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Today's consumers are increasingly concerned about corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, most consumers still know little about the real CSR performance of firms. If consumers are aware of the real CSR performance of firms, will they buy more from good firms and less from bad firms? This study aims to answer this question. This study first used the focus group technique to find out what aspects of CSR consumers cared about. It then ran an experiment to explore how a firm's CSR performance might affect consumers' intent to buy its product. Forty university students joined 6 sections of focus group discussion, with 5 to 11 students in each section. A convenience sample of 200 university students took part in the experiment, and they were randomly divided into 4 groups with 50 students in each group. In the experiment, each participant read a description of a fictitious shoe manufacturer and its environmental and philanthropic performance. Both the environmental and philanthropic performance could be either good or bad, and the experiment was thus a 2 (environmental performance) by 2 (philanthropic performance) design. Results showed that when participants were made aware of the firm's environmental or philanthropic performance, they would be more intended to buy from the good firm than from the bad firm. However, participants' environmental and philanthropic concern was not related to such an effect of CSR performance. Implications of these findings for the government and businesses are discussed.

The aim of this study is to investigate junior and senior high school English teachers¡¦ concerns and behaviors about integrating information technology into English instruction, then to observe the variance resulting from teachers having different backgrounds, and finally to explore the relationships among them. The participations in this study are332 junior and senior high school English teachers from Taipei and Kaohsiung cities. ¡§School environment scale,¡¨ ¡§Innovative teaching behavior scale,¡¨ ¡§Integrating information technology into English instruction cognition scale,¡¨ ¡§Stages of concern questionnaire,¡¨ and ¡§Integrating information technology into English instruction behavior scale¡¨ are adopted as instruments of analysis in this study. Data were analyzed in the use of mean, standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA, multivariate analysis of variances, and canonical correlation. The major findings of this study are as followed: I. There are significant differences in junior and senior high school English teachers¡¦ concerns and behaviors of integrating information technology into English instruction in term of the academic degrees, time of contacting computer, time of using computer each week, time of using computer in English instruction each week, time of taking computer related training, and information literacy. II. For junior and senior high school English teachers, their school environment, cognition of integrating information technology into English instruction, innovation in teaching, and concern of integrating information technology into English instruction are significantly related to their behavior of integrating information technology into English instruction. III. English teachers use information technology in listening instruction the most, next is in speaking instruction. The information technology English teachers use most is tapes, next are VCD/DVD/CD-ROM, and cassettes. IV. The difficulties affecting information technology integrated into English instruction are lack of time, no ability to integrating information technology into English instruction, lack of trainings, and information literacy. Based on the conclusion of this study, some suggestions are made for future study.

Based on Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010), the present study examines the impact of temporal distance on moral concern. A manipulation on individuals’ mind-set has been made in to abstract (High level) versus concrete (Low level) mentality to inspect the ability to effect peoples’ moral concern. Our first hypothesis is that future-oriented people should show more moral concern than present-oriented individuals. Present-oriented people should, however, after an abstract manipulation show a higher moral concern, correspondent with future-oriented individual’s moral concern. 176 undergraduates from a Swedish university participated in the study. The respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire, and a scale was used to measure the individual temporal perspective (Consideration of Future Consequences scale, CFC) and then a manipulation was made. Half of the participants were allotted an abstract (high level) manipulation, and the other half were given a concrete (low level) manipulation. The manipulation was followed by a questionnaire that measured the moral concern, in the form of blame, attributed to morally questionable actions. We found a positive correlation between temporal focus and moral concern. The manipulation however showed no effect of abstraction on peoples’ moral concern. Nor did a two-way between subjects ANOVA show a significant interaction between temporal perspective and abstraction, providing no support for our second and third hypotheses. An environmental impact on the respondents is discussed as a possible reason for the results not being fully consistent with previous studies. For future research we suggest similar longitudinal studies, which would supply researchers with the opportunity to study the long-term effect on different types of moral.

This dissertation is a comparative international study of attitudes towards climate change. Using multilevel models, individual level data from the 2005-2008 wave of the World Values Survey, and country level data from the 2010 Climate Risk Index and the World Bank, this research identifies the factors associated with concern for global warming and support for various environmental policies and behaviors in economically developed, transitioning, and developing countries. The first paper addresses an ongoing debate in environmental sociology about the extent to which concern for environmental problems is a result of the objective deterioration of environmental conditions or subjective values among environmentally-oriented individuals. Findings indicate that a country's recent experience with climate-related environmental disasters has little to no effect on concern for global warming. Some support is found for the subjective values explanation, especially in countries at the most advanced stage of economic development. The second paper frames climate change as an asymmetrical social dilemma and tests whether four distinct citizenship identities are associated with the odds an individual considers global warming a very serious problem. This study finds that identifying as world citizens and autonomous individuals increases the odds an individual judges global warming very serious, while identifying as national citizens or local community members has no relationship with evaluations of global warming. The third paper examines the impact of numerous measures of security/vulnerability on individual willingness to make environment-economy trade-offs. The data reveal that higher household incomes, residing in a country with higher per capita GDP, and higher rates of adult literacy are positively associated with prioritizing environmental protection over economic growth. However, residents of economically developing countries (or countries designated Non-Annex I by the Kyoto Protocol) are also much more likely to express willingness to donate personal income for the protection of the environment compared to residents of developed (Annex I) countries. The findings from these three studies have implications for sociological research on the relationship between economic inequality and environmental attitudes, the conditions under which international cooperation on climate is more or less likely, and the quest for climate justice.

To gain insight into the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) impact on audit quality, this study investigates the association between PCAOB inspection exposure (akin to the threat of a PCAOB inspection) and auditor reporting decisions. Certain foreign governments prohibit PCAOB inspections of their domestic auditors of U.S. SEC registrants citing sovereign control. This unique setting provides an opportunity to observe variation in the reach of the PCAOB inspection program and isolate its' effect on auditor reporting. I find that auditors in jurisdictions allowing PCAOB inspections are more likely to report going concern opinions and material weaknesses relative to auditors in jurisdictions barring PCAOB inspections. I find no difference in these auditor reporting propensities in the pre-PCAOB regulatory. This study provides evidence that PCAOB inspection exposure is associated with auditor reporting incentives, and ultimately audit quality, which is the fundamental purpose of the PCAOB inspection program.

Tyrimo aktualumas: Mokslinės literatūros analizė parodė , kad nėra pakankamai daug atliktų tyrimų, nagrinėjančių priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų nerimą. Labai svarbu suprasti, kas kelia nerimą šių dienų priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikams, koks šio nerimo lygis, kokie veiksniai jam gali turėti įtakos. Būtina siekti, kad vaikai patirtų kuo mažesnį nerimą, kad būtų saugūs. Tyrimo objektas: Priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų brandumas mokyklai, nerimas ir auklėjimo stilius šeimoje. Tyrimo tikslas: Įvertinti priešmokyklinio amžiaus vaikų mokyklinį brandumą, nerimą, atskleisti jų auklėjimo šeimoje stilių bei nustatyti ryšius tarp šių parametrų. Tyrimo metodika: ● Vaikų mokyklinės brandos tyrimas J.Jiraseko modifikuotu A.Kerno testu ( (Zambacevičienė1989,p.13-18). ). ● Vaikų auklėjimo stilių šeimoje tyrimas J. Markovskajos klausimynu (2000). ● Mokyklinio nerimo tyrimui panaudota A. Prichožan (2000) metodika. Tyrimo metodologija: Šiame darbe atliekant tyrimą vadovaujamasi humanistinės psichologijos ir pedagogikos metadologinėmis nuostatomis,pabrėžiančiomis ugdytinio pažinimo svarbą, palankių ugdymosi sąlygų sukūrimą, o taip pat į vaiką orientuoto ugdymo sistemą , kuri vaiką traktuoja kaip lygiavertį pedagogo partnerį, kai vaiko sukauptas patyrimas, išgyvenimai bendraujant su ugdytojais sudaro pagrindą konstruktyviai, humanistinei sąveikai (Juodaitytė, 2005). Tyrimo imtis: Tyrime dalyvavo 400 respondentų: 200 priešmokyklinėse grupėse ugdomų kaimo ir miesto vaikų ir 200... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Topicality of the research. The analysis of scientific literature showed that there are not many researches which studied preschool age children’s worry. It is very important to understand: what things make worry for preschool age children, what is the level of children’s worry, what factors could influence it. It is necessary to reach that children could have the less worry and would be safe. The object of the research. The maturity of preschool age children, worry, styles of education before starting to go to school. The aim of the research. To value preschool age children’s scholastic maturity, worry; to reveal its styles of education; to test the link between these parameters. The method of the research. • The research of children’s scholastic maturity on the ground of J. Jiraseko test that was modified by A. Kerno(Zambacevičienė1989,p.13-18).). • The research of children’s education styles in their families on the ground of J. Markovskaja (2000). • For the research of scholastic worry was used the method written by A. Prichožan (2000). Methodology of the research: The research that is made in this work goes by psychological and pedagogical attitudes which point the importance of children’s recognition, creation of the favourable education conditions and the system which is oriented to child’s education. The system treats the child as an equal pedagogue’s partner (Juodaitytė, 2005). Size of the work: in the reserch took part 400 respondents: 200 (73 – boys, 103 girls)... [to full text]

Awareness and concern about the environment have been growing in recent years, and this fact has not been lost on churches. Though arguments have been made that Christianity is a cause of the world’s current ecological problems, many denominations have issued statements encouraging environmental responsibility, and a growing number of churches are teaching an ethic of care for what God has made. This thesis examines several churches who have been acting on environmental issues to understand what concern looks like in their faith communities. It was seen that the doctrine of stewardship is a primary reason for care, and there is a need for teaching on the theological basis of concern. Groups and activity within churches happen when there is a champion to move things forward, and environmental concern is just one part of a connected existence that links people with their faith, each other, and life outside the church.

This study explored the relation between dispositional empathy and environmental concern by examining the mediating role of nature relatedness. Undergraduate students (n = 125) from the University of Victoria completed a series of questionnaires measuring dispositional empathy, three types of environmental concern, nature relatedness, proenvironmental behaviour and social desirability. Bootstrapping procedures were used to evaluate the meditational model. Perspective taking (a cognitive facet of empathy) appears to relate to biospheric environmental concern indirectly through nature relatedness. Empathic concern (an affective facet of empathy) predicted altruistic environmental concern, but this effect was not mediated by nature relatedness. Proenvironmental behaviour was only related to biospheric concern. These results suggest that the relation between empathy and environmental concern is multifaceted and that proenvironmental behaviour is not consistently an outcome. Possible explanations for this pattern of results are explored. Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions are made to guide future research. / Graduate

Universiẗat, 2006--Münster (Westfalen).