Random coefficient state-space model: Estimation and performance in M3–M4 competitions

The random coefficient state-space model was first introduced by McKenzie and Gardner (2010). This model is a stochastic combination of simple and double exponential smoothing, a desirable feature for time-series forecasting. This paper provides a simple method to estimate the random coefficient state-space model parameters by exploiting the link between the model’s autocovariance and the Kalman filter. A simulation exercise shows that the proposed estimator has good finite-sample properties. This paper also evaluates the model’s forecasting performance in large-scale empirical applications, which is remarkable. Indeed, this model outperforms all competing (not-combined) benchmarks when using the yearly data from the M3 competition dataset. Furthermore, employing the yearly data from the M4 competition, it continues to beat its competitors, with a performance comparable to that of the Theta method. The predictive performance is assessed using both the MASE/sMAPE metrics and the Model Confidence Set procedure.     

Artificial Intelligence–HRM Interactions and Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Causal Configurational Explanation

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems and applications based on them are fast pervading the various functions of an organization. While AI systems enhance organizational performance, thereby catching the attention of the decision makers, they nonetheless pose threats of job losses for human resources. This in turn pose challenges to human resource managers, tasked with governing the AI adoption processes. However, these challenges afford opportunities to critically examine the various facets of AI systems as they interface with human resources. To that end, we systematically review the literature at the intersection of AI and human resource management (HRM). Using the configurational approach, we identify the evolution of different theme based causal configurations in conceptual and empirical research and the outcomes of AI-HRM interaction. We observe incremental mutations in thematic causal configurations as the literature evolves and also provide thematic configuration based explanations to beneficial and reactionary outcomes in the AI-HRM interaction process.     

Estimation of technical change and price elasticities: a categorical time–varying coefficient approach

We propose a categorical time-varying coefficient translog cost function, where each coefficient is expressed as a nonparametric function of a categorical time variable, thereby allowing each time period to have its own set of coefficients. Our application to U.S. electricity firms reveals that this model offers two major advantages over the traditional time trend representation of technical change: (1) it is capable of producing estimates of productivity growth that closely track those obtained using the Törnqvist approximation to the Divisia index; and (2) it can solve a well-known problem commonly referred to as “the problem of trending elasticities”.     

Inflation and stabilization in Latvia: 1918–1922

The central European stabilization efforts of the interwar period, based on fiscal cuts coupled with the adoption of a pegged exchange rate and external support are often portrayed as prototypes defining the necessary conditions for successful stabilizations. While prevalent, the orthodox package was not universal in the period. We examine one exception, the Latvian stabilization of 1921–1922. Commencing from a background of multiple circulating currencies, the stabilization program was money-based, implemented without external assistance and followed rather than accompanied by exchange rate stabilization.     

Performance impacts of management in Korean schools: Testing the Meier and O’Toole model

This article investigates the impact of management on performance in Korean schools. Drawing upon the model of Meier and O’Toole, we test the linear relationships of internal management, managerial networking, and managerial quality with multiple dimensions of performance. We also examine the nonlinear relationships between networking and performance. The results show a general consistency in the positive link between management and performance, providing evidence to support the key arguments from the model. Still, there are noticeable differences in specific findings. As one of the first applications of the Meier and O'Toole model in Asia, this study illustrates the importance of the national context in management–performance linkage.     

Testing a new measure of work–life balance: a study of parent and non-parent employees from New Zealand

The present study extends the established theoretical lenses for understanding the work–family interface beyond conflict and enrichment, suggesting role balance as a theory for understanding how balance among roles can be beneficial for employees. The present study develops a measure of work–life balance and tests whether work–life balance is beneficial beyond conflict and enrichment for all employees. Two employee studies were conducted on (1) 609 parents and (2) 708 non-parents, and structural equation modeling confirmed that the balance dimension was distinct from other work–life dimensions and outcomes, and the analysis of multiple models showed that work–life balance plays a significant indirect mediation effect between conflict and enrichment toward outcomes. Overall, work–life balance was important and broadly identical for both samples with consistent effects toward job and life satisfaction, and psychological outcomes, with work–life conflict being detrimental, work–life enrichment beneficial and work–life balance providing additional benefits, especially toward life satisfaction. The findings provide greater generalizability and highlight the importance of balance for all employees, especially those typically excluded in the work–family literature such as single and childless employees.     

A tale of two crises: Federal transfers and regional economies in Russia in 2009 and 2014–2015

We examine transfers from Russia’s federal government to the regions during the two recent economic crises. We show that while federal transfers in 2009 were large and targeted poorer regions, the 2014–2015 transfers were much smaller and not targeted. This policy shift was accompanied by a relatively greater decline in own revenues in the poorer regions and their worse economic performance overall. As a result, interregional budget expenditure inequality in Russia was significantly higher in 2014–2015 than it had been for years. This is important because regional budgets are responsible for a large share of investments, housing, education and healthcare.     

Reforms and agricultural productivity in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Republics: 1989–2005

This paper analyses the changes in agricultural performance in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet republics since the start of the transition process. We provide a conceptual framework for the evolution of productivity and efficiency measures and link this evolution to the issue of factor abundance taking into account specific transition characteristics. We document the changes in agricultural performance using empirical data on the evolution of partial productivity and total factor productivity estimates and we illustrate how productivity varies between countries at various stages of the transition process. Over the past twenty years, virtually all transition countries witnessed an initial decline in productivity, and virtually all countries currently witness an increase in productivity. However, the depth and length of the initial decline differs enormously between countries. Our analysis indicates that the productivity changes were related to the extent of the pre-reform distortions, initial resource endowments and technology use, and the reform implementation in the countries.     

Stress and turnover intents in international organizations: social support and work–life balance as resources

Abstract

This study investigates whether work opportunities have an impact on stress and the related turnover intentions of employees working in intergovernmental international organizations (IOs). It contextualizes the job resources and demands model within IOs’ specific work conditions. The empirical test is based on original data from a survey administered in four major organizations of the United Nations system. Results demonstrate that social work opportunities and work–life balance are organizational levers reducing stress and willingness to quit for employees who are facing red tape or the stresses of being an expatriate. In this context, the relationships between these work opportunities and turnover intention are partially mediated by stress. Contextualized HR management propositions are made to help organizations coping with these management challenges.     

Truth-telling and trust in sender–receiver games with intervention: an experimental study

Recent experimental studies find excessive truth-telling in sender–receiver games. We show that this phenomenon is robust to the random intervention of a truthful regulator. In addition, intervention significantly increases the excessive trust of receivers while the overall percentage of truthful messages received does not change much with or without intervention. We offer a theoretical explanation for the behavior of senders and receivers, using a logit agent quantal response equilibrium (logit-AQRE) model incorporating a non-monetary lying cost for senders (like Peeters et al. in Scand J Econ 115(2):508–548, 2013). We show that our experimental findings are all consistent with the predictions of this model. Moreover, we find that the lying cost is significantly higher under intervention, implying that truthful intervention is beneficial for receivers and justified as a tool for policy makers acting on behalf of informationally inferior parties.     

Job demands–resources: a gender perspective on employee well-being and resilience in retail stores in China

Abstract

Organisational resilience can be promoted through human resource management (HRM) practices that enhance individual employees’ well-being and ability to cope with adversity. However, the extant literature tends to neglect the influence of gender on employee well-being and resilience. Shop floor employees in retail stores often undertake demanding roles, characterised by considerable pressure and low pay, and attendant high levels of employee turnover. Drawing on the job demands–resources model, by analysing data collected from 697 employees at foreign-invested retail stores in China, this paper found that workload and employee participation in decision-making had a similar impact on the well-being of both male and female employees. However, the impact of job security and emotional demands on employees differed by gender. This paper extends the job demands–resources model by articulating the influence of gender on employee well-being. Additionally, its empirical insights, drawn from an emerging economy context, enable a contribution to the literature on employee well-being and resilience. Relevant implications for HRM and resilience are discussed.     

Developmental network structure and support: gendered consequences for work–family strain and work–parenting strain in the Australian mining industry

Developmental networks enhance career success through the support received by the protégé via the network structure. This paper extends developmental network research by exploring the extent to which strain is associated with developmental network structure and support in the Australian mining industry, a highly volatile and unique context. Our research tests the popular notion of ‘the more support you get, the better’ which is in need of further exploration in the developmental networks literature particularly in specific work contexts with strain (vs. success variables) as outcomes. Results indicate that bigger, broader networks with more career, psychosocial and role modelling support are not always beneficial for protégés in this context. A smaller network with a broader range of developers is associated with reduced work–parenting strain, but not work–family strain. Increased career support reduced work–family strain, but this was not the case for increased psychosocial support and role modelling support. Further, gender moderated the relationship between psychosocial support and work–family strain possibly due to token group effects.     

The Beveridge–Nelson decomposition in retrospect and prospect

Beveridge and Nelson [Beveridge, Stephen, Nelson, Charles R., 1981. A new approach to decomposition of economic time series into permanent and transitory components with particular attention to measurement of the ‘business cycle’. Journal of Monetary Economics 7, 151–174] proposed that the long-run forecast is a measure of trend for time series such as GDP that do not follow a deterministic path in the long run. They showed that if the series is stationary in first differences, then the estimated trend is a random walk with drift that accounts for growth, and the cycle is stationary. In contrast to linear de-trending, the smoother of Hodrick and Prescott (1981) and Hodrick and Prescott [Hodrick, Robert, Prescott, Edward C., 1997. Post-war US business cycles: An empirical investigation. Journal of Money Credit and Banking 29 (1), 1–16] and the unobserved components model of Harvey, [Harvey, A.C., 1985. Trends and cycles in macroeconomic time series. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 3, 216–227]. Watson [Watson, Mark W., 1986. Univariate detrending methods with stochastic trends Journal of Monetary Economics 18, 49–75] and Clark [Clark, Peter K., 1987. The cyclical component of US economic activity. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 102 (4), 797–814], the BN decomposition attributes most variation in GDP to trend shocks while the cycles are short and brief. Since each is an estimate of the transitory part of GDP that will die out, it seems natural to compare cycle measures by their ability to forecast future growth. The results presented here suggest that cycle measures contain little if any information beyond the short-term momentum captured by BN.     

Professionals' supervisor–subordinate relationships,autonomy and commitment in Australia: a leader–member exchange theory perspective

This article used leader–member exchange theory as a lens for comparing the impact of the supervisor–subordinate relationship on two types of professionals' perceptions of autonomy, and in turn upon their affective commitment. The reason for examining autonomy is because a characteristic of being a professional is having autonomy; however, we argued that such perceptions are affected by the quality of the supervisor–subordinate relationship. The findings confirmed this argument, although the trend was stronger for engineers than for nurses. Using the ordinary least square procedure, the goodness of fit of the model identified that supervision and autonomy accounted for approximately a third of the variance for engineers' levels of affective commitment and a fifth of the variance for nurses. That is, the impact of supervision practices was stronger on autonomy and commitment for engineers than for nurses in Australia. Moreover, statistically, the two groups of professionals were similar in their perceptions of the quality of their supervisor–subordinate relationship as well as in their perceptions of autonomy, and the qualitative findings supported similar factors impacting upon their perceptions. The only significant difference between the two groups was in their levels of affective commitment. The implications of these results include the need for those managing professionals to consider ways of improving workplace supervisor–subordinate relationships because of the impact upon perceived autonomy as well as commitment to their organisation, and hence the retention of such professionals.     

Trust me,I'm your boss: Trust and power in supervisor–supervisee communication

This study examined employees' perceptions of trust, power and mentoring in manager–employee relationships in a variety of sectors, including health care, education, hospitality and retail. The main theoretical frameworks used were communication accommodation theory and social identity theory, in examining the manager–employee relationships from an in-group/out-group perspective. Computer-aided content analyses revealed a number of emergent communication and relationship themes that impact upon the level of ‘in-groupness’ and therefore trust in supervisor–supervisee relationships. While it may be illusory to believe that any organization can enjoy complete trust among its workforce, it is clear that certain communication characteristics can result in greater trust in manager–employee relationships, even within the context of organizational constraints. It is argued that the results of the study could be used to inform human resource management academics of key aspects of managerial communication that should be further researched, and also provide insights into the main communication skills that managers should focus upon to improve trust in the workplace.     

Picking on the new kid: Firm newness and deception in buyer–supplier negotiations

This study builds on liabilities of newness theory and moral disengagement theory to investigate deceptive behavior in buyer–supplier negotiations that involve new ventures. Using two purchasing negotiation experiments, it contrasts how negotiators treat employees of new ventures, mature firms, and firms of unknown age. The first experiment examined the behavior of participants in their role as salespeople toward buyers, whereas the second one examined the behavior of participants in their role as buyers toward salespeople. Across experiments, participants shared the belief that their negotiation counterparts were less experienced when these counterparts worked for new ventures than when they worked for mature firms. Moreover, both groups were more likely to deceive negotiation counterparts working at new ventures, although this effect was stronger in magnitude in the first experiment. These findings contribute to the field of behavioral supply management by identifying a new situational variable (firm newness) that promotes deception in purchasing negotiations. Moreover, they provide implications for buyers and suppliers on how to leverage preconceptions associated with their firm's age to gain advantages (or avoid disadvantages) in buyer–supplier negotiations. Finally, we add to liabilities of newness theory by identifying an additional liability that affects new ventures – namely, the increased risk of being deceived.     

Differences in work–family conflict: which individual and national factors explain them?

This paper contributes to cross-cultural literature on work–family relationships by testing not only hypotheses about the impact of work and family demands and gender at individual level on work–family conflict (WFC), but also at country level. Concretely, several theories commonly used in the literature (role conflict, boundary management and social support theory) are used to analyzed how national culture dimensions affects WFC. Using information about employee residents in each of the countries interviewed in the Second European Quality of Life Survey and also GLOBE dimensions of national culture, the paper shows that the relationship between work and family demands and WFC is universal and equal phenomenon throughout Europe. In line with gender role theory, demanding and stressing work have stronger effects on women’s WFC than on men’s. While opposite to it, household hours also have stronger effect on women’s WFC than on men’s. Moreover, the paper shows that national culture affects how people perceive work–family relationships. In line with integration/segmentation hypotheses derived from boundary management theory, uncertainty avoidance decreases WFC. Moreover, in line with social support, human orientation decreases the level of WFC, especially for men. Eastern Europe and Mediterranean countries have higher levels of WFC, while Scandinavian countries are those that have lower levels of WFC.     

Structural Change in Chile: 1960–90

This paper attempts to analyze compositional structural change in Chile, especially during the period around 1974–90, when the most overt ‘neo-liberal’ experiment was forced on the country's economy and society. The main conclusion is that, while the service sector has moved in the correct direction, setting up important industries for the dynamic development of the country, the manufacturing sector has not performed equally well. The manufacturing sector has significantly shrunk its most sophisticated base, and relies mostly on traditional manufacturing that grows sluggishly. Export expansion is in manufacturing still a small proportion of exports. The primary sector is still the main export earner, but has significantly diversified. It appears that the economy has not moved fast enough towards, and does not appear to be geared by, the type of exports that may sustain a dynamic industrial development, based on external markets.     

Boards of directors in Russian publicly traded companies in 1998–2014: Structure,dynamics and performance effects

This article provides new evidence on the structure, dynamics and performance effects of corporate boards in publicly traded companies in Russia. It takes advantage of a new and unique longitudinal dataset of virtually all Russian companies whose shares were traded in the RTS/MICEX/MOEX over 1998–2014. The analysis highlights a number of strong trends in the evolution of boards of directors, such as a declining participation of insider directors and an increasing participation of foreign and female directors. It also shows that board characteristics are linked to company performance (market-to-book ratio, Tobin’s Q, ROE and ROA), suggesting that boards of directors play a non-trivial role in corporate governance in Russia. Testing for structural breaks in the relationship between board composition and firm performance provides some evidence of the changing role of corporate boards over time.     

Relationships among leader–member exchange,person–organization fit and work attitudes in Japanese and Korean organizations: testing a cross-cultural moderating effect

This study examines a possible national culture difference in the moderating effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between person–organization (P–O) fit and work attitudes, including job satisfaction and organizational commitment, in Japan and Korea. Specifically, we use trait activation theory as a lens to explain the complementarities between P–O fit and LMX that may exert an influence on employees' work attitudes. We hypothesize that from the cross-cultural management perspective, such complementary effects would work in Japan where organizations encourage more decentralization and empowerment than those in Korea, which may enable supervisors in Japanese organizations to provide unambiguous reward expectancies for their immediate subordinates. Using samples of 138 Japanese and 144 Korean employees working for privately owned firms in Japan and Korea, we demonstrate that a significant three-way interaction of employees' P–O fit, LMX and a national culture difference (i.e. nationality) influences their work attitudes. Specifically, LMX moderated the positive relationships between P–O fit and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment for Japanese employees, tending to weaken them. For Korean employees, however, no such interactions were observed. The findings are used to discuss the applicability and generalizability of trait activation theory in East Asian cultures. In addition, suggestions are made regarding the discussion of HRM practices from a cross-vergence perspective. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.