Work‐To‐Life Conflict and Enrichment Among International Business Travelers: The Role of International Career Orientation

The present study examines the direct and moderating effects of an international career orientation in the relationship between frequency and duration of international business traveling and work‐to‐life conflict and enrichment. In addition, the effort‐reward imbalance that potentially features in the international business traveler's job was examined in relation to work‐to‐life conflict and enrichment. The study was conducted among 232 Finnish people in jobs requiring international business travel. A moderated hierarchical regression analysis shows that travel of considerable duration and a pronounced effort‐reward imbalance had direct links to work‐to‐life conflict. In contrast, low effort‐reward imbalance and a strong international career orientation had direct links to work‐to‐life enrichment. In addition, having a strong orientation to an international career decreases work‐to‐life conflict when a job requires very frequent traveling, but the moderation effect was not found in relation to duration of traveling. Our findings indicate that interventions aimed at reducing work‐to‐life conflict and increasing work‐to‐life enrichment among international business travelers should focus on fostering a balance between efforts and rewards at work. The extent of employees’ internationalism should also be considered when recruiting people into jobs involving international business travel. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Solvency II – towards a new insurance supervisory system in the EU

This article describes the current state of affairs in the EU Solvency II project. The background and international context of the project is discussed, as well as the general outline of a future EU solvency system. In particular, several areas where further technical work is needed are outlined. These topics could provide interesting objects of study for professionals of actuarial sciences as well as to those of other related sciences.     

Sequential information arrival in the Finnish stock index derivatives markets

This paper investigates the hypothesis of sequential information arrival in the Finnish stock index futures and options markets. With no short selling restrictions in the derivatives markets, no causality relationships between returns and trading volume are observed. However, by using the so-called call-put signal, based on call and put volumes, causality between returns and volume is found supporting the hypothesis of sequential information arrival. In addition, it is discovered that the increased volume in stock index options relative to index futures has significantly increased their importance in the intermarket price discovery process.     

Translation behaviour: An exploratory study within a service multinational

In this paper, we address the issue of translation behaviour in the context of a service multinational. Our case study of a Nordic bank shows that emergent translation needs may be handled by the organisation and the individual in various ways such as self-translation, technical translation tools, social networks, or the central translation department. The choice between these options is shaped by situational influences including growing language diversity, accuracy, response speed, cost considerations, confidentiality of the information and task criticality. A key finding is the importance of social networks as a coping mechanism for employees confronted with the need to provide timely translation solutions, including the resort to external social networks, even relatives. Rather than a seemingly mundane, peripheral activity, translation was found to play a role in service delivery, organisational functioning and hence company performance. We propose a multilevel theoretical model of the translation process and conclude that organisation's translation ability which consists of organisational and individual responses should be considered as a component of its language absorptive capacity.     

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.     

Variation in the average leadership behaviour of managers across countries: Finnish expatriates’ experiences from Germany,Sweden, France and Great Britain

This paper presents the experiences of Finnish expatriates (n=36) from four European countries representing proposed cultural clusters in Western Europe. The focus is on variation in manager–subordinate interaction, i.e. on leadership behaviours of managers across countries. Based on cultural theory and existing comparative research, the national origin of managers is expected to influence their leadership behaviour. By reviewing various earlier comparative studies, working hypotheses are formed about expected variation across countries. The results indicate that variation could be identified in the average styles of managers across countries, although in most cases differences also emerged between expatriates’ reports. This variation in expatriates’ experiences indicates that variation within countries should also be kept in mind when discussing variation across countries. However, it was regarded as possible to form a model of typical characteristics of leadership styles of managers across countries from the perspective of Finnish expatriates based on the identified variation. The implications of variation identified across countries for expatriates and multinational companies are also discussed.     

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.     

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 role of capital flows in the adjustment of money demand: The case of Finland

The paper models the dual role of money balances as a short-run buffer stock and an asset with a well-specified long-run demand function. The analysis is carried out in an open economy framework. Consequently, there will be an offset to monetary policy in the form of induced capital movements, but in our model, it will be distributed over time even under perfect substitutability of financial claims. Estimates for the parameters of the demand for money function are obtained from a capital flow equation using both unrestricted (OLS) and restricted (nonlinear) estimation methods. The results provide strong evidence in favour of the shock-absorption theory for the adjustment of money demand under money supply changes.