Cross-regional Study Research Articles

Parametric Versus Nonparametric Inference on Zenga Index of Inequality: Issues and Evidence From Survey Data

Recent growing disparities suggests to move from inequality measures based on comparing the incomes of the less fortunate with the overall mean, as the Gini, to the new Zenga index, which instead contrasts the means of the less and the more wealthy subpopulations. After providing a thorough analysis of the theoretical and practical aspects of obtaining parametric and non-parametric confidence intervals for the Zenga inequality measure, we develop a cross-regional study based on the Swiss Income and Consumption Survey, wave 2005. Results show that coverage accuracy and average length of confidence intervals improve when the parametric model offers a good fit to the data.

Retesting the greater male variability hypothesis in mainland China: A cross-regional study

This study retested the greater male variability hypothesis in creative thinking with Chinese samples from both urban and rural areas in mainland China. The test for creative thinking–drawing production (TCT–DP) was used as the measure of students’ creativity. The samples consisted of 630 primary students from an urban area and 515 primary students from a rural area. Although the results of the study supported the greater male variability hypothesis in urban and rural samples, the male superiority pattern was supported only in the urban sample. The results of the means analysis further supported that the pattern of male superiority was only present in urban populations. Therefore, the greater male variability hypothesis in creativity has received consistent support in studies of Chinese samples, while the male superiority pattern varied across the samples. Plausible explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.

What are Students’ Attitudes towards Different Management Strategies: A Cross-regional Study

Previous studies have revealed that Singapore students seemed to show many disciplinary and behavioral problems in schools. Many teachers think their students are becoming harder and harder to deal with. Thus the strategies for managing disciplinary and behavioral problems have become a crucial factor in determining teachers’ success in their careers. Two previous studies (Cheng & Tan, 2000; 2002) reported Singapore teachers’ favorite management strategies and students’ attitudes towards these strategies. A big discrepancy was found in these two previous studies. Students showed very negative attitudes towards most of the management strategies which the teachers thought were very effective. The present study seeks to learn if students in different regions of China have similar attitudes towards these strategies. The attitudes of students from three regions, a big modern city, a medium size city and a remote mountain area in China were summarised and compared with Singapore students. The students from all different regions showed similar attitudes toward these management strategies. However, attitude differences between the students from the remote mountain area and the other regions exist and cannot be ignored. These students from the remote mountain area showed more tolerance to their teachers’ strategies which the others were strongly against. The results of the present research will help teachers to understand their students better and reconsider the use of appropriate strategies to deal with students’ disciplinary and behavioral problems.

Is economic growth improving urbanisation? A cross-regional study of China

This study applies a bootstrap panel Granger causality test to determine the relationship between urbanisation and economic growth for China. We find that the patterns of interaction between urbanisation and economic growth vary across different regions. The empirical results show that in urbanisation of the northern coastal region and most of the inland region Granger causes economic growth, whereas economic growth does not have a significant effect on urbanisation, except in the southern coastal region and the inland region. One-fourth of China’s provinces, primarily in the southern coastal region, do not show a Granger causality relationship between urbanisation and economic growth. This finding indicates that urbanisation has promoted economic growth by expanding demand and that economic growth’s effect on urbanisation is restricted by administrative intervention rather than market mechanisms. Thus, the findings for three-fourths of the provinces in China conform to the urbanised economy theory. These results may help regional governments undergoing urbanisation to create fair economic growth policies.

A Critical Appraisal of Word-of-Mouth (WOM) on Consumer Buying Behavior (A Cross Regional and Sectorial Study)

The relevance of the Word-of-Mouth (WoM) as a strategic marketing tool cannot be over emphasized and this has been widely documented on consumer behavior literatures and journals. People like giving a firsthand experience of any product or service they come in contact with, this could either be experiences from the bar or restaurant they went, the movie they watched over the long weekend, computer they purchased, book they read or places they visited. Researchers have buttressed the fact that this is a vital tool in expressing the level of satisfaction consumers derive from the consumption of products and services and also expressing their distastes if otherwise. For over 50 years, Word of Mouth (WoM ongoing) has been actively researched (Brooks 1957), hence, it has been recognized as one of the most influential sources of information transmission since the beginning of society, especially for experience goods (Godes & Mayzlin, 2004).The consumer decision making process can be regarded as a in a circle trip with four main phases which depicts major points of consideration that determines if a marketer can succeed or otherwise. These phases are the initiation consideration stage, researching potential purchase stage, purchase or closure stage and post purchase stage (David C, et al, 2009). However, it should be understood that the consumer decision process doesn’t always follow a specified process, Shyamala and Ravilochanan, (2011), explained that different buying factors affect an already prescribed list of items at the final purchasing point, such factors could be the brand of the product, WoM, advertisement, cost of the product etc, but still, the traditional WoM holds the best appeal in respect to all advertising platforms (Rodrigo, 2012). Therefore understanding consumer purchase behavior and factors that influence it such as the WoM involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.The major aim of this proposal is to appraise the purchasing or closure stage where consumer eventually makes purchase. As identified above, there are various factors that determine whether a consumer makes purchase on what he/she initially had in mind and the eventual purchase, part of this factor is the WoM, hence, we would like to measure the significance of WoM in various different regions and sectors at the same time period, and also evaluate the impact of both positive and negative WoM on customer experience and their buying behaviors.

Economic Inequality and Political Instability Measuring by DEA and Alternative Indices: State of the Art and Research Perspectives for Cross-Regional Studies

Economic Inequality and Political Instability Measuring by DEA and Alternative Indices: State of the Art and Research Perspectives for Cross-Regional Studies

The rise and transformation of German political Catholicism (1848–1914) and Turkish political Islam (1970–2011)

While cultural assumptions of incommensurability lead to a dearth of cross-religious and cross-regional studies in the sociology of religion, such studies offer distinctive analytical opportunities for gaining empirically grounded general insights on religious politics. This article explores the rise and transformation of the German Center Party (1848–1914) and of Turkish Islamic parties (1970–2011) in comparative perspective. It is argued that the significant structural parallels in the trajectories of these religious parties stem from similarities in the policies of secularist actors and from common characteristics of the political structure in the two settings. The article concludes with a call for a relational approach that takes the political environment and interactions with secularist actors as constitutive of religious-political movements.

Using a Body Scanner in Assessing Perceptions of Attractiveness: Cross-Regional Study

Previous research reported that body size measured as Body Mass Index (BMI) and body shape measured as waist-hip-ratio (WHR) are two essential factors that form the perceptions of body attractiveness. However, the debate on the importance of BMI versus WHR is ongoing. In addition, scholarly articles, that focus on the role of geographic and cultural variability on perceptions of attractiveness, report inconsistent results. Some suggested that according to globalization and the rise of mass media, geographic variability of perceptions of attractiveness have been altered, while others believed that it remains. This study cross-regionally investigates the role of body size and body shape on the perceptions of female attractiveness. Samples were composed of 107 female college students in Alabama and 107 female college students in California. Participants viewed 27 three-dimensional body scan images of women in three body shapes (pear, hourglass, and rectangle) and three body sizes (underweight, normal weight, and overweight) and rated their perceptions of attractiveness. Images were shown to students in a random order with an overhead projector and Microsoft Office PowerPoint software. A three-way mixed-ANOVA was conducted to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that some regional differences exist between the two sample groups. However, regardless of the regional difference, hourglass shapes were perceived to be the most attractive shape and underweight sizes were perceived to be the most attractive size for both samples.

Intention to purchase on social commerce websites across cultures: A cross-regional study

This study investigates the moderating effect of culture and the mediating effect of trust in a social network community on the relationship between social interactions and purchase intention. Trust transference theory, social interactions, and Hofstede's cultural dimensions are considered. The findings from the research support the moderating effect of culture and the mediating role of trust in a social network community on the relationship between social interactions (in terms of closeness and familiarity) and intention to purchase in social commerce environments. In addition, the mediating effect of trust in a social network community is conditional on culture. The findings also suggest that trust in a social network community may be attributed to the closeness and familiarity developed among its members resulting from social interactions. The results presented herein are in line with the trust transference theory. The empirical study results also suggest that social commerce market penetration in East Asia may have relatively fewer barriers to overcome and be more likely to succeed than in the Latin America region.

Moral Authority Leadership and Progressive Islamic Discourse: The Gulen Movement and the Nahdlatul Ulama in Comparative Historical Perspective

Much of the current scholarships on Islamic social movements in Muslim-majority countries focus on the political discourses of conservative/fundamentalist Islamic groups such as Al Qaeda and Hamas. Fewer scholarships have examined the role of theological ideas in influencing the political discourse of progressive/liberal leaning Islamic groups such as the Gulen Movement (GM) from Turkey and the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) from Indonesia. Virtually none of the scholarships on these two movements have examined them from a comparative historical perspective. Utilizing constructivist international relations theory, this study attempts to make a theoretically informed cross-regional comparison between these two groups. It analyzes similar and different strategies utilize by these groups to promote and institutionalize progressive Islamic ideas - defined in this study as theological support toward democracy, state-religion separation, and religious tolerance/pluralism - within their respective societies. By conducting comparative historical, cross-regional study of these two Islamic movements, my project serves as a theory development exercise of the role of moral authority leadership and its role in disseminating new theological ideas beyond the artificial regional boundaries that has historically made scholarship on political Islam and Islamic social movements in the Middle East and Southeast Asia to exist largely separately, with little dialogue and collaboration with one another. This study brings together existing knowledge about Islamic social movements from the two countries in order to develop a new theory on the role of theological change within Islamic social movements that is generalizable across the Islamic world. The data of this research consist of historical documents, secondary studies, and in-depth interviews with officials and activists from these movements.

Conglomerates on the rise again? A cross-regional study on the impact of the 2008–2009 financial crisis on the diversification discount

This paper investigates how the 2008–2009 financial crisis affected the value of diversification in different regions of the world, thereby emphasizing the role of the institutional context. We show that the effect of the credit crunch upon the diversification discount varied with the regions' level of capital market maturity and legal environment. In developed Asia Pacific, the British Isles, and North America, we find that the discount on conglomerates fell significantly during the crisis years; however, in Continental Europe – the region possessing the least developed capital markets and lowest legal investor protection in our sample – the impact of the financial meltdown upon the relative value of diversified firms was insignificant. Our study provides additional evidence on factors influencing the relative costs and benefits of diversified firms and highlights in particular the importance of accounting for different institutional settings.

Institutional development and financing decisions: evidence from a cross-regional study on Chinese listed firms

In this paper, we empirically investigate how differences in the development of legal and financial institutions across Chinese provinces and municipalities affect the financing decisions of Chinese listed firms. Our results indicate that a stronger regional enforcement of property rights reduces firms’ reliance on bank loans. Conversely, in regions with a larger government expropriation risk, firms raise more and shorter-term bank debt. Active regional bank lending positively impacts the debt ratio and the fraction of bank loans, but shortens loan maturities. The size of the local banking sector, the market capitalization as well as the liquidity of local stocks bear no relation with the capital structure. Overall, these relations do not depend upon the identity of the firm's controlling shareholder. Nonetheless, our results do suggest that state-controlled firms benefit from easier stock market access.

Clearfell controversies and alternative timber harvest designs: How acceptability perceptions vary between Tasmania and the U.S. Pacific Northwest

Perceptions of the acceptability of alternative “variable retention” timber harvests, that keep trees standing in harvested areas, were compared between regions beset by major forestry conflicts. Data from similar studies of similar harvest systems were compared between Oregon and Tasmania. These comparisons were related to attitudes and to differences in ecosystems, silvicultural prescriptions, forestry outcomes, aesthetics, and social-political context. Findings showed that perceptions measured in one region cannot be assumed valid in another. Substantial regional differences arose not from general sociological differences but from differences in local forestry outcomes. These largely arose from different regeneration requirements of commercial tree species and consequent differences in the design of otherwise analogous harvests. Comparisons of perceptions by people with similar attitudes yielded substantial regional differences. Those prioritizing ecological conservation were mainly influenced by habitat outcomes, and consequently preferred harvests with aggregated tree retention patterns in Tasmania but not in Oregon. People sympathetic to timber industry interests in both regions showed little association between forestry outcomes and acceptability and favoured more intensive harvests. Tasmanian harvest advocates perceived harvests that keep more standing trees as less acceptable than those in Oregon. This may be due to sampling differences or to greater risk perceptions towards new harvest designs in Tasmania. Tasmanians generally disliked clearfelling more than Oregonians, likely due to different political narratives framing these perceptions or to higher aesthetic impacts in Tasmania due to burning. Dispersed retention was perceived as more acceptable in Oregon than in Tasmania, likely because Oregon had much higher post-harvest tree densities. Regional differences in wildfire-risk and logger-safety were not strongly associated with different acceptability perceptions because these were confounded by other more influential concerns. More and better cross-regional studies of environmental perceptions are needed and would benefit from more standardized or coordinated methods.

Economic Inequality and Political Instability Measuring by DEA and Alternative Indices: State of the Art and Research Perspectives for Cross-Regional Studies

No AccessEconomic Inequality and Political Instability Measuring by DEA and Alternative Indices: State of the Art and Research Perspectives for Cross-Regional StudiesEvgenija Goryushina, Karine MesropyanEvgenija GoryushinaSearch for more papers by this author, Karine MesropyanSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:Jan 2019https://doi.org/10.7767/dnrm-2012-3-408SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Download book cover ISSN: 0012-5415eISSN: 2307-289XHistoryPublished online:January 2019 PDF download

Patterns of violence‐related skull trauma in neolithic southern scandinavia

This article examines evidence for violence as reflected in skull injuries in 378 individuals from Neolithic Denmark and Sweden (3,900-1,700 BC). It is the first large-scale crossregional study of skull trauma in southern Scandinavia, documenting skeletal evidence of violence at a population level. We also investigate the widely assumed hypothesis that Neolithic violence is male-dominated and results in primarily male injuries and fatalities. Considering crude prevalence and prevalence for individual bones of the skull allows for a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal violence in the region, which is characterized by endemic levels of mostly nonlethal violence that affected both men and women. Crude prevalence for skull trauma reaches 9.4% in the Swedish and 16.9% in the Danish sample, whereas element-based prevalence varies between 6.2% for the right frontal and 0.6% for the left maxilla, with higher figures in the Danish sample. Significantly more males are affected by healed injuries but perimortem injuries affect males and females equally. These results suggest habitual male involvement in nonfatal violence but similar risks for both sexes for sustaining fatal injuries. In the Danish sample, a bias toward front and left-side injuries and right-side injuries in females support this scenario of differential involvement in habitual interpersonal violence, suggesting gendered differences in active engagement in conflict. It highlights the importance of large-scale studies for investigating the scale and context of violence in early agricultural societies, and the existence of varied regional patterns for overall injury prevalence as well as gendered differences in violence-related injuries.

A Cross-Regional Study of Work Goals in China

A Cross-Regional Study of Work Goals in China

Embracing democracy in the western Balkans: from postconflict struggles toward European integration

Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans offers a comparative, cross-regional study of the politics and economics of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania from 1999 to the present. It was during this period that the first wave of post-communist regime transition ended and the region became more deeply involved in the challenges of democratic consolidation. Lenard J. Cohen and John R. Lampe explore the legacies of communist rule, the impact of incentives and impediments on reform, and the magnetic pull of European Union accession. The authors ask whether the Western Balkans are embracing democracy by creating functional, resilient institutions-governmental, administrative, journalistic, and economic-and fostering popular trust in the legitimacy of those institutions.

Attitudes toward Olfaction: A Cross-regional Study

This study aimed to determine whether there are regional influences on attitudes toward olfaction. A total of 1082 participants aged 21-50 years from 4 different regions (Mexican, Korean, Czech, and German) were asked to rate general attitudes toward olfaction in everyday life. To examine affective attitudes to odors (i.e., pleasantness), participants were also asked to list 3 odors as being the most pleasant or unpleasant, respectively. Next, the mentioned odor names were attributed to 1 of 4 main categories: "Food & Drink," "Social relationship," "Nature," and "Civilization" and the distribution of these categories was compared across regions. Mexicans were significantly different to the other regions in their general attitudes toward olfaction. In addition, in all regions, in comparison with men, women indicated a higher interest in the sense of smell. Moreover, a significant positive correlation was present between individuals' self-rating of olfactory sensitivity and general attitudes toward olfaction. Finally, there were significant cross-regional differences in affective attitudes toward specific categories of odors. In conclusion, our findings support and extend the notion that regions affect attitudes toward the olfactory world.

Adapting cropping systems to climate change in Nepal: a cross-regional study of farmers’ perception and practices

Climate change is a global challenge that has a particularly strong effect on developing countries such as Nepal, where adaptive capacity is low and where agriculture, which is highly dependent on climatic factors, is the main source of income for the majority of people. The nature and extent of the effects of climate change on rural livelihoods varies across Nepal in accordance with its highly diverse environmental conditions. In order to capture some of this variability, a comparative study was performed in two different ecological regions: Terai (lowland) and Mountain (upland) in the western development region of Nepal. The study focuses on perceptions of, and on adaptations to climate change by farmers. Information was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. Climate data were analyzed through trend analysis. Results show that most farmers perceive climate change acutely and respond to it, based on their own indigenous knowledge and experiences, through both agricultural and non-agricultural adaptations at an individual level. The study also shows that there is a need to go beyond the individual level, and to plan and provide support for appropriate technologies and strategies in order to cope with the expected increasing impacts of climate change.

The Role of Occupation in an Integrated Boycott Model: A Cross-Regional Study in China

ABSTRACT The study examines the role of occupancy status in an integrated boycott model, which synthesizes related theories that involve consumer animosity and five other constructs. The status of occupancy introduced in this paper is determined by the real-life incidence of military occupation imposed on China by Japan in the 1940s. The findings suggest that, regardless of the status of the occupancy condition, the tendencies of animosity, efficacy, and prior purchase behavior play important roles in attitudes toward participating boycott activities. The findings offer implications for marketing practice in that the management of multinational corporations that are concerned with increasing their share in any specific country must be aware of that country's history. In this regard, large companies need to pay much more attention to the ingrained and explosive emotion derived from the legacy of past conflicts (i.e., war, economic, political, etc.) between their host and home nations, regardless of a difference in the status of past occupation.