Training and organisational performance: A meta‐analysis of temporal,institutional and organisational context moderators

Drawing on systems theory, we conducted a moderated meta‐analysis of the training and organisational performance relationship using 119 primary studies. We examined the moderating effects of quality versus quantity of training, time, institutional and organisational context factors in the relationship between training and organisational performance. Our findings reveal that training is positively and directly related to organisational performance with no statistically significant difference between measures of training quality and quantity. We found that the relationship was stronger over time and that country performance orientation and country labour cost moderate the training and organisational performance relationship. We found no evidence for the moderating effects of the three organisational context moderators we examined (i.e. industry sector, organisational size and technology intensity). Finally, our results reveal that training type (i.e. general or firm‐specific) does not moderate the training and organisational performance relationship.     

The long‐run effect of government ideology on economic freedom

According to popular attitudes in Western democracies, the choice between right‐wing and left‐wing parties is a choice between socialism and unbridled free markets. In contrast, the cold and staid research of academia has frequently concluded that particular political parties do not really matter, as whichever party is elected will be closely tethered to the will of the median voter. This article considers the effects of the ideology of parties in power over the long run (1928–95) on economic freedom in subsequent periods. Right‐wing governments are found to have modest, positive effects on economic freedom, but the effects are not particularly robust. The findings here are consistent with others elsewhere, which conclude that there is minor, uneven evidence of an effect. Nonetheless, historically small effects may not be indicative of the future, should these effects be poorly indicative of today's tumultuous political landscape.     

Measures of the Timeliness of Earnings

We explore relationships among four measures of ‘timeliness’ in the financial accounting research literature: the Ball and Brown (1968) measure; Dyer and McHugh's (1975) reporting lag; the Khan and Watts (2009) measure; and the Beekes and Brown (2006) measure. There are good reasons why the measures might be related and also why they might differ. Thus we examine the extent to which they are empirically related, using data for a sample of Australian companies over the period 1994 to 2005. Overall, we find the four measures share a common label, ‘timeliness’, but not much else.     

Personality,organization-specific attitude,and socioeconomic correlates of charity giving behavior

It should be noted that due to the composition of the sample, the specific findings of this study are not intended to be generalized to the population. The results of the discriminant analysis, nevertheless, provide some evidence that socioeconomic variables are more efficient than both organization-specific attitudes and personality variables in discriminating donors and nondonors. The analyses also show that personality variables used in this study do not contribute to a separation of nondonor/donor groups. Ford Motor Company The authors gratefully acknowledge the research support of University Research Committee, Ball State University in this study.     

Can volunteers be targeted?

The usefulness of demographic and attitudinal variables in profiling time donors and nondonors is examined. Time volunteers emerge as similar in profile to money and anatomical-parts donors. From this, implications are derived for increasing time donation by volunteer organizations.     

Modeling node heterogeneity in latent space models for multidimensional networks

Multidimensional network data can have different levels of complexity, as nodes may be characterized by heterogeneous individual-specific features, which may vary across the networks. This article introduces a class of models for multidimensional network data, where different levels of heterogeneity within and between networks can be considered. The proposed framework is developed in the family of latent space models, and it aims to distinguish symmetric relations between the nodes and node-specific features. Model parameters are estimated via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Simulated data and an application to a real example, on fruits import/export data, are used to illustrate and comment on the performance of the proposed models.     

The evaluation of educational programmes

This paper addresses a problem which is at the forefront of educational debate in the Southern African economy. It attempts to set out the nature and processes of evaluators and the qualities necessary in evaluators if their task is to be accomplished with integrity. The article could be used to draw up basic guidelines that may be regarded as prerequisites for evaluating educational programmes in this country and promotes evaluation as a powerful means of refining educational programmes while they are in operation.     

Informal authority in organizations

We assert that decision rights in organizations are not contractible:the boss can always overturn a subordinate's decision, so formalauthority resides only at the top. Although decision rightscannot be formally delegated, they might be informally delegatedthrough self-enforcing relational contracts. We examine thefeasibility of informal authority in two informational environments.We show that different information structures produce differentdecisions not only because different information is broughtto bear in the decision-making process, but also because differentinformation creates different temptations to renege on relationalcontracts. In addition, we explore the implications of formaldelegation achieved through divestitures.     

Market development in practice: A case study of user‐initiated product innovation

User‐initiated innovation refers to the inauguration of new industrial processes and products by their users rather than by manufacturers. The marketing literature has recently been enhanced by the reconceptualisation of industrial innovation to include the possibility of this customer‐active approach. But the accounts of customer‐active innovation which have so far appeared confine the role of the user to the development of internally‐applied process innovations, leaving their wider commercial exploitation entirely to manufacturers. This article presents a case study of the development of flexible manufacturing systems in a major British company and demonstrates the importance of recognising the active role of users in product innovation.