Enhancing knowledge exchange and combination through HR practices: reflexivity as a translation process

Knowledge‐intensive firms need to encourage their employees to engage in knowledge exchange and combination (KEC) so as to create the new knowledge that is core to their success. HRM has the potential to play a key role in encouraging KEC, but relatively little is known about the micro‐processes through which HRM and KEC are linked. Based on a sample of 498 knowledge workers in 14 knowledge‐intensive firms in the pharmaceutical and information and communications technology sectors in Ireland and the UK, this study focuses on the knowledge workers themselves and their perceptions of how HR practices influence KEC. In so doing, we drill down into the micro‐foundations of the proposed linkages between HRM and knowledge creation, proffering reflexivity as a translation process in understanding these linkages.     

Reverse Mortgage Lending Disparities and the Economically Vulnerable

International Advances in Economic Research - A fair lending analysis seeks to determine whether a lender’s underwriting, pricing, and marketing decisions are free from a prohibited basis...     

The impact of mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda

The study investigates the impact of adopting mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda. A stochastic production function, using translog functional form, was used to compare efficiency measures of farmers in mechanized cassava-processing villages compared with the farmers in nonmechanized cassava-processing villages in 2014. Given the specification of the translog production function, the mean technical efficiencies of the farmers were 0.69 and 0.52 in mechanized and nonmechanized villages, respectively. The significant determinants of technical inefficiency among the respondents are farming experience, education, membership of farmer association, access to markets, sale of cassava to processors and farmers who planted cassava as sole crop are all negative, which confirm to a priori expectations and significant at different levels. The policy implication of the study is that mechanization of cassava processing, particularly if done at the right scale, could create demand that can transform primary production for increased yields, higher incomes and production efficiency of smallholder farmers who constitute a significant proportion of Uganda’s agricultural sector.     

Cap reform: modelling supply response subject to the land set-aside

This paper uses duality theory to develop a model of European Community agriculture. The model is used to investigate the impact of the land set-aside provision of the recent package of reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy. We assume that producers chose output and variable input levels that maximize difference between revenue and variable cost. By including first-order conditions for the allocation of land across its uses, we impose that the observed allocations are profit-maximizing allocations. To overcome the problem of incorporating many outputs into an estimable production structure, we imposed a priori the restriction that the technology was weakly separable in major categories of outputs. With this restriction, it was possible to model production decisions in stages using consistent aggregates in the latter stages.     

The differential effects of job design on knowledge workers and manual workers: A quasi‐experimental field study in China

When Taylorism was discarded long ago, job enrichment emerged as a good alternative. Recent research, however, has pointed out the ineffectiveness of job enrichment. This study suggests that both approaches could be effective and looks at job nature as the moderator that can affect how the two approaches are applied. The authors' longitudinal quasi‐experimental field study in China found a significant interaction between worker type (knowledge workers [KWs] versus manual workers [MWs]) and job characteristics on employee outcomes. After enrichment, KWs experienced higher satisfaction and task performance, whereas for MWs, satisfaction and performance declined. This pattern of results suggests that both job enrichment and Taylorism are applicable depending on the job nature. In addition to contributing to job design theory, the present study also explored the unique attributes of KWs and provides practical suggestions as to how human resource managers can better motivate KWs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Self-appraisal,life goals,and national culture: An asian-western comparison

Positive leniency in self-appraisal was studied for its cross-cultural properties in three Asian and three Western countries. Nine hundred and eighty-three mid-level bank managers were surveyed by indigenous field workers to measure self-appraisal, life goals, and other demographic variables. Positive leniency was found in the three Western countries but not in the three Asian countries while controlling for size and type of organisation, managerial level and several demographics including sex, age, education and religious preference. Our measure of self-appraisal also served as a measure of organisational success. The relationship between success and work motivation was then examined for its cross-cultural properties. Organisational success and work motivation correlated across the six countries although the intensity of work motivation varied. The importance of work and of family were highly valued in all six countries as well.     

Accounting and economic rates of return: Additional Australian evidence

The key issue addressed in my paper is whether accounting rate of return (ARR) performs as an effective monitoring surrogate for internal rate of return (IRR). Financial information derived from a sample of 44 Australian corporations between 1968 and 1990 was utilized to accomplish this objective. The Kelly-Tippett (1991) technique was employed to analyze the data set. Results confirm earlier work in the area in that the ARR was found to be an unreliable substitute for the IRR.     

The Relative Effect of Property Type and Country Factors in Reduction of Risk of Internationally Diversified Real Estate Portfolios

We examine and test the merits of diversifying portfolios of real estate securities internationally and across property types. Our analysis covers the period January 1990 through July 2005. Using data from the Global Property Research GPR 250 Property Securities Index, which has monthly prices for five property type indexes in 21 countries, we decompose country and property type sources of variation in real estate security returns. We find that property type effects are smaller than country effects. Property type specialization explains only 6% of the variance of national real estate securities index returns. Because property type effects are so small, country diversification is a more effective tool for achieving risk reduction than property type diversification. In addition, we find evidence that the relative importance of country effects is decreasing while that of industry effects is increasing. However, country effects continue to dominate property type effects.     

Tourist accommodation price setting in Australian strata titled properties

Strata title units (dwelling complexes in which individual units are owned by small investors) represent the vast bulk of Australian self-catering tourism units. In many areas, such as Australia's Gold Coast, strata title owned properties have overtaken hotels as the most popular form of tourist accommodation (Warnken, J., Russell, R., Faulkner, B., 2003. Condominium developments in maturing destinations: potentials and problems of long term sustainability. Tourism Management 24, 155–168).