The impact of regional ICT development on job quality of the employee in China

The paper matches the province-level ICT development with the micro-level data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), uses multiple indicators to measure ICT development and job quality, and investigates the impact of regional ICT development on job quality of the employee. The research conclusions are as follows: First of all, ICT development has a significant positive impact on job quality of the employee. After a series of robustness tests and dealing with endogeneity issues, the research conclusion continues to be valid. Second, when the job quality of the employee is poor, the promotion of ICT development is relatively strong. Third, ICT development has an indirect impact on job quality through the Internet awareness. Finally, ICT development has a relatively strong role in promoting job quality of women, older, non-agricultural, and medium-skill employees. From the policy perspective, in order to improve the job quality of the employee, we suggest promoting ICT development, narrowing the digital gap, increasing investment in education, and taking into account the different characteristics of employees.     

Getting a job as a favor in the Russian post-socialist labor market

The literature on social networks in labor markets often assumes that hiring through a network is a token in a reciprocal favor exchange. Yet, the scope and mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unclear. I propose a general theoretical framework that initially takes the stand-alone favor, rather than reciprocity, as a mode of economic allocation and identifies its institutional support structures. Markets and hierarchies shape favor-doing alongside social networks, often as a byproduct of their other functions. I find empirical evidence for social networks and market pricing as support structures for favors in the Russian post-socialist labor market of the 1990s. The mechanisms behind social networks are prior history and the general norm of reciprocity, while market pricing induces favors by those employers positioned in the middle of the wage distribution and thus exhibiting simultaneously two qualities: a willingness to do favors, because the jobs they have to offer are not sufficiently lucrative to attract the very best talent, and an ability to ask for favors, because nevertheless those jobs remain attractive enough for job seekers at large. Overall, this study shows how labor market institutions, originally set up to support competitive exchanges, affect the likelihood of favors in hiring, in tandem with the traditional support structure, social networks. Favor-doing in emerging markets is understood better as a broadly conceived institutionalized process having a variety of support structures, not just networks, that must be explored from the bottom up in each specific setting.     

A simple model of vertical search engines foreclosure

By means of a simple model with consumers' search, the paper analyzes a monopolistic general search engine incentives to bias organic and sponsored search results in order to favor an integrated website. In the model, manipulation takes place whenever the general search engine places prominently its own vertical search engine instead of the most relevant for consumers. The main finding is that the incentives to manipulate search results are stronger in the organic search case. In the sponsored search case the general search platform internalizes the impact of manipulation on profits, since the less a prominent vertical search engine is relevant to consumers, the lower is the price-per-click that the general search engine can charge.     

Antecedents and consequences of logistics value: And empirical investigation in the Spanish market

In business practice and the academic study of logistics, the incorporation of concepts such as quality followed by value has been truly revolutionary. In addition, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has substantially modified the way inter-company relationships are managed. This has meant that logistics is no longer considered a routine, merely operational activity but a strategic variable which is a deciding factor in achieving customer satisfaction. There are, however, still a large number of companies which continue to ignore the differentiating potential of logistics and consider it to be a routine activity. Our contribution comes within the framework of this new perspective which is analysed on the basis of an emerging concept: logistics value. The objective of this study is to contribute to the knowledge on what logistics value consists of and how it is formed, in business to business (B2B) relationships in particular. On the basis of a theoretical framework obtained from the literature review of perceived value from a trade-off perspective, we carry out an empirical analysis to determine the antecedents and consequences of logistics value. Our results, through SEM analysis show that ICT, the benefits derived from supplier-customer relationship, logistics service quality and the sacrifices associated to logistics service delivery in terms of costs, contribute to creating logistics value which is the antecedent to the classic satisfaction-loyalty chain.     

Assessment of mobile technology use in the emerging market: Analyzing intention to use m-payment services in India

The potential use of mobile payment is enormous and it is receiving attention as an alternative mode of payment worldwide. The present study develops a conceptual model to analyze the intention to use mobile payment services in the emerging market. Data was collected in India, one of the biggest emerging market, through a survey. The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling approach. The results offer support that innovativeness, stress and perceived ease of use influence the perceived usefulness of mobile payment services. Subsequently, perceived usefulness, perceived satisfaction, perceived risk and perceived trust influence the intention to use mobile payment services. The findings provide alternatives for companies to consolidate this technology-based payment service.     

Power in the market for Medi-Cal services

The California Medicaid Reform Act of 1982 resulted in a shift in power from the supply to the demand side of the Medi-Cal market. We find some evidence that strategic behavior by hospitals in the subsequent period may have countered the erosion of supplier market power. This study conducts an empirical assessment of market power in markets for Medi-Cal services, in the year reforms were first implemented (1983) and six years later. Multihospital chain presence is found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on market power, and to vary by chain ownership type.     

The gender pay gap in the ICT labour market: comparative experiences from the UK and New Zealand

This paper addresses the issues surrounding gender pay gaps focusing on the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector of the labour market. Reporting on research conducted in the UK and New Zealand (NZ) we adopted a mixed method approach using comparable qualitative and quantitative research techniques to investigate pay issues amongst women working in ICT in the UK and NZ. Our findings reveal commonalities of experience and some interesting differences. Unlike with the UK sample, for example, in NZ women working in ICT do not believe that their pay reflects their workload, skills and their position within their own organisation. Our study found that non‐transparent pay and reward systems and salary secrets exacerbate inequality and discrimination in the UK and NZ. The paper concludes by offering some policy directions to encourage a narrowing of the gender pay gap and reflects on the benefits of doing cross‐national research.     

Being a woman in an ICT job: an analysis of the gender pay gap and discrimination in Spain

Despite policy initiatives aimed at promoting female access to jobs, the information and communication technology (ICT) professions have traditionally been largely monopolised by men. Segregation, gendered stereotypes and environmental factors have a clear impact on educational and professional choices, as well as on working conditions. The spread of ICT to all economic activities has meant that ICT specialists are now to be found everywhere, not only in the ICT sector where many stereotypes related to technical jobs persist. This work aims to analyse the gender wage gap and discrimination in ICT professions, with the emphasis on how working in an ICT-intensive industry might affect that situation. The study uses the Spanish Earning Structure Survey data for 2014, and applies wage decomposition techniques to the wage distribution. The results show that female ICT professionals face unfavorable working conditions, especially in highly qualified jobs and in ICT-intensive industries.     

Brand equity in the business-to-business market

Brands have been developed by consumer companies but have been slow to develop in business-to-business marketing. This article explains the concept of brand equity in a specific industrial marketing setting. In addition, the sources of brand equity are investigated as well as the appropriate communications strategy and the relative importance of brand relative to other purchase criteria. The research method used was a conjoint analysis experiment. The subjects were decision-making unit (DMU) members of industrial companies in South Africa that purchase medium-voltage electrical equipment. Research results suggest that while brand equity has a role to play, price and delivery were more important. However, a price premium can be obtained when a company has high brand equity. Implications for managers are discussed.     

Access to ICT in rural and urban Thailand

This paper addresses the information and communication technology adoption decisions of Thai households. The findings suggest that household composition, education, wealth, and occupation are key factors determining information and communication technology adoption. The rural–urban gap of mobile phone adoption was negligible in 2009 after controlling for household characteristics, while the gaps for other information and communication technologies have persisted. Having a family member migrate to work elsewhere significantly increases the likelihood of mobile phone adoption.     

External knowledge search,innovative performance and productivity in the Korean ICT sector

In recent years, Korea’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry has grown rapidly. The prosperity of the ICT industry has brought growing recognition that rising productivity and innovative performance have made major contributions to ensuring competitive advantage in international markets. In this context, recent studies stress the importance of external knowledge for improving both innovative performance and productivity. This paper empirically investigates the effects of firms’ external knowledge search behavior on their productivity as well as their innovative performance in the Korean ICT manufacturing sector. Based on firm-level data from the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), this study indicates that incremental innovation and productivity are both related to external knowledge search.     

The effects of emotional intelligence on job performance and life satisfaction for the research and development scientists in China

To demonstrate the utility of the emotional intelligence (EI) construct in organizational studies, this study focuses on the effect of EI on job performance among research and development scientists in China. We argue that EI is a significant predictor of job performance beyond the effect of the General Mental Ability (GMA) battery on performance. This predictor effect is supported by results on a study of research and development scientists working for a large computer company in China. Our results also show that a self-reported EI scale developed for Chinese respondents, the WLEIS, is a better predictor of job performance than the scale developed in the U.S., the MSCEIT. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Search and selection in the money market fund industry

This paper develops a dynamic, stochastic growth system for money market fund families and tests how search behavior within this system affects fund family exit. The outcome of search behavior is measured as the time-varying parameters of the growth system, estimated by the Kalman filter. The results provide no evidence that the continuously updated coefficients influence the risk of failure. However, the cumulative amount of search generally affects exit positively, consistent with Hannan and Freeman's (1984) structural inertia theory. Founding conditions and money market fund performance are also important predictors of money market fund failure. These findings are discussed in the light of Bowman's (1963) theory of managerial coefficients and its applicability to simple industries like money market funds. The implications for future empirical studies on evolutionary growth systems are also discussed.     

Exploring the potential of wireless technologies to accelerate universal Internet access in Ghana

Ghana was one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to be connected to the Internet, yet has very low Internet usage (5.3 users per 100 inhabitants). A qualitative study including in-depth interviews with ISPs explored Internet diffusion in Ghana. Findings suggest that due to Ghana's inefficient and outdated fixed-line infrastructure, universal Internet access goals might not be achievable through fixed-line technologies. Rather, wireless technologies may be more efficient. However, high access costs continue to be a barrier. Policy options to encourage widespread deployment of wireless broadband and cost reduction are presented as suggestions for further research. These include using universal service funds to expand the national backbone with an open access high capacity wireless backbone to reach unserved and underserved areas, reducing license and regulatory fees for the wireless industry to encourage coverage and capacity expansion, and mandatory infrastructure sharing to reduce cost.     

Measurement and characterisation of the Digital Divide of Spanish regions at enterprise level. A comparative analysis with the European context

Until now, a reduced number of research is observed on the adoption and use of ICTs in enterprises and on the digital divide (DD) between them at regional scale in Europe. What is meant by DD are the differences in the levels of digital development of the enterprises; being the digital development the degree of adoption and use of ICTs and e-commerce by the firms. The aim of this piece of work is to characterise and measure the DD in the Spanish regions and those in the countries of the European Union based on the data of their enterprises with more than 10 employees which have used ICTs. The methodology is developed in the following stages: 1) Construction of a synthetic index of digital development (Enterprise Digital Development Index –EDDI-) for countries in the EU and Spanish regions. The production of this index is carried out based on the factors obtained with the factor analysis (FA) with the aim of identifying the key variables which define the different EDDI components. These variables come from the “Community survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises” of Eurostat. 2) Classification of Spanish regions into the groups of European countries with a similar level of EDDI components based on the discriminant analysis. Those groups are previously obtained by using cluster analysis. And 3) Comparative analysis of the DD between the Spanish regions and those in countries of the EU based on EDDI components and the identified groups. The study provides a synthetic index (EDDI) at European scale comprising 3 dimensions which permits obtaining: i) a ranking from more to less digital development of countries and regions permitting the measurement of the DD among them is established; and ii) a typology of European countries and Spanish regions is defined according to the 3 dimensions of EDDI. The main results of this piece of work show that the Spanish regions at enterprise level: i) are in a medium or higher level of digital development than their European counterparts, presenting, furthermore, a lower DD between them in relation to what happens in European countries; ii) stand out for having a higher digital inclusion than European countries in the ICTs related to infrastructures of internet access and for the interaction with the public authorities; and iii) have a digital development deficit in the integration of ICTs for e-commerce.     

Scenarios of the organic food market in Europe

Scenario analysis is a qualitative tool for strategic policy analysis that enables researchers and policymakers to support decision making, and a systemic analysis of the main determinants of a business or sector. In this study, a scenario analysis is developed regarding the future development of the market of organic food products in Europe. The scenario follows a participatory approach, exploiting potential interactions among the relevant driving forces, as selected by experts. Network analysis is used to identify the roles of driving forces in the different scenarios, and the results are discussed in comparison with the main findings from existing scenarios on the future development of the organic sector.     

Deals not done: Sources of failure in the market for ideas

Using novel survey data on technology licensing, we report the first empirical evidence linking the three main sources of failure emphasized in the market design literature (lack of market thickness, congestion, lack of market safety) to deal outcomes. We disaggregate the licensing process into three stages and find that, although lack of market thickness and deal failure are correlated in the first stage, they are not in the latter stages, underscoring the bilateral monopoly conditions under which negotiations over intellectual property often occur. In contrast, market safety is only salient in the final stage. Several commonly referenced bargaining frictions (congestion) are salient, particularly in the second stage. Also, universities and firms differ in the stage during which they are most likely to experience deal failure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Progress of e-development in China since 1998

In this paper, a holistic analytical framework for tracing and understanding the progress of e-development is developed and adopted in an empirical case study of China’s e-development since 1998. In particular, the progress is analyzed systematically by benchmarking various ICT infrastructure and e-devices, the composition of Internet users, and the key dimensions of e-government, e-working, e-commerce, and e-networking. In addition, the questions of whether the geographical digital divide in the country has been narrowed is examined. Our findings show that (1) China has made noticeable progress in the e-development since 1998; yet, progress varied in different dimensions; (2) based on the overall performance, 2004 can be considered as the watershed for China to move from the formative stage to the developmental stage; (3) during the e-development, digital disparities in China have dramatically decreased at the provincial level, however, the urban-rural digital gap widened. We suggest that other than promoting affordable ICT possession, the wider and more diversified e-applications for different walks of life will be important for China to move towards the mature stage.     

The influence of secondary production on industry definition in the extended vertical market model

Secondary production is defined and its role in the estimation of an extended vertical market model b examined. Two impacts on the subject industry are identified, called primary product dominance and primary product focus. A simultaneous equations model consisting of a profit equation and two secondary production equations is estimated using data from the interindustry transactions accounts. The profit equation captures the impact on industry profit of secondary production and of extended market structure. The dominance equation captures the relationship between secondary production and industry profit and scale of production. The focus equation captures the relationship between secondary production and industry profit and excess capacity. The model is estimated for all industries, and the common specification is then applied to industries grouped by type.