Noneconomic effects of ethnic entrepreneurship: A focused look at the Chinese and Korean enclave economies in Los Angeles

In this article, we aim to develop a conceptual framework from a community perspective to examine the noneconomic effects of ethnic entrepreneurship, paying close attention to the linkage between entrepreneurship and community building. We base our analysis on ethnographic data from our comparative case studies of the Chinese and Korean enclave economies in Los Angeles. We argue that it is the social embeddedness of entrepreneurship, rather than individual entrepreneurs per se, that creates a unique social environment conducive to upward social mobility. This study suggests that ethnic entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in immigrant adaptation beyond observable economic gains. Policy implications are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Becoming a Global SME: Determinants of SMEs' Decision to Use E‐Intermediaries in Export Marketing

Technological advances have made it feasible for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to become active in global markets through information technology (IT)‐mediated electronic intermediaries (e‐intermediaries) instead of relying only on traditional export channels. E‐intermediaries may offer SMEs a level playing field for competing with their larger competitors. Based on transaction cost economics (TCE), this study develops a model that can address the question of which transaction costs and characteristics are closely related to e‐intermediary use by SMEs. In addition to providing a better understanding of e‐intermediaries, the study explores the relationships between e‐intermediary use, transaction costs, and transaction characteristics in the context of Korean SMEs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Affirmative Action and Corporate Compliance in South Korea

Abstract

The Affirmative Action Act was introduced in South Korea in 2006 to increase female employment and correct discriminatory hiring practices. Using the combined data sets of survey and the Act's implementation plan, this paper provides logit estimation results to examine empirically how political perceptions or attitudes of firms influence corporate noncompliance with the Act. According to a corporate personnel manager survey, affirmative action was initially pursued as a campaign pledge by the liberal party (the Korea Democratic Party) to attract women's votes, and took on a looser shape as the government compromised with the business sector after an election. A weak enforcement structure ultimately diluted the effects of the Act. A logit analysis indicates that noncompliance is more probable in companies that perceive affirmative action as part of a design to achieve political goals, and compliance is more probable in companies that feel it is likely to improve corporate management.     

Tour Leaders' Impression Management and Job Performance: Exploring the Moderating Role of Tourists' Self-Monitoring

A tour leader (TL) is a first-line service provider whose performance shapes a tourist's experience and satisfaction during a journey. We examine the moderating effects of the self-monitoring level of group package tour members on the relationship between the use of impression management (IM) tactics by TLs and tourists' subsequent job performance ratings (PRs) of a TL. Data from 485 responses of tourists from 59 outbound tour groups in Taiwan revealed that TLs' use of positive IM tactics – that is, ingratiation, self-promotion, and exemplification – is positively related to tourists' PRs. In contrast, their use of non-positive IM tactics – that is, supplication and intimidation – is negatively related to tourists' PRs. Furthermore, tourists' self-monitoring appears to weaken the effects of supplication and intimidation on their PRs. We also found that tourists' level of self-monitoring is a stronger moderator when TLs use supplication than when they use other tactics.     

The Deaton paradox in a long memory context with structural breaks

This article contributes to the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) and excess consumption smoothness debate in the context of fractional integration. We show that the excess consumption smoothness result is a consequence of the quarterly data frequency commonly employed in the empirical work. In fact, the I(1) hypothesis is rejected for the income process with monthly data in favour of a fractional integration order lower than 1. Moreover, if a structural break is taken into account, we observe a substantial reduction in the degree of consumption smoothness, especially after the break found in 1975.     

How Actuarial Assumptions Affect Defined Benefit Obligations under International Financial Reporting Standards? Evidence from Korea

This paper examines how actuarial assumptions affect defined benefit obligations (DBOs) under the newly adopted Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K‐IFRS) with the help of evaluation reports provided by the pension provider. The results show that there is no significant discrepancy between the DBOs estimated on a going concern basis under K‐IFRS, and the retirement benefits estimated on a non‐going concern basis under traditional K‐GAAP. Also, the rate of salary increase, average salary and average years of service have a statistically significant positive impact on DBOs, irrespective of the adoption of K‐IFRS.     

Corporate Political Strategy: An Examination of the Relation between Political Expenditures, Environmental Performance, and Environmental Disclosure

Two fundamental business ethics issues that repeatedly surface in the academic literature relate to business’s role in the development of public policy [Suarez, S. L.: 2000, Does Business Learn? (The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI); Roberts, R. W. and D. D. Bobek: 2004, Accounting, Organizations and Society 29(5–6), 565–590] and its role in responsibly managing the natural environment [Newton, L.: 2005, Business Ethics and the Natural Environment (Blackwell Publishing, Oxford)]. When studied together, researchers often examine if, and how, corporations influence environmental policy decisions. Drawing from literatures on?corporate political activity, corporate social and environmental performance, and corporate environmental disclosure, we develop and empirically examine two research questions concerning the relations between corporate political expenditures, environmental performance, and environmental disclosure. The questions are: (1) Do corporations that are poorer environmental performers spend more on political activities than their better-performing counterparts? (2) Is there an association between corporations’ spending on political activities and the extent of their financial report environmental disclosures? We investigated these questions through analyses of data we gathered on a sample consisting of 119 U.S. environmentally sensitive firms for the 2001–2002 election cycle. After controlling for firm size and specific industry effects, our tests reveal a significant, inverse relationship between firm environmental performance and political spending. This is consistent with the notion that U.S. firms with relatively poorer environmental performance records engage more intensely in corporate political activities as part of their overall strategic management of their relationship with the state. In addition, a significant and positive association between the amount of political spending and the extent of environmental disclosure suggests that environmental disclosure and political spending are both proactive, complementary tactics to strategically manage public policy pressure. If corporations’ strategies are intentionally designed to unreasonably limit their environmental responsibilities or to misrepresent firm environmental performance, then we argue that these activities reflect a significant lapse in ethical conduct.     

Antecedents and consequences of nurse managers' perceptions of organizational support

The antecedents and consequences of nurse managers' perceptions of organizational support were evaluated. Study results revealed that changeable work environment factors are important precursors of perceptions of organizational support, which, in turn, result in positive work attitudes and better health.     

Bargaining foundations of the median voter theorem

We give a game-theoretic foundation for the median voter theorem in a one-dimensional bargaining model based on Baron and Ferejohn's [D. Baron, J. Ferejohn, Bargaining in legislatures, Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 83 (1989) 1181-1206] model of distributive politics. We prove that as the agents become arbitrarily patient, the set of proposals that can be passed in any pure strategy, subgame perfect equilibrium collapses to the median voter's ideal point. While we leave the possibility of some delay, we prove that the agents' equilibrium continuation payoffs converge to the utility from the median, so that delay, if it occurs, is inconsequential. We do not impose stationarity or any other refinements. Our result counters intuition based on the folk theorem for repeated games, and it contrasts with the known result for the distributive bargaining model that as agents become patient, any division of the dollar can be supported as a subgame perfect equilibrium outcome.