Individual Mindsets Research Articles

Explaining variation in the economic value of irrigation water using psychological capital: a case study from Ndumo B and Makhathini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This study investigates the economic value of irrigation water using data collected from 200 smallholder producers in Makhathini and Ndumo areas, KwaZulu-Natal.The study accounts for psychological capital (individual mind-set and attitude affecting motivation to take initiatives) as an important aspect of farm management. This concept focuses more on the ‘soft’ aspects of farm management, which have not been adequately studied in the context of smallholder farming. A sustainable livelihoods framework is employed as a conceptual framework and the role of psychological capital is integrated to explain the variation in water values. The study employs the residual valuation method to estimate water values, principal component analysis to generate an index for psychological capital, and the general linear model to explain variation in water values. The findings suggest that variation in water values was mainly influenced by the location of the farmer, farmer type, physical capital, social capital, land size, farming experience, crop type and psychological capital. The results reinforce the importance of institutional arrangements and collective bargaining as an important element of managing a smallholder farm to increase the economic value of water. To build and develop positive psychological capital for smallholders, it is recommended that government should re-visit the usual model of ‘hand-outs’ (input, finance). It is time to re-consider direct farmer support that entails being heavily involved in their day-to-day activities (i.e., purchasing inputs and running the irrigation schemes on their behalf). Going forward, the focus should rather be on enabling them to change their behaviour to be self-reliant and own their own destiny through on-farm and off-farm economic activities. Moreover, government and other development partners have to understand the long-term behavioural impact (on farmers) of what they do, for instance, entrenching expectations.

Effect of Cultural Priming on Social Behavior and EEG Correlates of Self-Processing.

Humans are social beings and the self is inevitably conceptualized in terms of social environment. The degree to which the self is perceived as fundamentally similar or fundamentally different from other people is modulated by cultural stereotypes, such as collectivism and individualism. These stereotypes are not hardwired in our brains and individuals differ in the degree to which they adopt the attitudes that define their culture. Moreover, individuals can acquire multiple sets of cultural knowledge and, depending on the context, either individualistic or collectivistic cultural mindset could be activated. In this study, we used cultural priming techniques to activate either individualistic or collectivistic mindset and investigated the association between source-level EEG connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) and spontaneous self-related thoughts in the subsequent resting state. Afterward, participants performed a social interaction task, in which they were allowed to choose between friendly, avoidant, or aggressive behavior. After collectivism priming, self-related thoughts were associated with increased connectivity of DMN with the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), which is involved in taking the perspective of others and is more active in representatives of collectivistic cultures, whereas after individualism priming they were associated with increased connectivity with the temporal pole, which is involved in self/other discrimination and is more active in representatives of individualistic cultures. Individual differences in the intensity of post-priming self-related thoughts and the strength of DMN-temporal pole connectivity predicted individual differences in behavior during the social interaction task, with individualistic mindset predisposing to more friendly and trustful social behavior.

Discounts or happy money for efficient inventory management? A new trend on Romanian markets in changing the consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour is one of the basic factors precisely analysed by major companies to identify the main requirements, needs, desires and trends in people’s consumption habits and to generate profit. Do these occur when consumers’ financial resources are limited and whether consumer habits are changing according to their financial availability? In this study, the impact of discounts on people’s buying behaviour, especially during the product’s expiration when it is sold with only 50% of the initial price was analysed. An online quantitative research was carried out with a sample of 160 respondents concluding that most of the consumers bought 50% less products even if they are not on their shopping list, most of the time there was only the illusion of an economy, not the saving itself. As a final remark, people are very sensitive when it comes to discounts changing the mindset of individuals who usually waste money for useless amounts of food and other products.Keywords: Happy money, discount, consumer behaviour, quantitative research.

THE ROLE OF IMPLICIT THEORIES AND EFFORT IN THE EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS MADE OF RECYCLED MATERIALS

In the past, scholars and policy makers have tried to educate as well as incentivize practices like recycling to avoid reduce landfill stocks and create new objects from past used materials. Such products have been commercialized more and more by big brands (i.e. Adidas and Levi’s) and by famous fashion designers (i.e. Stella McCartney). While more academic literature has focused on drivers for consumers’ motivations to engage in recycling activities, there has been little research investigating consumers’ underlying psychological factors to favour recycled products over standard ones. In this study we address this issue by experimentally testing consumer evaluation and intention to adopt recycled products through an implicit theory – or mind-sets-framework on. In a set of three studies we demonstrate how consumers holding and incremental mind-set – who believe that trait like intelligence, morality or personality are malleable and transformable over time – are more keen top adopt products made of recycled materials. In contrasts, individuals with an entity mind-set – who instead believe human traits are fixed and non-mutable- are more sceptical to embrace such products. In Experiment 1 we demonstrated that the chronic incremental mind set of individuals influences their intention to acquire a recycled – over a non-recycled – coffee mug. In Experiment 2, we demonstrate through a laboratory experiment that this preference for products made out of recycled materials is stable in individual with an incremental min-set – over their entity min-set counterpart – even below the liminal attention threshold. Finally, in Experiment 3 we demonstrate that by attributing the merit of the transformation in a different object to qualities that are embedded in the materials used (rather than to the process to transform them) can make recycled products more appealing also to individuals with an entity mind-set. The results of these studies contribute to the literature on implicit theory by investigating another area in consumer psychology (intention to adopt recycled products) so far unexplored. On a managerial point of view, this study suggests how highlighting the effort spent by a company in creating the product can attract consumer (especially incremental theorists) to intend to buy the product, while highlighting the qualities of the material used can attract more entity theorists.

MELAMPAUI TERORISME: PENDEKATAN KOMPREHENSIF UNTUK MEMAHAMI DAN MENANGKAL TERORISME

This study aims to formulate the steps and strategies that must be done to deal with the growing terrorism problem in the early 21st century. This research will analyze the underlying causes and reasons for the emergence of terrorism which then becomes a serious challenge for the international community, especially Indonesia. As for the background of this research is the development of terrorism is increasingly rapid and fertile that threatens the stability and integrity of a country. Why is terrorism growing more fertile? Is there anything wrong with the efforts and strategies that have been used so far? And, should new approaches and ways to be used to counter terrorism? These questions form the basis for the author to explore more deeply about the dynamics of terrorism with examples of countries such as Indonesia. The narrow mindset of individuals and groups, as well as the lack of critical thinking about the information or development of life seen, and the failure of love, have led them to a radical understanding that encourages terrorists. Thus, in this study, transcendence can be a fundamental way to change the root causes of individuals or groups in becoming radical. The transcendence must be followed by comprehensive approaches from the government, society, as well as changes in social circumstances, particularly economy and education

Can education change the world? Education amplifies differences in liberalization values and innovation between developed and developing countries.

The present study investigated the relationship between level of education and liberalization values in large, representative samples administered in 96 countries around the world (total N = 139,991). These countries show meaningful variation in terms of the Human Development Index (HDI), ranging from very poor, developing countries to prosperous, developed countries. We found evidence of cross-level interactions, consistently showing that individuals’ level of education was associated with an increase in their liberalization values in higher HDI societies, whereas this relationship was curbed in lower HDI countries. This enhanced liberalization mindset of individuals in high HDI countries, in turn, was related to better scores on national indices of innovation. We conclude that this ‘education amplification effect’ widens the gap between lower and higher HDI countries in terms of liberalized mentality and economic growth potential. Policy implications for how low HDI countries can counter this gap are discussed.

What is a Global Mindset?

The brain is the most powerful possession that a human being possesses. We have a choice of using the brain or limiting the use of the brain. A mindset is a personal approach for allowing ourselves to use the power of the brain based on perceived strengths and weakness. The individual mindset can be divided into three types to understand the individual growth potential The most appropriate individual mindset for building a global mindset is the dynamic mindset that is based on strengths, interest in working on weaknesses as encountered, and willingness to change with the environment.

The influence of vehicle body type in shaping behavioural intention to acquire electric vehicles: A multi-group structural equation approach

The study presents a multi-group structural equation modelling exercise to identify differences in the mindset of individuals towards electric vehicles (EVs) across seven vehicle body types in Canada. The study utilizes a sample of 15,392 households and grounds the psychographic orientation of potential EV adopters on an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Specifically, the study measures the impact of five latent constructs; environmental concerns, attitude, subjective norm, personal moral norm, and perceived behavioural control on the intention to adopt EVs along with socio-economic-demographic (SED) variables. The results highlight that both attitude and perceived behaviour control are the strongest factors influencing individual intention to adopt EVs. However, the multi-group invariance analysis indicates that the psychographic orientation and the SED traits of potential adopters of different EV body types are significantly different, with particular standouts in the luxury and pickup truck classes. We follow this up with an analysis of mindshare towards EVs over the seven vehicle types. Insights derived from the analysis can help define potential submarkets for EVs and accelerate their adoption.

Psycho-Social Factors of Terrorism in Nigeria

Abstract: The present study aims to build a thorough understanding and causes of terrorism. It discusses probable psychological and sociological factors for terrorist activities. The paper elaborates on the presence of psychopathologies and cultural influences that harbor the mindsets of terrorist individuals. It also highlights the relationship between religion and violence and elaborates on the impact of media and its role on terrorism. The identification of psycho-social factors linked with terrorism and violence serves as a way to better understand the phenomenon. This is likely to promote peace, harmony, and love in Nigerian societies.

Madurese cultural communication approach

Madura is a tribe with a cultural entity influenced by the ecological aspect and Madurese people. Assessing Madurese culture cannot be separated from the relation of society and ecological aspects that form the characteristics of Madura culture. Stereotypes of Madurese include a stubborn attitude, and carok or killing as a problem solving. On the other hand, Madurese are known to be inclusive, religious, and hardworking. The basic assumption is that the ecological conditions in Madura also shape the social and cultural life of the Madurese. Therefore, judging the Madurese cannot just be seen from a single event only. Moreover, the assessment only focuses on Madurese violence and disregards their structure and social aspects. Assessing Madura culture as a whole can explain the characteristics of Madurese community. According Hofstede culture is a characteristic mindset and perspective of individuals or groups of society in addressing a distinguished life. These differences distinguish individuals from others, or one country to the other. According to Hofstede to be able to assess the culture can be explained by four dimensions namely, individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity-femininity and power distance. The method used in this research is a case study. The Result is Madurese classified collectivism can be viewed from the pattern of settlements called kampong meji. Madurese can be classified into low and high uncertainty avoidance. the power distance for the Madurese is classified as unequally or there is a distance of power based on social groups. The element of masculinity of the Madurese is shown to be found when the earnestness of work.

Oral Transmission of the Sacred: Preaching in Christ Embassy and nasfat in Abuja

Abstract This article1 compares and contrasts the practices of preaching between Christ Embassy and nasfat in the city of Abuja. The preaching of the two groups responds to the social situation of Abuja, which includes hard economic conditions and religious pluralism. The article analyses the preaching styles in Christ Embassy and nasfat within the framework of performance theory. It argues that preaching is an important instrument for empowering urban residents with the necessary mental resources for meeting the challenges of the urban environment. Moreover, the article argues that preaching is a practice of mediation that is facilitated by aspects such as stage design, dress, background music, eloquence, and preaching assistants. In Christ Embassy, one of the purposes of preaching is a total transformation of the individual mindset and the cultivation of new norms and values. Preaching in nasfat has the purpose of producing modern and pious Muslims who can live comfortably in pluralistic urban settings and project a positive image of Islam.

Creating a growth mindset

PurposeThis paper aims to show that everything a business does is fundamentally reliant on its culture. Culture determines how successful a strategy is and whether that strategy can be executed. If the culture in a business is out of alignment, it is imperative to change it. This paper examines how HR professionals can take ownership of this cultural space and help to create a growth mindset throughout the organisation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on experience gained through working with several large organisations to transform their people culture and performance by embracing a growth mindset and to help their HR leadership become the early champions of change, thus ensuring the process was successfully delivered. The paper includes case studies of two organisations where successful cultural shaping delivered improved results.FindingsCompanies with a growth mindset will outperform those with a fixed mindset. Changing mindsets is not overly complex, but it requires flawless implementation with the HR leaders at the forefront.Originality/valueAs Lou Gerstner, who turned around the computing giant IBM, said “I finally realised that culture is not part of the game, it is the game”. By understanding how individual mindsets impact culture, HR professionals can own and drive their organisation’s culture-shaping efforts.

Lazy Managers and Crazy Entrepreneurs: Do Resources Influence Biases in Risk Perception?

This paper discusses a theoretical extension of entrepreneurship research by linking research on risk, risk perception and entrepreneurship to illuminate possible explanations for differences in decision-making between entrepreneurs and managers of large firms. By considering important findings in behavioral economics, entrepreneurship research and international management together, particularly as it relates to the resource availability, we find new potentially fruitful areas of research and suggest three research directions. Specifically, the paper proposes that there are no meaningful differences between entrepreneurs and managers, but that the interplay of individual mindset and resource availability may have a significant effect on decision-making around new ventures, including venture growth and international expansion. Keywords: Culture, Cross-cultural comparison, Entrepreneurship, Heuristics, Risk, Risk Perception, Uncertainty

Stepping forward together: Could walking facilitate interpersonal conflict resolution?

Walking has myriad benefits for the mind, most of which have traditionally been explored and explained at the individual level of analysis. Much less empirical work has examined how walking with a partner might benefit social processes. One such process is conflict resolution-a field of psychology in which movement is inherent not only in recent theory and research, but also in colloquial language (e.g., "moving on"). In this article, we unify work from various fields pointing to the idea that walking together can facilitate both the intra- and interpersonal pathways to conflict resolution. Intrapersonally, walking supports various psychological mechanisms for reconciliation, including creativity, locomotion motivation, and embodied notions of forward progress. Both alone and in combination with its effects on mood and stress, walking can encourage individual mindsets conducive to resolving conflict (e.g., divergent thinking). Interpersonally, walking can allow partners to reap the cognitive, affective, and behavioral advantages of synchronous movement, such as increased positive rapport, empathy, and prosociality. Walking partners naturally adopt cooperative (as opposed to competitive) postural stances, experience shared attention, and can benefit from discussions in novel environments. Overall, despite its prevalence in conflict resolution theory, little is known about how movement influences conflict resolution practice. Such knowledge has direct implications for a range of psychological questions and approaches within negotiation and alternative mediation techniques, clinical settings, and the study of close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record

Determination and Validation of the Project for Educational Research That Scales (PERTS) Survey Factor Structure

This study used exploratory factor analysis to test the factor structure of the Project for Educational Research That Scales (PERTS) instrument. Research that reports the reliability, construct validity, and factor structure of the PERTS scale is useful for interpreting the results from the use of the widely distributed survey and for suggesting interventions to develop an academic mindset in the classroom. Correlations and exploratory factor analyses were performed using pre-existing data from a medium-sized, rural school district, in a large southwestern state of the U.S. as self-reports from a sample of 2,908 students, in grades 3 through 8, at three elementary and two middle schools. Results of the exploratory factor analysis confirmed the proposed four-factor structure. The PERTS survey demonstrated internal reliability on three of the four scales above the pre-determined indices of Cronbach’s alpha > .80, with the exception of the individual mindset scale with a Cronbach’s alpha of .772.

A survey of mindset theories of intelligence and medical error self-reporting among pediatric housestaff and faculty.

BackgroundIntelligence theory research has illustrated that people hold either “fixed” (intelligence is immutable) or “growth” (intelligence can be improved) mindsets and that these views may affect how people learn throughout their lifetime. Little is known about the mindsets of physicians, and how mindset may affect their lifetime learning and integration of feedback. Our objective was to determine if pediatric physicians are of the "fixed" or "growth" mindset and whether individual mindset affects perception of medical error reporting. MethodsWe sent an anonymous electronic survey to pediatric residents and attending pediatricians at a tertiary care pediatric hospital. Respondents completed the “Theories of Intelligence Inventory” which classifies individuals on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 (Fixed Mindset) to 6 (Growth Mindset). Subsequent questions collected data on respondents’ recall of medical errors by self or others.ResultsWe received 176/349 responses (50 %). Participants were equally distributed between mindsets with 84 (49 %) classified as “fixed” and 86 (51 %) as “growth”. Residents, fellows and attendings did not differ in terms of mindset. Mindset did not correlate with the small number of reported medical errors.ConclusionsThere is no dominant theory of intelligence (mindset) amongst pediatric physicians. The distribution is similar to that seen in the general population. Mindset did not correlate with error reports.

Between Evasion and Activism: A Qualitative Inquiry into the Political Behavior of German and Swedish Long-Term Unemployed

This comparative article aims to understand the patterns underlying the political behavior of young German and Swedish long-term unemployed individuals. Based on almost 40 qualitative interviews, the analysis follows a grounded theory approach and shows that “unemployment” is not an objective reality that imposes uniform living conditions. Social and political activities diverge considerably, even though our respondents experience similar pressures and sanctions by public opinion, political parties, public administrations, relatives and/or acquaintances. The consequences of unemployment depend on individual mind-sets, support networks and coping strategies. This study identifies informal networks of social relations as one main factor influencing unemployed young peoples’ political behavior. Three types of political involvement are shaped by the routines and norms reproduced within their web of social relations in everyday life: evasion, civic minimalism and reluctant activism. The similarities between the German and the Swedish respondents overshadowed the national differences

Exploring the Individual-Organizational Global Mindset Nexus: A MNC- Practitioner-Academia Dialogue

The objective of this panel symposium is to explore opportunities for connecting individual and organizational global mindset from both a research and practice perspective. The link between individ...

Human Connection: Uncharted Territory for Value Creation

This article introduces an area of value creation seldom considered in the strategic sense in business: value creation from human connections. And given the number one reason for customers leaving a business is a feeling of indifference from a company representative, this is an area that holds a great opportunity for companies to really stand out from their competition. This article examines where business has come from, where we are now and why the critical need to revamp our way of thinking. When a company transforms into a customer-centric organization, a collective mindset to design for the desired outcome of customer emotion emerges. The context for thought is creating value for the customer and is expressed in changes to processes, products/services and people. When an employee transforms into being customer focused, the individual mindset of paying attention to how he leaves a person feeling begins to develop. This shift from task to the customer lays the foundation for developing human connection skills. Customer value creation becomes a common language of understanding with different expressions of it for company and individuals. The reader will discover why traditional soft skills training has failed to bring about lasting behaviour changes and offers an alternative, based on the insights provided in recent years from neuroscience.

Who said what: The effects of cultural mindsets on perceptions of endorser–message relatedness

The cultural lens through which an ad is viewed can affect the extent to which an endorser of the product in an ad and the message s(he) communicates are thought about in relation to one another. Consumers with a collectivist mindset tend to think about information relationally. Consequently, they consider the endorsement in relation to the endorser and this affects their memory for both. It also affects recipients' concern with the fit between the endorser's message and the endorser and consequently influences their judgments of both the ad and the product being advertised. When people have an individualist mindset, on the other hand, they appear to treat the endorser and the endorsement as independent pieces of information and are less sensitive to their fit. Four studies support these conclusions and provide insights into how endorser–message relatedness impacts persuasion under different cultural mindset conditions.