Contradictory Demands Research Articles

Impact of CSR Authenticity on Brand Advocacy: The Mediating Role of Brand Equity

Since authenticity reduces the inherent tension between pro-sociality and profit-seeking as well as contradictory demands from multiple stakeholders, it appears to be relevant for corporate social responsibility (CSR) judgment. The aim of this study is to examine the consumer perception of CSR authenticity and its influence on brand equity and brand advocacy in the banking sector. Additionally, this study looks into the role of brand equity as a mediator between CSR authenticity and brand advocacy. A survey method was used to collect the data. In this study, CFA and structural equation modeling with AMOS were utilized to evaluate the measurement properties and to uncover relevant correlations. The results also show that brand advocacy is better predicted to take into account the mediating role of brand equity between CSR authenticity and brand advocacy. As a result, this study adds to the body of knowledge and has significant use for managers, practitioners, and specialists. The proposed model can be used by practitioners to evaluate their CSR initiatives objectively and determine how well each one aligns with their overall goals and business objectives in order to create more successful strategies. The current study adds to the limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the connection between CSR authenticity and customer responses.

An asymmetric electrolyte to simultaneously meet contradictory requirements of anode and cathode

One of the major obstacles hindering the application of zinc metal batteries is the contradictory demands from the Zn metal anode and cathodes. At the anode side, water induces serious corrosion and dendrite growth, remarkably suppressing the reversibility of Zn plating/stripping. At the cathode side, water is essential because many cathode materials require both H+ and Zn2+ insertion/extraction to achieve a high capacity and long lifespan. Herein, an asymmetric design of inorganic solid-state electrolyte combined with hydrogel electrolyte is presented to simultaneously meet the as-mentioned contrary requirements. The inorganic solid-state electrolyte is toward the Zn anode to realize a dendrite-free and corrosion-free highly reversible Zn plating/stripping, and the hydrogel electrolyte enables consequent H+ and Zn2+ insertion/extraction at the cathode side for high performance. Therefore, there is no hydrogen and dendrite growth detected in cells with a super high-areal-capacity up to 10 mAh·cm−2 (Zn//Zn), ~5.5 mAh·cm−2 (Zn//MnO2) and ~7.2 mAh·cm−2 (Zn//V2O5). These Zn//MnO2 and Zn//V2O5 batteries show remarkable cycling stability over 1000 cycles with 92.4% and over 400 cycles with 90.5% initial capacity retained, respectively.

Conflicting Interests of Trading Companies and Causes of the South African War, 1899-1902

The author examines the economic aspects of the South African colonial exploration by the Europeans in the representation of accumulated contradictions between business organizations, which ultimately became a cause of the 1899-1902 conflict. Based on the study of Dutch East India Company’s activities in this region, as well as the specifics of the settlement establishment by the British and Boers, attention is paid to the root causes of the disharmonious economic situation of the rivalling parties, taking place before the discovery of gold deposits in the Witwatersrand (1886). The changing regional supremacy of the Cape colony and the other British possessions, as well as Boer States (the Republic of South Africa – Transvaal and the Orange Free State) has been periodized. The factors of the 1899 armed conflict have been structured to reveal the conflicting interests of trading companies which had sought to monopolize the business for extraction of valuable mineral raw materials. The author concludes that the main reason for the South African War was the desire of British trading companies to gain access to rich gold deposits in the Boer-populated Transvaal and form a single English-based state in South Africa. In order to achieve such goal, the British tried their best at delaying peace initiatives of the Boers, putting forward various contradictory demands to them, using the armies of private companies to conduct raids and sabotaging the formation of a federal state in the region. We have discovered the preposterous look of the British pretext for the outbreak of war, based on the protection of the Boer states English-speaking population interests, which had been supposed to initiate an uprising. The South African War became not only a place, where new methods of warfare were applied, and a “black hole” for the UK budgetary expenditures, but also a profitable market for new types of weapons and military equipment, which allowed their manufacturers to make considerable profits.

Bullet-titling in twenty-first century China: bullet-like tactility, soft touch and diachronic simultaneity

This article studies the popular bullet-titling practice in contemporary China – typing and sending a layer of horizontally scrolling comments superimposed onto moving images. It first explicates bullet-titling practice as a retaliatory action against the tactile effects of moving images, reconceptualizing cinema’s tactile quality and recovering its association with bullet-like intensity through the notion of tacti(ca)lity. Tracing the changed perception of touch in relation to the emergence of the touchscreen interface, the author then delineates the transformation of bullet-titles from offensive weapons against the optical attacks of moving images to a venue for real-time conversation and communication among spectator-cum-bullet-titlers. The article ends with a discussion of bullet-titles’ construction of pseudo-real time, which constitutes a viewing community of ‘diachronic simultaneity’ that assimilates all temporally and geographically dispersed spectators into the unfolding ‘now’ of video playback. This ‘nowness’ reconciles contemporary media consumption’s contradictory demands for globalized simultaneity and individualized flexibility, obliterating us anew.

The Effect of Knowledge Management Systems on Organizational Ambidexterity: A Conceptual Model

Knowledge management (KM) is considered an important strategic tool to maintain performance and survive a fluctuating environment. The effective implementation of KM initiatives helps organizations gain the ability to balance contradictory demands, known as organizational ambidexterity, to gain a competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to develop and argue a theoretical model demonstrating the connection between knowledge management systems (KMS) and organizational ambidexterity through the mediation effects of knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB) and innovative work behavior (IWB). This paper draws on the task-technology fit (TTF) model, KM, and organizational ambidexterity literature to build a theoretical model for how KMS (characteristics and perceived TTF) and KSB interact to produce IWB and organizational ambidexterity. This study also suggests a methodological approach and analysis procedure to test the theoretical model empirically. Finally, the study acknowledges some research limitations and provides several recommendations that are useful for academic researchers.

Quartet trade-off for regional water resources allocation optimization with multiple water sources: A decentralized bi-level multi-objective model under hybrid uncertainty

Multiple uncertainties from water resource allocation have posed new challenges to balanced regional development. On the one hand, in the context of global water shortage crisis, groundwater, as an important water supply module, is facing severe risk of shortage. On the other hand, the regional authorities need to coordinate the contradictory water demand brought by the heterogeneous water use objectives from multiple water use levels, and these demands are also subject to complex uncertainties. How to mitigate the risks posed by uncertainties, ensure regional water security and balance participants, is attracting the keen attention of decision-makers around the world. Therefore, this study establishes a decentralized bi-level multi-objective regional water resources allocation (RWRA) optimization model under hybrid uncertainty, aiming at an optimal quartet trade-off of equity, sustainability, equilibrium, and efficiency. To deal with the hybrid uncertainty in the model, water demand is set as a random fuzzy number, and the groundwater constraint is combined with fuzzy chance-constrained programming (FCCP). Then, the decentralized bi-level multi-objective model is solved by the bi-level interactive method based on the satisfactory solution incorporated with the chaotic-particle swarm optimization (CPSO) algorithm. The proposed model and solution approach are then applied to the Dongjiang River Basin in Guangdong Province of China to verify the validity and utility of the model. The results show that (1) the model can effectively meet the different objectives requirements of regional authority and sub-areas; (2) groundwater constraint parameters has a significant impact on the model results, especially the Gini coefficient decreases by 13.6% when groundwater is used as a water source supplement; (3) from single-level model to decentralized bi-level model, the satisfactory balance of the two levels increases from 0.1457 to 0.793, which indicates that the decentralized bi-level model makes the two levels more balanced than the single-level model. Based on the results, some management recommendations for participants are finally provided.

The dual knowledge role of open innovation intermediaries: Internal weaving and external filtering for MNE subsidiaries

Developing dual embeddedness for subsidiaries with competence-creating mandates in multinational enterprises (MNE) presents contradictory knowledge demands in internal and external networks that hamper their innovative capacity. Sourcing knowledge externally and transferring this across the MNE is a delicate yet demanding balancing act, and scholars suggest that competence-creating subsidiaries achieve this by building firm-specific innovative capabilities. Although open innovation (OI) studies contend that intermediaries may be important in connecting subsidiaries locally, we have yet to fully understand if, and how, these intermediaries influence subsidiary dual embeddedness. Through an exploratory qualitative case study design, we find that an OI intermediary performs a critical dual knowledge role through internal weaving and external filtering in helping subsidiaries navigate the conflicting knowledge challenges of dual embeddedness. Specifically, we disentangle how performing this role requires the OI intermediary to habitually engage in a range of complementary activities that enhance intra-firm knowledge transfer both vertically and laterally, to and from the subsidiary, as well as expanding the capacity of the subsidiary to source knowledge externally in their local network. In spotlighting the intermediary-subsidiary interface, our findings generate greater integration between the literature in international business (IB) and open innovation, specifically subsidiary dual embeddedness, and OI intermediaries.

Chosen and collective friendship: Negotiating contradictory social ideals and demands at an Israeli elementary school classroom

Friendship has been predominantly conceptualised as a highly positive and voluntary relationship. This article contributes to recent sociological challenges to these notions by ethnographically examining how conflicting friendship ideals are negotiated in everyday life. It is based on a year-long study of friendship socialisation and friendship between girls in an Israeli elementary school classroom, from the perspectives of both the girls and their teachers. I argue that the teachers promoted two contradictory friendship ideals: one of ‘chosen’ friendship between specific students, which recognised the children’s agency and preferences; and the other, of ‘collective’ friendship between all the class group members, directed at engendering social cohesion and preventing loneliness. The article delineates how the girls and teachers negotiated relationships between the students under the framework of both friendship ideals – and in doing so, exposed the tensions and entanglements between the two. Moreover, the girls and teachers’ friendship discourses and practices shed light on the hefty social demands placed on children’s friendship ties in school, and how friendship can incorporate both collective and individual meanings.

Children or productive adults? Infantilisation and exploitation of refugees in Germany and Austria

ABSTRACT The persisting poor labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers is puzzling, especially given host states’ declared desirability of refugees and asylum seekers being employed. Existing research on the determinants of refugees’ lack of labour market integration has analysed possible factors such as refugee health and education as well as host countries’ policies and discrimination. Based on original ethnographic data generated in Berlin and Vienna in 2019, I argue that the poor labour market integration can be better understood when we consider colliding perceptions, called scripts, of refugees and asylum seekers: At the same time that they are constructed as potentially useful labour, they are also constructed as helpless children who can never quite be ready for the labour market. I present each script’s ascriptions and prescriptions towards refugees and asylum seekers, show how these are enacted by the people subjected to them and analyse how disruptions occur when there are simultaneous, contradictory demands. Policy implications are that the host society’s perceptions do matter and that integration measures must be reviewed with regard to their potentially infantilising tendencies.

Control over Muslim Women's Bodies: A Critical Review

Struggling between the contradictory demands of colonial and neocolonial forces, Muslim women have been constantly at the center of ideological, political, and religious discourses and subjected to surveillance at multiple levels. More specifically, Muslim women's bodily practices, particularly the veil, as an embodied marker of difference that challenges the Western ideals of femininity and signals the “Otherness” of Muslim women, have been at the center of debates on Muslim women's bodies and embodiment. This thematic review of feminist scholarship on regulating and controlling Muslim women's bodies suggests that postcolonial and postsecular feminists have tried to alter narratives portraying veiled Muslim women as “victims” of patriarchal oppression and have disputed representations of Muslim women as “Others.” However, important nuances of Iranian Muslim women's multidimensional and complex decisions, informed by multiple matrixes of power, whether in the form of self‐regulation or through the constant control of the surveilling gaze of dominant “Others,” remain to be explored.

Populist Citizens in four European Countries: Widespread Dissatisfaction goes with Contradictory but Pro‐democratic Regime Preferences

AbstractAre populist citizens a threat to democracy? Some philosophers view populism and democracy as irreconcilable conceptions of governing. Another line of thought describes populism as useful democratic corrective. Drawing on nationally representative surveys from four European countries, this study investigates how European populist citizens think about democracy. Descriptive analyses reveal that populist worldviews only weakly predict how people think about democracy. On average, populist and non‐populist citizens aspire to similar kinds of political systems and both endorse liberal‐democratic institutions. Yet, populists and non‐populists differ in the degree to which they hold inconsistent beliefs. Citizens with populist outlook more frequently express contradictory demands that political institutions cannot possibly deliver. Based on these findings, we conclude that most populist citizens do not pursue an elaborate anti‐democratic conception of governing. Rather, the widespread dissatisfaction among populists may create an indeterminate openness for institutional change that political elites could steer in different directions.

Education under National Socialism: Ideology, Programs and Practice

The article provides a condensed, introductory overview of National Socialist formation education in the Hitler Youth and school. It is based on the author’s own research and relevant presentations. Education under National Socialism was characterized by the interplay of a racist worldview and the regime’s totalitarian will to rule. For Nazi education, this meant that the political took precedence over all social issues, including all issues relevant from the perspective of educational theory. In our analysis, we distinguish between two levels: the level of standardization and the level of educational practices in the Hitler Youth and school. Particularly during World War II, political demands were increasingly rigidly enforced, and adolescents were increasingly instrumentalized for their purposes. The National Socialists’ aspirations for total control compared to the educational reality exhibited correspondences as well as discrepancies and contradictions. Against the background of traditional tasks of education, the verdict on Nazi education from a normative point of view is clearly negative. However, if one also looks at National Socialist educational practices, one notices numerous characteristic ambivalences – between the partly contradictory demands of the National Socialist regime, but also between its educational practices and its attempts at realization. On the one hand, National Socialists achieved comprehensive formative successes, while on the other hand they often failed because of their totalitarian objectives.

Leading in the Paradoxical World of Crises: How Leaders Navigate Through Crises

Living and operating in a global world, the risk for a global economic crisis has never been greater. As ongoing events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent war in Ukraine or the sharply increasing inflation have shown, organizations need to be highly resilient to persevere in a crisis-prone world. Even though we know that crises serve as a focal lens on leadership behavior and leaders play a crucial role in these scenarios, little is known as to how leaders handle an existence-threatening organizational crisis. Using an inductive analysis of 32 interviews on crisis leadership, we show that in the case of an acute crisis, leaders apply different paradoxical behaviors to cope effectively with the situation and navigate their organizations through these events. More specifically, our study contributes to existing literature by, first, showing that the distinctiveness of crises results from the fact that leaders are confronted with paradoxes that they can otherwise smoothly separate in terms of time or organization, second, revealing that the leader’s paradoxical behaviors as a respond are derived from their mindset to consciously recognize the contradictory demands of the crisis, and third, from their action in terms of a compressed situational leadership. By identifying six pairs of paradoxical behaviors, we demonstrate how leaders effectively deal with the unsolvable contradictions that arise from the crisis, and thus contribute to the organizations’ ability to cope with crises.

A self-amplified necrotic targeting theranostic nanoparticle with deep tumor penetration for imaging-guided personalized chemo-photodynamic therapy

Nano-based drug delivery system (NDDS) for photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as an innovative strategy for enhanced anticancer treatment, however, the limited penetration depth of nanocarrier and poor therapeutic efficacy of PDT against hypoxic or necrotic cells might cause unsatisfactory outcomes such as tumor recurrence. Thus, developing a therapeutic modality that is highly penetrable and has synergistic effects with PDT in wiping out hypoxic tumorous cells is an unmet need. Herein, the hybrid Cy7-NO2/HPC/TPZ NPs were prepared by doping photosensitizer-hypericin (HPC), hypoxic activated chemotherapeutic prodrug-tirapazamine (TPZ), and hypoxic detection NIR probe Cy7-NO2. Aside from acting as the photosensitizer, the nanoparticles inherited the necrotic targeting ability from HPC, which allowed them to accumulate precisely at tumors with satisfactory penetration depth. Then, owing to the increasing tumor necrosis during the treatment, the ensuing positive feedback loop between necrotic degree and elevated tumor accumulation would occur. Besides, the contradictory demand of oxygen supported the enhanced anticancer efficacy by realizing chemo-co-photodynamic therapy with synergistic combination of HPC and TPZ. Due to the hypoxic heterogenicity in solid tumors, therapeutical outcomes of PDT and TPZ varied significantly under different circumstances. Thus, the Cy7-NO2 probe in NPs was applied to detect real-time hypoxic degree in advance for operators to adjust the optimal ratio of TPZ to HPC for different therapeutic scenarios and finally realized a specific and personalized dosing strategy. In summary, this synergistic chemophotodynamic nanomedicine proposed an innovative site-specific targeting strategy for improved tumor penetration via constructing a positive feedback loop between necrosis degree and tumor accumulation, as well as providing an option for imaging-guiding personalized theranostic strategy.

Millennial femininity and the harmonious state of mind

The article depicts feminine subjectivity among women of the millennial generation. Content analysis of an open question relating to the answers of 623 Israeli participants reveals perceptions of femininity as at once gender conscious and non-political. Respondents express a strong sense of entitlement to gender equality yet retain an essentialized perception of gender differences. They are aware of the contradictory demands directed at women, but avoid problematizing them, instead priding themselves on their capacity to encompass both feminine and masculine traits without losing femininity. We identify in the women’s framing a strong commitment to a harmonious worldview and a non-political outlook and trace it to the influences of the global, late-modern generational preoccupation with personal transformation, self-governmentality, and positive thinking.

Do different job demands interact as predictors of long-term sickness absence? A register-based follow-up on 55 467 Danish workers

ObjectivesTo assess interactions between combinations of quantitative demands, emotional demands, unclear and contradictory demands, and violence/threats of violence in the prospective association with risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA).MethodsWe included...

3D printed metal-insulator layered structure

Additively manufactured metal–insulator layered structures are facing a contradictory demand. Laser sources with different wavelength are required to melt the two materials. In the present study we attempt to additively manufacture metal–insulator composite using a fiber laser. Three different procedures are presented. Firstly, production of a core–shell soft magnetic composite by laser-powder bed fusion technology from a unique amorphous alloy. Lastly the preparation of Fe-Si and Fe-TiN layered structure is discussed. Further improvement of Fe-TiN can be achieved by oxidation heat-treatment. Microstructure, porosity and complex permeability spectra were studied.

Understanding pragmatic paradoxes: When contradictions become paralyzing and what to do about it

Integration of paradoxes (i.e., interdependent yet contradictory tensions such as stability and change, learning and performing, or the individual and the collective) have recently been recognized as sources of synergy and competitive advantage. When adequately navigated, paradoxes may promote innovation, which favors generative complementarities. However, not all paradoxes have such generative effects. Pragmatic paradoxes (i.e., managerially imposed contradictory demands that must be disobeyed to be obeyed) tend to create paralyzing catch-22 situations. Like weeds to a flower, pragmatic paradoxes may also grow alongside the generative type. We explore the conditions in which pragmatic paradoxes become invasive in organizations, identify their main characteristics and symptoms, discuss their roots, and recommend potential approaches to their eradication.

Performance and mechanism of CO2 absorption during the simultaneous removal of SO2 and NOx by wet scrubbing process

The co-removal of CO2 while removing SO2 and NOx from industrial flue gas has great potential of carbon emission reduction but related research is lacking. In this study, a wet scrubbing process with various urea solutions for desulfurization and denitrification was explored for the possibility of CO2 absorption. The results showed that the urea-additive solutions were efficient for NOx and SO2 abatement, but delivered < 10% CO2 absorption efficiency. The addition of Ca(OH)2 dramatically enhanced the CO2 absorption, remained the desulfurization efficiency, unfortunately restricted the denitrification efficiency. Among various operating parameters, pH of solution played a determining role during the absorption. The contradictory pH demands of CO2 absorption and denitrification were observed and discussed in detail. A higher pH of solution than 10 was favorable for CO2 absorption, while the oxidizing of NO to NO2, NO2− or NO3− by NaClO2 was inhibited in this condition. When 7 < pH < 10, it was favorable for the conversion and absorption of NO and NOx. However, the conversion of HCO3− to CO32− was significantly inhibited, hence preventing the absorption of CO2. Large part of Ca(OH)2 became CaCO3 with a finer particle size, which covered the unreacted Ca(OH)2 surface after the reaction. Kinetic analysis showed that the CO2 absorption in urea-NaClO2-Ca(OH)2 absorbent was controlled by chemical reaction in early stage, then by ash layer diffusion in later stage.

Paradoxical tensions in the implementation of digital security governance: Toward an ambidextrous approach to governing digital security

Due to increasing numbers of cyberattacks, security is one of the leading challenges to contemporary organizations. As contradictory demands (e.g., tensions in digital organizations) intensify, organizations increasingly find it difficult to implement digital security governance (DSG) as part of their regular organizational change activities. Based on data from forty-two interviews with Dutch CISOs and CIOs of large organizations that are active in various sectors, we identify three key paradoxical tensions that affect DSG implementation. We found that in a digital context, paradoxical tensions are pressurized and become out of balance. Disbalance among tensions exposes friction that hinders the implementation of DSG mechanisms. Finally, we present a conceptual model that sets direction for ambidextrous digital security. Understanding how to engage with tensions in an ambidextrous way determines the success of DSG implementations in today's complex digital environments.