Followers of the pied piper of pensioners

Using survey and administrative data, we study followers of H&L, a massively popular Chilean pension advisor, establishing that financial literacy is not a panacea for poor retirement decision-making. We detail the dynamics of who followed H&L and why. H&L differentially drew financially sophisticated investors, and exposure to H&L causally increased financial sophistication. Nonetheless, followers earned mean annual returns below all buy-and-hold strategies and were aware of this underperformance. Moreover, performance did not materially affect renewal rates. Most followers renew, citing high returns, loss minimization and trust as reasons for following. We show followers gained information about financial matters that had clear, tangible value, and they acted on this information. We posit that followers attributed this to H&L's skill, thus continuing to follow despite the underperformance.     

Global talent management during the COVID-19 pandemic? The Gods must be crazy!

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought terrifying effects for labor markets all around the world. Just as we witness rapid changes in terms of the ways of working (working from home), we are also observing an increase in unemployment. The ways in which major corporations with international operations process their global talent management (GTM) already represents a challenge in relatively stable times and clearly, in a period of such great and sustained turbulence as current experienced, this task becomes still more difficult. Hence, our research aims to study the impact of GTM on the international performance of major companies during the COVID-19 pandemic period. To this end, we surveyed a sample of 59 large companies that act in external markets. Through recourse to multiple linear regressions, we conclude that GTM practices return positive impacts on levels of international performance. Our research returns theoretical implications in terms of the application of integrated GTM models and with the results of significant relevance to corporations operating internationally, and thus enabling them to better understand which strategic human resource management policies will return the best GTM results.     

Social cynicism,greenwashing, and trust in green clothing brands

This research develops a theoretical model of the effect of social cynicism as a personality trait on trust in green clothing brands. We conducted an online survey of a representative Australian sample to test the hypothesized relationships. Our findings confirmed that social cynicism affected green brand trust negatively and that this effect can be explained by an increase in perceived greenwashing. Conspicuous consumption moderates this indirect influence. This mediated influence decreased when conspicuous consumption was more salient. Findings provide important practical insights for brand managers intending to avoid a decrease in brand trust regarding garments marketed with sustainability claims.     

A note on changes in additive risky benefits and risky costs

We introduce a distinction between additive risky benefits and additive risky costs, showing that it is relevant in determining decision maker choices in the presence of changes in risk. Results obtained show the specific role of the order of risk change when facing the two types of risk. Similarities and differences with the case of multiplicative risks are discussed. Moreover, the analysis is performed in two models studying respectively saving and self-protection and provides new applied results for both, some with reference to background risks.     

Mass gatherings contributed to early COVID-19 mortality: Evidence from US sports

Social distancing is important to slow the community spread of infectious disease, but it creates enormous economic and social cost. Thus, it is important to quantify the benefits of different measures. We study the ban of mass gatherings, an intervention with comparably low cost. We exploit exogenous variation in the number of National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games, which arises due to the leagues' predetermined schedules, and the sudden suspension of the 2019–2020 seasons. We find that, among clusters of counties that are adjacent to sports venues, each additional mass gathering increased the cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths by 10.3%.     

Management,supervision, and healthcare: A field experiment

We used a randomized management consulting intervention with 80 public-sector healthcare facilities in Nigeria to study the role of information, training, and supervision on the adoption of improved organizational practices. Facilities that received detailed improvement plans and 9 months of implementation support—including regular visits to monitor progress and set intermediate goals related to the plans—showed large, significant short-term effects on the adoption of practices that were under the responsibility of facility staff. Facilities that received general improvement advice but no implementation support showed no change in practices. Implementation support appears crucial for improvements, especially in contexts without market incentives for the adoption of effective managerial practices.