Working sick and out of sorts: a cross-cultural approach on presenteeism climate,organizational justice and work–family conflict*

Abstract

A climate of presenteeism has important effects on employee well-being and the organization itself. Our study, based on surveys of health sector employees in six different countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Lebanon, Portugal, Russia and Spain) examines whether organizational justice plays a mediating role in the relationship between a presenteeism climate in the organization and work–family conflict (WFC). Our results indicate that the perception of organizational justice and the presenteeism climate do influence WFC. Moreover, higher levels of WFC were found in non-Latin countries. This study contributes to the work attendance and life balance field by providing cross-cultural empirical evidence corroborating the effect of justice and presenteeism climate on the WFC.     

The income inequality,financial depth and economic growth nexus in China

Income inequality has increased in China despite rapid economic growth. Income inequality could impinge on future development, leading to social tension or political instability. Our study investigates the short-run and long-run relationship between three important macroeconomic indicators—income inequality, economic growth and financial depth. We utilise a two-step procedure of ARDL bounds and Granger causality for the analysis. The bounds test indicates the presence of a cointegrating relationship between income inequality, financial depth and economic growth in the long run. In the second step, we utilise the Granger causality approach. Results show a bidirectional causality between financial depth-growth and a unidirectional causality between inequality-growth in the short run. In the long run, results reveal that growth and financial depth determine Gini. Our findings provide support for the inequality-widening effect due to economic growth and higher credit provided to the private sector. We find no evidence of inequality-narrowing or income-equalising effect in the long run for the period of study. It is possible that the government's inclusive growth policies which started less than a decade ago have not taken effect for us to capture the inverted U-shape income equalising effect significantly.     

Impact of MiFID II tick-size regime on equity markets—Evidence from the LSE

This study investigates the impact of MiFID II on the London Stock Exchange. We find that a tick-size reduction leads to lower bid–ask spreads, lower trade values, reduced cost of trading at and beyond the best bid-offer, an acceleration of quote updates, an increase in aggressive trades and a reduction in price impact. Increased tick size widens spreads and increases trading costs. Step functions reveal that liquidity adjusts opposite to the tick change. To determine if impacts are proportional, we identify potential functions that predict cost changes with tick updates, implying that traders adjust their trade sizes according to the new tick levels.     

The Perfect Storm: Hurricanes, Insurance, and Regulation

The intense hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 caused considerable instability in property insurance markets in coastal states with the greatest problems occurring in Florida and the Southeast. Insurers have substantially raised rates and decreased their exposures. While no severe hurricanes struck the United States in 2006 and 2007, market pressures remain strong given the high risk still facing coastal states. These developments generate considerable concern and controversy among various stakeholder groups. Government responses have varied. In Florida, political pressures prompted a wave of legislation and regulations to expand government underwriting and subsidization of hurricane risk and constrain insurers' rates and market adjustments. Other states' actions seem more moderate. In this context, it is important to understand how property insurance markets have been changing and governments have been responding to increased catastrophe risk. This article examines important market developments and evaluates associated government policies. We comment on how regulation is affecting the equilibration of insurance markets and offer opinions on policies that are helpful and harmful.     

Appraising Intangible Assets from the Viewpoint of Value Drivers

This article does not intend to actually valuate intangible assets but focuses to investigate the relative value distribution of corporate intangible assets, and this links closely to the concept and application of value drivers. This is because we believe that drivers or attributes of the value significantly determine how the virtual value of these intangibles can be created for companies. We apply the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to the appraising process of intangible assets. The AHP method can mainly sort the non-financial value drivers in order according to their weighted contributions. Therefore, the key purpose of this article is to develop a tentative model for the evaluation of intangible assets, which helps business to correctly appraise corporate value ratios and avoid bias due to mainly relying on financial statements when measuring an entity’s value. In addition, in view of the significant proportion of intangible assets over total assets in high-technology industries, this research, then, uses six industries in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan, as its research objects in order to test the applicability of its model, as well as exploring the value weights of intangible assets and its evaluation among different technology industries. Besides, the empirical result of this article is mainly to support business appraisal and thus improves the effectiveness of value-based management.     

Marketing research through the salesforce

This article reviews the use and role of the salesforce as an extension of the marketing research function. The purpose of this paper is to provide a tentative assessment of the role of salespeople in the marketing research function as applied to an advanced-technology company active in several industries, countries, and continents.     

The prospects of a monetary union in East Asia

This paper assesses the empirical desirability of the East Asian economies to form a monetary union. The Structural Vector Autoregression (VAR) method is employed to assess the nature of macroeconomic disturbances among the East Asian countries, as a preliminary guide in identifying potential candidates for forming an Optimum Currency Area (OCA). In comparison with European countries, East Asia has less symmetric underlying structural shocks but the speed of adjustment to shocks is much faster. The empirical results suggest that there exists a scope among some small sub-regions, comprising mainly of ASEAN countries, for potential monetary integration. The finding of an increased symmetry of shocks among countries after the Asian Financial crisis indicates that the regional policy-coordinating effort after the crisis has put the region on the right track if monetary union is a desired goal.     

The transformation of industrial authority and paternalistic capitalism in the global economy: case studies of Taiwan's textiles industries

Abstract This paper is an attempt to theorize changing employment relations in capitalist development, drawing upon Taiwan's experience of industrialization within the context of global economic competition and undertaking case studies in the textiles industries. It aims to investigate changes in the nature of employment relations, with special reference to authority relations, by examining how they have been shaped by changes in Taiwan's textiles industries. It argues that a transformation of paternalistic capitalism is under way in Taiwan. The study also examines how changes in economic activities have profoundly affected people's lives and experiences. It is suggested that the underpinnings of traditional authority are being shaken. Loosened personal ties and claims for statutory working rights have led to the emergence of different sources of industrial authority. Here is a crucial 'ideological break' in terms of workers' consciousness. Moreover, the 'communal paternalism' or 'enterprise paternalism' of labour regimes in Taiwan propounded by Deyo (1989, 1998) is now called into question.     

Understanding the role of retail store service in light of self‐image–store image congruence

The relationships among a consumer's service experience, the servicescape, and perceived value for the money spent on the service are important theoretical as well as practical issues. Little effort has, however, been devoted to understanding these in the context of the effects of consumer image–store image congruency. Image congruency has not only been shown to be valuable in relation to product choices, but has also been shown to contribute to our understanding of retail store choice and preferences. This study examines the effect of retailer service provision and the retail store environment (servicescape) on the customers' perception of value for money. The study also examines the role of self–store image congruence in the above relationships. The findings confirm the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model (except for servicescape effects). The findings also indicate that the effects are stronger for those individuals experiencing high self–store image congruence. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.