Company Financial Performance and ISO 9000 Registration: Evidence from Malaysia

This study investigates factors, including ISO 9000 registration, that impact on corporate performance, in a sample of Malaysian companies. To achieve this objective, the annual reports of 162 companies (81 ISO 9000 accredited companies and 81 non-ISO accredited companies) were collected and a performance evaluation model was estimated. The results of the analysis revealed that factors such as ISO 9000 registration, return on assets (ROA), economic value added (EVA) and industrial category (INDCAT) determine corporate performance.     

Impact at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’: The Role of Social Capital in Capability Development and Community Empowerment

Rooted in the notion of inclusive capitalism, the Bottom‐of‐the‐Pyramid (BoP) approach argues for the simultaneous pursuit of profit and social welfare by creating markets for the poor. This idea has been both celebrated and criticized in the literature. We do neither in this paper. Instead, by leveraging insights from Amartya Sen's work on capability development and the literature on social capital, we offer a more socially embedded and community‐centric BoP approach. By redefining poverty not just as a lack of income, but also as a lack of ‘capabilities’ in Sen's sense that can be developed through leveraging social capital, we offer a systemic framework for understanding the societal impact of business‐driven ventures in the BoP and empowering BoP communities through these ventures. Specifically, we argue that any business initiative in the BoP ought to be evaluated on the basis of whether it advances capability transfer and retention by (a) enhancing the social capital between a particular community and other more resource rich networks, and (b) preserving the existing social capital in the community.     

Risk tolerance,gender, and entrepreneurship: The Palestinian case

This paper analyzes the inter‐relationships between entrepreneurial propensity, fear of failure (FoF), and gender in Palestine, using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) adult population survey (APS) data for 2009, 2010, and 2012, and it is the first that addresses Gender, fear of failure, and entrepreneurship for Palestine. The paper extends the analysis of the endogeneity issue of FoF by using the conditional mixed process (CMP), which improves the efficiency of the estimates. The results show that the fear of failure negatively affects entrepreneurial status, while skill perception does the opposite. It is also found that fear of failure is higher among women, although this result is not stable over time. Using the CMP specification, we find that gender and fear of failure both reduce the predicted probability of entrepreneurship consistently over time. The only variable that consistently predicts fear of failure and is significant is skill perception, which has a negative impact. Policy implications of this research point to the importance of reducing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. In particular, there is a need to improve their skill perception in order to encourage more females to be entrepreneurs. Networking, vocational education and media coverage of success stories are among the tools that could potentially achieve this result.     

On stochastic comparisons of minimum order statistics from the location–scale family of distributions

We consider stochastic comparisons of minimum order statistics from the location–scale family of distributions that contain most of the popular lifetime distributions. Under certain assumptions, we show that the minimum order statistic of one set of random variables dominates that of another set of random variables with respect to different stochastic orders. Furthermore, we illustrate our results using some well-known specific distributions.     

Congruence between spokesperson and product type: A matchup hypothesis perspective

This study tested the matchup hypothesis regarding choice of celebrity spokesperson by examining the fit or congruence between image type and the product advertised from an Identification and Internalization viewpoint (Kelman, 1961). Spokesperson type (celebrity versus noncelebrity) was varied, aong with congruence between spokesperson image and product (higher versus lower congruence) in a 2x2 factorial design. Results showed that increased congruence for the spokesperson/product combination resulted in the perception of higher believability and attractiveness of the spokesperson and a more favorable product attitude. The implications of these and other findings for advertising and marketing strategy are discussed. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Subordinate‐Superior Upward Communication: Power,Politics, and Political Skill

A multiphase study involving 1,285 respondents was conducted to answer an important yet overlooked question: for a job requiring frequent informal communication with superiors, should an organization focus more on selecting employees with higher trait‐like willingness to communicate or on providing an environment where the flow of communication is easy and aided? We found support for the latter. Further, we observed that subordinates alter their communication behaviors based on the perception of superior's power, politics in the organization, and their own political skills. The study contributes to a better understanding of how situational variables affect subordinate‐superior upward communication. Implications of the study are also discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The influence of self-construal and materialism on social media intensity: a study of China and the United States

This study investigated the potential influence of self-construal and materialism on intensity of usage for three social media platforms: social networking sites (SNSs), microblogging sites (MBSs), and video sharing sites (VSSs). Data were collected from China and the United States – two countries with the highest advertising expenditures and Internet populations. Drawing from the social comparison theory (SCT) and the framework of independent and interdependent self-construal, results of the hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both independent and interdependent self-construal were positively related to SNS intensity among Chinese and American users. However, interdependent self-construal had a significant, negative relationship with the intensity of MBS use among users in the two countries. Materialism was found to positively relate to SNS intensity, MBS intensity, and VSS intensity among Chinese and American users. These results provide evidence that self-construal and materialism contribute to social media use independent of nationality. Theoretical and managerial implications for international advertising strategies are discussed.     

Bilateral Trade Agreements and the Feasibility of Multilateral Free Trade

We studied how the pursuit of bilateral free‐trade agreements (FTAs) affects the likelihood of achieving multilateral free trade. We derive and compare the stable Nash equilibria of two games of trade liberalization: in the FTA game, each country can either form an FTA with one of its trading partners or both of them or none of them, whereas in the (restricted) No FTA game, purely bilateral FTAs are not permitted. The major result is that there exist circumstances under which the freedom to pursue (discriminatory) bilateral FTAs is necessary for achieving multilateral free trade.     

Assessing dimensions of organizational trust across cultures: A comparative analysis of U.S. and Indian full service hotels

This study delves into the organizational trust based similarities and differences across “individualist” and “collectivist” service employees in hotels. Specifically, the three dimensions of organizational trust, i.e., integrity, commitment and dependability are compared across the two samples from the U.S. and India to highlight how employees perceive the level of each of the three dimensions across cultures. Findings suggest that the three dimensions represent the trust construct across different national cultures. However, in comparing the individual dimension of the trust construct, a significant difference exists between the perceptions of employees in the two cultures, suggesting that perception-based differences exist across cultures.