based learning rules play an important role in the evolutionary dynamics in a population of competing agents. However, there exist different options for how to use the aspiration information for specifying the microscopic learning rules. It is also interesting to investigate under what conditions the aspiration-based learning rules can favor the emergence of cooperative behavior in population games. A new learning rule, called as "Satisfied-Cooperate, Unsatisfied-Defect", is proposed here, which is based on aspiration. Under this learning rule, agents prefer to cooperate when their income is satisfied; otherwise, they prefer the strategy of defection. We introduce this learning rule to a population of agents playing a generalized two-person game. We, respectively, obtain the mathematical conditions in which cooperation is more abundant in finite well-mixed, infinite well-mixed, and structured populations under weak selection. Interestingly, we find that these conditions are identical, no matter whether the aspiration levels for cooperators and defectors are the same or not. Furthermore, we consider the prisoner's dilemma game (PDG) as an example and perform numerical calculations and computer simulations. Our numerical and simulation results agree well and both support our theoretical predictions in the three different types of populations. We further find that our aspiration-based learning rule can promote cooperation more effectively than alternative aspiration-based learning rules in the PDG.

Livelihood Enhancement of Scheduled Caste Farmers through Integrated Farming System in Kolar District, India

The study was conducted in purposively selected Kolar district, a total sample of 353 respondents were purposively selected for the study. Data was collected by using pretested structured interview schedule and analyzed by using appropriate statistical tools. The results revealed that a majority of the respondents belonged to low category of mass media exposure, medium category of education, livestock possession, cosmopoliteness, extension participation, social participation, scientific orientation, risk orientation, training undergone followed by high category of cropping pattern, innovativeness, management orientation, level of aspiration, participation in the developmental programmes, willingness towards IFS, access to extension personnel and access to resources. Livelihood Security of respondents in ‘highly satisfied category’ increased to 37.96 per cent from 28.33 per cent out of seven dimensions, maximum increase was noticed in economic efficiency (52.71%). The personal, socio-economic and psychological characteristics such as cropping pattern, livestock possession, risk orientation, training undergone, access to extension personnel and access to resources had positive and significant relationship with livelihood security. The multiple regression value indicated that all the 18 independent variables had contributed to the tune of 23.20 per cent of variation in livelihood security of the respondents. The results pertaining to economic analysis indicated that BC ratio has been increased to 2.98 from 1.93 in crop component and with respect livestock component BC ratio was found to be enhanced to 3.18 from 1.93 after the implementation of the project. Hence, the concerned development departments should organize the demonstrations, trainings, field days, exposure visits etc., to educate the farmers about IFS. The positive and significantly related characteristics need to be considered while selecting the farmers for the extension educational programmes to enhance their livelihood security.

The effect of nonlinear environmental feedback on the outcomes of evolutionary dynamics

In this paper, we construct a nonlinear evolutionary game model to analyze the cooperation mechanisms of the population based on a nonlinear relationship among environment and strategies. In the model, replicator dynamics and aspiration dynamics are used to explore the evolutionary outcomes of collective decision, respectively. The results suggest that the environment tends to become progressively more affluent as the number of cooperators increases, if there is a smaller intensity of environmental destruction of defectors. Interestingly, the enriched environments may attract more defectors. Hence, the population requires a higher level of vigilance against plentiful environments in response to the emergence of defectors. As opposed to replicator dynamics, aspiration dynamics can avoid the persistent oscillatory loops due to the level of aspiration. Further, we investigate the effect of complexity between the population strategy and the environment on the evolutionary outcomes. It is found that higher level of complexity can drive the environment closer to a state of affluence, but the population's strategy structure will not be modified. These insights into the relationship between environment and strategies further our understanding of the evolutionary mechanism of population and society.

Greening the production of polymeric submicron particles by membrane-based manufacturing processes: A comparative analysis

The production of polymeric particles is the subject of extensive research in various fields and the interest in this area extends to the development of new sustainable production processes. The use of membrane technology has enabled the redesign of many traditional production processes with enormous impact in terms of product quality, reduction of energy consumption, high efficiency, productivity and reproducibility. In the present work, two alternative methodologies for the production of polycaprolactone (PCL) particles based on the use of membrane processes were investigated: i) membrane emulsification (ME) combined with solvent diffusion and ii) membrane nanoprecipitation (MN). ME/solvent diffusion is a widely applied technique for the production of microparticles, but its use for nanosized particles is still limited. On the other hand, MN is currently being investigated for its potentiality in the production of nanoparticles.In the present work, the performance of the two processes is compared in terms of: i) product quality (highly monodisperse particles in the nanometers range of size, ii) maximum productivity (expressed as mass of particles produced over time) under mild operating conditions (reduced mechanical stress), iii) environmental impact (assessed on the basis of the metrics established by the Green Aspiration Level (GAL)).

Does Performance Relative to Aspiration Level Affect a Firm’s Response Strategy Post-Crisis?

Does Performance Relative to Aspiration Level Affect a Firm’s Response Strategy Post-Crisis?

Ambitious, misaligned, or uncertain? The occupational and educational aspirations of immigrant-origin youth in Germany

ABSTRACT Immigrant-origin students often hold higher educational aspirations than native-origin peers, accounting for socioeconomic status and school grades. The consequences of this ‘Immigrant Aspiration Paradox’ (IAP) on their socioeconomic attainment are debated. Although individuals’ occupational aspirations and how they compare with their educational aspirations (i.e. their alignment) also affect status attainment, they are understudied in the IAP literature. We contribute to the debate on the benefits of the IAP by investigating immigrant-native gaps in the level, (mis)alignment, and (un)certainty of teenage occupational and educational aspirations and their consequences on educational attainment in Germany. First, we describe immigrant-native gaps in teenage aspirations. Then, we investigate whether these differences mediate immigrant-native gaps in upper secondary attainment and tertiary enrollment. In line with the immigrant optimism theory, Asian-origin and Turkish-origin students are more likely to hold aligned high aspirations. On average, immigrant-origin students are less likely to have aligned low aspirations compared to native-origin students, and equally likely to hold misaligned or uncertain aspirations. We find that students from most immigrant-origin groups have a higher upper secondary attainment and tertiary enrollment than native-origin students, net of controls. Large portions of these advantages are mediated by the aspirations of immigrant-origin students, which we interpret as evidence of the benefits of the IAP.

A study on occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of a selected school of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh

Background: Life is full of struggles and an individual has to face numerous challenging situations where there is need to make right decisions. In the era of advancement of scientific knowledge and gradual development of materialistic outlook, it is believed that education should enable the individual to earn his living. Occupational aspirations in the early years of life influence the vocational choice in the later life, which determine individual’s success in regard to job satisfaction, productivity and adjustment. Hence this study was undertaken with a view to make an attempt to study the occupational aspirations of senior secondary school students of Mandi district. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional survey method was used. A sample of 100 students (50 girls and 50 boys) of senior secondary level (classes XI and XII) was randomly selected from the selected Government senior secondary school. Occupational aspiration scale by Dr. J. S. Grewal was used to collect data for the study. For data analysis, percentage, mean, standard deviation and t-test were used. Results: Majority, i.e., 76% senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level. No significant difference was found in occupational aspiration level between urban and rural senior secondary students. Conclusions: Majority of senior secondary students were found to have average occupational aspiration level, thus highlighting the importance of guiding the students from secondary education stage towards selection of a right career according to their occupational aspirations.

Social satisficing: Multi-agent reinforcement learning with satisficing agents

For a reinforcement learning agent to finish trial-and-error in a realistic time duration, it is necessary to limit the scope of exploration during the learning process. However, limiting the exploration scope means limitation in optimality: the agent could fall into a suboptimal solution. This is the nature of local, bottom-up way of learning. An alternative way is to set a goal to be achieved, which is a more global, top-down way. The risk-sensitive satisficing (RS) value function incorporate, as a method of the latter way, the satisficing principle into reinforcement learning and enables agents to quickly converge to exploiting the optimal solution without falling into a suboptimal one, when an appropriate goal (aspiration level) is given. However, how best to determine the aspiration level is still an open problem. This study proposes social satisficing, a framework for multi-agent reinforcement learning which determines the aspiration level through information sharing among multiple agents. In order to verify the effectiveness of this novel method, we conducted simulations in a learning environment with many suboptimal goals (SuboptimaWorld). The results show that the proposed method, which converts the aspiration level at the episodic level into local (state-wise) aspiration levels, possesses a higher learning efficiency than any of the compared methods, and that the novel method has the ability to autonomously adjust exploration scope, while keeping the shared information minimal. This study provides a glimpse into an aspect of human and biological sociality which has been mentioned little in the context of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

A new Fermatean fuzzy multi‐objective indefinite quadratic transportation problem with an application to sustainable transportation

AbstractIn this work, a Fermatean fuzzy (FF) multi‐objective indefinite quadratic transportation problem (TP) is introduced. Due to some unavoidable reasons, real‐life transportation parameters such as supply, demand and costs are indeterminate in nature and cannot be expressed in crisp terms. We represent these parameters using FF numbers, an extension of fuzzy numbers, which are capable of representing indeterminacy efficiently. A multi‐objective indefinite quadratic TP where each objective is a product of two linear factors (cost functions) is considered. Defuzzification of FF numbers is accomplished by the introduction of ‐cut for the first time. The obtained crisp TP is solved using the intuitionistic fuzzy programming approach and FF programming approach to arrive at a compromise solution. To substantiate the work, solution methodology based on defuzzification using the ranking function is also deliberated. The applicability of the model is demonstrated through a sustainable TP, which simultaneously minimizes transportation cost with depreciation cost and packaging cost with wastage cost. The resulting value of the objective functions and the aspiration levels are compared to depict the efficacy of the proposed method over the ranking function method. The concluding section summarizes the work, and future avenues along with some limitations of the work are also specified.

Relationship Between Firms’ Performance and Forced CEO Turnover; Empirical Evidence from US Market

Firm performance (ROA) is widely used as a primary matric of CEO ability. So far, empirics have highlighted the relationship between ROA and forced CEO turnover. In the current study, we extend the literature by highlighting the forced CEO turnover and performance relationship by introducing aspirational performance metric of the firm. We used historical performance, average of last five years ROA as a proxy of aspirational level. First, we find the acceptable negative relationship between ROA and forced CEO turnover. However, the negative relationship is stronger when CEO performance is above aspirational level. In addition, the negative relationship persisted in the last year. Thus, our findings show that likelihood of forced CEO turnover is lower when CEO performance is above the aspirational level and vice versa. Our findings provide a novelty in the existing literature. Likewise, the managerial implications are also discussed.

Preferential selection based on aspiration and memory in spatial evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game

When studying the spontaneous emergence of cooperation within the framework of evolutionary game theory, the process of strategy selection plays a crucial role in evolutionary dynamics. In most previous studies, it has been assumed that individuals randomly select learning targets from their neighbors. However, by considering the heterogeneity of individuals’ influence in real-life social networks, a preference for more realistic choices should be taken into account. Here, we propose a preferential selection mechanism based on individuals’ payoff aspiration in memory-based evolutionary game on square lattice networks. For each iteration, players in the regular lattices will prioritize selecting neighbors with the highest satisfaction rate over the most recent runs. The simulation results demonstrate that both the level of aspiration and the length of memory can elevate the level of cooperation to a certain extent. For the moderate aspiration level, when the value of betrayal temptation is less than threshold, cooperation level monotonously decreases with the increment of memory length. However, when betrayal temptation is above threshold, memory mechanism can facilitates the evolution of cooperation, while the absence of such a mechanism leads collaborators toward extinction.

Escape from education fever?: Impact of migration on child education practice

AbstractAn extraordinary interest in education has a historical and cultural foundation in Korea, but its harmful nature has created education emigration of Korean parents. This study sought to track if and how the culturally embedded education fever changed over migration generations. To this end, this study compared three different parent groups: staying‐put parents in the origin country (Korean parents in Korea), first‐generation migrant parents (Korean–Australian parents with no school‐age education in Australia) and next‐generation migrant parents (Korean–Australian parents who were born or fully educated in Australia). Continuity and discontinuity in child education practice in the context of migration were explored and the education fever was seen to be persistent as part of a strategy for social inclusion. Despite a high level of aspiration for academic success of children, migrant parents were seen to take an acculturated or modified form of parenting with a recognition of diversified paths of success.

LIVELIHOOD SECURITY OF SCHEDULED CASTE FARMERS THROUGH INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM

The study was conducted in purposively selected Chickballapura district, a total sample of 271 respondents was purposively selected for the study. Data was collected by using structured pre-tested interview schedule and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. The results indicated that, majority of the respondents belonged to medium level of education, cropping pattern, livestock possession, mass media exposure, extension participation, training undergone and access to resources followed by high level of social participation, management orientation, level of aspiration, participation in development program and willingness towards IFS and low level of cosmpoliteness, innovativeness, scientific orientation and access to extension personnel. It was observed that livelihood security of respondents in highly satisfied category increased to 35.79 per cent from 27.31 per cent after implementation of the project. Out of seven dimensions, employment security increased by 39.35 per cent, living amenities increased by 30.82 per cent, coping strategies against stress increased by 30.75 per cent, ecological security increased by 30.00 percent, economic efficiency increased by 28.95 per cent, assets increased by 25.71 per cent and social equitability increased by 24.41 per cent. Overall scores of livelihood security indicated 30.23 per cent increase after implementation of project. The average gross income of Rs.1,03,264 from both crop and livestock enterprises of IFS against Rs.6,956 before implementation of the project. In total they could realize about Rs.70,300 net profit by adopting intercropping and livestock components in IFS. As such, for every one rupee invested under IFS they got 3.13 rupee income. Hence, the concerned development departments should organize the demonstrations, trainings, field days, exposure visits etc., to educate the farmers about IFS. The positive and significantly related characteristics needs to be considered while selecting the farmers for the extension educational programmes in order to enhance their livelihood security.

Aspirations of agriculture school students

The present investigation on “Aspirations of agriculture school students” was conducted in Amravati district, where Achalpur, Amravati and Warud Talukas were selected. Under these three talukas, three colleges viz. Agricultural Polytechnic School, Bhilona, Taluka:Achalpur; Janata Agricultural Polytechnic School, Amravati, Taluka: Amravati and Late Punjabrao Thakre Agricultural Polytechnic School, Haturna, Taluka: Warud were selected under the jurisdiction of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidhyapeeth, Akola. These three colleges are under Amravati district. Social, situational, economic and psychological environment in these three schools differs significantly because of their location therefore study was conducted with the view to know the aspirations of agriculture school students.The study revealed that the majority of 75.00 per cent were male and remaining i.e. 25.00 per cent were female. Hence, majority of students were under male category. It was observed that the majority of the respondents 43.34 per cent have semi-medium land holding, followed by 33.33 per cent of the respondents families had medium land holding. The majority 69.17 per cent of respondents had medium level of father’s education whereas the majority 55.00 per cent of respondents had medium level of mother’s education’. It was observed that the majority of respondents i.e. 60.84 per cent belonged to nuclear family. The majority of respondent’s parents i.e. 66.67 per cent had only agriculture as their occupation. The majority of respondents i.e. 68.33 per cent had secured ‘Distinction’ class in academic performance. The majority of respondents i.e. 44.16 per cent had high level of family income. The majority of agriculture school students i.e. 64.16 per cent had medium level of social participation. The majority of respondents i.e.73.33 per cent had medium level of mass media utilization.In case of overall aspirations, majority i.e. 72.5 per cent of the respondents have medium level of overall aspirations while 15.84 per cent have high level of overall aspirations while 11.66 per cent of the respondents were having low level of overall aspirations.The independent variables like land holding, mother education, parental occupation, and academic performance showed positive and highly significant (at 0.01 % level of probability) relationship with overall aspirations of agriculture school students. Whereas father education, annual family income, social participation and mass media utilization show a positive and significant (at 0.05 % level of probability) relationship with overall aspirations of agriculture school students. However, gender and family type was not significant with overall aspirations of agriculture school students.

Challenges and Opportunities of Utilising School Nutrition Programme to Achieve Educational Goals in South African Rural Communities

This study explored the challenges and opportunities faced by schools in utilising the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) to achieve educational goals in South Africa. The NSNP was established in post-apartheid South Africa as a poverty alleviation and educational democratisation measure to improve educational access, attendance, and participation outcomes of learners from poor socio-economic backgrounds. The thesis of this paper was informed by Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs to explain how food is a basic need for learners to ascend to the level of learning aspirations. The study adopted a phenomenological paradigm and a qualitative research approach. Purposive sampling was employed to select 2 secondary school principals, 8 teachers responsible for NSNP and 10 learners who were beneficiaries of the NSNP within a rural community setting. The study used face-to-face and focus group interviews and observations for data collection. Data was analysed and interpreted thematically. The study revealed that challenges such as poor hygienic conditions, poor quality and poor nutrition value of the menu, and consumption of teaching and learning time compromised the quality of NSNP provision in schools. However, despite these challenges, schools in rural communities use the NSNP for school attendance. Keywords: National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), South Africa, Educational Goals, Maslow’s Theory, Socio-economic Development

Relationship between the Profile of Agricultural Students and their Career Aspiration about Prospects of Agripreneurship

Career aspiration refers to a long-term professional aim or goal that a person sets for themselves in their chosen career or profession. Aims: To ascertain the relationship between the profile of students and their career aspiration about prospects of agripreneurship. Study Design: Expost facto research design. Place and Duration of Study: The study was taken at four State Agricultural Universities of Gujarat. August 2023 – March 2024. Methodology: The study was conducted among the students from the agriculture faculty in four State Agricultural Universities of Gujarat which are Navsari Agricultural University, Junagadh Agricultural University, Anand Agricultural University and Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University. The respondents were M.Sc. (Agri.), Ph.D. (Agri.) and final year B.Sc. (Agri.) students from the main campus of each university. Expost facto research design was used. By simple random sampling technique, 25 students from each degree from four universities were selected. Thus, the total sample is 300. By interview method, responses were collected using an interview schedule. The relationship between the independent and dependent variable were analysed using statistical tools such as correlation and stepwise regression. Results: The variables such as age, source of information, risk taking ability, achievement orientation, leadership ability, critical thinking, self-confidence and innovativeness were significantly correlated with the level of career aspiration about prospects of agripreneurship at 1 per cent level of significance. The variables such as the source of information, achievement orientation, critical thinking, innovativeness and age were accounting influences and 41.00 per cent variation in career aspiration of the students. Conclusion: Hence, these variables should be taken care and need to improve for the change in career aspiration.

Investigating The Leddo, Jayanti and Duan (2019) Revised Prospect Theory Value Function in Argentina

Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979) is a highly influential theory that predicts decision making when people are confronted with choices involving gains or losses with different degrees of uncertainty. Prospect Theory argues that people are generally risk averse when it comes to seeking gains and risk seeking when it comes to avoiding losses. Leddo et al. (2019) noted that the original formulation of Prospect Theory did not take into account people’s goals. They argued that people would be willing to take risks to achieve goals but become more risk averse once those goals are achieved, and they would become risk averse when confronted with losses in order to avoid a highly negative outcome but become more risk seeking to negate the negative outcome once that outcome occurred. Leddo et al.’s research confirmed this hypothesis, leading to a revision of Prospect Theory’s value function. The present research investigates whether the same revised value function can predict decisions made by people in other cultures. Accordingly, the present paper investigates whether the Leddo et al. (2019) findings will hold up with people from Argentina, a high-income country with a mixed economic system. In the present study 82 Argentine residents from the ages 15-75 were given scenarios involving sports decisions involving gains or losses above or below defined aspiration and avoidance levels (four scenarios in total with an average of 17 participants per scenario). Results showed that participants demonstrated the same frequency of risk-seeking behaviors for decisions involving losses than those involving gains, inconsistent with the original Kahneman and Tversky (1979) framework and consistent with the revised Leddo et al. (2019) framework. Additionally, participants showed more risk seeking behaviors for decisions involving outcomes below the avoidance and aspiration levels than for decisions involving outcomes above the avoidance and aspiration levels, consistent with the revised Leddo et al. (2019) framework. This held up individually for both gains and losses.