Direct and indirect effects of SEWi,family human capital and social capital on organizational social capital in small family firms

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Given the importance of social capital in organizations, this research answers the question of how socioemotional wealth importance (SEWi),...     

Deterministic randomness in a model of finance and growth

Following the literature on growth, cycles and financial development, this paper develops an economic growth model in which the source of endogenous business cycles relates to the allocation of credit between productive investment and consumption. An important role is given to consumer sentiment, because this determines the demand of households for credit; in particular, optimistic beliefs about the economy’s macro performance divert financial resources from investment in favor of consumption. The dynamic analysis indicates that Neimark–Sacker and flip bifurcations eventually separate stable and unstable manifolds and, as a result, a region of nonlinear motion is generated: cycles of various periodicities and chaotic motion characterize the behavior of the long run time paths of accumulated wealth, output and consumption.     

The Link Between Diversity and Equality Management Practice Bundles and Racial Diversity in the Managerial Ranks: Does Firm Size Matter?

Invoking strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory and tenets of the resource‐based view of the firm, we explore how two bundles of diversity and equality management (DEM) practices influence racial diversity in the managerial ranks. By considering the conceptualization of DEM practices and the moderating role of firm size, our study disentangles subtle nuances in the DEM practices–racial diversity in managerial ranks relationship. Based on a sample of 137 Fortune 1,000 firms over a two‐year period, our results suggest that minority opportunity‐based DEM practices and manager accountability DEM practices positively relate to racial diversity in managerial ranks, and these relationships are stronger in smaller companies than large ones. Theoretical and practical implications for a strategic perspective on future diversity management research are elaborated.     

Rational thinking under costly information—Macroeconomic implications

The notion of optimized rational behavior in the formation of expectations is used in this note to study the dynamics of a simple macroeconomic model. In a setting where departures from stability are not possible under perfect foresight, the selection of an optimal degree of rationality may lead to the generation of long-term endogenous fluctuations.     

Investment in organizational capital

Organizational capital is a specific form of capital that firms accumulate. It relates to the development of codes, technical languages, practical arrangements about how the work is done and to the creation of an organizational culture. The distinctive feature of this form of capital is the fact that it does not contribute directly to an output result. Instead, it can be thought as creating the correct environment for the human factor to maximize its capability of generating value, that is, organizational capital works as an external effect on the accumulation of the human capital input. Nevertheless, organizational capital is a form of capital and therefore it has an investment process associated with it. The paper considers the process of investment in this form of capital and recognizes that it introduces important changes over the firm's profit maximization problem. The problem gains new features relating to its dynamic nature and a condition that guarantees saddle‐path stability can be derived. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exponential discounting bias

We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular specifications. Under the suggested framework, the representative agent adopts, at some initial date, an optimal behavior that shapes her consumption trajectory over time. This agent desires to take a constant discount rate to approach the optimization problem, but bounded rationality, under the form of a present bias, deviates the individual from the intended goal. As a result, decreasing impatience will end up dominating the agent’s behavior. The individual will not be aware of her own time inconsistency and, therefore, she will not revise her plans as time elapses, what makes the problem relatively simple to address from a computational point of view. The general discounting framework is used to approach a standard optimal growth model in discrete time. Transitional dynamics and stability properties of the corresponding dynamic setup are studied. An extension of the standard utility maximization model to the case of habit persistence is also considered.     

Entrepreneurship and risk-taking in a post-disaster scenario

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Family firms’ risk-taking behaviour is central to these firms’ ability to recover from major loses after a natural disaster....     

Tests of expectancy theory predictions of effort: A simulation study comparing simple and complex models

The authors summarize existing studies of expectancy theories of work effort and conclude that simple additive models generally predict effort as well as, or better than, more complex multiplicative ones. An attempt is made to explain the empirical findings using a computer simulation. The results of the simulation indicate that reasonable amounts of measurement error invalidate attempts to show that one combination of valence, expectancy, and instrumentality is a better predictor of work effort than any other. The authors conclude that even though questions regarding complex interactions cannot be answered, valence, expectancy, and instrumentality, taken independently, appear to be important determinants of work effort and point out areas where future research is needed.