Gender wage differentials by education in Italy

In this article we evaluate wage differentials in Italy combining gender and education perspectives. The main goal of this article is to verify whether the extent of the gender pay gap varies between highly- and low-educated workers, and whether or not the role played by gender differences in characteristics and in market rewards is similar in the two groups. We apply quantile regression analysis and an adaptation of the procedure suggested by Machado and Mata (2005) to evaluate the predicted wage gap at different points of the female wage distribution scale. The analysis is carried out on the Italian sample of the last available year of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP). We show that the extent and the trend of the gap predicted across the female distribution is sharply different between groups with diverse educational levels. In the case of low-educated workers, although the predicted gap is largely explained by differences in rewards, lower levels of education or experience are responsible for the gap, especially on the right-hand side of the distribution. On the contrary, highly-educated females have better characteristics than highly-educated men that partially compensate the rather high difference in returns, in particular at the extremes of the distribution.     

An Open Innovation Decision Support System to Select a Biopharmaceutical R&D Portfolio

Drugs available in the market today, selected several years ago under very uncertain future scenario, have experienced a long and expensive process of research and development carried out following both a closed and an open innovation path. To support this critical selection process, we propose a Decision Support System, able to choose among different candidates the most promising drugs along their best development path. The Decision Support System, based on a real options portfolio optimization model, mapping tools, and what‐if rules as well, has been applied to a numerical example available in literature, and the research findings show interesting managerial and academic implications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender differences in productivity rewards: the role of human capital

In this paper, we evaluate the gender wage gap component due to differences in characteristics’ rewards in Italy. The main focus is on the relationship between human capital characteristics and gender differences in rewards. We propose a methodology that combines the quantile regression analysis with non-parametric procedures for the estimation of the probability density functions of reward differentials in order to evaluate the evolution of the gap due to human capital characteristics. The analysis is carried out on Italian data taken from the latest available cross-section of the European Community Household Panel (2001). Our study suggests that education can be a good productivity signal and helps reduce the range of the gap; furthermore, highly educated women experience lesser gender-based pay differences as the length of the employment relationship increases.     

Gender Differences in Italian Children's Capabilities

This paper analyzes children's well-being using the capability approach, with a special focus on gender differences. The two areas analyzed are the capability of senses, imagination, and thought; and the capability of play. Using data from the 2008 Multipurpose Survey on Daily Life released by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, a structural equation model is estimated in which the capabilities are defined as latent variables that are intrinsically interrelated. For each capability, a set of indicators of functionings is utilized and the effects of individual and social conversion factors – including parents’ unpaid work, their level of education, and employment status – are analyzed. The model is applied to Italian girls and boys ages 6–10 in 2008. The analysis confirms that the two capabilities are interrelated. Policies aimed at improving children's achievements in education also improve the capability of play and vice versa. Differences by gender occur in the factors’ effects.     

Risk assessment and profit sharing in business networks

Nowadays network is the preferred governance form to conduct economic transactions. Network solution allows to reach flexibility maintaining cost and quality level. Since network concept refers to a great variety of organizational hybrids it is possible to choose the one that fits better market requirements. The new trends in inter-organization relationships push towards network solutions: companies are interested in relationships with partners and customers to overcome resource dependence, to enter too risky market or simply differentiate their business portfolio. The proposed research focuses on the network concept aiming at highlighting threats and opportunities to investigate the double nature of the risk concept. Network structures offer flexibility and higher profit as a consequence and business risk sharing opportunity.These two aspects (profit and risk) are strictly related and have to be considered together to depict a complete scenario; this implies that risk assessment and management in network environment cannot neglect profit sharing or, in other words, that profit sharing mechanisms should use risk as driver. In this context our research proposes a methodology to measure risk taking into account network peculiarities; risk estimation is a basic step to evaluate the opportunity cost of capital needed to compute the network Net Present Value (NPV) that is assumed as base in the profit sharing process. The profit sharing process has been tackled using the Shapley value approach that is inspired to the fairness principle while the opportunity cost of capital is assessed using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM).     

Island cruise tourism development: a resident's perspective in the context of Italy

Most studies that examine tourism impacts and community attitudes have been carried out from the perspective of the tourism sector as a whole, with very few papers focusing on specific types of tourism and/or analysing tourists' preferences for specific types of tourism segment. This paper discusses some pertinent issues in relation to cruise tourism development and community attitudes in a port of call cruise destination located in the island of Sicily (Southern Italy). Specifically, this study was carried out using a quota random sample of 1500 responses, which is representative of the population of Messina at 1% level. Findings show that residents express an overall positive attitude towards cruise tourism development even if it is not the most preferred when compared to other types of tourism (cultural tourism, sport tourism, and sun and sea tourism). Further, they highlight that significant differences based on socio-economic and demographic characteristics (age, gender, reliance on cruise-related employment, level of education, geographical proximity to tourist areas and port, length of residency and frequency of interaction with tourists) exist in residents' perceptions and attitudes towards cruise tourism development. Implications for policy-makers are discussed and suggestions for further research are given.     

Motivation and personality traits for choosing religious tourism. A research on the case of Medjugorje

Religion has long been a primary motivation for journeys and it is considered the oldest non-economic reason for travelling. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons tourists choose to travel to sacred sites, with the specific aim of discovering relationships between personality traits and motivations for religious travel. Participating in the research were 679 Italian travellers to Medjugorje sanctuary, who completed the travel motivation scale and big five questionnaire. The results show that motivation is focused prevalently on the need for discovery in men and socialisation in women. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that personality traits are predictive of motivation factors differently for males and females.