Women at workequality versus inequality: barriers for advancing in the workplace

This study aimed at identifying the factors that working women in Cyprus are faced with which lead to experience discrimination, examining possible barriers that affect women's advancement and identifying organizational practices that assist them in achieving work–life balance. The data were collected by the distribution of a questionnaire, which was on a voluntary, anonymous and confidential basis and targeted women of four different occupational levels. Several barriers were identified, preventing them from advancement such as stereotypes, conflicting work and family obligations, lack of women role models and low levels of self-confidence. This research enhances women's awareness of the existence of gender discrimination at work and the barriers in their career advancement. It highlights the creation of company programs such as mentoring programs, refresher courses, flexible work hours and on-site childcare, which could help women in developing and advancing their careers as well as achieving work–life balance.     

Frontier-free Europe: a study of female migrants in the banking sector

Legislation on 'freedom of movement' guarantees the recognition of qualifications between countries of the European Union (EU), and is meant to provide migrants with access to employment in all member states. This paper reports on a study undertaken of EU migrant women in the banking sector in Britain, Germany and Spain. The discusses the experiences of migrants with regard to access to employment and positions abroad comparable to those held prior to migration. Migrants in this case experienced obstacles in the access to such employment. Although their experiences influenced by labour-market needs, findings suggest that the determining factors for barriers encountered were differences in the education and training cultures of countries pre- and post-migration, and the values and attitudes attached to these in of expectations by employers and migrants themselves.     

Exploring competitiveness in banking sector of a small island economy: a study of Fiji

The paper explores the competitiveness in the banking sector in Fiji using the Panzar and Rosse (J Ind Econ 35:443–456, 1987) method. We compute the concentration ratios and Herfindahl–Hirschman index based on total assets, loans, and deposits to examine the concentration level. To compute the Panzar-Rosse H-statistics, we use fixed effect regression method duly controlling for heterogeneity. The results show banks in Fiji exhibit monopolistic behavior and are biased towards monopoly/conjectural variation short-run oligopoly upon examining the significance level of the upper and lower bounds of the computed H-statistics. Moreover, the results also show that banks revenue are influenced positively by interest expenses, capital adequacy ratio, and the number of branches; and negatively by personnel expenses, other operating expenses, and firm size measured by total assets.     

Socioeconomic inequality in health-related behaviors: a lifestyle approach

The adoption of certain behaviors—like smoking or physical activity—is recognized as a major factor affecting health. Analyzing the social determinants of these behaviors, then, should be considered an important goal, since it may improve our understanding of the more general phenomenon of health inequalities. In this paper we analyze the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health-related behaviors among the Italian population aged 18–74 in 2004/2005. Using large-scale sample survey data and a Weberian lifestyle approach, we first identify an ordered multidimensional space of health-related behaviors, and partition this space into a meaningful set of discrete regions representing a fine-grained taxonomy of health lifestyles. Then, we use regression analysis to determine if, and to what extent, the identified lifestyles are associated with SES. Using level of education as an indicator of SES, we find that the propensity to adopt healthier lifestyles exhibits a positive educational gradient, whereas the probability of following less healthy lifestyles is inversely associated with the level of education. We conclude that, in general, focusing on health lifestyles—i.e., on combinations of multiple health-related behaviors—instead of single behaviors may lead to a better understanding of health-related practices and their relationship with socioeconomic status.     

Women at work: a case study of the insurance industry

This article reports the results of a survey of women employed in the Australian insurance industry. Three main issues are discussed: attitudes to work, experience at work and the role of the trade union in the workplace.     

网上银行安全管理问题研究

网上银行服务的迅猛发展,使其安全管理问题也越来越引起银行管理层和金融消费者的关注。本文分析了网上银行安全管理存在的问题及由此造成的操作风险,并有针对性地提出了加强网上银行安全管理的建议。     

Total factor productivity growth in banking: The Israeli banking sector 1979–1982

The primary focus of this paper is the modeling and estimation of total factor productivity growth in banking. The measured total factor productivity growth is decomposed into its main components: 1) scale economy and output growth, 2) branching effect, and 3) technological change effect. Our findings indicate that total factor productivity grew at an annual average rate of 7.8% for the 1979–1982 period but this growth has slowed down to only 2.9% for the 1981–1982 period. Scale economy and output growth have contributed to about four-fifths of the growth, whereas branch growth and technical change have contributed to one-fifth of the growth. An important observation is the increasing importance of both branch growth and technical change throughout the period, especially for smaller banks.The refereeing process of this paper was handled by J. van den Broeck.     

Human capital inequality and income inequality: testing for causality

This study investigates the causal relationship between human capital inequality and income inequality in case of Pakistan. The annual time series data ranging from 1973 to 2009 is used for econometric analysis. Johanson co-integration and Granger Causality tests are used to confirm the existence of long run relationship and the causal relationship between human capital inequality and income inequality. The results indicate that there is positive relationship between the two types of inequalities in the long run. The estimates of causality test indicate that income inequality causes the human capital inequality but human capital inequality does not cause income inequality. Policy initiatives to reduce income inequality may empower people economically to avail skill building opportunities and accumulate their human capital through access to educational services.     

Ubiquitous inequality: The home market effect in a multicountry space

We show that spatial inequalities in an economic space of multiple countries in terms of both nominal income and real income are ubiquitous in the sense that they appear when countries are differentiated by population only. A new trade theory model is constructed without any freely traded homogeneous good, so that we can examine the home market effect (HME) and the non-monotonic relation between income inequalities and globalization. Meanwhile, there are three HME definitions for a two-country space in terms of firm share, labor wage, and trade pattern. The first two remain applicable in a multicountry space, and they are shown to be equivalent. However, a natural extension of the third is not equivalent.     

Mapping the relationships between high-performance work systems,employee resilience and engagement: a study of the banking industry in China

Abstract

There is now growing interest in employee resilience in the organizational context and its contribution to organizational performance. However, little is known the extent to which high-performance work systems (HPWS) contributes towards enhancing employee’s resilience as well as their levels of engagement. This study examines the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and strategic/high-performance human resource management theory, we develop three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement, and the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between HPWS and engagement. All hypotheses are supported and suggest that HPWS can be used as a job resource to positively affect resilience and subsequently employee engagement. The key message of the paper is that employee resilience can be viewed as a set of skills and attributes that can be developed through the effective use of HPWS to benefit both individuals and the organization.     

我国银行业监管有效性分析与对策研究

如何提高我国银行业的有效性已经成为国内各界关注的重大问题，文章试图通过对我国银行监管的现状分析，提出如何提高我国银行监管有效性的对策。     

Women in management: towards a research agenda

Relationships between specific supervisory support behaviours and training transfer among subordinates were investigated in the context of a team-building training programme. Ninety-nine employees who attended outdoor team-building training and their supervisors rated the extent to which trainees transferred each of twenty-one trained skills to the work-place. Additionally, trainees responded to an open-ended question regarding what, if anything, they applied from the training to the work-place. Ratings of transfer, provided by both trainees and their supervisors, and coded responses to the open-ended question indicated that: (1) most trainees transferred only a small to moderate amount of skills from the outdoor training; (2) the amount of training transfer varied across trainees; and (3) skills reportedly transferred the most concerned seeking and listening to the views and ideas of other team members.

Trainees also rated whether their supervisors displayed each of twenty-seven specific supervisory support for training behaviours, derived from a comprehensive list developed by Broad (1982). Partial correlations were computed between each of the twenty-seven supervisory support behaviours and an overall measure of training transfer, controlling for trainees' ratings of the quality of their relationship with their supervisor. This analysis suggested that the supervisory support behaviours most critical for transfer of this team-building training were: (1) supervisors' use of skills and terminology from the training programme; (2) creating opportunities for trainees to make decisions based on newly learned skills; (3) reinforcing trainees' use of trained skills; (4) creating opportunities to practise new skills; and (5) providing feedback on skill use. The implications of these results for training practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

我国银行业监管有效性分析与对策研究

如何提高我国银行业的有效性已经成为国内各界关注的重大问题,文章试图通过对我国银行监管的现状分析,提出如何提高我国银行监管有效性的对策。     

Mis-measurement of inequality: a critical reflection and new insights

This article documents that the Gini index is an insufficient measure of inequality and, according to the traditional logic of interpretation, that it may lead to incorrect deductions. Since, apart from concentration, it cannot grasp other relevant features of inequality like heterogeneity and asymmetry—which, beyond its intensity, allow for considering the direction of inequality too—we suggest using the less known Zanardi index of asymmetry of the Lorenz curve as an appropriate measure of inequality. Our findings are supported with estimates from the Luxembourg Income Study Database.

     

Accounting for financial instruments in the banking industry: conclusions from a simulation model

The paper analyses the effects of three sets of accounting rules for financial instruments – Old IAS before IAS 39 became effective, Current IAS or US GAAP, and the Full Fair Value (FFV) model proposed by the Joint Working Group (JWG) – on the financial statements of banks. We develop a simulation model that captures the essential characteristics of a modern universal bank with investment banking and commercial banking activities. We run simulations for different strategies (fully hedged, partially hedged) using historical data from periods with rising and falling interest rates.

We show that under Old IAS a fully hedged bank can portray its zero economic earnings in its financial statements. As Old IAS offer much discretion, this bank may also present income that is either positive or negative. We further show that because of the restrictive hedge accounting rules, banks cannot adequately portray their best-practice risk management activities under Current IAS or US GAAP. We demonstrate that – contrary to assertions from the banking industry – mandatory FFV accounting adequately reflects the economics of banking activities.

Our detailed analysis identifies, in addition, several critical issues of the accounting models that have not been covered in previous literature.     

Banking conduct before the European single banking license: a cross-country comparison

This paper estimates conduct and excess capacity of the banking industry in 15 industrialized countries in North America, Europe, and Asia during 1979–91. Significant market power was found in five countries and excess capacity was indicated in one country. The estimates were consistent with either contestability or Cournot oligopoly in most of these countries, while five countries were significantly more competitive than Cournot.     

An inequality and a lemma revisited

The proofs in two recent papers have been questioned and we now offer some corrections and clarifications. We also draw attention to some earlier work, which in fact implies one of the main results, and note that it is illuminating in another context.     

IFRS,financial development and income inequality: An empirical study using mediation analysis

Income inequality continues to be an issue of concern. Early work on economic development suggested that, as a country’s economy grows, incomes would rise and reduce any income disparities. However, there is growing evidence that as countries develop, income inequality actually worsens. Some studies argue that this is the result of financial development and the growth of the financial sector. Although there is a good deal of empirical research on the relationship between financial development and income inequality, there is no prior work that examines how accounting standards, in particular International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), might influence this relationship. This study examines the relationship of IFRS and financial development with income inequality using mediation analysis over the period from 1998 to 2018. The results indicate that the impact of IFRS on income inequality is mediated by financial development. Moreover, there is a direct relationship between IFRS and inequality.     

Training for strategic change: some conditions of effectiveness: a case in the banking sector in France

In this paper, a case in the banking sector in France is presented because this is particularly illustrative of some advanced training policies. Hence it enables several general conclusions to be drawn about their strategic effectiveness. One particular conclusion is that a training programme aimed at raising educational levels or basic skills which is not rapidly and completely articulated to professional programmes and actions about career paths is doomed to raise frustrations and miss, at least partially, its objectives. To consider training as a strategic HRM tool is thus not enough: indeed, there is a complex reality of training in practice.     

The impacts of competition and shadow banking on profitability: Evidence from the Chinese banking industry

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on banking profitability by testing the impacts of competition and shadow banking on bank profitability using a sample of 100 Chinese commercial banks over 2003–2013 with 417 and 395 observations. The current study fills the gaps in the empirical studies by examining the competition in different banking markets (i.e. deposit market, loan market and non-interest income market) in China and further evaluating their impacts on bank profitability. The findings show that the non-interest income market has a higher level of competition compared to the deposit market and loan market. It is further reported that a lower level of competition in deposit market leads to an increase in the profitability of Chinese commercial banks. Finally, the results suggest that shadow banking improves the profitability of Chinese banks.