Voluntary or mandatory training participation as a moderator in the relationship between goal orientations and transfer of training

Trainees can participate in organizational training programs voluntarily or mandatorily. To date, research has reported mixed evidence on the question whether voluntary or mandatory participation is associated with higher motivation and transfer of training. Grounded in the frameworks of participatory design, the notion of autonomy in basic psychological needs theory, and the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals, this meta‐analysis examined the relationship between goal orientations and transfer of training in contexts of voluntary and mandatory training participation with a sample of N = 4729 trainees in k = 29 studies. Goal orientations were conceptualized in four dimensions: mastery‐approach, mastery‐avoidance, performance‐approach, and performance‐avoidance. Results of the primary meta‐analysis indicated that mastery‐approach orientation had the most positive correlation with transfer of training, followed by performance‐approach, mastery‐avoidance and performance‐avoidance goal orientation. Meta‐analytic subgroup analysis examined the effects of two conditions for training participation: voluntary participation and mandatory participation. The findings indicated that training participation significantly moderated the correlation coefficients of mastery‐approach and performance‐avoidance goal orientation, with more positive estimates when training enrollment was voluntary. Contrary to expectations, the correlation coefficient between performance‐approach goal orientation and transfer of training was more positive when entry into training programs was obligatory and mandated. Implications for future research and the practice of training design and delivery are discussed.     

Remittances,transaction costs,and informality

Recorded workers' remittances to developing countries reached $167 billion in 2005, bringing increasing attention to these flows as a potential tool for development. In this paper, we explore the determinants of remittances and their associated transaction costs. We find that recorded remittances depend positively on the stock of migrants and negatively on transfer costs and exchange rate restrictions. In turn, transfer costs are lower when financial systems are more developed and exchange rates less volatile. The negative impact of transactions costs on remittances suggests that migrants either refrain from sending money home or else remit through informal channels when costs are high. We provide evidence from household surveys supportive of a sizeable informal sector.     

Equity aspects of VAT in emerging European countries: A case study of Serbia

A belief that consumption taxation is inherently inequitable has been entrenched in a significant portion of the general public and was supported by early empirical evidence that suggested a highly regressive annual VAT incidence. However, it has been shown that much of the estimated annual VAT regressivity is due to the income under-reporting bias inherent in sample surveys. This bias is particularly important in emerging European countries due to a high shadow economy and the evasion of direct income taxes, which suggests household expenditures as a more meaningful indicator of well-being than registered income. Furthermore, theoretical considerations favor the lifetime incidence approach, whereby VAT is estimated to be proportional or mildly progressive. A micro-simulation analysis of the Serbian expenditure survey data yields incidence estimates in line with the existing literature from other countries. We show that a significant presence of own-source (small) farming production of food in many emerging European countries, including Serbia, presents an important progressivity-enhancing buffer compared to the VAT incidence in developed European countries. We conclude that the common beliefs of inherently inequitable VAT taxation are vastly overstated and poorly founded in the economic reality of emerging European countries such as Serbia, where VAT can be most adequately described as being mildly progressive.     

Workplace bullying and intention to leave: the moderating effect of perceived organisational support

This study examined whether perceived organisational support (POS) moderates the relationship between workplace bullying and victims’ intention to leave. Based on data from 335 schoolteachers, a hierarchical regression analysis using the product term revealed that POS moderates the effects of bullying on intention to leave. Furthermore, a series of univariate regression analyses revealed that the effects of bullying on intention to leave were significant with lower levels of POS but were non‐significant with higher levels of POS. Several implications for future research and policy are drawn from the findings.     

Dynamic interaction networks in modelling and predicting the behaviour of multiple interactive stock markets

The behaviour of multiple stock markets can be described within the framework of complex dynamic systems. A representative technique of the framework is the dynamic interaction network (DIN), recently developed in the bioinformatics domain. DINs are capable of modelling dynamic interactions between genes and predicting their future expressions. In this paper, we adopt a DIN approach to extract and model interactions between stock markets. The network is further able to learn online and updates incrementally with the unfolding of the stock market time-series. The approach is applied to a case study involving 10 market indexes in the Asia Pacific region. The results show that the DIN model reveals important and complex dynamic relationships between stock markets, demonstrating the ability of complex dynamic systems approaches to go beyond the scope of traditional statistical methods. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring portfolio credit risk correctly: Why parameter uncertainty matters

Why should risk management systems account for parameter uncertainty? In addressing this question, the paper lets an investor in a credit portfolio face non-diversifiable uncertainty about two risk parameters – probability of default and asset-return correlation – and calibrates this uncertainty to a lower bound on estimation noise. In this context, a Bayesian inference procedure is essential for deriving and analyzing the main result, i.e. that parameter uncertainty raises substantially the tail risk perceived by the investor. Since a measure of tail risk that incorporates parameter uncertainty is computationally demanding, the paper also derives a closed-form approximation to such a measure.     

Frequency domain analysis of foreign exchange order flows

Using a unique data set from the Bank of Canada, this paper presents the frequency domain analysis of a causal relationship between the Canada/US dollar exchange rate movements and currency order flows. The evidence shows that the existence as well as the direction of causality depends on the customer type, frequency, and time period.     

Changes in Non‐current Assets and in Property,Plant and Equipment and Future Stock Returns: The UK Evidence

We examine the effect of changes in non‐current operating assets (NCOA) and of changes in property, plant and equipment (PPE) on future abnormal stock returns using a sample of 21,549 UK non‐financial firm observations over the 1990–2012 event period. The results from a matching portfolio procedure and 4‐factor regressions indicate that abnormal returns from investing in a portfolio of low‐minus‐high quintile NCOA and PPE change firms are between 5.5% and 6.1%. This negative association is confirmed by cross‐sectional regressions. The economic significance of mispricing seems weaker than in the US and weaker than the mispricing of working capital accruals adjusted for depreciation in the UK. Changes in PPE drive the predictability of share returns with respect to changes in NCOA. There is no significant evidence that return predictability is stronger in less liquid firms. We find two strands of evidence that lend some support to behavioural explanations of predictability through overreaction to investment. On one hand, fundamental information about investment explains one‐third of the predictability of returns while, on the other, predictability is generally not significantly stronger in firms with high operating leverage as a proxy for risk.