Suchergebnisse

This volume applies the science of complexity to study coupled human-environment systems (CHES) and integrates ideas from the social sciences of climate change into a study of rural development amid flooding and urbanization in the Poyang Lake Region (PLR) of China. Author Qing Tian operationalizes the concept of sustainability and provides useful scientific analyses for sustainable development in less developed rural areas that are vulnerable to climatic hazards. The book uses a new sustainability framework that is centered on the concept of well-being to study rural development in PLR. The PLR study includes three major analyses: (1) a regional assessment of human well-being; (2) an empirical analysis of rural livelihoods; and (3) an agent-based computer model used to explore future rural development. These analyses provide a meaningful view of human development in the Poyang Lake Region and illustrate some of the complex local- and macro-level processes that shape the livelihoods of rural households in the dynamic process of urbanization. They generate useful insights about how government policy might effectively improve the well-being of rural households and promote sustainable development amid social, economic, and environmental changes. This case study has broader implications. Rural populations in the developing world are disproportionally affected by extreme climate events and climate change. Furthermore, the livelihoods of rural households in the developing world are increasingly under the influences of macro-level forces amid urbanization and globalization. This case study demonstrates that rural development policies must consider broader development dynamics at the national (and even global) level, as well as specific local social and environmental contexts. By treating climate as one of many factors that affect development in such places, we can provide policy recommendations that synergistically promote development and reduce climatic impacts and therefore facilitate mainstreaming climate adaptation into development.

This study aims to investigate the mechanisms of individuals' social interaction with new and existing friends in the blogosphere. It examines not only the direct association between social anxiety and online friendships but also the mediating effects of motivation and self-disclosure on the relation through path analysis. A total of 385 bloggers recruited online responded to the survey questionnaire. The results showed that compared with low socially anxious individuals, those with high social anxiety tended to make fewer new friends, communicated with fewer existing friends via blogs, and had lower relationship quality with those existing friends, but had higher relationship quality with new friends made through blogs. With regard to mediation, the higher the bloggers' social anxiety, the more motivated they were to make new friends via blogs and the more intimate information they disclosed on their blogs, both of which were, in turn, associated with more new friends and higher quality of new friendships. Interpretations of the findings and implications for understanding the social use of the Internet, especially the competing social compensation hypothesis and rich-get-richer hypothesis, are discussed.

AbstractScholars have increasingly considered how to promote employee voluntary pro‐environmental behavior (PEB) in the hospitality industry. This research explores the normative pathway underlying the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and voluntary PEB among frontline service employees. Guided by social cognitive theory, we suggest that the relationship between perceived CSR and voluntary PEB is mediated by organizational commitment and that this indirect relationship is moderated by moral efficacy. Multisource data from employees and supervisors (N = 221 matched pairs) support our proposed moderated mediation relationship, such that moral efficacy strengthens the positive indirect effect of perceived CSR on voluntary PEB via organizational commitment. This study adds to the literature by providing insights and implications for future research on the emergence of voluntary PEB in the hospitality industry.