Job satisfaction and co-worker pay in Canadian firms

One reason to be concerned about income inequality is the idea that people care about not only their own absolute income but also their income relative to various reference groups (co-workers, friends, neighbours, relatives, etc.). We use Canadian linked employer–employee data to estimate the casual effect of co-worker pay on a worker's reported job and pay satisfaction. Since worker satisfaction can affect the worker's productivity, organizational commitment, turnover, creativity and innovation as well as the firm's productivity and profitability, this is an issue that requires more attention and careful examination. In models that control for a rich set of workplace characteristics, we find that co-worker pay has a large positive and significant effect on both pay and job satisfaction. In our preferred models with establishment-level fixed effects, the effect of co-worker pay on pay satisfaction is half as large and the effect on job satisfaction completely disappears, suggesting that part (all) of what previous studies attribute to the effect of co-worker pay on worker pay (job) satisfaction is driven by unobserved heterogeneity across firms or establishments. Our results also suggest that the effect of co-worker pay on worker satisfaction is much stronger for workers who leave their job during the following year. Finally, we find that while co-worker pay has a positive effect on pay satisfaction among Canadian-born whites, it has a negative effect among immigrants and Canadian-born visible minorities.     

Transnational entrepreneurs,worldchanging entrepreneurs,and ambassadors: a typology of the new breed of expatriates

As barriers to globalization have steadily diminished, the number of entrepreneurial and noncommercial expatriates have grown from a trickle to a torrent. Much of what we know about expatriatism may not apply to this new breed of expatriates. A four-quadrant typology of expatriates draws attention to important differences in expatriate types. I make use of the notions of comparative fit and normative fit from self-categorization theory to validate the typology. Examining the experiences of 160 expatriates demonstrates that the proposed typology represents real differences and is invoked by expatriates in the field. Scholars may apply this typology to explain inconsistent findings in extant studies and as a guide for the development of new research questions.     

A fresh look at the contribution of project management to organizational performance

A better understanding of organizational performance and the contribution that project management can make is the aim. The article adopts the “Competing Values Framework,” a rich framework that is well established both theoretically and empirically but is not well known in the field of project management. The framework is summarized and applied in an empirical investigation of the contribution of project management in general and project management offices (PMOs) in particular to organizational performance. The examination of 11 case studies revealed multiple concurrent and sometimes paradoxical perspectives. The criteria proposed by the framework have been further developed through the identification of a preliminary set of empirically grounded performance indicators. The empirical results contribute to a better understanding of the role of project management generally and PMOs specifically. They also demonstrate the usefulness of this framework for the study of project management's contribution to organizational performance.     

Pricing Internal Trade to Get a Leg up on External Rivals

The pricing of transfers from parent to subsidiary is an oft-explored issue. Linking the cost of internal transfers with external market prices is one common approach, typically justified when the market for the good is perfectly competitive. This paper shows that imperfect competition may also justify market-based transfer prices. Concern that transfer price will deviate from marginal cost and thereby distort subsidiary choices can lead a parent to undertake actions to influence the market price of the upstream good. Such efforts can provide a desirable strategic posture in the upstream market.     

Rater source factors represent important subcomponents of the criterion construct space, not rater bias

We contrast normative accuracy and ecological perspectives on applications of the multitrait–multimethod methodology to multisource performance ratings and review existing research that provides critical tests of these perspectives. Existing research supports the ecological perspective which proposes that the rater source effects that are typically found in analysis of multisource performance ratings do not represent mere halo biases but alternative, perhaps equally valid perspectives on ratee performance. We suggest that future research view multifaceted research designs in the broader context of a prototype multidimensional data relational system such as that proposed by Lance, Baranik, Lau, and Scharlau (Lance, C. E., Baranik, L. E., Lau, A. R., & Scharlau, E. A. (in press). If it's not trait it must be method: (Mis)application of the multitrait–multimethod design in organizational research. In C. E. Lance & R. J. Vandenberg (Eds.), Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Received doctrine, verity, and fable in the organizational and social sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum).     

Attention to Fairness versus Profits: The Determinants of Satisficing Pricing

We investigate determinants of the competitive behaviour of satisficing, non‐profit‐maximizing pricing. Taking a behavioural approach, we argue that pricing decisions are motivated by fairness objectives as well as the desire to achieve economic objectives. We draw from the attention‐based view to build our theoretical model explaining the contextual conditions that are most likely to be associated with attention to fairness relative to attention to achieving maximum profits when setting prices. Our hypothesized predictors of satisficing pricing decisions encompass the institutional context in which the firm is embedded, the exchange context with customers and suppliers, and the context internal to the firm. Hypotheses are tested with survey data of over 3000 firms from 15 countries. We find that the decision to set prices at a satisficing level is remarkably common, and its prevalence is associated with contextual factors that are consistent with greater attention to fairness concerns.     

National minorities and their representation in social surveys: which practices make a difference?

This paper presents a systematic study of survey mechanisms that produce or reduce minority bias in social surveys. It extends the work of Lipps et al. (2011) who have demonstrated that, in the Swiss context, the more an ethno-national minority community differs, socio-culturally and socio-economically, from the national majority, the less it is likely to be represented in its proper proportion in the major national surveys. Minority bias furthermore has a vertical dimension: socio-economic bias against individuals from the most deprived backgrounds becomes extreme within ethno-national minority communities. Using data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey, the Swiss Household Panel, and the Swiss sample of the European Social Survey, in the present work we empirically assess the impact of three types of survey practices on minority bias: (1) strategies to increase overall response rates of the whole population indiscriminately from its minority status, (2) the use of pre- and post-stratification measures that take into account the overall share of foreigners in the national population, and (3) the conduct of interviews in a wider range of languages, in order to facilitate survey response among certain (linguistic) minorities. Our findings show that efforts to increase overall response rates can, paradoxically, create even more minority bias. On the other hand, they suggest that a combination of stratified sampling and a wider range of survey languages can have a positive effect in reducing survey bias, both between and within national categories. We conclude that measures that take into account and adapt to the social and cultural heterogeneity of surveyed populations do make a difference, whereas additional efforts that only replicate existing routine practices can be counter-productive.     

Exchange Controls,Political Risk and the Eurocurrency Market: New Evidence from Tests of Covered Interest Rate Parity

This study employs daily data to examine the effects on Eurocurrency and onshore returns of the May 21, 1981 imposition of exchange controls by French President Mitterand. Prior to this time, transaction costs explain the average onshore deviations from covered parity; however, these averages ignore short-lived political risk premia which emerged just before the imposition of controls. As expected, there is no evidence of political risk of Eurocurrency markets. Yet when exchange controls were in effect, premia in excess of transaction costs surfaced on nonfranc Eurocurrency deposits at the time of devaluations of the franc within the EMS. [431]     

State Strategies and the Geopolitics of the Global Knowledge Economy: China,India and the Case of Regenerative Medicine

The global competition between states for position in the uncertain future of the life sciences brings a new dynamic to the intersection between geopolitics and the global knowledge economy. Armed with distinctive approaches to innovation in new health technologies, the emerging economies of China and India are determined to challenge the traditional hegemony of the developed countries in areas such as regenerative medicine where the promised biotechnology future is said to lie. Yet although the political belief that there is a future value for regenerative medicine is global, the precise nature of that future when measured in terms of the path of the science, the market demand, the cultural response, the commercialisation process and its associated business models is obscure. Drawing on theories of the competition and developmental state, I analyse the factors that shape a state's response to the promise of regenerative medicine, the strategies of ‘speculative innovation’ that may be adopted in pursuit of geopolitical advantage in this uncertain field, and the adaptive qualities necessary for a state's effective competition in an age of globalisation. This analysis is then applied to the emerging economies of China and India to assess their geopolitical strategies in regenerative medicine innovation, their current position in this part of the knowledge bioeconomy, and their likely impact on its continuing globalisation.