Mimetic Behavior Research Articles

Value Relevance of Accrual Information in Public Sector: Facts from Practices

ABSTRACT Accrual accounting plays a crucial role in the public sector as it enhances the efficiency of asset utilization. However, much of existing research focuses more on the theoretical ideals rather than the practical realities of its implementation. This research aims to bridge this gap by examining the practical evidence to assess the value relevance of accrual information within the public sector. The findings of this research reveal that managers and public officials in Indonesia consider information relevant when it is simple, easy to understand, and frequently utilized. This research demonstrates that accrual accounting practices in Indonesia predominantly exhibit mimetic behavior.

Task-oriented machine learning surrogates for tipping points of agent-based models

We present a machine learning framework bridging manifold learning, neural networks, Gaussian processes, and Equation-Free multiscale approach, for the construction of different types of effective reduced order models from detailed agent-based simulators and the systematic multiscale numerical analysis of their emergent dynamics. The specific tasks of interest here include the detection of tipping points, and the uncertainty quantification of rare events near them. Our illustrative examples are an event-driven, stochastic financial market model describing the mimetic behavior of traders, and a compartmental stochastic epidemic model on an Erdös-Rényi network. We contrast the pros and cons of the different types of surrogate models and the effort involved in learning them. Importantly, the proposed framework reveals that, around the tipping points, the emergent dynamics of both benchmark examples can be effectively described by a one-dimensional stochastic differential equation, thus revealing the intrinsic dimensionality of the normal form of the specific type of the tipping point. This allows a significant reduction in the computational cost of the tasks of interest.

The board gender diversity imitation game: Uncovering the resistant boards that refuse to play

AbstractResearch question/issueThis study examines the influence of group behavior on board gender diversity and identifies obstacles to its diffusion. It investigates whether boards are influenced by group behavior in determining their gender composition and explores barriers that impede the diffusion process.Research findings/insightsAnalyzing a network of over 18,000 US‐listed boards observed over 20 years, we find a pattern of mimetic behavior, whereby boards imitate the proportion of women on boards (WoB) among their directly tied boards. We also identify resistant firms with low representation of women on their boards. Our findings suggest that, among those boards, there are heavily male‐dominated boards resisting the appointment of women, even when surrounded by women directors among their tied boards. The diffusion of board gender diversity is slowed down by these resistant boards, hindering the overall progress in increasing gender diversity within the board network.Theoretical/academic implicationsThis research contributes insights into group behavior and resistance in board gender diversity. Adopting a network theory lens, our study sheds light on interactions between firms and their connected companies in terms of imitation practices. Drawing on social identity theory, we highlight the significance of the resistance to increasing women's representation exhibited by some boards.Practitioner/policy implicationsResistant boards, despite group pressure, slow down the diffusion of board gender diversity within the network, leading to overall stagnation. Understanding the sources of resistance allows an exploration of alternative measures to promote diversity without rigid mandates.

A good neighbor, a found treasure: Do local neighbors affect corporate innovation?

AbstractThis study examines whether local neighbors operating in different industries affect corporate innovation engagement. Based on mimetic isomorphism theory, we find that innovative local neighbors can serve as a social reference group for corporations to build legitimacy and guide corporations' mimetic innovation behavior. Our results remain robust after controlling for endogeneity by employing various methods. More importantly, our mechanism analysis indicates that local government activism is crucial to promote mimetic innovation behavior in a region. Our study provides a valid mechanism to explain the emergence of highly innovative cities that agglomerate across industry boundaries. Our research makes two key contributions to the literature. First, our study contributes to the literature on corporate innovation clustering by adding new evidence of the mimetic effects in corporate innovation across industries. Different from the industrial peer effects in innovation, which address the industrial peer effects through the lenses of competitiveness and information dissemination, our results highlight that mimetic isomorphism explains the regional effects of mimicry on corporate innovation. We find strong evidence indicating that firms imitate the innovation behaviors of their local neighbors, and this tendency is most plausibly explained by the incentives associated with acquiring legitimacy. Second, our findings clarify the mimetic behaviors in corporate innovation by extending the theory of mimetic isomorphism. We link local government activism to mimetic isomorphism from the psychological and sociological perspectives. In particular, our results indicate that local governments can implement activism through the psychological and sociological mechanisms illustrated in this study. Those “soft” mechanisms initiated by government contribute to a better understanding of the regional effects of mimicry on corporate innovation.

Быть миметичным

The author of the article analyzes mimesis in terms of behavior that does not aim to express and assert selfhood or identity, but only pretends to do so. “Being mimetic” means: “Stop being yourself and be like yourself!” The article reveals the implications and consequences of such behavior or such mimesis. The author recalls the famous anecdote when Theodor Adorno encounters a dog and urges it to be mimetic, placing it in the context of the relationship between mimesis and slapstick comedy. Through the rupture between “being” and “pretending” that emerges in comedy, mimesis becomes a liberating and pacifying power. Another crucial characteristic of mimesis is the transformation of an activity or certain mode of being into an event. The mimesis shows something more than the activity itself. The comedians Beckman and Chaplin do not simply walk around the stage, they come walking: they raise walking to the level of an event. The audience experiences not only what is truly visible, but also what is immaterially present in the atmosphere of the landscape, which is embodied in the encompassing eroticization of the action. Walking, stroll appears here for a reason: the author notes their deep affinity with mimesis — simultaneously coming-and-going, absent and present, a walking to and a walking away. The author notes the gap that arises between mimetic behavior, which means to pretend to be what one is, and pretending of the actor and the comic. This gap reveals the place from which the actor or comic calls for “being mimetic” — the place of art and Kierkegaard’s “refusal” of it.

Drivers of Digital Transformation in SMEs

This study aims to identify and analyze factors determining the adoption of digital technologies in SMEs. Drawing on the technology–organization–environment framework, the study highlights enabling factors from three different contexts and hypothesizes their relationship with digital technology adoption. The data used were collected from 15 346 European Union and non-European Union SMEs to test an ordered logit regression model that highlights the factors associated with an increased level of digital technologies adoption in SMEs. The empirical results show that the technology context (IT infrastructure and digital tools) along with the existing level of innovation are the main drivers that act as stepping stones in digital technology adoption. Corporate regulation, available skills, and financial resources (as organizational variables) also play a significant role in the adoption decision. Unexpectedly, the influence of the environmental context is marginal. The implications of this study are emphasized for theory and practice, laying a foundation for further empirical studies in this field. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>Managerial relevance statement:</i> This article reviews the empirical research on digital technologies adoption and examines the drivers of such adoption in SMEs. The factors identified provide guidance for practitioners adopting digital technologies in SMEs, by suggesting they assess the readiness of their firms before investing in digital technology. This research helps advance the conversation on digitalization drivers especially by bringing the discussion into the organization boundaries, as our findings highlight the predominance of organizational drivers over the technological and environmental ones. SMEs have to overcome the challenges associated with constructing an IT infrastructure capable of implementing new technologies. Indeed, while striving to adopt new digital technologies (e.g., AI, big data, IoT), many SMEs are still unprepared. Therefore, rather than adopting mimetic behaviors based on external pressure, SMEs that aim for digitalization should first assess their existing technologies, and further develop a meticulous technological roadmap that includes skills upgrades and investments in upskilling employees’ capabilities. Therefore, developing a fully integrated strategic approach is crucial before the adoption of digital technologies

A new multimodal magnetic nanozyme and a reusable peroxymonosulfate oxidation catalyst: Manganese oxide coated-monodisperse-porous and magnetic core-shell microspheres

Monodisperse-porous, polydopamine and manganese oxide coated, core-shell type, magnetic SiO2 (MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2) microspheres 6.4 μm in size were synthesized for the first time, using magnetic, monodisperse-porous SiO2 (MagSiO2) microspheres 6.2 μm in size as the starting material. MagSiO2 microspheres were obtained by a recently developed method namely “staged shape templated hydrolysis and condensation protocol”. In the synthesis, MagSiO2 microspheres were consecutively coated by polydopamine (PDA) and then by a MnO2 layer in the aqueous medium. The pore volume and the specific surface area of monodisperse-porous MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2 microspheres were measured as 0.59 cm3 g−1 and 154 m2 g−1, respectively. Their Mn and Fe contents were determined as 66 ± 1 mg g−1 and 165 ± 5 mg g−1 respectively. MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2 microspheres exhibited multimodal enzyme mimetic behavior with highly superior catalase-like, oxidase-like and peroxidase-like activities. The effective production of singlet oxygen (1O2) and superoxide anion (O2−*) radicals in MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2-peroxymonosulfate (PMS) system was demonstrated by ESR spectroscopy. By evaluating this property, MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2 microspheres were tried as a reusable catalyst for dye removal via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation in batch experiments for the first time. The degradation runs were made with, rhodamine B (Rh B), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) as the pollutant. The core-shell type design allowing the deposition of porous MnO2 layer onto a large surface area provided very fast, instant removals with all dyes, via both physical adsorption and degradation via PMS activation. In the reusability experiments, the removal yields of MO and Rh B decreased 1.8% and 8.9% over five consecutive runs in batch fashion. MagSiO2@PDA@MnO2 microspheres exhibited very good functional and structural stability in consecutive dye degradations. No significant change was observed in Fe content of microspheres while Mn content exhibited a decrease of 7.4% w/w over 5 consecutive degradation runs.

Non-Financial Disclosure: Isomorphism Effect in the Face of New Regulation

The purpose of this paper is to study the mimetic isomorphism process among firms in a context of expectations of further non-financial disclosure regulation. From the new institutionalism theory approach, we study the effect that the 2014/95/EU Directive transposition into the Spanish law had on 120 companies over an eight-year period and the isomorphism determined by their activity and leadership in reporting before (expectations period) and after the law enactment. Before the law, a trend to increase disclosure was observed, especially among environmentally sensible sectors and low-level reporting firms, while afterwards, the trend was reversed except for leading companies, highlighting the prevalence of the mimetic and normative isomorphism. This work deepens understanding of the adoption processes of coercive norms based on mimetic behaviors and coercive isomorphisms and helps in predicting the effect of a given norm after its announcement and approval, supporting more efficient designs for future legislation.

Litigate or let it go? Multi-market contact and IP infringement-litigation dynamics

We explore how multimarket contact (MMC) explains competitors' intellectual property (IP) infringement-litigation dynamics. We build on role congruity theory to propose that the role played by each firm in shared markets generates expectations about their behavior, determining which of the following dynamics arise: mutual forbearance (low probability of IP infringement and high probability of litigation) or mimetic behavior (high probability of IP infringement and low probability of litigation). We look into two possible roles, imitators and innovators, and claim that (1) mutual forbearance dynamics are more likely to arise when firms play the role of innovators, whereas (2) mimetic behavior dynamics are more likely to arise when firms play the role of imitators. We find support for our predictions in a sample of 813 patent infringement cases in the biopharmaceutical industry. Increasing MMC from one standard deviation below the mean to one standard deviation above the mean leads to a 21.6 (20.6) percent decrease in the probability of infringement and a 22.7 (65.1) percent increase in the probability of litigation after infringement when the rival (focal firm) plays the role of an innovator in shared markets. Alternatively, this increase in MMC leads to a 14.3 % increase (no increase) in the probability of infringement and a 5.2 (16.4) percent decrease in the probability of litigation when the rival (focal firm) plays the role of an imitator in shared markets.

Anecdotal Accounts of Manatee Behavior: Conservation and Management, Behavioral Ecology, and Cognition

Herein, we report anecdotes of manatee (family Trichechidae) behavior based upon accounts made by experienced observers. We have categorized the anecdotes into the broad categories of Conservation and Management (interactions with boats, people, and capture nets; rehabilitation and release), Behavioral Ecology (navigation, mother–calf interactions, interactions with conspecifics, mating behavior and birthing, anti-predator behavior, foraging and eating), and Cognition (sensory perception; learning, memory, and knowledge; interactions with objects, other species, and people; and mimetic behavior). These are all subjects that pertain to the goals of the Florida Manatee Recovery Plan of 2001. We found that many accounts report similar behaviors, suggesting that these may be fruitful lines of further inquiry. One subcategory, Navigation, appears to offer many research areas amenable to systematic study. The apparent behavioral flexibility and knowledge shown in manatee actions in several domains suggest that investigations of manatee intelligence are likely to be revealing.

Disclosure of auditor risk assessments in expanded audit reports

PurposeThis rich descriptive study examines auditors' client risk assessment (i.e. “key audit matters”/critical audit matters) disclosures in expanded audit reports of 328 Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 companies. The study compares auditor-identified client risks with corporate risk disclosures identified in audit committee reports, in terms of number and type of risks. The research also compares variation in auditor-identified client risks between individual Big 4 audit firms. In addition, the study examines auditor ranking of their client risks disclosed.Design/methodology/approachThe study manually content analyses disclosures in audit reports and audit committee reports of a sample of 328 FTSE-350 companies with 2015 year-ends.FindingsAudit committees identify more risks than auditors (23% more risks). However, auditor-identified client risks and audit-committee-identified risks are similar (80% similar), as are auditor-identified client risks between the individual Big 4 audit firms. Only ten (3%) audit reports rank the importance of auditor-identified client risks.Research limitations/implicationsSample is restricted to one year, one jurisdiction, large-listed companies and companies audited by Big 4 auditors.Practical implicationsThe study provides important insights for regulators, auditors and users of financial statements by identifying influences on disclosure of auditor-identified client risks.Originality/valueThe paper mobilises institutional theory to interpret the findings. The findings suggest that auditor-identified client risks in expanded audit reports may demonstrate mimetic behaviour in terms of similarity with audit-committee-identified risks and similarity between individual Big 4 audit firms. The study provides important insights for regulators, auditors and users of financial statements by identifying influences on disclosure of auditor-identified client risks.

Werther effect in the juvenile population. About a series of cases

IntroductionSuicide is currently one of the biggest public health problems, it is the third cause of death in the age group between 15 and 29 years (16.36% of young people who died in 2013). The ‘Werther effect’ refers to the mimetic behavior of the suicidal act, thus making reference to the controversial novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe, in 1774. The population most susceptible to this influence is the most vulnerable and ambivalent, such as they can be adolescents and young people, people with personality disorders and drug use. Durkheim considered that imitation was not due to the contagion effect of making suicides public, but to the social conditions of some places, which were what caused people to commit suicide.ObjectivesThe objective of the case is to expose the vulnerability to the imitation of suicidal behaviors of young people suffering from personality disorder and drug use.MethodsWe present the case of 4 young people between 18 and 21 years old (3 women and 1 man) from the same group of friends who, after the death by suicide of a 20-year-old boy, in the following 2 months, carried out suicidal behavior by taking medication they found at home and consumption of different drugs.ResultsThe two 21-year-old patients planned for the first month of the anniversary of the friend’s death, the intake of drugs and medication and leave a farewell note explaining the reasons. The patients required hospitalization in an acute mental health unit, one patient developed myocarditis secondary to toxins, during hospitalization they undergo psychotherapeutic treatment and are evaluated, leading to the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder and Multiple Drug Use Disorder. The 20-year-old patient took medication on the anniversary month but did not require hospitalization. He underwent outpatient follow-up at a day hospital. During the therapeutic process, he was diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder. The 18-year-old patient required hospitalization for structured self-injurious ideation with a risk of acting out at 2 months, psychotherapeutic treatment was started and she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and harmful drug use. The 4 young people continue outpatient follow-up by both the community mental health unit and the addiction treatment center.ConclusionsWe observe in the series of cases exposed, the vulnerability of young people suffering from personality disorders and drug use to suicidal behavior, so risk factors for their prevention must be identified and continue working on adequate information of suicidal acts, whether completed or not, to avoid imitation phenomena. In all cases, suicide should not be seen as a desirable alternative and strategies to cope with difficulties and emotional management should be offered and promoted, especially in this young population that is still developing and is more vulnerable.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Fiscal rules: the imitation game

ABSTRACTDe jure fiscal rules have known a rapidly increasing popularity worldwide. This paper aims at analysing their spatial diffusion in 108 countries over the period 2001–2015 using a pooled version of the Bayesian SAR probit model. Using two different types of weighting (geographic proximity and bilateral trade) and desegregating the results for specific rules, I find a significant and positive spatial lag in line with the imitation (strategic complementarity) hypothesis. Rational imitation, deriving from a race to fiscal credibility, is preferred over the blind imitation hypothesis as the mimetic behaviour is revealed only in countries facing weaker fiscal reputation.

AS POSSÍVEIS CONTRIBUIÇÕES DO CONCEITO DE MÍMESIS PARA PENSAR A INICIAÇÃO CIENTÍFICA EM TEMPOS DE REGULAÇÃO DA CONDUTA EM PESQUISA

ABSTRACT: Research ethics has been the subject of an intense movement of conduct regulation based on a preconceived model under the logic of biomedical sciences. In the context of a mostly normative response to the question of research ethics, this article, based on an exploratory research, aims to investigate the potential of undergraduate scientific research (USR) in stimulating student’s awareness of the issue of ethical conduct in research. For this, the bibliographical research, centered on the concepts of mímesis developed by Adorno and Benjamin, is combined with the analysis of responses given by undergraduate students of the Humanities and Social Sciences with experience in USR to an online questionnaire. The formative potential of USR is affirmed as it is a privileged instance for mimetic behavior, allowing the learning through observation from the practical application of concepts from the moral field to research.

The Relationship between Students' Mimetic Approaches and Learning Styles in Architectural Design Education

Architects' attitudes most likely get from the common values obtained during their education and these values are acquired within the period of architectural education i.e., from the first year to the last year. In this sense, design problems are mostly defined with the help of mimetics and it is believed that thinking through mimetics enables the student to explain and understand an unknown situation relative to a familiar situation. So, believing that each student in the design studio uses certain language codes and develops them with knowledge, in this paper the design preferences of four architecture students at three different stages of their education are cross-sectionally analysed using the method called "Metaphorical Reasoning: Context and Depth" and the design approaches of each student are revealed. As shown in this study, some students have an excellent ability to use abstract concepts and have been able to switch between resources (between-domain sources and within-domain sources) very boldly. In the process, the accumulation of knowledge and education changed their mimetic behaviour, and the abstract concepts of some novices became more complex as their education progressed. On the other hand, some other novices who took tangible design approaches remained almost unchanged until the end. Considering that these different mimetic approaches of students are related to their learning styles, Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) method was used and learning styles of four students were revealed. The learning styles of the students obtained by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) method support all the findings.

Manatee cognition in the wild: an exploration of the manatee mind and behavior through neuroanatomy, psychophysics, and field observations.

Cognition refers to the mechanisms for acquiring, processing, storing, and acting on information, all of which are critical to understanding the behavior of animals. These mechanisms are poorly known in manatees, especially how they are expressed in the wild. To expand our understanding of manatee cognition, we gathered information from behavioral experimentation in the laboratory, neuroanatomical research, controlled field studies, integrated laboratory and field measurement, and natural history observations (published reports, written surveys, and interviews with knowledgeable observers). Laboratory research, both neuroanatomical and behavioral, provided the most empirical data, primarily on sensory/perceptual capacities. Inferences from these data and narratives from surveys and interviews illuminated possibilities for higher order cognition. Evidence from field measurements was sparse, although substantial amounts of information have been collected from tracking data and to a lesser extent vessel impact studies, which can be used to infer cognitive attributes. Manatees are tactile-auditory specialists with complementary visual and chemosensory abilities. They demonstrate learning characteristics typical of vertebrates. Movement tracking data plus direct observations suggest that they have good spatial cognition, indicated by their ability to traverse complicated water networks and memory for foraging and warm water sites. They engage in a wide range of play-like, object manipulation, and mimetic behaviors, which suggests cognitive capacities beyond basic associative learning. Understanding manatee cognition beyond the laboratory will be necessary for conservation of manatees as they face challenges such as habitat degradation and threats from water-borne vessel traffic. There is a clear need for more direct research in natural settings.

Value of Values for Startup Investors

To meet our present needs without compromising future generations, we need more firms with sustainable business model (SBM). However, these firms will flourish only if there are investors using financial, social, and environmental criteria in their decision-making process. To understand why invest in SBM startups, and the difference among investors that make socially responsible investment (SRI) and non-SRI, the first author participate-as-observer in an accelerator, including decision meetings about which startups to invest. We also interviewed investors of both types and collect secondary data about interviewees to validate our findings. We find that SRI investors have concerns about inequity, society, and environment, mostly because of their life history, leading to an other-regarding approach when investing, but also considering there is a better way to make business, meaning that SRI is a virtue and a practice to excel. In the other hand, non-SRI investors want to achieve financial gains, through an opportunity-seeking behavior, learn about new technologies and business models, and networking, increasing their opportunities and connections, indicating a self-interest approach. However, some non-SRI may perceive SRI as a virtue and decide to invest in SBM to achieve the good, indicating a mimetic behavior. Background play an important role as an antecedent on investment decision, and studies that evaluate other-regarding should consider individuals history. Finally, we identify that virtue and moral values play a significant role on SRI decision-making process. Future research can evaluate how background, other-regarding, and virtue can improve game, action, and behavioral theories.

Like a Mass Image: Fellini’s Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio, Advertising and Mimicry

ABSTRACT This article considers Federico Fellini’s Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio (1962), a fifty-minute episode in the omnibus Boccaccio ’70. While sometimes praised for its aesthetic and stylistic significance, the film remains largely overlooked and is considered a ‘bagatelle’ or ‘break’ in Fellini’s career. This article explores its valence as a promotional break between La dolce vita (1960) and 8 ½ (1963) and its overt thematisation of the mass image of advertising. Unpacking the film’s ostensible superficiality, the discussion is not so much focused on praising its originality, but on highlighting its conceptual, thematic, and aesthetic entanglement with mimicry and imitation. For the film not only addresses the mass image of advertising and the mimetic behaviour it relies on and encourages, but also itself enacts such mimetic behaviour in different ways. In so doing, it both taps into, and contributes to, contemporaneous concerns and debates about mass media and image culture.

A financial frontier model with bankers' susceptibility under uncertainty

AbstractThis article aims to refine the Post Keynesian long run financial frontier models under an intermediate run called the ‘implementation period,’ the time horizon to finance and implement long run strategic plans. During this period, the availability of debt finance is crucial to bridge the time gap before future free cash flows validate the investment. Therefore, firms' long run investment plans may be modified or suspended during this time horizon subject to bankers' uncertainty perception and state of confidence, which constrain debt capacity and firms' investment decisions. Uncertainty and the measures to enhance confidence, such as banking convention, mimetic behaviours, and bankers' spontaneous optimism, are critical to determining the financial frontier because they affect the lending amount, tenor, and refinancing potential. The proposed model focussing on bankers' convention and susceptibility explains the volatile nature of the financial frontier, investment instability, downward sloping effective loan supply and credit rationing under new perspectives.

International experience and imitation of location choices: The role of experience interpretation and assessment and its board‐level microfoundations

AbstractResearch summaryDrawing on the information‐based imitation and information‐processing perspectives, we examine how experience interpretation and assessment—and in particular its board‐level microfoundations—affects the relationship between a firm's international experience and its decision to imitate the market leader's location choices. Our results show that the negative relationship between international experience and imitation of location choices is positively moderated by board turnover, board age, and board equity ownership but not influenced by board gender diversity. These findings advance our understanding of the interplay between information‐based motives for imitation and firms' information processing and organizational learning. Specifically, we contribute to research on the effect of international experience on firms' mimetic behavior by pointing out the relevance of experience interpretation and assessment from a microfoundations perspective.Managerial summaryOur study provides indications for executives attempting to predict competitors' global strategy. When it comes to location choices, we find that companies with less international experience are more likely to follow the market leader, while those internationally experienced are more likely to follow their own path. Moreover, lower board turnover, relatively younger directors, and smaller equity ownership can favor the articulation and exploitation of the lessons offered by prior international experiences, thus further reducing the company's inclination to imitate the leader's location choices. Firms seeking an independent path toward internationalization can therefore use corporate governance—and in particular board‐level factors—to enhance their ability to interpret and assess their international experience.