Applying Constrained Choice Theory to Understand Adolescent Non-Vaccination

Research on non-vaccination tends to be framed as a result of specific parenting cultures or as a result of disparities in healthcare access. This project proposes applying constrained choice theory for gender and health to understand non-vaccination to integrate these two fields of research. Using the National Immunization -Teen, 2012-2019 (N=145,945), this study classifies parental reports of the reasons for non-vaccination for three adolescent vaccines (human papillomavirus [HPV], meningitis, and tetanus booster) into similar categories that are associated with varying types of constraints and examines the socio-demographic and vaccine specific differences in reasons for non-vaccination. Results reveal important differences the role of constraint for parents of different socio-demographic backgrounds, as well as the usefulness of considering vaccine specific motivations. Furthermore, constrained choice theory provides a useful framework for both understanding non-vaccination at a national level as well as for encapsulating a broad spectrum of reasons for non-vaccination.

The Effect of Staff Auditor Reputation on Audit Quality Enhancing Actions

Auditors often face situations in which acting on their professional obligations comes with potential personal costs. Drawing upon the Theory of Reputation in Organizations, we predict that perceived costs associated with these actions are lower for auditors with positive reputations, which in turn influences their actions. In our first experiment, participants perceive that auditors with negative reputations face a more constrained choice set when anticipating a budget overage. Further, participants perceive that those with positive reputations are more likely to proactively report the overage and less likely to underreport hours worked, a result mediated by the anticipated impact on evaluations for "speaking up." In a second experiment, we manipulate reputation in a live simulation and demonstrate a causal link between reputation and auditors' skeptical action. Taken together, our experiments provide evidence that an auditor's perceived reputation influences their choice to engage in audit quality enhancing behaviors.

College Assignment Problems Under Constrained Choice, Private Preferences, and Risk Aversion

Many countries use a centralized admission system for admitting students to universities. Typically, each student reports a ranking of his preferred colleges to a planner, and the planner allocates students to colleges according to the rules of a predefined mechanism. A recurrent feature in these admission systems is that students are constrained in the number of colleges that they can rank. In addition, students normally have private preferences over colleges and are risk-averse. Hence, they face a strategic decision under uncertainty to determine their optimal reports to the planner. We characterize students’ equilibrium behavior when the planner uses a Serial Dictatorship (SD) mechanism by solving an endogenous decision problem. We show that if students are sufficiently risk-averse, their optimal strategy is to truthfully report the “portfolio of colleges” with the highest probabilities of being available. We then analyze the welfare implications of constraining student choice by stressing the differences between the so-called consideration and conditional-allocation effects.

Constrained choice in supply chain relationships: the effects of regulatory institutions

Purpose Utilizing a top-down approach of middle-range theorizing (MRT), the purpose of this paper is to integrate relational exchange with institutional theory to examine how companies manage supply chain relationships to achieve desired supply chain outcomes in industries characterized by varying degrees of regulatory mandates that restrict the choice of supply chain partners. The authors identify this supply chain relationship dynamic as constrained choice. Design/methodology/approach A moderated mediation model is tested using survey data from producers in the US wine industry to investigate the effects of regulatory pressure on the ability of wine producers to achieve operational coordination when responding to relational behaviors through either trust or calculative commitment. Findings Results find that relational behaviors can improve operational coordination through two distinct paths: trust or calculative commitment. With the moderating effect of regulatory pressure, relational behaviors more effectively facilitate operational coordination through trust. Alternately, regulatory pressure attenuates the mediated relationship through calculative commitment. Research limitations/implications The research introduces constrained choice dynamics into the supply chain relationship literature via MRT. Integrating generative mechanisms from relational exchange and institutional theories provides theoretical depth and context-specific knowledge about relationships that operate in constrained choice situations. Practical implications Managers impacted by constrained choice should recognize that mechanisms typically resulting in positive relationship outcomes may respond differently in the presence of regulatory constraints. With greater regulatory pressure, efforts to enhance operational coordination are more effective using relational mechanisms to build trust. When trust is diminished, calculative commitment can be effective in achieving operational coordination, although extensive regulations make it more difficult. Originality/value Previous research traditionally assumes that managers are free to select suitable trading partners that ensure mutually beneficial relationships. The research develops a middle-range theory examining the constrained choice dynamic in relationships that are impacted to varying degrees by regulatory institutions.

“But I Voted for Him for Other Reasons!”

Many people presume that you can permissibly support the good features of a symbol, person, activity, or work of art while simultaneously denouncing its bad features. Chapter 7 refines and assesses this commonsense (but undertheorized) moral justification for supporting problematic people, projects, and political symbols, and proposes an analogue of the Doctrine of Double Effect called the Doctrine of Double Endorsement (DDN). DDN proposes that when certain conditions are met, it is morally permissible to directly endorse some object in virtue of its positive properties while standing against its negative properties, even though it would be morally impermissible to directly endorse those negative properties themselves. These conditions include separability (the good and bad features must not be inextricably linked), proportionality (the positive value of the good features must be significantly greater than the negative value of the bad features), and constrained choice (there must not be other things that the agent could endorse instead that share the same positive features but are not saddled with the negative ones). The chapter applies these constraints to a number of practical issues, including (among others) voting for morally troubling candidates, supporting Confederate monuments, and consuming sexist art.

Managing Singapore’s residential diversity through Ethnic Integration Policy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore Singaporeans’ view to a multicultural neighbourhood, specifically, their views on the Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP), a housing policy that promotes residential desegregation, and whether this policy has engendered a positive perspective to residential diversity. Design/methodology/approach A grounded theory approach is used to answer the following research questions: how do Singaporeans feel about residential diversity? Does the EIP influence attitudes to residential segregation in Singapore? What do these attitudes mean for governments and policymakers around the world? The research involved focus group discussions with 27 Housing and Development Board real estate agents, in order to tap onto their vast network of clients and better understand the prevailing sentiments on the ground. Findings The two major considerations when Singaporeans choose a flat are its price and location. Within the confines of these two factors, however, other considerations like race, nationality and the socio-economic makeup of a neighbourhood will influence their decisions. Social implications These considerations can be condensed into the factors of constrained choice and voluntary segregation. By limiting the impact of voluntary segregation, the EIP can be credited with bridging the racial divide. However, with constrained choice being unaddressed by the policy, the emerging formation of a class divide is an unintended consequence. Originality/value Because almost all developed economies are culturally plural, understanding Singapore’s approach to residential desegregation offers insights as to how other countries may learn from the Singapore experience in managing and encouraging multiculturalism, especially since ethnic residential concentration can reduce the formation of strong social relationships.

Situating Vulnerability and Exploitation in Street-Level Drug Markets: Cuckooing, Commuting, and the “County Lines” Drug Supply Model

The emergence of “county lines” drug dealing, a supply model which sees drug dealers travel from urban hubs to provincial locations to retail heroin and crack cocaine, is now established in the United Kingdom. This market trend has been associated with novel and evolving distribution practices, yet arguably most problematic is its reliance on forms of exploitative labor undertaken by vulnerable populations. Drawing principally on interviews with local drug-involved adults, this article is the first to undertake in-depth analysis of their experience of risky street-level labor in “host” towns. Findings suggest that despite violence and intimidation, many saw county lines labor as preferable to other income generating activity, and contrary to popular enforcement narratives, they often became involved though constrained choice. As such, it is argued that the policy response might resemble one of building resilience through multiagency support, which better equips “structurally vulnerable” populations to exit exploitative relationships.