Internal Constraints (internal + constraint)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Persuasive constraint and expert versus non-expert influence in intention to quit smoking

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Juan Manuel Falomir-Pichastor
In a 2,×,2 design, after listing important personal reasons for smoking, 70 smokers were randomly told either that they had sufficient reasons for smoking (low internal constraint to change) or that they did not have sufficient reasons (high internal constraint to change) and were exposed to an anti-smoking message from a source with either expert (high external constraint to change) or non-expert (low external constraint to change) status. The main dependent variable was change in intention to give up smoking. The analyses revealed the predicted interaction between external and internal constraint: High internal constraint increased non-expert influence but not expert influence. Supplementary analysis showed that, when internal constraint was high, non-expert influence was related to the perceived quality of the message whereas when internal constraint was low, expert influence was related to the source's perceived motivation to inform, i.e. rather than to convince. These results were predicted on the basis of the link that targets establish in social influence settings between constraints to change that are internal (i.e. related to their personal beliefs, feelings or attitudes) and those that are external (i.e. related to the characteristics of the persuasive communication such as the status of the source). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Do endogenous seasonal cycles of food intake influence foraging behaviour and intake by grazing sheep?

FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2000
G. R. Iason
Abstract 1.,Large herbivores living in temperate regions show different degrees of seasonal biological variation, including voluntary food intake (VFI). The decline of VFI in winter has been hypothesized to be an evolved response to lower food availability or quality, which can act as an internal constraint on food intake. 2.,The hypotheses were tested that (i) animals that have a greater inherent seasonal variation of VFI, measured indoors under ad libitum conditions, would also have a greater seasonal variation in intake and grazing behaviour under field conditions, and (ii) greater seasonal variation in intake and grazing behaviour under field conditions would be expressed at a higher level of food availability. 3.,The intake and grazing behaviour in summer and winter, of three breeds of sheep, were compared at two levels of food availability (at pasture heights of 3·7 and 5·4 cm). The breeds were known to have contrasting degrees of seasonal variation in food intake when fed ad libitum; the VFI of the Shetland (SH) and Scottish Blackface (BF) sheep varies greatly between seasons whereas that of the Dorset Horn (DH) is less seasonally variable. 4.,All three breeds consistently increased their rates of biting and duration of grazing activity in the winter, taking many more smaller bites each day than in the summer, and both digestibility and intake were lower in winter than in summer. 5.,Contrary to expectation, the DH ewes had the highest seasonal difference of dry matter intake at pasture, whereas the SH breed had the lowest variation of intake between seasons. 6.,This experiment provides no evidence that differences between seasons in intake and foraging behaviour in the field vary with the animals' degree of endogenous seasonal variation in VFI. Variation between seasons was consistent at both levels of resource availability, suggesting that it resulted from seasonal changes in food quality (digestibility) rather than biomass availability. It is not easy to extrapolate from laboratory feeding studies, where animals' own physiological constraints apply, to foraging ecology in the field, where constraints imposed by the environment may be more important. [source]


Local authorities, climate change and small and medium enterprises: identifying effective policy instruments to reduce energy use and carbon emissions

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2008
Jaryn Bradford
Abstract This paper discusses potential policy options available to local and municipal authorities, to achieve reductions in energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Researchers conducted surveys with 112 SMEs, and the results have been used to disaggregate the category of ,SME' into sub-sectors based on industrial sector, two measurements of employee size and annual turnover. A statistical analysis identifies key characteristics and behaviours of the sub-sectors of firms and discusses the type of policy measure these groups of SMEs would probably respond to. The key results of the research indicate that categories of firms differ in terms of energy use behaviours, internal constraints and attitudes toward possible policy options. The paper presents a ,policy matrix' to represent the most and least likely policy options to achieve energy savings from different categories of SMEs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


The ,New Minimalist Approach' to Private-Sector Development: A Critical Assessment

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
Tilman Altenburg
Recent literature on private-sector development emphasises the need to establish a ,level playing field' and tends to disregard selective supportive interventions. The most commonly highlighted elements are administrative simplification and effective property rights policies, with business services largely left to private providers - what we call the ,new minimalist approach' (NMA). However, the NMA is based on certain unrealistic assumptions and is barely backed by empirical evidence. A range of complementary public policies is needed to create competitive sectors and overcome internal constraints, especially in small-scale economies. [source]


Inside the Sending State: The Politics of Mexican Emigration Control1

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2006
David Fitzgerald
The social science of international migration has generally ignored labor emigration control policies. In the critical case of Mexico, however, the central government consistently tried to control the volume, duration, skills, and geographic origin of emigrants from 1900 to the early 1970s. A neopluralist approach to policy development and implementation shows that the failure of emigration control and the current abandonment of serious emigration restrictions are explained by a combination of external constraints, imposed by a highly asymmetrical interdependence with the United States, and internal constraints, imposed by actors within the balkanized Mexican state who recurrently undermined federal emigration policy through contradictory local practices. [source]


Aid and Reform in Failing States

ASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC LITERATURE, Issue 1 2008
Lisa Chauvet
This paper reviews the policy implications of research on reform in failing states (Chauvet and Collier 2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2008; Chauvet et al. 2006; Chauvet et al. 2007a, 2007b). After providing a precise definition of state failure and reform in such states, we present the internal constraints impeding reform in failing states. Élite preferences and insufficient social knowledge seem to be the major constraints on reform. We find that financial aid tends to allow the ruling élite to postpone reform. Technical assistance, however, has some effectiveness in relaxing the capacity constraint to implement reform, notably right at the beginning of reform. [source]