MODERATION EFFECT OF MORAL OBLIGATION ON STUDENT’S INTENTION TOWARDS ACADEMIC DISHONEST BEHAVIOUR: THE CASE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN GHANA

The study examined the moderation effect of moral obligation on students’ intention towards academic dishonest behaviour. A survey-inferential design was used to randomly sample the views of 1,200 undergraduate university students. A structured questionnaire was used to collect. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Conditional Process Analysis (CPA) were used for the analyses. Moral obligation statistically significantly moderated the intention to engage in academic dishonesty. It was concluded that an intention to engage in academic dishonesty decrease as moral obligation increases in the individual students. It was recommended that university authorities should introduce moral education as a core course among undergraduate students. This would instill in them a higher moral obligation in order to curb the academic dishonesty menace.

Attracting the Right Crowd under Asymmetric Information: A Game Theory Application to Rewards-Based Crowdfunding

In this paper, we investigate rewards-based crowdfunding as an innovative financing form for startups and firms. Based on game-theory models under asymmetric information, we test research hypotheses about the positive effects of two main campaign features: funding target and number of rewards. Furthermore, we examine how and when these characteristics are effective in attracting crowdfunders, by signaling high-quality projects (target) and by pricing according to backers’ preferences (rewards). Conditional process analysis is applied to a dataset of 1613 projects launched on the Spanish platform Verkami from 2015 to 2018. As expected, our study shows that market size is positively influenced by the target and the number of rewards, separately. Further analysis gives some interesting findings. Firstly, we find significant and positive mediating roles of social networks (in the relationship between target and market size) and of backers’ preferences (between rewards and market size). Secondly, the main orientation of a campaign, commercial or social, is relevant to explain previous relationships. While high funding targets are more effective in commercial projects, a high number of rewards is more effective in the social projects. This research provides new insights into the design of optimal crowdfunding, with theoretical and empirical implications.

Socio-emotional strengths against psychopathology and suicidal ideation in fear of COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a global health crisis. It also leads to different types of psychosocial problems in society as a result of preventive health measures and the disease itself. Among others, psychopathological symptoms and suicide behaviors have increased. The PsicorecurSOS COVID-19 online protocol was designed. At baseline, 1020 Spanish adults were assessed, during confinement, for sociodemographics, fear of COVID-19, anxious-depressive symptoms, covitality, and suicidal ideation. Reliability, descriptive, and frequency analyses were carried out, and the computer tool SPSS PROCESS was used to carry out a conditional process analysis (model 59). A total of 595 participants were included (58.30% response rate from baseline; mean age = 37.18 [SD = 13.30]; 72.44% female). Regarding suicidal ideation, 12% responded differently to “never,” 19.3% exceeded the cutoff point on the anxiety scale, and 24% on the depression scale. Moderate mediation analysis explained 27% of the variance in suicidal ideation. In addition, the indirect effect of moderate mediation was significant (b = −.004, SE = .002 with the presence of covitality; and b = .01, SE = .003 absence of covitality). Sex and age did not influence the overall outcome of the model. The data from this study can serve as a starting point for generating social and health treatment initiatives based on self-examination of anxiety-depressive symptoms and increasing socio-emotional skills in order to prevent and alleviate the psychosocial effects of the pandemic.

How Does Inter-Organizational Relational Governance Propel Firms’ Open Innovation? A Conditional Process Analysis

To successfully implement open innovation, it is essential for firms to build close relationships with external innovators. Although many studies have suggested that relational governance, also known as social control, can effectively manage inter-organizational relationships, the role of relational governance on firms’ open innovation remains equivocal. Using a survey of 318 manufacturing firms from China, this study used a conditional process model to analyze the interplay of relational governance, open innovation, and firms’ innovation performance and examine the influence of environmental dynamism. The results demonstrate that relational governance has a positive impact on firms’ open innovation (both inbound and outbound) and innovation performance. We also found that open innovation mediates the association between relational governance and firms’ innovation performance. A high level of environmental dynamism enhances the indirect effect of relational governance on firms’ innovation performance through open innovation. These findings help clarify the interaction between relational governance and open innovation. They also deepen understanding of the value co-creation principle of open innovation.

Nostalgia, Sensations and Local Products in Rural Tourism Experiences in a Portuguese Schist Village

Rural tourism has attracted increasing attention in recent decades. It responds to new market demands, some of which driven by a nostalgic quest for a ‘rural idyll’, as well as the need of many European rural territories to find new sources of income and development. Local products represent a relevant asset for appealing to rural tourist experiences, enhancing local identity and regional economies. Based on a study of the rural tourist experience as lived by visitors of a Portuguese schist village, the present paper analyses the role of nostalgia and sensory experiences in leading to tourists’ purchase of local products, using a conditional process analysis. Results confirm this link and also show that tourists seem to be more affected by these dynamics than excursionists. Implications of results for management and development of rural territories involving tourism and sales of local products are further discussed.

A Cross-Cultural Study on Attachment and Adjustment Difficulties in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control in Italy, Spain, China, and Poland

From a socio-ecological perspective, individuals are influenced by the interplay of individual, relational, and societal factors operating as a broader system. Thereby, to support youth adjustment during the critical adolescence period, the interplay between these factors should be investigated. This study aimed to investigate cross-cultural differences in adolescents’ maternal and paternal attachment, adolescents’ adjustment difficulties and self-control, and in their association. N = 1000 adolescents (mean (M) age = 16.94, SD = 0.48; 45.90% males) from China, Italy, Spain, and Poland participated by completing self-report measures. Results showed cross-country similarities and differences among the considered variables and their associative pattern. Moreover, conditional process analysis evaluating the association between maternal vs. paternal attachment and adjustment difficulties, mediated by self-control, and moderated by country, was performed. Maternal attachment directly, and indirectly through greater self-control, influenced adjustment difficulties in all four countries. This association was stronger among Spaniards. Paternal attachment influenced directly, and indirectly through self-control, on adolescents’ adjustment difficulties only in Italy, Spain, and Poland, and was stronger among Polish adolescents. For Chinese adolescents, paternal attachment solely associated with adjustment difficulties when mediated by self-control. Thus, results highlighted both similarities and differences across countries in the interplay between maternal vs. paternal attachment and self-control on adolescents’ adjustment difficulties. Implications are discussed.

Knowledge-based psychological ownership and knowledge hiding: The roles of loss of knowledge power and emotional intelligence

Individuals' knowledge activity is essential for knowledge circulation in organizations. To examine the relationship between knowledge-based psychological ownership and knowledge hiding, we conducted a threewave online survey with 310 knowledge workers in China. We used the bootstrapping method for mediation effects analysis and found that loss of knowledge power mediated the effect of knowledge-based psychological ownership on knowledge hiding. The results of a conditional process analysis further indicate that emotional intelligence attenuated the indirect impact of knowledge-based psychological ownership on knowledge hiding through the mediator of loss of knowledge power. Our findings enhance understanding of why workers refuse to share their knowledge, and how to decrease knowledge-hiding behaviors in organizations by developing employees' emotional competency.