Modelling economic hysteresis losses caused by sunk adjustment costs

Transition from one economic equilibrium to another as a consequence of shocks is often associated with sunk adjustment costs. Firm-specific sunk market entry investments (or sunk market exit costs) in case of a reaction to price shocks are an example. These adjustment costs lead to a dynamic supply pattern similar to hysteresis. In analogy to “hysteresis losses” in ferromagnetism, the authors explicitly model dynamic adjustment losses in the course of market entry and exit cycles. They start from the micro level of a single firm and use explicit aggregation tools from hysteresis theory in mathematics and physics to calculate dynamic losses. The authors show that strong market fluctuations generate disproportionately large hysteresis losses for producers. This could give a reason for the implementation of stabilizing measures and policies to prevent strong (price) variations or, alternatively, to reduce the sunk entry and exit costs.     

Models of Congruence of Personal and Organizational Values: How Many Points of Contact are There Between Science and Practice?

The paper aims to analyse the structure of the formed models of congruence of personal and organizational values, opportunities of their application in order to conceptualize the guidelines for the formation of an integrated model. The models for analysis were selected from the articles published in international databases with the keywords associated with value congruence models and grouped by the types of models: models that represent the origin of the phenomenon of value congruence and methodology of evaluation, and models, which depict the impact of value congruence on the employee and activities of the organization. The main result of this research is a complex analysis of all models of congruence of personal and organizational values presented in the scientific literature, in the aspect of their structure, content and practical application. It was found that the essential elements of the models analysed are personal values, organizational values, congruence of personal and organizational values and the influence of congruence on the person and the organization. However, the models lack not only the scientific substantiation of the influence of the phenomenon of value congruence on the person and the organization, but also practical recommendations on how to achieve strong value congruence in the organization. This article exclusively presents the analysis of models developed by different scientists, but the obtained results of empirical studies are not compared statistically, applying certain models in practice. Such criteria as the sample size, the nature of activities of the organizations were not analysed and the states, in which the studies were carried out with the application of the analysed models, are not emphasized. This study also does not aim to determine the most appropriate diagnostic instrument for evaluation of value congruence, leaving the open way for the further discussions. The originality of this research is presupposed by the fact that it presents most of the models described in the scientific literature that evaluate the congruence of personal values of employees and the values prevailing in the organization. This will help the researchers of value congruence form a clear view about the models published in scientific literature, not to be disorientated in the diversity of the presented models and look for new directions for improvement of models of value congruence. A newly developed complex model of value congruence also offered to executives of organizations will help perceive the process of formation of this phenomenon and its benefits, and understand how to manage this phenomenon in practice.     

Expert Evaluation of Diagnostic Instrument for Personal and Organizational Value Congruence

The article aims to evaluate the quality of a newly constructed diagnostic instrument for personal and organizational value congruence. To attain this, an expert evaluation was invoked. The selected experts evaluated the questionnaire scales and their constituent subscales as well as the eligibility of the contained statements for diagnosing of personal and organizational value congruence. It should be emphasized that the experts were provided a possibility of commenting on each of the statements, making observations and providing suggestions in regard to the statements, scales and subscales of the questionnaire. This article presents the analysis of the evaluation commentaries by the experts, basing on which the main drawbacks of the new instrument were identified and highlighted. Furthermore, a new diagnostic instrument, constructed in accordance with the results of the expert evaluation as applicable for personal and organizational value congruence is introduced as the main result of the research.