Escalation of commitment has been linked to losses in information systems （IS） projects. Understanding the nature and the rationality of escalation allows the firm to promote optimal project management practices. Th...Escalation of commitment has been linked to losses in information systems （IS） projects. Understanding the nature and the rationality of escalation allows the firm to promote optimal project management practices. This study takes an inter-disciplinary approach and draws on research from economics and management to create a model of irrational escalation and a model of rational escalation. The forces that contribute to irrational escalation include the responsibility of the same manager for both the project selection and project continuation decisions that create proneness to self-justification, the potential for negative framing of decision options due to large sunk costs, the proximity of project completion and the presence of organizational inertia. Identifying these irrational escalation factors helps design appropriate de-escalation techniques. The rational escalation model draws on the real option theory and the bandit process theory to identify conditions when project continuation is justified by the value of information and the value of flexibility that the firm receives from continuing the project.展开更多
Previous studies on Chinese English teachers’identity and autonomy have overlooked the group of female student-teachers(FSTs)from rural areas.Drawing on data from questionnaire responses,narrative frames and semi-str...Previous studies on Chinese English teachers’identity and autonomy have overlooked the group of female student-teachers(FSTs)from rural areas.Drawing on data from questionnaire responses,narrative frames and semi-structured interviews with research participants,this study first depicts the trajectories of identity construction and autonomy development of nine female student-teachers,and then identifies three main factors that affected their transformation from English learners to student English teachers,and the development of autonomy in such a process.The three factors are gendered ideology,affinity groups and family finance.This study concludes with some implications for policy makers and teacher educators on how to empower female student English teachers from rural China to transform from English learners to English teachers,and how to enhance their autonomy in such a transformation.展开更多
Alvin Plantinga＇s Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism （hereafter ＂EAAN＂） is an argument intended to prove that atheism is not highly probably true in the Darwinian framework. Many critics believe that this a...Alvin Plantinga＇s Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism （hereafter ＂EAAN＂） is an argument intended to prove that atheism is not highly probably true in the Darwinian framework. Many critics believe that this argument Cannot work. I am one of them; but I have a different perspective. In my view, although EAAN was originally elaborated for defending theism, the failure of EAAN itself will not consequently undermine theism （as a religious position）, but will definitely undermine reliabilism （as an epistemological position）. My points include： （1） in Plantinga＇s epistemological reliabilist narrative, it is quite hard to clarify the meaning of the term ＂reliability＂ （as a key word of his whole narrative）, and it is the ambiguity of this term that makes some steps in Plantinga＇s argument more confusing than it ought to be; （2） conversely, if he wiped out this terminological ambiguity, the whole EAANnarrative based on ＂reliability＂ would have to be given up, and this cost may be too high for any EAANadherent to pay.展开更多
文摘Escalation of commitment has been linked to losses in information systems （IS） projects. Understanding the nature and the rationality of escalation allows the firm to promote optimal project management practices. This study takes an inter-disciplinary approach and draws on research from economics and management to create a model of irrational escalation and a model of rational escalation. The forces that contribute to irrational escalation include the responsibility of the same manager for both the project selection and project continuation decisions that create proneness to self-justification, the potential for negative framing of decision options due to large sunk costs, the proximity of project completion and the presence of organizational inertia. Identifying these irrational escalation factors helps design appropriate de-escalation techniques. The rational escalation model draws on the real option theory and the bandit process theory to identify conditions when project continuation is justified by the value of information and the value of flexibility that the firm receives from continuing the project.
基金supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2017M611602)
文摘Previous studies on Chinese English teachers’identity and autonomy have overlooked the group of female student-teachers(FSTs)from rural areas.Drawing on data from questionnaire responses,narrative frames and semi-structured interviews with research participants,this study first depicts the trajectories of identity construction and autonomy development of nine female student-teachers,and then identifies three main factors that affected their transformation from English learners to student English teachers,and the development of autonomy in such a process.The three factors are gendered ideology,affinity groups and family finance.This study concludes with some implications for policy makers and teacher educators on how to empower female student English teachers from rural China to transform from English learners to English teachers,and how to enhance their autonomy in such a transformation.
文摘Alvin Plantinga＇s Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism （hereafter ＂EAAN＂） is an argument intended to prove that atheism is not highly probably true in the Darwinian framework. Many critics believe that this argument Cannot work. I am one of them; but I have a different perspective. In my view, although EAAN was originally elaborated for defending theism, the failure of EAAN itself will not consequently undermine theism （as a religious position）, but will definitely undermine reliabilism （as an epistemological position）. My points include： （1） in Plantinga＇s epistemological reliabilist narrative, it is quite hard to clarify the meaning of the term ＂reliability＂ （as a key word of his whole narrative）, and it is the ambiguity of this term that makes some steps in Plantinga＇s argument more confusing than it ought to be; （2） conversely, if he wiped out this terminological ambiguity, the whole EAANnarrative based on ＂reliability＂ would have to be given up, and this cost may be too high for any EAANadherent to pay.
