Creating technology candidates for disruptive innovation: Generally applicable R&D strategies

In this paper, we first examined the importance of technology creation in technological disruptive innovations (DIs), and found both academic scholars and industrial practitioners have underestimated the challenging nature and importance of technology at least in technological DI. We then moved upstream to study empirically how technology candidates could be created purposefully for potential technological DI. Four generally applicable R&D strategies were abstracted from intensive studies on 37 technological DIs, by applying the central thoughts of principal component analysis which transforms many correlated variables into a small number of uncorrelated ones. The four R&D strategies abstracted are miniaturization, simplification, augmentation and exploitation for another application. Their creation of DI was examined, postulated and then demonstrated by means of the Delphi method. The frequencies of their utilization were also compiled and the implications discussed. This study has further advanced the knowledge at the front-end of R&D, i.e. the technology perspective of DI. It hopes to facilitate more purposeful creation of technology candidates for potential technological DI in future.     

The dynamic effects of health on the labor force transitions of older workers

This paper addresses the interplay between health and labor market behavior in the later part of the working life. We use the longitudinal Health and Retirement Survey to analyze the dynamic relationship between health and alternative labor force transitions, including labor force exit, job change and application for disability insurance. Specifically, we examine how the timing of health shocks affects labor force behavior. Controlling for lagged values of health, poor contemporaneous health is strongly associated with labor force exit in general and with application for disability insurance in particular. At the same time, our evidence suggests that controlling for contemporaneous health, poor lagged health is associated with continued participation. Thus, it appears that not just poor health, but declines in health help explain retirement behavior. We conclude that modeling health in a dynamic, longitudinal framework offers important new insights into the effects of poor health on the labor force behavior of older workers.     

Health and work of the elderly: subjective health measures,reporting errors and endogeneity in the relationship between health and work

This paper explores the interrelation between health and work decisions of older workers. For this, two issues are of relevance. Firstly, health and work may be endogenously related because of direct causal effects of health on work and vice versa, and because of unobservables that may affect both observed health and work outcomes. Secondly, social surveys usually contain self‐assessed health measures and research indicates that these may be subject to endogenous, state‐dependent reporting bias. A solution to the ‘Health and Retirement Nexus’ therefore requires an integrated model for work decisions, health production and health reporting mechanisms. We formulate such a model and estimate it on a longitudinal dataset of older Dutch males. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Associations between workers' health,and non-standard hours and insecurity: the case of home care workers in Ontario,Canada

This article examines associations between home care workers' health, and non-standard hours and insecurity. Health refers to symptoms of stress and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), non-standard hours refer to part-time and casual hours, and insecurity refers to job and employability insecurity. Data come from our 2002 survey of 532 home care workers (nurses, therapists and personal support workers) in a medium-sized city in Ontario, Canada. Path analysis regression results for the conceptual model show that (1) part-time and casual hours and job insecurity are positively and significantly associated with symptoms of stress, (2) the associations between part-time and casual hours and MSDs are mediated by symptoms of stress, and (3) job and employability insecurity are directly associated with MSDs. Results provide evidence that non-standard hours and insecurity must be addressed in order to improve home care workers' health. We show the detrimental effects of non-standard hours and insecurity on workers' health, and the results have implications for employers, human resource managers, trade unionists and government policy-makers.     

Health and safety risks in Britain's workplaces: where are they and who controls them?

This is the first paper to identify the correlates of workplace managers' perceptions of the health and safety risks faced by workers and the degree to which workers have control over those risks. The risks that workers face and the control they have over those risks are weakly negatively correlated. Managerial risk ratings are positively associated with both injury and illness rates, but not with absence rates. The control rating is also positively associated with injury and illness rates, but it is negatively correlated with absence rates. Workers are more likely to be exposed to health and safety risks when their workplace is performing poorly and where it has been adversely affected by the recession. Union density is positively associated with risks but is not associated with workers' control over risks. Having on‐site worker representatives dealing with health and safety is linked to lower risks than direct consultation between management and employees over health and safety. However, there is no evidence that particular types of health and safety arrangement are related to workers' control over health and safety risks.     

Supervisors and Presenteeism: How do Supervisors Accommodate and Support Skilled Workers with Chronic Health Concerns?

There is a broad literature linking social support to health, which includes evidence that social support from supervisors is positively associated with worker health. In addition, once workers experience a health concern, supervisors may play a key role in supporting workers, keeping them on the job despite health issues. However, there are few studies that investigate the day-to-day strategies supervisors utilize to support their workers and help them stay on the job despite health concerns. The study presented in this paper addresses this gap. Thirty-two supervisors from three companies were interviewed about their experiences supporting and accommodating skilled workers during flare-ups of a health condition. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the text data and identify themes. Three key themes emerged from the data: 1) workplace policies provide the structure for mutual problem solving; 2) communication skills and existing relationships increase supervisor effectiveness; and 3) strategies were aimed at individual, interpersonal, and institutional supports. Supervisors regularly interact with workers to support and accommodate episodes of illness or pain. While supervisors employ novel and effective strategies, there is an opportunity to improve the range of strategies, better understand and utilize company policies, and facilitate appropriate communication about worker health concerns.     

What Do Wages Add to the Health‐Employment Nexus? Evidence from Older European Workers

The role of wages in the health‐employment nexus can be important for designing employment policies aimed at older workers with health limitations. We, therefore, estimate the direct effect of health on employment and hours worked and its indirect effect that is mediated through wages using individual‐level panel data from SHARE. The endogeneity of self‐reported health is controlled for by instrumenting it with severe health conditions in a correlated random effects model. For men, we find that the direct effects of health deterioration, as measured by a reduction in health from the 75th to the 50th percentile of the health distribution, are about a 20% point lower employment probability and about 171 fewer hours worked per year. The indirect health effects through wages work in the opposite directions as health positively affects wages and wages negatively affect employment and hours worked. The total effects of this health deterioration amount to a 12% point lower employment probability and 95 fewer hours worked per year. In particular our finding of a large direct health effect on employment suggests an instrumental role for policy aimed at accommodating workers with health limitations to keep them employed at older ages.     

Delaying integration of immigrant labor for the purpose of taxation

Delayed integration (DI) is a rule for taxing migrants. It requires that immigrants be taxed in the host country only after some period of transition. Conversely, emigrants are released from the obligation to pay taxes only after a certain period. DI is an alternative to the Employment Principle and the Home-Country Principle. The former governs the international taxation of labor. The latter is a close substitute for the Nationality Principle, on which US tax law is based. The paper studies DI in a setting which allows one to trade off the efficiency costs of distortionary taxation and of wasteful government.     

Health effects on labour market exits and entries

This paper analyses the role of health on exits out of and entries into employment using data from the first twelve waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2002). We use discrete-time duration models to estimate the effect of health on the hazard of becoming non-employed and on the hazard of becoming employed. The results show that general health, measured by a variable that captures health limitations and by a constructed latent health index, affects entries into and exits out of employment; the effects being higher for men than for women. The results are robust to different definitions of employment, and to the exclusion of older workers from the analysis.     

The impacts of shiftwork on employees

This study examines the impacts of shiftwork on shift workers with regard to their employment, health, family and social lives, and explores the moderating effects of demographic variables. It is argued that shiftwork attracts many people because shift workers receive competitive income, without requiring tertiary education, that can be increased by long shifts and weekend work. Generally, although shiftwork does not lead to increased employee turnover the retiring age of shift workers is relatively younger than in other sectors. Shiftwork contributes to increased absenteeism, especially among younger employees and those who have been doing shiftwork for only a short period. It is unlikely for shift workers to moonlight. Shiftwork affects employee health, family and social lives, personal and workplace relationships, and communication skills. While older workers become tired more easily and less motivated, younger workers tend to experience higher rates of absenteeism. Employees who have been in the workplace longer are likely to have higher turnover. Married employees with children are likely to be affected the most in terms of family life and marriage. Gender and type of job do seem to be moderating factors. The contributions to literature and practical implications are also discussed.     

Sick-leave and Other Job-related Health Issues from Labour Force Surveys Data

Most research into the relationship between health and work has been limited to ad hoc studies: few studies have been based on large-sample surveys directed to the general population. We propose here approaches to developing work-related health indicators from currently collected National Labour Force Surveys, in particular the Italian Labour Force Survey-ISTAT. Four potential indicators are proposed: temporary reduction in working ability (TRWA), continued reduction in working ability (CRWA), permanent inability to work (PIW), and exclusion from the active population (EAP). Our analysis indicates that CRWA and EAP are highest among manual workers, consistent with the well-described relationship between job class and health status. This approach provides an opportunity to monitor the relative health status of workers on a continuing basis using readily available, population-based data and to conduct additional analyses on the basis of occupational stratification.     

How do on-the-job injuries and illnesses impact wealth?

This research focuses on one neglected area of workers' compensation research, the effect of injury and illness on net worth. We track participants in the NLSY79: one-third of these baby boomers were hurt at work, but 38% of them did not file for workers' compensation. We find that the typical young baby boomer who is never injured has both much higher absolute wealth and wealth growth rates than boomers who are ever injured. Regression results that control for unobserved heterogeneity suggest, however, that the injury does not predict lower wealth unless workers have reported wage losses or spells off work because of their accidents. For these employees wealth is dramatically reduced, regardless of their participation in the workers' compensation system. We also find that injured workers significantly reduce their consumption over time. These results raise new questions about the adequacy of workers' compensation benefits and the quality of jobs injured workers are able to return to. They suggest that sudden health problems caused by occupational injuries may affect more than employers' costs and individuals' incomes; they may have also wider and longer lasting consequences in term of families' wealth and well-being.     

A modified deferred acceptance algorithm for many-to-one matching markets with externalities among firms

We consider a many-to-one matching market with externalities among firms where each firm’s preferences satisfy substitutability, increasing choice and no external effect by unchosen workers, which are defined by  Bando (2012). We first illustrate that a sequential version of the deferred acceptance (DA) algorithm with worker-proposing may not find a worker-optimal quasi stable matching. Then, we provide a modified DA algorithm in which (i) each worker simultaneously proposes to his most preferred firm that has not rejected him and (ii) each firm chooses its acceptable workers from the cumulative set of workers who have ever proposed to it, assuming that the other workers proposing to its rival firms are hired. We show that this algorithm finds a worker-optimal quasi stable matching. We also show that this algorithm can be generalized into a fixed point algorithm.     

Relational retention

This paper uses a repeated-game model to study the retention of talented workers in the face of competition for talent. When the job benefits that workers value are non-contractible, retention cannot be achieved by a sequence of spot contracts, but must be based on self-enforcing long-term agreements, which we call relational retention contracts. Retention then is successful only if workers trust their employers' promises. We demonstrate that relational contracts are valuable even if there are no incentive problems inside firms and that firms with a relatively low valuation for talent may be able to retain talented workers.     

Equity-premium prediction: Attention is all you need

Predictions of stock returns are greatly improved relative to low-dimensional forecasting regressions when the forecasts are based on the estimated factor of large data sets, also known as the diffusion index (DI) model. However, when applied to text data, DI models do not perform well. This paper shows that by simply using text data in a DI model does not improve equity-premium forecasts over the naive historical-average model, but substantial gains are obtained when one selects the most predictive words before computing the factors and allows the dictionary to be updated over time.     

Subsidizing low-skilled jobs in a dual labor market

We introduce a matching model that allows for classical and frictional unemployment. The labor market is dual featuring low-skilled and high-skilled workers and simple and complex jobs. Simple jobs pay a minimum wage, while wages in the complex jobs are determined by Nash bargaining. Opportunities for low-skilled workers are limited to simple jobs; while high-skilled unemployed can apply for both types of jobs, and thereby can accept to be downgraded. We analyze the outcomes of simple job subsidy policies assuming that government budget is balanced through taxes on occupied workers. We first give conditions for the existence and uniqueness of a steady-state equilibrium and we then analyze the effects of different fiscal instruments. We show that in this set-up, increasing simple job subsidies does not necessarily reduce low-skilled unemployment or unemployment spells. By introducing heterogeneous skills and possible downgrading of the high-skilled workers, we show that the effectiveness of such policies in reducing the classical unemployment is decreasing. In fact, any additional classical unemployed re-entering the job market is accompanied by an increasing number of high-skilled workers downgrading to low-skilled jobs. We calibrate the model on French labor market data. It is found that for five low-skilled workers leaving classical unemployment, two high-skilled workers are downgraded.     

东方管理学视角的企业知识型员工管理

知识经济时代,企业的核心资源是知识型员工。本文认为企业应结合知识型员工的特点,将东方管理学的核心思想———"人为为人"思想有机地运用到管理中,注重从"利他"角度着眼,追求让知识型员工达到关系和谐与身心健康的目标,让企业达到持续提高工作绩效和竞争能力的目标。文中探索的主要实现途径包括:树立知识型员工是第一客户的理念;建立服从知识与服从权威同样重要的舆论氛围;管理者要以身作则,率先垂范;充分授权,注重沟通,提高知识型员工的参与感;识别需求,有效激励,探索按知分配;开展以提升创新能力为核心的培训开发;关爱知识型员工的身心健康;从有利于知识型员工发挥价值的角度,优化改造组织结构。     

Social Welfare and Income Inequality in a System of Cities

This paper develops a general-equilibrium model of a system of core-periphery cities to examine the main determinants of intra- and inter-regional income disparities. The economy is populated by a continuum of (homogeneous) unskilled and (heterogeneous) skilled workers. Unskilled workers, whose wages are determined competitively, specialize in food production in local cities; skilled workers, whose wages are determined according to a Nash bargain, manufacture a high-tech commodity in the metropolis. We establish conditions under which this core-periphery equilibrium spatial configuration emerges. We show that both intra- and inter-regional income disparities are present; the determinants of each type of disparity and the social-welfare implications are fully investigated. Our results suggest that public policy programs that improve income equality may not be necessarily welfare enhancing.     

Supporting the productivity and wellbeing of remote workers: Lessons from COVID-19

We examine the survey responses of 278 individuals who transitioned from the workplace to working from home (WFH) as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic to understand how individuals’ attainment of productivity in work and meaning in life are affected by WFH. We also assess their perceived stress and health challenges experienced since WFH. On average, workers perceive that productivity and meaning changed in opposite directions with the shift to WFH—productivity increased while the meaning derived from daily activities decreased. Stress was reduced while health problems increased. By investigating these changes, we identify important common sources of support and friction associated with remote work that affect multiple dimensions of work and life. For example, personal fortitude is an important source of support, and the intrusion of work into life is an important friction. Our findings lead to concrete recommendations for both organizational leaders and workers in setting key priorities for supporting remote work.