Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Abstract Computational folkloristics, which is rooted in the movement to make folklore studies more scientific, has transformed the way researchers in humanities detect patterns of cultural transmission in large folklore collections. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the literature through its application of Bayesian statistics in analyzing Vietnamese folklore. By breaking down 307 stories in popular Vietnamese folktales and major story collections and categorizing their core messages under the values or anti-values of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, the study shows how the Bayesian method helps discover an underlying behavioural phenomenon called “cultural additivity.” The term, which is inspired by the principle of additivity in probability, adds to the voluminous works on syncretism, creolization and hybridity in its technical dimension. Here, to evaluate how the values and norms of the aforementioned three religions ( “tam giáo” 三教) co-exist, interact, and influence Vietnamese society, the study proposes three models of additivity for religious faiths: (a) no additivity, (b) simple additivity, and (c) complex additivity. The empirical results confirm the existence of “cultural additivity” : not only is there an isolation of Buddhism in the folktales, there is also a higher possibility of interaction or addition of Confucian and Taoist values even when these two religions hold different value systems ( β {VT.VC} = 0.86). The arbitrary blend of the three religions is an example of the observed phenomenon of Vietnamese people selecting and adding ideas, beliefs, or artefacts—which may sometimes appear contradictory to principles of their existing beliefs—to their culture. The behavioural pattern is omnipresent in the sense that it can also be seen in Vietnamese arts, architecture, or adoption of new ideas and religions, among others. The “cultural additivity” concept, backed by robust statistical analysis, is an attempt to fill in the cultural core pointed out by syncretism and account for the rising complexity of modern societies.

This paper addresses the paradox that despite all organizational change towards flatter and postmodern organizations, hierarchical order is quite persistent. We develop a differentiated understanding of hierarchy as either formal or informal and apply this analytical framework to several types of organization. The analysis reveals that hierarchy is much more widespread than thought; in particular, postmodern, representative democratic and network organizations are much less ‘alternative’ and ‘hierarchy-free’ than their labels and common understanding may suggest. The main argument is that the persistence of hierarchy in different types of organization can be explained by different dynamic relationships between formal and informal hierarchy.

The rapidly declining biosphere integrity, representing one of the core planetary boundaries, is alarming. In particular, the global numbers of mammals, birds, fishes, and plants declined by 68% from 1970 to 2016. One of the most widely accepted measures to halt the rate of biodiversity loss is to maintain and expand protected areas that are effectively managed. However, doing so requires substantial finance derived from nature-based tourism, specifically visitors from urban areas. Using the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) for conducting analysis on 535 Vietnamese urban residents, the current study examined how their biodiversity loss perceptions can affect their willingness to pay for the entrance fee and conservation in protected areas. We found that perceived environmental degradation, loss of economic growth, loss of nature-based recreation opportunities, and loss of knowledge as consequences of biodiversity loss indirectly affect the willingness to pay through the mediation of the attitude towards conservation. Notably, perceived knowledge loss also has a direct positive influence on the willingness to pay for the entrance fee and conservation. In contrast, perceived loss of health is negatively associated with the attitude towards conservation. Based on these findings, we suggest that building an eco-surplus culture among urban residents by stimulating their subjective cost-benefit judgments towards biodiversity loss can be a promising way to generate more finance from nature-based tourism for conservation in protected areas and ease the domestic government's and international organizations' funding allocation problems. Eco-surplus culture is a set of pro-environmental attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people to reduce negative anthropogenic impacts on the environment and conserve and restore nature.

This paper examines the effects of the six components of good governance on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in 15 Asian economies for the period 1996–2007 using a fixed effect model for panel data with heteroskedasticity corrected standard errors. The study also employs the feasible general least square (FGLS) and Prais-Winstein panel estimation methods in order to check the consistency of the results with the fixed effect model. The empirical results reveal that of the six components of good governance, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, rule of law, and control of corruption are the key determinants of FDI inflows, as they exhibit consistent results under different models. However, the study finds no significant evidence with voice and accountability and regulatory quality in FDI inflows. The study reveals that human capital, infrastructure, lending rate, and GDP growth rate also have a significant influence on FDI inflows. We conclude that a country which can enhance its governance environment in general is likely to attract more foreign direct investment despite offsetting deficiencies in other dimensions of good governance such as voice and accountability and regulatory quality.

This paper examines the linkage between FDI, trade openness, capital formation, and economic growth rates inBangladesh over a period 1986 to 2008 using time series analysis. All variables are found stationary at firstdifferencing both at constant and constant plus trend level under the ADF and PP stationary tests. TheJohansen-Juselius procedure is applied to test the cointegrating relation between variables followed by a vectorerror correction model. The empirical results trace a strong long-run equilibrium relationship between GDPgrowth rates and the explanatory variables with unidirectional casual flows. The volume of FDI and level ofcapital formation are found to have significant positive effect on changes in real GDP. The degree of tradeopenness unleashes negative but diminishing influence on GDP growth rates. We conclude that Bangladeshshould formulate FDI-led polices and ensure higher degree of capital formation to enhance her economic growthrates at large.

SUMMARYThis paper chronicles and analyses the reactions of the Japanese tourist industry and tourists towards one of the major crises affecting world tourism during 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Secondary sources are used to build up a picture of the impact of the SARS event on tourist flows to and from Japan during the period of the crisis and its management. The material is also framed, for both theoretical and practical purposes, within the existing tourism disaster management literature. In this way a more systematic attempt can be made, in the aftermath of the SARS outbreak, to place the impact of this event within a wider context.

Abstract Folklore has a critical role as a cultural transmitter, all the while being a socially accepted medium for the expressions of culturally contradicting wishes and conducts. In this study of Vietnamese folktales, through the use of Bayesian multilevel modeling and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, we offer empirical evidence for how the interplay between religious teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) and deviant behaviors (lying and violence) could affect a folktale’s outcome. The findings indicate that characters who lie and/or commit violent acts tend to have bad endings, as intuition would dictate, but when they are associated with any of the above Three Teachings, the final endings may vary. Positive outcomes are seen in cases where characters associated with Confucianism lie and characters associated with Buddhism act violently. The results supplement the worldwide literature on discrepancies between folklore and real-life conduct, as well as on the contradictory human behaviors vis-à-vis religious teachings. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of human decision-making, especially beyond the folklore realm.

Ethiopia’s agricultural productivity is considered low despite the presence of various agricultural policies. These policies focus mainly on on-farm agricultural development to the neglect of rich opportunities for non-agricultural livelihood diversification activities. Livelihood diversification is a strategy that can boost farmers’ income and promote sustainable land management practices. This study investigates the factors that determine the probability that a farm household participates in non-agricultural income diversification activities in Ethiopia. It employed Logit econometric model to investigate the probability that a farm household participates in non-agricultural income diversification activities in the rural area, and the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model to estimate a system of equations consisting of on-farm, off-farm and non-farm income generating activities of Ethiopia. Estimation showed that institutional factors such as secured perception of land ownership and becoming membership in cooperatives have significant influence on the probability of farm households’ participation in non-agricultural activities.

This study presents a description of an open database on scientific output of Vietnamese researchers in social sciences and humanities, one that corrects for the shortcomings in current research publication databases such as data duplication, slow update, and a substantial cost of doing science. Here, using scientists' self-reports, open online sources and cross-checking with Scopus database, we introduce a manual system and its semi-automated version of the database on the profiles of 657 Vietnamese researchers in social sciences and humanities who have published in Scopus-indexed journals from 2008 to 2018. The final system also records 973 foreign co-authors, 1,289 papers, and 789 affiliations. The data collection method, highly applicable for other sources, could be replicated in other developing countries while its content be used in cross-section, multivariate, and network data analyses. The open database is expected to help Vietnam revamp its research capacity and meet the public demand for greater transparency in science management.

In this article we explain how the development of new organization theory faces several mutually reinforcing problems, which collectively suppress generative debate and the creation of new and alternative theories. We argue that to overcome these problems, researchers should adopt relationally reflexive practices. This does not lead to an alternative method but instead informs how methods are applied. Specifically, we advocate a stance toward the application of qualitative methods that legitimizes insights from the situated life-with-others of the researcher. We argue that this stance can improve our abilities for generative theorizing in the field of management and organization studies.

This research aims at examining the differences between Islamic and conventional banks in terms of business orientation, stability, and efficiency. Data for this research are collected from 48 conventional banks and 28 Islamic banks of the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries over the period 2005 to 2014. Collected data are analyzed using accounting ratios, Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), and ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique. Results show that conventional banks are more efficient in managing cost than their Islamic counterparts. However, Islamic banks are more solid in terms of short-term solvency but no such difference exists as far as the long-term stability is concerned. Regression estimation further shows that the operations of Islamic banks are different from their conventional counterparts and the results remain statistically significant even after controlling for bank specific variables. Moreover, larger banks have less intermediation ratio which indicates diseconomies of scale. Results also indicate that highly capitalized banks are more stable but cost inefficient which proves that capital-rich banks have failed to capitalize on the leverage effect.

This article analyzed a living cultural heritage destination’s adaptive resilience from the perspective of social-ecological systems (SES). The aim was to test the SES framework at Hoi An Ancient Town, a cultural World Heritage Site in central Viet Nam by (1) delineating the adaptive renewal cycle in the historical context of destination development; (2) examining community resilience to spatio-cultural changes induced by mass tourism; and (3) identifying characteristics of tourism systems via the control mechanisms of the panarchy’s cross-scale interactions. Findings from Hoi An extend the conventional SES approach by revealing the complex context of social relationships that typify human-related adaptation in cultural living heritage destinations. Contrary to conventional SES theory that depicts cross-scale interactions as one-way mechanisms, we propose a multidimensional model of twin interactions concurrently characterized by contrasting forces of bottom-up “revolt” and top-down “remember” functions. Findings from historical, contemporary and systematic dimensions shed light on incorporating Indigenous knowledge and practices into heritage conservation as a form of community resilience. Our analysis also extends the continuity notion of a living heritage site in developing countries, applying an SES framework to complex political, social, cultural and economic concerns in order to contextualize tourism development in Hoi An.

Abstract This paper investigates the development of the One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) programme in Thailand, based on the earlier experience of the One Village, One Product (OVOP) movement in Japan. Conceived in Japan as a policy to reverse rural depopulation, it has become more focused on poverty alleviation when implemented in Thailand. It will be shown how, despite some criticisms, the OTOP programme has been providing communities with the chance to market local output and creating employment opportunities. The paper includes a small sample survey of Chiang Mai province's OTOP and an enterprise case study. Résumé Cet article analyse le développement du concept « Un tambon, un produit en Thaïlande », basé sur le concept « Un village, un produit », crée au Japon comme une politique visée à renverser la dépopulation rurale. En Thaïlande, la politique a été conçue plutôt comme un moyen de réduire la pauvreté. Les auteurs démontrent comment le programme en Thaïlande, malgré certaines critiques, a réussi à créer les offres d'emploi et à stimuler les économies des communautés locales dans le pays. Cet article conclut avec une enquête sur la politique dans la province de Chiang Mai et un cas d'étude sur une entreprise locale.

Abstract Biodiversity loss is happening at an unprecedented rate, especially in countries like Vietnam, with rich biodiversity and a high population growth rate. One of the main causes of biodiversity loss in Vietnam is the unsustainable bushmeat consumption rate in urban areas. To help mitigate the demand for bushmeat, this study aims to examine the associations between biodiversity loss perceptions, perception toward the prohibition of illegal wildlife consumption, and bushmeat consumption behaviors among urban residents in Vietnam. The investigation employed the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF)—an analytical framework that combines the strengths of the mindsponge mechanism and Bayesian inference to facilitate investigation into psychological and behavioral issues—on 535 respondents from urban areas across Vietnam (mostly in the two urban centers of Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi). We found that people perceiving environmental degradation, and losses of economic growth, nature‐based recreation opportunities, health, and knowledge as consequences of biodiversity loss were more likely to support the prohibition of illegal wildlife consumption. Although urban residents tended to consume bushmeat less frequently if they perceived losses of economic growth and knowledge as consequences of biodiversity loss, the perception of environmental degradation had an opposite effect on the behavior. Additionally, people consuming bushmeat frequently and supporting the biodiversity loss preventive measure seemed to share similar features: high income and educational levels. These paradoxical results hint at the cultural additivity phenomenon—the willingness to incorporate into one's mind the new values that might or might not logically contradict their existing core cultural values—and its influence on psychology and behavior among Vietnamese urban residents. Given the influence of cultural additivity, it is recommended to put tougher measures (e.g., financial punishment) into perspective so that urban people can recognize the high “cost” of bushmeat consumption and change their perceptions and behaviors accordingly. Apart from that, social marketing, demarketing, or educational campaigns should convey knowledge and information that can help receivers relate biodiversity loss and bushmeat consumption to their subjective cost‐benefit judgments rather than the rarity of the species to avoid triggering an anthropogenic Allee effect—for example, emphasizing the penalty for consuming bushmeat and negative impacts of biodiversity loss on humans in targeted campaigns (e.g., losses of economic growth and knowledge).

Songs play an important role in the development of young children learning a second language.A testament to this is the frequency with which songs are used in English Language Teaching classrooms all over the world.This paper begins by looking at why songs can be considered valuable pedagogical tools.In particular, it will discuss how songs can help learners improve their listening skills and pronunciation, and how they can be useful in the teaching of vocabulary and sentence structures.The author will also discuss how songs can reflect culture and increase students' overall enjoyment of learning a second language.The author will then attempt to show, through practical examples, how songs can be used as language tasks.Finally, the paper aims to explore how classic songs for children can be adapted to suit a particular theme or part of the curriculum a teacher might wish to teach.

As an innovative technology, robot services are now used in the tourism industry to enhance consumer experience. Despite its importance, the impact of robot applications on the purchase intention of consumers has received limited, if any, attention. Considering that purchase intention can largely lead to actual purchase behaviour, this study investigated the impact of robot hotel service on the purchase intention of consumers through an experiment. Findings revealed that the purchase intention of the group who watched a video about robot hotel service was significantly higher than those who watched traditional hotel service video. Implications are further discussed.

This study examines the structure and effects of intercultural interactions between international tourists and local residents. It develops the variables affecting intercultural relationships, the process and outcomes of interactions, and any resultant attitude changes. An integrated model of intercultural interactions was derived from the shared themes, meanings, and patterns that shaped the participants’ tourism experiences. The model is composed of the structures and the effects of the intercultural interactions. These interactions, through reflective, comparative, and comprehensive experiences, impact international tourists’ attitude toward the local people and their culture. This study overcomes the limitations of the existing contact model by presenting a new approach on intercultural interactions and establishing the developed grounded theory derived from the intercultural interactions in the tourism field.

The power of attraction (soft power), as developed by Joseph Nye, has been increasingly discussed in international relations literature and policy, yet soft power has not been fully utilized because of under‐specified tools and mechanisms by which soft power influences international actors. This article revises the concept of soft power by generating a continuum of power based on the tools useful for implementing different degrees of soft or hard power. In addition, the article describes two mechanisms through which soft power influences international actors, beginning the call for exploration of other such mechanisms. Reconceptualizing soft power in terms of objects that are controlled and utilized by policy‐makers, such as agenda‐setting and framing, provides us with more useful analytical variables to understand international relations and to provide policy recommendations.

This study aims to examine the differences between visitor motivations and satisfaction between first-time visitors and return visitors to a recreation wellness tourist attraction site in South Korea. Data were collected using a questionnaire at a national arboretum and 573 samples were used for analysis. The study discovered that first-time visitor motivations were composed of four factors: “relaxation and rest”, “novelty”, “self-exploration”, and “accessibility”. The return visitor motivations were “sightseeing and experience”, “convenience for touring”, “self-exploration”, and “accessibility”. The desired outcomes motivating the visitation and level of satisfaction were different between first-time and return visitors. The results contribute practical information to managers and marketers not only of the arboretum, but also of wellness tourist attractions to improve strategic visitor management in Korea and beyond. The study strategically applies the arboretum as a competitive resource in a wellness tourism industry with strategic segmentation of visitors.

This study investigates the consumer behavior of tourists at duty-free shops who experience different limitations on shopping than do consumers at general shopping malls. The target for sampling was outbound tourists who shopped in two hotel duty-free shops in Seoul, Korea. The final analysis used data from 343 respondents and the results revealed (1) the more positive the emotions felt by tourists, the more impulsive buying behavior occurs; (2) time pressure during shopping reinforces negative emotions, resulting in increased affective impulse buying; and (3) increased shopping involvement directly increases cognitive impulse buying.