Ecological theory always treats culture as a response to the demands of the environment. Farming, in the history of the world, has significantly influenced the formation of human culture. This paper examines the relationship between managers’ rice culture and corporate tax avoidance. The main finding shows managers from collectivist rice planting areas are less likely to engage in tax avoidance activities. This link is more pronounced in firms with better governance and greater gender diversification and in firms where managers have (...) academic experience. Additionally, the relationship is enhanced in areas with higher regional trust areas and higher tax enforcement regions. Finally, our results are robust to a battery of additional analyses. Overall, our study supports the important role of cultural factors in corporate strategic decision-making. (shrink)

Ecological psychology regards culture as a response to the demands of the environment. As rice farming in history has significantly influenced the formation of human cultural consciousness, we investigate how the rice culture of a chairperson’s birthplace affects a firm’s CSR activities. Our main finding reveals a positive and significant correlation between a chairperson’s rice culture and CSR activities. Further analysis demonstrates that this positive relationship is particularly pronounced in private firms and family firms. We also examine the incremental effect (...) of individual management heterogeneity and find that the positive relationship is strengthened when the chairperson has a shorter tenure or higher level of education. Additionally, more developed regions help enhance this positive relationship. To address the endogeneity concerns, we adopt an instrumental variable approach and exogenous event analysis based on chairperson turnover. The results are robust to a set of additional tests. Overall, our findings document the benefits of a chairperson’s rice culture in developing countries like China and reveal how this benefit is priced into CSR performance. (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。.

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)

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)

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。.

This essay critiques Donald Davidson's thesis in "What Metaphors Mean," which posits that metaphors convey only their literal meanings without hidden or additional layers of cognitive or figurative content. Davidson argues that metaphors function by evoking novel perspectives through the literal meanings of words, without involving any special meanings. This paper challenges Davidson's view by examining the limitations that arise when metaphors are modified or when synonymous terms are substituted, which often results in a loss of metaphorical effectiveness. The proposed (...) theory introduces the concepts of "focus" and "lens" terms, emphasizing the role of cultural resonance in generating secondary meanings in metaphors. The lens term, with its rich cultural and historical associations, interacts with the focus term to produce meanings deeply embedded in cultural understanding. This theory addresses the shortcomings of Davidson's approach, offering a more comprehensive framework for understanding the function of metaphors in language. Future research directions are also suggested, including the exploration of cultural resonance across different cultures, the cognitive processes involved in metaphor interpretation, and the implications for artificial intelligence. This paper underscores the importance of cultural and historical contexts in metaphorical language, providing a robust understanding of the interplay between literal meanings and cultural associations. (shrink)

Statistical network models have been used to study the competition among different products and how product attributes influence customer decisions. However, in existing research using network-based approaches, product competition has been viewed as binary, while in reality, the competition strength may vary among products. In this paper, we model the strength of the product competition by employing a statistical network model, with an emphasis on how product attributes affect which products are considered together and which products are ultimately purchased by (...) customers. We first demonstrate how customers’ considerations and choices can be aggregated as weighted networks. Then, we propose a weighted network modeling approach by extending the valued exponential random graph model to investigate the effects of product features and network structures on product competition relations. The approach that consists of model construction, interpretation, and validation is presented in a step-by-step procedure. Our findings suggest that the weighted network model outperforms commonly used binary network baselines in predicting product competition as well as market share. Also, traditionally when using binary network models to study product competitions and depending on the cutoff values chosen to binarize a network, the resulting estimated customer preferences can be inconsistent. Such inconsistency in interpreting customer preferences is a downside of binary network models but can be well addressed by the proposed weighted network model. Lastly, this paper is the first attempt to study customers’ purchase preferences and car competition together using weighted directed networks. (shrink)

Histone post-translational modifications play important roles in transcriptional regulation. It is known that multiple histone modifications can act in a combinatorial manner. In this study, we investigated the effects of multiple histone modifications on expression levels of five gene categories in coding regions. The combinatorial patterns of modifications for the five gene categories were also studied in the regions. Our results indicated that the differences in the expression levels between any two gene categories were significant. There were some corresponding differences (...) in multiple histone modification levels among the five gene categories. Multiple histone modifications jointly impacted expression levels of every gene category. Four mutual combinations of histone modifications were found and analyzed. (shrink)

A neural network is a model of the brain’s cognitive process, with a highly interconnected multiprocessor architecture. The neural network has incredible potential, in the view of these artificial neural networks inherently having good learning capabilities and the ability to learn different input features. Based on this, this paper proposes a new chaotic neuron model and a new chaotic neural network model. It includes a linear matrix, a sine function, and a chaotic neural network composed of three chaotic neurons. One (...) of the chaotic neurons is affected by the sine function. The network has rich chaotic dynamics and can produce multiscroll hidden chaotic attractors. This paper studied its dynamic behaviors, including bifurcation behavior, Lyapunov exponent, Poincaré surface of section, and basins of attraction. In the process of analyzing the bifurcation and the basins of attraction, it was found that the network demonstrated hidden bifurcation phenomena, and the relevant properties of the basins of attraction were obtained. Thereafter, a chaotic neural network was implemented by using FPGA, and the experiment proved that the theoretical analysis results and FPGA implementation were consistent with each other. Finally, an energy function was constructed to optimize the calculation based on the CNN in order to provide a new approach to solve the TSP problem. (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)

The Confucian idea of “ ming 命 (destiny)” holds that in the course and culmination of human life, there exists some objective certainty that is both transcendent and beyond human control. This is a concept of ultimate concern at the transcendental theoretical level in Confucianism. During its historical development, Confucianism has constantly offered humanist interpretations of the idea of “destiny”, thinking that the transcendence of “destiny” lies inherently within the qi endowment and virtues of human beings, that the certainty of (...) “destiny” is in essence contingency at the beginning of life and linear irreversibility towards its end, and that to live in light of ethics and physical rules — having a “commitment to human affairs” — means putting “destiny” into practice. As all these facts show, the Confucian ultimate concern regarding human life is full of rational awareness. (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)

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)

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)

The swarm intelligence algorithm simulates the behavior of animal populations in nature and is a new type of intelligent solution that is different from traditional artificial intelligence. Feature selection is a very common data dimensionality reduction method, which requires us to select the feature subset with the best evaluation criteria from the original feature set. Feature selection, as an effective data processing method, has become a hot research topic in the fields of machine learning, pattern recognition, and data mining and (...) has received extensive attention and attention. In order to verify the improvement effect of the feature selection algorithm based on the swarm intelligence algorithm on the data, this paper conducts experiments on six classes in the city’s first middle school with similar conditions. First, count the current situation of the students in the class, then divide them into classes, use different algorithms to teach them, and count the changes of the students after a period of teaching. The experiment found that the performance of students under the feature selection algorithm is about 30% higher than other teaching methods, and the awareness of cooperation between students reaches 0.8. It solves the contradiction between popularization and improvement and solves the problems of polarization and transformation of underachievers. The individuality of the algorithm has been fully utilized and developed. The test results show that the improved algorithm has faster convergence speed and higher solution accuracy, and the feature selection algorithm based on swarm intelligence algorithm can effectively improve the efficiency of the algorithm. (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)

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)

This study aimed to explore the linking mechanisms and conditional processes underlying the relationship between proactive behavior and work-family conflict. Considering the conservation of resources theory, we argue that workplace anxiety mediates the relationship between proactive behavior and work-family conflict. Furthermore, we suggest that immediate supervisor perspective taking and employee emotional intelligence moderate this proposed indirect effect. Two-wave, multisource lagged data were collected from 450 employees of seven domestic Chinese firms to examine the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Our findings support (...) the hypothesis that proactive behavior is positively related to work-family conflict and that workplace anxiety partially mediates this relationship. Immediate supervisor perspective taking moderates the positive association of proactive behavior with workplace anxiety and the indirect relationship between proactive behavior and work-family conflict through workplace anxiety. Emotional intelligence moderates the positive association of proactive behavior with workplace anxiety and the indirect relationship between proactive behavior and work-family conflict through workplace anxiety. The results deepen our theoretical understanding of the consequences of proactivity by demonstrating the positive associations between proactive behavior and work-family conflict. The current study also contributes to the literature by identifying workplace anxiety as a mediating mechanism explaining the relationship between proactivity and work-family conflict. Furthermore, supervisor perspective taking and employee emotional intelligence moderate the above mediating effect. (shrink)

The issue of management’s relations to the environment has received a significant amount of attention in the literature on corporate social responsibility. Yet the influence of religion on managers’ environmental decisions has until now remained unexamined despite its known importance. In this article, we examine the empirical association between religion—primarily Christianity—and the environmental practices a firm’s management undertakes by investigating their OLS, principal component, simultaneous, and endogenous effects. Employing a large and extensive U.S. sample, we find a negative association between (...) the environmental practices initiated by a firm’s managers and the religiosity of the surrounding community, after controlling for various firm and demographic characteristics. In addition, after mitigating endogeneity with the dynamic system generalized method of moment, we still find an inverse association between religiosity and environmental-friendly decisions of management. We interpret these results as providing some support for the “dominion hypothesis” that claims Christian beliefs discourage environmental concern, but not for the “stewardship hypothesis” that implies that Christianity encourages people to “exercise a responsible stewardship over nature.” Nevertheless, additional analysis shows Christian groups differ significantly in how each influences managers’ environmental decisions. (shrink)