Exploring the interplay between Framing and Securitization theory: the case of the Arab Spring protests in Bahrain

This article advances the theoretical integration between securitization theory and the framing approach, resulting in a set of criteria hereby called security framing. It seeks to make a twofold contribution: to sharpen the study of the ideational elements that underlie the construction of threats, and to advance towards a greater assessment of the audience's preferences. The case study under examination is the 2011 military intervention of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain. The security framing of this case will help illuminate the dynamics at play in one of the most important recent events in Gulf politics.

Muddle or march: China and the 21st century Concert of Powers

Concert of Powers has emerged as an attractive modality in global governance. As an emerging power, China must seriously take this template into account. This article seeks to analyze the incentives, possibilities, and uncertainties for China to participate in Concert with reference to China's history memory on Concert, China's intellectual endeavors, as well as China's evolving foreign preferences. It concludes that China is generally qualified and capable of being a key participant in Concert of Powers with increasing willingness. Yet, China's involvement depends on 1) if Concert template can overcome its own deficiencies; 2) if Concert have competitive advantages compared with other governance alternatives for China; and 3) if China can keep its momentum on both willingness and capacity in power transition.

What does the field of International Relations look like in South America?

Abstract This article provides a comprehensive picture of IR in South America by applying content analysis to 7,857 articles published in 35 journals from six South American countries from 2006 to 2014 in order to discover what the predominant theories, methods and research areas in this field are, how scholars tend to combine them in their research designs, and what the profiles of regional journals are, regarding their epistemological, methodological and subject preferences. The findings reveal a predominantly Positivist and largely Qualitative discipline, resembling North American and European IR.

Tourist motivation of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho: a gender analysis

Women are increasingly active in the participation and consumption of tourism, representing a strong and unique market segment. Knowledge of the needs and preferences of female tourists represents a key success factor in the tourism industry. This preliminary study seeks to capture the underlying reasons for the travel decisions of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho, investigating their tourist motivations from a gendered perspective. Insight on tourism motivation may be an important policy tool for tourism planners and managers in the development of products and marketing strategies. The empirical analysis is undertaken based on questionnaires administered in 2012 to residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho. Preliminary results do not reveal significant gender differences in the importance that the local residents place on various tourism motivation factors.

Capital Intelectual: sua divulgação no setor bancário em Portugal

The importance of intangible resources has increased dramatically in recent years comparing to tangible ones. The economy in which we live is the result of competitive pressures that have imposed the implementation of business at an international level as well as a requirement in the application of sophisticated technologies that allow us to follow this fast evolution. In this age of information and innovation organizations will only survive if they are inserted in a global network of strategic relations, generically called as the network economy by Lev (2003). The service sector has stood out against the more traditional sectors of the economy. The intensive use of knowledge and a strong customer orientation created a new reality in today’s organizations: a growing importance attached to innovation, to the quality of products and services offered, to the information and communication technologies adopted, and to the creativity and particular abilities of human resources. The concept of intangible assets is more common in an accounting language and intellectual capital is most often applied in the context of management, being associated with a more comprehensive, multidimensional approach, representing all the knowledge that the institution owns and that it applies in the form of expertise, the creativity and organizational competencies that lead to innovation and to the sustained attainment of future economic benefits. An analysis of the scope of intellectual capital is fundamental to take more appropriate management decisions so that a more appropriate accounting treatment could be given by the accounting standardization organizations. This study intends to analyse the practices of information disclosure of the intellectual capital in the banking sector in Portugal, complementing the analysis of the disclosure of intangible assets in the context of accounting standards with the disclosure of intellectual capital in the context of organizational management. In particular, our main aims are to identify the extent of disclosure of intellectual capital made by banks in Portugal and also to identify the factors that determine such a disclosure. The disclosure in the context of accounting standards will be studied by checking the disclosure of intangible assets through the items listed in the International Accounting Standard 38 developed by the International Accounting Standards Board. The context of management was analysed by means of creating a voluntary disclosure index based on assumptions of the model Intellectus, developed by the Centro de Investigación sobre la Sociedad del Conocimiento – Instituto de Administración de Empresas (CIC-IADE) of the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, and of the model Intellectual Capital Statement (made in Europe) (InCaS), both promoted by the European Commission and that we have adapted to the banking sector. When analysing the disclosure of intangible assets based on the context of accounting standards and the voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital, this study has tried to raise awareness about the importance of issuing reports on the intellectual capital as an alternative tool to take management decisions in the existing organizations and reflects the transparency and legitimacy that these institutions seek through a more extensive and more detailed information disclosure of their intellectual capital. Based on a complimentarily of economic theories, together with social and political theories, we tried to check the extent, evolution and tendencies of the compulsory disclosure of intangible assets and of the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital analysed in the period 2001-2011. Banks characteristics were also analysed in order to deduce those factors that determine or promote a larger disclosure in this sector. Based on these objectives, we adopted a longitudinal approach to explore the extent and the development of the disclosure of intangible assets as well as the factors that have determined it. Furthermore, we sought to assess the impact of the adoption of IAS 38 in the financial statements of the organizations in this sector. The disclosure index created on the basis of the disclosure requirements stated in IAS 38 from IASB was applied to the consolidated financial statements of the seventeen banks that rendered their statements in Portugal from 2001 to 2009. Since the information disclosed in the context of accounting standards may not have an important role as a management tool once it was not able to reflect what really contributes to the competitiveness and organizational growth, the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital was analysed according to the information obtained from the 2010 annual individual reports of the banks operating in Portugal in that year and from their respective websites in 2011. We tried to analyse the extent of the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital and of each of its components, human capital, structural capital and relational capital. The comparative analysis of their annual reports and their web pages allowed us to assess the incidence of the disclosure and discover what channel the banking sector focuses on when disclosing their intellectual capital. Also in this analysis the study of the disclosure determinants has allowed us to conclude about the influence of particular characteristics in the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital. The results of the analysis to the extent of the disclosure of intangible assets in the consolidated financial statements of the banking groups in Portugal in the period 2001-2009 have shown an average information disclosure of 0.24. This information disclosure evolved from an average value of 0.1940 in 2001 to 0.2778 in 2009. The average value is 0.8286 if it is only considered the disclosure of the intangible assets that the banks possessed. The evolution of this index means an increase in the average disclosure from 0.7852 in 2001 to 0.8788 in 2009. From the first results that are related to the extent of the disclosure of intangible assets in the financial statements, we can verify that the banking groups present a low disclosure level of these resources. However, when considering the disclosure of only the intangible assets that each institution owns, the disclosure level appears to be in compliance with the disclosure requirements for this sector. An evolution in the disclosure of intangible assets for the period considered was confirmed, showing an increase in the information disclosure of intangible assets in 2005, the year in which the accounting rules for intangible assets changed. The analysis that focused on the disclosure in the context of management tried to understand the extent, the incidence and the determinants of the voluntary information disclosure of intellectual capital in the annual reports of 2010 and on their web pages in 2011, studying the 32 banks operating in Portugal in this period. The average voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital in the 2010 annual reports is 0.4342 while that in web pages is 0.2907. A review of the components of the intellectual capital allowed us to assess the importance that the banks confer to each of these components. The data obtained show that the relational capital, and more specifically the business capital, is the most disclosed component by banks in Portugal both in the annual reports and in their institutional web pages, followed by the structural capital and, finally, by the human capital. The disclosure of the human capital and the structural capital is higher in the annual reports than that in the websites, while the relational capital is more disclosed in the websites than in the annual reports. The results have also shown that the banks make a complementary use of both sources when disclosing information about their structural capital and relational capital but they do not show any information about their human capital in their websites. We tried to prove the influence of factors that could determine the accounting disclosure and the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital in this sector. The change in the IASB accounting rules as from January 1st 2005 gave a greater disclosure of accounting information of intangible assets in the financial statements of banks. The bank size and corporate governance measures have statistically proved to have an influence on the extent of the accounting disclosure of intangible assets and on the voluntary disclosure of the intellectual capital. Economic and financial variables such as profitability, operating efficiency or solvency were not determinants of information disclosure. The instability that the banking sector has experienced in economic and financial indicators in recent years as a result of the global financial markets imbalance has worsen indicators such as profitability, efficiency and solvency and caused major discrepancies in the economic situation between banks in Portugal. This empirical analysis has contributed to confront the disclosure required by accounting rules performed in the financial statements of organizations with that performed in the main disclosure media which is available for entities and which is increasingly requested in the process of taking management decisions. It also allowed us to verify whether there is homogeneity between institutions in the fulfilment of the requirements for information disclosure of intangible assets. However, as for voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital, there are large disparities in the disclosure extent between organizations. Regardless of this sector specific characteristics, the voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital made by banks in Portugal follows the trends in other sectors and the practices adopted in other countries, namely regarding the amount of information disclosed, the incidence of the disclosure on the indicators of relational capital and the importance of variables such as size as determinants of disclosure of intellectual capital. For a further knowledge in this field, we created a specific index for the banking sector, considering appropriate indicators for an incisive, comprehensive analysis in order to consider the most relevant indicators of intellectual capital components. Besides, confronting the analysis of disclosure in the context of accounting standards with the study of voluntary disclosure brought a new analysis approach to the research on intellectual capital disclosure. With this study, we have also intended to raise greater awareness of the need for harmonization in the intellectual capital disclosure on the part of the regulatory banking authority by means of a demanding, consistent and transparent report of intellectual capital with simple, clear, objective indicators so that those interested in disclosing intellectual capital information in the organizations in this sector may obtain more harmonized and comparable information. A research on the disclosure quality of intellectual capital, together with the application of other analysis methodologies in this sector, might be a promising approach for future research. Applying the voluntary disclosure index to the same sector in other countries may also contribute to the knowledge of disclosure practices in different geographical environments. We highlight the relevance of further studies contributing to the harmonization and consistency in the presentation of an intellectual capital report so as to enable organizations to disclose the resources that contribute most to their competitiveness and growth.

Disclosure of Intangible Assets: an Empirical Study of Financial Corporations in the Iberian Peninsula

The purpose of this paper is to analyse, firstly, to what extent intangible assets in the consolidated accounts of seven Portuguese banks and seven Spanish banks between 2006 and 2009 are disclosed and, secondly, to analyse what the most influential factors are in the above mentioned disclosure. In order to do this, before reviewing the existing literature and on the basis of other studies on this topic, a disclosure index has been created based on the requirements related to the intangible assets as stated in IAS 38. Then, two statistical analyses have been made: a univariate one for each of the explanatory variables and a multivariate one, in which all variables have been analysed. Both analyses led to the conclusion that the disclosure index of intangible assets is 0.96, where the bank dimension and the internationalization degree are the variables that are considered explanatory of the variation of the disclosure index in the regression analysis.

Does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?

The city of Guimarães in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimarães as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city’s World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimarães. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.

Perceptions of residents of hosting the “Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture”: An ex-ante approach

The European Capital of Culture is an annual mega-event, which can provide a good forum though which to challenge and engage local citizens, thus generating feelings of common citizenship. In addition, it presents an ideal opportunity to promote the restructuring of the hosting urban space. However, the success of both the organization and the city that hosts the cultural event depends on the residents’ commitment towards it, the consistency of the tourism attractions and activities supplied, and the capacity of anticipating and monitoring the evolution of tourists’ preferences. The present study aims to assess the intention to participate and the impacts perceived by residents of Guimarães from hosting one of the 2012 European Capitals of Culture (2012 ECOC) in the ex-ante period (2011). Through a convenience sample of 471 usable surveys applied to the local population, conducted between October and December 2011, we tried to identify some of these potential impacts. According to the results received, 40% of residents had a low or very low knowledge of the cultural program, although only 11% demonstrated no intention of attending any activity during the event. The comparison of the mean scores of the expected 2012 ECOC impacts by gender reveals that the most valued and least valued factors are common to female and male respondents. With regard to the differences between those that intended to attend the event and the ones that did not, expected participants rated positive and negative impact factors more than did the ones that did not intend to attend.

Perceptions of residents of hosting the “Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture”: an ex-ante approach

The European Capital of Culture is an annual mega-event, which can provide a good forum though which to challenge and engage local citizens, thus generating feelings of common citizenship. In addition, it presents an ideal opportunity to promote the restructuring of the hosting urban space. However, the success of both the organization and the city that hosts the cultural event depends on the residents’ commitment towards it, the consistency of the tourism attractions and activities supplied, and the capacity of anticipating and monitoring the evolution of tourists’ preferences. The present study aims to assess the intention to participate and the impacts perceived by residents of Guimarães from hosting one of the 2012 European Capitals of Culture (2012 ECOC) in the ex-ante period (2011). Through a convenience sample of 471 usable surveys applied to the local population, conducted between October and December 2011, we tried to identify some of these potential impacts. According to the results received, 40% of residents had a low or very low knowledge of the cultural program, although only 11% demonstrated no intention of attending any activity during the event. The comparison of the mean scores of the expected 2012 ECOC impacts by gender reveals that the most valued and least valued factors are common to female and male respondents. With regard to the differences between those that intended to attend the event and the ones that did not, expected participants rated positive and negative impact factors more than did the ones that did not intend to attend.

How does gender affect visiting a world heritage site?: the case study of Guimarães

To date few studies have been undertaken in Portugal dealing with the attitudes, motivations, and profile of tourists who visit World Heritage Sites. Also, few studies have dealt with destination image (e.g., Agapito, Mendes & Valle, 2010; Lopes, 2011). As far as it is known, none have approached the issue of gender differences in the choice of a Portuguese heritage destination. Since cultural tourism destinations need to differentiate themselves from each other, appropriate market segmentation must be based on a deep understanding of the customers’ motivations and preferences. Keeping in mind results from empirical literature (e.g., Silberberg, 1995; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Richards, 2004; Pérez, 2009; Sheng, Shen, & Chen, 2008), gender seems to be a possible approach to market segmentation, whether for Guimarães or for other cultural tourism destinations around the world. Located in the north-western region of Portugal, Guimarães is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical centre as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study analyses the possible relation between gender and attitudes and motivations towards a World Heritage Site, such as Guimarães. Additionally, the empirical approach used in the study tries to capture differences in the perceived attributes of the city. Commonalities and distinctions within and between groups of tourists, by focusing on the specific characteristic of gender, were analysed. The study addressed two main questions: first, whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination; and, second, whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimarães. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences.

Does Gender Affect Visiting a World Heritage Site?

The city of Guimar˜aes in Portugal is a place of strong symbolic and cultural significance, and the nomination of its historical center as a World Heritage Site in 2001 enhanced its tourism potential. This study presents the results of a survey conducted in 2010 and 2011 to capture the profile and motivations of tourists visiting Guimar˜aes as a cultural tourism destination. The study addressed two main issues: whether males and females have similar or different preferences in choosing the city as their destination, and whether there are gender differences in the perception of the attributes of Guimar˜aes. A better understanding of the gendered nature of the destination is a valuable cue for shaping products and services according to visitors’ preferences. The results suggest that both men and women are aware of the main elements responsible for the city’s World Heritage status. That the destination is a Heritage Site that also offers the opportunity to tour the region has a significant positive effect on male tourists’ choice of Guimar˜aes. Regarding the perceived attributes of the city, results indicate minor gender differences with one exception: Women expressed more apprehension than men regarding the perceived security of the destination.

Evaluating the Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture: National and International Tourists’ Behaviors and Perceptions

In 2012, Guimarães hosted the European Capital of Culture (ECOC). An evaluation of this event was needed because public, private, and community funds were involved. This analysis considers tourists as external and independent stakeholders who assessed the cultural activities developed during the event as well as the attributes of the city. The main objectives of the research conducted were to assess the visitors` motivations during the hosting of the Guimarães ECOC 2012, their perceptions towards the city and if national and international visitors kept different perceptions of it. For two months, in the summer of 2012, a survey was applied to 390 visitors. The results revealed that hosting the 2012 ECOC was a major contribution towards attracting new visitors to the city (though many of the visitors stayed only for a short period of time). Based on tourists’ perceptions, the tangible heritage was clearly detached from the set of attributes associated to Guimarães, whereas the intangible heritage was less noted. The Portuguese tourists seem to be more prone to value the tangible heritage than the foreign tourists. Overall, Guimarães received a very positive evaluation relating to the city’s image and, as stated by tourists, visiting it was declared to be highly recommended. Following the obtained empirical results, the need for changing the city’s promoted image emerges, which has been too centered on its tangible heritage. In doing so, it is believed that there will be longer overnight stays by visitors.

Da criação de uma Ordem Profissional

O objetivo central deste estudo é a análise da perspetiva dos Assistentes Sociais sobre a necessidade/ importância da criação de uma Ordem Profissional e, consequentemente de um Código Deontológico (português) para a profissão. Privilegiou-se a investigação qualitativa, construída a partir da interpretação das narrativas das entrevistas, da pesquisa bibliografia e documental. O carácter qualitativo do trabalho concretiza-se por meio de uma lógica abdutiva, que pretende compreender a realidade através da construção dos seus atores (Blaikie, 2000). Para o efeito construímos duas dimensões de análise: a primeira refere-se à análise e compreensão da necessidade de criação de uma Ordem Profissional e a segunda dimensão integra a análise da opinião dos informantes sobre a necessidade de criação de um código deontológico português. Os resultados obtidos nesta investigação demonstram de forma unânime, a importância da criação de uma Ordem Profissional para a legitimação, representatividade e autorregulação da categoria profissional. Nas razões apontadas para a importância da Ordem surgem, quer justificações que se centram na necessidade de uniformização da prática, demonstrando uma visão mais burocrática e tecnicista da profissão, no qual os métodos se sobrepõem à relação, quer razões de legitimação e de necessidade de representação coletiva junto à classe política, relacionada com uma vertente humanista, no qual os aspetos relacionais e comportamentais devem fazer parte da prática profissional de forma a uma maior adequação dos mecanismos de intervenção no indivíduo. Nas razões apontadas para o insucesso da não criação de uma Ordem Profissional, a maioria realçou motivos internos e externos inerentes à profissão. A questão interna tem a ver com a falta de associativismo e união dos Assistentes Sociais em se mobilizarem por uma causa comum. A questão externa relaciona-se com interesses políticos, bem como a questão coletiva dos profissionais. Os princípios subjacentes a um código deontológico são os inerentes aos direitos humanos e justiça social e de atitudes associadas à profissão.

Representação e compreensão dos adultos sobre o sistema jurídico

Na sociedade atual é comum que os indivíduos sejam testemunhas em tribunal, por isso é necessário perceber se são capazes de compreender os termos legais usados frequentemente no sistema jurídico mas também perceber qual a representação social que possuem acerca da justiça. Contudo, investigada a compreensão da terminologia legal desde a década de 50, afirma-se que os indivíduos de todas as faixas etárias não conseguem compreender e definir adequadamente, mas, também os estudos da representação social da justiça, demonstram uma diversidade de representatividade por parte dos indivíduos, de acordo com os seus diferentes contextos sociais, as informações recebidas dos meios de comunicação, os seus ambientes familiares e, as diferentes relações estabelecidas com o objeto. Esta dissertação tem assim como objetivo geral saber a representação que os adultos têm sobre a justiça e qual o conhecimento que têm dela a partir das definições de um conjunto de termos legais usados frequentemente no sistema jurídico. Para isso realizaram-se entrevistas de resposta aberta com 40 adultos de ambos os sexos, com idade compreendida entre 19 e 72 anos, sendo estes progenitores, representantes legais ou detentores da guarda de facto de crianças e jovens sinalizados na Comissão de Proteção de Crianças e Jovens. O estudo é uma investigação qualitativa e engloba um estudo descrito. Este estudo demonstrou que os adultos não conseguem definir adequadamente todos os termos legais propostos, pelo que não possuem uma representação clara de justiça e dos seus intervenientes.

Access to information: assessment of the use of automated interaction technologies in call centers

With the purpose of at lowering costs and reendering the demanded information available to users with no access to the internet, service companies have adopted automated interaction technologies in their call centers, which may or may not meet the expectations of users. Based on different areas of knowledge (man-machine interaction, consumer behavior and use of IT) 13 propositions are raised and a research is carried out in three parts: focus group, field study with users and interviews with experts. Eleven automated service characteristics which support the explanation for user satisfaction are listed, a preferences model is proposed and evidence in favor or against each of the 13 propositions is brought in. With balance scorecard concepts, a managerial assessment model is proposed for the use of automated call center technology. In future works, the propositions may become verifiable hypotheses through conclusive empirical research.