Massimo Bellotto

Privacy calculus model in e-commerce – a study of Italy and the United States

This study examines cross-cultural differences beliefs related to e-commerce use for Italy and the United States. We argue that for both cultures, the users decision to make an online purchase is simultaneously influenced by a set of contrary factors. These include decision facilitators such as propensity to trust and institutional trust, and decision inhibitors such as perceived risk and privacy concerns. We argue that substantial cultural differences exist that affect the above factors and the relationships among them. We use Hofstedes cultural theory and Fukuyamas theory of trust and social capital, along with emic factors important for the Italian society, to develop the studys propositions. The hypotheses were empirically tested using LISREL structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis. The results revealed that the Italian society exhibited lower propensity to trust, institutional trust, privacy concerns, and higher perceived risk. The relationships between institutional trust and e-commerce use, privacy concerns and e-commerce use, and perceived risk and institutional trust are all weaker for Italy. The relationship between perceived risk and privacy concerns is stronger for Italy. The papers major contribution is in validating an important model of e-commerce use across two cultures and showing the moderating effects of culture.

Internet Users' Privacy Concerns and Beliefs About Government Surveillance: An Exploratory Study of Differences Between Italy and the United States

The study examines differences in individual’s privacy concerns and beliefs about government surveillance in Italy and the United States. By incorporating aspects of multiple cultural theories, we argue that for both countries, the user’s decision to conduct e-commerce transactions on the Internet is influenced by privacy concerns, perceived need for government surveillance that would secure the Internet environment from fraud, crime and terrorism, and balancing concerns about government intrusion. An empirical model was tested using LISREL structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis. The results support the hypotheses with regard to direction and relative magnitude of the relationships. Italians exhibit lower Internet privacy concerns than individuals in the U.S., lower perceived need for government surveillance, and higher concerns about government intrusion. The relationships among the model constructs are also different across the two countries. Implications of the findings and directions for future work are discussed.

Proactive personality and training motivation among older workers: a mediational model of goal orientation

Purpose – This paper aims at examining the relationship between proactive personality and training motivation among older workers (aged over 55 years) in a context characterized by the growing ageing of the global population. First, the authors hypothesized that proactive personality predicts the motivation to learn among older workers and that this relationship is mediated by goal orientation. In particular, the authors hypothesized that learning goal orientation may mediate the relationship between proactive personality and learning motivation. Design/methodology/approach – The employees of an Italian bank completed an online questionnaire. AMOS 17 was used to carry out confirmatory factor analysis, and the SPSS macro was used to test the meditational model. Findings – The results confirmed both the hypotheses, demonstrating the influence of proactive personality on training motivation of older workers, as mediated by goal orientation and, in particular, by learning goal orientation. Practical implications – From an applicative point of view, this study may have implications for organizations that aim to increase the employability of older people by encouraging them to undertake more training. In particular, interventions aimed at increasing learning goal orientation could contribute in strengthening proactive personality that, in turn, may affect levels of training motivation. Originality/value – Even if proactive personality has already been found as a predictor of learning motivation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study demonstrates that the relationship between proactive personality and training motivation is mediated by goal orientation among older workers.

We are diverse but belonging to the same team: an empirical study on the relationship between diversity and identification

The present study aims to highlights the role of work group culture and gender diversity on work group functioning. Gender diversity is an aspect of organizational life and research on the effect of workgroup composition has yielded ambiguous results. The categorization elaboration model (van Knippenberg, De Dreu & Homan, 2004) addresses this issue and suggests examining factors influencing the relationship between work group diversity and work group functioning. The present study proposes that the group gender diversity affects group identification and that this effect is contingent on group norms. 18 work groups in an information technology enterprise were involved. Results confirmed the hypothesis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Influence of Job Insecurity on Task and Contextual Performance: The Mediational Role of Overall Job Attitude

Job insecurity, that is the perceived threat of losing the current job, has become an increasing concern for organizations in the last decade mainly due to uncertain economic conditions and global competition. In this study, we intend to examine in particular the mechanisms through which job insecurity affects work performance, a criterion of central interest to management scholars. Drawing on the compatibility principle in attitude theory, we proposed that overall job attitude (job satisfaction and affective commitment) predicts behavioural criteria in response to job insecurity. In particular, relying on social exchange theory and rational choice theory two predictions were compared: job insecurity can be an harmful stressor with negative strain reactions (behavioural withdrawal, low performance) or a challenge stressor that motivates employees to engage actively in actions coping with the threat (higher performance). A sample of 570 Italian employees were used to test the hypotheses derived from our framework. Results from structural equations provided support for the social exchange model, showing the negative influence of job insecurity (as hindrance stressor) on task and contextual performance, i.e., in-role and extra-role behaviours.

Entrepreneurial Competencies and Business Creation, A Research on Policies and Applications

The theme of this study can be justified by the importance that European Union gives in promoting the culture of Entrepreneurship among young people, so that they can deal with more awareness and attitude to future educational and career choices. Set this as a premise, this research aims to give an answer to this question: is the Italian university system really meeting the European expectations in terms of developing sense of initiative and entrepreneurship among Italian university students. This article focuses on describing and analyzing the perception that Italian university students have about entrepreneurship in Higher Education. A quantitative research method was used (a questionnaire structured and applied to a sample of 1918 university students). The most significant results are: 71% of the students do not work; 7% are entrepreneurs and out of 71% students who do not work, 39% never had a work experience. However, most of the respondents show interest to start a business and this perception decreases over the years. Moreover, 58.4% do not believe that the university can help a student find a job and 57.6% believe that the university can help an entrepreneur, but only 12.8% actually. A Supranational Policy of Education indicates that Higher Education should develop competencies in students, especially those ones that are considered as key competencies for a student such as initiative, Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, but how effective these indications are in reality if, as percentages show, only a few students opt for an entrepreneurial career. Index Terms—Entrepreneurship, Europa, Italy, key competencies, new venture, policy, university education.

THREAT OF LOSING THE JOB AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOURS AS CONSEQUENCE: COMPARING SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE AND JUSTICE CONTROL MODEL AS THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS

In the current context of economic crisis, more flexibility from the workforce and organizations is required by the labour market. Job insecurity is a major source of psychological strain during these organizational changes. Research suggests that stressful working conditions may contribute to employees engaging in counterproductive work behaviours in an attempt to regain control over their environment. Alternatively, the fear for uncertainty may lead to avoid any behaviour increasing the likelihood of job loss. In this study we compare two different mediating mechanisms to investigate the relationship job insecurity and deviant behaviours in order to understand the psychological processes underlying. Specifically, psychological contract, rooted in the exchange perspective, and procedural justice, explained by the control model, are the theoretical explanations that we propose. In a sample of 322 blue-collar workers, the results showed that job insecurity is positively related to deviant behaviours indirectly (full mediation) through both breach of psychological contract and procedural injustice: both indirect effects have the same strength in explaining the relationship. The consequences of these findings for theory and practice are highlighted in the discussion.

Italian workers in retirement: Reasons for post-retirement activities are influenced from own former job

Differential effect of multi-level science parks on motives and performance of high-tech firms under change in China