Does diversity matter? A fresh inquiry into the energy,economy and environment nexus

ABSTRACT

The article extends the literature on the nexus among economy, environment and energy by incorporating an index of electricity generation diversity in production and emission functions. The index is mathematically equivalent to Herfindahl–Hirschman index. The index captures substantial information regarding the ongoing energy transition at the global level. The results obtained through pooled mean group estimation, on a dataset of fairly diversified group of countries, indicate that if diversity index increases by a percentage point, per capita income increases by 2.4% and per capita emissions are reduced by 0.71%. This is against the conventional wisdom in favour of specialization. The study has found some interesting long-run causal pathways. Firstly, the causality runs from diversification to income. Secondly, there is a causality running from electricity consumption to specialization. Thirdly, bi-directional causality runs between emissions and specialization. The results have interesting policy implications. The study supports the growth hypothesis that the electricity consumption drives the economy. As this inevitably increases emissions, a better pathway is through diversification. The fossil fuel intensive pathway may have been the preferred choice in the past for countries with low electricity consumption; the diversified portfolio appears to be prudent in the future.     

Green process innovation and operational performance: The role of proactive environment strategy,technological capabilities,and organizational learning

With increase in the focus on environmental protection, firms are integrating sustainability issues in process and product innovations. Firms can contribute toward sustainability and also improve operational performance through green innovation practices. However, the adoption of green innovation practices depends on the proactivity of top managers toward environment management. In this paper, we study the relationships between proactive environment strategy, green process innovation (GPRI), and operational performance. Further, we examine the mediating effect of dynamic capabilities (DCs) (technological capabilities and organizational learning) between GPRI and operational performance. The proposed framework is tested by data collected from the Indian manufacturing industries and using partial least squares (PLS) technique. The findings demonstrate proactive environment strategy as an important antecedent for GPRI practices. Second, technological capabilities and organizational learning mediate between GPRI and operational performance. The results of the study are useful for managers in the manufacturing firms, who are interested to implement GPRI practices or who are in the early stage of implementing the GPRI practices.     

The Impact of Natural Hazards on Housing Values: The Loma Prieta Earthquake

A large, detailed data set is used to examine the effect of the Loma Prieta (World Series) earthquake on housing prices in the San Francisco Bay area. This relationship is examined while controlling for potential confounding variables, such as location-specific risk and the timing of the earthquake. The results indicate that the Loma Prieta earthquake caused an area wide reduction in property values. In addition, it seems that individuals considered other measures of earthquake risk in their housing purchases, yielding a measurable price gradient. These results are relatively robust, remaining stable across estimated functional forms and independent variable sets.     

Examining the motivators of training transfer in an enterprise systems context

Enterprise systems (ES) are large software packages that have been widely adopted, but are complex to deploy. One way to obtain more value from them is to train end-users. However, little is known about the effectiveness of ES training. This study examines post-training behaviour in the ES environment through the concept of training transfer and the theoretical framework of self-determination theory. It proposes that end-users’ computer self-efficacy (CSE) and mastery orientation (MO), as well as the perceived ease-of-use (PEOU) of a system, influence their motivation to transfer the skills they have gained during training to their work environment and to use the system. Data was collected from 170 ES end-users, who had previously attended ES training, through a survey. Partial least squares modelling was used to analyse the data, and all of the hypotheses were supported. This study is among the first few studies that investigate the more distal impact of information systems training.     

Efficient paired choice designs with fewer choice pairs

For paired choice experiments, two new construction methods of designs are proposed for the estimation of the main effects. In many cases, these designs require about 30–50% fewer choice pairs than the existing designs and at the same time have reasonably high D-efficiencies for the estimation of the main effects. Furthermore, as against the existing efficient designs, our designs have higher D-efficiencies for the same number of choice pairs.     

Independent and joint effects of audit partner tenure and non-audit fees on audit quality

We examine the individual and joint effects of auditors’ non-audit services (NAS)/abnormal NAS fees and length of audit partner tenure on audit quality. Our results raise questions about the ‘one size fits all’ approach imposed by the current audit partner rotation requirement in Australia as a result of (1) a learning differentiation that we observe between Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors and (2) higher discretionary accruals associated with non-Big 4 auditors. We find abnormal NAS fees to have a positive association with both absolute and positive (income-increasing) values of discretionary accruals for firms with short audit partner tenure. NAS/abnormal NAS fees are also negatively associated with the issuance of going concern opinions to financially distressed firms when partner tenure is short. In terms of policy implications, regulators are able to gauge the efficacy of the CLERP 9 reforms which currently impose a five year mandatory audit partner rotation requirement.     

Comparison of Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances for at least equal protection of respondents

In this paper, a new randomized response model is proposed, which is shown to have a Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance that is lower than the Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance suggested by Singh and Sedory at equal protection or greater protection of respondents. A new measure of protection of respondents in the setup of the efficient use of two decks of cards, because of Odumade and Singh, is also suggested. The developed Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances are compared under different situations through exact numerical illustrations. Survey data to estimate the proportion of students who have sometimes driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol and feeling over the legal limit are collected by using the proposed randomization device and then analyzed. The proposed randomized response technique is also compared with a black box technique within the same survey. A method to determine minimum sample size in randomized response sampling based on a small pilot survey is also given.     

Pipes,pools, and filters: How collaboration networks affect innovative performance

Research summary : Innovation requires inventors to have both new knowledge and the ability to combine and configure knowledge (i.e., combinatory knowledge), and such knowledge may flow through networks. We argue that both combinatory knowledge and new knowledge are accessed through collaboration networks, but that inventors' abilities to access such knowledge depends on its location in the network. Combinatory knowledge transfers from direct contacts, but not easily from indirect contacts. In contrast, new knowledge transfers from both direct and indirect contacts, but is far more likely to be new and useful when it comes from indirect contacts. Exploring knowledge flows in 69,476 patents and 89,930 unique inventors reveals evidence that combinatory knowledge from direct contacts and new knowledge from indirect contacts significantly affects innovative performance. Managerial summary : Inventors often combine ideas to create innovations. To do this, they need ideas to combine and they need the ability to combine those ideas. Inventors can get ideas to combine as well as the ability to combine ideas through prior co‐workers. Prior co‐workers can share ideas that may be relevant for the inventor's project and can tell the inventor about other things that other people are working on, especially people the inventor may not know. This can help inventors easily learn about ideas from friends‐of‐friends. The ability to combine ideas, however, is much harder to pass on. Prior co‐workers must carefully work with the inventor to teach him or her the complex processes of combining ideas. This means that it is very hard to learn how to combine knowledge from a friend‐of‐a‐friend, but it may be possible to learn from prior co‐workers. We explore this phenomenon in the social relationships of software inventors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.