DOES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS AFFECT FIRM PERFORMANCE OF CONSUMER CO‐OPERATIVES? THE CASE OF ICOOP KOREA

Consumer co‐operatives in Korea have been growing rapidly since they launched their own shops. If co‐operatives would be too much oriented to enlargement or economic growth, they might easily pay no attention to members’ participation which is one of the priorities in co‐operatives. It could lead to losing the value of co‐operatives. So it is important to adjust the balance between members’ participation and economic growth. This paper focuses on the role of board of directors in doing that. It aims to examine how effectiveness of the board influences members’ participation and the participation has effect on performance of co‐operatives in the case of iCOOP Korea. The variables such as communication with members and usage of management skills and knowledge are employed as measures of the effectiveness of the board in decision‐making process. The data are collected by survey the respondents of which are 222 directors of 30 primary co‐operatives. It is analyzed by Structural Equation Model. The findings of the research are as follows. Firstly, communication of the board with members increases the members’ democratic participation, and the increased participation contributes to improving the financial performance. Secondly, management skills and knowledge of the board does not have significant relations with the level of members’ participation, even though members’ economic participation has significantly positive relation with the financial performance. The findings imply that members’ voluntary participation will be increased when boards of co‐operatives try to reflect members’ needs in the decision making processes, and it can help the co‐operatives improve their financial performance. It suggests a clue for the trade‐off between the value of co‐operatives and growth of business which many co‐operatives are trying to resolve.     

协同工作设计能缓解组织知识隐藏“困境”吗——基于防御型与促进型心理所有权视角

如何有效干预知识隐藏、突破知识型组织发展的约束性因素，是组织管理中亟需解决的难题，尤其是在竞合交织的工作情境下鲜有研究同时考虑合作性、竞争性工作情境对知识隐藏行为的影响机制，导致对知识隐藏的认知存在片面性。鉴于此，结合心理所有权理论，探讨协同工作设计与团队竞争氛围影响知识隐藏的联动机制。通过对77个知识团队的457名成员进行两阶段问卷调查，研究发现，知识心理所有权、组织心理所有权在协同工作设计(任务互依性、社会支持和他人反馈)与知识隐藏之间起中介作用，团队竞争氛围在协同工作设计要素通过知识心理所有权、组织心理所有权影响知识隐藏的中介路径中发挥调节作用。上述结论不仅为深入研究知识隐藏行为提供了全新的理论视角，也为构建竞争与合作平衡的知识型组织提供了有益启示。     

知识异质性与知识创新绩效的关系研究

在界定知识异质性和知识创新绩效概念的基础上,基于相关研究文献,提出了知识异质性与知识创新绩效的关系假设,以企业研发团队为例,通过对有研发团队工作经验的142名员工进行问卷调查,并对获得的有关数据进行了分析。研究结果显示:团队成员的教育背景异质性对知识创新绩效产生负面影响;知识技能与职业经验异质性对研发团队知识创新绩效均有积极显著影响,藉此进行了实证分析,进而提出了对策建议。     

Introducing Time‐to‐Educate in a Job‐Search Model

Transition patterns from school to work differ considerably across OECD countries. Some countries exhibit high youth unemployment rates, which can be considered an indicator of the difficulty facing young people trying to integrate into the labour market. At the same time, education is a time‐consuming process, and enrolment and dropout decisions depend on expected duration of studies as well as on job prospects with and without completed degrees. One way to model entry into the labour market is by means of job‐search models, where the job arrival hazard is a key parameter in capturing the ease or difficulty in finding a job. Standard models of job search and education assume that skills can be upgraded instantaneously (and mostly in the form of on‐the‐job training) at a fixed cost. This paper models education as a time‐consuming process, a concept which we call time‐to‐educate, during which an individual faces the trade‐off between continuing education and taking up a job.     

Cointegration,error correction mechanism and trade liberalization: the case of the Spanish imports of manufactures

This paper examines the quit behaviour of members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. We find that the probability of a member continuing is lower when the member is an economist, when the member comes to the Board from the private sector, and when their policy views differ from the Board as a whole. In addition, we find evidence that the President can exert influence on the Fed by the power of appointment. And in contrast with what one might expect, we find that salaries on the Board relative to the private sector do not seem to be an important factor in determining the decision to continue service on the Board.     

个体目标取向与团队心理安全交互对个体知识共享的影响

知识经济和“互联网+”快速发展,知识共享成为组织获取前进动力的主要方式以及组织竞争优势的重要来源。结合目标取向理论与特征激活理论,将团队心理安全纳入到个体目标取向对个体知识共享影响的研究中。对120个研发团队（含485个团队成员）样本的调查分析结果表明,个体学习目标取向与证明取向都显著正向影响个体知识共享,且团队心理安全在两者关系间具有显著的正向调节作用;个体回避取向显著负向影响个体知识共享,团队心理安全在两者关系间具有显著负向调节作用。     

基于双重委托-代理的科研团队成员知识创新激励机制研究

采用双重委托-代理关系模型研究科研团队成员知识创新激励机制,强化主体创新参与意识和知识贡献精神。在团队知识创新个体成员角色划分的基础上,论述团队知识创新中的双重委托-代理关系,进而分析双重关系中的知识创新激励机制,并提出基于人力资本价值差异的激励措施。团队层面的委托-代理关系表明,个体成员的拟线性效用令有效努力水平与其收益独立分配,符合科斯定理的“行动有效,与利益分配无关”的思想;个体层面的委托-代理关系分析表明,实施基于人力资本价值的差异化激励合约,其数值模拟和参数分析结果验证了知识贡献者的产出份额、努力程度以及确定性等价收入明显得到优化。     

董事会规模、稳定性与公司绩效:理论与经验分析

董事会作为代表公司行使其法人财产权的必要会议体机关 ,处于公司内部治理结构的核心。规范和经验分析共同表明 ,董事会的专有特征会对其职能的行使发挥作用 ,进而对公司绩效产生影响。我们的经验分析证实了“董事会规模与公司绩效指标之间存在着倒U型的曲线关系”和“公司以前年度的绩效水平越好 ,董事会的稳定性越强”这两个理论假设。与此同时 ,“治理改善”和“跳船效应”假设在我国的证券市场中都未得到证实。     

What Motivates Members to Participate in Co‐operative and Mutual Businesses?

Abstract *** : This article reports the findings of a project entitled ‘The participation of members in mutual businesses’. A previous project developed a theoretical model of what makes people participate, focusing on the participation of public service users in council housing and social care services. The current project builds on this work, applying the ‘mutual incentives model’ to a population sample of area committee members and a random sample of non‐participant members of a very large UK consumer co‐operative, the Co‐operative Group. Two arguments are presented as to why such research is needed. First, member participation in co‐operative and mutual businesses is becoming an important issue both for this sector and more generally for public policy. Second, a comparison between a public services setting and a co‐operative setting enables us to extend and further test the theoretical model. Two main features of the model are outlined: a ‘mutual incentives theory’ that goes beyond other models to combine individualistic and collectivistic motivations, and the ‘participation chain’, a synthesis of existing knowledge that joins motivations to three ‘links’ that we call ‘resources’, ‘mobilization’ and ‘dynamics’. The article then summarizes the project methodology, and reports the main findings. As in the public services project, on the ‘demand’ side, collectivistic incentives prove to be dominant over individualistic, but with some individual ‘internal’ benefits also being important. On the ‘supply’ side, skills derived from previous experience were important, as were a positive evaluation of opportunities to participate, and recruitment through existing networks. We then compare the findings to those from the public service users and from a regional co‐operative society; Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co‐op. Collective motivations are dominant in all three datasets, but are shown to vary in interesting ways that have important implications for member participation strategies.     

教育背景与我国家庭股票市场参与*——基于CFPS微观数据的实证分析

本文基于中国家庭追踪调查（China family panel studies，CFPS）的数据，针对股市上典型的“有限参与”现象，考察了教育背景在两个维度上对家庭股市参与概率的影响。通过Logit回归，本文发现：平均受教育年限越高及拥有专业背景的家庭，参与股市概率越大。进一步运用倾向性得分匹配法对专业背景的作用进行估计，本文发现：在家庭股票投资决策中，成员经管背景作用的大小与显著性受所在家庭整体教育水平的约束。主事者的决策地位随家庭整体受教育年限的提高而受到削弱，而家庭成员对金融知识的掌握也可能会因自身学历在家中占优与否相应地被高估或低估。基于研究结论与现实，笔者认为，在我国证券市场中，平均受教育年限越高的家庭共同决策的氛围更浓，一方面，学历更高与投资知识更专业的成员可能并不在金融参与决策上起支配作用，但另一方面，家庭也会因为某些成员的教育背景做出轻率的投资决定。针对教育背景伴随的欠理性投资行为以及完成“有限参与”向“积极参与”的转变，本文也提供了一些建议与意见。     

Firm Performance and Women on the Board: Evidence from Spanish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

ABSTRACT

This study examines gender diversity on boards of directors in a sample of nonfinancial Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for 2003–8, finding that the probability of women on the board increases with firm performance, defined as return on assets, and family ownership, but diminishes with corporate ownership and firm risk. It also finds, when examining the full sample, a positive effect of the presence of women board members on firm performance. The study also obtains a similar positive effect in most subsamples, including in firms with corporate ownership, where family connections play less role in the election of board members, and in firms in the secondary and tertiary sectors, which are characterized by having greater proximity to final consumers than those in the primary sector.     

董事会治理与企业技术创新:理论与实证

本文在代理理论的框架内考察了公司治理之董事会治理与企业技术创新投入的关系,并基于2004-2008年501家中国上市公司的数据对此进行了实证研究。结果表明:1)董事会规模与企业技术创新投入存在不显著的负相关关系;2)独立董事占比与企业技术创新投入存在显著的正相关关系,独立董事占比较高的企业其技术创新投入要显著高于独立董事占比较低的企业;3)董事长与总经理两职分离的制度安排对企业技术创新投入有显著的积极影响,两职分离的企业其技术创新投入要显著高于两职合一的企业;4)董事会股权激励对企业技术创新存在积极影响,董事会股权激励水平越高,企业技术创新投入越多,但这种发现仅具有较低的统计显著性。     

校企合作创新网络学习机制影响因素实证研究

文章构建了校企合作创新网络学习机制的影响因素分析框架,从网络整体的角度出发,将影响校企合作创新网络学习机制的因素归纳为网络成员的个体性因素、网络成员的容斥性因素、网络知识的特性因素、网络组织的结构性因素四类,并以河南省76家创新型企业为样本进行了实证分析。实证研究结果显示,网络成员的相斥性因素中的知识文化距离对组织间学习效果有显著的负面影响,相容性因素中的信任和沟通以及网络组织的结构性因素中的网络规模对组织间学习效果有显著的正面影响,而网络成员的个体性因素、网络成员的相斥性因素中的地理距离、网络知识的特性因素、网络组织的结构性因素中的网络中心度对组织间学习效果的影响并不显著。     

Determinants of CEO and Board Turnover

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to document changes in top management and board of directors in Danish firms during 1996–98. Second, to examine whether these changes are related to the performance of firms during the preceding years. Our study differs from earlier investigations in that we not only consider removal of CEOs but also turnover of board chairmen and board members. We find that turnovers of CEOs, board chairs and members have a number of common determinants like firm size and age of the firm. Risks of removals increase with lower rates of solvency but are unaffected by profitability changes. The hypothesis that competition increases the turnover risk is not supported by the estimations.     

HOW DO HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN JAPAN COMPETE FOR REGULAR,FULL‐TIME JOBS? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS BASED UPON AN INTERNET SURVEY OF THE YOUTH*

We use a survey of Japanese youth within 10 years after high school graduation to investigate impacts of academic and social skills on their success in the job market. We find three major factors account for the job market outcome immediately after school: school characteristics and job‐placement services, academic performance, and social skills, including negative impacts of problematic behaviors at school. Second, when we run a probit regression on whether or not the surveyed individuals hold regular, full‐time jobs, we find the persistent but declining (over age) impact of the job placement immediately after school. Moreover, we find that the impact of variables pertaining to social skills remain significant even after controlling for the job‐placement outcome after school, whereas other variables, such as grade point average or attributes of high schools, are largely irrelevant to the current employment status.     

RATIONALE FOR DISSENT: THE CASE OF FOMC MEMBERS

This paper investigates monetary policymakers' rationale for dissent to test for a hypothesized difference in policy preferences between bank presidents and members of the Board of Governors. The paper analyzes the cited reasons for dissent, the identity of the dissenter, and uses multiple regression to make inferences regarding the differences.
Examining the identity of dissenters and the given reasons for dissent yields four conclusions, (i) A broad base of bank presidents dissent for tighter policy because they want to control inflation by keeping monetary aggregates within targeted ranges. (ii) On the other hand, board members' dissent for tighter policy is dominated by one man–Henry Wallich—who apparently was disturbed by the inflationary outbreak during the late 1970s and early 1980s. (Hi) Several board members dissent for looser policy to stimulate the real economy, (iv) But only a few bank presidents, primarily from the Northeast, dissent for looser policy with the same objective.
Regression analysis supports the assertion that bank presidents dissenting for tighter policy do so to keep monetary aggregates on target in order to control inflation. The analysis confirms Wallich's focus on inflation during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It also allows for the possibility that the various board members dissenting for looser policy either have an inherent preference for looser policy or have diverse reasons for dissent.     

多元化企业董事会咨询职能实现路径

依据多元化企业特定战略需要合理配置董事会与经理层成员之间的职能背景构成是董事会咨询职能实现的重要路径。本研究结合不同类型多元化企业战略管理特征的差异性,理论分析并实证检验了董事会职能背景特征对多元化企业经营绩效的影响,实证研究结果表明董事会与经理层成员职能背景的互补性是促进"友好型"董事会发挥咨询职能的重要实现路径,即随着企业多元化程度的提高,应逐步提高(降低)董事会中拥有财会(核心)职能背景的成员比例、降低(提高)经理层中拥有财会(核心)职能背景的成员比例。研究结论对于指导多元化企业董事会咨询职能建设、实现多元化战略的价值效应具有一定的参考价值。     

跨层次研究视角下的社会资本与创新绩效——理论框架与实证模型

如何强化员工的知识分享和创新绩效来建立企业的核心竞争优势并维持较高的创新水平,是企业面临的重要挑战。本文对社会资本的基本理论及其与个体创新绩效相关的文献进行了回顾,同时就知识分享和组织学习型文化相关的文献进行综述发现,组织环境因素能够对个体创新绩效产生直接影响,但更重要的是通过其与个体因素的交互作用,共同对个体创新绩效产生影响。因此,推导出一个跨层次研究模型,建立了个体层次的知识分享与组织层次的学习型文化对个体层次社会资本与创新绩效交互作用的影响模型与假设。本研究拟使用社会网络分析软件UCINET、统计软件SPSS以及多层线性模型分析软件HLM对实证模型进行分析。以期验证组织层次的学习型文化通过组织共有的思维模式和行为规范来影响个体层次的个体成员的知识分享和创新绩效,使个体和组织得到共同的成长与发展。     

THE UNPAID LEADERS OF FRENCH VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper focuses on the voluntary workers who take on responsibilities in French voluntary associations. First, drawing on a national association survey, we contrast the characteristics of leadership volunteers, especially chairpersons, with those of the French population as a whole. We show that leaders are very different from the overall population even if these differences seem to diminish for organizations created more recently. Second, from a national household survey, we compare board members with other members of associations. Among other results, we find that the former are more rooted in their local environment and they participate more frequently in several associations. They are driven by more activist motives than are the other members. They give more time to their associations and they use more skills in their voluntary tasks than do the other volunteers.