On The Role Of Normative Influences In Commercial Virtual Communities

The potential to reconcile economic benefits to the firm with the social needs of customers has made commercial virtual communities a popular tool for companies to support their core products/service with a value-added service option. An important key to the success of such a virtual community is the behavior of its members. In this paper, we develop a framework of pro-social behavior (i.e., community citizenship behavior and contribution intentions) for understanding and explaining the motivation of virtual community members to actively participate in and care for the community. We show that the main determinants of pro-social behavior are the social norm of reciprocity and the personal norm of obligation. Reciprocity, in turn, is impacted by the value of the information and the socio-emotional support exchanged by the virtual community members.marketing ;

Human Rights and Global Justice: A Normative Critique of Some Rawlsian Approaches.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND GLOBAL JUSTICE: A NORMATIVE CRITIQUE OF SOME RAWLSIAN APPROACHES I hold the position that all forms of social injustice (including global injustice), result from the intentions and actions of persons. Therefore, irrespective of intervening layers of causation, such injustice must be understood as intersubjective violations. In this project, I attempt to develop a global justice theory that takes the level of analysis beyond global institutions and practices to the level of intersubjective relations between moral agents. My project opens up the following question: How would a global justice theory look if we took the expression of human agency as the cause, and restriction of human freedom, as the effect of such injustice? In Chapter 1, I redefine social and global injustice as intersubjective domination and provide an overview of some of the more dominant social and global justice theories. Next, I analyze the works of two dominant Rawlsian Contaractarian global justice theories, Thomas Pogge and Richard Miller. In Chapter 2 and 3, I discuss the works of Pogge and Miller respectively. I argue against both theorists that although they provide strong arguments against the moral wrong of global poverty because neither of them seeks deeper deontological grounds for the human right to adequate resources, their prescriptions lack the force of moral law. In Chapter 4, I put Pogge and Miller in conversation and conclude that because both theories could accommodate relations of inter-subjective or/and inter-country domination, they do not provide strong enough arguments for an adequate global justice theory

determinants of donation behavior in relation to TV fundraising campaign

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Development Policy,2019As nonprofit organizations have made strides in the field of international development, ensuring the financial resources has become a key issue to continue what nonprofits strive for and how they perform with the budget which are generated without efforts for profit-making. In terms of financial sustainability, this research aims to figure out the determinants of constructing donation behavior which are affected by fundraising campaigns. The factors to measure in this study are mainly divided into two parts: factors affected by donors’ attitudes such as emotional sympathy and economic value and by organizations’ performances such as accountability, relevance, and sustainability. By analyzing quantitative data collected by survey, the regression results reveal that fundraising campaigns should consider both donors’ behavioral and institutional performance factors when soliciting donors’ giving behavior. By select fundraising campaigns corresponding to the purposes of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the results of this paper present that it is important to ensure the financial sustainability of nonprofit organizations and thereby to enhance the public awareness for more successful implementation of SDGs.I. Introduction II. Literature Review III. Theoretical Background IV. Hypothesis Development V. Methodology VI. Data Analysis VII. ConclusionsmasterpublishedHayoung PARK

After the new social democracy: social welfare for the 21st century

"Social democracy has made a political comeback in recent years, especially under the influence of the Third Way. Not everyone is convinced, however, that Third Way social democracy is the best means of reviving the Left's project. This book considers this dissent and offers an alternative approach. Bringing together a range of social and political theories, After the new social democracy engages with some of the most important contemporary debates regarding the present direction and future of the Left. Drawing upon egalitarian, feminist and environmental ideas it proposes that the social-democratic tradition can be renewed but only if the dominance of conservative ideas is challenged more effectively. It explores a number of issues with this aim in mind, including justice, the state, democracy, new technologies, future generations and the advances in genetics. Lively and authoritative, After the new social democracy offers a distinctive contribution to political ideas. It will appeal to all of those interested in politics, philosophy, social policy and social studies." [author's abstracts

Sustainable development : a model Indonesian SRI co-operative : this research paper is presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development, Massey University, New Zealand

This research report explores how ‘sustainable livelihoods’ have been achieved at a model cooperative using the ‘System of Rice Intensification’ named SIMPATIK. To conduct the research a novel template was developed. The framework was required following a review of sustainable livelihood literature which found deficiencies with the ‘sustainable livelihoods framework’, particularly its treatment of equity, social capital, culture and agro-ecology which disqualified the framework as an appropriate approach for the research. Amekawa’s (2011) ‘Integrated Sustainable Livelihoods Framework’ which synthesises agro-ecology and the sustainable livelihoods framework is then discussed. Further work is then presented on social capital which this paper argues has a critical role in facilitating access to livelihood capitals. A discussion of the significance of culture then follows to underline its importance as a form of livelihood capital. The research then introduces an operational model that is appropriate to the local cultural, institutional and geographical context to demonstrate how livelihood capitals are linked to livelihood outcomes, a model I have labelled the ‘Apt-Integrated Sustainable Livelihoods Framework’. This framework is then informed through field research at the SIMPATIK co-operative. Impact pathways through ‘synergetic forms of social capital’ and the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) are shown indeed to lead to sustainable livelihood outcomes for research participants. The ‘sequencing’ of livelihood capitals is seen to be critical and the research culminates in the development of a ‘SRI Co-operative Template for Sustainable Livelihoods’; a transferable model that shows how SRI can be promoted as a sustainable livelihood strategy

Why only humans and social insects have a division of labour

Humans and social insects are located at extreme points of the set of possible evolutionary paths. However, they share a complex division of labour and comprise a large proportion of the earth’s biomass. These observations prompt two questions: If there are evident evolutionary advantages of cooperation and specialisation, why have only few species been able to increase their fitness in this way? Why have these characteristics emerged as such extremely different forms of life? In order to answer these two questions, we will focus on possible ‘transition societies’ in the evolutionary paths towards social species. We will argue that, in both the human and social insect cases, sexual selection had a crucial role in the development of the division of labour and entailed that the division of labour required either minimum or maximum unitary investments in the offspring. The species located in between these two extremes could not exploit the advantages of specialisation

The Greenhouse: A Welfare Assessment and Some Morals

In this book some options concerning the greenhouse effect are assessed from a welfarist point of view: business as usual, stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions and reduction by 25% and by 60%. Up to today only economic analyses of such options are available, which monetize welfare losses. Because this is found to be wanting from a moral point of view, the present study welfarizes (among others) monetary losses on the basis of a hedonistic utilitarianism and other, justice incorporating, welfare ethics. For these welfarist evaluations information about the social consequences of the four options are collected from the literature and eventually corrected; then the consequences for individual well-being are assessed based on psychological research about well-being dependent on the social situation of the individual; finally the aggregation formulas of the respective welfare ethics are applied to these data. Assessments by other types of ethics, e.g. Kantian ethic, are included. The strongest abatement option is found to be optimum with great unanimity. - In addition a cost-welfare analysis of greenhouse gas abatement is undertaken revealing efficient cost-welfare ratios for these measures and the most efficient ratio for the strongest option. - A final, more theoretical part discusses the moral obligations following from such evaluations. The notion of 'moral obligation' is explained in a way that, apart from moral goodness of the required act, reinforcement by formal or informal sanctions is another necessary condition for moral obligations. This leads to a conception of a historical morality according to which the demands of morality rise in the long run. Applying this conception to the greenhouse effect implies that presently we have the moral duty to raise the standards of greenhouse gas abatement as much as is politically feasible