AbstractIn this extended case study, we examine how business leaders translate a responsible leadership mindset into practice. By studying the leadership team and stakeholders of a large US college dining provider, we found that organization executives leverage the lenient market category of local food to successfully connect with and satisfy the interests of different stakeholder groups. We show that lenient categories, those with ambiguity and unclear boundaries, could be used by organizations as strategic devices to integrate the diverse needs of (...) their stakeholders and foster positive stakeholder relationships. Based on our findings, we develop a theoretical model to illustrate how responsible leaders take advantage of meaning structures of the market category they have adopted to achieve both financial and social benefits for a broad range of stakeholders. (shrink)

Consumers have subjective psychological expectations of the quality and brand of products before purchasing. There is a certain tolerance for products that do not meet expectations. The discomfort caused by tolerance can be smoothly carried out through “reasonable” self-comfort and explanation mechanisms. Based on the theory of rationalization defense mechanism, a 2 × 2 purchase channel matrix of online and offline purchase, online consultation, and the offline experience was constructed to explore the influence of consumers’ tolerance of product quality and (...) brand on their purchase channel choice. The results show that: consumer product tolerance positively influences consumers’ online purchasing choice; consumer product tolerance influences purchase channel choice through rationalization; and the sweet lemon mechanism mediates consumer product tolerance on online consultation and online purchase and offline experience, but the sour grapes mechanism does not mediate. (shrink)

Insect white wax is a type of biological wax, mainly produced in Jiading Fu (now Leshan, Sichuan province) in southern Sichuan province, also known as Sichuan wax. It is a special export product in China and an important source of income for local wax farmers. From the seventeenth century onward, Westerners who traveled deep into southwestern China studied the wax, including its geographical distribution, biological experiments, and production techniques. They assessed its commercial prospects and strove to introduce it to Europe (...) and the areas it controlled. Based on the reports of the European scholars’ expeditions, travelogues, conference proceedings, and correspondence, this paper examines the history of Western research on the insect white wax and aims to investigate the underlying motivations for the exploration activities, proposes the concept of “object colonialism,” and discusses the impact of adopting objects from their countries of origin on the world’s political and economic landscape. (shrink)

Difficulty in emotional regulation is significantly correlated with depression. Depression is a psychological disease that seriously affects the physical and mental health of college students. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop diversified preventive interventions such as group impromptu music therapy. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of GIMT on the improvement of emotional regulation ability and the reduction of depressive symptoms in college students. A 71 college students were recruited to carry out randomized (...) controlled trial was used. The experimental group was intervened by GIMT. After the 4th week of intervention, follow-up and scale measurement were carried out. In the experimental group, emotional regulation difficulty scales showed significant difference before and after GIMT, implying the improvement in the emotional regulation. But there was no significant improvement in the control group. In addition, the depressive symptoms of experimental group were relieved. All findings showed that GIMT can effectively improve college students’ emotional regulation and reduce depressive symptoms. (shrink)