Resource Asymmetry Research Articles

Social forces shaping evidence production: A study of the swiss cannabis pilot trials

AimThe evidence-based policy paradigm has been criticized for poorly representing drug and other health policy processes, with evidence showing various social forces influencing knowledge translation. However, less research has examined the social forces influencing knowledge production. Applying a social constructivist lens, this study investigates how politics, power, economics, philosophy, and discourse influence the evidence generating processes related to drug policy. MethodsUsing Swiss cannabis pilot trials as a case study, thematic content analysis was conducted on qualitative interview data from 18 stakeholders, including scientists, policy makers, pharmacists, physicians, cannabis producers, and current and former employees of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. ResultsThe study reveals how social forces collectively shape scientific evidence generating processes, with political imperatives and stakeholder interests often taking precedence over purely scientific considerations. Contrary to the presumed opposition between positivist and interpretivist stances, informants demonstrated a commitment to both, dedicating themselves to positivist research agendas while highlighting the influence of harm reduction discourse on the pilot trials. ConclusionsThe Swiss cannabis pilot trials illustrate how social forces can shape the production of policy-relevant evidence, transforming evidence-based policy into policy-based evidence. Asymmetries in actor resources and power, along with the adjustment of evidence production to align with contextual realities, play significant roles in this process. Recognizing the complex social dimensions of evidence generating processes is crucial for a more reflexive and power-sensitive understanding of drug policymaking.

Інституціональні засади формування та розвитку стійкого ринку електронної комерції

This research examines the institutional aspects of developing a resilient e-commerce market in Ukraine. The institutional approach allows us to consider various aspects of formation, functioning, and changes within the social institutions and their influence of e-commerce solutions on individuals’ activities and social interaction. During the literature review, the various approaches to the essence of the institution as an economic category were considered. The author proposed considering the e-commerce institution as a socially formed system that structures interaction within the e-commerce market by implementing formal and informal rules that influence subjects’ activities by establishing restrictions and organizing motivational mechanisms that support the desired behavior to maximize the aggregate economic impact. The roles and functions of the leading institutional players, particularly state institutions, market institutions, research institutions, and public and non-profit institutions, are defined. The literature review determined that e-commerce adoption is significantly determined by the response to pressure from external agents (consumers and competitors) and internal agents (employees). The model of the institutional environment of the e-commerce system is presented. The proposed model is based on the interaction of e-commerce institutions that contribute to institutionalizing e-commerce technologies within the Ukrainian business environment. The institutional influence is being implemented by utilizing the interaction of the ‘business-government-society’ triad. Among the expected institutional effects of the general modernization of the socio-economic system, the harmonization of relationships between individual participants and the reduction of resource asymmetry can be highlighted. Three types of institutional pressures that influence the enterprises’ decisions to adopt and develop e-commerce systems are discussed, particularly coercive, regulatory, and mimetic types of pressure. The interaction of these types of institutional pressure thereby influences the enterprises’ perception of barriers and opportunities for adopting and utilizing e-commerce. Keywords: e-commerce, institutionalization, resilience.

From Nagorno-Karabakh to Taiwan: measuring patron-client relations of de facto states

ABSTRACT Seeking to add a comparative element to the study of patron-client relations, this article introduces a multidimensional measurement tool for analysing de facto-patron state relations. The tool is used to measure military, political, societal and cultural resource exchange sustaining de facto state patron-client relationships, focusing on the client side of this dyadic relationship as this is where the defining features of patron-client relationships are most evident due to the asymmetry of resources. The study uses original data on Abkhazia, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, Northern Cyprus, Taiwan, Transnistria and their respective patron states. Comparing their degrees of dependence and differences based on the type of patronage, the article also discusses the merits and shortcomings of the tool, inviting further development.

How do tour guides cope with knowledgeable tourists? Conceptualising knowledge/information asymmetry in tour-guiding contexts

Purpose Tourists’ resource integration both offers opportunities and presents challenges to tourism service providers. Focussing on the tour guide perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore how tour guides experience knowledge/information-based asymmetry in encounters with tourists and identifies the roles and coping strategies used by guides to facilitate service co-production. Design/methodology/approach Critical incident technique is used in qualitative interviews with 47 tour guides in Scotland, broadly representative of the Scottish tour guiding context. 107 critical incidents were analysed, with an average of 2.32 incidents per interview. Narrative analysis of the incidents was performed inductively in four iterative steps using QSR NVivo. Findings Three resource asymmetry incident categories are identified: probing – Guide-Oracle is questioned by inquiring tourists and copes through diverting, evasion, and follow-up strategies; learning – Guide-Magpie learns from expert tourists through acknowledging and co-delivery; and negotiation – Guide-Diplomat with greater knowledge helps misguided tourists save face through appeasing, following the official line and tactfully correcting. Originality/value The paper contributes to service co-production research in tourism by theorising about contexts where knowledge/information asymmetry exists between tour guides and tourists, particularly where fluid power relations between guides and knowledgeable tourists occur or where misguided tourists co-produce the service by prioritising own meanings. Findings highlight the importance of soft skills and other non-content capabilities of guides, and suggestions are offered for effective training and resource sharing/ learning initiatives for tour guiding services.

Understanding bias better: a qualitative exploration of bias in advisory councils of EU agencies

ABSTRACT European Union (EU) agencies are known to have a high risk of capture by regulated business interests. To limit this risk, agencies try to involve a diverse set of stakeholders. One way of doing so, is to install advisory councils (ACs): permanent bodies with a fixed number of stakeholders selected by the agency. Current scholarship has mainly studied whether stakeholders’ access to ACs is biased towards business interests. However, it remains unknown whether the ACs functioning might also be biased. This research note presents a strategy to go beyond access and look inside the ACs. By examining how members perceive the councils, its meetings and the discussions therein, it explores whether the councils’ functioning contributes to more balanced interest representation. We illustrate that although the councils’ members are willing to prioritize seeking consensus over defending their own interests, finding this consensus proves difficult due to asymmetries in resources, thus stressing the need for a better understanding of bias. We end with proposing further qualitative approaches to study bias of advisory bodies in the future.

Family migration in China: A longitudinal analysis of couples' migration behaviour

AbstractThis article addresses internal migration behaviour in the context of two‐gender‐couple households in contemporary China. Against the backdrop of increasing female education in a society where ideals in the gendered division of labour prevail, this study assesses the role of partners' education in regards to a couple's migration behaviour. Considering education to be a key resource in a couple's negotiations, we test hypotheses on gender symmetry and asymmetry of a partner's resources with regard to a couple's relocation. Additionally, we assess how the role of partners' resources varies across populations with rural and urban backgrounds, and acknowledge persistent barriers to migration due to household registration policies (Hukou) and the associated disadvantages faced by rural migrants and their children. For our analyses, we deploy longitudinal couple‐dyadic data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2018) and estimate couples' inter‐county moves using discrete‐time event history models. Our results suggest that couple relocations are associated with higher levels of the male partner's education, and not with the female partner's education. We do not find that partners' gender ideology moderates these associations. The role of the male partner's education was found to be more relevant in couples' relocations for those with an agricultural household registration. Our research contributes importantly to debates on persistent gender inequality and urban–rural divides in China, and how these factors permeate migration behaviour.

Analysis of information asymmetry in mineral resources trading

Analysis of information asymmetry in mineral resources trading

Environmental and resource components in the development of subregions of the tourist territory

This paper examines the institutional and natural resource components in the strategy of socio-economic development of the region. The rationality of the use of natural resources taking into account the resource asymmetry of the region is investigated and the justification of the segmentation of consumers of recreational resources is given. The main problem in the process of development of the region’s tourist orientation is the replacement of the natural component by the economic infrastructure. Thus, the process of development of tourist orientation is accompanied by a steady increase in the number of buildings and recreation, and according to the specifics of tourism in the region are increasingly valuable beach resources. Among all the subregions of Crimea is particularly distinguished by higher rates of recreational development and economic development relative to other subregion of Greater Yalta. Recreational potential of the Big Yalta is just over 18.6% of the potential of the Crimea, with an area of 1.1%. Territorial concentration is 16,9 times higher than in the region. All this creates the need for segmentation of subregions on the basis of resource asymmetry of the region.

Expertise, trading zones and the planning system: A case study of an energy-from-biomass plant

Planning disputes are sites of contestation in which science-based regulations come into conflict with the place-based knowledge of local communities. The procedural and often technical nature of these regulations means that these controversies are marked by an asymmetry of resources that is often experienced by community groups as an asymmetry in credibility. In short, the expertise of developers is generally accepted as such, whilst the knowledge claimed by citizens is dismissed as ‘anecdotal’ or ‘NIMBYism’. In this article, we make the argument that the asymmetries of expertise are less stark than the current system typically allows and that recognising and accommodating this would improve the planning system by enhancing the representation and inclusion of community voices. We explore this position by using a case study of the construction of a Energy-from-Biomass plant in South Wales. Drawing from 30 qualitative interviews, we maintain that the planning process has the potential to function as one of a network of ‘trading zones’ in which different communities enact their rights and have their claims to knowledge and expertise recognised. Crucial to this argument is understanding that the levels and kinds of expertise that different parties bring to the interactions are more than just matters of attribution: community groups can have genuine expertise.

How Layers of Context and Material Deprivation Impact Reemployment in Stable or Casual Work

Reemployment for those who are unemployed is both economically and socially important but may be constrained because of the person’s context. The current study investigates key socioeconomic, structural, and individual factors that may impact the likelihood of reemployment for unemployed working age adults over the period of a year. Reemployment is further separated in terms of stability and security by delineating casual versus non-casual reemployment. A multinomial regression analysis of an Australian dataset (n = 375 adults who reported no limitation to their ability to gain employment) found that economic constraints played a substantial role and that the context issues act differently by employment type if reemployed. The results highlight the importance of socio-structural issues, reflecting resource asymmetry. Supportive neighborhoods and material deprivation set the scene, while education enables the pursuit of more stable and secure employment opportunities.

Role of Resource Asymmetry and Collaboration Time in the Governance of Cross-border Collaborative Networks

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze the micro-governance of a cross-border Brazil–Uruguay collaborative network and how it contributes to a favorable environment for collaboration. To achieve this objective, a single case study was conducted with a qualitative approach using document analysis and interviews with 19 Brazilian and Uruguayan stakeholders from the public, private, and civil society sectors. The results show that two contextual factors, resource asymmetry among participants and collaboration time, explain the need for greater emphasis on the use of certain governance functions while, at the same time, making other functions less necessary. The behaviors become more predictable and stable with the collaboration time, requiring less emphasis on alignment, monitoring, and conflict arbitration in collaborative networks. However, resource asymmetry requires efforts to integrate, mobilize, and organize the participants and their resources. We contribute to the theory by showing how contextual factors affect the use of micro-governance functions in a cross-border collaborative network and how the governance fosters an environment that stimulates collaboration. Practitioners can also benefit from our study, as it facilitates a deeper comprehension of how collaborative networks can be governed to produce collective results in cross-border contexts.

Strategic Behaviour and Risk Aversion in Local Governance

AbstractUnder what conditions is local governance influenced by external interests? I illustrate the capacity of external lobbies' strategic behavior to affect local change on hot button issues by exploiting resource asymmetries between them. Using a case of gun policy in the Chicago suburbs, I analyse how local policymaking on guns changed. While the gun lobby's federal impact has been explored, its local influence is insufficiently considered. I find two main insights. First, the institutional landscape around firearms after 2008 impacted local policymaking that was resilient to challenge in 1981. Second, the gun lobby became more resourceful in its influencing strategies, which activated the latent potential of these institutional changes to exert a local effect. This granular study contributes insights on the gun lobby's local impact and the institutional local consequences federal changes brought. This comparative analysis theorises the NRA's strategic use of ‘precedent as resource’, locales' risk aversion when faced with better‐resourced external lobbies, and how resource asymmetries become significant in unfavorable legal environments, with wider implications regarding lobby‐locale policy interactions after Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022). The social‐political uses of law as a strategic resource offers a study of the downstream impacts of the courts' politicization since the 2000s.

How feeling misidentified can drive negative attitudes yet increase performance: The role of appraisals

AbstractInternal identity asymmetry is the uncomfortable experience of having one's identity mistaken—feeling being misidentified—by others at work. Through two longitudinal field studies of working individuals, we investigate the consequences of internal identity asymmetry on individuals' attitudes and work performance. Importantly, we incorporate the stress and coping literature to examine how the individual's cognitive appraisal of the asymmetry (of negative affect and coping resources), together moderate the experience. Furthermore, our results also show that appraisals of negative affect and coping resources moderate the relationship between internal identity asymmetry and performance, such that identity asymmetry may also motivate increased performance at work, depending on this appraisal. Our findings shed light on the importance of cognitive appraisal for identity incongruent experiences at work, and how they might be harnessed for positive outcomes depending on appraisal, which can be developed and strengthened over time.

SUBREGIONAL FEATURES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE RECREATIONAL SPHERE

Introduction. The development of the sub-regions of the Republic of Crimea is characterized by a difference in the performance indicators of the enterprises of the tourism industry. The paper examines the differences in the efficiency of the activities of tourism enterprises in the Crimean subregions. Resource asymmetry in the region is considered as such reasons. Methodology. As a correlation with the territorial concentration of resources, the return on total capital is used, which characterizes the efficiency of the use of all assets of the enterprise. The study used methods of correlation analysis to establish this relationship, where the factor (cause) indicator is the resource asymmetry of the region. Other methods of statistical research (sampling, data grouping) and general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, systematization) were also used. Results. As a result of the study, one can note a higher efficiency of enterprises in subregions with a greater concentration of potential. Territorial concentration of potential characterizes unequal conditions for the development of enterprises in subregions. As a result, Greater Yalta, Greater Alushta and Feodosia are developing at a faster pace than other sub-regions of the Republic of Crimea. It has been established that subregions with a high level of concentration of natural and historical and cultural potential are characterized by a higher efficiency of tourism enterprises in the subregions. The result of assessing the dependence of the return on total capital and the level of territorial concentration of natural and historical and cultural potential turned out to be 0.73, which indicates a close connection between the indicators, assessed on the Chaddock scale. Conclusions. The results of the study can be used in planning the development of areas of activity and types of recreation in the Crimean territory in accordance with its resource asymmetry. This study is necessary to assess the prospects for the development of the tourism industry in the region as a whole.

Married women with children experience greater intrasexual competition than their male counterparts

Human males are considered to be more competitive than females. However, females must also compete for resources necessary for their own and their offsprings’ survival. Since females use more indirect forms of competition than males, comparing observable forms of competition may be misleading. One critical driver of competition is resource asymmetry. Since competition occurs primarily within sex, reactions to resource asymmetry with same-sex peers should provide an important measure of competitiveness. We asked 596 married participants, 25–45 years of age with at least one child from three different countries to evaluate how same-sex individuals they know would react to a target individual who had a valuable resource that the same-sex individuals did not have. Half the participants evaluated reactions to same-sex targets, while the other half evaluated reactions to other-sex targets. Participants reported that women would react more negatively than men to resource asymmetry with same-sex targets, but not other-sex targets. These results suggest that women may be even more competitive than men in contexts when important resources related to reproductive success are at stake.

“Американская империя” как ресурс легитимности доминирования США после холодной войны

Empires are normally referred to such forms of direct rule that rely primarily on violence and coercion. These features lead to permanent lack of political legitimacy and make imperial polities vulnerable to various sorts of resistance and contestation. In international politics, fragility of “imperial” legitimacy is exacerbated by persistence of “anarchy” as omnipresent condition, characterized by the absence of supreme authority beyond the nation-states’ borders. Similar concerns are normally articulated by international relations scholars regarding the so-called “American empire”, which rests upon highly inequitable relations between the U.S. and its “clients”, “satellites” and “semi-sovereign protectorates” scattered across the globe. While conventional accounts consider these arrangements as based primarily on illegitimate relations of crude dominance, this article examines the “American empire” rather as legitimizing vehicle of the United States’ post-Cold War power than the tool of serving Washington’s needs. To this purpose, the author engages theoretical insights of A. Giddens’ “structuration theory” and explores the United States’ “empire” as a structure of domination, relying on sharp asymmetry of material and positional resources, and the rules, which assign legitimate capacities and set the standards of appropriate behavior. In doing so, the author seeks to overcome shortcomings of the existing approaches, which consider “social structures” as the means of either attaining collective goals or building the U.S.-led imperial order. After all, the paper demonstrates how structural properties of the “American empire” serve to organize practices of subordination and intervention as legitimate patterns of the relationships between Washington and its “clients” and “satellites” in the world periphery.

Research on Legal Protection of "Digital Inadvantaged Group"

The world is currently experiencing rapid Internet technology development, marking the onset of the "digital age". As this transition unfolds, human rights protection in the digital age is increasingly prominent, with the rights of "digital vulnerable groups" coming under threat. The primary threats to "digital vulnerable groups" are twofold: first, information resource asymmetry that leaves their rights invisible and vulnerable, and second, strong digital infringement concealment that often makes it difficult to identify members of "digital vulnerable groups". Protecting the rights of "digital vulnerable groups" should focus on two key aspects: first, redistributing information resources to benefit these groups, and second, reversing the burden of proof so that the tort subject bears the burden of proof.

Evaluative Dichotomy in the Russian Language and its Reflection in Fiction
 Texts (Based on Alexander T. Tvardovsky’s Collection of Poems
 «Motherland and Foreign Lands»)

The article discusses the evaluative dichotomy in the Russian language and its realization in the fiction text. It determines the possibility of using the term «dichotomy» as regards linguistic assessment. The paper links dichotomy of assessment
 to the binary perception of the world by humans. The writer points out differences between the category of evaluation and modality, expressiveness and emotiveness. The article focuses on the main parameters of assessment, they are attachment
 to the subject of assessment, reliance on the norms of estimation of the world and conventional rules of conduct, a possibility of The writer states the asymmetry of evaluative resources of the Russian language and
 the broad presence of vocabulary with a pejorative component of assessment.
 In addition, the text highlights the correlation between assessment and the var-
 ious types of paradigmatic relations of words, mainly, antonymy. The writer states that
 antonymic oppositions largely determine the evaluative coloring of linguistic units in
 the literary text (words, thematic groups and semantic fields) and, on top of that,
 A. Tvardovsky’s emotions. It illustrates this postulation by examples from «Motherland
 and Foreign Lands».
 The essays that A. Tvardovsky wrote during World War II reveal the antonymic
 and evaluative opposition of images, which he unveils right in the title. These are
 peaceful life and war, Russia and foreign countries, Soviet power and «Germanity»,
 the Russians and the Germans, the specific features of their conduct and everyday hab-
 its, and perception of beauty. The poet’s antagonism of images and emotional sensations are revealed through units with evaluative components. He uses the general evaluative words, antonymy (including the contextual one), and evaluative oxymorons.intensification and de-intensification of eval-
 uative markers, and the implementation of assessment as a type of pragmatic meaning.

Accounting Information Quality, Tax Avoidance and Companies' Performance: the Moderate Role of Political Connection

Purpose: This study examines the relationship between the accounting information quality, tax avoidance, and political connection in all Jordanian companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange. The current study also investigates the moderating effect of political connections on accounting information quality and company performance relationships. Further, the study examines the moderating effect of political connection on tax avoidance and company performance relationship. Theoretical framework: Political connections, tax avoidance, and the quality of accounting information affect a company's performance. According to the agency theory, reliable accounting information improves business performance and resources’ allocation efficiency by reducing information asymmetry. Additionally, the adverse effects of politics on companies are mitigated by accounting information quality. As a result, the cash flow is allocated effectively, improving the business's overall performance. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses the ordinary least squares (OLS) and applied moderated multiple regression (MMR). The sample data of this study includes 2266 company-years observations over the period 2008-2018 for all Jordanian companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange. The study compares accounting and market-based measurements of companies' performance (ROE, Tobin's Q). Findings: The study reveals consistent results among the measure. The results support the agency theory and found that accounting information quality reduces information asymmetry and positively affects companies' performance. Also, tax avoidance helps the companies to have more cash, and the results indicate a significant positive effect on companies' performance. In addition, the results support the agency theory argument and found that politics increase agency costs and negatively affect companies' performance. However, further analysis found that political connections sustain the positive effect of accounting information quality, which is a robust governance mechanism in Jordanian listed companies. Finally, the results found that tax avoidance with more political connections harms companies' performance. Research, Practical & Social implications: This study helps policymakers increase the governance mechanisms function in Jordanian listed companies. Also, the higher political relationship with the companies could be affected negatively on the Jordanian companies' achievement. Originality/value: The findings suggest several consequences for the fields of accounting and corporate governance. Additionally, the Middle East nations, including the Jordanian market, have had numerous economic difficulties that this study aids in resolving. For example, antagonistic political ties, information asymmetry, and insufficient allocation of financial resources.

Inequality in Chile's Philanthropic Ecosystem: Evidence and Implications.

Philanthropy seeks to address deep-rooted social issues and assume responsibility for the creation of public goods not provided by the public sector-and in this way help reduce inequality. Yet philanthropy has also been criticized for bypassing democratic mechanisms for the public determination of how to invest in society-and thus may perpetuate other inequities. In both cases, inequality, defined as asymmetries of resources and power, plays a critical role in public goods creation and in the legitimacy of a country's philanthropic ecosystem. However, little empirical research examines the existence and role of inequality in country-level donation systems. To fill this gap, this study provides evidence of growing donation concentration in Chile's philanthropic ecosystem, with a focus on the culture sector, characterizes it by mapping systematic differences in ecosystem perceptions by actor type, and identifies and tests statistically structural and organizational factors associated with these perceptions. Inequality in Chile's donation system operates at multiple geographical, legal, and organizational levels, all of which are reflected in objective donation amounts and subjective ecosystem perceptions. We conclude that in Chile resource asymmetries and power imbalances hinder the fulfillment of philanthropy's promise and call for further research to identify policies that address inequities in emerging philanthropic ecosystems in Chile, Latin America, and beyond.