Probabilistic causality

Necessity and Sufficiency are two of the most important concepts in science. Indeed, they are the basis for establishing causal relationships between factors, variables, etc.     

Does structuring of human resource management processes enhance employee creativity? The mediating role of psychological availability

In this study, we develop a theoretical conceptualization and an operational definition of structuring of human resource management (HRM) processes and examine how this structuring enables employee creativity at work. Analyzing the data collected from employees and their managers in knowledge‐intensive workplace settings, we examine a mediation model that suggests that the relationship between structuring of HRM processes and employee creativity is best explained in terms of the intervening variables of perceived uncertainty, stress, and psychological availability. Results suggest that structuring of HRM processes is negatively associated with perceived uncertainty and stress. These perceptions produce a sense of psychological availability, which in turn enhances employee creativity. This study offers new insights about diagnosing the level of structuring of HRM processes and the ways managers and HR directors facilitate its implementation in their organization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Why passengers’ geo-demographic characteristics matter to airport marketing

Passengers’ preference and origin location data (home postcodes) can be extremely useful for marketing purposes, with the potential for more effective customer segmentation and targeting, yet traditional airport market research has often neglected these aspects. This paper utilises passenger survey data from the Gold Coast Airport in the state of Queensland, Australia, to perform a geo-demographic classification analysis in conjunction with census data. With geo-coded passenger preference data, the trip characteristics and airport decision preferences were cross-compared with demographic data with socio-economic variables. The results revealed distinctive contrasts in passenger origin location for short-haul domestic trips and long-haul international trips, in which passengers from afar are willing to travel longer distances to reach a second-tier airport to make use of cheaper airfares. One of the implications of this study is that low-cost carriers’ businesses (the airlines or the airports) should better target their customers by offering geographically targeted marketing.     

Staying Home or Moving Away? Restructuring Efforts within Multinational Enterprises

This paper analyses the impact of geographic dispersion on employment changes within multinationals. Building on earlier work of Landier et al. (2009, Review of Financial Studies 22, 3: 1119), we investigate whether corporate decision‐making within a multinational is affected by the distance between an affiliate and its headquarter. Our findings suggest a detrimental impact of distance on employees, by either an increased likelihood of observing a downsizing event, or by witnessing a larger decrease in the number of employees at distant locations during downsizing events. In addition, our results seem to relate the higher likelihood of observing a downsizing event to the role of social factors on decision making. The more visible a manager is in his community, the less likely he is to downsize proximate divisions.     

On the dynamic effects of using hired labor in the Kibbutz—theory and case studies

This study analyzes the effect of employing hired labor in the Kibbutz. The main motivations are the premises contained in the newly emerging “The Change” or “The New Kibbutz” approach. Using the traditional LMF model with heterogeneous labor, we show that, although using hired labor will improve the economic situation of the Kibbutz in the short-run, in the long-run Kibbutz membership will consist of only those types of labor to which the “Self Labor” principle applies.     

Understanding discontinuance: Towards a more realistic model of technological innovation and industrial adoption in Britain

The paper outlines the ideas and theory behind a recently begun research project. The project consists of an investigation of the complexities, and particularly the problems, inherent in introducing technological innovation into production systems in industry. The practical and theoretical need for work of this kind is examined and the character and focus of the proposed investigation sketched. The concept of “discontinuance” is analysed and seen to apply both to the cessation of innovation production by a supplier and the termination of innovation usage by an adoptor. Rogers and Shoemaker's (1971) division of adoptor discontinuance into “replacement” and “disenchantment” discontinuance is considered and reformulated using the terms “replacement adoption”, “negative changeover effects” and “regressive discontinuance”. Finally, a number of models both of innovation development and innovation adoption are considered, synthesized and revised. An initial framework for the comprehension of innovation development and adoption is sketched and some of the potentially important issues therein are highlighted.