Committed Objectivity in Race-Class-Gender Research

This article argues that objectivity and commitment are different but that they are articulated rather than being separate issues in social research. This article challenges those who believe that objectivity is impossible or undesirable as well as those who believe that commitment is undesirable in social science. This approach is close to the call by Sandra Harding (1991, 1993) that the methods of science should be applied to science itself by raising the women question in science and the science question in women's studies. Here, she develops her earlier analysis of feminist research agenda in science in terms of empiricism, standpoint epistemology and post-modern feminism. In this paper, a slightly different formulation will be advanced to resolve what could be said to be a false dichotomy between objectivity and commitment. Committed objectivity or objective commitment could be used to capture the inextricability of the articulation of the processes of commitment and objectivity. The article concludes that both objectivity and commitment are necessary elements of good research by all researchers irrespective of (or even because of) race-class-gender differences.     

Computer ethics in a different voice

This paper argues that the potential of writing on computer ethics to contribute to a deeper understanding of inequalities surrounding the use of information and communications technologies is threatened by forms of technological determinism and liberalism. Such views are prevalent in professional and more popular literature, and even in policy documents, albeit expressed tacitly. Adopting this standpoint substantially reduces explanatory power in relation to certain computer ethics topics, especially equality and participation, particularly in relation to gender. Research on gender and information and communications technologies has analyzed inequalities between men and women both inside and outside the workplace, drawing heavily from feminist theory. The paper argues that feminist ethics, coupled with aspects of feminist legal and political theory, may offer a fruitful, novel direction for analyzing computer ethics problems, and certainly those that contain substantial differences, and therefore inequalities, in men's and women's experiences on-line. Furthermore, feminist ethics can offer a more collectivist approach toward computer ethics problems. Emerging themes in existing research on gender and computer ethics are discussed before exploring some of the outcomes of applying feminist theory to a problem of privacy in the extreme form of Internet-based harassment known as “cyberstalking”, where traditional liberal and determinist views have proved problematic.     

WEALTH EFFECTS AND MACROECONOMIC DYNAMICS

The effect of wealth on consumption is an issue of long‐standing interest to economists. Conventional wisdom suggests that fluctuations in household wealth have driven major swings in economic activity both in the United States and abroad. This paper considers the so‐called consumption wealth effects. There is an extensive existing literature on wealth effects that has yielded some insights. For example, research has documented the relationship between aggregate household wealth and aggregate consumption over time, and a large number of household‐level studies suggest that wealth effects are larger for households facing credit constraints. However, there are also many unresolved issues regarding the influence of household wealth on consumption. We review the most important of these issues and argue that there is a need for much more research in these areas as well as better data sources for conducting such analysis.     

On the role of small models in macrodynamics

This paper focuses on the role of small models in macrodynamics. It discusses the insights that I believe these models offer and the extent to which they can address some of the complex issues, such as heterogeneity and interactions among agents that are receiving increasing attention in the literature. I comment on what I view to be the most productive role for numerical simulations, and finally offer some brief comments in defense of the state of modern macroeconomic theory in light of the criticism it has received as a result of the recent financial crisis.     

HOW DOES FEMALE EDUCATION AFFECT FERTLITY? A STRUCTURAL MODEL FOR THE CÔTE D'IVOIRE†

This research study provides some insights into methodological issues in modeling fertility and its proximate determinants. The aim is to examine the links between female schooling and fertility in the Ivory Coast. The article first presents a brief literature review on the effect of education on fertility, describes the data and choice of econometric models, and indicates in a reduced form model the estimates of the impact of education and other socioeconomic factors on age at cohabitation and duration of breast feeding. Data are obtained from the 1986 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standards Survey among women aged 16 years or older. A probit model is used to estimate the probability of a woman having given birth at least once. The Kaplan-Meier hazard rate (Meyer's method) is used to explain women's age at cohabitation as a function of her education, personal characteristics, and local factors such as wage rates an social service infrastructure. Duration of breast feeding is explained by household characteristics as well as cohabitation explanatory variables among a subsample of women with at least one birth. Findings from the age at cohabitation models indicate that results varied with choice of the hazard models. Controls for unobserved heterogeneity were important for estimating the effects of secondary education. Econometric techniques that captured the heaping in duration of breast feeding data did not improve the fit. Both breast feeding and education were endogenous to fertility. This means that women with more children tended to marry later and breast feed longer. Findings indicate that primary schooling had a weak impact on fertility and proximate determinants. Secondary schooling had a strong impact. Women with secondary schooling cohabited 4 years later and breast fed 8 months less than non-schooled women.     

Towards A Synthesis of Transaction Cost Economics and a Feminist Oriented Network Analysis

A bstract This paper suggests the possibility of an interdisciplinary, tripartite merger of transaction cost economics and the concept of embeddedness, with feminist insights. It demonstrates that in isolation, a simple application of transaction cost analysis can offer an adequate explanation of economic activity. The explanatory power of this approach however, is enhanced when complemented by greater recognition of the importance of the social context in which economic activity occurs. This paper uses research from New Zealand's largest street market to examine women's work in street commerce, a sub-sector of the informal sector. Aspects of transaction cost analysis are applied to activities of women market vendors. It is proposed however, that the approach we take which considers the embeddedness of economic activity in ongoing networks of social relations, and the intertwining of economic with non-economic goals, is compatible with aspects of feminism. Novel features of the analysis include the application of transaction cost analysis to informal sector activity and a synthesis of this approach with a feminist oriented network analysis.     

The price of labour and understanding the causes of poverty

This paper provides a review of how questions in labour economics link to the central concerns of development economics in understanding the mechanisms that both create, and perpetuate, poverty in some countries and not others and in some areas within countries. The paper frames this link by asking what determines first the price of labour, then the nature of employment open to labour and finally discusses the links from the price of labour to incomes through the assets owned by the poor. The advent of micro data in developing countries has transformed our knowledge of what needs to be explained. While the price of labour clearly depends on education the links between incomes and education are much weaker than is frequently supposed. The finding from micro data that conditioning on a wide range of observable characteristics of human capital still leaves most of the variation in earnings to be explained suggests the importance of understanding what these other factors might be and how they may interact with human capital. One possibility is that markets are segmented so that individuals with the same skills earn different amounts depending on the sector in which they work. Another possible explanation is that the unobserved characteristics of workers are more important than the observed and that processes of matching and search lead to the outcomes we observe in labour markets. It is argued that these explanations are not mutually exclusive and that different processes may operate across labour markets both within and across countries. The review concludes by outlining outstanding research issues in labour economics where new models and data may well provide insights into explaining the extraordinarily diverse range of outcomes we observe for the price of labour in poor countries.     

Management competencies of women business owners

Women owners of small business are known to be better informed about issues relating to starting their own business compared to their male counterparts. Women spend more time conducting market research and have historically spent more time accessing finance because of gender bias within the lending industry. Due to their previous employment history many women have better administrative skills over men which should translate to women having better basic business management knowledge and a higher level of basic business competencies. Research conducted on a sample of 270 business owners found that whereas women rated themselves as more competent than men on a number of issues when they first started their business, they were no more inclined than men to pursue further business skills development or training once they were actively operating their business. Further, both women and men believed that they gained sufficient managerial experience ‘on-the-job’ not to warrant professional assistance in most business competencies.     

Exploring what nonprofit branding can learn from contemporary art

• As more and more nonprofits seek to refashion themselves as brands, they tend to take inspiration from for‐profit organizations. Another domain that has had similar purposes to those of nonprofit branding for many years is contemporary art. This is an exploratory paper that looks at a recent trend in art, “message art,” and how it might inform nonprofit branding. Message art deals with many social issues that drive major nonprofits today including everything from pro‐environment causes to anti‐segregationist issues. This paper has two purposes: (1) to call attention to message art among nonprofit brand managers and (2) to explain how they can use this art. Message art is useful to the extent that it calls attention to new ideological trends and often provides selected pieces of art that can serve as exemplars of brand essence for relevant causes. Results are provided from a small, qualitative study of women's feelings about selected examples of feminist art. Two pieces of art drew the most positive responses. One piece, “Egyptian Rocket Goddess,” is felt to be a harbinger of Third Wave Feminism. Another piece, “Blessed Art Thou Among Women,” is felt to be an effective source of inspiration and direction for feminist organizations, which focus on mother–daughter relationships.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heuristics,learning and the business angel investment decision-making process

ABSTRACT

This paper extends the literature on the investment decision-making of business angels.

Using insights from the emerging body of research on entrepreneurial learning processes, particularly the use of heuristics and the nature of learning from meagre experience, we explore whether angels learn from experience, how they learn and what they learn. These issues are addressed using verbal protocol analysis, a methodology for examining decision-making in real time, with three groups of business angels with differing levels of investment experience, and with follow-up debriefing interviews with these angels. This reveals some differences in the speed of decision making and the emphasis given to various investment criteria. There is some evidence for the use of heuristics in the decision making process, and for the critical role played by vicarious learning from the experience of others. Learning in the individual angel decision making process is a social as well as an individual phenomenon.     

企业物流模式决策比较研究

关于企业物流模式决策有两个重要问题：企业如何根据自身情况来决定是否应该将一些物流业务外包：当企业决定将自己的一些物流业务外包后．如何去选择一个适合自己企业的物流外包模式。文章概述了这两个方面的主要研究成果,并在此基础上提出了一个综合的企业物流模式决策方案。     

Feminist praxis in a trade union gender project

Research as political feminist engagement is explored through analysis of a collaborative west–east European gender equality project with trade union women. Similarities with and differences between forms of labourist and feminist research praxis are discussed. These are brought together through the Freirian concept of conscientizacao or conscientisation, a dialogic pedagogy which has at its core the dialectic of reflection and action. It is proposed that such a framework can be usefully deployed for gendering analysis of ‘engaged’ industrial relations.     

Research on gender structure of accounting profession in China

One of the most striking phenomena in recent years has been the increasing proportion of women in the labour force, enabling women in many fields to use their potential and to achieve economic independence. So the gender structure analysis becomes more and more important to society and economic development. Accounting research lacks the study of gender issues. This paper intends to summarize the gender structure of accounting profession in China, and aims to explore the critical factors such as economic system of government, traditional characteristics of women, glass ceiling and psychological factors which take a great influence on the gender structure of accounting profession. A conclusion can be made that the proportion of women participation in accounting profession is higher than men, but the majority of senior accounting professionals in China are still men.     

Stakeholders expectations of an environmental management system: some exploratory research

This paper emanates from a larger research project (see Kamp-Roelands and Bouma, 1998) which has a practical focus. This research project seeks to start the process of exploring how environmental management information systems could be designed such that they better satisfy the needs of those using the information which emerges from these systems. In order to develop this work it was necessary to first generate some information about the internal and external stakeholder needs with respect to environmental information. This task has been tackled in the context of a single site of a multinational company. For this site a range of stakeholders were identified and questioned in some detail about, inter alia, their expectations of what an environmental management system (hereafter EMS) could achieve, their motives for using environmental information, how important they viewed various pieces of information to be and their views on quality of information issues. This paper presents the data gathered from this part of the larger project and seeks to determine if there are particular aspects which should be taken into account in EMS design and whether or not internal and external stakeholders are different from each other in their expectations about EMSs. Finally, some tentative concluding remarks are made on the implications of this work for the further investigation of the EMSs.     

An American Woman in Turkey: Adventures Unexpected and Knowledge Unplanned1

What is it like for foreign women professionals to work in a country like Turkey—managing subordinates, working with clients and supervisors? What kind of social life do they have? In this article, the authors answer these questions and more, drawing on interviews with foreign women professionals working in Turkey. Using an unusual narrative approach to present their research results, they reveal unexpected insights and identify key success factors such as the importance of foreign education over gender and the influence economic development of the host country may exert on women's success. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Call for papers: Special Issue of International Journal of HRM

Though women remain under-represented among expatriate managers due to a range of organisational and cultural barriers in selection and individual relocation concerns, they have begun to pursue alternative routes towards a global career such as frequent travel and undertaking domestic positions with international development and community development responsibilities. In this paper, we explore the perceptions that Middle Eastern and North American women have of traditional and new trajectories in global work and careers and conclude that increased flexibility allows women to pursue global development opportunities differently throughout their lifetime careers, permitting them to adapt to work–life circumstances. Thus, our research provides new insights into the nature and dynamic of the nature of women's global work and careers.     

From feminism to FemInc.ism: On the uneasy relationship between feminism,entrepreneurship and the Nordic welfare state

Feminism in the Nordic countries was primarily formulated in terms of ‘state feminism’. The women’s movement cooperated with feminist government officials and politicians, resulting in societies that can be considered to be the most gender-equal societies in the world. Historically, the state provided for a large publicly-financed welfare sector which made it possible for many women to combine work and family through the state’s implementation of family-friendly policies, while simultaneously providing employment opportunities for many women. However, since the financial crisis of the 1990s, there has been a political change influenced by neo-liberal thought, in which politicians have handed over the welfare state’s responsibilities to the market, and, instead, the politicians have encouraged entrepreneurship, not least among women. Further to this development, there has been a change in emphasis from entrepreneurship (understood as starting and running a business) to entrepreneurialism which, in addition to a belief in the efficacy of market forces, also contains a social dimension where individuals are supposed to be flexible and exercise choice. In this article, we ask whether this entails a change in the feminist project in the Nordic countries, and if so, what the likely consequences are for this project, both in practice and in research. In order to answer this question, we reviewed existing Nordic research on women’s entrepreneurship and examined how this body of work conceptualizes entrepreneurship, gender, the state, and equality. We also considered whether any trends could be identified. We relate our findings to recent changes in government policy and conclude that the current discourse on entrepreneurship challenges, and possibly weakens, state feminism, but we also conclude that this discourse may also provide space for new forms of feminist action, in market terms. We coin the term FemInc.ism to denote feminist action through enterprise and we discuss a number of important challenges that research on this phenomenon is faced with.     

Towards an understanding of the female expatriate experience in Europe

The increased participation of women in the workforce has been one of the major changes in the structuring of the labour force in recent years, and it is anticipated that this trend will continue. Despite growing numbers of women in senior domestic management roles, the participation rates of women in international management remains low across the globe. In Europe, international management has generally been a masculine preserve. Much of our knowledge of female expatriation comes from North America and is based on the experiences of female managers working for North American MNCs. This article builds on that base of understanding but highlights a growing stream of research into female expatriation in Europe, which remains largely “invisible” to specialists outside Europe. Given the paucity of empirical research in this area in general and the need for a more international understanding of the phenomena which can arise from examining different contexts, the article suggests that researchers outside Europe may find useful insights in this paper which pulls together and summarises what we know from the existing research on female expatriates in Europe and offers some avenues for future research.     

Strategic talent management: A review and research agenda

Despite a significant degree of academic and practitioner interest the topic of talent management remains underdeveloped. A key limitation is the fact that talent management lacks a consistent definition and clear conceptual boundaries. The specific contribution of the current paper is in developing a clear and concise definition of strategic talent management. We also develop a theoretical model of strategic talent management. In so doing we draw insights from a number of discreet literature bases. Thus, the paper should aid future research in the area of talent management through (1) helping researchers to clarify the conceptual boundaries of talent management and (2) providing a theoretical framework that could help researchers in framing their research efforts in the area. Additionally, it aids managers in engaging with some of the issues they face with regard to talent management.     

Power, Mastery And Organizational Learning

The topic of power has not featured strongly in debates about organizational learning, a point that is illustrated in a discussion of influential studies of teamworking. Despite the insights that such studies have provided into the nature of expertise and collaboration they have tended not to explore the relevance of issues of hierarchy, politics and institutionalized power relations. The paper addresses the problem by exploring the links between power, expertise and organizational learning. Power is analysed both as the medium for, and the product of, collective activity. The approach emphasizes how skills and imaginations are intertwined with social, technical and institutional structures. While studies of teamworking have concentrated on situations where imaginations and structures are tightly linked, unexpected developments may occur when these relations are loosened. Such situations occur when the needs of the moment overshadow normal routines and relationships and there is no single overview or centre of control. It is suggested that organizational learning can be conceptualized as the movement between familiar and emergent activities and between established and emergent social relations. Events in a two-year action research project are used to illustrate the approach and explore episodes of decentred collaboration.