Obtaining collaboration benefits: the role of collaboration-specific investment and absorptive capacity in China

This study examines the role of collaboration-specific investment and absorptive capacity on the attainment of interorganizational collaboration benefits. Grounded in the extended resource-based view, and using survey data from Chinese executives, we study the driver for, and test the impacts of, collaboration-specific investment and organizational learning on collaboration performance. Our findings indicate that resource similarity between the collaborative partners affects the level of collaboration-specific investment and learning, and demonstrate an approach that firms can use to obtain both abnormal common and private benefits from participation in an interorganizational collaboration. Specifically, the findings suggest that collaboration-specific investment has a direct effect on the enhancement of absorptive capacity and attainment of common and private collaboration benefits. Furthermore, due to the direct effect of absorptive capacity on attainment of collaboration benefits, commitment of collaboration-specific investment has an indirect effect on the attainment of common and private collaboration benefits. This study is the first to apply both the competence-capability framework and extended resource-based view to study interorganizational collaboration. In fact, this study aims to determine mechanisms for a collaboration-participating firm to obtain more benefit, whether common or private. Our findings provide support for the importance of learning capability as a factor in the acquisition of collaboration benefits.     

Theorizing Financial Crimes as Moral Actions

Abstract

The paper maintains that all acts of financial crimes can be explained within a general theory of moral action and analyzed as such. In this regard, the paper presents such a theory – Situational Action Theory (SAT) – and argues that acts of financial crimes result from a perception-choice process involving rational deliberation and experimental habituation, themselves being the outcomes of interactions between individuals and their environments. To examine this argument, the paper draws on two recent high-profile fraud cases to critically discuss the extent to which these crimes should be meaningfully and innovatively analyzed as moral actions and the moral context in which they occur. The findings indicate that the feature most relevant to a criminogenic is its moral context in relation to the opportunities and frictions that it generates. As such, environmental factors along with psychosocial processes of moral education become particularly important in the explanation of why certain moral contexts emerge in particular kinds of settings at a particular point in time. In this regard, SAT can be used as a powerful overarching framework to gain a more comprehensive understanding of peoples’ choice processes to breach moral rules and devise effective crime prevention strategies to combat fraud.     

The Evolution of Health Insurer Costs in Massachusetts, 2010–2012

We analyze the evolution of health insurer costs in Massachusetts between 2010 and 2012, paying particular attention to changes in the composition of enrollees. This was a period in which Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) increasingly used physician cost control incentives but Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) did not. We show that cost growth and its components cannot be understood without accounting for (1) consumers’ switching between plans, and (2) differences in cost characteristics between new entrants and those leaving the market. New entrants are markedly less costly than those leaving (and their costs fall after their entering year), so cost growth of continuing enrollees in a plan is significantly higher than average per-member cost growth. Relatively high-cost HMO members switch to PPOs while low-cost PPO members switch to HMOs, so the impact of cost control incentives on HMO costs is likely different from their impact on market-wide insurer costs.     

Requests for zoo visitors to undertake pro-wildlife behaviour: How many is too many?

Recognising the potential conservation impact, zoos regularly ask their visitors to undertake pro-wildlife behaviour. This paper presents the results of two studies undertaken to address the question: how often during a visit should visitors be asked? Study 1 sought to a) determine individuals' personal thresholds and b) the point where the number of different behaviours requested began affect visitors' experiences. Study 2 sought the same, but focused on requests for the same behaviour. Results suggest that few respondents' personal thresholds were crossed (2.5% in Study 1 and 9% in Study 2). In neither study did many respondents (2.5% in Study 1 and 2.8% in Study 2) feel that the number of requests negatively affect their overall zoo experience. While there are caveats, we conclude that there appears little cause for concern about asking zoo visitors on multiple occasions to act in support of wildlife. Indeed, such requests may improve experiences.     

Personal Attachment to the Union in Small Bargaining Units

Union member attachment research has generally examined large unions organizing large employers. The present study presents a conceptual model and related data concerning various aspects of the union attachment expressed by individuals in small bargaining units. The results show differences among individuals in commitment based on their union experiences and demographic characteristics. Résumé Les études traitant de la loyatué qu'éprouvent les membres envers leur syndicats examinent généralement des syndicats importants au sein d'entreprises de taille. La présente étude offre un modèle conceptuel et les données relatives aux divers aspects de la loyauté exprimée par des individus appartenant à de petites unités de négociations. Les résultats démontrent les différences de loyauté chez les membres selon leur experience syndicale et les caractéristiques démographiques.     

Agrarian Change and the Initial Development of an Aboriginal Bourgeoisie in Australia

While the commercial ambitions of indigenous capitalists are continuously displayed in Australia, little is known about the origins and initial development of the class. In this essay one area of the country, the north‐west of Western Australia (WA), is chosen to show how changes in the principal agricultural industry opened space for Aboriginal commerce. Despite the opposition of State governments and existing firms that dominated cattle and sheep production, this space was enlarged as pastoralism underwent major changes. The rise of the indigenous bourgeoisie was also facilitated by the growing power of the class's political representatives in electoral and in executive politics. Parallel with changes in Australian federalism, which gave the national government increased financial and other powers, Aboriginal representatives captured this shift for commercial advantage.     

The Marine Environment: Fencing the Last Frontier

Fisheries resources contribute a valuable source of protein to the world's food supply. While there is much promise for continued production gains from aquaculture and terrestrial sources, the marine fisheries sector faces a number of critical current policy junctures. Since extension of jurisdiction to 200 miles in 1976, there have been dramatic changes in the opportunity for coastal nations to rationally manage formerly open access marine resources. While more spatially encompassing management has brought physical yield close to full biological potential, much of the potential economic yield from fisheries is still squandered. An important issue is whether the future potential of marine resources will be guided by an expansion of private property rights or by an expansion of bureaucratic regulatory structures. New monitoring, information, and enforcement technology is making it increasingly possible to zone the ocean and implement measures that mimic terrestrial property systems. At the same time, there is opposition to privatizing marine resources by groups who view them as public resources. The outcome of the tussle between the forces supporting and opposing property rights creation will largely determine the extent and kinds of values that will be generated from marine resources around the world in the next decade.