Corporate Communication or McCommunication? Considering a McDonaldization of Corporate Communication Hypothesis

In this essay the perspective of Ritzer's McDonaldization of Society Thesis is the starting point for developing hypotheses about corporate communication (CorpCom). The central idea of McDonaldization is that increasing numbers of organizations are run as fast food restaurants, focusing on: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control of people. That produces a form of rationality that becomes irrational. It is hypothesized that CorpCom is an ally of McDonaldization and the more the principles of McDonaldization are applied the more McDonaldized CorpCom becomes. This “McCommunication” could be less effective in gaining identification, support and trust from stakeholders than non-McDonaldized CorpCom.     

Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage

This paper investigates the determinants of disparities in coverage by cell telephone systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. It uses a spatially disaggregated probit for over 990,000 grid cells with adjustments for spatial autocorrelation. Determinants include potential market size (population); cost factors related to accessibility (elevation, slope, distance from a main road, and distance from the nearest large city); and competition policy. Estimates indicate significant results for the supply–demand variables, and very strong results for the competition policy index.Simulations suggest that a generalized improvement in competition policy could lead to huge improvements in cell phone area coverage, and to an overall coverage increase of nearly 100%.     

A note on interregional versus intraregional inequality

This paper addresses the decomposition of inequality in an interrogional and intraregional component. In addition to cardinal data (income), attention is paid to binary data (e.g., unemployment). Some specific features of binary data which are relevant in the context of inequality analyses are studied. The decomposition approach is illustrated for Dutch provincial data.     

Residential Search and Mobility in a Housing Market Equilibrium Model

In this paper, we propose an equilibrium model for the housing market which provides an explanation for observed housing consumption of households over their lifetimes. The moving behavior of households is described as a stochastic dynamic process in which households moving decisions depend on information which is obtained over time. Households move when the offer exceeds an endogenously determined threshold. On the basis of the households moving behavior, the steady-state distribution of households over the housing stock is obtained. On the supply side of the market, landlords are looking for households to occupy their vacant dwellings. Their strategy is to set rents in a mixed strategy in order to profit from imperfect information. After formulating search behavior of households as well as the behavior of landlords, the market equilibrium is derived. We explore the sensitivity of the equilibrium to changes in the structural parameters.     

Determining the final form of a linear dynamic econometric model

This paper outlines a method for determining the final form and associated quantities of a linear or linearized dynamic econometric model. The method is based on the Cauchy integral formula which is approximated by a Riemann sum and evaluated with the fast Fourier transform algorithm. The approach is seen to fit naturally into both the time and frequency domain methods of analyzing dynamic econometric models. An empirical application illustrates the use of the technique.     

The Impact of Railway Stations on Residential and Commercial Property Value: A Meta-analysis

Railway stations function as nodes in transport networks and places in an urban environment. They have accessibility and environmental impacts, which contribute to property value. The literature on the effects of railway stations on property value is mixed in its finding in respect to the impact magnitude and direction, ranging from a negative to an insignificant or a positive impact. This paper attempts to explain the variation in the findings by meta-analytical procedures. Generally the variations are attributed to the nature of data, particular spatial characteristics, temporal effects and methodology. Railway station proximity is addressed from two spatial considerations: a local station effect measuring the effect for properties with in 1/4 mile range and a global station effect measuring the effect of coming 250 m closer to the station. We find that the effect of railway stations on commercial property value mainly takes place at short distances. Commercial properties within 1/4 mile rang are 12.2% more expensive than residential properties. Where the price gap between the railway station zone and the rest is about 4.2% for the average residence, it is about 16.4% for the average commercial property. At longer distances the effect on residential property values dominate. We find that for every 250 m a residence is located closer to a station its price is 2.3% higher than commercial properties. Commuter railway stations have a consistently higher positive impact on the property value compared to light and heavy railway/Metro stations. The inclusion of other accessibility variables (such as highways) in the models reduces the level of reported railway station impact.

Energy Efficiency Information and Valuation Practices in Rental Housing

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics - The consensus in the academic literature is that energy efficiency is associated with transaction value premiums, but it is not clear to what...     

Corporate Governance and Performance: The REIT Effect

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) offer a natural experiment in corporate governance due to the fact that they leave little free cash flow for management, which reduces agency problems. We exploit a unique and leading corporate governance database to test whether corporate governance matters for the performance of U.S. REITs. We document for a sample including governance ratings of more than 220 REITs that firm value is significantly related to firm-level governance for REITs with low payout ratios only. Repeating the analysis with the complete database that includes more than 5,000 companies and a control sample of firms with high corporate real estate ratios, we find a strong and significantly positive relation between our governance index and several performance variables, indicating that the partial lack of a relation between governance and performance in the real estate sector might be explained by a REIT effect.     

Transfer of training: the role of feedback in supportive social networks

The transfer of training to the workplace often fails to occur. The authors argue that feedback generated within the work environment about the application of newly learned skills in the workplace helps to close the gap between the current performance and the desired goal of full application of what is learned during training. This study takes a social network perspective and explores the role of feedback generated within the social network in fostering motivation‐to‐transfer and the transfer of training. The results show that the number of people providing feedback and the helpfulness of this feedback are positively related to the motivation for and actual transfer of training. The frequency of feedback appears to be negatively related. This study underlines the importance of feedback in turning the workplace into a learning environment fostering the transfer of training. It also suggests the value of adopting a social network perspective.