There is a consensus among scientists that climate change is an existing, growing, and human-made threat to our planet. The topic is a divisive issue worldwide, including among people of faith. Little research has focused on the relationship between (non)religious belief and climate change. Hence, in Studies 1 and 2, the authors explore the impact of religious/non-religious orientations: intrinsic (religion as an end in itself), extrinsic (religion as a means to an end), quest (a journey toward religious understanding), and non-religious (...) orientation (i.e., atheistic) on consumer attitudes toward the environment, focusing on recycling advertisements with (non)religious cues. Further, in Study 3, we examine the underlying causal mechanism of environmental identity and the moderating effect of political views on consumers’ lack of belief in climate change. The results show that religious people are less committed to the environment and climate change and that atheism positively affects recycling and climate change identity. The findings offer practical implications in that advertising campaigns need to be endorsed by religious leaders and channeled within the confines of the religious institutions they represent. (shrink)

Since learners’ academic achievement is the ultimate goal of any system of education, multitudes of studies have been conducted on this variable and its determinants. That is, several scholars have explored the effects of student-related and teacher-related factors on learners’ academic achievement. Notwithstanding, a few researchers have investigated the effects of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on learners’ academic achievement. Furthermore, no study has reviewed the role of these teacher-related factors in learners’ achievement. Therefore, the present study seeks to bridge the (...) lacunas by delving into the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy and creativity on English as a Foreign Language learners’ academic achievement. The beneficial effects of self-efficacy beliefs and creative teaching were outlined through the existing evidence. This seems to be illuminative for EFL teachers. Given the positive consequences of teachers’ self-efficacy for students’ achievement, EFL teachers should believe in themselves and their abilities to lead their students to academic success. Additionally, with regard to the positive impact of teachers’ creativity on learners’ achievement, EFL teachers are expected to teach the course content creatively. (shrink)

As patient autonomy expands, a highly controversial issue has emerged. Should the advance directives of refusing life-saving treatments or requesting euthanasia of persons with dementia who express changed minds or are often in a happy state be fulfilled? There are two autonomy-related positions. The mainstream position in philosophical discussions supports the priority of ADs based on precedent autonomy. Buchanan and Brock, and Dworkin represent this view. The other position supports the priority of PWDs’ current wishes based on minimal autonomy represented (...) by Jaworska. By rethinking the theoretical and practical challenges of the two positions and their arguments respectively, the paper concludes that in such a scenario, the priority of ADs is morally indefensible, and it is also challenging to establish minimal autonomy defend the moral priority of PWDs’ current wishes. For PWDs whose past values, beliefs, and preferences fade away but who retain apparent intrinsic sentience of well-being, a modified defined quality-of-life approach serves as another reasonable basis in their medical decision-making, and the ADs and the QoL should be further merged to reduce the uncertainty of the grey zone. (shrink)

Interactions between human beings and chatbots are gradually becoming part of our everyday social lives. It is still unclear how human–chatbot interactions, compared to human–human interactions, influence individual morality. Building on the dual-process theory of moral judgment, a secondary data analysis, and two scenario-based experiments provide sufficient evidence that HCIs support utilitarian judgments, which reduce participants' donation amount. Study 3 further demonstrates that the negative effects of HCIs can be attenuated by inducing a social-oriented communication style in chatbots’ verbal language (...) designs. These findings highlight the negative impacts of HCIs on relationships among human beings and suggest a practical intervention for nonprofit organization managers. (shrink)

Based on upper echelons, paradox, and social capital theory, this study extends the association of CEO vision articulation and feedback-seeking behavior with firm sustainability by identifying the mediating role of eco-innovation and top management team boundary-spanning behavior as a moderator. By analyzing the data of mid-sized to large Chinese firms using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping-based moderated path analysis, we found that product and process eco-innovation mediates the link between CEO vision articulation and firm sustainability while CEO feedback-seeking behavior enhances firm’s (...) sustainability through product eco-innovation only. Finally, conditional indirect effects show the vital role of TMT boundary-spanning behavior in facilitating CEOs to improve the firm’s long-term sustainability through eco-innovation. (shrink)

Public sphere is an important idea of Habermas in the early research, which guided his latter research, especially in political philosophy field. According to Habermas’ research on public sphere, this paper researches public sphere’s significance in solving the legalization crisis of capitalism and remedying the democratic theory of bourgeoisie. Public sphere idea set up a new model of the democratic theory, deliberative democracy, which is better than democracy of both liberalism and republicanism, and become the most important theme of Habermas (...) in theory and practice. (shrink)

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home promotes the importance of indoor environment qualities. With the settings and functions of home offices, an experiment was carried out to determine the interaction effects between indoor plants and traffic noise levels on the performance and environmental evaluations of English reading comprehension tasks and the performance of short-term breaks. A sample of 22 Chinese university students took part in the experiment. Two visual conditions and five TNLs were included. Participants’ accuracy rates, eye (...) movements, mental workload, and feelings about the environment were collected. The mental fatigue recovery, visual fatigue recovery, anxiety recovery, and unfriendly recovery were measured for the analysis of a 5-min short-term break. The results demonstrate plants have significant effects on ERCTs and short-term breaks, especially at 45 and 50 dBA TNL; the effects of TNLs on ERCTs’ eye movements and work environment satisfaction differ by the presence of plants, e.g., the average pupil diameter, lighting and layout satisfaction; The effects of indoor plants on ERCT differ by the range of TNLs. In conclusion, indoor plants are beneficial to home workers engaged in ERCT when TNL does not exceed 50 dBA. The current data highlight the importance of audio-visual interaction in home offices and provide insights into the interaction mechanism between indoor plants and traffic noise. (shrink)

Cooley's argument that persons with pre‐dementia have a Kantian duty to die has led to much debate. Cooley gives two reasons for his claim, the first being that a person with pre‐dementia should end his/her life when he/she will inevitably and irreversibly lose rationality and be unable to live morally as a result. This paper argues that this reason derives from an unsubstantiated premise and general confusion regarding the condition for a Kantian duty to die. Rather, a close reading of (...) Kant reveals that such a condition occurs when a person confronts an external handicap that does not undermine his/her rational ability but deprives him/her of the possibility of living the way a person should. People do not confront this experience with progressive dementia. The other reason Cooley proposes is that a person should not allow their continued existence to become a burden to others. This claim partly stems from a radical interpretation of a case discussed by Kant and is partly based on a misuse of Kant's formulation of humanity. Based on a prudent inference from Kantian ethics, this article argues against Cooley that persons with pre‐dementia have no Kantian duty to die. (shrink)

The findings of this article reveal that the development of the independent learning model in the American literature curriculum positively impacts teachers’ job psychological satisfaction. This study highlights the contribution of autonomous learning mode in empowering students’ subjective status and enhancing their initiative, consequently reducing teachers’ psychological pressure and improving their overall satisfaction with their work. Contribution: The results of this study hold implications for scholars in the field, particularly those engaged in practical theology and religious educational studies.

The competition between government-provided apps and business-provided apps for active users in China is becoming increasingly fierce. Apps with higher user activity will win this competition. To maintain active users, finding the user activity influencing factors is crucial. In this study, we selected a government-provided app—“Beijing One Card”- and a business-provided app—“Bus Code” -in the field of public transportation as the comparative research objects. Based on multiple regression analysis, we explored the factors influencing user activity. We found user preference plays (...) a critical role in distinguishing the influencing factors of user activity between two kinds of apps. Distinct from the existing research, the service quality does not affect the user activity of public transportation apps. This paper argues that, whether it is a government-provided app or a business-provided app, to enhance the user activity of the app, in the short term, it is necessary to improve the app function according to the user’s needs, try to provide services which user like, cater to user’s preference, strengthen user experience; In the long run, it is essential to pay attention to mining the user’s data accumulated while operating the app to understand user behavior. So as to affect the user’s preference, enhance user’s trust, and improve user participation through public policy. (shrink)

This commentary focuses on two issues. First, reflecting on the distinction between public and private institutions in protecting individual rights is necessary. Second, the current regulatory appr...

There is an important contemporary debate in moral responsibility about whether the following asymmetry thesis is true: moral responsibility for actions does not require alternative possibilities but moral responsibility for omissions does. In this paper, we do two things. First, we consider and reject a recent argument against the asymmetry thesis, contending that the argument fails because it rests on a false view about the metaphysics of omissions. Second, we develop and defend a new argument against the asymmetry thesis, one (...) that avoids the problem with the first argument by not resting on any assumptions about what omissions are metaphysically. (shrink)

Emoji appear to be an important cue to judge whether a statement is sarcastic in computer-mediated communication. In this study, we investigated whether the smiling emoji, an indicator of sarcastic intention in the Chinese culture, exerts an influence on sarcasm interpretation across the lifespan. Statements accompanied with or without a smiling emoji were compared in unambiguous (Experiment 1) and ambiguous (Experiment 2) contexts. The results of Experiment 1 illustrated that for teenagers and the 20-year-olds the smiling emoji enhanced the perceived (...) sarcasm of sarcastic statements significantly. However, there was no difference in interpreting sarcastic statements with or without a smiling emoji in other age groups. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1. We found both teenagers and the 20-year-olds were more likely to arrive at a sarcastic interpretation of the ambiguous statement followed by a smiling emoji, which were less frequent in participants aged in their 30s, 40s, 50s and individuals over 60 years old. This might be because people of varying ages differ in decoding the emotions of the emoji. Age-related differences in the use of sarcasm and participants’ experiences with using emoji might be possible factors that were closely related to the interpretation of emoji-based sarcasm. (shrink)

The heterogeneity of transcranial direct current stimulation protocols and clinical profiles may explain variable results in modulating excitability in the motor cortex after stroke. However, the cortical electrical effects induced by different tDCS protocols remain unclear. Here, we aimed to compare rhythm changes in electroencephalography induced by three tDCS position protocols and the association between tDCS effects and clinical factors in stroke. Nineteen patients with chronic ischemic stroke underwent four experimental sessions with three tDCS protocols [anodal, cathodal, and bilateral ] (...) and a sham protocol, according to a single-blind randomized crossover design. Resting-state EEG was acquired before and after each protocol. First, a paired-sample t-test was used to examine the difference in spectral power between pre- and post-stimulation. Then, linear and quadratic regression models were used separately to describe the association between the clinical factors of stroke and changes in spectral power which was significantly different between pre- and post-tDCS. Finally, repeated measures analysis of variance with lesion hemisphere, stimulation protocol, and the location was performed to investigate the effects of tDCS over time. The induced effect of tDCS was mainly reflected in the alpha rhythms. The alpha power was increased by atDCS, especially low-alpha, in localized areas of the central and distant areas of the frontal and parietal lobes. Bi-tDCS also affected alpha power but in a smaller area that mainly focused on high-alpha rhythms. However, ctDCS and sham had no significant effects on any EEG rhythm. The clinical factors of time since stroke and motor impairment level were related to the change in high-alpha induced by atDCS and bi-tDCS following quadratic regression models. The above-mentioned modulation effect lasted for 20 min without attenuation. In conclusion, our findings provide evidence that the alpha rhythm of EEG is modulated differently by different tDCS protocols and that high alpha is affected by clinical characteristics such as post-stroke time and motor deficits, which is of great significance for understanding the modulation effect of different tDCS protocols on stroke and the guidance of protocols to promote motor recovery following stroke. (shrink)

Deception is common in dementia care, although its moral legitimacy is questionable. This paper conceptually clarifies when does dementia care involve deception and argues that care ethics is an appropriate ethical framework to guide dementia care compared with the mainstream ethical theories that emphasize abilities. From a perspective of care ethics, this paper claims that morally defensible deception is context-specific, embodied as a caring process that needs to be identified through instant, creative and interactive care procedures. According to this argument, (...) it further analyses and concludes the moral rationality of deception in five common cases. While deception is morally justified in many situations, another concern is that it is usually not the last resort but a means of convenience. As the ability to interact, autonomy and dignity of persons with dementia (PWDs) are generally ignored; nurses need more training and education to master the essential procedures to ensure that the value of authenticity and autonomy is maintained and considered throughout dementia care. (shrink)

Bankruptcy of listed companies or shareholders delisting usually causes the crisis spreading in stock markets. Based on the systematic analysis of the epidemic diseases and rumors spreading on the complex networks, the SIR model is introduced to research the crisis spreading in shareholding networks of listed companies and their main holders on the basis of the data about ownership structure in Chinese Stock Markets. The characteristics of shareholding networks are studied, and the parameters for the SIR model are obtained by (...) empirical approach. Then, the numerical computation method is successfully used to analyze the crisis spreading in the networks when the networks meet random failures or intentional attacks. We find the networks have good robustness against the random failures. However, the crisis will spread at a high speed and cause catastrophic damage if there are some failures or attacks on hub vertices in the networks. Under this condition, the networks show obvious vulnerability. Last but not least, the controllability of the networks under the condition of intentional attacks and random failures is studied. The results show that if the network is controlled globally, it is more reliable to allow a politically good new or an appropriate exciting economical policy to play the role in orienting markets under the control of public opinions as the crisis occurs. However, under normal circumstances, controlling a small part of driver vertices representing listed companies, applying appropriate control strategies, and using its characteristics of high efficiency of sending information can effectively control the stock market. Our research provides a new reference to further exploration about the transmission mechanism of the crisis based SIR model and further research on the controllability of crisis spreading in financial markets. (shrink)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the associations of internal and external support mechanisms with entrepreneurial success, in the context of China's entrepreneurial sector from network theory perspective. The role of digital technology, as a moderator, has also been analyzed. Data has been obtained from 500 entrepreneurs in Jiangsu, a province in China. All hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. It has been found that family support, business partner support, community support and external stakeholder relationships have positive (...) effects on entrepreneurial success. It has also been discovered that digital technology adoption strengthens the positive relationship between business partner support and entrepreneurial success. Theoretical and practical implications have been highlighted and future research suggestions have been provided. (shrink)

Innovative loss‐of‐function techniques developed in recent years have made it much easier to target specific genomic loci at transcriptional levels. CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) has been proven to be the most effective and specific tool to knock down any gene of interest in mammalian cells. The catalytically deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) can be fused with transcription repressors to downregulate gene expression specified by sgRNA complementary to target genomic sequence. Although CRISPRi has huge potential for gene knockdown, there is still a lack of (...) systematic guidelines for efficient and widespread use. Here we describe the working mechanism and development of CRISPRi, designing principles of sgRNA, delivery methods and applications in mammalian cells in detail. Finally, we propose possible solutions and future directions with regard to current challenges. (shrink)

This thesis is about the creativity in the East and the West, but I will mainly focus on the view of creativity in ancient Greek philosophy and Chinese philosophy. In the first chapter, I will explore the concept of creativity, the history of creativity, and the research on creativity, including the creativity research in psychology and philosophy, which will set the stage for further disscusion. Then in the second chapter, I will start from Plato’s dialogue, Ion, and explore the traditional (...) theory of creativity in ancient Greek philosophy, and claim that their creative ability is inspired by divine being. After this, I will show people’s view on creativity has undergone a process of demystification. During this process, people gradually began to resist the divine source and explore the world individually and independently. Meanwhile, the meaning of the concept of creativity has become broader, since it is not limited to poem any more, but it can be applied to other fields, such as art, science, and education. In the third chapter, I will turn to the modern creativity theory, including the lateral thinking and emotional creativity, and explore how to be creative with lateral thinking techniques and how to improve creativity through emotion regulation. After the examination in the West, I will turn to the theory of creativity in Chinese philosophy, by focusing on classical works in Daoism and Confucianism. In the fourth chapter, I will explore the view of creativity in philosophy of Daoism. I will claim that the creativity in Daoism is natural and cosmological, and there is no external creative source, so I will claim it is self- creativity, which is distinct from the ancient Western creativity pushed by external divine power. In the fifth chapter, I will argue that the creativity in Confucianism is evolutionary, which is unlike the revolutionary creativity in the West, and I will propose the way to become creative in Confucianism based on its classics, Analects, and then will explore the creativity principle and how the agent cultivate their creative ability in Confucianism. In the conclusion, I will summarize the difference between the creativity in East and West, from the perspective of the source of creativity, nature of creativity. I will claim that the source of creativity in ancient Greek philosophy is divine being, whereas there is no divine source for creativity in Chinese philosophy, therefore, the creativity in the West traditionally is inspired creativity, while the creativity in the East traditionally is natural and cosmological creativity. In addition, the concept of creativity in the West is revolutionary, whereas the concept of creativity in the East is evolutionary and the moral function of creativity is also addressed in Chinese philosophy. (shrink)

Creativity is a developing topic in philosophy in recent years, and it raises a series of challenging questions both in theory and practice for us. In this paper, I will explore creativity with the lateral thinking techniques which aim to solve problems in a creative and lateral way. I will examine the meaning of lateral thinking and its three kinds, the conceptual lateral thinking, the emotive lateral thinking, and the diagrammatic lateral thinking, trying to find out how the space of (...) possible solutions is affected by lateral thinking, which separates the creative from the problem-solver. (shrink)

With the development of economic globalization, more and more clinical research and trials shift from developed countries to developing countries. The globalization of clinical trials also brings some ethical and scientific concerns. This paper discussed some ethical problems of clinical trials in the developing countries including 1) "golden rice" event in China; 2) Informed consent in clinical trials in developing countries; 3) Ethical consciousness in clinical research and trials in developing countries. The essay suggests that the level of medical ethics (...) in developing countries is lower than that in developed countries. How can we improve the ethical consciousness of clinical researchers and subjects and how can we protect patient rights are important problems faced by developing countries. (shrink)

Based on the social identity theory, the relationship and influencing mechanism between high-performance human resource practices and employees’ voice behavior were explored by constructing a moderated mediation model, and the relationship between the field of human resources and the field of organizational behavior was also established. Through 1,178 paired samples of supervisor-employee survey and multilevel linear model analysis technology, it was found that HPHRPs had a positive impact on employees’ voice behavior; perceived insider status played a mediating role between HPHRPs (...) and voice behavior; voice efficacy played a moderating role between perceived insider status and voice behavior; and voice efficacy played a mediating role in the relationship between “HPHRPs-perceived insider status-voice behavior.”. (shrink)

It has been found in many cases that consumers are prone to exhibit impulsive buying behavior that is manifested as being immediate, emotional, and irresponsible especially under short video scenario. Supported by the customer inspiration theory, this study explores the psychological mechanism underlying impulse purchase in short videos that differentiates the traditional web shopping by the strong sense of presence in short video marketing. On the basis of a questionnaire survey and three laboratory experiments, this study examines the relationship among (...) presence, customer inspiration, and impulse purchase intention. The empirical results point to the fact that social presence, co-presence, and physical presence have significant positive effects on impulse purchase intention, and customer inspiration mediates the effect of social presence, physical presence, and co-presence on impulse purchase intention. Furthermore, it is indicated that social and co-presence have stronger influences on impulse purchase intention than physical presence, thus proving a stronger effect of social factors on impulse purchase intention than physical factors in short video environment. The research results testify the impact of presence on consumer behavior in the upgrading short video marketing and provide valuable reference for marketing strategies to shorten consumers' decision-making time in short video purchase. (shrink)

“The characteristics of China in the world,” as a constant refrain of the contemporary Chinese people, has been discussed in academic circles for nearly a hundred years. It has become more and more popular in recent years, with both government and ambitious scholars continuously appealing for attention to its necessity, significance, and urgency. Obviously, to talk to the world or to be accepted by the world, we must first know who we are and what the world is like. This century-long (...) history of “Chinese education in the world” makes it necessary to consider the historical background when thinking about the characteristics of Chinese education. We attempt to integrate this history into what follows.The ideas... (shrink)

Previous studies have found Forsyth’s Ethical Position Questionnaire (EPQ) to vary between countries, but none has made a systematic evaluation of its psychometric properties across consumers from many countries. Using confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group LISREL analysis, this paper explores the factor structure of the EPQ and the measurement equivalence in five societies: Austria, Britain, Brunei, Hong Kong and USA. The results suggest that the modified scale, measuring idealism and relativism, was applicable in all five societies. Equivalence was found across (...) Britain, Brunei and USA, but the original scale cannot be used validly. (shrink)

《一代直聲百年盡瘁：梁簌溟鄉村建設運動研究》系統梳理了20世紀30年代梁漱溟主持的山東鄉村建設實驗的相關內容，以及不同時期相關實踐者和學者對其鄉村建設實驗進行的各種討論和爭議，試圖全方位挖掘梁漱溟鄉建 思想與實踐的深層學術價值和現實借鑒意義，冀望對今天的農村現代化建設和農村改革，尤其是“三農”問題的解決和優化提供有益的借鑒。.

本書是由崔大華生前撰寫的53篇文章、6篇專著序言以及20篇在三聯書店出版的《讀書》雜誌上隨筆文章彙集而成，凝結了他一生的主要研究成果。綜觀這些文章的內容，其對中國歷史哲學問題的研究有許多真知灼見，在中 國傳統文化道德衰退的今天，其對中國傳統哲學的認識有著很好的借鑒意義。比如，儒道對印度佛教和西方基督教滲入中國的影響，傳統倫理道德對當代人類行為的借鑒，莊子思想對中國文學的發展等。.

Workforce diversity has received increasing amounts of attention from academics and practitioners alike. In this article, we examine the empirical association between a firm’s workforce diversity and the degree of religiosity of the firm’s management by investigating their unidirectional and endogenous effects. Employing a large and extensive U.S. sample of firms from the years 1991–2010, we find a positive association between a measure of the firm’s commitment to diversity and the religiosity of the firm’s management after controlling for various firm (...) characteristics. In addition, after controlling for endogeneity with the dynamic panel generalized method of moment, we still find a positive association between the firm’s diversity and management’s religiosity. We interpret these results as supportive of the religious motivation explanation that views the firm as a human community and considers religion as a factor that influences managers to more positively embrace diversity. Our results, however, provide no support for the resource-constraint hypothesis that views the firm as a nexus of contracts and sees managers as aiming to maximize shareholder returns under resource constraints that force them to invest only in projects that have a positive net present value and reject diversity initiatives since these do not have a positive NPV. (shrink)

Previous studies have noted that personality traits are important predictors of well-being, but how big five personality influences social well-being is still unknown. This study aims to examine the link between big five personality and five dimensions of social well-being in the Chinese cultural context and whether social support can play the mediating effect in the process. This study included 1,658 participants from different communities in China, and regression analyses were conducted. Results revealed that five personality traits were significantly related (...) to overall social well-being; extraversion was significantly related to social integration; agreeableness was positively related to all five dimensions of social well-being; conscientiousness was positively related to social actualization, social coherence, and social contribution; neuroticism was negatively related to social integration, social acceptance, social actualization, and social coherence; openness was positively related to social integration, social acceptance, social coherence, and social contribution. Social support plays mediating roles in the relationships between extraversion/agreeableness/conscientiousness/neuroticism/openness and social well-being, respectively. (shrink)

Extending the literature on social capital development in the community, this article examines the impact of diverse social interactions on the development of social trust in the workplace, and investigates whether their effects differ in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Using survey data collected in Canada and China, the authors find that the diversity of one’s social interactions in the community is positively associated with one’s social trust in the workplace, and this relationship is not significantly different between the two cultures. (...) Diversity of one’s social interactions in the workplace is also positively associated with one’s social trust in the workplace, though only in collectivistic cultures. (shrink)

An interesting phenomenon called “hidden opportunity cost of time effect” was detected in intertemporal choices. The majority of our participants preferred the smaller but sooner (SS) option to the larger but later (LL) option if opportunity cost was explicit. However, a higher proportion of participants preferred the LL to SS option if opportunity cost was hidden. This shift violates the invariance principle and opens a new way to encourage future-oriented behavior. By simply mentioning the ‘obvious’ opportunity cost of alternatives, decision (...) makers can be more informed in prioritizing their long-term goals rather than short-term goals. (shrink)

In this study, we examine the empirical association between corporate social responsibility and information asymmetry by investigating their simultaneous and endogenous effects. Employing an extensive U.S. sample, we find an inverse association between CSR engagement and the proxies of information asymmetry after controlling for various firm characteristics. The results hold using 2SLS considering the reverse side of information asymmetry influencing CSR activities. The results also hold after mitigating endogeneity based on the dynamic panel system generalized method of moment. Furthermore, the (...) CSR–information asymmetry relation is amplified in high-risk firms due to managers’ efforts to build a good reputation. Last, we find that CSR engagement is inversely associated with reputational risk measure and lower predicted value of reputational risk is positively associated with lower information asymmetry measures. We interpret these results as supporting the stakeholder theory-based, reputation-building explanation that considers CSR engagement as a vehicle to build and maintain firm reputation thereby enhancing the information environment. (shrink)

This study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility activities on insider trading. While opponents of insider trading claim that the buying or selling of a security by insiders who have access to non-public information is illegal, proponents argue that insider trading improves economic efficiency and fairness when corporate insiders buy and sell stock in their own companies. Based on extensive U.S. data of insider trading and CSR engagement, we find that both the number of insider transactions and the volume (...) of insider trading are positively associated with CSR activities.We also find that legal insider transactions are positively related to CSR engagement even after controlling for potential endogeneitybias and various firm characteristics. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that firms perceive adjustment to CSR dimension of product as being efficient, while adjustment to diversity and environmental CSR as being inefficient. Our results of bad and illegal insider trading proxies are consistent with the interpretation that firms with high CSR ratings do not attempt to engage in unethical or bad insider trading in a significant fashion. Combined together, we consider our empirical evidence supportive of the fairness and efficiency explanation, but not the unfairness and inefficiency hypothesis. (shrink)

From the perspective of the integrative model of organizational trust, this study proposes a multi-level model for whether, how, and when differentiated empowering leadership influences followers’ trust in leaders and their work outcomes. Drawing on a sample of 372 followers from 97 teams in China, it was found that the negative effect of differentiated empowering leadership on followers’ trust in leaders became salient when followers’ Chinese traditionality was low. Moreover, followers’ trust in leaders mediated the effect of differentiated empowering leadership (...) and Chinese traditionality on followers’ in-role performance, extra-role performance, and counterproductive work behaviors toward the organization. These findings have implications for managerial theory and practice in the domains of trust and differentiated empowering leadership. (shrink)