Different Motivations (different + motivation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Three Meanings of Intergenerational Mobility

ECONOMICA, Issue 272 2001
Dirk Van De Gaer
We axiomatize three different motivations for being concerned about intergenerational mobility: mobility as a description of movement, as an indication of equality of opportunity, and as an indication of equality of life chances. These three motivations are shown to be incompatible. None of the existing measures is acceptable as an indicator of equality of opportunity or equality of life chances. We propose two new measures of intergenerational mobility which more adequately reflect these concerns. [source]


Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Challenging the Property Rights Paradigm in Botswana

GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2003
Amy R. Poteete
Recent work in international studies and comparative politics scrutinizes the relative importance of ideas, interests, and institutions as sources of policy change. A growing body of scholarship identifies ideas as the main causal factors, influencing perceived interests as well as perceived policy options. Others contend that policies can best be understood as products of institutions. Neither explanation can account for both policy choice by politicians and the implementation strategies of administrators. In Botswana, the use of professional criteria for hiring and advancement encourages adherence to international professional norms within the bureaucracy, but electoral competition gives politicians more reason to be attentive to local political concerns. The institutions that define relations of authority among actors with different motivations shape the outcomes of policy choice and implementation. Institutions influence the attentiveness of policy-makers to ideas when making decisions, the degree of attention particular policy-makers give to ideas from particular sources, and the degree of acceptance that ideas must achieve to affect policy. Better evaluations of political development can be achieved through attentiveness to the mix of actors involved in policy decisions, the diversity of institutions and ideas that affect their policy preferences, and the relations of authority that shape their relative influence over policy choice and implementation. [source]


Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: How job design matters

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2009
Nicolai J. Foss
Abstract Job design is one of the most frequently researched practices in the Human Resource Management (HRM) literature, and knowledge sharing has become an important and heavily researched managerial practice. The links between these practices, however, have received little attention in the literature. We argue that job design matters to knowledge sharing for motivational reasons. Specifically, jobs contain characteristics that stimulate different kinds of motivation toward knowledge sharing, which have different effects on individual knowledge sharing behavior. We develop six hypotheses that unfold these ideas and test them on the basis of individual-level data collected within a single firm. The hypotheses are tested in a LISREL model that confirms that job characteristics, such as autonomy, task identity, and feedback, determine different motivations to share knowledge, which in turn predict employees' knowledge sharing behaviors. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Mother versus stranger: a triadic situation of imitation at the end of the first year of life

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2004
Emmanuel DevoucheArticle first published online: 26 NOV 200
Abstract This study presents two experiments investigating 8- and 12-month-old infants' imitative behaviour. Seventy-two 8-month-olds and seventy-two 12-month-olds were observed in a triadic situation which included their mother and a stranger. Depending on the condition, either the mother or the stranger acted as the demonstrator and either stayed close or withdrew after the demonstration, during the response period. In addition to imitative acts, visual exploration and smiles addressed, respectively, to each partner were computed. Results showed that at both ages, neither the familiarity nor the position of the partner has an effect on the number of target gestures that are imitated. At 12 months, infants looked and smiled more at the stranger when he demonstrated target actions but no difference was found when the mother acted as demonstrator. Moreover, 12-month-old infants looked more at the demonstrating partner immediately after their first imitation. At 8 months, infants paid more attention to the stranger in all conditions except when the mother performed the target actions and moved away, a pattern that suggests a referencing to the mother. Results from the gaze and smile variables suggest that with age different motivations (social contact, exploration of objects) induce imitation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Return Migration by German Guestworkers: Neoclassical versus New Economic Theories

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 4 2002
Amelie Constant
Neoclassical economics and the new economics of labour migration posit very different motivations for international migration. The former assumes that people move abroad permanently to maximize lifetime earnings whereas the latter assumes they leave temporarily to overcome market deficiencies at home. As a result, the two models yield very different conceptualizations of return migration. We draw upon each theoretical model to derive predictions about how different variables are likely to influence the probability of return migration. We use data from the German Socio,economic Panel to test specific hypotheses derived from each model. Finding some support for both perspectives, we suggest that migrants may be heterogeneous with respect to their migratory motivations. If so, then parameters associated with the determinants of return migration in any population of international migration will reflect a blending of parameters associated with two distinct economic rationales. Equations estimated separately for remitting and non,remitting migrants lend support to this interpretation, meaning there may not be one unitary process of return migration, but several. [source]


CONSULTING KU JLOPLE: SOME HISTORIES OF ORACLES IN WEST AFRICA

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2004
Elizabeth Tonkin
Historical comparison of oracles in west Africa, mainly during the nineteenth century, shows how divination practices may alter. In the cases explored here, reputation, range of users, economic growth, and political influence interacted as these oracles developed; some at sites with internal and overseas trade access became complex, large-scale operations. But by about 1900, colonialists felt threatened by their secular and their spiritual power and smashed them physically, though not spiritually. Contextualized comparison shows that the many people who were involved as oracle organizers and supplicants must have had different motivations and interests. Some methodological implications of the findings are considered. As in many powerful secular organizations, access to insider knowledge was blocked, but oracular reputation was important, and the oracles had competitors. Success derived partly from collecting intelligence, with simultaneous advertisement that emphasized the mysterious power of their operations. [source]


Environmental motivations: a classification scheme and its impact on environmental strategies and practices

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 7 2009
Antony Paulraj
Abstract Ecological deterioration has significantly changed the role of businesses in society and the way they are perceived. In fact, consumers are more aware of environmental issues and are demanding that the businesses take appropriate action in preserving the environment. Extant research suggests that stringent regulations had been instrumental to the timing and direction of many firms' responses to environmental preservation. In addition to these legislative requirements, firms also adopt ecologically responsive practices for various other reasons. Therefore, understanding the different motivations of environmental initiatives is pertinent. Additionally, it is also important to determine whether environmental strategies and practices differ significantly across firms with different motivations. With the above ambition in mind, this manuscript addresses the crucial issues related to corporate environmental strategy through the development of an empirical taxonomy of environmental motivations and the subsequent testing of any significant differences in corporate environmental strategy and green practices across the clusters. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]