Negotiator Satisfaction in NSS-Facilitated Negotiation

Negotiator satisfaction plays an important role in the adoption and diffusion of Negotiation Support Systems (NSS). There is little knowledge about what factors shape the negotiator satisfaction in the NSS context. In this study, we investigated this factor from the perspectives of negotiator and end-user of NSS. We proposed a research model of negotiator satisfaction by incorporating negotiation outcomes and negotiator perception of the system and negotiation process. The empirical findings with 116 data points indicated that objective confirmation, perceived fairness, perceived control and perceived collaborative atmosphere significantly influence negotiator satisfaction. The implications of this study are discussed.     

Revisiting the Okun relationship

Our article revisits the Okun relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985–2013. We find that the share of temporary workers (which includes a high and rising share of young workers) played a crucial role in explaining changes in the Okun coefficient (the impact of the output gap on the unemployment rate) over time. The Okun coefficient is not only different for young, prime-age and older workers but also it decreases with age. From a policy perspective, it follows that an increase in economic growth will not only have the desired outcome of reducing the overall unemployment rate but it will also have the distributional effect of lowering youth unemployment.     

Ethical Values of Executive Search Consultants

The present research was designed to investigate the absolute and relative levels of ethical convictions of executive search consultants, or "headhunters", in regard of their search practices. Executive search consultants were defined as trained specialists who helped client organizations identify and evaluate the suitability of job candidates for top, senior, and middle-level management and executive positions. Despite frequent reports of unethical search practices in the media, results based on a sample of 184 headhunters and non-headhunter executives showed that headhunters were inclined to adhere stringently to a selected set of ethical values, both in absolute terms and in comparison with the expectations of non-headhunter executives. The differences had implications not only for the integrity and continued existence of the headhunting profession, but also for the ethical development of new executive search consultants. Future research directions were suggested.     

Industrial processing and location: A study of tin

This paper finds no economic case for greater processing to be carried out in the tin-producing less developed countries (LDCs). First, tin constitutes a necessary but insignificant part in the production of most of the tin-using intermediate products so that the domestic availability of tin per se does not confer an important advantage to the tin-producing LDCs in the production of the intermediate goods. Second, the demand for the final products, which use the tin-using intermediate goods, is strongly related to the level of economic development so that this demand, and so the demand for tin, is not likely to be high in the tin-producing LDCs.     

Government recurrent expenditure and economic growth in less developed countries

There is not much support in less developed countries for the hypothesis that recurrent government expenditure is seen as consumption and hence more dispensable than capital expenditure. There is little evidence of a secular decline in recurrent expenditure for a group of 54 less developed countries over the period 1965–1973, nor is there strong evidence of greater instability in recurrent expenditure.     

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY AND INPUT ALLOCATIONS IN SRI LANKAN MULTICROP FARMING

A primal production analysis is conducted of 182 farm households producing multiple outputs in the Sri Lankan dry zone. The approach involves systems estimation of the production functions with first-order equations for variable inputs and permits recovery of the production technology for each crop. Land and family labour are regarded as constraining inputs. Shadow prices are computed for the constraining inputs and yield important implications for increasing household profits. Evidence of global homotheticity in a subset of three inputs is found for three of the crops. Weak separability is rejected in all tested subsets except for fertiliser and chemicals used in the production of vegetables. Input demand elasticities are computed for allocations satisfying necessary and sufficient conditions for profit maximisation. Highly elastic conditional input demands and output supplies are implied.     

Responsibility to Punish: Discouraging Free-Riders in Public Goods Games

This study employs a public goods game in which participants can punish each other for free-riding. This paper examines the motivation for punishment behavior when the situation is such that a rational individual will not punish. This paper predicts and finds evidence for the punishment of free-ridership, even when not punishing is the profit-maximizing strategy. Specifically, this paper finds participants will punish more when designated the sole punisher for a group, than when all group members are allowed to punish. This result implies that those individuals who punish for non-rational reasons often free-ride on each others’ punishment. Accordingly, the study suggests individual responsibility is important for ensuring the strength of institutions aimed at punishing selfish behavior.