Gamification of Labor and the Charge of Exploitation

Recently, business organizations have increasingly turned to a novel form of non-monetary incentives—that is, “gamification,” which refers to a motivation technique using video game elements, such as digital points, badges, and friendly competition in non-game contexts like workplaces. The introduction of gamification to the context of human resource management has immediately become embroiled in serious moral debates. Most notable is the accusation that using gamification as a motivation tool, employers exploit workers. This article offers an in-depth analysis of the moral charge of exploitation. This article maintains that there are no clear grounds for believing that gamification of labor is exploitative and that if gamification of labor involves a wrong or vice, it must be something other than exploitation.     

What Do Deviations from Covered Interest Parity and Higher FX Hedging Costs Mean for Asia?

Open Economies Review - Asian countries have high demand for US dollars and are sensitive to US dollar funding costs. An important, but often overlooked, component of these costs is the basis...     

SOCIAL SECURITY DEPENDENT BENEFITS,NET PAYROLL TAX,AND MARRIED WOMEN'S LABOR SUPPLY

This paper examines how Social Security dependent benefits impact the labor supply of married women aged 25–54. Specifically, I investigate whether the decrease in the rate of return to women's work discourages them from participating in the labor force by simulating expected net payroll tax rates and dependent benefits. Dependent benefits may reduce the net return to women's work, as they usually pay the full payroll tax without receiving marginal benefits for additional earnings if they claim benefits based on their husbands' earnings records. The results show that high net payroll tax rates reduce married women's work incentives, particularly those near retirement age. (JEL H24, H55, J22)     

The past,present, and future of brand research

Marketing Letters - This article discusses the past, present, and future of brand research. We begin by reviewing three historical eras of branding development in the past: the information,...     

Do U.S. citizens support government intervention in agriculture? Implications for the political economy of agricultural protection

The persistence of agricultural protectionism throughout the world is intriguing given the widely recognized benefits of free trade. The political economy literature over the last decades has considered groups’ interest, politicians’ preferences, and their interactions within domestic politics as the primary forces driving agricultural protection. Yet, a growing body of studies suggests that it would be judicious to weigh in consumers’ or taxpayers’ perspectives in deciphering the nature of agricultural protection. This study examines U.S. citizens’ preferences about government intervention in agriculture and trade. Results show that they are in strong support of agricultural protection and their perceptions of national food security, family farms, environmental sustainability, and multifunctionality of agriculture play a significant role in shaping their support/opposition toward government intervention. The conventional political economy literature theorizes that consumers or taxpayers would oppose public policies that increase their tax burden; however, in the case of the farm sector, they have little incentive to voice their objections given the costs of farm programs are spread across a large number of consumers and taxpayers. U.S. citizens’ support for government involvement in agriculture as reported in this and other prior studies does not lend support for such political economy explanation.     

Entrepreneurial spawning and knowledge-based perspective: a meta-analysis

Entrepreneurial spawning is the transitory process by which employees of an existing firm leave their employment to initiate a new business venture. There is a lack of consensus regarding the predictors of entrepreneurial spawning. We used meta-analysis to analyze 28 studies (with 128 effect sizes) to examine the predictors of entrepreneurial spawning. Based on knowledge-based perspective, we hypothesize that employee characteristics (age, education, and job position) and parent firm characteristics (firm age, firm performance, and firm diversity) are significantly related to entrepreneurial spawning. We identified two inverted U-shaped relationships (age and tenure with entrepreneurial spawning) based on our meta-analytic hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Based on labor market rigidity perspectives, we also examined how country region (North America versus Europe) moderates the relationships between employee characteristics and entrepreneurial spawning and between parent firm characteristics and entrepreneurial spawning. Our paper provides theoretical and practical implications.     

Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises' Collaborative Buyer–Supplier Relationships: Boundary Spanning Individual Perspectives

Boundary‐spanning individuals (BSIs) play a critical role in supply chain management, especially in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) where interactions with buyers and suppliers can depend heavily on just a few individuals. This study, utilizing data from Korean manufacturing‐sector SMEs, explores whether cooperative social value orientations of SMEs' BSIs influence the effects of collaborative buyer‐supplier initiatives. The results suggested that the performance implication of decision‐sharing initiative increases when BSIs have a high level of cooperative social value orientation. However, it also negatively moderates the relationship between risk/benefit sharing (involving financial losses or gains) and performance suggesting possible negative side effects. However, we found that such orientation also negatively moderates the relationship between risk/benefit sharing (involving direct financial losses or gains) and relationship performance suggesting possible negative side effects.     

Tourist experience quality and loyalty to an island destination: the moderating impact of destination image

This study aims to explore the relationships among tourist experience quality, perceived value, perceived price reasonableness, tourist satisfaction with tour experience, and loyalty to an island destination by considering the moderating effect of destination image. The survey was distributed in person at an international airport. The findings revealed that tourists’ involvement with tours is the core of perceived value and price reasonableness, which increases tourists’ satisfaction. Perceived value is a stronger mediator between involvement and satisfaction than perceived price reasonableness. The moderating effect of island image is also uncovered. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed based on the findings.     

Social exclusion influences on the effectiveness of altruistic versus egoistic appeals in charitable advertising

Marketing Letters - In three experiments, the authors study charitable behaviors and demonstrate that consumers who feel socially excluded react more positively to altruistic, other appeals rather...