Do high performance work practices work in South Korea?

The distribution of so‐called high performance work practices (HPWPs) in South Korean manufacturing is mapped showing their relative scarcity. Contextual and institutional factors associated with the 1997–98 financial crisis are advanced to explain these findings. Nevertheless, anticipating that HPWPs are likely to improve performance, we tested several hypotheses. Employment security, teams, training, job enrichment and information sharing have a positive effect on performance; however there is no evidence of synergy. Most HPWP practices are partially mediated by worker attachment to their workplace. Government workplace reform policy, firms' business and labour utilisation strategy, and the presence of professional management contribute to performance.     

Triple helix dynamics of South Korea’s innovation system: a network analysis of inter-regional technological collaborations

This study intends to unveil the current innovation landscape of South Korea in an attempt to examine the underlying patterns of inter-regional technology collaboration occurring at the triple helix level. Social network analysis techniques are used to quantify the structure of the four types of inter-provincial co-inventorship network between university, industry, and government (UIG). The findings confirm the declining centrality of Seoul as the primary research center with the emergence of new regional players such as Gyeonggi and Daejeon. However, they also reveal that these three main innovative regions have become strongly linked in recent years and constitute the core of the inter-regional collaboration networks. The poor linkage between the research core and the periphery, in turn, raises some concerns regarding the unfair geographical concentration of innovation resources and technology activities, hindering the synergy in the national and regional innovation systems. To create a dynamic innovative milieu for bolstering Korea’s national innovation system, therefore, interactive learning between the core and the periphery, as well as between the various UIG actors, must be further facilitated.     

Comparative Research on Double-entry in China, Italy and South Korea

This paper explores the different view about the origin of double-entry book-keeping that arises from bank account of Florence, Italy in 13^th century. The four-leg accounts in China were to some extent similar to that in Korea in 11^th century and the three-leg accounts to that in ancient Rome period. By analysis of accounting bamboo slips in Han dynasty in 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., this paper will demonstrate that the double-entry book-keeping method emerged from China and Italy.     

Forecasting Australia’s economic performance during the Asian crisis

During the Asian economic crisis of 1997–98, published forecasts from a Bayesian vector autoregressive (BVAR) model consistently indicated that the crisis would have little or no effect on Australia’s economic performance, despite the deterioration in the trade balance. The worsening trade deficit led many other forecasters to predict a sharp fall in Australia’s GDP growth rate, as the countries most severely affected by the crisis represent over 60 percent of Australia’s export markets. This paper argues that the more pessimistic forecasts attached too much weight to the links between Australia’s external accounts and GDP growth. In particular, I show that forecasts for the period September 1997 to December 1998, conditional on the actual path of the merchandise trade balance, predict higher inflation and interest rates than unconditional forecasts from a model without the trade balance. There does, however, appear to be useful information in the individual components of the trade deficit. Conditioning on the actual paths of both exports and imports generally produces more accurate forecasts than conditioning on net exports. In particular, conditioning on the trade balance results in the least accurate forecasts for inflation and interest rates of any of the models considered here. On the other hand, conditioning on the individual trade flows produces the most accurate forecasts for inflation, and the second-most accurate for interest rates. Taken together, the results presented here lend support to the argument that Australia’s trade flows represent the outcomes of optimizing decisions, rather than defining constraints on economic growth.     

Bridging the cultural divide: Trust formation in university–industry research collaborations in the US,Japan, and South Korea

Academia and industry increasingly work together, but this is not always an easy endeavor. In this article we investigate how relational mechanisms facilitate trust formation in university–industry research collaborations (UICs) in three countries and contribute to the understanding of international similarities and differences in UICs by considering institutional factors, specifically, the strength and maturity of UICs in each country. Analyzing survey data of 618 recent UICs in the US, Japan, and South Korea, we identify the activities of innovation champions as a critical trust building mechanism between firms and universities that complements initial trust formation through tie strength, partner reputation, and contractual safeguards. We find that partner reputation and champion behavior are more important for trust formation in South Korea than in the US and Japan, indicating that in ‘emerging UIC countries’ where most firms and universities have little collaboration experience, reputation and the leadership by innovation champions are more important for trust formation in UICs than in ‘advanced UIC countries’ with strong and mature UIC networks. From a public policy perspective, our findings suggest that networks between firms and universities should be generally strengthened and collaboration partners should be provided with effective contractual safeguards to enhance trust formation in UICs.     

Is the environment‐friendly factor attractive to customers when purchasing electric vehicles? Evidence from South Korea

In a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, several countries worldwide are implementing policies to promote electric vehicles (EVs). However, contrary to expectations, the diffusion speed of EVs has been rather slow in South Korea. This study analyzes consumer preferences for the technological and environmental attributes of EVs and derives policy and environmental implications to promote market diffusion of EVs in South Korea. We conduct a choice‐based conjoint survey of 1,008 consumers in South Korea and estimate the consumer utility function using a mixed logit model considering consumer heterogeneity. Based on the consumer utility function, we analyze consumers' willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for EV attributes such as driving range, charging method, charging time, autonomous driving function, carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction rate, and purchase price. The results indicate that the current low acceptance of EVs is due to their relatively high price and lack of a battery charging technology that satisfies consumers' expectations of the charging method and time. One interesting finding is that Korean consumers have a relatively higher WTP for the CO₂ reduction rate of EVs than consumers in other countries; however, they do not consider CO₂ reduction over other technological attributes when choosing EVs. This implies that the rate of CO₂ reduction of EVs is not an important factor for South Korean consumers when buying EVs. We also calculate the effect of CO₂ reduction with the market penetration of EVs and find that CO₂ reduction through the diffusion of EVs depends on the country's electricity generation mix.     

Does the engaged public's evaluation of networking practices matter? The effects of polarized attitudes and the reputation of networking on individuals' word-of-mouth behaviors

The study examines the influence of individuals' attitudes and the perceived organization's ability to network with its stakeholders on their positive and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors. The study also examines how these relationships differ between the general and engaged public, taking the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as a case study. The results show that individuals' attitudes toward PETA predict positive and negative WOM behaviors regardless of their previous engagement in PETA. Yet the influence of the perceived reputation of PETA's networking with other stakeholders on positive or negative WOM behaviors displayed different patterns between the general and the engaged public. For the engaged public, the idea that PETA has a good relationship with its members is considered more important than outreach to nonsupporters. In addition, how individuals perceive characteristics of stakeholders or their influence on organizations influences the relationship between the perceived reputation of networking and the engaged public's negative WOM behaviors.     

Competitiveness and entrepreneurship rate in Europe during the economic recovery phase, 2012–2016

Entrepreneurship is key for regional economic development. Regions can offer conditions that promote or limit business innovation activity. As the World Economic Forum points out, promotion and entrepreneurship support have been key factors for European countries to recover lost competitiveness. This study analyzes countries’ competitiveness level during the economic recovery phase using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Word Economic Forum Report for the 2012–2016 period. The sample comprises 19 countries of the European Union. The independent variable is Total Entrepreneurship Activity rate (TEA) and the dependent variables are the 12 pillars that measure competitiveness in the GEC Index. The results show that, over time, the macroeconomic environment conditions necessity entrepreneurship but, when the economy recovers, innovation determines the appearance of opportunity entrepreneurship. Differences between countries are less significant regarding entrepreneurial activity and competitiveness; however, patterns for northern and southern Europe still differ.

     

Households’ attitudes toward earthquake protection: An empirical analysis of the impact of fiscal support in Japan

Faced with an aging society and major earthquake risk in the near future, promoting the improvement of existing houses is one of the most important issues in Japan. In this paper, we formulate two types of demand models for home safety: a model for barrier-free conversion and a model for seismic retrofit based on a logit model. We explore statistically the factors that affect the demand for each improvement using prefectural data in Japan. We also analyze statistically the significance and impact of financial support programs for improving existing houses, which the Japanese government has implemented at the prefectural and municipal level. The results clarify the differences between the determinants of each type of improvement and show that the support program for barrier-free conversion has a positive and statistically significant effect on households’ preference. However, neither the seismic test nor the seismic retrofit program conducted by prefectures has a positive impact on preference, whereas those by municipalities do affect preference.     

Does bond market development enhance the banking sector’s efficiency in resource allocation? Industry-level evidence from Korea

Korea’s financial system used to be bank-based, with banks playing the leading role in financing corporations. As highlighted by Park et al. (2019), however, bond markets have developed rapidly in Korea and other Asian countries. The corporate bond market competes with banks as a source of finance for large borrowers. As such, bond markets may affect banking sector operation, a process known as disintermediation. In this paper, we examine whether bond market development improves the efficiency of resource allocation in Korean bank lending. We propose two channels through which bond market development affects the efficiency of bank lending. Since the two channels have opposing effects on the efficiency of banking, the issue must be settled by empirical analysis. We find that bank loans are much less efficient than bond financing in allocating resources across industries. Furthermore, banks are particularly inefficient in resource allocation in industries that rely more on bond financing. This suggests that competition from bond financing does not improve allocative efficiency of bank loans.     

Trust in the supervisor and the development of employees’ social capital during organizational entry: a conservation of resources approach

Abstract

This article aims to understand how trust in the supervisor contributes to the development of employees’ social capital using Conservation of Resources theory as a theoretical framework and networking ability as an indicator of social capital development. We hypothesize that the relationship between newcomers’ trust in the supervisor and networking ability will be mediated by feedback seeking from the supervisor and moderated by emotional exhaustion. Based on a three-wave time-lagged study of newcomers (N = 224), we found trust in the supervisor to be indirectly and positively related to networking ability through the mediating influence of feedback seeking from the supervisor. In addition, feedback seeking interacted with emotional exhaustion in predicting networking ability such that it was more positively related to it at high levels of emotional exhaustion. The indirect relationship of trust to networking ability as mediated by feedback seeking was also stronger at high levels of emotional exhaustion. We discuss this study’s implications for our understanding of supervisors’ role and newcomers’ experience during entry, as well as for social capital research.     

What influences teachers’ job satisfaction and how to improve,develop and reorganize the school activities associated with them

Quality & Quantity - Job satisfaction is a positive emotional state resulting from a personal appreciation of a his/her own job or experience. The paper reports on a study that examined job...     

Towards an Asian model of human resource management? A comparative analysis of China,Japan and South Korea

There has been much discussion regarding the possible decline and weakening of national systems of human resource management (HRM). Yet, culture and institutions are often cited as the major stumbling blocks to this outcome. Such constraints may dissipate in the analysis, particularly if ‘regional clusters’ are considered where geographic and cultural closeness and ‘openness’ to similar economic pressures exist. In such cases, it might be postulated that convergence in HRM will occur. We argue that China, Japan and South Korea represent such a cluster. This article examines these countries, to see if a degree of convergence is taking place and if it is towards an identifiable ‘Asian’ model of HRM. A model of change is presented that distinguishes between levels of occurrence and acceptance. Details of the development and practice of HRM in each country are then set out. The article ends with a discussion and implications section and a brief conclusion.     

Has the Basel Accord improved risk management during the global financial crisis?

The Basel II Accord requires that banks and other Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) communicate their daily risk forecasts to the appropriate monetary authorities at the beginning of each trading day, using one or more risk models to measure Value-at-Risk (VaR). The risk estimates of these models are used to determine capital requirements and associated capital costs of ADIs, depending in part on the number of previous violations, whereby realised losses exceed the estimated VaR. In this paper we define risk management in terms of choosing from a variety of risk models, and discuss the selection of optimal risk models. A new approach to model selection for predicting VaR is proposed, consisting of combining alternative risk models, and we compare conservative and aggressive strategies for choosing between VaR models. We then examine how different risk management strategies performed during the 2008–09 global financial crisis. These issues are illustrated using Standard and Poor's 500 Composite Index.     

Political partisanship versus turnout in Italy’s 2016 referendum

Quality & Quantity - Italy’s 2016 referendum represents an opportunity to discuss the main hypotheses posited by current literature as to the determinants of referendums. The issue-voting...     

The impact of creative activities integrated into curriculum for tolerance education and teachers’ reflections

This study aimed at investigating the perceptions of teachers and intermediate level students on the use of creative activities integrated into an EFL curriculum at Foreign Languages English Preparatory School (FLEPS). The study has qualitative nature that data was gathered through teachers’ daily diary and students’ semi-structured interviews. The study included 20 intermediate level students studying at the FLEPS. As a result, it was worth stating that the approach to the English language through creative activities or tasks was more effective in developing students’ critical thinking skills and boosted their self-esteem in foreign language learning than the traditional methods being applied at the FLEPS. The research study provides useful findings such as increasing teachers’ positive attitudes and students’ self-esteem and made related implications for the institutional development for further research.

     

Combined and Uneven Development: Reflections on the North–South Divide

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the geography of structural change in Great Britain since 1971. It divides the country into two broad areas—the ‘North’ comprising Northern England, the West Midlands, Wales and Scotland, and the ‘South’ comprising the rest of mainland Britain. The paper documents the uneven regional impact of industrial decline and the rise of the new service economy. The role of the export base is analysed in an appendix using a simple mathematical model to link together regional competitiveness, employment, fiscal transfers, population and migration.

Une évolution mixte et irrégulière: réflexions sur la démarcation Nord/Sud

RÉSUMÉ La présente communication se penche sur la géographie des changements sur le plan structurel survenus en Grande-Bretagne depuis 1971. Elle subdivise le pays dans les deux zones principales suivantes: la région « Nord », comprenant le nord de l'Angleterre, les West Midlands, le Pays de Galles et l’Écosse, et la région « Sud », comprenant le restant de la Grande-Bretagne. La communication documente l'impact régional irrégulier du déclin industriel ainsi que l'essor du secteur tertiaire. Elle analyse le rôle de la base export, dans une annexe, en utilisant un modèle mathématique simple permettant de lier ensemble la compétitivité régionale, l'emploi, les transferts fiscaux, la population et la migration.

Desarrollo combinado y desigual: reflexiones sobre la división entre Norte y Sur

EXTRACTO Este trabajo se refiere a la geografía del cambio estructural en Gran Bretaña desde 1971. Divide al país en dos áreas amplias: el ‘Norte’, compuesto por el norte de Inglaterra, las West Midlands, Gales y Escocia; y, el ‘Sur’, compuesto por el resto del territorio británico. El estudio documenta el desigual impacto del declive industrial y el surgimiento de la nueva economía de servicios. La función de la base de exportación se analiza en un apéndice utilizando un modelo matemático simple para enlazar competitividad regional, empleo, transferencias fiscales, población y emigración.

     

Government secondary school finances in New South Wales: accounting for students’ prior achievements in a two-stage DEA at the school level

This study measures the efficiency of government secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia, using a two-stage semi-parametric production frontier approach to schooling. In contrast to previous research comparing school performance with two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA), we control for prior academic achievement of students by using a rich data set from 2008 to 2010. We employ detailed financial data for deriving the envelope for the efficient production frontier of the schools. Using Simar and Wilson’s (J Econ 136:31-64, 2007, J Prod Anal 36:205-218, 2011a) double bootstrap procedure for two-stage DEA, the study finds that schools with lower total student numbers, a higher average of years of service of teachers, a higher ratio of special education students that attracts extra government funding, and girls only do better than other schools. On the other hand, a negative influence comes from a school’s location in provincial and outer metropolitan areas. An important result is that the socio-economic background of students attending a school has no significant effect on their academic performance, whereas higher prior academic achievements have a positive and statistically significant impact on student achievement. These results are relevant to decision makers for the school sector, in particular for funding criteria contained in the Gonski (Review of funding for schooling - Final report (December). Canberra: Commonwealth Government of Australia, 2011) review report.     

On the exact distribution of the Fisher-Behren’-Welch statistic

Summary For testing the significance of the difference between the unknown means of two normal populations having different unknown variances, we have the known Fisher-Behren’s-Welch test statistic. Several expressions for the distribution of this test statistic are available, and this paper is yet another attempt in the same direction. However, the expression given here appears to be, perhaps, more elegant and straight-forward than the ones available at present.     

Investigating the inefficiency of the CBO’s budgetary projections

This paper evaluates the efficiency of budgetary projections issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 1984 to 2016 and investigates the cause of their inefficiency. The efficiency of both its budgetary and macroeconomic projections is rejected in many cases, especially for revenue projections. A comparison of forecast evaluations suggests that the inefficiency of revenue projections is likely due to the inefficiency of the underlying macroeconomic projections. By adjusting budgetary projections by the CBO in real time using macroeconomic forecasts by the Survey of Professional Forecasters, the accuracy of the former projections can be significantly improved in some cases, by up to 26% in terms of the root-mean-square prediction error.