Mindreading and Social Cognition

The cognitive ability to think about other people's psychological states is known as `mindreading'. This Element critiques assumptions that have been formative in shaping philosophical theories of mindreading: that mindreading is ubiquitous, underpinning the vast majority of our social interactions; and that its primary goal is to provide predictions and explanations of other people's behaviour. It begins with an overview of key positions and empirical literature in the debate. It then introduces and motivates the pluralist turn in this literature, which challenges the core assumptions of the traditional views. The second part of the Element uses case studies to further motivate the pluralist framework, and to advocate the pluralist approach as the best way to progress our understanding of social cognitive phenomena.

How Do Remuneration Committees Affect Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure? Empirical Evidence from an International Perspective

The main goal of this study is to analyze whether the existence of remuneration committees tend to disclose more corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. In addition, we test the moderating role played by the proportion of independent directors on boards of directors with the relationship between the constitution of remuneration committees and CSR disclosure. Previous research does not appear to have addressed these questions. The research questions proposed are tested using an international sample of 28,610 listed companies, and we took into consideration information on industrial companies from the Middle East, developed Asian and Pacific countries, both emerging and developed European countries, Africa, Latin America and North America. These findings provide evidence that the existence of remuneration committees is more likely to disclose CSR information, and the existence of independent board members positively moderates the association between the existence of remuneration committees and CSR disclosure. We expand on earlier empirical literature concerning corporate governance and CSR issues.

Institutional changes, inequality and long-run economic development: Theory and empirics

This paper reviews theoretical and empirical literature on long-run economic development, institutional dynamics, and their interplay. Special attention is given to papers that explore the reasons why pro-growth reforms and institutional changes may be blocked. Among these reasons, over the past years the literature has increasingly focused on inequality in the distribution of wealth and political power as a key factor. This review is structured around two major theoretical approaches that illuminate the reasons behind the transition from stagnation to growth and cross-country income divergence: the unified growth theory (UGT), and the theory of endogenous institutional change. Using the empirical evidence on divergence between European and Middle Eastern economies, as well as the divergence within Europe, the paper demonstrates the value of these approaches in explaining the observed patterns of cross-country long-run development. The paper concludes with outlining several promising directions for future research.

Social Media Use and Mental Health: A Global Analysis

Research indicates that excessive use of social media can be related to depression and anxiety. This study conducted a systematic review of social media and mental health, focusing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Based on inclusion criteria from the systematic review, a meta-analysis was conducted to explore and summarize studies from the empirical literature on the relationship between social media and mental health. Using PRISMA guidelines on PubMed and Google Scholar, a literature search from January 2010 to June 2020 was conducted to identify studies addressing the relationship between social media sites and mental health. Of the 39 studies identified, 20 were included in the meta-analysis. Results indicate that while social media can create a sense of community for the user, excessive and increased use of social media, particularly among those who are vulnerable, is correlated with depression and other mental health disorders.

Ghanaian SMEs’ perspective on the interrelationship between market and entrepreneurial orientations

PurposeThis research examines the interrelationships between market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector. Due to the conflicting results associated with each orientation's influence on firm performance, some researchers advanced that scholars should resort to concurrent observation of the constructs. To the researchers, concurrent deployment of the constructs by businesses is likely to result in an enhanced performance. However, what is lacking in their proposition is how the deployment of these resources should be, thereby leading to a knowledge gap in the literature. The aforementioned gap is what this paper seeks to address.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed deductive research approach, and data were collected from 366 SMEs' owners or owner-managers of SMEs in two metropoles in Ghana. For this study, the hand delivery and collection of questionnaire technique was deployed. The reason is that most respondents may be reluctant to respond to the questionnaires through the post or Internet. Partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed for the data analysis due to its importance in allowing the testing of relationships among constructs. Furthermore, seven-point Likert scale was used to generate responses from the respondents.FindingsThe result indicates that MO and EO have a positive and significant influence on each other. However, the influence of EO on MO is greater. Therefore, when owners of SMEs are embracing the two constructs in their businesses, EO should precede MO. The finding is a novelty of this study. Through this result, the owners of SMEs would have knowledge of embracing EO before MO during the employment of the two constructs in their firms. The study further revealed that not all the components of MO have positive and significant influence on EO, and the reverse is true. Without this study, the owners of SMEs would have placed equal attention on each construct and their components. The study also indicates that deployment of MO in its composite form rather than components is the best way for improving EO.Practical implicationsThe more SMEs engage in MO activities, the likelihood of an increase in their entrepreneurial spirit and the opposite is true. However, engaging in more EO activities would result in higher MO than the reverse.Originality/valueThe findings add to the empirical literature by revealing the interrelationships between MO and EO, which serve as a guide to owners of SMEs and practitioners in their concurrent deployment of the two constructs. The findings would also open replication doors for future researchers in different settings.

Assessment on the Applicability of Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis on the Macroeconomic Factors Driving Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Philippines

Since there is a lack of empirical literature in the Philippines that focuses on studying the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis, this study aims to build on succeeding studies testing the validity of the EKC hypothesis in the country. In the current study, we empirically investigate the long-run relationship between the annual Philippine Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions as the proxy variable for Environmental Degradation, Gross Domestic Product per capita, net inflows of Foreign Direct Investment, Renewable Energy per capita, specifically for the period of 1981 - 2019. This paper also observed the Johansen Cointegration results in critically assessing whether the variables were conclusive to test in the long-run measure. For that reason, we investigated the validity of the EKC hypothesis by utilizing the ARDL long bound approach. Thus, our results revealed that a long-run relationship exists, but interestingly, the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis does not exist in the Philippines.

The Impact of Climate-Change-Related Disasters on Africa’s Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Conflicts: Can Humanitarian Aid and Food Assistance Offset the Damage?

This study analyzed the impact of climate-related natural disasters (droughts, floods, storms/rainstorms) on economic and social variables. As the Africa-specific empirical literature is limited, this study used panel data from 1961–2011 on Africa. The study used a panel data regression model analysis. The results showed that climate change-related natural disasters affected Africa’s economic growth, agriculture, and poverty and caused armed conflicts. Among the disasters, droughts are the main cause of negative impact, severely affecting crops such as maize and coffee and resulting in increased urban poverty and armed conflicts. In contrast, international aid has a positive effect but the impact is insignificant compared to the negative consequences of climate-related natural disasters. Cereal food assistance has a negative crowding-out effect on cereal production. International donors should review their interventions to support Africa’s adaptative capacity to disasters. Government efficiency has reduced the number of deaths, and this is an area that supports Africa’s adaptative efforts.

Systematic Literature Review: Causes of Rework in GSD

Global Software Development (GSD) involves multiple sites which comprise of different cultures and time zones apart from geographical locations. It is a common software development approach adopted to achieve competitiveness. However, due to multiple challenges it can result in misunderstandings and rework. Rework raises the chance of project failure by delaying the project and increasing the estimated budget. The aim of this study is to identify and categorize the rework causes to reduce its frequency in GSD. To identify the empirical literature related to causes of rework, we performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). A total of 23 studies are included as a result of final inclusion. The empirical literature from the year 2009 to 2020 is searched. The overall identified causes of rework in GSD are categorized into 6 major categories which are communication, Requirement Management (RM), roles of stakeholders, product development/integration issues, documentation issues, and differences among stakeholders. The most reported rework causes are related to the category of communication & coordination and RM. Moreover, an industrial survey is conducted to validate the identified rework causes and their mitigation practices from practitioners. This study will help practitioners and researchers in addressing the identified causes and therefore reduce the chances of rework.

The Implications of the New Geography Framework of Urban Agro Ecology on Urban Planning

This chapter has the objective to analyze the implications that the new geography framework of urban agro ecology has on urban planning. It departs from the assumption that the new geography is a theoretical framework for the for the analysis of the economic, social, political, ecological, technological, research, and science based on the interrelationships between urban agro ecology and urban planning. The methodology is based in a constructive analysis of the reviewed theoretical and empirical literature to infer a model based on the construct of the new geography. Finally, it is concluded that urban planning of local governments can formulate and implement strategies based on the new geography framework in urban agro ecology to proving incentives in new urban developments and to benefit disadvantaged communities.