Moderating Effects of Financial Cognitive Abilities and Considerations on the Attitude–Intentions Nexus of Stock Market Participation

This study aims to examine the determinants of investors’ behavioral intentions to participate in the stock market. In this attempt, this research investigated the direct and moderating effects of the financial cognitive abilities and the financial considerations on the nexus of attitudes and behavioral intentions of investors. Data for this study were collected from active and potential investors in the Dhaka Stock Exchange of Bangladesh using a structured questionnaire. The partial least squares method was used to examine the nature and extent of the relationships of investors’ behavioral intentions with their attitude, financial cognitive abilities, and financial considerations in making stock market investment-related decisions. The findings of this study suggest that investors’ attitudes, financial planning ability, and perceptions of financial risks and benefits are important factors that influence their decisions in stock market participation. Moreover, financial planning, financial satisfaction, and perceived financial risk moderate the nexus of attitude and behavioral intentions to participate in the stock market. This study, therefore, has significant implications for policymakers, stock market regulators, and financial service providers.

Local Characteristics Shape the Intended Political Behaviours of Adolescents

Among the different factors that predict political participation, the characteristics of the local community are often described. The types and the intensity of political participation differ in urban and rural communities. The local community provides social and cultural resources for political participation and at the same time acts as a driver of political socialisation. The political attitudes of adolescents differ depending on the characteristics of the communities in which they live, i.e. the local context of their political socialisation. This paper describes the context of the political socialisation of adolescents in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in terms of geographical differences in socioeconomic, sociostructural, and sociocultural characteristics. The approach uses public databases to construct indicators that describe administrative districts in terms of their degree of urbanisation, degree of aggregated individual wealth, and variety of opportunity. These indicators were merged with the NRW subset of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2016), which comprises N = 1451 students in N = 59 schools. Neither the degree of urbanisation nor the degree of aggregated individual wealth was suitable for explaining differences in the intended political behaviour of secondary school students in the 8th grade in NRW. However, the higher the variety of opportunity in a certain district, the less frequently students intend to participate in elections as adults. Also, the higher the measure, the more frequently students intend to participate in illegal protest activities. Apparently certain local environments mobilise intentions to participate in protest activities and suppress more conventional political activities.

Working Adults' Intentions to Participate in Microlearning: Assessing for Measurement Invariance and Structural Invariance

The current study set out to understand the factors that explain working adults' microlearning usage intentions using the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB). Specifically, the authors were interested in differences, if any, in the factors that explained microlearning acceptance across gender, age and proficiency in technology. 628 working adults gave their responses to a 46-item, self-rated, 5-point Likert scale developed to measure 12 constructs of the DTPB model. Results of this study revealed that a 12-factor model was valid in explaining microlearning usage intentions of all working adults, regardless of demographic differences. Tests for measurement invariance showed support for invariance in model structure (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), item intercepts (scalar invariance), and item residuals (strict invariance) between males and females, between working adults below 40 years and above 40 years, and between working adults with lower technology proficiency and higher technology proficiency levels. While measurement invariance existed in the data, structural invariance was only found across gender, not age and technology proficiency. We then assessed latent mean differences and structural path differences across groups. Our findings suggest that a tailored approach to encourage the use of microlearning is needed to suit different demographics of working adults. The current study discusses the implications of the findings on the use and adoption of microlearning and proposes future research possibilities.

Mieleltään haavoittuneet

Mielenterveyssyistä johtuvat sairauspoissaolot ja työkyvyttömyyseläkkeet ovat lisääntyneet Suomessa viime vuosikymmeninä. Sen vuoksi on tarpeen tutkia mielenterveyskuntoutujien yksilöllisiä elämäntilanteita sekä heidän kuntoutumistaan ja kiinnittymistään yhteiskuntaan. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan mielenterveyskuntoutujien kuntoutusprosessia erityisesti koulutus- ja työtoimijuuden näkökulmasta. Tutkimusaineistona käytetään aikuisten mielenterveyskuntoutujien kirjoittamia elämänkerrontoja (n = 42). Elämänkerrontojen teema-analyysin ja tyypittelyn perusteella kirjoittajat jaettiin kolmeen erilaiseen ryhmään, jotka nimettiin toimijoiksi (9), taistelijoiksi (18) ja tipahtaneiksi (15). Toimijat olivat aktiivisia oman kuntoutumisensa, koulutuksensa, työnsä sekä kokonaiselämänsä suhteen. Heillä oli vahva pyrkimys hakeutua koulutukseen, palata takaisin työelämään tai ylläpitää nykyinen koulutus- ja työtilanteensa. Taistelijat olivat puolestaan omassa kuntoutusprosessissaan matkalaisia, jotka halusivat olla yhteiskunnan tarpeellisia jäseniä. Myös heillä oli koulutukseen ja työhön liittyviä haaveita, mutta keinot oman elämän hallitsemiseksi olivat toisten ihmisten tuen varassa. Tipahtaneet olivat luovuttaneet sekä oman kuntoutumisensa että koulutus- ja työtoimijuutensa suhteen. Heillä ei ollut enää koulutukseen tai työhön liittyviä tavoitteita. Abstract Mentally wounded. Research of Education and Work Agency of Mental Health Rehabilitees Mental health related sick leaves and early pensions have increased enormously in our society in the last decades. That is why it is important to study the life narratives of mental health rehabilitees, especially focusing on individual and societal factors connected to rehabilitation, education and work agency. The data of this research consisted of 42 self-written life stories of adult mental health rehabilitees. Based on theme analysis and typification, life stories were divided into three groups: agentic actors (9), warriors (18) and dropouts (15). Agentic actors were described as active agents of their own rehabilitation, education, work and life. They had strong intentions to participate in education and work. Warriors seemed to be more like passengers in their own rehabilitation process, yet they had intentions to be a necessary part of society. They had hopes and dreams towards education and work, but they seemed to be lacking concrete means to lead their independent lives. The dropouts had given up on their agency in rehabilitation, education and work. They had no more goals or intentions concerning education and work. Keywords: mental health rehabilitation, life story, education, work, agency

Engaged, Indifferent, Skeptical or Critical? Disentangling Attitudes towards Local Deliberative Mini-Publics in Four Western European Democracies

Democratic innovations, such as deliberative mini-publics, are designed to encourage public engagement in policymaking. They are increasingly being used to inform decision-making on the environment, climate change, and other sustainability issues. Research on support for democratic innovations has focused on identifying citizens in favor and understanding whether they are “enraged” or “engaged” with politics. However, this approach ignores potential differences between citizens expressing more (or less) positive attitudes towards democratic innovations. In an online vignette study, respondents from four Western European countries rated varying descriptions of a local mini-public, indicating both their support for the decision-making process and their willingness to get involved. Four distinct groups were identified based on a latent profile analysis: (1) those who are truly engaged, in that their support for mini-publics is reinforced by intentions to participate, correspond to one-third of citizens. Engaged deliberative democrats stand out as being more concerned about the environment than any other issue on the agenda; (2) the majority of citizens are indifferent, expressing neither positive nor negative inclinations towards mini-publics; (3) a group of “elitists” is skeptical of integrating citizens into policymaking despite intending to participate themselves; and finally (4), a small share of citizens was identified as critics, scoring low on both support and willingness to participate in a mini-public. The diversity of profiles points to the challenges of using deliberative mini-publics to address sustainability issues.

Where are all the men? Exploring the lack of make participation in childbearing research using the Theory of Planned Behaviour

The current study examined whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) could account for the disproportionately low participation rates of men in childbearing and fertility research and whether the addition of distal factors could help identify the men missing from this specific field of health research. The study was of longitudinal design, comprising two online surveys measuring the TPB constructs (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control), distal factors (e.g., desire for a child) intentions to participate in childbearing research (time 1) and childbearing research behaviour (time 2). More women (n=623) than men (n=176) participated. Structural models revealed the TPB constructs accounted for 37% and 1% of the variance in intentions and behaviour respectively. Attitudes had the strongest association with intentions (β=.53). Men had significantly less favourable attitudes (p=.000) and lower intentions than women (p=.01). TPB constructs fully and partially mediated associations between distal factors and intentions. The modification of attitudes is likely to be the mechanism that would elicit intention (and behaviour) change amongst those likely to be missing from childbearing and fertility research, namely men not yet at the stage of starting a family. Increasing male participation will help identify unmet needs in research and policy that concern men.

The Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Associated With Antisystemic Attitudes and Political Violence

What are the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for people’s political attitudes and behavior? We tested, specifically, whether the psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic relates to antisystemic attitudes (dissatisfaction with the fundamental social and political order), peaceful political activism, and political violence. Nationally representative two-wave panel data were collected via online surveys of adults in the United States, Denmark, Italy, and Hungary ( ns = 6,131 and 4,568 in Waves 1 and 2, respectively). Overall, levels of antisystemic attitudes were low, and only a small share of interviewees reported behavioral intentions to participate in and actual participation in political violence. However, preregistered analyses indicated that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with antisystemic attitudes and intentions to engage in political violence. In the United States, the burden of COVID-19 was also associated with self-reported engagement in violence surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests and counterprotests. We found less robust evidence that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with peaceful activism.

Psychological Antecedents of Intentions to Participate in Last Chance Tourism: Considering Complementary Theories

Last chance tourism (LCT) has received significant attention within the academic literature and popular press because of its controversial nature of bringing travelers to threatened places. However, little theory has been applied to understand why travelers gravitate toward this controversial type of tourism. Hence, this work combines the value–belief–norm (VBN) model and theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework to explain intentions to participate in LCT. Survey data were collected from a national panel ( n = 436) of US travelers in 2019. A two-step modeling approach (confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling) was followed to examine psychometrics and hypothesized relationships between VBN constructs, TPB constructs, and intentions to participate in LCT. Of the 11 hypotheses examined, 10 were supported, with both theories combining to explain 61% of the variance in travelers’ intentions. The TPB construct of “social norms” was the best predictor of LCT intentions, emphasizing the conspicuous nature of LCT’s influence on demand.