On The Research of Foreign and Domestic Human Capital Theory

Human Capital Theory came into being in the middle and later periods of the 20th century. A lot of achievements have been made on the research in its connotation, measures of the value, investment and income, function mechanism and so on, by foreign scholars. In recent 10 years of the new Millennium alternation, the "steal business effect" and the structure of human capital on the mechanism of economic rise has become the two emphasis in current foreign Human Capital Theory’s research. On the basis of foreign researches and Chinese situations, domestic scholars have enriched and developed it, but there are many disparities in its methods, aspects and levels between foreign and domestic researches.

Will Special-Contracted Teachers Promote the Development of Rural Students?From the Perspective of the New Human Capital Theory

The Special-Contracted Teacher Scheme,a supplement to the traditional mode of teacher supply,has been implemented for 17 years and the teaching quality of those teachers has gained a lot of attention.Using data of teachers and students from the sample counties in four central and western provincial-level administrative units,this paper studies how special-contracted teachers have affected students’academic performance and non-cognitive ability according to the student development framework of the new human capital theory,and how those effects vary among different teacher groups.Results show that while special-contracted teachers have helped improve the academic performance of rural students,their role is limited in improving students’non-cognitive ability.At the same time,female special-contracted teachers and those without a normal major play an obviously bigger role in raising students’academic performance.The conclusion is that special-contracted teachers can to some extent help narrow the urban-rural gap in academic performance,but more research needs to be done to better understand their effects on students’non-cognitive ability.

A Study on Psychological Capital of Cultivating High-quality Professional Farmers in the Background of Rural Revitalization

Under the background of rural revitalization,high-quality professional farmers are the backbone of modern agriculture.The cultivation of high-quality professional farmers has developed rapidly and achieved particularly obvious results.The number and quality of professional farmers have been continuously improved,and the scope and level of security have been continuously improved,and remarkable achievements have been made.The significance of studying it lies in that,under the trend of developing modern agriculture,the change of psychological capital of high-quality professional farmers as the object of cultivation has an important influence on the effect of cultivation.Studying the change of psychological capital of high-quality professional farmers can better improve the enthusiasm of high-quality professional farmers and improve their sense of self-efficacy,cultivate optimism,increase resilience in the face of difficulties,and enhance hope for better development.By referring to relevant literature,the author learned the current research status of many aspects of the cultivation of high-quality professional farmers in China,and had a certain understanding of its current situation.At the same time,the cultivation of high-quality professional farmers in Shanghai is in the forefront of the whole country.The author takes the leaders of Shanghai Agricultural Cooperatives as the investigation objects,and based on the social capital theory,studies their psychological capital situation and the influence of external factors on psychological capital situation.Psychological capital emphasizes who you are and what you want to be,while social capital emphasizes who you know and focuses on networks and connections.It is hoped that this study can provide suggestions on how to effectively increase the psychological capital of high-quality professional farmers.

Social networks, social capital,and the use of information technology in the urban village:A study of community groups in Manchester, England

Underresourced or socially excluded communities in Manchester, England demonstrate active use of information technologies despite continuing digital inequalities.A systematic look at 31 grassroots community groups, at how they use IT and who helps them, reveals possible mechanisms towards a more inclusive network society. Social network and social capital theories help make apparent how people are self-organizing with respect to information technology in ways that reach across ethnicity, class, gender, and generations for skilled help, yet stay close to their strong-tie, bonding-social-capital networks, relying largely on people in their own communities. Based on 25 measures of IT use, the groups fall into three progressively more extensive categories: Downloaders(using computers and the Internet, particularly e-mails), uploaders(maintaining a group web presence), and cyberorganizers(helping others to become uploaders or downloaders). These categories align with each individual group's purpose.

Determinant Factors of Capital Structure of Firms-An Empirical Analysis Based on Evidence From Chinese Listed Retail Companies

This paper investigates the effectiveness of various factors upon the capital structure decisions of Chinese firms by conducting an empirical analysis of Chinese-listed retail companies.An unbalanced panel dataset was formed with a sample of 110 companies observed for 12 years(2010~2021).Each observation is measured quarterly.Traditional explanatory variables are adopted in the study,including profitability,company size,tangibility of assets,internal financing ability,tax ratio,growth opportunities,and volatility.By employing the Fama-Macbeth approach,the regression results are interpreted to determine the impact of independent variables upon the leverage a company takes on.To solve the reverse causality problem,we include the lag term(last quarter’s data)of the debt-to-equity ratio as control variables.Consistent with previous theoretical and empirical studies,firms’leverage ratio is positively related to size,tangibility,tax ratio,and last quarter’s debt level.Companies’profitability and internal financing ability are negatively correlated with their debt-to-equity ratio.Firms’earning volatility and growth opportunities do not show significant relationship with the debt-to-equity ratio.The study has provided more empirical evidence on capital structure theories regarding emerging financial markets.

Blog acceptance model: An empirical study on exploring users' acceptance and continual usage of blogs

Blogs have permeated into our daily lives at a fast speed, and various kinds of blog spaces have attracted our attention. However, little effort has been made on studying the users' motivation to participate in blog activities. This paper aims to construct a theoretical model about the blog adoption based on technology acceptance model(TAM theory), social capital theory and social exchange theory, and put forward 18 related hypotheses. Then the survey method is adopted to analyze the data from 208 questionnaires using the SPSS and LISREL tools, and to examine the theoretical model and hypotheses. Finally, the paper makes a discussion from five aspects due to the results of data analysis, including individual driving factors, group driving factors, community driving factors, technology acceptance factors and moderating variables. The results show that curiosity/enjoyment, user's experience, social interaction and social identification will greatly affect users' motivation to accept a blog; meanwhile, perceived ease of use, exchange cost and trust will partially influence users' intention to participate in blog activities. The results also suggest that age and education degrees have significant moderating effects on users' acceptance and updating of blogs.

Community Based Flood Risk Management: Local Knowledge and Actor’s Involvement Approach from Lower Karnali River Basin of Nepal

Connecting to the disaster risk reduction (DRR) studies, community-based initiatives are found to be more effective in both developed and developing countries, with a specific focus on the empowerment of local communities to build resilience. Building on social capital theory, the paper investigates on local knowledge (LK) practices experienced by the actors in an emerging economy using the community-based flood risk management (CB-FRM) approach. The qualitative research method was used by collecting data from focused group discussions, and interviews with the key informants including actors from local governments and non-government organizations. Additionally, informal discussions, field visits, and desk studies were undertaken to support the findings. The findings reveal that the local communities carry out various local knowledge experiences to respond during disaster management phases. They own a creative set of approaches based on the LK and that empowers them to live in the flood-prone areas, accepting the paradigm shift from fighting with floods to living with that. The local actor’s involvement is recognized as an essential component for CB-FRM activities. Yet, their program’s implementation is more oriented towards humanitarian assistance in emergency responses. Even, they often overlook the role of LK. Additionally, the results show a high level of presence of local communities during the preparedness and recovery phases, while NGOs and local governments have a medium role in preparedness and low in recovery phase. The lack of local ownership has also emerged as the major challenge. The research provides valuable insights for integrated CB-FRM policies by adopting to LK practices.

Human Capital or Humane Talent?Rethinking the Nature of Education in China from a Comparative Historical Perspective

In order to analyze the impact of human capital theory on contemporary Chinese education,this paper first draws a conceptual outline of how this theory was introduced and interpreted to suit the Chinese quest for modernization.The study then adopts a comparative historical approach to the points of similarity between Neo-Confucian educational ideas and those of British humanism in an earlier transitional period that has some parallels.The aim of this comparison is to connect the ideas of Neo-Confucians and humanist educators to Ronald Dore’s concept of the role of education and his insights on the diploma disease.Within this core framework,this paper exposes the problems that have come from a melding of the examination tradition and the notion of human capital.It suggests that a revival of another aspect of Chinese tradition-education for fostering one’s humanity-may help balance contemporary Chinese education and restore it to health.

Resignation of officials as independent directors and firm performance

In 2013,the Chinese government implemented Rule No.18,which suspended the directorships of incumbent government officials and precluded those who retired within the past three years from serving as independent directors for listed firms.The surprise implementation of Rule No.18 triggered a wave of resignations among official independent directors(OIDs).The event provided a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of the political connections of board members on firm performance.We applied a difference-in-difference technique to empirically investigate the effect of OID resignations on firm performance from the perspectives of resource dependence theory and social capital theory.The results indicate that the resignation of OIDs had a significantly negative effect on firm performance,as measured by Tobin's 0 and firm leverage.This also confirmed the importance of independent directors'political connection on firm performance,as discovered in prior research.However,this influence varied across OIDs'heterogeneity,external environment and firm ownership.The results indicate that political connections may not be necessary channels for firms to achieve success.