Learning goal orientation and creative performance: The differential mediating roles of challenge and enjoyment intrinsic motivations

We develop a theoretical model to account for the effect of learning goal orientation on creative performance by distinguishing two dimensions of intrinsic motivation as mediators. Challenge intrinsic motivation is concerned with the interest in and excitement of solving problems and tackling complex tasks, whereas enjoyment intrinsic motivation is concerned with the enjoyment of task activities for self-expression and self-entertainment. Results from a sample of 189 Chinese employees support this model and show that learning goal orientation had significant positive relationships with both dimensions of intrinsic motivation, but only challenge intrinsic motivation was significantly related to creative performance and mediated the positive relationship between learning goal orientation and creative performance. As predicted, intellectual stimulation, a dimension of transformational leadership, showed a moderating effect, such that learning goal orientation was less strongly related to challenge intrinsic motivation when intellectual stimulation was high. In addition, a moderated mediation effect was found, such that the mediating effect of challenge intrinsic motivation for the relationship between learning goal orientation and creative performance was weaker when intellectual stimulation was high. No such moderation effect was found for enjoyment intrinsic motivation, providing further support for the differential roles of these two dimensions of intrinsic motivation.     

Corporate social responsibility,firm reputation,and firm performance: The role of ethical leadership

This study investigated the antecedents and outcomes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the moderating effects of ethical leadership. We collected two-wave, temporally lagged data from two sources (general and vice-general managers) in 199 tourism firms (hotels and travel agencies) in southeast China. We have two major findings. First, ethical leadership moderated its own indirect effect on firm reputation via CSR. It had an indirect and positive effect on firm reputation through CSR when ethical leadership was strong but not when it was weak. Second, ethical leadership also moderated the indirect effect of CSR on firm performance via firm reputation. There was an indirect and positive effect of CSR when ethical leadership was strong but not when ethical leadership was weak. This study highlights the role of ethical leadership in linking the antecedents and outcomes of CSR, and provides support for the stakeholder theory.     

Real options game analysis of sleeping patents

Using the real options game approach, we analyze the two-stage preemptive patent-investment race between an incumbent and a challenger (new entrant) in a product market with profit flow uncertainty. The challenger can gain entry into the monopolized product market dominated by the incumbent by patenting related technologies for a substitute product. To maintain its monopolized advantage, the incumbent has an incentive to block challenger’s entry by patenting the substitute product before the challenger. Either firm can pay an upfront fee to gain an immediate acquisition of the patent and subsequently holding the real option to develop the new substitute product. Under our simplified real options game model, there is no potential patent litgation risk. Also, the costs of holding the patent, like the payment of annual fees, are taken to be zero. We provide a full characterization of the optimal strategies adopted by the incumbent and challenger firm in this asymmetric patent-investment race. In particular, we examine the phenomena of sleeping patent, where the patented product is not launched immediately into the product market.     

The dynamics between freight volatility and fleet size growth in dry bulk shipping markets

This paper studies the relationship between the time-varying volatility of dry bulk freight rates and the change of the supply of fleet trading in dry bulk markets. An abundance of research has been done to understand the time-varying characteristics of freight rate volatility, yet few have discussed the determinants of freight volatility. We therefore examine freight volatility against the changes in fleet size and other shipping market variables over January 1973–October 2010. The study employs a two-step model specification. The first step is the measurement of freight rate volatility through an AR-GARCH model; the second step is the analysis of the relationship between freight rate volatility and fleet size growth through a GMM regression. We confirm similar findings in the literature that freight rate volatility is time varying. Furthermore, the results reveal that the change in fleet size positively affects freight rate volatility, while the spot rate volatility of Capesize dry bulk exhibits a stronger reaction to the change in fleet size. The results of this study contribute in a general sense to understanding the systematic risk of shipping markets.     

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM: A REVIEW OF PUBLICATIONS FROM 2005 TO 2007

The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale.     

Real Estate,the External Finance Premium and Business Investment: A Quantitative Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis

This article studies the connection between the capital market and the real estate market. Empirically, we find that positive real house price shocks lower the external finance premium and stimulate nonresidential investment and real gross domestic product (GDP). Our theoretical framework is able to mimic the volatility of the external finance premium, the relative price of real estate and capital and the investment in real estate and capital. It also captures the cyclicality of the external finance premium and of real estate prices. The contribution of real estate price fluctuations to the variability of the external finance premium and the GDP is confirmed to be significant.     

Challenges to the psychological contract in Hong Kong

This study investigates empirically the psychological contract of a sample of 205 Hong Kong junior and senior managers. It determines the perceptions of factors that employers and employees see as relevant to the employment relationship, and then analyses perceptions of and attitudes towards recent changes in the Hong Kong business environment. In addition to exploring the nature and content of manager's psychological contracts in Hong Kong, the study explores how contracts are related to and affected by both the external environment and internal management practices. A survey questionnaire is used to measure the promises and commitments perceived to have been made by organizations, and the obligations that employees perceive they owe to their employer. In addition, the actual policies and practices of the employing organizations are determined. The impact of the HRM climate of the employing organizations (actual policies and practices) and the attitudes, expectations and feelings of organizational members about ongoing changes in the business and management environment on this exchange relationship are isolated. The study makes two contributions to the psychological contract literature: it examines the relevance of a psychological contract approach in a nonWestern geographical region; and it moves the concept of HRM preferences more centrally into the psychological contracting literature. This enables a better understanding of the construct in relation to the comparative management literature. The content of the psychological contract is shown to be multi-dimensional. Perceptions of organizational commitments and promises focus around four judgements: an intrinsically satisfying and challenging environment; a secure and rewarding job; equity; and supportive leadership. By Western standards the employee side of the employment relationship 'deal' is more one-sided. The proportion of managers who believe employees are strongly obligated to do certain things for their employers is very high. The study examines the factors that predict employees' psychological contracts. Actual HRM practices are shown to predict perceived commitments and obligations, and the strength of obligation is related to perceived promises and commitments. In contrast to the emphasis on the internal cognitive and individualized conception of the psychological contract in much of the literature, this study indicates that this decontextualizes psychological contracts. The true nature of a psychological contract is shown to be an exchange relationship firmly linked to a culture's reciprocity norms.     

Integration of inventory and transportation decisions in a logistics system

This paper addresses some of the challenges faced by a company which is responsible for delivering coal to its four subsidiaries situated along a river, through river hired or self-owned vessels. We propose to adopt a vendor managed inventory concept that involves establishment of a central warehouse at the port, and apply the Markov Decision Process (MDP) to formulate both ordering and delivery problems, considering different transportation modes, costs, and inventory issues. An efficient algorithm is developed for solving the MDP models. Our computational tests show that the proposed strategy can significantly reduce the overall system costs while maintaining smooth Just-in-Time supplies of coal to the subsidiaries.