Measuring the Returns to Networking and the Accumulation of Social Capital: Any Evidence of Bonding,Bridging, or Linking?

This article presents analyses of individual investment in social capital using both the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the UK Time Use Survey (2000) (UKTUS). We suggest a general theoretical framework that could possibly explain individual investment in various forms of social networking. Measures of social capital are then constructed in an attempt to capture the extent of individual investment in bonding, bridging, and linking networks. These measures, together with other socioeconomic indicators, are used as explanatory factors in wage equations, estimated using ordered probit, OLS, and instrumental variable approaches. We are unable to identify any consistent returns from investment in bonding and bridging networks. In contrast, the evidence suggests that any returns to investment in the development of linking social capital simply derive from the positive signals that group membership may transmit to potential employers. Our results underline the contrast between studies that consider social capital as an attribute of communities, as opposed to individuals, in that we find a negative return to social activity at the level of the individual.     

The role of the public sector in the provision of housing supply in Turkey, 1950–2009

This study examines the changing role of the public sector in Turkey with regard to housing provision since 1950, and particularly since 2000, and seeks to clarify how public intervention has affected housing provision and urban development dynamics in major cities. Three periods may be identified, with central government acting as a regulator in a first period characterized by a ‘housing boom’. During the second period, from 1980 to 2000, a new mass housing law spurred construction activity, although the main beneficiaries of the housing fund tended to be the middle classes. After 2000, contrary to emerging trends in both Northern and Southern European countries, the public sector in Turkey became actively involved in housing provision. During this process, new housing estates were created on greenfield sites on the outskirts of cities, instead of efforts being made to rehabilitate, restore or renew existing housing stock in the cities. Meanwhile, the concept of ‘urban regeneration’ has been opportunistically incorporated into the planning agenda of the public sector, and — under the pretext of regenerating squatter housing areas — existing residents have been moved out, while channels for community participation have been bypassed.     

Under the influence of the team? An investigation of the relationships between team autonomy,individual autonomy and social influence within teams

This study contributes to the debate about whether teamwork facilitates or constrains the single team member's autonomy at work. We investigate whether team autonomy can explain employees' individual autonomy, the teams' informal influence on its members and employees' desire for either individual or team influence. Questionnaire data were collected among employees in four Danish companies from different industries with various types of team organization: permanent, project-based and mixed teams. The results of the multiple regression analyses show that team autonomy is positively associated with individual autonomy, which is neither moderated by the team's ability to make the employee feel responsible nor by team support. Team autonomy is positively associated with facilitative social influence, i.e. team reward, team support and we find a negative association between team autonomy and team coercion. Moreover, employees who experienced more team than individual autonomy wanted their teams to control more work issues compared to employees who experienced lower team than individual autonomy.     

Introduction to APPC-2018, a Special Issue of the Journal of Productivity Analysis, “Novel Applications of Efficiency and Productivity Analyses in the Asia-Pacific Region”

In this study, an appropriate nonparametric two-step approach to conditional efficiencies is used to investigate how size and time affect the performance of companies. Using a dataset of Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2006–2015, we explore the effect of size on the attainable production set (input-output space) and on the efficiency distribution, without making any a priori assumptions on the role of size on efficiency. Main findings suggest that size positively affects the efficiency of companies. By exploring the idiosyncratic efficiency, an additional empirical result from the conditional efficiency approach shows that the economic disparities between North, Centre and South of Italy not only limit the foreign investment but also seem to penalize the productivity of Italian-owned companies.

     

Analysis on the Background of Applicability of the Conservatism Convention

＂Conservatism＂ is a widely accepted accounting convention in the industrialized world, but it has long been slated and prohibited under the orthodox ideological influences. To date, the conservatism convention has not been fully adopted or implemented although the governments have made substantial efforts to reform its accounting system to bridge the gaps between the accounting practices in recent years. The study findings will facilitate a proper assessment of the future development of accounting standards and practices.     

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.     

In Search of the Impactful and the Interesting: Swings of the Pendulum?

In this article we reflect on our time as editors of JMS during the period 2003–09. First we describe the context as we saw it on assuming editorship of the Journal and the actions that we took to improve the quality of scholarship published in the journal in order to set JMS on the trajectory to become a world‐leading Journal. We articulate our view of what quality means in this context and observe that we eschewed the USA–Europe divide. Rather, to be publishable, all papers had to meet the highest standards relative to their epistemological assumptions. Finally, we address two important challenges facing the Journal, and indeed management research in general, and consider what they mean for the future of JMS, notably in relation to open access publishing and to provide greater practical relevance. We conclude that the latter represents a swing of the pendulum towards the kinds of papers published in the early years of JMS but that recent developments in JMS provide new conceptual frameworks and empirical methods that contribute to enhanced insights for practice.     

Dynamics of partisan representation the American south, 1898–2010

This study addresses institutional representation in legislative delegations through the decomposition of the southern U.S. House delegation over time. Linear first-order difference equations are calculated to show the shift from the Solid South and the disintegration of Democratic dominance. These calculations also show that the qualitative behavior of partisan control varies over time given a series of critical events, including the Dixiecrat experience, the Congressional reforms of the 1970s, and the Republican Revolution of 1994. However, I also argue that the Republican Revolution was actually predictable, given the twentieth-century experience of the southern delegation.     

Varieties of capitalism,neoliberalism and the economic crisis of 2008–?

This article examines the responses of national governments to the economic crisis that commenced in 2008. We argue that the current search for new bases for accumulation is leading to reforms designed to weaken the position of labour. Moreover, the tendency towards a weakening of labour's position was already evident across different ‘varieties of capitalism’ before the crisis erupted. We discuss the implications for comparative institutional analysis and stress the need for a renewed focus on the underlying dynamics of capitalist economies.     

Debreu’s coefficient of resource utilization, the Solow residual, and TFP: the connection by Leontief preferences

Debreu’s coefficient of resource utilization is freed from individual data requirements. The procedure is shown to be equivalent to the imposition of Leontief preferences. The rate of growth of the modified Debreu coefficient and the Solow residual are shown to add up to TFP growth. This decomposition is the neoclassical counterpart to the frontier analytic decomposition of productivity growth into technical change and efficiency change. The terms can now be broken down by sector as well as by factor input.

Research on the New Developments of Corporate Governance, Board of Directors and Management Accounting

Based on corporate governance, this paper concludes that the core of corporate governance is the board of directors of the listed company. It also analyses the function of the board of directors on preparing, applying and appraising the strategic planning. It draws a conclusion that the new development of management accounting is the application of the board of directors and its several committees.     

Can University Leaders Manage the Tensions Between the Practice of Innovation and the Traditions of the University?

The practice of innovating within a university causes tension because it is not well understood, is perceived as risky, and is seen as a threat to established power, which makes it difficult to know where to house it for maximum effect. The tension can be reduced by focusing on the similarities of innovating and teaching, inviting faculty and staff to serve as early adopters, and having senior administrators be the budgetary and political champions for innovation initiatives.     

Have we studied,should we study,and can we study the development of commitment? Methodological issues and the developmental study of work-related commitment

The study of developmental trajectories involves examining how and why a measure or index of behavior changes over time. Within the huge body of work devoted to different forms of work commitment, very little has directly and explicitly addressed developmental issues. Theory suggests that some forms of work commitment develop prior to actual experience of the focus of the commitment (e.g., normative commitment and work ethic). For affective and continuance commitment, however, it has been hypothesized that experience is essential. In most instances, this experience is gained after entry into the work force and, specifically, into an organization. Therefore, understanding how these types of commitment develop and highlighting the factors related to tenure that cause changes in commitment will not only fill a gap in the empirical work and strengthen commitment theory, but will help managers to optimize the commitment of their employees. This paper outlines the current understanding of changes in commitment with time and describes a research method, taken from the developmental psychology literature, that overcomes some of the problems inherent to the approaches most frequently used to imply developmental change in organizational psychology. It concludes with suggestions for future research incorporating this method.     

A Comparison of χ2, RFA and IRT Based Procedures in the Detection of DIF

Bias research began at the end of the 1960s anddeveloped rapidly in the following decades for obvioussocial and political reasons, and due to the importantimpact that this issue has on the field ofpsychological and educational measurement. Since then,several methods have been proposed for the study anddetection of item bias or differential itemfunctioning (DIF). This paper presents a simulationstudy comparing the potential of some of these methodsfor detecting DIF: two IRT-based techniques (area measures), three ²-based procedures (MantelHaenszel, Logit Model and Logistic Regression) and theRestricted Factor Analysis method. The results showthat the technique that appears to do the best job isthe Mantel Haenszel statistic. Moreover, all detectiontechniques tend to overidentify DIF items, that is,some of the items labeled with DIF may in fact bewithout DIF. This tendency is slightly reversed in theLogistic Regression procedure.     

Event-study evidence of the value of relaxing long-standing regulatory restraints on banks, 1970–2000

In a partial-equilibrium model, removing a binding constraint creates value. However, in general equilibrium, the stakes of other parties in maintaining the constraint must be examined. In financial deregulation, the fear is that expanding the scope and geographic reach of very large institutions might unblock opportunities to build market power from informational advantages and size-related safety-net subsidies.This paper reviews and extends event-study evidence about the distribution of the benefits and costs of relaxing long-standing geographic and product-line restrictions on U.S. financial institutions. The evidence indicates that the new financial freedoms may have redistributed rather than created value. Event returns are positive for some sectors of the financial industry and negative for others. Perhaps surprisingly, where customer event returns have been investigated, they prove negative.     

Technical Inefficiency Effects Among Paddy Farmers in the Villages of the ‘Office du Niger’, Mali,West Africa

A stochastic frontier production function incorporating a model for technical inefficiency effects (Battese and Coelli, 1995) is applied to field data on paddy farmers from 29 villages in the Office du Niger in Mali. Four conventional factors (land, labor, fertilizer and machinery) are considered as inputs of production. The technical inefficiency effects in the stochastic frontier were related to firm-specific variables, institutional factors, social organisation, ecological considerations and health factors. Data were obtained from an economic survey conducted during two consecutive agricultural seasons (1989 and 1990) on 844 farms of the Office du Niger. The null hypothesis of the absence of technical inefficiency effects was rejected. A supportive institutional environment and a coherent organisation of land use were the best correlates of technically efficiency. The social environment was also found to contribute to technical efficiency of the paddy farmers: within the village, the greater the degree of ethnic cohesion, the greater the efficiency of the farmers. Health status of households had an effect in that healthy families tended to be more technically efficient than unhealthy ones. Farmers with more extensive sorghum cultivation were less efficient as paddy farmers. These results may help agricultural policy makers formulate strategies. Technical efficiency may be improved by intensifying agricultural training regarding one specific crop and, through the control of parasitic diseases which place a burden on family households.     

Aligning employees with the organization's strategic objectives: out of ‘line of sight’, out of mind

This research focuses on the strategic alignment of a firm's human resources. Specifically, I investigate employee ‘line of sight’ to an organization's strategic objectives. Line of sight is conceptualized as an employee's understanding of an organization's objectives and how to contribute to those objectives. Line of sight was expected to vary across individual characteristics (e.g. hierarchical level, tenure) and relate to important work outcomes (e.g. work attitudes, turnover). Results of a field study confirmed many of the hypotheses, supporting the importance of this construct to research and practice.     

Understanding graduate recruitment,development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent

Graduates are deemed to be a key source of talent within many organisations and thus recruiting, developing and retaining them is viewed as a logical talent management (TM) strategy. However, there has been little attention paid to university graduates as part of an organisation’s TM strategy. Such a specific focus addresses the need for further research into the segmentation of talent pools and the specific challenges different talent pools are likely to create. This research, which utilised a qualitative data collection strategy, examined the experiences and practices of six large UK organisations in relation to graduate TM. Drawing from Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries and González-Cruz’s (2013. What is the meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work? Human Resource Management Review, 23, 290–300.) framework for the conceptualisation of talent, the findings from this research indicate and explain why graduate employers are frequently compelled to use the object approach (talent as characteristics of people) due to the unique characteristics that recent graduates possess, even though other studies have found that a subject approach (talent as people and what they do) is preferred by most employers. Ultimately, employers conceptualise graduate talent by what they describe as ‘the edge’ which needs to be ‘sharpened’ to fully realise the potential that graduates offer.     

Global team members’ performance and the roles of cross-cultural training,cultural intelligence,and contact intensity: the case of global teams in IT offshoring sector

Abstract

This study investigates an unexplored form of global team prevalent in the Information Technology (IT) offshoring sector where IT service providers work alongside with client representatives in a global team context. Guided by theories of intelligence and intergroup contact, this study investigates global team members’ individual-level task performance. Specifically, this study examines the development of global team members’ cultural intelligence (CQ) following cross-cultural training. This study also determines the effects of improved CQ on individual-level task performance and examines the moderating role of contact intensity on the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. Data on the development of CQ, participation in cross-cultural training, and contact intensity were collected from 225 global team members while data on task performance were obtained from each of the global team members’ supervisors. The results of the statistical analyses reveal that: (i) CQ improved following participation in cross-cultural training sessions; (ii) improved CQ is positively and significantly related to individual-level task performance; and (iii) contact intensity moderates the relationship between improved CQ and individual-level task performance. These findings have a number of theoretical and practical implications for international organizations such as those in the IT offshoring sector.     

Effect of the Government’s Use of Social Media on the Reliability of the Government: Focus on Twitter

Abstract

The social media have been well recognized as important spaces for providing the people with government service and PR policy and they have been utilized by most of the government entities. Therefore, we try to identify whether the social media can be used as tools to enhance the reliability of the government. This study indicates Twitter is different from other conventional channels not only in the form but also in substance. Therefore, the service prioritizing more on transparency, participation, and communication or relationship appears more desirable and is utilized to the maximum.