Conceptualizing academic-entrepreneurial intentions: An empirical test

Policy makers are increasingly recognizing the catalytic role of academics’ spin-off companies in a national economy, which derives from their innovativeness that result in new value generation, and job creation. Although research on academics’ spin-off companies has been increasing, knowledge gaps exist as to the specific determinants and processes that characterize the emergence of academics’ entrepreneurial intentions that lead them to spin off companies. This research aims to fill this gap. Drawing from psychological and entrepreneurship research on intentionality, the authors propose a conceptual model of academics’ entrepreneurial intentions. They empirically test the model using structural equation modeling and a robust data set collected in two European academic settings to guide future research on this important topic.     

Cognitive skill and technology diffusion: An empirical test

Cognitive skills are robustly associated with good national economic performance. How much of this is due to high-skill countries doing a better job of absorbing total factor productivity from the world's technology leader? Following Benhabib and Spiegel (Handbook of Economic Growth, 2005), who estimated the Nelson–Phelps technology diffusion model, I use the database of IQ tests assembled by Lynn and Vanhanen, 2002, Lynn and Vanhanen, 2006 and find a robust relationship between national average IQ and total factor productivity growth. Controlling for IQ, years of education is of modest statistical significance. If IQ gaps between countries persist and model parameters remain stable, TFP levels are forecasted to sharply diverge, creating a “twin peaks” result. After controlling for IQ, few other growth variables are statistically significant.     

An empirical model of a household's choice of activities

This paper analyses how households of school-age children choose to participate in the labour force, volunteer work, democratic assemblies, and child-related leisure activities. Contrary to previous studies, the model presented in this paper treats all of these household's choice of activities involving time allocation decisions as simultaneously determined. The empirical section uses qualitative data estimation techniques which permit a wide range of joint and interaction effects among the variables of the model. The results confirm the importance of time-opportunity cost variables as major determinants of household's choice of activities with the mother's education consituting a particularly important factor.     

Competition in multiple characteristics: An empirical test of location equilibrium

With products differentiated in multiple dimensions, the location equilibrium for a duopolistic market exhibits maximum differentiation in one dimension and minimum differentiation in all the other dimensions. This paper analyses whether this equilibrium arises using real data for the Spanish movie theatre exhibition market where the firms (cinemas) are differentiated along two main dimensions (their geographical location and the set of movies exhibited). Data not only shows a trade-off, in that closer theatres tend to choose a higher proportion of different movies, but also that there is a tendency towards either max–min or min–max product differentiation.     

Market orientation as determinant of entrepreneurship: An empirical investigation on SMEs

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Market Orientation (MO) are considered key factors in ensuring firm longevity in the new competitive landscape. Despite extensive research during the past decade, most of the studies use samples that exclude small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent the majority of economic activity worldwide. Some studies do investigate this relationship in small companies but place little importance on the subtle differences between SMEs and large companies when measuring MO. This study empirically investigates the relationship between MO and EO on a sample of 2500 Swedish SMEs. A new measure of MO that takes into consideration SMEs specific conditions has been developed and used. Findings suggest that MO is the main determinant of EO in SMEs.     

The use of multiple scenarios in sales forecasting: An empirical test

Nearly 500 annual sales forecasts were generated from the responses of 82 subjects who were presented with either a time-series plot of historical sales data by itself or with the same plus three scenarios, and were then asked to make forecasts. Sales forecasts were made in either a stable or an unstable environment. The findings did not support the claims made by scenario advocates. Scenarios did not make unexpected outcomes less surprising. Instead, scenarios were found to increase confidence in a favored forecast. Furthermore, no support was found for the contention that scenarios improved upon ‘eyeball’ extrapolations or made judgmental sales forecasts more accurate than quantitative extrapolations. Scenarios were found to be tainted by many of the same biases previously identified by cognitive psychologists.     

Shared values make a difference: An empirical test of corporate culture

Is the recent popular management literature on corporate culture and cultural values just a passing fad or is it highlighting some fundamental organizational realities? The results from a recent nationwide survey of American managers shows, we are convinced, that clearly articulated organizational values do make a significant difference in the lives of employees, as well as in their organization's performance. This article is an effort to integrate this broad-based data on individual managers' values with the reported experience of successful organizations that pay careful attention to their culture. It also offers ideas on how human resource managers can facilitate the alignment of personal and organizational values.     

Asset specificity,capital intensity and capital structure: An empirical test

Capital investment and capital financing decisions interact. To resolve current controversies in investment-leverage-growth relationships requires an integrated industrial organization/financial economics empirical model of profit margins, capital investment intensity, leverage and risk. Using cumulative future losses in discontinued operations to measure the asset specificity of the firm's investments, empiricai results support a complementary (positive) relationship between debt and investment, the debt financing of verifiable contemporaneous growth, equity financing of future growth and the debt financing of specific assets. This evidence rejects the transactions cost theory of capital structure in Fortune 500 firms.     

An improved empirical Bayes test for positive exponential families

We exhibit an empirical Bayes test δ^* _n for a decision problem using a linear error loss in a class of positive exponential families. This empirical Bayes test δ^* _n possesses the asymptotic optimality, and its associated regret converges to zero with rate n ⁻¹(ln n )⁶ This rate of convergence improves the previous results in the literature in the sense that a faster rate of convergence is achieved under much weaker conditions. Examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the empirical Bayes test δ^* _n     

The long-run implications of the production smoothing model of inventories: An empirical test

This paper provides an empirical test of the long-run implications of the production smoothing model of inventories, the dominant framework for inventory investment research in the past. Intertemporal models of a firm holding inventories of finished goods predict a long-run relationship between inventories, shipments, factor input prices, and the real interest rate which is tested here using cointegration test procedures. These tests provide little support for the predictions of the production smoothing model. In most of the data sets used, test statistics indicate that inventories, shipments, factor input prices, the nominal interest rate, and the inflation rate maintain a long-run equilibrium relationship but parameter estimates of cointegrating vectors are often implausible, typically rejecting hypotheses implied by structural models of the production smoothing motive for holding inventories.     

Market entry of firms with different legal forms: an empirical test of the influence of institutional factors

Drawing upon institutional theory we develop a conceptual model and investigate the determinants of market entry for worker cooperatives, publicly traded and limited-liability companies. Our results show that formal institutional conditions (i.e., mercantile legislation) influence the start-up choice of entrepreneurs regarding the legal form of their new venture. In addition, we take into account the influence of informal institutional conditions (i.e., local corporate culture) on the market entry rate of firms with different legal structures. Findings show that, while market entry is sensitive to the general economic climate, entry rates of firms with a different legal structure respond differently to the same economic conditions.

An empirical test of a decision theory model for entrepreneurial acts

A decision theory model is presented where the decision to start a firm is assumed to be a rational economic decision of a utility maximizer. The model is tested using data for business births in 82 Mississippi counties over the period 1979-1987. Results of the aggregated model are encouraging but suggest that the alternative to a risky venture is not riskless wage labour. Rather, wage labour also carries a risk which is important in determining whether to start a business. The results indicate that there is a strong economic motivation in entrepreneurial ventures which must be considered in addition to psychological factors. The model suggests that encouragement of entrepreneurial ventures can be based upon lowering thc costs of start-ups and policies that increase the probability of success.     

Weekly pattern in higher moments: An empirical test in Hong Kong stock market

This paper provides a direct test on the day-of-the-week effect on higher moments of stock returns and compares across different industrial sectors of the Hong Kong market. Empirical results show that daily returns of six different industrial sectors on all weekdays are non-normally distributed. The hypothesis of equal higher moments is rejected by most pairs of weekdays, particularly the Monday-Tuesday pair, for all indices, supporting the existence of the day-of-the-week effect on higher moments. The results also show that the weekly pattern on volatility and higher moments cannot help explain the weekly pattern on mean returns through the concept of risk premium. Further analysis shows that Rogalski’s effect exists on the higher moments because the day-of-the-week effect exists only in non-January months.     

An empirical test of stakeholder influence strategy models: evidence from business downsizing in Taiwan

Frooman's model of stakeholder influence strategies uses levels of resource dependence to determine the power of stakeholder influence. Our study provides initial empirical tests of his model applied in business downsizing. Data from 18 recently downsized firms in Taiwan, including nine multinational corporations (MNCs), were plotted against the Frooman model. We found that resource-dependence alone as Frooman theorized could not explain the influence strategies that stakeholders (in this case the employees) took in response to firms' downsizing decisions. Further investigation revealed that the institutional factors had a significant effect on how firms structured their downsizing initiatives and hence changed the way the employees reacted to firm decisions. We proposed a new model using both resource-dependence and institutional legitimacy as determinants of stakeholder influence strategy and suggested relationships between these determinants and stakeholder actions. This proposed model has profound research implications for the strategic stakeholder theory, as well as practical implications for human resource management.     

An empirical test of the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis: Evidence from eight middle-income countries in Africa

The paper tests the validity of the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis (BSH) using the within-effects and the dynamic panel generalised methods of moment (GMM) techniques for a panel of eight middle-income African countries over the period 1960–2009. We selected these countries because they exhibited a mixture of relative productivity growth and real exchange rate misalignment that fits the characterization of the BSH well. The results strongly support the BSH for this group of countries. The results are valid even after we controlled for potentially omitted variables and endogeneity. The implication is that as these countries become more productive, their currencies appreciate in real terms.     

An empirical test of a correspondence model of expatriate managers' work adjustment

We develop and empirically test a model of expatriate managers' work adjustment. In this model we relate the fit between work-related abilities and needs of expatriate managers as well as the fit between the job requirements of, and incentives associated with, an international assignment to the level of expatriate managers' work adjustment. We test this model with data gathered by means of an electronic survey among 118 German expatriate managers. The empirical findings largely support our theoretical model. The paper enhances our understanding of expatriate managers' work adjustment and its antecedents and contributes to the theoretical and empirical basis of research into expatriate management.     

Market reaction to large bank merger announcements in oligopolies

This paper evaluates the individual and rival stock price reactions to large bank merger announcements and subsequent regulatory rejection in an oligopoly. The results show that the announcements produce significant positive abnormal returns for the merger candidates. Regulatory obstacles and denial of the proposed mergers produce significant negative returns. Analysis of the rivals’ reactions doesn’t produce consistent significant results. This suggests that the market reactions for the merging banks results are driven by expected increases in efficiencies. The rivals’ reaction is explained by the fact that the market would remain contestable after the mergers since the offered products are homogeneous.(JEL G14, G34)     

An adaptive empirical likelihood test for parametric time series regression models

We propose an adaptive empirical likelihood (EL) test for a parametric regression model against a class of alternatives for weakly dependent time series observations. The test is formulated by maximizing a standardized version of the EL statistic over a set of smoothing bandwidths. It is demonstrated that the proposed test is able to distinguish the null hypothesis from a series of local alternatives at an optimal rate.     

An empirical test of contributing factors to different forms of maverick buying

Maverick buying is the non-compliant, off-contract buying of goods and services, for which an established procurement process is in place based on pre-negotiated contracts with selected suppliers. The phenomenon is common in organizations using organization-wide frame agreements. Maverick buying prevents the full utilization of volume discounts negotiated, and also raises unnecessary process costs. This paper focuses on three types of maverick buying drawn from previous literature. Survey data on Finnish governmental procurement is used to test whether characteristics of users and their work contexts, drawn from literature in organizational behavior, affect the reasons for engaging in maverick buying. The results provide guidance on how different types of maverick buying in an organization can be reduced. Specifically, it is shown that all types of maverick buying can be reduced by limiting the task autonomy of the buyers. Additionally, different types of training can help prevent the behavior. Investing in reward and sanction systems, however, does not appear to be helpful in reducing the three types of maverick buying tested for in this study.