Workplace Bullying: Application of Novak’s (1998) Learning Theory and Implications for Training

This paper applies Novak’s (1998) theory of learning to the problem of workplace bullying. Novak’s theory offers an understanding of how actions of bullying and responses to bullying can be seen as deriving from individualized conceptualizations of workplace bullying by those involved. Further, Novak’s theory suggests that training involving Ausubel’s concept of meaningful learning (Ausubel Educational Theory 11(1): 15–25, 1961; Ausubel et al. 1978) which attends to learners’ pre-existing knowledge and allows for new meaning to be constructed regarding workplace bullying can lead to new actions related to workplace bullying. Ideally, these new actions can involve both a reduction in workplace bullying prevalence, and responses to workplace bullying which recognize and are informed by the negative consequences of this workplace dynamic.     

Assessing bankruptcy prediction models via information content of technical inefficiency

We use a stochastic frontier model with firm-specific technical inefficiency effects in a panel framework (Battese and Coelli in Empir Econ 20:325–332, 1995) to assess two popular probability of bankruptcy (PB) measures based on Merton model (Merton in J Financ 29:449–470, 1974) and discrete-time hazard model (DHM; Shumway in J Bus 74:101–124, 2001). Three important results based on our empirical studies are obtained. First, a firm with a higher PB generally has less technical efficiency. Second, for an ex-post bankrupt firm, its PB tends to increase and its technical efficiency of production tends to decrease, as the time to its bankruptcy draws near. Finally, the information content about firm’s technical inefficiency provided by PB based on DHM is significantly more than that based on Merton model. By the last result and the fact that economic-based efficiency measures are reasonable indicators of the long-term health and prospects of firms (Baek and Pagán in Q J Bus Econ 41:27–41, 2002), we conclude that PB based on DHM is a better credit risk proxy of firms.     

Financial crisis and relative productivity dynamics in Korea: evidence from firm-level data (1992–2003)

We have estimated the relative TFP growth at firm level and analyzed the firm dynamics in view of entry and exit of firms in Korea during 1992–2003, which includes the turbulent financial crisis of 1997–1998. Following Pyo and Ha, Hitotsubashi J Econ 48(1): 67–81, (2007), we have adopted a gross output model rather than a value added model of relative TFP analysis. We have found that the cyclical variation of productivity growth plays a dominant role in the decomposition effects before and after the 1997 financial crisis in Korea. Productivity growth is modest before the crisis and strong after the crisis owing to the recovering market efficiency. There is the likelihood that the productivity growth of stayers during the post-crisis period was significantly higher than new entrants. The net entry effect is found to be more sensitive in small business and export-based firms than in large business and domestic market-based firms. Our findings suggest that Korean firms have recovered a modest level of technical change after its severe financial crisis owing to the improvement of management transparency and the build-up of market efficiency during the IMF-mandated restructuring process. But since the entry effect is estimated to be still negative in Manufacturing and the exit effect is negative in Service sector after the crisis, the Korean economy has not fully recovered its metabolism in the post-crisis period and still lacks a creative destructive process to resume another round of sustainable growth path.     

Likelihood ratio tests for model selection of stochastic frontier models

An important issue when conducting stochastic frontier analysis is how to choose a proper parametric model, which includes choices of the functional form of the frontier function, distributions of the composite errors, and also the exogenous variables. In this paper, we extend the likelihood ratio test of Vuong, Econometrica 57(2):307–333, (1989) and Takeuchi’s, Suri-Kagaku (Math Sci) 153:12–18, (1976) model selection criterion to the stochastic frontier models. The most attractive feature of this test is that it can not only be used for testing a non-nested model, but also still be applicable even when the general model is misspecified. Finally, we also demonstrate how to apply this test to the Indian farm data used by Battese and Coelli, J Prod Anal 3:153–169, (1992), Empir Econ 20(2):325–332, (1995) and Alvarez et al., J Prod Anal 25:201–212, (2006).     

The wisdom of the few or the wisdom of the many? An indirect test of the marginal trader hypothesis

The Marginal Trader Hypothesis (Forsythe et al. 1992, in American Economic Review 82(5): 1142–1161) posits that a small group of well-informed traders keep an asset’s market price equal to its fundamental value. Forsythe et al. base this claim on evidence from U.S. presidential prediction markets. We test the Marginal Trader Hypothesis by examining a decision task that precludes marginal traders. Specifically, students are asked to predict the class average for a given exam. We show that performance on our task is similar to that reported for the Iowa Electronic Markets, and that accuracy is unrelated to academic performance and does not correlate across tasks.     

A stochastic frontier model with correction for sample selection

Heckman’s (Ann Econ Soc Meas 4(5), 475–492, 1976; Econometrica 47, 153–161, 1979) sample selection model has been employed in three decades of applications of linear regression studies. This paper builds on this framework to obtain a sample selection correction for the stochastic frontier model. We first show a surprisingly simple way to estimate the familiar normal-half normal stochastic frontier model using maximum simulated likelihood. We then extend the technique to a stochastic frontier model with sample selection. In an application that seems superficially obvious, the method is used to revisit the World Health Organization data (WHO in The World Health Report, WHO, Geneva 2000; Tandon et al. in Measuring the overall health system performance for 191 countries, World Health Organization, 2000) where the sample partitioning is based on OECD membership. The original study pooled all 191 countries. The OECD members appear to be discretely different from the rest of the sample. We examine the difference in a sample selection framework.     

Prediction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-records from a general class of distributions under balanced type loss functions

We study the problem of predicting future k-records based on k-record data for a large class of distributions, which includes several well-known distributions such as: Exponential, Weibull (one parameter), Pareto, Burr type XII, among others. With both Bayesian and non-Bayesian approaches being investigated here, we pay more attention to Bayesian predictors under balanced type loss functions as introduced by Jafari Jozani et al. (Stat Probab Lett 76:773–780, 2006a). The results are presented under the balanced versions of some well-known loss functions, namely squared error loss, Varian’s linear-exponential loss and absolute error loss or L ₁ loss functions. Some of the previous results in the literatures such as Ahmadi et al. (Commun Stat Theory Methods 34:795–805, 2005), and Raqab et al. (Statistics 41:105–108, 2007) can be achieved as special cases of our results. Partial support from Ordered and Spatial Data Center of Excellence of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is acknowledged by J. Ahmadi. M. J. Jozani’s research supported partially by a grant of Statistical Research and Training Center. é. Marchand’s research supported by NSERC of Canada. A. Parsian’s research supported by a grant of the Research Council of the University of Tehran.     

Knowledge acquisition processes during the incubation of new high technology firms

High technology incubators have been funded in universities by the UK government as part of the ‘third mission’ for higher education (DTI 2000a). The provision of such facilities is premised on the notion that new technology firms achieve success at least in part from the benefits of incubators as rich networked environments where specialist knowledge acquisition can occur. This paper presents a exploration of how this process takes place, based on a case study of the high-tech incubator at the University of Southampton. The paper shows that firm founders adopt different approaches to the networked environment provided by the incubator; in this case the shift from Directorial support to that embedding in external networks was significant as firms grew. Taking account of this process should enable incubator managers to develop practices that ensure firms gain maximum advantage from the available resources.     

Innovation and export activities in the German mechanical engineering sector: an application of testing restrictions in production analysis

Since Solow (Q J Econ 70:65–94, 1956) the economic literature has widely accepted innovation and technological progress as the central drivers of long-term economic growth. From the microeconomic perspective, this has led to the idea that the growth effects on the macroeconomic level should be reflected in greater competitiveness of the firms. Although innovation effort does not always translate into greater competitiveness, it is recognized that innovation is, in an appropriate sense, unique and differs from other inputs like labor or capital. Nonetheless, often this uniqueness is left unspecified. We analyze two arguments rendering innovation special, the first related to partly non-discretionary innovation input levels and the second to the induced increase in the firm’s competitiveness on the global market. Methodologically the analysis is based on restriction tests in non-parametric frontier models, where we use and extend tests proposed by Simar and Wilson (Commun Stat Simul Comput 30(1):159–184, 2001; J Prod Anal, forthcoming, 2010). The empirical data is taken from the German Community Innovation Survey 2007 (CIS 2007), where we focus on mechanical engineering firms. Our results are consistent with the explanation of the firms’ inability to freely choose the level of innovation inputs. However, we do not find significant evidence that increased innovation activities correspond to an increase in the ability to serve the global market.     

Market undervaluation of risky convertible offerings: Evidence from the airline industry

We assess market valuation of airline convertible preferred stocks using a contingent claims valuation model that was extensively tested by Ramanlal et al. (Rev Quant Financ Account 10:303–319, 1998). Our sample consists of 4,096 daily price observations of 11 convertible preferred stocks issued by the U.S. airlines in 1980–1991. For each convertible we estimate daily model prices for 2 years after issuance and compare them with market prices by calculating pricing errors. While the entire sample’s mean pricing error is found to be negative 3.8%, the panel data analysis and the mean pricing errors of the sub-samples indicate that the undervaluation is much more severe in the first 6 months of trading. The results suggest that airlines leave about 10% on the table when they raise capital by issuing convertible securities.     

Estimation of trade and domestic distortions: an application to world agriculture

The world’s nations often produce commodities for which they have no apparent comparative advantage, and do so with techniques that are not particularly efficient by world standards. These inefficiencies may arise from various forms of trade and domestic distortions, as described in Chau et al., Int Econ Rev 44:1079–1095, (2003). We estimate these distortions for 33 countries of the world using a newly compiled data set. We find that domestic distortions tend to be slightly more important than trade distortions. For the average country, revenues in the agricultural sector would be 26% higher if domestic distortions were eliminated, but 21% higher if trade distortions were eliminated. Our measures of trade and domestic distortions across countries provide a complement to measures of protectionism such as producer subsidy equivalents.     

Shadow profit maximization and a measure of overall inefficiency

Determining the profit maximizing input–output bundle of a firm requires data on prices. This paper shows how endogenously determined shadow prices can be used in place of actual prices to obtain the optimal input–output bundle where the firm’s shadow profit is maximized. This approach amounts to an application of the Weak Axiom of Profit Maximization (WAPM) formulated by Varian [(1984) The Non-parametric approach to production analysis. Econometrica 52:3 (May) 579–597] based on shadow prices rather than actual prices. At these shadow prices, the shadow profit of a firm is zero. The maximum shadow profit that could have been attained at some other input–output bundle is shown to be a measure of the inefficiency of the firm. Because the benchmark input–output bundle is always an observed bundle from the data, it can be determined without having to solve any elaborate programming problem.

The need for speed: impacts of internet connectivity on firm productivity

Broadband access is widely considered to be a productivity-enhancing factor, but there are few firm-level estimates of its benefits. We use a large micro-survey of firms linked to longitudinal firm financial data to determine the impact that broadband access has on firm productivity. Propensity score matching is used to control for factors, including the firm’s own lagged productivity, that determine a firm’s internet access choice. Instrumental variables estimates are employed as a robustness check. Results indicate that broadband adoption boosts firm productivity by 7–10%; effects are consistent across urban versus rural locations and across high versus low knowledge intensive sectors.     

On the linearity of the wage–profit relation in a Sraffa’s model: a mathematical summing-up

This paper sums up in a common analytical structure the main results, scattered in economic literature, concerning the linearity between rate of profit and real wage in a simple Sraffa’s model. The paper is mainly based on previous results of one of the two authors and on results of Miyao (Int Econ Rev 18:151–162, 1977) and Schefold (Zeitschrift für angewandte Mathematik und Physik 27:873–875, 1976a; Zeitschrift für National?konomie 36:21–48, 1976b).     

The examination of pseudo-allocative and pseudo-overall efficiencies in DEA using shadow prices

The original Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models developed by Charnes et al. (Eur J Oper Res 2:429–444, 1978), Banker et al. (Manag Sci 30:1078–1092, 1984) were both radial models. These models and their varied extensions have remained the most popular DEA models in terms of utilization. The benchmark targets they determined for inefficient units are primarily based on the notion of maintaining the same input and output mixes originally employed by the evaluated unit (i.e. disregarding allocative considerations). This paper presents a methodology to investigate allocative and overall efficiency in the absence of defined input and output prices. The benchmarks determined from models based on this methodology will consider all possible input and/or output mixes. Application of this methodology is illustrated on a model of the financial intermediary function of a bank branch network.     

Longitudinal analysis of entrepreneurship and competitiveness dynamics in Latin America

This study analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial dynamics in Latin-American countries and the level of competitiveness these countries show. Based on the research conducted by Wennekers et al. [Small Business Economics, 24(3):293–309, 2005] that demonstrates a U-shaped relationship between the country’s rate of entrepreneurship and its level of competitiveness and economic development, we hypothesize that Latin-American countries have a descending behaviour under the U-shaped curve approach. The results from three regression models support this hypothesis and suggest that competitiveness and economic growth deter entrepreneurial dynamics on Latin-American countries. We discuss that Latin-American countries need to improve some structural factors to achieve a high level of entrepreneurial dynamics.

The early stages of financial distress

More firms enter financial distress as a result of poor management than as a result of economic distress. Management actions are a significant determinant of recovery and improvement in the industry-adjusted market value for firms entering financial distress as a result of poor management, but not for firms entering as a result of economic distress. In the early stages of financial distress, median firm operating income measured on an unadjusted basis and after controlling for other factors which alter firm performance increases significantly. The results support Jensen’s hypothesis that financial distress triggers corrective action which improves firm performance. (JEL G300) This paper is based on my dissertation at the University of Houston. I appreciate the helpful comments from Ronald F. Singer (chair), David W. Blackwell, Raul Susmel, and Julio Peixoto, and seminar participants at the Southern Finance Association meeting.     

Monday returns and asset pricing

The seasonal patterns observed on Monday stock returns are still unexplained by different asset pricing models. We attempt to fill this gap in the finance literature by using the Fama-French (Journal of Financial Economics 33:3–56, 1993) risk factors to explain the Monday seasonal. The results in the study show that Monday returns are explained by risk factors such as the market return, the size of the firms, and the book-to-market ratios of firms.     

System‐Spanning Values Work and Entrepreneurial Growth in Family Firms

Culture and values are key drivers of corporate entrepreneurship in early stages of family firm development, but value conflicts often arise over time that progressively inhibit their entrepreneurial efforts. How can family firms reconcile conflicting values to sustain corporate entrepreneurship over time? Our 45‐year longitudinal case study of a large global family firm shows that family business leaders’ practices of invoking and flexibly using family and business values were crucial to achieve sustained entrepreneurial behaviour and growth over an extended period of time. We theorize these efforts as system‐spanning values work enfolding through specific family, business, and temporal mechanisms. By identifying and elucidating three types of values work (i.e., rooting, revitalizing, and spreading), our study advances current understanding of the micro‐foundations underpinning the relationship between values and entrepreneurship in family firms.     

Timing of price clustering and trader behavior in the foreign exchange market: evidence from Taiwan

In this paper, I use a unique proprietary dataset from the foreign exchange market to examine the existing hypotheses on price clustering. I find that market uncertainty plays an important role in price clustering. Moreover, since trading behavior changes under different market conditions, market timing also affects the likelihood of price clustering. The results support both the price resolution hypothesis (Ball et al. J Futures Mark 5:29–43, 1985) and the negotiation hypothesis (Harris Rev Financ Stud 4:389–415, 1991). Since the data covers the interbank foreign exchange market, which is the market for the professional bank dealers, the attraction hypothesis is less likely to be a plausible explanation for price clustering in the foreign exchange market.