Buddhist Ethics

This volume is one of a series of monographs on Buddhist philosophy for philosophers. It presents an outline of Buddhist ethical thought, presenting Buddhist ethical reflection as a distinct approach, or rather set of approaches, to moral philosophy. The book draws on a range of Buddhist philosophers to exhibit the internal diversity of the tradition as well as the lineaments that demonstrate its overarching integrity. This includes early Pāli texts, medieval Indian commentarial literature and philosophical treatises, Tibetan commentaries and treatises, and contemporary Buddhist literature. It argues that Buddhist ethics is best understood not as a species of any Western ethical tradition, but instead as a kind of moral phenomenology, and that it is particularist in its orientation. The book addresses both methodological and doctrinal issues and concludes with a study of the way that Buddhist ethical thought is relevant in the contemporary world.

Introduction

Introduces the outlines of Zaynab Fawwaz’s biography and published oeuvre, in the context of the nineteenth-century Arab/ic Nahda, or knowledge movement, and the centrality of questions of gender to that series of initiatives. Considers her distinct approach to questions of gender and society by setting out a feminist analytic that distinguishes ameliorative gender activism from critique of gender as a system of hierarchical social relations based on sex-gender differentiation and instituting and maintaining patriarchal and masculinist authority over females and the young. Suggests how debates on gender in 1890s Egypt were entangled with debates across the world, and how Arabophone intellectuals used certain keywords and conceptual categories to join debate, and describes communities of discourse, or senses of audience, that animated Fawwaz. Attention to audience and terminology, and to the rhetorical uses of affect, are aspects of a methodology of deep listening which requires close attention to not only Fawwaz’s writings, but those with which they were in dialogue.

Examining Tax Strategy Choice

Most recent tax research examines the level of firms' effective tax rates (ETRs), focusing on tax avoidance. However, theoretical work and research on book-tax tradeoffs and reputational costs indicate some firms have other tax planning goals. Moreover, anecdotal evidence suggests consistent tax outcomes are important; therefore, the volatility of ETRs may be an alternative aspect of firms' tax planning. In this study, I find some firms utilize a second, distinct approach to tax strategy - maintaining low ETR volatility - by documenting systematic differences in firm characteristics associated with each tax strategy approach and a predictable shift in characteristics when firms change tax strategies. In combination, these results identify at least two distinct approaches to tax strategy. I also find firms exhibiting low ETR volatility earn significantly higher median buy-and-hold returns than firms exhibiting low ETR levels, consistent with benefits to alternative tax strategies.

Domestic legal traditions and international cooperation: Insights from domestic and international qualification systems

The compatibility in terms of domestic systems that embed specific values of particular legal traditions is a critical determinant of international cooperation. We analyze international cooperation on professional qualifications because a domestic qualification system best showcases its distinct approach to social governance. Civil law states, which value written rules and certainty, use paper examinations as a core component of competency assessment of professionals, and upon international cooperation they opt to harmonize paper examinations. Common law states regard track record as important in assessing competence, and they often mutually allow professionals from partner states who have a good track record to practice in their territory. Cooperation between civil and common law states is possible when both parties make a conscious effort to align their domestic systems. In this case, an international mechanism has features of harmonization and mutual recognition. We also consider how to generalize the findings to explain states’ attitude toward inter-governmental organizations in general.

Safety performance framework at construction site for self-regulation by building developers

PurposeThis study proposes a self-regulatory framework to enhance safety performance at the construction stage among building developers.Design/methodology/approachExtant literature identified 137 potential factors that influence the construction safety performances of building developers. Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted with 11 panels of experts and professionals. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to analyse the response feedback described in a similar paper. In this study, the survey tool used was set up with 40 variables grouped into eight latent variables in the framework, which were agreed and certified as “extremely important” by the panel. Based on random sampling, data were collected from 229 valid respondents. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using Smart PLS software was then used to analyse the respondent's feedback.FindingsThe results show that safety administration and processes, effective communication of safety behaviour, significantly influenced safety performance on a construction site with β values of 0.330 and 0.431 along with t values of 3.005 and 2.547 at p < 0.1, respectively. These factors, among others, provide a distinct approach to understanding and improving on-site construction safety. The study findings will potentially benefit building professionals and other stakeholders by improving awareness of safety practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe study may not have covered all possible factors that influence the construction safety performance of building developers. Also, the generalizability and transferability of the research outcome to the construction industry wide use is also limited when reference is made to the characteristics of the research respondents and/or participants. In addition, validation of the framework by five professionals is rather small.Practical implicationsTheoretically, the framework through the identified factors provide a distinct approach to understanding and improving on-site construction safety through voluntary adherence to self-regulatory standard where there are no enforceable laws and regulations to promote safety. The study findings will potentially benefit building professionals and other stakeholders by improving awareness of the health and safety practices of the construction industry.Originality/valueMany research efforts have developed frameworks and models for construction safety. However, the particularity of these frameworks to countries other than Nigeria requires similar research to be conducted to enhance the safety performance of building developers.

Qualitative Longitudinal Research: From Monochrome to Technicolour

Qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) has grown in prominence and popularity since the 2007 themed section on the subject in this journal. This new themed section reflects on how QLR has been mobilised and made sense of in recent times. This article showcases QLR’s distinctive way of knowing and understanding the social world and how it can illuminate the processes through which policy can enhance, or indeed inhibit, the well-being of individuals and groups within society. This state of the art article focuses on QLR as a valuable but tricky approach. It argues that QLR can enhance qualitative research in social policy by fostering sustained policy engagement and development, and that this is especially useful for policy-making in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage. It also explores cross-cutting methodological dimensions pertinent to QLR’s distinct approach, such as its enhanced ethical considerations, which are also integral to research with people at high risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. The article concludes with possible future directions and developments for QLR as a methodology.

Psychedelic psychodrama: Raising and expanding consciousness in Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath (1973)

Jane Arden’s debut feature film The Other Side of the Underneath (1973) is an adaptation of the radical feminist play A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches (1971). In both the play and the later film, the all-female cast re-enact personal and archetypal situations using autobiographical material, which was collectively gathered from group therapy sessions led by the director. Psychedelic drugs were also consumed during the group therapy sessions. In this article, I will situate Arden’s distinct approach to performance in the film within the framework of psychodrama, focusing specifically on the role that psychedelic drugs play in unleashing performers’ repressed feelings of trauma, rage, and desire; these emotions are harnessed into a dynamic mode of performance that amplifies the cathartic possibilities of women’s speech. The film’s heady brew of radical feminist politics, group therapy, and countercultural self-actualisation is both challenging and contentious. I argue that Arden’s pursuit of consciousness liberation through psychodrama and psychedelics—in other words, through ‘raising’ and ‘expanding’ consciousness—is best understood as a concerted attempt to align countercultural and radical feminist tactics for unravelling repressive forms of social conditioning.

Mobile payment and e-wallet adoption in emerging economies: A systematic literature review

Against the backdrop of greater smartphone and internet penetration across the emerging markets, electronic wallet (e-wallet) has emerged as a reliable and well-known digital payment method. The main purpose of this paper is to review the growing volume of studies on e-wallet adoption in this region. E-wallet is widely used worldwide, but it has yet to become mainstream in developing countries, including Malaysia. Hence, scholars have conducted numerous studies on e-wallet use, but there seems to be a lack of consensus on the predictors influencing its adoption. This study examines these publications to analyze the potential research gaps, offer a multi-stakeholder eco-system framework and make recommendations for future research. We retrieved scholarly articles on E-Wallet adoption published from 2016-2021 through the Google Scholar and Scopus database. After the screening process in which some papers were excluded, 77 previous studies were reviewed regarding the methodology, findings and adaptation of theories/models. Considering that a large portion of the studies are grounded based on the technology acceptance framework and typically involved drivers and enablers, we call for a distinct approach that draws in other factors into the equation. For instance, future research may divulge the inhibitors to E-wallet adoption and incorporate the external environment and consumer psychological factors as potential predictors.

Broken Record: An Arts-Informed Autoethnography of Adolescent Institutionalization

“Broken Record” is a Masters Research Project in which I explore my experience in an adolescent psychiatric institution using an arts-informed autoethnographic method. The final project is a 200-page artistic exploration of language, meaning, identity, and psychiatry. This component of the research outlines the critical objectives of the project and grounds the work in a body of existing literature. The primary contribution of the paper is its presentation of Madness as Method, a distinct approach to autoethnographic research on madness and psychiatric survival that mobilizes mad subjectivity to generate knowledge from a place of embodiment, distress, memory work, and academic research. I outline this methodology at length, identifying and exploring its four stages: unravelling, integration, narrative, and reckoning. I conclude this paper by situating my Masters Research Project in the context of my Masters training and my professional goals beyond the academy.

Broken Record: An Arts-Informed Autoethnography of Adolescent Institutionalization

“Broken Record” is a Masters Research Project in which I explore my experience in an adolescent psychiatric institution using an arts-informed autoethnographic method. The final project is a 200-page artistic exploration of language, meaning, identity, and psychiatry. This component of the research outlines the critical objectives of the project and grounds the work in a body of existing literature. The primary contribution of the paper is its presentation of Madness as Method, a distinct approach to autoethnographic research on madness and psychiatric survival that mobilizes mad subjectivity to generate knowledge from a place of embodiment, distress, memory work, and academic research. I outline this methodology at length, identifying and exploring its four stages: unravelling, integration, narrative, and reckoning. I conclude this paper by situating my Masters Research Project in the context of my Masters training and my professional goals beyond the academy.