Entrepreneurship, Economic Risks, and Risk Insurance in the Welfare State: Results with OECD Data 1978–93

We find evidence in the OECD cross-country data to support the Knightian view that non-diversifiable economic risks shape equilibrium entrepreneurship in an occupational choice model. Differential social insurance of entrepreneurial and labor risk is found to be statistically significant and detrimental to entrepreneurship. The crowding-out effect of public production of private goods on entrepreneurship dominates the crowding-in effect of public production of public goods in the OECD data. Weak evidence is found for the proposition that the rate of entrepreneurship is related to the degree of income inequality and to the union power in the economy. The results also suggest that in countries with low GDP per capita ratio, self-employment is high.     

Co‐creating nonprofit brand equity

• The concept of brand equity (BE) has been the subject of much recent discussion in the field of nonprofit branding and also has been the concept of brand co‐creation in the field of branding. This study combines these aspects and examines the BE co‐creation of a nonprofit entity, the Finnish Defence Forces military driving school. Empirical data were collected from industrial logistics service providers and military recruits. A theoretical BE model was further developed using structural equation modeling in an exploratory manner to reveal whether the BE model of the military driving school is similar from both viewpoints. Similar workable models were found, indicating strong BE co‐creation and thereby contributing to the field. To support the future co‐creation of BE of the military driving school, it is important to ensure that the recruits take positive experiences from the school and industrial logistics service providers carefully consider how they relay their experiences about the school to other truck drivers. The attitudes of recruits towards the military driving school are likely eventually to conform to those of civilian truck drivers. Finding workable models required omitting some BE dimensions and measures of earlier models. Moreover, using data from one country alone may be a limitation of the study. Therefore, nonprofit BE measures should be further developed and tested with data from further afield.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making their own way: international experience through self-initiated foreign assignments

Studies of international transferees have generally assumed that they are sent to a foreign country by their employer. In practice, many of these transferees make their own arrangements to get work abroad and this paper presents new information on this largely unstudied group, drawn from graduate engineers from Finland. It identifies similarities with the more traditional expatriate forms and some important differences. It goes on to suggest that this group of employees is itself composed of identifiable subgroups that have different characteristics.     

Moderating effects of transformational leadership between external team learning and research team performance outcomes

A growing body of empirical research examines the effects of external team learning on team performance. While previous studies suggest that external learning activities enhance team performance, the contingencies of such activities have received less research attention. This study examines the moderating effects of transformational team leadership between external team learning and two team performance outcomes: (1) accepted and published articles in peer‐reviewed scientific journals, and (2) project occupancy rate. The study was conducted with 124 research teams. Supporting the hypotheses, the findings show that transformational leadership has a positive moderating effect between external team learning and both team performance outcomes.     

Incorporating futures research into regional knowledge creation and management

This article focuses on future-oriented knowledge within regional innovation networks. Concrete regional tools and institutional settings aiming to enhance knowledge creation and management in such networks are needed. To enable planning for the future, there is a need for regional visionary capability. Resource-based futures research may make an important contribution in reducing the insecurity that regions face in the turbulent environment. When foresight processes are not absorbed into the regional strategy making processes, ‘black holes of regional strategy making’ come into existence, and future scenarios are built without taking into consideration the path-dependency of a region.This article attempts to reduce the gap between futures research, on the one hand, and regional knowledge and innovation management, on the other hand. It highlights the concept of self-transcending knowledge—the ability to sense the presence of potential. It then introduces a new, systemic model for knowledge creation and management in regional innovation networks. Utilising methods from futures research in creating self-transcending knowledge in a regional knowledge management system is proposed as a fruitful way of enhancing regional visionary capability. The article thus advocates combining approaches and methodologies from futures research with those of knowledge management in a novel way.     

The impact of expatriate personality traits on cross-cultural adjustment: A study with expatriates in Japan

While regarded as among the most important factors affecting expatriate cross-cultural adjustment, little focused research with a broad array of personality traits has been conducted. This study draws from the cultural fit hypothesis and the socio-analytic theory to examine the impact of expatriate personality traits through the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire on the general-, interaction-, and work-related facets of cross-cultural adjustment among 181 expatriates in Japan. The results show positive relationships between the personality traits of Open Mindedness and interaction adjustment, Emotional Stability and Cultural Empathy and general adjustment, and Social Initiative and work adjustment.     

Notes on terminology

Notes on terminology