Organizational interventions influencing employee career development preferred by different career success orientations

This study explores what Korean employees prefer as organizational interventions that influence their career development, according to their personal interpretation of career success. A quantitative sample survey was designed from a Korean wireless communications company using a survey instrument. The findings of this study contributed to the validation of theoretical discussions on the association of individuals and organizational career development interventions, implying that organizations need to design their career mobility systems or performance incentive systems in accordance with employees’ career orientations.     

Entry dynamics of self-employment in South Korea

The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether the entry into self-employment was an inevitable move due to economic recession (push hypothesis) or a voluntary move due to entrepreneurship (pull hypothesis) in Korea. It also examines how this decision is affected by changes in socio-economic conditions. The empirical analysis in this study exploited the matched sample for the adjacent months in the Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS) conducted by Korea National Statistical Office in 2000–2004. The empirical results showed that the push aspect of self-employment was strong in Korea over the whole sampled periods. The entry into self-employment in South Korea is largely attributable to economic sluggishness and an increase in unemployment rather than a voluntary transition resulting from entrepreneurship. Policy environment (such as providing information and financial support for new start-ups after the Asian financial crisis), which is a country-specific factor magnified the pushed effects. For the pushed (unprepared) self-employed people, not only is there a need to expand the coverage of vocational training programmes, but also it is vital that social safety nets are strengthened and supplemented.     

Determinants of post-congressional lobbying employment

This paper studies the determinants of lobbying-employment decisions of former members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 105th–108th Congresses. The main empirical findings indicate that there are two groups more likely to become lobbyists: members not re-elected who had more conservative voting records and held important committee assignments and longer-serving members who voluntarily retired and voted less conservatively in their last term compared to their previous terms in office. A decomposition analysis confirms that the revolving doors for the two groups of legislators differ because of differences in employer response rather than in legislator characteristics.     

Switching intention model development: Role of service performances,customer satisfaction,and switching barriers in the hotel industry

The intricate relationships among core service and service encounter performances, customer satisfaction, and switching barriers in the formation of satisfaction and switching intention were examined in this study. A field survey was conducted at upper-midscale hotels. The results of the structural analysis revealed that both core service and service encounter performances significantly affected customer satisfaction, and satisfaction completely mediated the effects of service performances on switching intention. In addition, findings from the tests for metric invariances indicated that components of switching barriers (switching costs, relational investment, and lack of alternatives’ attractiveness) moderated the relationships between satisfaction and switching intention. In particular, the role of satisfaction derived from service performances in decreasing hotel guests’ intention to switch is greater when they perceive high switching costs, relational investment, and lack of alternatives’ attractiveness. Based on study findings, theoretical and practical implications are identified and discussed.     

Vertical Specialization and Trade Growth in Northeast Asia

As the global economy has become further integrated, the international production chain has become more sophisticated, with diversified stages of production located in different countries. Economic theorists have argued that the fragmentation of the global production chain is partly attributable to the high growth in international trade over the past several decades. In this study, we examine vertical specialization in China, Japan and Korea, and its contribution to these nations' trade. Using a multilevel model, it is illustrated that vertical specialization has encouraged increases in trade among all three countries. In particular, China's outcome is remarkable considering how recently it became a member of the WTO.     

Prepayment and future cross-buying: an exploratory analysis

Recent research has provided important insights on consumers’ preferences for prepayment mechanisms and on its impact on consumption of a given product or service. However, little is known about how prepayment influences future purchases of goods and services. We consider this question in a contractual setting within the services industry, involving different purchasing decisions over time. Based on a large-scale empirical test, we find that prepay customers make fewer changes to their cross-buying levels (i.e., the number of different services they buy from the company) from one contractual period to another, and that this effect is more salient for the firm's new customers. We propose possible explanatory mechanisms for this effect. For instance, based on mental budgeting theory, we suggest that prepayment customers may set mental budgets and track expenditures against this budget leading them to resist further investments. Alternatively, prepayment customers may be more certain about their consumption behavior leading to fewer changes over time.

     

Doing business in Poland: What U.S. managers need to know

Poland has been and continues to be the leader of the transition economies of Eastern Europe. This study provides an in‐depth look at the ongoing economic, legal, and administrative policies of the Polish government in laying the ground‐work for a free‐market society. With the smaller business in mind, we first examine how the government of Poland moved decisively to lay the cornerstone for a private‐sector economy. Next, we demonstrate how Poland redirected its political and legal processes for long‐term global business. Finally, we describe what the U.S. government is doing to help Poland become a better trading partner and what this means to interested American firms. While there are many deep‐seated positive changes throughout Poland as it becomes a more significant global business player, there also are many challenges that must be understood by interested U.S. businesses if their investments in Poland are to be successful. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Motivations and Use Context in Mobile Tourism Shopping: Applying Contingency and Task–Technology Fit Theories

Mobile tourism shopping is an emerging market, but there is little theoretically based research on the topic. This study investigates the impact of motivations (value, enjoyment, time saving and mobility) on consumer satisfaction by applying contingency and task–technology fit theories in the mobile tourism shopping context. The results show that value and enjoyment have significant effects on satisfaction. Use context is found to have a full mediating role between time saving and satisfaction as well as between mobility and satisfaction. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions to the tourism literature and mobile tourism industry. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Customers’ Risk Factor Disclosures and Suppliers’ Investment Efficiency

This study examines the effect of downstream firms’ (i.e., customers’) risk factor disclosures contained in annual reports on the investment efficiency of upstream firms (i.e., suppliers). We find that more informative disclosures of customers’ risk factors are associated with less under‐ or overinvestment by suppliers. In addition, this inverse association is stronger when the suppliers are at a bargaining disadvantage, when they operate in the durable goods industries, and when they are more concerned about the volatility of future demand. Overall, our results suggest that risk factor disclosures provided by firms in their annual reports contain useful information that could potentially help their suppliers achieve better investment efficiency. Divulgation d'information sur les facteurs de risque des clients et efficience de l'investissement des fournisseurs     

Technological Progress and Youth Employment in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the extent to which technology progress and youth employment are related. In doing so, we divide workers into two groups – young workers and old (prime-aged) workers - and then estimate the elasticity of substitution between (physical) capital and workers à la Jaimovich et al. (2013. “The Demand for Youth: Explaining Age Differences in the Volatility of Hours.” American Economic Review 103 (7): 3022–3044) by using the Korean labour market data between 2000 and 2014. Our findings indicate that the elasticity of substitution is greater (or at least not smaller) for young workers than for old workers.