Resource Dilemmas Research Articles

A Smart and Sustainable Framework to Combat Climate Change: A Comprehensive Approach of Artificial Intelligence and Human Psychology

The core of this paper, which explores the difficulties of resource problems and climate change, is the delicate interplay between AI, human psychology, and sustainable development. As global challenges escalate, the convergence of these domains presents a unique opportunity to devise effective strategies that facilitate environmentally conscious behaviors and resilient communities. This paper explores the psychological dimensions underlying resource dilemmas and climate change, emphasizing cognition, decision-making processes, social dynamics, and the role of AI in driving sustainable development. By amalgamating insights from psychology with cutting-edge technological advancements, society can aspire to navigate the path towards ecological equilibrium and a sustainable future

'They are conspiring against us': How outgroup conspiracy theories stimulate environmental neglect in intergroup resource dilemmas.

Natural resources are limited, and people often share these limited resources in groups, which creates an intergroup resource dilemma. To understand individuals' sustainable behaviours in intergroup resource dilemmas in the context of group interactions, the present research systematically investigates the effect of outgroup conspiracy theories on sustainable behaviours and preliminarily explores the internal mechanism underlying this effect. First, a survey study (Study 1) relying on real-world intergroup relations first confirmed the negative correlation between outgroup conspiracy beliefs and sustainable intentions in intergroup resource dilemmas. Then, an online experimental study that utilized the real situation of a region in China (Study 2) tested the causal relationship between exposure to an outgroup conspiracy theory and sustainable intentions, as well as showing the mediating role of intergroup threat perception underlying this relationship. Finally, a preregistered experimental laboratory study (Study 3) further verified the causal effect of exposure to an outgroup conspiracy theory on sustainable behaviours, again confirming the mediating role of intergroup threat perception. In general, our research demonstrates that exposure to an outgroup conspiracy theory stimulates individuals' environmental neglect and reduces their sustainable behaviours by increasing their perceptions of intergroup threat when faced with intergroup resource dilemmas.

Forward defense – concept, plan, and action for solving russian aggression at Nato's easternd border

Forward defense is not a new concept. It is rather traditional, coming from the Cold War and implying, originally, the nuclear posture and strategy. Following the issuance of the Madrid NATO Strategic Concept and Vilnius statement that not an inch of the Alliance’s territory will fall under the control of the opponents, a new approach to forward defense is needed to cope with the multiple shifts in the security environment: Russian war of aggression, the change of technological generation, dilemmas of resources and apabilities, limits and multiple challenges from the international environment with superposed simultaneous crises. The perspective of possible attacks on NATO territory – in the next 2-3-5-8 years – requires a review of the concept and, consequently, of the political decisions, strategic planning, enforcement of those decisions, and development of forces and capabilities on the ground. Combining nuclear flexible capabilities, a strategy of massive retaliation with conventional forces and deterrence by reinforcement, deterrence by denial, forward presence, rapid projection capabilities, resolution, effective decisionmaking, and forward posture, we could build a new, updated doctrine of forward defense. However, the debate has to consider what is theoretically developed, technically feasible, politically acceptable, financially sustainable, and strategically credible in the „new forward defense” for granting inviolability of allied territory. The basic limitation is to define and refine forward defense without a reconsideration beyond existing means.

Professional perceptions of right-first-time and quality management in construction projects through open-ended feedback

PurposeThe construction industry has struggled to deliver schemes on time to budget and right-first-time (RFT). There have been many studies into nonconformance and rework through quantitative research over the years to understand why the industry continues to see similar issues of failure. Some scholars have reported rework figures as high as 12.6% of total contract value, highlighting major concerns of the sustainability of construction projects. Separately, however, there have been few studies that explore and detail the views of industry professions who are caught in the middle of quality issues, to understand their perceptions of where the industry is failing. As such, this paper interrogates qualitative data (open-ended questions) on the topic of nonconformance and rework in construction to understand what industry professionals believe are the causes and suggested improvement areas.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach is adopted for this research. An industry survey consisting of seven open-ended questions is presented to two professional working groups within a Tier 1 contractor, and outputs are analysed using statistic software (NVivo 12) to identify prominent themes for discussion. Inductive analysis is undertaken to gain further insight into responses to yield recurrent areas for continuous improvement.FindingsQualitative analysis of the survey reveals a persistent prioritisation of cost and programme over quality management in construction project. Furthermore, feedback from construction professionals present a number of improvement areas that must be addressed to improve quality. These include increased training and competency investment, overhauling quality behaviours, providing greater quality leadership direction and reshaping the way clients govern schemes.Research limitations/implicationsThere are limitations to this paper that require noting. Firstly, the survey was conducted within one principal contractor with varying levels of knowledge across multiple sectors. Secondly, the case study was from one major highways scheme; therefore, the generalisability of the findings is limited. It is suggested that a similar exercise is undertaken in other sectors to uncover similar improvement avenues.Practical implicationsThe implications of this study calls for quality to be re-evaluated at project, company, sector and government levels to overhaul how quality is delivered. Furthermore, the paper identifies critical learning outcomes for the construction sector to take forward, including the need to reassess projects to ensure they are appropriately equip with competent personnel under a vetted, progressive training programme, share collaborative behaviours that value quality delivery on an equal standing to safety, programme and cost and tackle the inappropriate resource dilemmas projects finding themselves in through clear tendering and accurate planning. In addition, before making erratic decisions, projects must assess the risk profiling of proceed without approved design details and include the client in the decision-making process. Moreover, the findings call for a greater collaborative environment between the construction team and quality management department, rather than being seen as obstructive (i.e. compliance based policing). All of these must be driven by leadership to overhaul the way quality is managed on schemes. The findings demonstrate the importance and impact from open-ended survey response data studies to enhance quantitative outcomes and help provide strengthened proposals of improvement.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the highly sensitive area of quality failure outcomes and interrogates them via an industry survey within a major UK contractor for feedback. Unique insights are gained into how industry professionals perceive quality in construction. From previous research, this has been largely missing and offers a valuable addition in understanding the “quality status quo” from those delivering schemes.

‘Go-No-Go’: Anticommons and Inter-ministerial conflict in India’s Forest and Mineral Governance

India’s forests, particularly in coal and other mineral-bearing regions, have been at the centre of many social and environmental conflicts. Such conflicts will likely remain salient over the next decade as India appears to be moving towards greater use of coal instead of transitioning away from it. The current governance architecture in mineral-bearing forested areas is characterized by fragmentation of rights across different stakeholders and a pluralistic institutional regime – a situation often characterized as ‘anticommons.’ ‘Anticommons’ lead to the resource getting gridlocked and underused. The Indian government undertook a critical and ambitious policy design exercise – the ‘Go-No-Go’ or Inviolate Forest Policy (IFP) policy – to address the resource dilemmas by ‘objectively’ demarcating forests for mining and conservation. This paper traces the conflict around the policy formulation as it manifested in the corridors and ministries of the government. We use a novel data source of government records of formal policy deliberations – obtained through India’s transparency law, Right to Information (RTI) – supported by conversations with senior bureaucrats, policymakers, and expert observers. We find that the quest for ‘objective’ demarcation of ‘pristine’ forests for conservation was marked by inter-ministerial conflict, laden with asymmetric power balances and involving the careful deployment of discursive frames and tactical maneuvers. We argue that the multiplicity of use-values that get valued differently a) by different individuals/groups of individuals and b) at different scales inscribe the possibility of conflict at the heart of any attempt to resolve anticommons, as can be seen in the IFP. In the process, we expose the problems in prioritizing amongst competing resource-uses, using ‘efficiency’-based approaches. Further, our analysis presents an implicit critique of the monolithic understanding of the State in the supply of property rights.

Effectiveness of the approval mechanism in a three-player common pool resource dilemma

Selfish players in common pool resources games (CPR) prevent to reach socially efficient outcomes. To solve this CPR dilemma, we investigate further the approval mechanism (AM) in a three-player CPR game. Adding a third player is useful to test the efficiency of approval rules, i.e. majority versus unanimity, in the second stage of the AM. We find that the AM mitigates over-exploitation in three player CPR games, and that unanimity performs better than majority. Nevertheless, with three players, the mechanism surprisingly works better in case of approval failure rather than approval success. However, most approvals are predicted.

Ethical dilemmas and professional judgment as a pathway to inclusion and equity in mathematics teaching

This study focuses on ethical dilemmas that arise in moments of inclusion and equity in mathematics teaching and how they might be tackled through teachers’ professional judgment. Skovsmose’s inclusive landscapes of investigation approach was used to design the study and to collect teachers’ joint reflections on moments of inclusion and equity in their teaching. Ethical dilemmas and professional judgment were the analytical foci for a qualitative thematic content analysis. Three explorative workshops were held with two teams of teachers from two schools in Sweden. The analysis identified three themes of ethical dilemma, and ways in which these were responded to by teachers’ professional judgment: (1) dilemmas of diversity and acting justly; (2) dilemmas of resources and allocating them fairly; (3) dilemmas of values and recognising diversity. We conclude that mathematics teachers’ professional judgments involve showing bravery, going outside of the norm, negotiating values and duties, listening to the students, and throughout this, engaging in collegial learning in the best interests of the learner.

Effects of explicit permissive rules on behavior patterns in a common resources situation

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effect of explicit rules that permitted the appropriation by temporal primacy or disuse in a situation with common resources, individual consequences, and differential exchange of earnings on the resource appropriation patterns. The experimental situation involves a typical structure of a non-renewable common resource dilemma. Twenty-four university students were randomly distributed into three experimental groups of four dyads exposed to two experimental conditions: with or without explicit rules. Participants worked on the same task but in different experimental cubicles without the possibility of establishing verbal exchanges. The cubicles enabled participants to be visually and verbally isolated from each other. However, they could observe their peers’ performance and take one or more resources to solve the task, obtaining differential earnings for their performance. Task points were exchanged for tangible prizes. Findings suggest that authorizing a specific mode of appropriation affects interindividual behavior patterns in appropriation. The temporal primacy rule favored the immediate depletion of resources and their accumulation. Instead, the disuse rule promoted delayed consumption and less accumulation. Results are discussed in terms of interindividual relationships in sanction contingencies established across explicit permissive rules.

Addressing the Challenges of English Language Acquisition among Social Science Students in Resource Constrained Environments

A portrayal of pedagogical, motivational and resource dilemmas that hinder students in the acquisition of English language is discussed in this study. The study shows that students hardly bothered to learn English because they do not see any relevance of the language to their future professions. This is made worse by conventional theories which have insisted on mechanical language acquisition, memorization, drilling for grammar rules and structures without the development of communicative efficiency, and lack of instruction based on the individual learning abilities of the learners. Also, extreme scarcity of resources such as the English texts and technological facilities sufficiently affect opportunities of student language practice beyond the classroom. The study suggests that it is necessary to use more comprehensive approaches for overcoming these challenges such as changes is curricular in order to align it to English and students and their career needs, using more communicative and interactive methods, and supporting teachers for the implementation of differentiation. The study brings out important information that aligns well with other research done on language education especially in the developing countries so a policy maker or a practitioner you will find useful information to act on.

Impact of network embeddedness on innovation performance: the perspective of organisational routine updating

PurposeNetwork embeddedness has been widely considered in enterprise innovation as an effective means of overcoming resource dilemmas. However, while focussing on acquiring external innovation resources, the existing research often ignores the vital role of internal routine updates. Therefore, this study explores the mechanism by which network embeddedness affects innovation performance of enterprises from the perspective of organisational routine updating.Design/methodology/approachThis paper proposes a theoretical model based on social network theory and organisational routines–immune response theory. A total of 328 pieces of research data on high-tech enterprises in China were collected, and the hypotheses were verified using hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsThe results show that the two forms of network embeddedness – structural embeddedness and relational embeddedness, have a positive effect on enterprise innovation performance and a significant positive effect on organisational routine revision and organisational routine creation. Both organisational routine revision and organisational routine creation positively affect enterprise innovation performance and partially mediate the relationship between network embeddedness and enterprise innovation performance.Originality/valueThis conclusion provides a new perspective on the impact of network embeddedness on enterprise innovation performance and expands the related research on organisational routine updating. This study provides a theoretical reference for high-tech enterprises to improve their competitiveness and innovation performance through network embeddedness and organisational routine updating.

Retracted: Mental Health Education for Primary School Teachers in Areas Lacking Environmental Resource Dilemma and Countermeasures.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2022/4542385.].

Not Nature Exposure but Awe Promotes Cooperation in Social Dilemmas

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the experience of awe and cooperative behavior, with a particular focus on the mediating role of the small-self concept. Theoretical framework: Drawing on social-psychological and emotion theories, this study proposed an integrative model that includes two key variables: the experience of awe, elicited by various stimuli, and the small-self concept. It hypothesized that individuals who experience awe would exhibit increased cooperative behavior and that the small-self concept would mediate this relationship. Method: Across three studies, diverse methodologies and measures were employed, including Common-Pool Resource Dilemmas and Public Goods Games, to assess levels of cooperation. The Awe Scale and Perceived Self-Size Scale were also utilized to measure awe and the small-self concept, respectively. In total, 320 participants were engaged in the study, being assigned to different experimental and control conditions. Results and conclusion: The results consistently demonstrated that the experience of awe led to an increased willingness to cooperate across all studies. It was also discovered that the small-self concept played a complete mediating role in the relationship between the experience of awe and cooperative behavior, confirming the hypotheses. These findings remained robust even when different awe-inducing stimuli were employed, such as pictures of nature, images of architecture, or videos of an infant. Search implications: Our findings underscore the importance of the awe experience as a potential driver of cooperative behavior. The results contribute to a better understanding of the emotional and cognitive processes underlying cooperation, suggesting that fostering awe experiences in individuals may be a promising avenue for promoting cooperative behavior. Future research should explore the practical applications of our findings in fields such as conflict resolution, environmental conservation, and social cooperation. Originality value: This research uniquely contributes to the literature by integrating the concept of awe and small-self within the context of cooperative behavior. It adds to the existing body of knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms that influence cooperative behavior. This study presents a novel approach by examining the mediating role of the small-self concept, offering new insights into how awe experiences can impact cooperation.

Group bias under uncertain environment: A perspective of third-party punishment

Third-party punishment (TPP) effectively promotes social cooperation and maintains social norms in which equity plays a decisive role. When third-party and players are affiliated with different groups, there are two distinct phenomena—in-group favoritism (IGF) and black sheep effect (BSE)—in a certain environment. Equity loses its function as a benchmark when the environment is uncertain (de Kwaadsteniet et al., 2013). Thus, we hypothesized that individuals have a stronger IGF because there is more room for interpretations of their behaviors when an uncertain environment results in ambiguous social norms. We utilized a common resource dilemma (CRD) to manipulate the environmental uncertainty by varying the range of the resource size: a certain environment is represented by a resource size of fixed tokens (i.e., 500 tokens) and an uncertain one is represented by that of 300 to 700 tokens. Additionally, group affiliation is manipulated by the alumni relation between the third-party and players. The present study revealed that the uncertain environment led to stricter costly punishment. The experiment confirms the IGF rather than the BSE. We found boundary conditions between IGF and out-group derogation (OGD). When the players' harvest was not obviously violated, the size of TPP for a control group without group affiliation manipulation anchored those of the in-group and OGD occurred. Opposite, when the harvest was obviously violated, the size of TPP for the control group anchored those of the out-group and IGF occurred. The gender of the third-party affects its decision to punish, with men anchoring the control group's punishment to the in-group and showing OGD, whereas women anchoring the control group's punishment to the out-group and showing IGF.

Probabilistic-Assured Resource Provisioning With Customizable Hybrid Isolation for Vertical Industrial Slicing

With the increasing demand of network slices in vertical industries, slice resource provisioning in transport networks has encountered two challenges, one is efficient slice resource provisioning in the presence of traffic uncertainty of slices, and another is flexible slice resource isolation for customizable isolation needs. In this paper, we propose an innovative flexible hybrid isolation model to support any customized resource isolation from complete isolation to full sharing, and solve the slice resource provisioning problem named Hybrid Slicing Minimum Bandwidth (HSMB) by considering traffic prediction error to mitigate the negative impact of traffic uncertainty in the proposed model. After analyzing the HSMB problem, 1) we first try to solve the problem in steps and decompose the HSMB problem into grouping sub-problem and adjusting sub-problem, 2) we then propose a low-complexity dynamic programming grouping algorithm and a fast iterative adjustment algorithm for the two sub-problems based on probabilistic feature-based analysis, 3) we combine the algorithms of the two sub-problems and further propose a linking algorithm for the potential insufficient resource dilemma and high computational complexity dilemma to improve the efficiency of the solution. The numerical results show that the proposed flexible hybrid isolation model with different factors can facilitate flexible slice isolation with customized isolation demands, while the proposed algorithm can realize efficient slice resource provisioning with a probabilistic guarantee. The comparison result shows the proposed algorithms outperform the other benchmark algorithms.

From self-deprivation to cooperation: How Ramadan fasting influences risk-aversion and decisions in resource dilemmas

Across the world, many cultural and religious groups participate in collective deprivation rituals such as the Ramadan fast. It is not obvious why people willingly deny themselves sustenance for prolonged periods of time. Apart from the physical hardship, fasting may have psychological and behavioral consequences comparable to those associated with involuntary scarcity and poverty, including susceptibility to impaired cognitive performance or increased risk-aversion and delay discounting. In this paper I propose and investigate one explanation for communal fasting rituals, that it is associated with increased cooperation over common resources, in part, through increased risk-aversion. I test the two prongs of this hypothesis in a series of studies. Studies 1a–c investigate the relation between the Ramadan fast and risk-taking, finding lower risk-taking in fasters than non-fasters and during Ramadan than after. In a repeated measures design, Study 2 (N = 283) finds that in multiparty resource dilemmas, people make smaller requests from commons with unknown size during Ramadan than after, and this difference is associated with corresponding shifts in risk-taking, but not indices of trust or social preferences. I propose that collective deprivation rituals may have served an adaptive sociocultural function in times of scarcity when incomplete information about the availability of resources and other people's response could increase defection and threaten commons with rapid depletion. Along with implications for research into the psychology of fasting, rituals, and cooperation in resource dilemmas under uncertainty, these results demonstrate Ramadan's potential as a natural laboratory for cognitive and behavioral research.

Research on the Practical Path of Resource-Based Enterprises to Improve Environmental Efficiency in Digital Transformation

Increasingly serious environmental problems force resource-based enterprises to find effective means to break through the original resource dilemma. With the acceleration of the digital transformation process, digital technology can guarantee the green transformation process and realize the sustainable development of economic growth and environmental protection. Based on the perspective of efficiency, this paper selects 46 resource-based enterprises as research object, adopts a strategic triangle research framework of “operational capability–policy environment–value objective” and, through the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method, analyzes the formation mechanism and practice pathways of sustainable development in the resource-based enterprises’ digital transformation. Research suggests that: (1) The realization path of high-level enterprise environmental efficiency includes four configurations: technology guarantee type, strategy driven type, pressure lead type and policy pulled type. (2) The characteristics and strategies of resource-based enterprises using digital technology to deal with changes in the business environment and achieve sustainable development can be divided into two models: the “capability-oriented” model and “environment-oriented” model. (3) The heterogeneity study shows that the green development of the power supply industry and the material processing industry is more suitable for the “capability-oriented” model, and the green development of the iron and steel manufacturing industry and energy extraction industry is more suitable for the “environment-oriented” model. The research results can provide a new theoretical perspective and strategy for resource-based enterprises to use digital technology for green development and provide a new optimization pathway for China’s industrial practice.

Is green finance really a blessing for green technology and carbon efficiency?

The environmental crisis and resource dilemma are serious challenges exposed to the world, which has placed sustainable development on the priority agenda. This research applies the wavelet-based quantile on quantile method to explore the impact of green finance (GF) on two basic drivers of sustainability: green technology (GT) and carbon efficiency (CE). We find mixed results between them across different market sizes and conditions in the short to medium term. Concerning the scenario of the long run, the positive effects can be captured in the bull GF market, while it performs the negative influence in the bear market. Therefore, our findings reveal that the GF is not always a blessing for GT and CE. The results are corroborated by the related theoretical mechanism, which highlights their inherent interaction. In this regard, the government should act as a catalyst to accelerate the establishment of an evaluation system and information disclosure criteria that are compatible with GT and CE, thereby improving the accuracy of GF support and promoting sustainable development.

The Mediator CSR Plays the Effective Leadership Belief Role for Resource Dilemma Handling Leadership in Organizational Commitment During Sustainability Development.

The authors aim to explore a better fitting leadership style that is designed for the sustainable era in believing and committing to work for cherishing resources and developing the organization toward a new sustainable direction. This study developed the questionnaire items of the Resource-Dilemma-Handling-Leadership (RDHL) scale, representing a new sustainable era's new leadership style, and then to compare it with the transformational leadership style in order to highlight the importance of RHDL for sustainable development. This study took companies, which have more than 100 employees in Taiwan as research samples. Those companies were selected because they were socially tagged as being operating continuously for more than 20 years and identifying themselves with the operational orientation of social responsibility as their business philosophy and core values for management. A total of 532 valid questionnaires were collected, with a 90.6% valid return rate, and tested with the SEM method. Consistent with the authors' inferences from the literature, the test results suggest that CSR plays the role of full mediator between RDHL and OC. CSR itself is like a sense of responsibility, giving employees a sense of mission, to complete meaningful sustainability-relevant tasks in the organization. RDHL, compared with TL, has a better prediction power on CSR and OC. Theoretically, this study implies that the impact of leadership of the organization on OC in the aspects of sustainable development should be going through the influence of the ELB system in the form of CSR to promote the organization's internal and external organizational CSR performance, with added internal strengthening power from OC. Practically, the new RDHL concepts brought up by this study include the training and enhancement of leadership skills based on the content of the scale items being explored. The new RDHL scale contains a comprehensive description of the spirit of the new sustainable era's leadership style. Also, the future applications of RDHL ideas in the form of human resource development should help the realization of the ideally sustainability behavioral patterns of leaders and employees in the organizations.

Resource Development and Use in a Nonprofit Collaboration

Collaboration in public and nonprofit sectors enhances organizations’ access to resources, but the very process of collaboration is resource-intensive. Yet to date, the topic of how to develop and use resources for effective collaboration remains underexamined in the literature. We identify this issue as the “resource dilemma,” and examine how resources are developed and used in collaboration, drawing on the resourcing perspective. Based on a longitudinal qualitative case analysis of a collaboration of seven nonprofit organizations over five years, we identify four actions through which collaboration participants develop and use resources—framing, orienting, mobilizing, and structuring. We demonstrate how collaboration participants use these actions to develop and use resources, thus facilitating the process of collaboration. The findings suggest a new way of understanding resources in collaboration and highlight the significance of actions of collaboration participants in creating and enhancing the value of resources in collaboration.

From Claiming to Creating Value: The Psychology of Negotiations on Common Resource Dilemmas

Current sustainability challenges often reflect common resource dilemmas where peoples’ short-term self-interests are at odds with collective interests in the present and future. In this article, we highlight the key role of joint decision-making processes in negotiations to facilitate the management of common resource dilemmas and to promote the transition toward sustainability. By reflecting on psychological drivers and barriers, we argue that the limited availability, the restricted accessibility, and the dynamic alterability of resources in negotiations on common resource dilemmas may cause a myopic mindset that fosters value claiming strategies and, ultimately, results in distributive-consumptive negotiation outcomes. To promote value creation in negotiations on common resource dilemmas, we argue that agents must perform a mindset shift with an inclusive social identity on a superordinate group level, an embracive prosocial motivation for other parties’ interests at and beyond the table, and a forward-looking cognitive orientation towards long-term consequences of their joint decisions. By shifting their mindset from a myopic towards a holistic cognitive orientation, agents may explore negotiation strategies to create value through increasing the availability, improving the accessibility, and using the alterability of resources. Applying these value creation strategies may help achieve integrative-transformative negotiation outcomes and promote sustainable agreements aimed at intersectional, interlocal, and intergenerational justice. We conclude by discussing additional psychological factors that play a pivotal role in negotiations on common resource dilemmas as well as further developments for future research.