Multigroup validation of the service quality,customer satisfaction and performance links in higher education

The notion of ‘students as customers’ continues to be prominent, yet is insufficiently explored, especially from the standpoint of various stakeholders. To address this inadequacy, the present study employs a multigroup analysis of the service profit chain (SPC) model in higher education (HE). Its purpose is to examine the complete SPC model regarding stakeholder perceptions in order to inform its validation and implementation. A cross-sectional survey was employed in order to enable multigroup comparison of a comprehensive research model on subsamples of employees and students by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). Results provide support for the proposed SPC model within the sample of vocational colleges. Besides strongly linked constructs (quality–satisfaction–loyalty), some notable weaknesses (cracked ‘satisfaction mirror’) are found. Multigroup analysis also indicates some important differences between employees and students. Implications are provided for strategic service management in HE, which should acknowledge the differences among stakeholder perceptions.     

One size doesn’t fit all: A project designing small-scale economic development projects

The authors describe an innovative active learning strategy for a course on the economics of developing countries—a project designing a small-scale economic development project. Student teams research issues faced by developing countries and identify a specific problem in a specific locale. Students then create a detailed, feasible plan to alleviate the problem. Student plans include five key components: justification, implementation, budget, funding and evaluation. After having implemented this project for six years, the authors believe it has the potential to enhance learning and improve analytical, creative problem-solving and research skills. Results from a spring 2017 survey, where students respond favorably to the project, are discussed.     

Effects of state-sponsored human capital investment on the selection of training type

Since the 1990s, firms in Japan have reduced their human capital investment in the workplace to minimize costs. Moreover, in response to the increase in the number of non-regular employees and turnover rates, workers need to have greater incentive to make the self-motivated investment in themselves for their self-protection. In this study, we first estimate the effects of workers’ self-motivated investment in themselves on wage rates. Next, we explore who is likely to participate in which training type and accordingly estimate the effects of the self-motivated investment on wage rates by training type. Our estimates controlling for individual-level fixed-effects indicate that the return is significantly positive and particularly high for practical training related to workers’ current jobs, and regular workers tend to self-select these higher-returns programs, while non-regular workers are more likely to enroll in lower-returns programs, such as schooling. This trend in investment in oneself could potentially increase the wage inequality between regular and non-regular workers through the self-selection of training types. Our estimates reveal that receiving the training and education benefit raises the likelihood for workers to participate in a high-return training program regardless of whether they are non-regular or regular workers. This suggests that government benefits on self-investment change workers’ self-selection of training type and serve to promote practical trainings that lead to high returns.     

Measuring Inflation Anchoring and Uncertainty: A U.S. and Euro Area Comparison

We use several U.S. and euro‐area surveys of professional forecasters to estimate a dynamic factor model of inflation featuring time‐varying uncertainty. We obtain survey‐consistent distributions of future inflation at any horizon, both in the U.S. and the euro area. Equipped with this model, we propose a novel measure of the anchoring of inflation expectations that accounts for inflation uncertainty. Our results suggest that following the Great Recession, inflation anchoring improved in the United States, while mild de‐anchoring occurred in the euro area. As of our sample end, both areas appear to be almost equally anchored.     

Gender and Promotions: Evidence from Academic Economists in France*

The promotion system for French academic economists provides an interesting environment to examine the promotion gap between men and women. Promotions occur through national competitions for which we have information both on candidates and on those eligible to be candidates. Thus, we can examine the two stages of the process: application and success. Women are less likely to seek promotion, and this accounts for up to 76 percent of the promotion gap. Being a woman also reduces the probability of promotion conditional on applying, although the gender difference is not statistically significant. Our results highlight the importance of the decision to apply.     

Returns to women’s education using optimal IV selection

This paper investigates returns to women’s education by applying an optimal IV selection approach, post-Lasso IV estimation, which improves the first-stage predictive relationship between an endogenous regressor and instruments. Using the 2010 American Community Survey, we find that an extra year of education increases married women’s own income by $4,480 and spouse income by $8,822. Our findings indicate that 53% of the increase in women’s consumption by education is attributed to the marriage market, and thus, we conclude that the marriage market is the primary channel through which education improves women’s well-being. The results demonstrate the advantages of the post-Lasso approach: The resulting two-stage least squares estimator maintains efficiency without increasing finite sample bias and is less subject to the inconsistency problem when some instruments are invalid; This differs from the results using the instrument of birth quarters only, which is mostly applied in studies on returns to education.     

高职院校思想政治理论课与职业素养教育融合研究

高校思想政治理论课是大学生思想政治教育的主渠道。职业素养教育是高职院校人才培养体系中的特色环节,也是高职院校进行大学生素质教育的重要阵地。高职院校思想政治理论课与职业素养教育实现有机融合,可以有效调动各种资源形成教育合力,有利于高职院校构建大思政工作格局。高职院校可以从做好顶层设计、整合人才队伍、融入教育载体、互鉴教育方式、规范考核评价五个方面加强思想政治理论课与职业素养教育的有机融合,形成协同育人效果。     

“三链对接,双元协同,多方共享”的产教融合育人平台的搭建与实践

针对目前职业教育产教融合综合指数不高、学生硬核实力与实际岗位脱节、教师四大职能与行业企业实践脱节以及育人目标与产业需求存在“隐形壁垒”等问题,对接产业链、人才链和创新链,校企双方从专业组建、基地建设、课程开发、技术创新、团队打造、人才培养等方面协同共建,构建了多方共享的产教融合育人平台,打造产教融合型的命运共同体。     

浅谈新形势下如何稳定青年员工队伍

青年员工是保证企业可持续发展的生力军,构建稳定的青年员工队伍关系到企业的长远发展。随着社会经济的不断发展,青年员工的诉求日趋多元化。如何立足于新形势构建稳定的青年员工队伍是企业经营管理的重要内容。论文以新形势下青年员工队伍建设面临的机遇与挑战作为切入点,阐述影响青年员工稳定性的因素,最后提出稳定青年员工的具体对策,以期提升企业后备军的质量。