Defensive Orientation Research Articles

Information avoidance: An interchangeable strategy of self-protection

Across two studies, using five samples (N = 1,850), we examined whether health information avoidance—the deliberate decision to remain ignorant of available but unwanted personal health information—serves a defensive purpose and is interchangeable with other defensive strategies. We tested this idea by examining the relationship between health information avoidance—both as a dispositional tendency and deliberate decision—and feedback derogation. In Study 1, we experimentally demonstrated that a situation known to reduce defensiveness—self-uncertainty—decreased both proactive avoidance and reactive defensiveness relative to a control group. Study 2 demonstrated, across four samples, that people with a greater defensive orientation toward personal health information were more likely to derogate health information. These results are consistent with the idea that feedback derogation replaced the decision to avoid feedback. Together, results suggest that health information avoidance is likely part of a broader self-protective system and is replaceable with other motivated self-protection strategies.

TOURISM ADVERTISING ATTRIBUTE FRAMING EFFECTS ON TRAVEL CONSUMERS' VISIT INTENTION

Tourist destination advertising information is the most direct tool to encourage consumers to choose travel destinations. People often describe travel motivations as either profit-driven (seeking relaxation) or avoidance-driven (escape from stress). Attribute framing is a type of framing effect. We can also describe tourism advertising messages as either highlighting the positive outcomes of travel or highlighting the avoidable negative outcomes of travel. This article is based on the relevant theories of SOR, framing effect, and elaboration possibility model, and uses a research method that combines experimental methods and questionnaire surveys to study the impact of tourism advertising attribute frames on consumers' travel intentions. The results show that: 1）Compared with the positive attribute frame, the negative attribute frame can better promote consumers' travel intention; 2）There is a significant interactive effect between consumer adjustment orientation and tourism advertising attribute frame, compared with the mismatch between adjustment orientation (promotion orientation and negative Attribute frame, defensive orientation and positive attribute frame), the matching of promotion orientation and positive attribute frame, prevention orientation and negative attribute frame significantly enhances consumers' travel intention; 3） Processing fluency in the matching of tourism advertising attribute frame and consumer adjustment orientation It plays a mediating role in the effect. When faced with positive attribute frame information, consumers with a promotion adjustment orientation will improve processing fluency and thus affect travel intention; consumers with a defense adjustment orientation will also improve processing fluency when faced with negative attribute frame information.

Building walls within walls: Making value defensible in Public Private Partnerships

Despite widespread criticisms, governments around the world have adopted Value for Money (VfM) analysis as a key metric in gauging the prospective value of infrastructure projects. This paper examines the institutional processes through which VfM is rendered defensible as a form of valuation. Drawing on a case study of Infrastructure Ontario in Canada, the paper demonstrates that this involves strategies for partitioning space and time, including boundary work, objectification, phasing and outsourcing. We argue that the institution of delays and distances ultimately fosters the displacement of subjectivity in the valuation process while entrenching distinctively financialized understandings of value. Moreover, we demonstrate that this is driven not so much by the organization's desire to control the future but by a defensive orientation that sets out to ward off potential critiques that may arise from project failures.

The US-China Trade War in the Context of Deglobalization and the Reideologization of International Relations (Part 2)

Continuation of the article. Devoted to the causes, manifestations, circumstances, results and global consequences of US-China trade war in 2018–2021. Based on the analysis of management decisions, expert assessments, statistics and opinion polls, the author makes judgments and assumptions about the continuity of US policy, provoking and aggravating conflict relations between the two countries, as well as contributing to their penetration into all spheres of politics, economy, culture and even sports. At the same time, consistent and adequate measures on the part of the People’s Republic of China, which have a predominantly defensive orientation, are taken into account. At the same time, the anti-Chinese trade, investment, and technology policy, which was already carried out under Donald Trump in the name of ensuring the national security of the United States, and under Joe Biden actually turned into a hybrid cold war, is interpreted in the context of causal relationships characterizing the crisis of the neoliberal model of capitalism and the intentions of the world elite to restart the Bretton Woods system by switching to “green” energy. The most important resource of the transformation that has begun is the ideology of justifying any sanctions and other strong-willed decisions of the “democratic” Western states led by the United States against the “authoritarian” losers of the energy transition. Consequently, the “trade war” of the USA and China, objectively acting as an instrument of disorganization of the global world and a powerful limiter of globalization based on “market fundamentalism”, becomes the demiurge of the new globalization projected on the platform of “ideological fundamentalism”. In the situation of a multipolar world and the intensified rivalry of nuclear powers, restarting the world economy through a global war seems impossible. On the contrary, the mechanism of collecting a “green” contribution in favor of potential beneficiaries of the new globalization has not yet been tested. Within this perspective, the US-China trade war becomes not only an existential concern of the US and its allies, but also a problem of China’s survival. Obviously, this circumstance explains the emerging rapprochement between the PRC and the Russian Federation in the direction of pooling resources and forming a military-political alliance.

The US-China Trade War in the Context of Deglobalization and the Re-ideologization of International Relations (Part 1)

This paper is devoted to the causes, manifestations, circumstances, results and global consequences of US-China trade war in 2018–2021. Based on the analysis of management decisions, expert assessments, statistics and opinion polls, the author makes judgments and assumptions about the continuity of US policy, provoking and aggravating conflict relations between the two countries, as well as contributing to their penetration into all spheres of politics, economy, culture and even sports. At the same time, consistent and adequate measures on the part of the People’s Republic of China, which have a predominantly defensive orientation, are taken into account. At the same time, the anti-Chinese trade, investment, and technology policy, which was already carried out under Donald Trump in the name of ensuring the national security of the United States, and under Joe Biden actually turned into a hybrid cold war, is interpreted in the context of causal relationships characterizing the crisis of the neoliberal model of capitalism and the intentions of the world elite to restart the Bretton Woods system by switching to “green” energy. The most important resource of the transformation that has begun is the ideology of justifying any sanctions and other strong-willed decisions of the “democratic” Western states led by the United States against the “authoritarian” losers of the energy transition. Consequently, the “trade war” of the USA and China, objectively acting as an instrument of disorganization of the global world and a powerful limiter of globalization based on “market fundamentalism”, becomes the demiurge of the new globalization projected on the platform of “ideological fundamentalism”. In the situation of a multipolar world and the intensified rivalry of nuclear powers, restarting the world economy through a global war seems impossible. On the contrary, the mechanism of collecting a “green” contribution in favor of potential beneficiaries of the new globalization has not yet been tested. Within this perspective, the US-China trade war becomes not only an existential concern of the US and its allies, but also a problem of China’s survival. Obviously, this circumstance explains the emerging rapprochement between the PRC and the Russian Federation in the direction of pooling resources and forming a military-political alliance.

Personalities, organizations, and doctrine in the Indian military

ABSTRACTThe article explains when, why, and how Indian Army doctrine has changed since 1947. It traces Indian Army doctrinal evolution from defensive defense from 1947 to the mid-1960s, toward maneuver warfare after 1971, greater mechanization in the 1980s, and an emphasis on rapid, limited offensive strikes after 2002. It argues that in the absence of civilian intervention, the Indian Army has followed patterns predicted by organizational theory. The Indian Army has tended to avoid major doctrinal evolution and when doctrinal change has taken place it has consistently moved away from defensive orientations in favor of doctrines that maximize the initiative available to future Indian Army leaders to undertake offensive action. Doctrinal innovation has also been hampered by high turnover and apolitical selection of Indian Army chiefs, which inhibits continuity in efforts at doctrinal reform and modernization.

SNS에서 사용자의 정보공개에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대한 연구

소셜네트워크서비스 사용자들이 늘어감에 따라 SNS에서 정보를 공개하게 되는 일도 많아지고 있다. 본 논문은 이러한 SNS 사용시 정보공개에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대해 연구한 것으로, 사회적 자본 이론과 조절초점 이론을 바탕으로 하고 있다. SNS 사용자들은 연결자본 중심적인지 결속자본 중심적인지에 따라, 그리고 촉진지향적인지, 방어지향적인지에 따라 정보공개에 차이가 있을 것으로 보고 연구를 진행하였다. 연구결과로 연결 자본이 클수록 SNS 셋팅 공개도 많아지고, 대화에서의 정보공개 또한 많아지지만, 결속자본은 SNS에서의 대화에 정보공개는 많아지지만, SNS 셋팅에서의 정보공개에는 영향을 미치지 않았다. 또한 조절초점이론에 대해서는, 촉진지향성이 크면 SNS 셋팅과 대화에서 모두 정보공개가 많아졌으나, 방어지향성은 SNS 셋팅에서 정보공개는 적게 하지만 SNS 대화에서의 정보공개는 차이가 없었다. 마지막으로 조절효과로는 연결자본이 크고 촉진지향성이 큰 사람일수록 SNS 셋팅에서의 정보공개가 더 커지는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 SNS 사용자들이 정보공개를 늘리고 SNS 활동에 적극적으로 참여하도록 하기 위해 사용자들에게 관계의 형성과 확산이 중요하고 개인의 발전을 위해 필요한 것이라는 인식을 제공하는 것이 중요함을 알 수 있다. 또한 본 연구는 사회적 자본과 SNS정보공개 및 개인의 조절초점 성향을 통합한 연구로써, 새로운 커뮤니케이션 툴인 SNS에서 정보공개 및 SNS 셋팅 공개에 영향을 미치는 학문적으로 그리고 실무적으로 중요한 요소들을 보여주고 있다. 정보를 공개하거나 보호하는 요소들을 파악함으로써 교육자들이나 연구자들은 보다 효과적으로 정보 보호나 공개의 교육이나 프로그램을 개발할 수 있을 것이다. As the number of SNS users increases, so does their self-disclosure. This study examined the factors affecting self-disclosure based on Social Capital Theory and Regulatory Focus Theory. The (extent of self-disclosure by users/number of users disclosing themselves) in SNSs is expected to differ depending on their social capital (bonding capital vs. bridging capital) and regulatory focus (promotional vs. defensive). As a result of this study, it is found that bridging capital is positively related to self-disclosure in profile and in conversation, while bonding capital is positively related to self-disclosure only in conversation. With regard to regulatory focus, promotional orientation has a significant effect on self-disclosure in profile and in conversation, while defensive orientation is negatively related to self-disclosure in profile, but not related to self-disclosure in conversation. Promotional orientation is found to moderate the effect of bridging capital on self-disclosure.

Submissive, inhibited, avoidant, and escape motivated: The correlates and consequences of arm-crossing.

Some scholars of nonverbal behavior contend that arm-crossing indicates a defensive orientation to the social environment, but relevant evidence is sparse. Three studies (N 242) sought to investigate whether there is truth to this idea. Consistent with it, Study 1 found that people reporting higher arm-crossing frequencies scored higher in interpersonal submissiveness and were more inhibited in their social decision-making. To investigate causal processes, Studies 2 and 3 manipulated arm-crossing using a hypothesis-disguising cover story. Study 2 found that arm-crossing activated thoughts of the self’s submissiveness and social vulnerability. Study 3 focused on activated strategies for handling potential interpersonal violence. Participants in an arm-crossing condition, relative to a control condition, indicated that they would be more inclined to escape and less likely to attack. The studies converge on the idea that arm-crossing can signify and cause a defensive social orientation.

Death preparedness: a concept analysis

To report analysis of the concept death preparedness in the context of end-of-life shared decisions and communication. Forty percent of older people require decision-making and communication in the final days of life. Elaborate defence mechanisms have yielded a public consciousness that no longer passively views death acceptance, but instead has a defensive orientation of preparedness. The term 'death preparedness' depicts this death attitude. Concept analysis. Data were collected over 3months in 2013. A series of searches of scholarly peer-reviewed literature published in English were conducted of multiple databases. Specific keywords included such phrases as: death acceptance, death avoidance, death rejection, death preparedness, resolution of life, breaking bad news and readiness to die. Walker and Avant's method was chosen as a deductive method to distinguish between the defining attributes of death preparedness and its relevant attributes. Death preparedness involves a transition of facilitated communication with a healthcare provider that leads to awareness and/or acceptance of end of life, as evidenced by an implementation of a plan. An appraisal of attitudes towards death and one's mortality precedes the concept, followed by an improved quality of death and dignity at end of life. The concept of death preparedness in the process of dying should be the focus of research to explore areas to improve advanced directive planning and acceptance of palliation for chronic health conditions.

Defensive or Existential Religious Orientations and Mortality Salience Hypothesis: Using Conservatism as a Dependent Measure

The study examined the relationship between the defensive versus existential religious orientation and mortality salience hypothesis in a country where the predominant type of religion is Islam. It was predicted that the mortality reactions of participants would not differ in accordance with their religious orientations within a Muslim sample. The dependent variable tested in the study was conservatism and it was expected that within the Muslim sample both defensively and existentially oriented participants would react to mortality salience manipulation. The defensive participants became more conservative in the mortality salient condition as opposed to failure salience and TV salience conditions. However, contrary to the authors’ hypothesis, existential participants did not react to mortality salience manipulation. The results were discussed in accordance with the self-relevance of the conservatism variable, which is the dependent variable of the study. Research implications and suggestions for future studies were also provided.

THE EFFECTS OF TEAM STRATEGIC ORIENTATION ON TEAM PROCESS IN COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENTS

In two experiments, we test the effects of team strategic orientation on team member perceptions and information search. In both studies, defensive team strategic orientation increases members’ per...

A Comparison of Multinational and Domestic Firms in an Emerging Market: A Strategic Choice Perspective

Building upon the MNE theory and strategy literature, this study compares the strategic choice in response to environment between multinational and domestic firms operating in an emerging market. We theorize that the strategic choice of multinational firms in response to a changing environment is not necessarily isomorphic with that of local firms because they have different organizational capabilities and perceptions of environmental dimensions. Canonical analysis is conducted based on data collected from foreign businesses and state firms in China. We observe that among foreign firms, managerial perceptions of increased environmental complexity, dynamism, and hostility are positively associated with an analyzer strategy. In contrast, a defender strategy is preferred by local state firms during economic transition. Multiple regression analysis also demonstrates that the analyzer strategy drives up profitability and competitive position for MNEs. When operating in an emerging economy, it is important for MNEs to formulate and implement fight strategies that align with environmental dynamics and lead to superior performance. The complex and uncertain environment in emerging economies generally has a strong and sustainable influence over the strategic choices for both foreign and local businesses there. As MNEs and local firms are heterogeneous in organizational capabilities, market orientations, strategic objectives, and institutional support, such strategic choices will not, and should not, be the same between them. MNEs need to be more innovative and adaptive than local companies in order to offset their liabilities of foreignness and compensate for their disadvantages in the lack of governmental supports that are important to business success in emerging economies. Nevertheless, MNEs should not become enormously proactive and aggressive in order to mitigate unnecessary instabilities in a volatile environment. This hybrid (or Analyzer) orientation can lead to superior performance in both sales and profitability for MNEs because it fits well with the objective to exploit emerging market potentials as well as daunting challenges they face. The defensive orientation is advisable for such local state firms that intend to pursue profitability when they are institutionally protected by the government. Although many state firms are now restructuring and reorganizing to keep pace with economic transformation, they are inherently less innovative because their industrial property rights are owned and controlled by the central government.

Las mujeres con diversidad funcional (discapacidad) como agentes de transformación social: una perspectiva internacional

Este estudio se ha realizado con el soporte del Comisionado para Universidades e Investigación del Departamento de Innovación, Universidades y Empresa de la Generalitat de Catalunya y del Fondo Social Europeo.

The exclusion of indirect costs from efficiency benchmarking

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the effects produced by a strategy aimed at neutralising one of the “disturbance factors” that may impede the focalisation on “real (in)efficiency” in relative efficiency assessments within the health‐care sector: the exclusion of indirect costs from these comparative analyses.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis is based on the statistical elaboration of data from a sample group of hospital sub‐units within Italian health‐care trusts. The analysis isolates the effect on efficiency indicator variability (dependent variable) of excluding indirect costs (independent variable).FindingsThe analysis conducted has uncovered the likely manipulation of indirect costs to create the impression of having achieved approximately average levels of efficiency performance. The case analysed in this study shows how a defensive orientation in public organizations may arise even without the application of some form of compulsory benchmarking.Practical implicationsThe results observed highlight how the exclusion of indirect costs – potentially allocated to attain cross‐subsidization among cost objects – may help to uncover actual cases of (in)efficiency and thus aid in identifying “true” best practices.Originality/valueLiterature has presented a variety of strategies aimed at neutralising some of the “disturbance factors” that impede the focalisation on “real (in)efficiency” in inter‐trust efficiency comparisons. However, until now no studies have supplied evidence of the efficacy of the strategies in question in isolating “real (in)efficiency”.

Trade unions and the defence of the European social model

Taking as its point of departure the challenges faced by the European social model and the role of trade unions therein, this article identifies aspects of the defensive orientation adopted by trade unionists in Europe and points to an emerging contradiction between the support of trade unionists for European integration and the increasingly neoliberal character of policies intended to ‘modernise’ the European economy. Examination of trade union policy innovations intended to reverse recent declines in membership and influence reveals the breadth of such policies, but also demonstrates that to date they have proved insufficient to reverse decline.

A Defensive Orientation in Soviet and Russian Strategic Nuclear Thought?

Nicole C. Evans is completing her doctorate in international relations at the University of Oxford, St. Antony's College. She is the 2003-2004 retained lecturer in international relations at the university's Wadham College.DESPITE THE END OF THE COLD WAR, many assumptions continue to be made about the supposed inherently aggressive nature of Soviet and Russian strategic nuclear thought. Contained within these assumptions are arguments about the continuity, or lack thereof, between Soviet and Russian defence policies. These assumptions can cloud contemporary analysis of Russian defence policies and contribute to the continuation of dangerous misunderstandings between states. If the orientation and intent of a state's nuclear policy are misinterpreted, the likelihood of an inappropriate response increases dramatically, and with it a spurring of the security dilemma.Contrary to these assumptions, this article argues that there was a defensive orientation in Soviet and Russian strategic nuclear thought from the 1960s until 2002. This is demonstrated by analyzing a neglected but key aspect of Soviet and Russian strategic nuclear thought on the use of nuclear weapons: no-first-use (NFU). I argue that the Soviet Union and Russia took NFU very seriously, which is a good indicator of a defensive orientation in their strategic nuclear policy. The policy of NFU was symbiotic with the Soviet and Russian post-1969 doctrine of launch-upon-attack, since launch-upon-attack called for a retaliatory reaction to an enemy attack. NFU and moves to restrict the use of nuclear weapons were seen by the Soviet Union and Russia as defensive gestures that would restrict the ability and desire of adhering parties to initiate nuclear action.(1)The motivating factors for Soviet and Russian NFU policies varied across different periods and opinion groupings. In the 1960s, civilian analysts and the political leadership focused on the link between NFU, on the one hand, and disarmament and proliferation on the other. Beginning in the 1970s, and carrying through until the demise of the Soviet Union, the emphasis was on the risks of nuclear war and the crucial role for NFU in halting such dangers. As the military establishment became increasingly involved in NFU debates, the consistently negative American responses to Soviet NFU initiatives were seen as evidence of aggressive American intentions. In the post-Soviet period, the dire situation of the Russian armed forces and the ensuing military insecurities led to a shift away from pure NFU to a stance that saw the use of nuclear weapons as a necessary defensive response mechanism. While many of the Soviet NFU gestures were political, the long-lived and cumulative energies put into promoting NFU indicate a positive climate of Soviet opinion regarding NFU.The Soviet and Russian defensive orientation was at times accompanied by a seemingly contradictory offensive military posture and means. However, in contrast to the majority of the Cold War literature, the two stances are not mutually exclusive. The overall Soviet and Russian defensive orientation can be seen as leaning backwards and stepping away, as opposed to leaning forward and poised to pounce. This defensive orientation leaned away from precipitating conflict and worked to sustain stability and peace--however precarious. This was at times contrasted by an offensive military posture. A military posture is the position that would be assumed once the Soviet Union or Russia had been attacked. Once the Rubicon was crossed, Soviet and Russian forces were prepared to engage in what is termed offensive defence. Thus the Soviet Union and Russia could be defensive in orientation but offensive in military posture.The analysis is divided into three periods. It begins in the 1960s, moves into the Brezhnev-Gorbachev period from the 1970s until the extinction of the Soviet state and concludes with the post-Soviet period, ending in 2002 with the American withdrawal from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. …

In Defense of Autonomy: A Critique of the Public Journalism Critique

This article argues that public journalism as a reform movement has failed to appreciate the complexity of professional autonomy arid the occupational benefits it affords to practitioners. The article describes how the dynamics of professional. socialization predispose journalists to guardedly protect their independence. What might appear to be a defensive orientation is, in fact, quite understandable, given numerous threats to autonomy originating from inside and outside the neu'-sroom. Would-be reformers should articulate how autonomy could be protected-but recast- as professional expertise directed at political activation. The author discusses the implications of this argument for theory of press reform and for college instruction.

In Defense of Autonomy: A Critique of the Public Journalism Critique

This article argues that public journalism as a reform movement has failed to appreciate the complexity of professional autonomy and the occupational benefits it affords to practitioners. The article describes how the dynamics of professional socialization predispose journalists to guardedly protect their independence. What might appear to be a defensive orientation is, in fact, quite understandable, given numerous threats to autonomy originating from inside and outside the newsroom. Would-be reformers should articulate how autonomy could be protected—but recast—as professional expertise directed at political activation. The author discusses the implications of this argument for theory of press reform and for college instruction.

A Defensive Orientation in Soviet and Russian Strategic Nuclear Thought? The Case of No-First-Use

A Defensive Orientation in Soviet and Russian Strategic Nuclear Thought? The Case of No-First-Use

Are Nativists a Different Kind of Democrat? Democratic Values and “Outsiders” in Japan

This paper combines three elements: a discussion of democratic values and the status of outsiders in Japanese political culture, the development of new measures to examine sensitive issues of nativism and foreigner perception in Japan, and an empirical exploration of the relationship between democratic values and antipathy toward outsiders. Two forms of democratic orientation were investigated in a sample of about 1,000 university students in Japan: a defensive version, which adheres to the formalistic requirements of democracy but is exclusionary and illiberal, and a universalist version that is liberal and tolerant. A defensive orientation is associated with greater chauvinism, a greater sense of threat emanating from foreigners, and a heightened anxiety about economic competition. A universalist orientation is associated with low perceived threat and low chauvinism, a lack of fear of economic competition, and a positive view of the cultural contributions of outsiders. Nativism may indeed be compatible with democratic values, but only with the defensive, exclusionary form. In short, the defensive form is democracy for xenophobes. Such an orientation is not unique to Japan, but is likely to be found in developing democracies as well as in advanced democracies that feel threatened.