Dynamics of firm's network community associations and firm's innovation performance

ABSTRACT

R&D network structures have crucial impacts on firm's innovation performance. However, most previous studies have been based on the whole or ego network perspective, few studies have investigated the influence of community structure that a firm is engaged in on its innovation performance, and it is still unclear how a firm's relation to network community affect its innovation performance. This research aims to address this gap by focusing on the dynamics of firm's network community associations, empirically investigate the relationship between dynamics of firm's network community associations and its innovation performance. Based on the unbalanced panel data of smartphone R&D network during year 2004–2017, the results demonstrate that change in community member associations and movement across communities both have inverted-U-shaped effects on firm's innovation performance. Moreover, innovation openness depth has moderating effects on the relationships between dynamics of firm's network community associations and its innovation performance.     

Caught in the Web? Addictive behavior in cyberspace and the role of goal-orientation

New online 3-D virtual worlds are complex and differ significantly from each other. In this study we examine whether the type of virtual world is likely to make a difference on how addictive behavior develops and its subsequent outcomes. We examine the effect of goal-orientation on the degree to which cognitive absorption within the virtual world results in addiction and in the impact of addiction on continuance and purchasing intentions. Using surveys conducted in World of Warcraft (goal-oriented) and Second Life (experience-oriented) virtual worlds and analysis via ANOVA, we find that while cognitive absorption contributes to the development of addiction, which subsequently leads to increased continuance and spending intentions in goal-oriented virtual worlds, none of these relationships hold in the case of the experience-oriented world. Goal-oriented virtual worlds provide a problematic conduit for addictive behavior and marketing manipulation and the authors believe that they would benefit from further attention by policy-makers. Experience-oriented virtual worlds do not appear to provide the same dangers and would appear to be more healthy avenues for marketing-consumer engagement.     

Gender,Work Burden,and Mental Health in Post-Reform China

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how total work burden, including paid work and unpaid care work, affects the mental health of prime-age, employed women and men in urban China. Based on the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), regression results indicate that total work burden is negatively related to the mental health of both men and women, consistent with the idea that additional work hours reduce time available for rest and leisure. Women have longer working hours and are more likely to be time poor than men, and this gender inequality in total work burden contributes to the gender gap in mental health. The relationships between the components of total work burden – paid and unpaid work – and mental health shed further light on the strength of gender norms and the barriers to redistribution of unpaid work from women to men necessary to reduce the gender gap in mental health.     

Inventor cooperation network effects on technology diversification: the moderating role of intellectual property protection

ABSTRACT

Technological diversification can overcome the limitations imposed by an enterprise’s single technological capability and enables enterprises to recombine resources, thereby enhancing their competitive advantage. In-house inventor cooperation can improve the efficiency of the production factor combination and expand the scope of the enterprise’s technology base. This study empirically explores the effect of in-house inventor cooperation network on technology diversification. In addition, this study further investigates the moderating effect of intellectual property protection on the inventor cooperation network and on corporate technology diversification. An enterprise inventor cooperation network is embodied by its network location characteristics. Empirical results show that the difference in the location of the inventor cooperative network exhibits different effects on the diversification of enterprise technology. Moreover, intellectual property protection significantly weakens the incentive effect of the intermediary location of inventor cooperative network on corporate technology diversification.     

The contrasting interaction effects of university-industry collaboration motivation with demographic characteristics on university-industry collaboration performance in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper applies a demographic characteristics perspective to understand the internal contingencies of the relationship between university-industry collaboration (UIC) motivation (commercialisation, learning, accessing the resources, and teaching) and UIC performance (number of publications, number of patents, commercial products, and number of business cooperation cases). The paper focuses on two aspects of demographic characteristics, age and gender among UIC scholars, and their effect on scholars’ UIC motivation as potential enhancements to improve UIC performance. We collected data from 376 scholars with UIC experience in Taiwan, and the proposed hypotheses were empirically tested. Our results extend the literature by showing that specific categories of UIC performance depend on a scholar's specific type of UIC motivation. We also specify the moderating effect of demographic characteristics on the relationship between specific subconstructs of UIC motivation and UIC performance. The study’s implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Returns to job satisfaction in the presence of horizontal mismatch

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we study the relationship among horizontal mismatch, job satisfaction and wages using data from the 2013 Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT). Estimates from 2SLS indicate that 1) field-occupation match in the highest degree has a positive effect on job satisfaction and wages; and 2) controlling for field-occupation matches, job satisfaction has a positive but diminishing effect on wages with a large heterogeneity across different age groups. In addition, we also distinguish between job satisfaction arising from benefits and job satisfaction that is productivity enhancing and find both to have a positive but nonlinear effect on wages.     

Satisfaction with botulinum toxin treatment: a cross-sectional survey of patients with cervical dystonia

Abstract

Objective:

Botulinum toxin is widely utilized as a first-line therapy for cervical dystonia (CD). Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of this treatment, but little data exist on patient satisfaction. To address this question, a structured patient survey was conducted in Germany, France, the US, and Canada (n?=?136 patients with CD).

Methods:

Specific information was collected on the patients’ current and prior botulinum toxin treatment cycles and their overall quality-of-life (including completion of the Cervical Dystonia Impact Profile-58 [CDIP-58]).

Results:

Patients rated the mean onset of action for their previous injection as 3.8 days, with peak effect at 3.6 weeks and a decline in effects at 9.5 weeks. While most patients were satisfied with their current therapy, only 50.7% were very satisfied, 42.6% were somewhat satisfied, and 6.6% not at all satisfied with their current therapy. Patient satisfaction was lowest just prior to injection and highest at the time of peak effect. Approximately 45% of patients reported that they would prefer a treatment cycle of ≤10 weeks. The mean patient rating of current state of health was above 50 on a visual analog scale from 0 (low) to 100 (high). CDIP-58 results indicated that patients continued to have symptoms on all domains.

Conclusions:

Botulinum toxin is generally very effective for the treatment of CD. However, this survey indicates that patient satisfaction typically declines prior to re-injection, and many patients may prefer an injection interval of less than the standard 12 weeks. While the survey was based on subjective patient recollections, and the degree to which patient satisfaction is attributable to the control of neurological symptoms remains unclear, prospective studies are clearly warranted to confirm the time course of patient satisfaction and to determine the optimal treatment parameters with botulinum toxins.     

The Gender Impact of Social Protection Policies: A Critical Review of the Evidence

Abstract

Over the course of the neoliberal era, social protection policies have been transformed dramatically; these changes have had profound gender implications. Since the early 1980s, welfare state regimes around the world have shifted away from ‘universalism' towards ‘targeting'. More recently, there has been a further shift—especially in industrialized countries—away from the male-breadwinner to the adult worker model. Despite the progressivity implied by this latter shift, important issues of gender inequality remain unresolved (even in Nordic countries where levels of gender equity are higher than elsewhere). This paper presents a critical review of social protection policies, examined from a gender perspective. The analysis presents a conceptual framework on gender and the welfare state, and examines the experience of major industrialized and developing countries in engendering social policy. In particular, this paper provides a careful examination of care-related programs, since this domain is particularly important to understanding the gendered effects of social protection policies. Finally, the gendered implications of the global crisis and subsequent policy measures are examined.     

How do Labor Unions Influence the Gender Earnings Gap? A Comparative Study of the US and Korea

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative study of the United States and Korea regarding the effects of unions on gender earnings gaps in 2004. Using datasets representative of the population of the US and Korea, this contribution shows that gender differences in the workers' observed characteristics and the unobserved component reduce gender earnings gaps in union jobs in both the US and Korea. Fringe benefits in the union sector attract women workers with higher labor market qualifications into the union sector and thereby reduce the gender earnings gap in this sector. The study finds that this self-selection process in the union sector is stronger in Korea than in the US, but the seniority-based wage system that prevails in the Korean union sector widens the gender earnings gap.     

Use of a diagnosis-based risk adjustment model to estimate costs of indigent care in a community at Medicaid reimbursement rates

Objectives: This study used a diagnosis-based risk adjustment model to estimate the annual costs of uninsured patients in Austin, Texas, and describe the prevalence and costs of their chronic conditions. The data were supplied by the Indigent Care Collaboration, a partnership of local safety-net hospitals and clinics.

Methods: This study used the Diagnostic Cost Groups prospective Medicaid All-Encounters model, which uses diagnoses, age and gender to assign relative risk scores to patients. The relative risk scores were multiplied by the per capita Texas Medicaid expenditure to obtain estimated annual costs. Chronic diseases were described in terms of prevalence and total estimated annual cost.

Results: A total of 471,194 encounters were recorded for 163,729 patients meeting the study inclusion criteria between the 1st March 2004 and the 28th February 2005. The mean estimated patient yearly cost was US $1,307, and the total estimated yearly population cost was $228,909,529. The most common chronic conditions included hypertension, diabetes, depression, substance abuse, pregnancy, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates how the unknown costs associated with caring for indigent uninsured patients in a community can be estimated at Medicaid reimbursement rates using the Diagnostic Cost Group model on aggregated patient encounter data.     

Indirect Taxation and Gender Equity: Evidence from South Africa

Abstract

This study adds to the growing literature on the distributional effects of indirect or consumption taxes in developing countries by exploring whether these taxes have differential gender outcomes. Using data from Statistics South Africa's 2000 Income and Expenditure Survey, the study investigates differences in tax incidence between “female-type” and “male-type” households, classified according to their demographic and economic attributes. The results suggest that zero-rating a well-targeted selection of basic foodstuffs and fuel for household use is important in protecting female-type households, especially those in the lowest quintiles and with children, from bearing an otherwise disproportionate share of the tax burden. In contrast, high taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel for private transport result in a larger incidence on male-type households. The study also suggests ways in which the indirect tax structure could be refined to further reduce the large gender (and income) inequities that exist in South Africa.     

领导者情绪智力对员工工作满意度的影响

采用跨层次的研究设计,利用通过问卷调查收集的数据,探讨了领导者的情绪智力对员工工作满意度的影响作用以及员工的情绪智力对两者间关系的调节作用。针对多层线型模型的统计分析结果表明:领导者认知自我情绪的能力对员工工作满意度的影响作用显著;员工的情绪智力对其工作满意度的影响作用显著;员工的情绪智力对领导者的情绪调节能力与员工的工作满意度间的关系具有调节作用。     

Trade Liberalization and Gender Wage Inequality in Mexico

Abstract

After twenty years of trade liberalization in Mexico, the relationship between gender wage inequality and trade remains insufficiently studied, in spite of evidence of increasing numbers of women in industrial employment. This study aims to analyze the effects of export orientation and other characteristics that represent the industrial underpinnings of restructuring on gender wage inequality for 2001–5. There is consistent evidence of the negative impact of export orientation on men's and women's wages and the gender wage ratio, signifying that women lose in both absolute and relative terms. This result holds after controlling for women's share of employment and the skills of both genders, contrary to the expected effect from trade on equality. There is also a negative relation between a rise in the proportion of unskilled workers and the gender wage ratio, which suggests that the trade-induced skill hypothesis cannot be considered an adequate explanation for gender inequality.     

A Macro-Level Account of Money and Credit to Explain Gendered Financialization

ABSTRACT

The paper intervenes in the debate on macroeconomics, money, gender, and financialization. Generally, there is an omission in gender studies on gender-specific effects of monetary policy. Not only is there a blind-spot about the role of monetary policy in feminist political economy, there is equally a blind-spot in meso-level analysis which focus on the social construction of institutional mechanisms and the predatory market power of oligopolistic banks. Yet, monetary policy is neither neutral in the short-term nor long-term. Such policies have gender-differentiated effects on employment, income, consumption, savings which in turn have feed-back effects on economic growth. My intent is to focus on the changing role of monetary policy and highlight the omission in gender studies on financialization, as well as argue that the shift of the credit cycle to fictitious capital (future revenue) is one of the central explanatory variables in the predatory banking model of subprime lending. Yet, the financial crisis of 2007 did not usher in a normalisation of the credit and finance system. Exactly the opposite happened. Unconventional monetary policy continues to facilitate a credit system based on future claims which has gendered distributional effects, in the process increasing the wealth inequality on a global scale.     

Patient- and clinician-reported satisfaction with pharmacological stress agents for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI)

Abstract

Objective:

The objective of this study was to compare clinician and patient measures of satisfaction with two pharmacological stress agents (PSA), regadenoson and dipyridamole, used in Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) Myocardial Perfusion Imaging (MPI).

Methods:

This observational study included patients who had undergone SPECT MPI with regadenoson or dipyridamole, as well as the clinician/clinical technologist who performed the test. Mean scores for individual item and domain scores of the main outcome measures were computed as well as the effect sizes (ES) of the mean difference in scores between treatment groups. Statistical significance of the mean item and domain score differences were assessed via Mann-Whitney tests.

Main outcomes measures:

Two self-report questionnaires which had beeb previously developed and validated: Patient Satisfaction/Preference Questionnaire (PSPQ) and Clinician Satisfaction/Preference Questionnaire (CSPQ).

Results:

A total of 87 patients (68 received regadenoson, 19 received dipyridamole) and nine clinicians/clinical technologists took part in the study. Patients had a mean age of 66.8?±?12.2 years, and 56.3% were male. Compared to dipyridamole, use of regadenoson was associated with greater clinician satisfaction on all items and domains of the CSPQ (p?<?0.001 for all comparisons). Among patients, regadenoson was associated with less bother and greater satisfaction than dipyridamole for all items on the PSPQ. These patients reported less stinging at the injection site (ES?=??0.66) and less nervousness during injection (ES?=??0.60). The PSPQ found that regadenoson patients were more satisfied with their PSA than dipyridamole patients in all areas.

Limitations:

This study utilized a relatively small sample size of dipyridamole patients and lacked an adenosine group. A broader sampling of professionals would also help demonstrate generalizability.

Conclusion:

Both patients and clinicians reported higher satisfaction with regadenoson compared to dipyridamole for SPECT-MPI. Clinicians were particularly satisfied with the preparation and administration aspects of the drug, while patients rated it highly on convenience and reduced incidence of side-effects.     

Satisfaction with botulinum toxin treatment in post-stroke spasticity: results from two cross-sectional surveys (patients and physicians)

Objective:

To characterize patient and physician satisfaction with current standard-of-care botulinum toxin treatment regimens for symptom control in patients with post-stroke spasticity using structured interviews with patients and physicians.

Research design and methods:

Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in Canada, France, Germany, and the US. The patient survey included patients with post-stroke spasticity who had undergone at least two botulinum toxin A injection cycles. Information on patients’ current and prior botulinum toxin treatment cycles and quality of life was collected. The physician survey included physicians treating post-stroke spasticity with botulinum toxins and collected information regarding physician satisfaction with botulinum toxin treatment for post-stroke spasticity.

Results:

Of 79 participating patients with post-stroke spasticity, 61 (77%) received treatment with onabotulinumtoxinA, 15 (19%) with abobotulinumtoxinA, and three (4%) with incobotulinumtoxinA. Overall, 40.5% of patients were very satisfied, 48.1% were somewhat satisfied, and 11.4% were not at all satisfied with botulinum toxin treatment. Patient satisfaction was lowest just before injection and highest at the time of peak effect. The mean injection interval was 13.7 (SD?=?3.5) weeks; however, 43.4% of patients expressed a preference for intervals of ≤10 weeks. Most of the 105 participating physicians’ were moderately (57.7%) or very (36.5%) satisfied with botulinum toxin treatment. However, physicians estimated that 16.2% of their patients with post-stroke spasticity could benefit from shorter injection intervals, and that 24.6% of patients could benefit from higher doses than those permitted by current country directives.

Study limitations:

Patients’ responses were based on subjective recollections and physicians’ responses were based on general impressions.

Conclusions:

These surveys indicate that patients’ and physicians’ satisfaction with botulinum toxin therapy for post-stroke spasticity is overall very good. However, patients’ satisfaction over the treatment cycle varied with onset, peak, and trough of treatment effects and patients and physicians expressed a need for treatment individualization.     

知识型员工的工作满意度与组织承诺关系研究——以西安高新区科技型企业为例

本文在个人特征影响工作满意度,工作满意度影响组织承诺这样一个递进的逻辑框架下,以西安高新区科技企业的知识型员工为研究对象,从分析员工的个人特征入手,研究工作满意度与组织承诺之间的关系,为工作满意和组织承诺探寻分析的微观基础。与以往研究结论不同的是,本文的方差分析结果表明,职务与工作满意度中个人因素维度(F3)不相关,这从侧面反映出在所调研的样本企业中普遍存在员工之间虽然存在职务差异,但同样存在实现成就感的机会缺失;相关分析的结果表明,工作满意度的3个维度与持续承诺(F6)之间均无显著相关性,本文分析认为,工作满意度代表与工作相关的态度,涉及的经济性指标如工资和福利等因素较少,而持续承诺是建立在经济原则的基础之上,因此,提升员工对组织的持续承诺不仅仅是提升员工工作满意度,还需从工资和福利等经济指标入手。     

Job Satisfaction,Work Time,and Well-Being Among Married Women in Japan

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between paid work time and other time use of working married women with children in Japan and two aspects of well-being: job satisfaction and stress. The study demonstrates that rather than the amount of daily paid work time, both the gap between actual and desired work time and the intrinsic utility derived from paid work as an activity appear to be the key time-related variables affecting Japanese women's job satisfaction. The paper also shows that paid work time has multiple spillover effects on stress. It discusses the tradeoffs that married women with children in Japan make to stay in employment and the consequences for employer strategies and public policy.     

Women's Intrahousehold Decision-Making Power and Their Health Status: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

This study examines how various determinants of women's decision-making power affect their health status in rural Ethiopia. It identifies the determinants of women's decision-making power using a qualitative survey conducted over 2008–9, and it investigates their effects on women's health status using the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey panel dataset for the period 1994–2004. The study finds that women's health status is positively associated with their education, the number of brothers they have, whether they live in their birthplace, and whether their age is close to that of their husband. In contrast, women's health is negatively associated with whether they are in a marriage of their choice compared to an arranged marriage. The study concludes that multiple factors originating from context-specific gender norms affect women's decision-making power and have differential effects on women's health outcomes.