The long and short of asking questions about income: a comparison using data from Hungary

A lot of research on income mobility and income inequality is based on survey questions about income. Various question formats are being used. Researchers seem to assume that the actual format used delivers the best estimate of the “true” income. However, surprisingly little empirical support is available for this claim. We implemented an experimental design using the short and long versions of income questions in a Hungarian survey. Results show an overall positive difference between the long and short version. The differences are related to the income components (wages and salaries, transfers, and assets), and respondent characteristics, controlling for the effect of the order of the two versions of income questions. Based on the results, we provide some recommendations for implementing income questions in surveys.     

Distribution theory for the studentized mean for long,short, and negative memory time series

We consider the problem of estimating the variance of the partial sums of a stationary time series that has either long memory, short memory, negative/intermediate memory, or is the first-difference of such a process. The rate of growth of this variance depends crucially on the type of memory, and we present results on the behavior of tapered sums of sample autocovariances in this context when the bandwidth vanishes asymptotically. We also present asymptotic results for the case that the bandwidth is a fixed proportion of sample size, extending known results to the case of flat-top tapers. We adopt the fixed proportion bandwidth perspective in our empirical section, presenting two methods for estimating the limiting critical values—both the subsampling method and a plug-in approach. Simulation studies compare the size and power of both approaches as applied to hypothesis testing for the mean. Both methods perform well–although the subsampling method appears to be better sized–and provide a viable framework for conducting inference for the mean. In summary, we supply a unified asymptotic theory that covers all different types of memory under a single umbrella.     

Strategic talent management: A review and research agenda

Despite a significant degree of academic and practitioner interest the topic of talent management remains underdeveloped. A key limitation is the fact that talent management lacks a consistent definition and clear conceptual boundaries. The specific contribution of the current paper is in developing a clear and concise definition of strategic talent management. We also develop a theoretical model of strategic talent management. In so doing we draw insights from a number of discreet literature bases. Thus, the paper should aid future research in the area of talent management through (1) helping researchers to clarify the conceptual boundaries of talent management and (2) providing a theoretical framework that could help researchers in framing their research efforts in the area. Additionally, it aids managers in engaging with some of the issues they face with regard to talent management.     

Low carbon procurement: An emerging agenda

The importance of climate change is shaping public policy internationally at several levels with much of the effort aimed at reducing the amount of carbon emissions released to the atmosphere through anthropogenic activity. Public procurement is a key financial mechanism available to governments to drive policy change and because of its scale can be also one of the most effective. During the past decade Low Carbon Procurement (LCP) has emerged as focal policy agenda in the UK and other countries. However, the implementation of LCP requires improved definition by governments and a greater understanding of Carbon Management tools and concepts such as Lifecycle Analysis on the part of procurement chiefs. Focusing on public procurement in the UK within the context of international policy development, this paper develops a working definition and model for LCP to guide future discussions on policy and practice. The paper presents an agenda of expected challenges for the implementation of LCP, including problems associated with weighing trade-offs between carbon and wider environmental or sustainability objectives, use of carbon tools and methodologies. The paper concludes by identifying key directions for further LCP research.     

Small company purchasing: A research agenda

The small company attracts increasing attention from academia. However, research on purchasing in small companies is still limited, despite the recognised dependence of small companies on external resources. At the same time small companies operate under circumstances that pose different purchasing challenges compared to the large firm. Hence, this article proposes a new research agenda on small company purchasing. A review of the purchasing and small company literatures demonstrates limited interest in this hybrid theme and few cross-literature synergies. In addition, the paper reports on 16 interviews with small company owners. These empirical data complement the theoretical review and provide a basis for formulating the research agenda. Nine research questions are derived from the investigation, emphasising supplier relationship management and the effects of owner behaviour on purchasing as promising future research areas.     

Combination of long term and short term forecasts, with application to tourism demand forecasting

Forecast combination is a well-established and well-tested approach for improving the forecasting accuracy. One beneficial strategy is to use constituent forecasts that have diverse information. In this paper we consider the idea of diversity being accomplished by using different time aggregations. For example, we could create a yearly time series from a monthly time series and produce forecasts for both, then combine the forecasts. These forecasts would each be tracking the dynamics of different time scales, and would therefore add diverse types of information. A comparison of several forecast combination methods, performed in the context of this setup, shows that this is indeed a beneficial strategy and generally provides a forecasting performance that is better than the performances of the individual forecasts that are combined.As a case study, we consider the problem of forecasting monthly tourism numbers for inbound tourism to Egypt. Specifically, we consider 33 individual source countries, as well as the aggregate. The novel combination strategy also produces a generally improved forecasting accuracy.     

The challenge of change: the positive agenda of the TGWU

This article looks at the response of a major British trade union, the Transport and General Workers Union, (TGWU), to changing circumstances. The paper focuses on the union's response to human resources management and looks at the debate within the union and the elements of the union's strategy for dealing with HRM. It also examines the attempt by the union to move from a ''servicing culture'' to an ''organizing culture'' in response to changes in the nature of work and in society in general.     

Equal Opportunities for Men and Women in the EU: A Commentary

This commentary examines the main objectives of the European Commission Fourth Medium-Term Action Programme on Equal Opportunities for Men and Women (1996–2000). An assessment is made of the objectives, and the methods proposed to achieve them.     

Equal Rights: A Provable Moral Standard

A bstract . Our time has been characterized by growing subjectivism— which is the view that there are no objectively provable moral standards and that each individual is the ultimate arbiter for himself of right and wrong. Alienation, purposelessness and violence are some of the manifestations that would seem to follow logically from such a view, and in fact they seem more prevalent now than ever. But subjectivism is invalid in that ethics (unlike aesthetics) is a rational process, and the standards of reason are therefore the standards of ethics. The ethical standard that is provable is equal rights: specifically, that every individual has a right to his life, liberty and property , limited only by the equal rights of others. This paper attempts to show that this follows directly from the true statement that we should treat things as they are.     

Designing and supporting transnational teams: The human resource agenda

As the challenges of managing across borders become increasingly complex, companies are exploring innovative ways to organize and manage people. Many are turning to the use of transnational teams composed of individuals from multiple nationalities working on tasks that span multiple countries. This article reports the findings from a study of human resource practices used in 34 transnational teams from 23 multinational firms. The article provides specific examples of how staffing, training, and rewards systems are adapted to support the strategic orientations of these teams.¹ © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Innovation diffusion: research agenda for developing economies

This paper reviews the literature on innovation to build an agenda for research on innovation diffusion in developing countries. The main ideas on innovation diffusion are discussed, aiming at identifying the key aspects that determine the introduction and development of new technologies in an economy. Analysis of the literature suggests that innovation diffusion depends on three contextual aspects that are economy and government, technology strategies of firms, and management of innovation. Based on this analysis, four areas for research on the subject are identified, aiming at increasing the knowledge about mechanisms and approaches of innovation diffusion in developing countries.     

Women in management: towards a research agenda

Relationships between specific supervisory support behaviours and training transfer among subordinates were investigated in the context of a team-building training programme. Ninety-nine employees who attended outdoor team-building training and their supervisors rated the extent to which trainees transferred each of twenty-one trained skills to the work-place. Additionally, trainees responded to an open-ended question regarding what, if anything, they applied from the training to the work-place. Ratings of transfer, provided by both trainees and their supervisors, and coded responses to the open-ended question indicated that: (1) most trainees transferred only a small to moderate amount of skills from the outdoor training; (2) the amount of training transfer varied across trainees; and (3) skills reportedly transferred the most concerned seeking and listening to the views and ideas of other team members.

Trainees also rated whether their supervisors displayed each of twenty-seven specific supervisory support for training behaviours, derived from a comprehensive list developed by Broad (1982). Partial correlations were computed between each of the twenty-seven supervisory support behaviours and an overall measure of training transfer, controlling for trainees' ratings of the quality of their relationship with their supervisor. This analysis suggested that the supervisory support behaviours most critical for transfer of this team-building training were: (1) supervisors' use of skills and terminology from the training programme; (2) creating opportunities for trainees to make decisions based on newly learned skills; (3) reinforcing trainees' use of trained skills; (4) creating opportunities to practise new skills; and (5) providing feedback on skill use. The implications of these results for training practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda

Across six different streams of the literature (i.e., HRM; I/O psychology; educational psychology; vocational psychology; positive psychology; social psychology) we identify a number of discrepancies (i.e., between practitioner and academic interest; between talent management discourse and practice), theoretical perspectives (i.e., talent as capital; talent as individual difference; talent as giftedness; talent as identity; talent as strength; and talent as the perception of talent), tensions (i.e., object–subject; inclusive–exclusive; innate–acquired; input–output; transferable–context-dependent), and assumptions (i.e., about intuition versus data; about the effects of being labeled ‘talented’; about the effects of differential treatment) which we argue can serve as a basis for theory building, methodological advances, and new empirical work. With this review, we hope to join a growing group of talent management scholars pushing to make the transition from a growing into a mature field of study, characterized by widely accepted theoretical frameworks and research designs, and supported by the scholarly community.     

Different rooms,different voices: double-breasting,multi-channel representation and the managerial agenda

Double-breasting has been identified as where companies run union voice and non-union voice mechanisms across different plants. While research has focused on the incidence of such arrangements, there is a dearth of evidence into the dynamics of it. This article seeks to complement existing research by examining the contours of double-breasting in a case study organisation. The findings suggest that more research is necessary into the dynamics of double-breasting in terms of how voice in sites affects each other and the extent to which running different regimes affects the managerial agenda.     

Employer responses to disability: Preliminary evidence and a research agenda

Representatives from 50 New Jersey private-sector businesses that had accommodated one or more workers with disabilities were interviewed about their experiences. This purposive sample included large and small businesses from a variety of industries located in every section of the state. Respondents were asked about the nature of the individual’s disability, how the accommodation was determined, what accommodations were considered and implemented, the costs of the accommodations, their success, and the performance level of the accommodated individual. Most respondents reported positive experiences in hiring, accommodating, and evaluating the performance of workers with disabilities. Fifty-four percent of the respondents who made accommodations reported that the accommodations cost nothing; another 16% spent less than $500 on the accommodation. Because so little research exists on the subject of accommodating workers with disabilities, a research agenda is proposed.     

Harmonizing corporate venturing modes: an integrative review and research agenda

Management Review Quarterly - The modern landscape of corporate venturing (CV) is emerging and has undergone increasingly rapid evolutions over the past two decades. A growing heterogeneity of CV...     

Boards of directors in SMEs: a review and research agenda

This paper aims at reviewing research and presenting a research agenda on boards of directors in SMEs. While most publications about boards in SMEs focus on the lack of research in the area, this paper presents some of the work that has been conducted. Publications on boards of directors during the 1990s in outlets for SME research are reviewed. Boards of directors in small and medium-sized companies are getting increased attention, but the knowledge about boards in such companies is still fragmented. This paper presents research challenges based on a holistic model of directorates in SMEs that is elaborated from previous research about directorates. The papers selected for this special issue on boards of directors in SMEs are presented in this framework.