The rhythm of effective entrepreneurs’ decision-making process. The pathways of alertness scanning and search and cognitive style. A mediation model

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - How can entrepreneurs be effective when making decisions? To enrich current research on entrepreneurship and cognition, the present study...     

A theoretical and empirical investigation of job satisfaction and intended turnover in the large CPA firm

This research reports on the development and test of a model of job satisfaction and intended turnover in the large CPA firm environment. On an overall basis, the model was generally supported. Satisfaction showed strong significance in a multiple regression equation predicting the probability of turnover. In addition, eleven dimensions of job satisfaction developed through factor analysis, as well as a “career preparation” variable, correlated positively with a measure of overall job satisfaction and negatively with a measure of the probability of turnover.     

Participation and Consumption of Illegal Drugs among Adolescents

This paper identifies the determinants affecting the adolescent populations' decision regarding whether or not to consume illegal drugs. The authors estimate a simultaneous Type II Tobit model for each sample substance, including marijuana, LSD, amphetamines, cocaine, volatile substances, and heroine. The data are drawn from three Spanish Surveys on Drug Use in the School Population conducted in 1994, 1996, and 1998. The results indicate that illegal drug use among Spanish adolescents is clearly determined by economic variables. It is similarly determined by other sociodemographic variables, such as personal habits, family environment, and the receipt of information regarding the negative consequences of drug use. This paper was partially written while José Alberto Molina was Visiting Researcher at the Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada-FEDEA (Madrid, Spain), to which he would like to express his thanks for the hospitality and facilities provided. The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees for their helpful observations on an earlier version of this paper. Similarly, Namkee Ahn, as well as various participants at the XIX Spanish Health Economics Meeting (Zaragoza, Spain) and at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America (Washington DC), have all offered valuable comments and suggestions. Finally, the authors would like to express their gratitude for the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education-CICYT and the European Commission (Project FEDER 2FD97-2057). The usual disclaimer applies.     

Asymptotic and Bootstrap techniques for testing the expected value of a fuzzy random variable

In this paper we will consider hypothesis-tests for the (fuzzy-valued) mean value of a fuzzy random variable in a population. For this purpose, we will make use of a generalized metric for fuzzy numbers, and we will develop an approach for normal fuzzy random variables, and two different approaches for the case of fuzzy random variables taking on a finite number of different values. A real-life example illustrates the use of the last two approaches. Finally, a comparison between the introduced techniques is developed by means of simulation studies leading to close inferential conclusions.Acknowledgements.The research in this paper has been partially supported by MCYT Grants BFM2002-01057 and BFM2001-3494. Their financial support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are sincerely grateful to their colleague Gil González-Rodríguez for all his comments and suggestions in connection with this paper; his scientific support has been very valuable. The authors want also thank the referees of the first version of the paper because of their useful hints to improve it.     

Does corruption affect income inequality and poverty?

This paper provides evidence that high and rising corruption increases income inequality and poverty. An increase of one standard deviation in corruption increases the Gini coefficient of income inequality by about 11 points and income growth of the poor by about 5 percentage points per year. These findings are robust to use of different instruments for corruption and other sensitivity analyses. The paper discusses several channels through which corruption may affect income inequality and poverty. An important implication of these findings is that policies that reduce corruption will most likely reduce income inequality and poverty as well. Received: March 2, 2000 / Accepted: September 20, 2001     

Information friction and investor home bias: A perspective on the effect of global IFRS adoption on the extent of equity home bias

This paper provides a perspective on the effect of IFRS adoption on the tendency of investors to under-invest in foreign equities. We consider explanations for the equity home bias described in prior research and discuss research relevant to the informational consequences of global adoption of IFRS. Specifically, we evaluate whether IFRS adoption reduces information processing costs or decreases investor uncertainty about either the quality of financial reporting or the distribution of future cash flows. We predict that the effect of any reduction in information processing costs from the adoption of IFRS is likely to be small relative to the effects of other determinants of home bias such as the strength of investor protection mechanisms in foreign countries, behavioral biases toward familiar equities, and informational advantages related to geographical proximity. We argue that the quality of the information that investors have (or perceive they have) decreases with distance, conclude that global IFRS adoption is unlikely to affect home bias, and propose avenues for future research.     

Cross-country determinants of bank income smoothing by managing loan-loss provisions

This paper studies the determinants of income smoothing by management of loan-loss provisions in banks around the world. Using a panel database of 3221 bank-year observations from 40 countries and controlling for unobservable bank effects and for the endogeneity of explanatory variables, we find that bank income smoothing depends on investor protection, disclosure, regulation and supervision, financial structure, and financial development. Results suggest there is less bank income smoothing not only with the strength of investor protection, but also with the extent of accounting disclosure, restrictions on bank activities, and official and private supervision, while there is more income smoothing with market orientation and development of a country’s financial system.     

The global hip-hop Diaspora: Understanding the culture

From New York to Paris, Tokyo and Sydney, hip-hop culture is a Diaspora transcending ethnic, linguistic, and geographic boundaries. As Osumare [Osumare H. Beat streets in the global hood: connective marginalities of the hip-hop globe. Journal of American and Comparative Cultures 2001;2(Spring/Summer):171-181.] indicates, “Global hip-hop youth culture has become a phenomenon in the truest sense of the word and has affected nearly every country on the map (171).” We extend our knowledge of the worldwide diffusion of hip-hop culture (Stanley TL. Cool consumption goods fit for hip-hop. Advert Age 2004;75:12 [July 12]) and employ qualitative research methods to address our research questions. Our findings identify commonalities among members of the hip-hop Diaspora and suggest that the core essence of hip-hop is shared by marginalized groups. Our data also illustrate that hip-hop is malleable and is adapted to speak to members of multiple national cultures, and localized socioeconomic and political conditions: hip-hop youth culture is glocalized.     

Quality competition and entry: a media market case

In this paper, we study the optimal tax policy in a differential oligopoly game where the competing firms share the access to a productive renewable resource. We show that, in a Feedback Nash Equilibrium of the game, a linear Markov tax, imposed on the output, and specified as an affine function of the available resource stock, leads the competing firms to produce the socially optimal quantities over time, thus overcoming the dynamic interplay between the tragedy of the commons and the firms’ market power. The optimal tax turns out to be independent from the resource stock in a monopoly, and it cannot be defined in a duopoly.     

Involving mind, body, and friends: Management that engenders creativity

Based on the careful observation and interviews of employees at three companies, and supplemented by cases from the popular business press, a discovery approach is used to derive four management principles that engender creativity and innovation in organizations: (1) manage organizations so that their knowledge base is more diverse than what would occur naturally; (2) encourage employees to embrace a collaborative and non-complacent attitude towards work and the organization; (3) make it possible for organization members to engage in the quick testing of ideas and solutions as they emerge; (4) reward employee and supervisor behaviors that support these principles and punish resistance to their implementation. The principles work in companies even if creativity and innovation are not stated organizational objectives, and do not require large investments or disruptions to work processes to yield valuable results.