A Regional Analysis of Productivity Change in Canadian Agriculture, with Special Reference to Energy Prices

By using a profit specification for the agricultural sector instead of the conventional value-added production formulation, this paper explains changes to regional productivity in Canada in terms of changes in output prices, material prices, energy prices, capital deepening and technical progress. The results indicate that ignoring variable input and output price increases will generally result in an overstatement of the rate of technical progress. Most notably, in the 1973-79 period, energy price increases caused a reduction in average labor productivity, though increased capital deepening and rising output prices offset price increases for energy and other materials .
C'est en subsliluant une spécification du gain pour le secleur agricole à la formulation classique de la valeur ajoutée de la production, que cette communication explique les changements regionaux de la productivité au Canada en fonction des changements du rendement el des prix des matériaux el de ľénergie, en plus des changements du rapport capital/main-ďoeuvre el du progrès technique. Les résultals indiquent que si on ne tenait aucun compte des augmentations variables des prix ďenlrée el de sortie. ľaccélération du progrès technique serait, en général, exagéré. Pendant les années 1973 à 1979 en particulier, les augmentations des prix de ľénergie onl donné lieu à une réduction de la productivité moyenne de la main-ďoeuvre. Néanmoins, ľaugmentation du rapport capital/main-ďoeuvre el les prix croissants du rendement onl compensé les hausses des prix de ľénergie el ďaulres matériaux .     

The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes

Abstract

This paper considers how utilizing a model of job-related affect can be used to explain the processes through which perceived training and development influence employee retention. We applied Russell’s model of core affect to categorize four different forms of work attitude, and positioned these as mediators of the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Using data from 1191 employees across seven organizations, multilevel analyses found that job satisfaction, employee engagement and change-related anxiety were significantly associated with intention to stay, and fully mediated the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Contrary to our hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was not significantly associated with intention to stay nor acted as a mediator when the other attitudes were included. These findings show the usefulness of Russell’s model of core affect in explaining the link between training and development and employee retention. Moreover, the findings collectively suggest that studies examining employee retention should include a wider range of work attitudes that highlight pleasant forms of affect.     

Social Enterprises and the Performance Advantages of a Vincentian Marketing Orientation

This study focuses on the managerial issue of should social enterprises (SEs) become more marketing oriented. It adapts the Kohli et al. (J Mark Res 30:467–477, 1993) MARKOR marketing orientation scale to measure the adoption of marketing by SEs. The items capture Vincentian-based values to leverage business in service to the poor as a measure of a Vincentian marketing orientation (VMO). A VMO is an organisational wide value-driven philosophy of management that focuses a SE on meeting its objectives by adopting a more marketing orientated approach to serve the needy and poor in a just and sustainable manner. SEs that exhibit a VMO seek to understand and respond to both the needs of their beneficiaries and stakeholders. They are constantly generating, disseminating, and responding to environmental, beneficiary, and stakeholder information and develop their business propositions to more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of the poor, while guided by a philosophy of leveraging business for social good. This study of SEs in Australia found that a VMO is strongly and positively correlated with social, economic, and environmental performance. These findings suggest that SEs may benefit by leveraging marketing capabilities to better serve their beneficiaries and stakeholders.     

Correlation,causality, and all that jazz: The inherent shortcomings of price tests for antitrust market delineation

A substantial economics literature has developed in which price data have been relied upon to delineate antitrust markets by empirically implementing definitions offered by classical economists. The forces driving these price tests are not the same as those that give rise to market power, and therefore these price tests are likely to reach erroneous conclusions if used to delineate antitrust relevant markets. The price tests should be used with great caution, if at all.     

Does the major market influence transfer? Alternative effect on Asian stock markets

Based on the time-varying regression model of Chow et al. (J Comp Econ 39(4):577–583, 2011. doi: 10.1016/j.jce.2011.06.001), this paper simultaneously analyzes the ebb and flow of change by China and the U.S. as leading players in relation to their comovement on various Asian stock markets. We include several important controls for worldwide economy performance, the stock market return rates of major importing nations, and linear/non-linear time trend fixed effects to stress the influence of China and U.S. on eight Asian economies. The empirical results indicate the increasing influence of the China stock market during the subprime mortgage crisis. Moreover, the U.S. market remains influential on the Chinese region, but loses/decreases its influence, especially on the Four Asian Tigers, significantly during/after the subprime mortgage crisis.     

An econometric analysis of cognitive impairment and healthcare utilization in the ageing population

The ageing population is a major concern for policy makers, with the ever-increasing strains placed on health budgets. One overlooked area of research is the impact that cognitive impairment (an early marker of potential dementia onset) has on the healthcare utilization of an ageing population. Based on the theoretical micro-economic foundations of healthcare demand, we study the relationship between cognitive functioning and impairment, measured by word recall and changes thereof, and healthcare utilization among over 50s in nine European countries. The contribution of this article is to produce estimates for cognitive functioning and impairment, as opposed to full dementia, in the context of healthcare utilization.

We apply regression models to healthcare utilization data from Waves 1, 2 and 4 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and find that recalling one additional word is associated with a reduction in visits to a medical doctor of 0.32, per year (p<0.01). Even after controlling for self-assessed health, this association is strong at just over 0.1 visits – this is the additional impact, over and above the average number of visits for similar individuals without cognitive impairment.     

Which pathway to good ideas? An attention‐based view of innovation in social networks

Research Summary: This study introduces the notion of attention allocation in networks to argue that individuals with different types of network structure produce good ideas via different pathways. Using survey data on communication networks at a software company, we find that people with highly constrained networks generate good ideas by following a logic of interrogation, by which they focus their attention on information from a particular contact. Conversely, individuals with less constrained networks produce good ideas by following a logic of recombination, whereby they divide their attention to information coming from across multiple contacts. The results show that in highly constrained networks, interrogation is a more reliable pathway to good ideas than recombination. We discuss the implications of these findings for behavioral strategy, social networks, and innovation. Managerial Summary: People can develop good ideas when they recombine diverse information inputs shared by non‐redundant communication partners that span multiple local clusters. But, in an organization, most individuals are embedded in constrained networks of people who know each other and thus typically receive redundant information from work colleagues. This study suggests that they can innovate via a different pathway: through interrogation. We find that people who focus their attention on information coming from a particular person succeed at generating good ideas because they deeply interrogate local knowledge and develop domain‐specific insights.     

Using narrative evidence synthesis in HRM research: An overview of the method,its application,and the lessons learned

The use of systematic approaches to evidence review and synthesis has recently become more common in the field of organizational research, yet their value remains unclear and largely untested. First used in medical research, evidence review is a technique for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing existing empirical evidence. With greater demand for the best evidence about “what works” in organizational settings, nuanced approaches to evidence synthesis have evolved to address more complex research questions. Narrative synthesis is perceived to be particularly suited to evaluating diverse evidence types spanning multiple disciplinary fields, characteristic of the HRM domain. This article evaluates the narrative evidence synthesis approach, explains how it differs from other techniques, and describes a worked example in relation to employee engagement. We consider its strengths, the challenges of using it, and its value in HRM research.