Near unit root small open economies

The marginal utility of wealth in incomplete markets small open economy models follows a unit root process. I study the nonlinear properties of devices often used to remove the unit root and I find that they generate different dynamics when matching emerging markets. Models with endogenous discount factors reinforce consumption response to shocks and increase the countercyclicality of the trade balance to output ratio. Conversely, models with debt frictions ameliorate the responses of consumption and trade balance. Hence, to generate dynamics similar to those in emerging economies, the debt frictions need to be small, inducing a near unit root behavior in their Euler equations. This difference across models is hidden when matching developed economies because of consumption smoothing and the mild countercyclicality of the trade balance.     

Assessing nonresponse bias in activist surveys

How confident can we be that the comparatively low response rates associated with mail surveys of groups of political activists, such as participants of a demonstration, does not hide a substantial nonresponse bias? The paper compares the results of a face-to-face survey of 2003 anti-Iraq war demonstrators in Glasgow, achieving a near perfect response rate, with the data derived from a mail survey handed out to demonstrators eliciting valid responses from 37% of marchers. The comparison shows that better educated, older, female demonstrators were more likely to return the mail questionnaire. Also demonstrators having born a higher ‘cost’ of travelling to the demonstration are more likely to respond. There was no evidence that political interest or political orientation played an important role. However, those who had taken part in demonstrations very frequently in recent years were less likely to return the mail questionnaire. While these results provide some reassurance that even with response rates below 40%, no substantive political bias is present, researchers undertaking surveys of activists should be alerted to the need to address possible nonresponse biases in a systematic way.     

The reporting of gross and net earnings in a postal survey

In a controlled experiment involving a sample comprising 8300 school leavers who entered the labour market in 1983/84, half of the sample were asked to report on gross weekly earnings (if employed) or expected gross earnings (if not employed). The other half were asked equivalent questions in terms of net earnings. Comparisons between the responses indicate that those in employment were able to provide consistent responses concerning gross and net earnings. Among the non-employed, however, there is reason to believe that those reporting expected net earnings may have underestimated the impact of the deductions due to tax and National Insurance contributions. The size of this understatement is such as to create a discrepancy of some 9 per cent (in terms of gross earnings) between the two sources of expected earnings.     

Understanding social influence in Facebook fundraising: Relationship strength,immediacy of needs,and number of donations

Crowdfunding through social media has presented challenges and opportunities for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. To better understand how organizations can harness the power of social media in fundraising, the current research examined the effects of different types of Facebook fundraising posts on donor engagement. Based on Social Impact Theory, three factors of social influence were investigated, including relationship strength with the fundraiser creator, immediacy or urgency of the fundraising need, and number of donations. An online experiment was conducted using samples recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A repeated measures test was performed to explore the effects of three social influence factors on perceived source credibility, feeling of social presence, attitude toward the post, and intention to click, share, and donate. Strongest main effects were found for immediacy of needs. Facebook fundraising posts for an urgent need generated much more positive responses than posts for a nonurgent need. Interaction effects were also found among three variables in perceived credibility and intention to click. Personal relevance and perceived risk moderated the effects of number of donations on intention to donate. Implications for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations were discussed.     

Practical Reason and Performance Appraisal

This paper examines responses of chairs of university departments to the news that they would be required to conduct a formal performance appraisal system. It is suggested that in order to understand resistance to appraisal we need to reject explanations invoking polarized antinomies – formal/informal, rational/political – and interrogate the concept of rationality. Drawing on MacIntyre's work, the paper examines the concept of practical reason to make sense of the chairs' responses and considers its relevance for understanding management and change in universities.     

Working and organizing in the age of the learning algorithm

Learning algorithms, technologies that generate responses, classifications, or dynamic predictions that resemble those of a knowledge worker, raise important research questions for organizational scholars related to work and organizing. We suggest that such algorithms are distinguished by four consequential aspects: black-boxed performance, comprehensive digitization, anticipatory quantification, and hidden politics. These aspects are likely to alter work and organizing in qualitatively different ways beyond simply signaling an acceleration of long-term technology trends. Our analysis indicates that learning algorithms will transform expertise in organizations, reshape work and occupational boundaries, and offer novel forms of coordination and control. Thus, learning algorithms can be considered performative due to the extent to which their use can shape and alter work and organizational realities. Their rapid deployment requires scholarly attention to societal issues such as the extent to which the algorithm is authorized to make decisions, the need to incorporate morality in the technology, and their digital iron-cage potential.     

The effect of questionnaire length on survey response

Survey textbooks suggest that long questionnaires should be avoided, and a careful reading of the available empirical evidence confirms the negative effects of substantial length on both response rates and the quality of those responses which are obtained. Data is presented from a lengthy survey in Britain in 1987. Analysis of reasons for nonresponse to this survey suggest that length may indeed have been a significant disincentive to respond for many. However, no effect of length was found on item quality as measured by the number of responses given to open-ended questions. Unexpectedly, the variance in number of responses was greater when the questions were asked later in the questionnaire. The results are interpreted as resulting from the greater power that respondents gain as the survey proceeds.     

Disaggregating and reaggregating work: Workers,management and the struggle over creating coherency and purpose in a context of work degradation

The article argues that whilst there is a growing sense of degradation and worsening conditions (disaggregation) of work in the cleaning sector in general, there are some important contradictions which require complex organisational responses. In the main, there is a growing sense of isolation in this work, yet also a growing perception of autonomy and workers having to use discretion in new and challenging ways. This article focuses on these issues and management responses to reaggregate the nature of such work, creating new forms of identity and activities intended to enhance (or address) the levels of stability and sustainability at work as well as in operational processes. This management conundrum means that they need to deal with a range of job‐related, skill‐oriented worker learning and also representation issues. These responses bring to the fore the contested nature of such forms of work and how they are changing.     

The disaster response performance of hospitals in Taiwan: evaluation and classification

Hospitals need disaster response plannings and temporary shelters to rescue victims in disasters. In Taiwan, there are 82 emergency medical service (EMS) hospitals are requested to possess guildlines of preparedness and responses to mitigation the damage and recovery the pre-event status in a disaster. A measurement chart including three major factors??facility, manpower, and disaster plan and drill mode??was created to evaluate the performance of disaster management of these EMS hospitals. Based on the expert opinions, some hospitals were selected as a reference set prior to the accreditation. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to classify each of the remaining hospitals into qualified or unqualified classes. Then, each unqualified hospital was recommended to improve its practice of disaster preparedness and responses into the qualified level. We also find that, on average, private hospitals perform better than public hospitals and medical centers perform better than the regional hospitals. But, the differences are not statistically significant.     

论内蒙古地区绿色物流体系的构建

为了实现物流的绿色环保和可持续发展,内蒙古各物流企业必须向绿色物流发展。文章首先分析了内蒙古构建绿色物流体系的必要性。然后指出了内蒙古绿色物流体系的构建原则与内容,最后提出了内蒙古实现绿色物流体系的几点对策。     

中国、挪威两国学生对“丢面子”的比较研究

目的 通过对中国与挪威两国高等学校学生对”面子”认知与理解的调查与分析,获得两国文化背景下对“面子”概念的理解及对“丢面子”程度上的认知有无差异。方法 以131名两国大学生为调查对象,采用问卷调查方法。结果 对脸面的理解及认知与文化有明显相关;与性别有无相关。结论 中国挪威两国不同的文化背景对“丢面子”的理解与感知在程度上有影响。然而,面子是一个具有文化普遍性的概念,从调查结果可知,在某些问题上,挪威学生对丢面子的感知也比较强烈。     

Why We Should Leave the ERM

The 'liverpool Six'have called again on the government to leave the Exchange Rate Mechanism and return to monetarism with flexible exchange rates. Our reason is simple. Monetary conditions here have been tightened more than dangerously by the need to support the pound within the ERM, just as in late 1987 and early 1988 they were loosened excessively by the need to hold the pound down in the attempted 'shadow' phase of the ERM. The has repeatedly undermined monetary stability, and has caused first renewed inflation and now severe and protracted recession. It has also tended to produce sterling overvaluation and so chronic balance of payments difficulties; to correct these, recession will need to be prolonged. In the havoc it has wreaked, it risks fuelling demands for a return to the government intervention of he past. As a source of counter inflationary discipline it is therefore flawed. We advocate a return to monetary targeting under floating rates. This would in the short term permit interest rates to fall sharply to stimulate recovery in money supply growth and hence the economy; the exchange rate would fall to a properly valued level, removing the threat to our balance of payments. In the longer term this policy shift would recreate a framework of counter-inflation discipline in which there could still be reasonable domestic responses to cyclical and other UK shocks.     

Seeking distinctiveness through divestments: CEO succession and the effect of demographic similarity on the divestment of predecessor's investments

Why do successor CEOs divest those organizational units that they divest shortly after taking office? In order to contribute to this question, we take a behavioral perspective and develop a theoretical framework that draws on pioneering work in social psychology, in particular, research on individuals' need for distinctiveness and argue that demographic similarity to their CEO predecessors may evoke negative affect as it threatens CEO successors' need for distinctiveness. Assuming that CEOs are high need for distinctiveness individuals, we argue that negative emotions associated with similarity to their CEO predecessors are likely to force CEO successors to engage in behavioral coping strategies aimed at restoring a sense of distinctiveness. In particular, we predict and empirically observe that demographic similarity increases the likelihood that in their pursuit of distinctiveness, CEO successors deliberately divest specific organizational units, namely, those that their CEO predecessors had invested in.     

Are non‐union workers different to their union colleagues? Evidence from the public services

This article analyses workers’ attitudes to trade unions by comparing the survey responses of Unison members with public sector workers who have left or never joined a union. It examines whether differences between these groups can help to explain union‐joining behaviour and membership patterns. The findings demonstrate that there are few differences in attitudes between Unison members, ex‐unionists and never‐members on the issue of ‘union effectiveness’. However, ex‐unionists were more reluctant to re‐join unions than never‐members. The evidence concludes that if public service unions are to recruit new members, they need to adopt differentiated strategies and representatives have to target ex‐unionists and never‐members in the workplace.     

Trustee decision making in small UK charities

Management theory suggests that increasing the quantity and quality of management information available to key members in organisations will lead to improvements in their decision making. However, judgements as to what counts as ‘management information’, and in what its quality consists may vary according to organisational location, size and purpose. Where those ‘key members’ are volunteers, as with charity trustees, perceptions of management information need, amount and value, may vary further. This paper explores aspects of this theory, with particular reference to trustees of small charities in the United Kingdom. It outlines a research programme drawing on trustees in organisations working for children and for people with disabilities. A range of findings is presented, recording trustee experiences of and responses to management information, as this affects their charities' performance. Following from three in-depth case studies in small charities, findings show that informal systems are in operation, whereby trustees devolve much of the responsibility for management information to their chief officers, who are then monitored by their chairs. While this system is viewed by participants as an effective and practical means of enabling decision making, certain questions are raised regarding trustee liability and accountability.     

Seizing the Ethical High Ground: Ethical Reputation Building in Corrupt Environments

We study how ethical behaviour by firms leads to ethical reputation building. Based on our in‐depth studies of two firms in India and Zimbabwe that resisted corruption and survived for extended time periods, we propose that in addition to behaving ethically, firms need to elicit favourable responses from a critical mass of stakeholders from both strong and weak tie networks in order for their ethical reputations to diffuse quickly and widely. We find that the strength of stakeholder responses to ethical behaviour is moderated by firm level and contextual factors: high status affiliations, industry characteristics, the nature of corruption resisted, the presence of a plural press, the potential for collective action, and the presence of an independent judiciary. These antecedents also influence the pattern of stakeholder resource commitments that firms are able to enjoy as a result of having built ethical reputations.     

Symposium

The goal of this symposium is to bring researchers and practitioners together to seek out and build common frameworks for discussion. We hope to provide a meeting ground for dialogical discourse around diverse approaches to leadership theory and practice, with an eye to developing models for implementation. To facilitate interaction among participants, symposium will regularly include invited responses to specific topics of popular and scholarly leadership. In future issues, we plan to include individual opinions and panel discussions concerning various practical issues that are timely and relevant to leadership research. We also invite candid reflective responses to issues and ideas discussed in this symposium. Please send responses to managingeditor@phoenix.edu. Note: Only those responses selected for publication will be acknowledged. – The Editors     

Symposium

The goal of this symposium is to bring researchers and practitioners together to seek out and build common frameworks for discussion. We hope to provide a meeting ground for dialogical discourse among diverse approaches to leadership theory and practice, with an eye to developing models for implementation. To facilitate interaction among participants, this symposium will regularly include invited responses to specific topics, such as appear in this issue around the topic of the globalization of leadership in business, health care, and education. In future issues, we plan to include opinions by leading figures in leadership research, as well as panel discussions around various practical issues in leadership research. We also invite candid reflective responses to issues and ideas encountered in this symposium. Please send responses to managingeditor@phoenix.edu. Note: Only those responses selected for publication will be acknowledged.     

Understanding Ageing Public Sector Workforces: Demographic challenge or a consequence of public employment policy design?

In all OECD countries, populations and workforces are ageing, with public services generally being older than broader labour markets. Governments are concerned at the looming capacity crisis and identifying policy responses. However, they have generally identified the problem as a simple change in demographics. This article adds a new perspective to this policy debate. Using a study of an Australian state public service, it identifies an association between changes in public employment policies and changes in the workforce age profile. It suggests that current employment policies, which replaced the traditional focus on youth recruitment with a more open public sector labour market, have made it inevitable that public workforces would age and be older than the general labour market. Policy responses to the older public workforce need to go beyond demographic explanations, to accept the older public workforce as the new norm, and align public employment policies accordingly.     

Professional autonomy as a basis of conflict in an organization

Needed cutbacks in government and industry can lead to a situation where professionals have to operate where their autonomy is limited. How do they cope? Responses may include: “dubious” practice, the development and use of “simplified decision-rules,” “whistle-blowing,” reformism, and retreatism. Management can institutionalize a code-of-action that draws on the positive responses of the reformers and “decision simplifiers” and in this way better accommodate the need for both efficiency and professional integrity.