Human resource management practices and voluntary turnover: a study of internal workforce and external labor market contingencies

We tested relationships between employee quit rates and two bundles of human resource (HR) practices that reflect the different interests of the two parties involved in the employment relationship. To understand the boundary conditions for these effects, we examined an external contingency proposed to influence the exchange-based effects of HR practices on subsequent quit rates – the local industry-specific unemployment rate – and an internal contingency proposed to shape employees’ conceptualization of their exchange relationship – their employment status (i.e. full-time, part-time and temporary employment). Analyses of lagged data from over 200 Canadian establishments show that inducement HR practices (e.g. extensive benefits) and performance expectation HR practices (e.g. performance-based bonuses) had different effects on quit rates, and the former effect was moderated by unemployment rate. The effects of HR practices on quit rates did not differ between FT and PT employees, but a different pattern of main and interactive effects was found among temporary workers. These findings suggest that employees’ exchange-based decisions to leave may be less affected by the number of hours they expect to work each week, and more by the number of weeks they expect to work.     

In-transit perishable product inspection

We determine the value of monitoring perishable freight in-transit for a single vehicle traveling from an origin to a destination. We develop a computationally practical approach for determining the optimal expected cost function and an optimal policy, based on an infinite horizon partially observed Markov decision process model. Structural properties of the optimal expected cost function and optimal policy are determined. These results can lend insight when deciding whether to acquire the capacity to monitor freight status in transit and what actions to take, based on the data from the in-transit monitoring, that optimally increase expected supply chain productivity.     

‘I just hope people can forgive me’: Australian women athletes,apologies and image restoration at the Rio Olympic Games

Prior to the 2016 Olympic Games, Australia’s Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller predicted that the Australian team could win as many as 16 Olympic gold medals. Australia’s Olympic team won a total of eight gold medals and the sports media reacted by suggesting the team had ‘failed’. At the 2016 Olympic Games, three high-profile Australian female athletes apologised to the Australian public for their performances. This study examines these three interconnecting cases and how such behaviour is linked to research that examines sports media and gender (including female agency), ‘image restoration’ and third-wave feminism. Additionally, this work identifies how the culture of third-wave feminism is conceptually troubled by the notion of the ‘female apologetic’ and calls for a re-examination and modification of such a notion.     

Fungicide resistance and misinformation: A game theoretic approach

Fungicide resistance is a serious problem for agriculture today. This analysis provides additional insight into the strategic behavior of farmers when their fungicide use generates a negative intertemporal production externality in the form of fungicide resistance. We find that when farmers encounter this type of externality, they choose fungicide levels that exacerbate fungicide resistance. We examine a compensation mechanism in which a farmer reduces fungicide use in exchange for a transfer. This mechanism reduces fungicide use; however, misinformation about the severity of fungicide resistance generates distortions. We find that one-sided misinformation could lead a farmer to choose socially optimal fungicide levels, which makes the compensation mechanism less necessary. In addition, we show that when both farmers are misinformed, the mechanism could lead farmers to choose fungicide levels below the socially optimal level depending on their pessimistic beliefs about the severity of fungicide resistance.     

The political economy of exchange rates: The case of the Japanese yen

This paper sets out a political economy model of strategic exchange rates, focusing on the importance of external pressures. In our approach, an exchange rate depreciation is shown to be analytically equivalent to an export subsidy and an import tax. Thus lobbying for exchange rate policy is akin to lobbying for trade policies. Applying our model to the recent history of the Japanese yen, we show that pressures from the US government can theoretically contribute to an appreciation of the Japanese yen. In addition, the yen will still appreciate even if we assume that the Japanese international firms are Aoki-type J-firms.     

Balancing Interests in the Search for Occupational Legitimacy: The HR Professionalization Project in Canada

Despite broad debates surrounding how the human resource management occupation can increase its legitimacy, researchers have yet to examine the collective steps HR practitioners are taking in this regard and the extent to which they have been successful. We conduct a case study of the HR professionalization project in Canada via multisource qualitative and quantitative data, which we analyze using a unique integration of the trait and control models from the sociology of professions, as well as isomorphism from institutional theory. Viewed through the lens of these frameworks, we find that HR practitioners are attempting to emulate traits that define traditional notions of professions, and are aspiring to transcendent values associated with balancing the sometimes conflicting interests of employers and employees. Objective data from external stakeholders and institutions show that these collective strategies have been somewhat successful in garnering greater legitimacy thus far, particularly when comparisons are made with the HR professional project in the United States. We highlight numerous implications for future research and practice surrounding the legitimacy of the HR profession. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Circle mapping your firm’s growth strategy

This article offers an innovative graphical approach to facilitating an interactive discussion about identifying and assessing potential growth opportunities. Our approach, circle mapping, visually conceptualizes growth as occupying space, where market space is defined by a set of concentric circles. The circle presently occupied by the firm is defined by its current set of customers and the value proposition offered to them, while the outer concentric circles represent growth opportunities that are defined by new customers and value propositions. The process of circle mapping prompts leadership teams to formulate a growth strategy by visually mapping the value proposition for future customers in relation to the firm’s capacity to access the resources and capabilities needed to successfully occupy those spaces. The model allows leaders to conceptualize growth strategies, such as leveraging success in one circle to target consumers in another. It can also allow leaders to evaluate the rewards and risks associated with different growth opportunities, while the visual aspect of the model assists with overcoming some common challenges of applying strategy frameworks to develop new strategies. By having leaders visually depict and justify where and why they want to grow, circle mapping helps firms conceptualize a profitable future and then confidently move toward that space.     

The Political Economy of Strategic Trade Policies*

This paper applies Grossman and Helpman's (1994 ) common agency model to investigate the formation of strategic export subsidy and strategic import tariff under both Cournot competition and Bertrand competition. The results of this paper indicate that even with political pressure, the Grossman–Helpman politically‐determined export policy is identical to the rent‐shifting export policy, which is export subsidy (export tax) in Cournot (Bertrand) competition. The politically‐determined import tariff will be higher than the optimal level. This paper highlights the possibility that lobbying can restore the level of trade intervention to a more efficient one in the absence of the benevolent dictator.     

CEO turnover and bankrupt firms’ emergence

This paper examines whether CEO turnover within a bankrupt firm predicts the firm's likelihood to reemerge from bankruptcy proceedings as a reorganized entity. Using 836 bankruptcy cases filed under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code from 1989 through 2016, we show that firms that undergo CEO turnover are significantly more likely to emerge from Chapter 11 proceedings. We conduct further analyses to examine the potential mechanisms through which CEO turnover is linked to a firm's chance of emergence. Consistent with the perspective that CEO turnover constitutes an observable event that can signal creditor support, we find that CEO turnover in bankrupt firms is positively associated with debtor-in-possession financing. Additionally, there is a significant increase in managerial quality post-turnover. Further, we document that the predictive power of CEO turnover is stronger in bankruptcy cases with greater uncertainty, such as in free-fall bankruptcies, where there is less preexisting agreement between the firm and its creditors. Overall, our findings provide valuable insight into external investors and stakeholder groups, whose interests are significantly impacted by corporate bankruptcies.