Emotional Competence as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

The concept of emotional competence as a positive youth development construct is reviewed in this paper. Differences between emotional intelligence and emotional competence are discussed and an operational definition is adopted. Assessment methods of emotional competence with an emphasis on its quantitative nature are introduced. In the discussion of theories of emotional competence, the functionalist and developmental perspectives and the relationships with positive youth development are highlighted. Possible antecedents, especially the influence of early child-caregiver, and expected outcomes of emotional competence are examined. Practical ways to promote emotional competence among adolescents, particularly the role of parents and teachers, and the future direction of research are also discussed

Reportage of Stories on Fire Outbreaks in Ghana: An Analysis of the Daily Graphic and the Chronicle

This paper seeks to establish the extent and nature of newspaper coverage of not only fire outbreaks but also fire safety issues in Ghana during the period of incessant fires. Contents of 288 editions of the Daily Graphic and The Chronicle newspapers, published in Ghana from January to June of 2009 and 2010, were analyzed from the agenda-setting, attribution framing and normative news values perspectives. The two newspapers published a total of 47 fire outbreak stories; 57 issues relating to fire safety; and 10 other fire-related stories. Having compared the number of published fire outbreaks with the compiled statistics of the Ghana National Fire Service during the period, it was established that only 1.44 per cent of the recorded fire outbreaks were published by the newspapers. A study hypothesis that the two newspapers were more likely to publish fire outbreak stories than fire safety-related issues was not statistically supported by the collected data. It was also assumed that there was likely to be a relationship between newspaper and news coverage on fires. This was supported by the data. News articles blamed most of the fires on the Electricity Company of Ghana for serious power fluctuations and unstable power supply. Though the media could serve as a valuable communication vehicle to provide facts about fires, the Daily Graphic and The Chronicle were unable to take advantage of the numerous fire disasters that occurred during the period to substantially inform and educate Ghanaians on issues concerning fires. Key words: Fire outbreaks, Fire safety, Coverage, Media, Ghana

Relationship and Contract Issues of IT Outsourcing – Descriptive Case Studies in China Regions

In spite of the continuous increase in IT outsourcing activities globally, a major percentage of outsourcing deals failed or suffered from serious problems. In China regions where IT outsourcing practice is still at its initial stage, the situation is even serious: there lacks systematic guidance in terms of how to negotiate decent contracts and how to develop sound relationships. In view of this, the current research develops a research framework based on the theories in Economics, Management and Marketing fields, and investigates the effects of both relationship and contract on IT outsourcing success. To support the research framework, evidence was collected from two descriptive case studies conducted in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The case analysis implies the dimensionalities of relationship and contract. What is more, IT outsourcing success is mainly evaluated from the technological benefits client company could gain. A significant contribution of this study to theory is to look into IT outsourcing phenomenon with a balanced view and through an integrated theoretical lens. For practitioners, this research removes executives’ doubts about simultaneously employing both relationship (soft side) and contract (hard side) as governance mechanisms in managing IT outsourcing deals

Developing a Typological Theory Using a Quantitative Approach: A Case of Information Security Deviant Behavior

Different from classification and taxonomy, typology meets the criteria of a theory and is a unique form of theory building. Typology is a good first step in exploring a research topic, and, therefore, we are concerned with building typological theories for underdeveloped topics with limited studies. We propose a four-step approach involving content analysis, multidimensional scaling, judgmental analysis, and empirical testing to guide researchers in developing typological theories in their domains of interest using a quantitative approach that rides on empirical methods and industry wisdom. Previous research in information security has paid little attention to employees’ deviant behavior in the workplace. We, therefore, built a typology of information security deviant behavior as an example to illustrate the theory development process. We discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of this study

TO USE A TREE OR A FOREST IN BEHAVIORAL INTENTION

Cloud computing is a new technology that has been applied to education and has e nabled the development of cloud computing classrooms; however, student behavioral intentions toward cloud computing remain unclear. Most researchers have evaluated, integrated, or compared few (1 to 3) theories to examine user behavioral intentions and few have addressed additional theories or models. In this study, we test, compare, and unify six well -known theories, namely, service quality (SQ), self - efficacy (SE), the motivational model (MM), technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of reason action (TRA)/theory of planned behavior (TPB), and innovation diffusion theory (IDT) in the context of cloud computing classrooms. This empirical study was conducted using an online survey. The data collected from the samples (n=478) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. We independently analyzed each of the six theories, formulating a united model. The analysis yielded three valuable findings. First, comparing the explained variance and degree of freedom (df) difference, yielded the following ranking in explained variance: MM=TAM\u3eIDT\u3eTPB\u3eSE=SQ (equal =; superior to\u3e). Second, comparing the explained variance yielded the following ranking in explained variance: MM\u3eTAM\u3eIDT\u3eTPB\u3eSE=SQ. Third, based on the united model of six theories, some factors significantly affect behavioral intention and others do not. The implications of this study are critical for both researchers and practitioners

MOTIVATING IDENTITY-RELATED BEHAVIORS IN ONLINE COMMUNITY – A BROADEN-AND-BUILD PERSPECTIVE

With the pervasiveness of online community, people expand their identities by acquiring memberships of different online communities. Online community not only provides contexts and tools for people to build up and manage new identities, but also evokes people to have emotional experience. This research aims to understand how member’s emotional experience induced by different community artifacts (contents or other members) will influence the participation behaviors through the understanding of their relationships with the online community. This research proposes that emotional experience changes how one identifies with the community, hence influences the behaviors that relate to the self-definitions, e.g. self-disclosure, knowledge contribution, self-presentation and social interaction. Taken the perspective of broaden-and-build theory and social identity theory, this research proposes that positive emotional experience promotes open-minded coping, and consequently expands the self-concepts and become more social inclusive

Quantum Dot in 2D Topological Insulator: The Two-channel Kondo Fixed Point

In this work, a quantum dot couples to two helical edge states of a 2D topological insulator through weak tunnelings is studied. We show that if the electron interactions on the edge states are repulsive, with Luttinger liquid parameter $K < 1$, the system flows to a stable two-channel fixed point at low temperatures. This is in contrast to the case of a quantum dot couples to two Luttinger liquid leads. In the latter case, a strong electron-electron repulsion is needed, with $K<1/2$, to reach the two-channel fixed point. This two-channel fixed point is described by a boundary Sine-Gordon Hamiltonian with a $K$ dependent boundary term. The impurity entropy at zero temperature is shown to be $\ln\sqrt{2K}$. The impurity specific heat is $C \propto T^{\frac{2}{K}-2}$ when $2/3 < K < 1$, and $C \propto T$ when $K<2/3$. We also show that the linear conductance across the two helical edges has non-trivial temperature dependence as a result of the renormalization group flow.Comment: 4+\epsilon page

The Effects Of Malfunctioning Personalized Services On Users’ Trust And Behaviors

Online merchants adopt web personalization to customize web content to match online users’ needs. Prior research has only looked at the “success” side of web personalization. Little research examines the “problematic” side of web personalization. The objective of this research is to explore how “malfunctioning” personalized web services influence an online user’s trust in the personalization agent and the behavioral intention of that user. In particular, this research looks at two types of malfunctioning personalization: irrelevant recommendations and biased recommendations. We draw on trust theories to develop seven hypotheses to predict the effects of malfunctioning personalized web services. We conducted a study with a personalized music download website. We found that irrelevant recommendations led to low trust in the personalization agent’s competence and integrity, and biased recommendations led to low trust in the integrity of the personalization agent. These findings provide empirical evidence of the possible problems of malfunctioning personalization and help firms understand and quantify the challenges and limitations of incorporating web personalization in their websites