Economic polarization,leisure practices and policies,and the quality of life: a study in post-communist Moscow

Since the 1980s Russia has been transformed from one of the world's most equal into one of its most unequal countries, certainly in terms of income levels. This paper, based on survey research in Moscow in 1997, explores the implications of this economic polarization for the population's uses of leisure and the quality of their lives. The analysis juxtaposes and compares alternative, Russian and Western, approaches to measuring the quality of leisure. The Moscow evidence confirms that leisure is an important, independent contributor to the quality of life, and the analysis identifies the types of leisure policies and provisions that will maximize wellbeing within all socio-demographic groups, not just in Moscow but also, we believe, in other modern cities as well.     

The impact of e-business infusion on channel coordination, conflict and reseller performance

Manufacturer-reseller interactions are becoming more technology-enabled as channels of distribution increasingly utilize e-business tools on the Internet. This research examines the performance consequences for resellers as these technological advances are applied to distribution activities between channel members. Using a sample of 216 resellers of computer products, the research explores the impact of e-business tools in 2 areas of manufacturer-reseller interactions: supply tasks and demand tasks. The results suggest that e-business in supply tasks increases relationship coordination between manufacturer and reseller, whereas e-business in demand tasks increases coordination as well as conflict within the channel dyad. The increase of conflict constitutes a potential “dark side” of e-business in channel relationships that may provide an explanation for e-business implementation failures and negative returns on investment in technology.     

Union Organizing as a Mobilizing Strategy: The Impact of Social Identity and Transformational Leadership on the Collectivism of Union Members

This article investigates the effect of union organizing as a mobilizing strategy on the collectivism of union members. We examine the impact of a worker's social identification with fellow members and the transformational leadership qualities of the local union representative. We employ regression analysis with tests of mediation to analyse the survey responses of c. 1,000 rank and file members of a major professional union, collected in July 2004 during a mobilization campaign. Social identification and transformational leadership were associated with members' union loyalty and willingness to work for the union. Social identification acted as a mediating variable in both cases.     

Mismeasured Household Size and Its Implications for the Identification of Economies of Scale: Correction

We correct an error from Halliday (2010) in which we explored the degree to which household size is measured with errors.     

Running on the spot? A review of twenty years of research on the management of human resources in comparative and international perspective

Research using a comparative and international perspective on the management of human resources is examined, drawing on articles published in leading human resource management, management/organizational behaviour and related social science journals between 1977 and 1997. In total a little under 2 per cent of the articles under review focused on the management of human resources in a comparative and international perspective. The largest group of these articles was comparative in nature (44 per cent), followed by those with an international perspective (35 per cent). A smaller number adopted a combined approach (17 per cent) and a few were separately classified as foreign national studies (4 per cent). Over time, there has been some progress made in terms of the number of articles published and the scope of topics covered. However, many of the articles displayed similar shortcomings to those noted in earlier reviews of cross-national management/organization studies: in particular, an over-reliance on a small number of primarily Anglo-Saxon countries, a lack of a longitudinal perspective, a loose specification of culture, an ethnocentric bias and a frequent failure to explain observed differences and similarities.     

Performance trends in the construction industry worldwide: an overview of the turn of the century

This paper presents an exploratory study to assess the efficiency level of construction companies worldwide, exploring in particular the effect of location and activity in the efficiency levels. This paper also provides insights concerning the convergence in efficiency across regions. The companies are divided in three regions (Europe, Asia and North America), and in the three main construction activities (Buildings, Heavy Civil and Specialty Trade). We analyze a sample of 118 companies worldwide between 1995 and 2003. Data envelopment analysis is used to estimate efficiency, and the Malmquist index is applied for the evaluation of productivity change. Both methods were complemented by bootstrapping to refine the estimates obtained. A panel data truncated regression with categorical regressors is used to explore the impact of location and activity in the efficiency levels. The results reveal that the efficiency of North American companies is higher than the European and Asian counterparts. Other important conclusion points to a convergence in efficiency levels across regions as in North America productivity remains stable, whereas in Asia and Europe productivity improves.     

Acculturation and Individualism as Predictors of Work‐Family Conflict in a Diverse Workforce

Ethnic and cultural diversity is an increasing reality in the US workplace. The current study highlights the importance of acknowledging the culturally heterogeneous nature of ethnic groups, and the need to focus on social identity characteristics such as cultural values when assessing group differences. We demonstrate that cultural values (i.e., individualism) contribute to employees' experiences of work‐family conflict beyond the effects of ethnicity. Specifically, we introduce a model informed by social identity theory that explains why acculturation is related to work‐family conflict. The model was tested with a sample of 309 employed Caucasian and Hispanic Americans. An empirical test of our model provides evidence that individualism mediates the relationship between language‐ and social‐based acculturation and work‐family conflict, even when controlling for ethnicity. Additionally, alternative models further reveal that the effects of acculturation and individualism contribute to work interfering with family. As an implication of the current study, we suggest that researchers and organizational managers should consider the cultural values of their diverse workforce when implementing policies that affect conflict between work and family. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Is there a diversification “cost” of Shari’ah compliance? Empirical evidence from Malaysian equities

Islamic equity portfolios work with a smaller investment universe given the filtering of non-Shari’ah compliant stocks. It has been theoretically argued that this culminates in suboptimal portfolio diversification, which in turn adversely affects risk-adjusted returns. We offer empirical evidence that such a conceived portfolio diversification “penalty” is far from a foregone conclusion, at least empirically. Our results tend to indicate that Islamic portfolios are not invariably handicapped in terms of portfolio diversification. We also explored dimensions that may account for differences in the relative investment performance between Islamic and conventional portfolios, such as portfolio constraints, short selling and market conditions. We believe this paper is among the first to apply substantial empirical analysis specifically with respect to the portfolio diversification perspective on Islamic equity investments.     

Innovation and the circular economy: A systematic literature review

The circular economy emerged as an alternative model to the linear system, which now appears to be reaching its physical limitations. To transition to a circular economy, companies must not only be aware of but also engage in more sustainable practices. For such a transition, companies must rethink and innovate their business models and the ways they propose value to their clients while simultaneously considering environmental and social facets. This systematic literature review sought to map out from the company perspective the key topics interrelated with innovation and the circular economy, describing the internal and external factors to consider in such transition processes. Key lines of research were identified, and suggestions for future research and for facilitating movement toward a circular economy are provided. This work contributes to deepening the literature by identifying the priority areas concerning the circular economy and encouraging future research that meets international standards of excellence.     

Some brief notes on the “unfinished business” of qualitative inquiry

The paper argues that there are a variety of implicit issues in qualitative inquiry that need to be addressed if the area is to develop in some normal science sense. This unfinished business is concerned with a deeper investigation of basic terms that are now simply taken for granted, such as theme and pattern. It also includes the need to develop rules which will assist in making and justifying how qualitative interpretations are made from the implicit processes of inference. Specific suggestions are made for accomplishing these issues.