Configuring innovative societies: The crossvergent role of cultural and institutional varieties

The study aims to explore why some societies are more innovative than others in high-technology sectors. Following a crossvergence perspective, we generate nine causal conditions by accommodating both cultural and institutional varieties: uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism and power distance as culture indicators, and union density, skill development, market capitalization to credit, prevalence of cluster and state dominance as institutional indicators. Applying the configurational approach, we conducted fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries. We confirm the equal importance of both cultural and institutional mechanisms as contributors to national innovativeness, and identify equifinal configurations of cultural and institutional varieties as leading to a high-tech society. The implication is that a society can adjust or develop various cultural and/or institutional conditions to maintain or create leadership in innovation.     

The ethics of peer reporting in Chinese societies: evidence from Hong Kong and Shanghai

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ethics of peer reporting in Chinese societies. Based on a review of the literature, we develop a framework that explains peer reporting behaviour in terms of the individual's ethical ideology, locus of control and subjective judgement regarding the ethicality of peer reporting. Hypotheses derived from these speculations are tested with data from Chinese managers (n?=?362). Statistical analysis largely supports the hypotheses. The implications of this finding are discussed.     

北部湾经济发展给广西高职教育带来的机遇与挑战

北部湾经济的发展，将带动广西经济的大发展，同样给广西高等职业教育带来了良好的发展机遇，但也面临着困难和挑战。积极采取应对措施，是广西高等职业教育义不容辞的责任。     

Gender Roles and Organizational HR Practices: The Case of Women's Careers in Accountancy and Consultancy Firms in China

The Chinese finance industry has experienced significant expansion both within the state sector and into the private sector. Professional consultancy firms have also emerged as a result of the rising interest in the outsourcing of accounting and management services. However, the study of women's careers in the accountancy profession in contemporary China remains largely an uncharted territory. Drawing on data from 69 interviews with auditors in five firms, this article investigates the nature of work of external auditors in China and how women auditors view their work‐life choices and constraints. We explore the likely differences between male and female auditors in their career aspirations and the extent to which these self‐perceived differences are informed by social conventions of gender role, organizational practices, and personal preferences. The study has strong implications for human resource management in professional service firms in China, with particular reference to job design, work organization, career support, and work‐life balance initiatives. The study contributes to the debate on gender, employment, and career development in the accountancy profession in different parts of the world. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consistency vs Flexibility: The Impact of Employee Voice in Rule-Based and Discretionary Decision Procedures

Consistency and flexibility are desirable, but incompatible, features of decision-making procedures. A comparison of a rule-based decision procedure (maximizing consistency) with a discretionary decision procedure (maximizing flexibility) was conducted. Employee voice was predicted to interact with decision procedure in impacting fairness perceptions. Student participants (N = 128) in a 2 × 2 laboratory simulation viewed videotaped depictions of a supervisor discussing a positive drug test result with an employee. The employee was given, or not given, an opportunity to explain; the supervisor was permitted discretion in determining the consequence or was completely bound by company policy. The proposed advantages of each decision procedure were obtained under contrasting levels of employee voice. Voice was desirable when the supervisor had discretionary authority; voice was unnecessary or even detrimental when a rule-based procedure was used. No overall preference between these two decision procedures was evident.     

Computing systemic risk using multiple behavioral and keystone networks: The emergence of a crisis in primate societies and banks

What do the behavior of monkeys in captivity and the financial system have in common? The nodes in such social systems relate to each other through multiple and keystone networks, not just one network. Each network in the system has its own topology, and the interactions among the system’s networks change over time. In such systems, the lead into a crisis appears to be characterized by a decoupling of the networks from the keystone network. This decoupling can also be seen in the crumbling of the keystone’s power structure toward a more horizontal hierarchy. This paper develops nonparametric methods for describing the joint model of the latent architecture of interconnected networks in order to describe this process of decoupling, and hence provide an early warning system of an impending crisis.     

Problem-solving effort and success in innovation contests: The role of national wealth and national culture

Innovation contests allow firms to harness specialized skills and services from globally dispersed participants for solutions to business problems. Such contests provide a rich setting for operations management (OM) scholars to explore problem solving in global labor markets as firms continue to unbundle their innovation value chains. In this study, we examine the implications of specific types of diversity in innovation contests on problem-solving effort and success. First, we conceptualize diversity among contestants in terms of national wealth (measured as gross domestic product per capita (GDPP) adjusted for purchasing power parity) and national culture (measured using the culture dimensions of performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance) and examine how such factors influence problem-solving effort. Next, we examine how differences between contestants and contest holders in terms of the above factors influence contest outcomes. Using data from a popular online innovation contest platform and country-level archival data, we find that contestants from countries with lower levels of GDPP are more likely to exert greater problem-solving effort compared to other contestants. With regard to national culture, we find that performance orientation and uncertainty avoidance have positive and negative effects, respectively, each of which weakens with increasing levels of GDPP. Finally, our analysis provides evidence of homophily effects indicating that contestants who share greater similarities with the contest holder in terms of national wealth and national culture are more likely to be successful in a contest. We discuss the implications of the study's findings for contest holders and platform owners who organize innovation contests, and for emerging research on innovation contests.     

Response Effects in Surveys on Children and Adolescents: The Effect of Number of Response Options,Negative Wording,and Neutral Mid-Point

Social researchers increasingly survey children and young adolescents.They are convinced that information about perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors of childrenshould be collected from the children themselves. Methodological expertise on surveying childrenis still scarce, and researchers rely on ad-hoc knowledge from fields such as child psychiatry and educationaltesting, or on methodological knowledge on surveying adults. Regarding adults, empirical evidenceshows that respondent characteristics (cognitive abilities) as well asquestion characteristics (question difficulty) affect response quality.This study reports on a methodological survey experiment on theeffect of negatively formulated questions, the number of response options and offeringa neutral midpoint as response option question characteristics on the reliability of theresponses, using children and young adolescents as respondents.The study shows no effects of negatively formulated questions onthe reliability measures, although children respond consistently differently on negativelyformulated questions than on positively formulated questions. Taking all results on the effectsof number of response options and offering a neutral midpoints on the different reliabilitymeasures into consideration; it would appear that offering about four responseoptions is optimal with children as respondents.     

Explaining and measuring success in new business: The effect of technological capabilities on firm results

This paper analyzes the relationship between technological capabilities and firm success. Although literature has recognized that intangibles resources and capabilities are of great strategic potential, there is a noticeable lack of empirical evidence dealing with it, and some methodological issues must be improved. In order to do so, we define this relationship from output and qualitative approaches, directly linking different technological results to firm success. The empirical study was carried out on a sample of Spanish biotechnology firms. Results show that those technological activities oriented to knowledge exploration processes have more potential than those technological capabilities focused on the mere maintenance of a certain competitive advantage. These results support our criticism of certain generally accepted strategic resource evaluation criteria and the need to adopt a contingent view to the study of such issues.     

The success and failure of policy-implanted inter-firm network initiatives: motivations,processes and structure

This paper examines the processes and causes of inter-firm network success and failure, defined in terms of the ability of networks to become a sustained and valued form of business activity for their members. The paper examines four different case study network initiatives: (1) a failed informal ‘new entrepreneurs' network’ (2) a successful informal ‘local cluster group’ (3) a failed formal ‘defence contractors' network’ and (4) a successful formal ‘small-firm technology group’. It is shown that networks in business are often consciously developed and maintained by those managing directors who have recognized the importance of cooperative activities for achieving competitive advantage for their companies. The best network support consisted of brokers who are able to mix and overlap the ‘hard’ business and ‘softer’ social interests of participants. The case studies indicate that it is formal groups that are the most potent form of inter-firm network, but that it is through an initially informal structure that they are best facilitated. It is concluded that both economic and social rationalities are at play in the motivation of firms to join networks, and that their success is closely connected to pre-existing commonality between members.     

The experience of burnout and work/non-work success in male and female engineers: A matched-pairs comparison

This paper explores the experience of burnout and success in the professional and private lives of people in technical careers. Participants in the study were 51 male and 51 female engineers, who were matched as pairs on a variety of personal and job-related variables. An analysis of the data shows that the sampling design worked: the two groups are very similar in their organizational positions, share a similar outlook on their jobs, and have similar orientations towards their careers and lives. However, gender differences were revealed in the interrelationship between work and private life and its effect on measures of well-being such as feelings of burnout, satisfaction, enjoyment, and perceived success. Results indicate that male engineers are better able to integrate work success with private life than their female counterparts. For men, work and non-work success are compatible, while for women they seem to conflict. The results are discussed in the light of a theoretical proposition to view burnout in a person/environment-fit framework. Implications are drawn for career consultants and human resource managers in organizations that rely on technical expertise.     

香港公共房屋制度的成功经验及其启示

住房是人类一项最基本的生存需要.解决城市中低收入居民的住房问题是建设和谐社会的主要组成部分.近年来,随着内地商品房价格的快速上涨,发展经济适用房和廉租房制度,解决我国内地中低收入居民的住房问题日益迫切.本文分析了香港公共房屋制度的成功之处,并从资金、管理,以及公共房屋资源的合理分配等几方面探讨了其对内地的启示.     

基于生命周期理论的高校旅游管理专业“双师型”教师发展路径研究

本文从生命周期理论出发,揭示高校旅游管理教师的职业发展路径,从而在实践层面给予高等旅游教育政策制定者、执行者以及教师一些有益的启发。本文规划高校旅游管理教师在各个生命周期阶段的职业发展路径,以期对我国高校旅游管理专业教师"双师型"能力的提高和人才的培养起到促进作用。     

The influence of telecenters on rural life and their success correlates: Lessons from a case study in Iran

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) are fast becoming an inevitable and necessary part of rural development projects in Asian countries. Since 2004, about 10,000 Rural ICT Offices have been opened in Iran to improve the lives of those living in rural communities. This research aimed at investigating the influence of the Mazijan ICT Office on the lives of villagers and its success correlates. Data was collected through archival records, observations, structured face-to-face interviews with 210 users, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with the office operator, and six local officials and leaders. Findings were contrasted with the literature to provide more generalized lessons. Results revealed that the Mazijan office was successful in some aspects especially in reducing the need for travels, but not successful in creating job opportunities. Significant positive relationships were found between users' ICT literacy, satisfaction with the services and extent of using services with the extent to which their lives were influenced by the office. The main lessons for promoting the success of telecenters included careful considerations to be given to rural ICT capacity building, improvement of rural telecommunication infrastructures, and providing multiple low-cost and financially viable services.     

The impact of international experience on objective and subjective career success in early careers

There is an ongoing debate in the literature on the long-term impact of international work experience on future career success. In this longitudinal study based on university graduates, we compare expatriates (n = 159), repatriates (n = 395) and domestic employees (n = 2697) with regard to their objective and subjective career success during the first five years of their careers. Results from propensity score matching and ordinary least-squares regressions show that expatriates and repatriates have a higher objective career success in terms of monthly wages. We further find a higher subjective career success for expatriates and male repatriates.     

Institutions and Joint Ventures in the Mid dle East and North Af rica: The Case of Jor dan

Abstract

Many Mid dle East ern and North Af ri can (MENA) coun -tries are mak ing val iant ef forts to re form their eco nomic sys tems to boost growth and liv ing stan dards. Mul ti na tional Com panies (MNCs) are generally thought to have a ma jor part to play in help ing these coun tries to de velop. The prob lems caused by gov ern men tal sys tems that placed legal and bu reau cratic ob sta cles and pro hi bi tions in the way of For eign Direct In vest ment (FDI) ac tiv i ties are un der at tack in many coun tries. The World Bank (WB) and the In ter na tional Mon e tary Fund (IMF) in sist on the adop tion of busi ness-friendly pol i cies for those coun tries that seek their aid. More over, mem ber ship of the World Trade Or ga ni za tion (WTO) also re quires coun tries to re form their gov ern men tal sys tems. The prize at the end of the pain ful re form pro cess is higher growth of ten driven by FDI ac tiv i ties. In re cent years, FDI to de vel op ing and for mer com mu nist coun tries has con sid er ably in creased. How ever, some de vel -op ing coun tries (no ta bly, Af rica and large parts of the Mid dle East) have not bene fited to the same ex tent as many Asian and Cen tral and East Euro pean coun tries. More over, MNCs have fo cused on In ter na tional Joint Ven tures (IJVs) as the main means of en ter ing these coun tries. This form of en try may not be the best method to trans fer tech nol ogy and to ob tain the best re sults of the in ter ac tion be tween MNCs and host coun tries. This pa per seeks to ex plore this is sue by use of a qual i ta tive study of IJVs in Jor dan. The pa per uses a new in stitutional eco nomic framework that high lights the im por tance of in for mal in sti tu tional sys tems for the de cision on mode of en try. The re sults of the study in di cate that MNCs in Jordan would pre fer to use fully-owned sub sid iar ies, but the char ac ter is tics of the in for mal in sti tu tional sys tem in Jor dan re sults in high trans ac tion costs that can best be re duced by the use of IJVs. Thus al though Jor dan has un der gone sig nif i cant re form to her eco nomic sys tem, the prob lems caused by the na ture of in for mal in sti tu tional sys tems have lim ited the growth of what might have been more ben e fi cial FDI. [Ar ti cle cop ie s available for a fee from The Haworth Doc u ment De liv ery Ser vice     

The role of organizational culture and HRM on training success: evidence from the Canarian restaurant industry

This research aims to analyse the influence of organizational culture and human resources management (HRM) practices on the success of training at restaurants. Effective training is especially important for modern restaurants that aim to gain competitive advantage by means of good quality service and performance of their employees. To achieve this objective, an empirical study was conducted on 137 restaurants in the Canary Islands. Results show that organizational culture does not influence the success of the training programmes unless HRM practices that support the training process are implemented. Specifically, the study reveals the full mediating role of HRM practices between a continuous learning culture and effective training.     

鹤煤二矿二部猴车支护整修及保运行方案

鹤煤二矿井下地质条件复杂,井下普遍压力较大、巷道变形严重,如不及时采取措施,二部猴车随时面临停运、瘫痪的可能。通过该方案的实施,整修期间没有出现任何工伤事故,而且巷道整体面貌焕然一新,为今后特殊支护段巷道整修积累了宝贵经验。     

The relationship of mentoring and network resources with career success in the Chinese organizational environment

The relationship of mentoring and network resources, the two components of social capital, with career success was investigated in a sample of 113 Chinese white-collar workers. The findings suggested that the prevalence of mentoring in the Chinese workplace is substantially higher than in the Anglo-Saxon workplace, and that Chinese employees do not distinguish their network ties or Guanxi into expressive and instrumental. These results were in line with the presumption that mentoring is an integral part of the Chinese culture and with the view that network ties or Guanxi in the Chinese society cannot exist in a purely instrumental form. In contrast to hypotheses, however, the findings suggest a limited relationship between social capital and career success. In particular, the amount of mentoring, participants reported they had received, was related to their intrinsic career success but not to their extrinsic career success; and the amount of network resources or Guanxi was related neither to extrinsic nor to intrinsic career success. These results were largely at odds with the accumulated knowledge on the benefits of social capital for career success. The findings are discussed with respect to the changing nature of the Chinese business and organizational environment, and their implications for human resource practices.     

High‐Performance Work Systems and Teachers’ Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Quality of Working Life

This article examines the role of quality of working life (QWL) in the relationships between high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) and employee in‐role performance and extra‐role behavior. Using the data from 1,051 teachers and their immediate supervisors in 63 Chinese schools, we performed multilevel analysis to test meso‐mediation models. The results showed that HPWSs directly and indirectly influence teachers’ in‐role performance and extra‐role behavior through the mediation of QWL. These findings demonstrate that QWL is an important conduit of the relationships between HPWSs and employee work behaviors. The article concludes by discussing the implications for management and future research. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.