The future of the dollar–euro exchange rate

Monetary unification in Europe is expected to produce a major new international currency, which may compete with the U.S. dollar as the currency of choice in foreign exchange transactions, financial asset markets and central bank reserves. This study considers two important issues regarding the euro: its global role as medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value and its position relative to the U.S. dollar. Among the main considerations are differences in cyclical behavior, inflation differentials, trade patterns and capital flows, and risk-return assessments. External diversification of private portfolios and of central banks’ reserve holdings will play a key role in determining the euro’s exchange rate. Overall, despite its rough start, we argue that the euro may emerge as a challenger to the U.S. dollar.     

The ‘expat factor’: the influence of working time on women's decisions to undertake international assignments in the oil and gas industry

This article examines the effect of working time on women's willingness to go on expatriate assignments in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. The research draws upon an analysis of two case study firms' international assignment and working time policies, semi-structured interviews with 14 human resource staff responsible for policy design and implementation, and a survey of the views of 71 women expatriates, supported by in-depth interviews with 26 of the survey respondents. The research identifies an ‘expat factor’: assignees state that long hours are inherent in expatriation and necessary to further their careers. However, in practice, working time is not excessive and flexible working practices are utilised. Hours of work have little effect on women's decisions to undertake long-term assignments but alternatives such as short-term and commuter assignments are unpopular as their working patterns are disruptive to family life. This article contributes to theory development by linking two discrete frameworks that explain women's career choices when they strive to balance their career goals with their families and by identifying a career compromise threshold when expatriation is rejected in favour of family considerations. A model is proposed to link working time/patterns to women's international assignment participation.     

The mediating influence of work–family conflict and the moderating influence of gender on employee outcomes

Finding a balance between work and home continues to be a challenge for many employees. The influence of work–family conflict both from work interfering with family (WIF) and from family interfering with work (FIW) on employee outcomes is not well understood. Although substantial empirical research supports the general view that work–family conflict results from employees having conflicting roles, many previous studies examine work–family conflict and outcomes in the same, or ‘matching’ domains. Some studies on work conflict also have found cross domain outcomes that are largely unexplained. This research addresses this gap in the field by developing and testing the hypothesis that cross domain relationships will be mediated by conflict in the matching domains. Specifically, this study proposes that WIF mediates the relationship between FIW and four employee work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and task performance), and that FIW mediates the relationship between WIF and life satisfaction. This research also examines the moderating role of gender on the relationships while controlling for age and family status. The results of this study using a sample of 435 full time employees in the US provide support for most of the hypothesized relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The influence of entrepreneurs’ immigrant status and time on the perceived likelihood of exporting

We contribute in this paper to the scant literature on the factors and conditions influencing the development of different perceptions of potential international opportunities for immigrant and native entrepreneurs in the pre-internationalization phase. Specifically, we investigate what factors influence the perceived likelihood entrepreneurs have of exporting. Building on entrepreneurial intentions and opportunity-based entrepreneurial processes, we propose a cognitive account of perceived likelihood of exporting based on entrepreneurs’ perceptions of the desirability and feasibility of export opportunities. We investigate how the immigrant status (i.e., individual characteristics) and time (i.e., contextual factors) influence the relationship between the desirability and feasibility of exporting, and entrepreneurs’ perceived likelihood of exporting. We employ an experimental design on a matched-pair sample of 108 native and immigrant entrepreneurs in domestic technology-based firms. The results are a unique account of the cognitive antecedents of the perceived likelihood of exporting under different temporal conditions, comparing immigrant and native entrepreneurs. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

     

The negative influence of the entrepreneur’s level of higher education on the attractiveness of European SMEs as alliance partners in Brazil: the role of practical experience and international entrepreneurial orientation

Notwithstanding the contemporary relevance of alliance strategies for SME internationalisation, especially in the case of uncertain business environments, few studies have investigated human resource issues in the context of SMEs prior to alliance formation. Even more scarce are studies looking at the impact of a manager/entrepreneur’s characteristics on pre-alliance formation, despite recognition of the expected crucial role of the entrepreneur in this context and of the strong connection between an entrepreneur and their SME. Drawing on international entrepreneurship theory and empirical observations from an exploratory study, we propose a post hoc conceptual model. The exploratory empirical part of our study employs a sample of entrepreneurs from biotechnology SMEs in the United Kingdom and Germany intending to ally in a large emerging market (i.e. Brazil). Our empirical observations suggest an anomalous (at first glance) negative association between the entrepreneur’s level of higher education (a construct at the individual level) and the attractiveness of the SME as a partner firm vis-à-vis alliance formation (a construct at the firm level). Our post hoc model emphasises the role of practical experience and the corresponding levels of international entrepreneurial orientation as theorised variables mediating the observed empirical relationship. We develop theoretical propositions, and suggest practical implications and future research directions.     

Mathematical programming for nominating exchange students for international universities: The impact of stakeholders’ objectives and fairness constraints on allocations

We consider the problem of nominating exchange students to attend international universities where places are limited. We take into account three objectives: The sending university aims to maximize the number of nominations, the students seek nomination for a highly preferred university and, finally, the receiving universities strive for excellent incoming students. Pairwise comparison of students should guarantee the following fairness: A student with higher academic achievements should be preferred over a student with lower academic achievements. We provide mathematical programming models of the nomination problem which maximize the overall objectives and guarantee different types of pairwise fairness. Several years of real data from a major school are employed to evaluate the models’ performance including a benchmark against the heuristic that is used by the school. We show analytically and experimentally that the heuristic approach fails to guarantee some pairwise fairness. Our results reveal the following four insights: First, compared to the current approach, up to 6.6% more students can be nominated with our optimization model while ensuring all pairwise fairness perspectives. Second, on average, students are nominated with better academic achievements. Third, the problem instances can be solved to optimality within a fraction of a second even for large-size instances comprising more than 500 students and about 150 schools offering nearly 450 exchange places. This is important for its use in practice. Last, up to 17.9% more students can be nominated when considering the overall objective to maximize nominations.     

The influence of organizational context on the managerial turnover–performance relationship

This study performs a comprehensive examination of organizational context in the relationship between managerial turnover and organizational performance. Using theoretical frameworks of human and social capital, we focus on the moderating roles of entity size, employment system, industry brand, and location. To test our hypotheses, we worked with the company records of a multinational fashion retail group with more than 4,000 stores grouped into eight different brands and 100,000 employees in more than 31 countries. To estimate the causal contextual effects of the relationship between voluntary managerial turnover and organizational performance, we designed a quasi-experiment using propensity score matching analysis. Our results show that the dysfunctional side of managerial turnover is significant for stores that are large, for stores managed under a primary employment system, for brands operating with higher levels of service orientation, and for countries with more restrictive employment protection legislation. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice and for future research.     

The Impact of Respondent and Interviewer Characteristics on the Number of “No Opinion” Answers

In this article we analyse the number of no opinion answers to attitude items. We argue that that number can be considered as a count variable that should be analysed using Poisson regression or negative binomial regression. Since we're interested in the effect of both respondent and interviewer characteristics on the number of no opinion's we use multilevel analysis that takes into account the hierarchical structure of the data. As a consequence multilevel Poisson regression and multilevel negative binomial regression are applied. Our analysis shows that answering no opinion is related to some sociodemographic respondent characteristics. In addition we find a significant interviewer effect, but we are not able to explain that effect in terms of interviewer variables.     

The influence of relational experience and contractual governance on the negotiation strategy in buyer–supplier disputes

This paper theoretically refines and empirically extends the debate on the type of interplay between relational experience and contractual governance in an under-researched area: supply chain disputes. We define relational experience as either cooperative or competitive; distinguish between control and coordination functions of contractual governance; and assess their interplay on the negotiation strategy used in disputes. Using a unique data set of buyer–supplier disputes, we find, in particular that increasing contractual control governance weakens the positive effect of cooperative relational experience on cooperative negotiation strategy. However, increasing contractual control governance for a buyer–supplier dyad with competitive relational experience will increase cooperative negotiation strategy. Contractual coordination governance reinforces the positive effect of cooperative relational experience. Through this study, we reach a better understanding of how and when contractual and relational governance dimensions interact; rather than whether they act as substitutes or complements as has been studied in prior research. We discuss the implications of these findings for the field of supply chain management.     

The impact of financial sector development on the economic growth of emerging countries： An empirical study for E-7 countries

Globalization, financial liberalization, financial integration, financial sector, and economic growth have been significant issues for many researchers. The studies have investigated the effects of the above issues to the economic growth of countries both theoretically and empirically. Since there has been conducted an enormous body of work, each of them may be grouped and studied separately. This paper focuses on the impact of financial sector development to economic growth and empirically studies the potential effect on the emerging E-7 countries, consisting of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Russian Federation, and Turkey. The study employs panel regression methodology and the data set for modeling Gross Domestic Product （GDP） comprises annual data over 2001-2007, using basic variables which resemble financial sector development, namely market capitalization of listed companies （stock market capitalization）, bank capital to asset ratio, stocks traded, total debt service, foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, real interest rates, and claims on private sector. The analysis indicates that the GDP may be modeled using the above stated macroeconomic variables with considerably high explanatory power, except for the real interest rates and bank capital to asset ratios.     

Does oil price variability affect the long memory and weak form efficiency of stock markets in top oil producers and oil Consumers? Evidence from an asymmetric MF-DFA approach

This study examines the asymmetric multifractality and the market efficiency of the stock markets in the countries that are the top crude oil producers (USA, KSA, Canada and Russia) and consumers (Brazil, China, India, and Japan) using an asymmetric multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (A-MF-DFA) method. The results show evidence of an asymmetric multifractal nature for all markets. Moreover, the multifractality is stronger in the upward movement of the market returns, except in China. The degree of efficiency of the stock markets is shown to be time-varying and experienced a decrease during the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC), but an upside trend occurred during the recent oil price crash followed a significant decline during COVID-19. The stock markets have an anti-persistent feature during GFC and COVID-19, whereas they exhibit a long-term persistent feature during oil price crash. More interestingly, the efficiency of the stock markets of crude oil producers is lower in general than that of oil consumers. Furthermore, the efficiency of the stock market is lower in the downward movement of the market returns than in the upward movement. Asymmetry and oil price uncertainty index are the key driver of the stock markets and can serve as predictor of the stock market dynamics of top oil producers and top oil consumers particularly during COVID-19 and oil price crash.     

The effect of oil price uncertainty on corporate investment in the presence of growth options: Evidence from listed companies in China (1998–2019)

We empirically investigate the effect of oil price uncertainty on corporate investment in the presence of growth options using the financial data of listed firms in China from 1998 to 2019. We reveal three key findings in this paper. First, we find that oil price uncertainty has a U-shaped nonlinear effect on corporate investment. In periods of low uncertainty, oil price uncertainty negatively influences corporate investment. However, in periods of high uncertainty, oil price uncertainty positively influences corporate investment. Second, research has found that the U-shaped nonlinear effect is moderated by the irreversibility and growth opportunities of investment decisions. Third, further analyses reveal that this U-shaped nonlinear effect can be changed by a firm’s characteristics. Specifically, this nonlinear effect can only be observed in non-state-owned enterprises and small firms. We test the robustness of our findings and propose several policy suggestions.     

Employee participation and the influence on job satisfaction of the ‘new generation’ of Chinese employees

The participation of ‘new generation’ employees in management and their satisfaction in the workplace, respectively, remain more than ever important issues in the Chinese societal context in particular, as well as having wider implications for human resource management in general. This study accordingly explores the influence of employee participation mechanisms on the satisfaction of this new generation of employees – by carrying out empirical research in the manufacturing industry in China. The main theoretical contribution aims to show that the participation of such new generation employees in management, supervision and decision-making has a significantly positive impact on their work satisfaction. Furthermore, the employees' willingness to participate (participation intention) appears to play a moderating role between actual participation on the one hand, and satisfaction on the other. Such findings, we argue, potentially apply not only in the societal context of China but might also resonate more widely across other countries in the global economy.     

Drill baby drill? Political influence on federal onshore oil and gas leasing in the Western United States

This paper examines the influence of the federal political environment on the number and acres of leases issued for oil and natural gas development on bureau of land management lands in the western United States between 1983 and 2007. Using a fixed effects Tobit model for a 17-state sample of the westernmost states in the contiguous United States, the findings indicate that regulatory shifts played a significant role in determining the type of leasing. In particular, the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987 led to an increase in competitive leasing and a decline in non-competitive leasing. Unexpectedly, the party and ideology of relevant federal political actors did not consistently have a significant influence on leasing. More conservative U.S. Senate leadership led to increased competitive leasing, but did not have a significant effect on non-competitive leasing. While for the House of Representatives, Democratic alignment, between the U.S. Congressional leadership and the state delegation to the House, led to decreased leasing. The effects of Federal politics on leasing varied by the branch of Congress and the type of lease issued.     

Evidence from shadow price of equity on “Too-Big-to-Fail” Banks

Journal of Productivity Analysis - This paper estimates the shadow price of equity for U.S. commercial banks over 2001–2018 using nonparametric local-linear estimators of the underlying cost...     

Running on the spot? A review of twenty years of research on the management of human resources in comparative and international perspective

Research using a comparative and international perspective on the management of human resources is examined, drawing on articles published in leading human resource management, management/organizational behaviour and related social science journals between 1977 and 1997. In total a little under 2 per cent of the articles under review focused on the management of human resources in a comparative and international perspective. The largest group of these articles was comparative in nature (44 per cent), followed by those with an international perspective (35 per cent). A smaller number adopted a combined approach (17 per cent) and a few were separately classified as foreign national studies (4 per cent). Over time, there has been some progress made in terms of the number of articles published and the scope of topics covered. However, many of the articles displayed similar shortcomings to those noted in earlier reviews of cross-national management/organization studies: in particular, an over-reliance on a small number of primarily Anglo-Saxon countries, a lack of a longitudinal perspective, a loose specification of culture, an ethnocentric bias and a frequent failure to explain observed differences and similarities.     

The joint impact of labour policies and the “Great Recession” on unemployment in Europe

The paper consists of an empirical analysis of the separate as well as joint impacts on total and youth unemployment of indicators of labour market policies on the one hand, and the financial crisis associated with the “Great Recession” on the other. In particular, we investigate labour market data in the past two decades for the Enlarged Europe and adopt a variable accounting for the idiosyncratic severity shock of the crisis. This time-varying and country-specific crisis variable enables us to test empirically and in a novel way the joint impact of labour market policies and the economic crisis on labour market dynamics even when accounting for common macro shocks.     

“Your health and safety is of utmost importance to us”: A review of research on the occupational health and safety of international employees

Organizations cannot function without healthy and safe employees, a stark reality evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20: when lives are threatened, everything else becomes secondary. Few would question that there is a critical need to build HR-relevant knowledge of how to manage the health and safety of employees. Despite the duty of care carried by organizations and the fact that those who work across national borders are a particularly vulnerable group, there is surprisingly little discussion about their health and safety. We examined the literature relevant to the health and safety of international employees across four research disciplines. Our review of 180 papers found a growing yet fragmented field offering important insights with implications for HRM. Our paper is intended as both a review and a call for future advancement. We bring together disparate but related research streams in order to understand what is known about occupational health and safety related to working across national borders and to outline a roadmap for future research and practice.     

How should monetary policy respond to changes in the relative price of oil? Considering supply and demand shocks

This paper examines optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian model where supply and demand shocks affect the price of oil. Optimal policy fully stabilizes core inflation when wages are flexible. The nominal rate rises (falls) in response to the demand (supply) shock. With sticky wages core inflation falls (rises) in response to the demand (supply) shock. Impulse response functions from a VAR estimated with post-1986 U.S. data show minimal movement in core inflation in response to both shocks. The federal funds rate rises (falls) in response to the demand (supply) shock, consistent with the predictions from the theoretical model for policy that stabilizes core inflation.     

Commentary on “The meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work”

This paper provides a commentary on the article in this Special Issue on “The meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work”, welcoming its analysis of the definition, meaning and conceptualisation of talent and seeking to develop further its research recommendations. In particular, it argues that the relationships between talent and gifts should be further explored, proposes that exploring its use in other languages than English would be useful, and suggests comparing its identification and development in management and other fields, especially sport and the arts. It also proposes multidisciplinary research and research into talent and talent management in various contexts, including sectorial, cultural, institutional and structural contexts. Finally, it proposes that factors which influence how talent is identified need further analysis, and perspectives from resource-based theories, ethical theories, development economics, and social capital theories should be utilised.