The Salzburg sound of management

To many, Salzburg is correctly identified with Mozart and music festivals. To an increasing number of Europeans, it is also the scene of an exciting experiment in management education.     

Measures of appropriateness: the resource requirements of anaerobic digestion (biogas) systems

Anaerobic digesters have a potential for providing fuel, fertilizer, and a sanitary means of waste disposal in rural areas of less developed countries. Despite these potential benefits, digesters have had a disappointingly low success rate in many LDCs. Poor economics may explain these failures in some cases but poor fits between digesters and local conditions - a lack of appropriateness - can also be a useful indicator.Using a detailed accounting framework, we disaggregate anaerobic digestion systems into five subsystems, analogous to the subsystem components of the nuclear power fuel cycle. Relying on published information from India and China, we compare 38 fixed-and floating-dome digester models and note qualitative and quantitative differences in their uses of construction and operating resources. Environmental and social resources used in the subsystems are also discussed. A tentative ‘specifications plate’ for anaerobic digestion systems is proposed. This provides quantitative measures of the appropriateness of particular systems in different settings.     

Memory, transaction records, and The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith hypothesized that impersonal exchange was necessary for a society to develop specialized division of labor and create wealth. Douglass North and Vernon Smith argue that successful developed economies are the result of institutions. We hypothesize and provide evidence from ethnographic data that the basic accounting technology of recording transactions is associated with more extensive impersonal exchange and increased specialization in the division of labor. Our intuition is that extensive impersonal exchange requires reliable memory of trading partners’ past behavior to sustain trust and encourage reciprocity when a group expands beyond the size of traditional hunter-gatherer groups. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that transaction records are necessary for the emergence of complex economies as suggested by the archaeological evidence of recordkeeping in Mesopotamian societies 10,000 years ago.     

Unlocking the Potential of Greater Female Employment in Europe

This paper investigates the drivers of female labour force participation in Europe, as well as the implications of achieving greater gender diversity in senior corporate positions. Re-examining the drivers of women’s decisions to work is particularly important in the context of Europe. In many European countries, the process of closing gender gaps in labour force participation has stalled, despite greater gender equality in human capital investment, declining birth rates, changing social norms and equal legal access to employment opportunities.     

Nontraditional crops,traditional constraints: The long‐term welfare impacts of export crop adoption among Guatemalan smallholders

This article documents the long‐term welfare effects of household nontraditional agricultural export (NTX) adoption. We use a panel dataset that spans the period 1985–2005, and employ difference‐in‐differences estimation to investigate the long‐term impact of nontraditional agricultural export adoption on changes in household consumption status and asset position in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Given the heterogeneity in adoption patterns, the analysis differentiates the impact estimates based on a classification of households that takes into account the timing and duration of nontraditional agricultural export adoption. The results show that while, on average, welfare levels have improved for all households irrespective of adoption status and duration, the extent of improvement has varied across groups. Long‐term adopters exhibit the smallest increase in the lapse of two decades, in spite of some early gains. Conversely, early adopters who withdrew from nontraditional agricultural export production after reaping the benefits of the boom period of the 1980s are found to have fared better and shown greater improvements in durable asset position and housing conditions than any other category.     

End Matter

This paper presents findings from a qualitative research investigation into tourism firms and the environment. It focuses on the factors preventing a sample of small environmentally accredited businesses from undertaking further action. Attitudinal, financial and operational factors are identified. It argues that in order to encourage businesses to undertake environmentally responsible practices the conditions in which they operate must be favourable; these include adequate support and infrastructure. Crucial, however, is addressing widespread scepticism towards environmental alternatives in both the public and operators, so as to make ‘going green’ commercially viable.     

Are long-term wage elasticities of labor supply more negative than short-term ones?

Standard models imply that the wage-elasticity of labor supply is more negative the longer a wage change lasts. I observe decreasing daily hours during short-term wage increases, but not during a long-term one: daily income goals adjusted in the long-term.     

Using virtual reality to increase charitable donations

Marketer interest in using virtual reality (VR) as a persuasion tactic continues to rise. Notably, one sector at the forefront of utilizing this tactic for persuasive means is nonprofit marketing. Many charities have devoted considerable resources to creating VR appeals under the assumption that this medium will increase donations over and above present tactics. However, research has not yet examined the persuasive consequences VR may provide over more traditional channels. This research seeks to understand the opportunities and limitations this emerging tactic can offer marketers. Specifically, we examine the donation effectiveness of three real VR charitable appeals by assessing actual donation behaviors, and find that VR appeals increase donations compared to a two-dimensional (2D) format. This work addresses a timely and relevant issue for practitioners and opens doors to future research investigating VR’s applications to marketing.