Decomposing trust and trustworthiness

What motivates people to trust and be trustworthy? Is trust solely “calculative,” based on the expectation of trustworthiness, and trustworthiness only reciprocity? Employing a within-subject design, we run investment and dictator game experiments in Russia, South Africa and the United States. Additionally, we measured risk preferences and expectations of return. Expectations of return account for most of the variance in trust, but unconditional kindness also matters. Variance in trustworthiness is mainly accounted for by unconditional kindness, while reciprocity plays a comparatively small role. There exists some heterogeneity in motivation but people behave surprisingly similarly in the three countries studied.     

The difficulties of evaluating sales training

Practitioners and researchers acknowledge the importance of sales training; however, limited attention is devoted to empirical sales training evaluation practices. This article addresses four major sources of sales training evaluation difficulties: (1) managerial perceptions; (2) evaluation restrictions; (3) methodological problems; and (4) lack of empirical evidence. After discussing each area, managers are provided with suggestions that can be implemented to minimize sales training evaluation problems.     

Climatic Disasters and Radical Politics in Southern Pakistan: The Non-linear Connection

This paper is a local level examination of the political spaces and opportunities that arise for radical political agents in the aftermath of a climatic disaster. It explores the theoretical argument that disasters break the social contract between the state and disaster-affected communities by opening political space for change. The empirical work is based on a large-scale flooding disaster that affected southern Pakistan in 2010 and 2011 and caused international concern around increased Islamist mobilisation through their disaster relief programmes. The case study investigates the extent to which the climatic disaster opened political space for the radical Islamist group, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, to mobilise. Based on fieldwork conducted in three districts of Sindh in southern Pakistan, this paper demonstrates that climatic disasters are able to impact radical politics. This connection is not linear or causal but rather very complex. It further explains why this type of inquiry is relevant in order to understand climate change and security.     

Resolving the Presidential Puzzle

Many financial economists are puzzled by the fact that stock returns are higher under Democratic than Republican presidencies. In this paper, we test whether this return differential is explained by risk using a conditional version of the Fama and French (1993) model that allows risk to vary across political cycles. We find that the presidential puzzle can be explained when risk is properly taken into account. Much of the return differential can be attributed to the fact that Democratic presidencies are associated with higher market and default risk premiums than their Republican counterparts.     

Gender earnings differentials in LDCs: The case of Pakistan

Atlantic Economic Journal -     

Financial Liberalization and Foreign Bank Entry on the Domestic Banking Performance in MENA Countries

Abstract: This study examines the impact of financial liberalization and foreign bank entry on the domestic banking sector from 1996 to 2007, and builds upon and expands the work of Lee (2002). We find that foreign bank entry, financial liberalization, ownership structure and degree of openness of foreign bank entry positively impact domestic banking system operating efficiency, capitalization, risk management, long‐term soundness, financial performance as well as economic and financial development. However, foreign bank entry is associated with reduced profit margins and increased operating costs of domestic banks in countries with less developed capital markets. Empirical evidence seems to support the argument that foreign bank presence leads to better allocation of capital and eliminates connected lending practices.     

Feedback‐seeking behavior within multinational corporations

Notwithstanding their concern with intra‐MNC control mechanisms, scholars have overlooked the complementary phenomenon of self‐regulatory behavior by subsidiaries. In this paper, we take the first steps towards addressing this gap by advancing and testing hypotheses dealing with the determinants of a major element of self‐regulatory behavior at the subsidiary level, i.e., the performance‐oriented feedback‐seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. Utilizing data from 374 subsidiaries of 75 MNCs, we test hypotheses regarding the impact of subsidiary task and organizational context on the feedback‐seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) subsidiary presidents do engage in proactive performance‐oriented feedback‐seeking behavior; (ii) they vary in the extent to which they engage in such behavior; and (iii) these variations in feedback‐seeking behavior are at least partially systematic. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marketing ethics: a comparison of American and Middle-Eastern marketers

This study compares the moral philosophies, ethical perceptions and corporate ethical values of American and Middle-Eastern marketers. Hypotheses are developed on the basis of their respective national and organizational cultures. Using a sample of marketing practitioners from both countries, empirical support is found for the hypothesis that Middle-Eastern marketers are more likely to be idealistic than their American counterparts. However, no significant differences are found on the relativistic dimension of moral philosophy. Also, American marketers are found to have higher ethical perception than Middle-Eastern marketers. Finally, contrary to our hypothesized direction, some support is found to indicate that Middle-Eastern marketers are more likely to have higher corporate ethical values than American marketers. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Institutional affiliation of contributors to the American Economic Review, 1981–1990

In this article the author examines the institutional origin of authors in theAmerican Economic Review between 1981–90. Institutions are categorized into four broad groups, and rankings of institutions based on the number of pages/articles in theAER are developed. A high correlation is noted between the rankings in this paper and previous similar attempts. The main contribution of this study lies in its updating of earlier work.     

Glamour Acquirers, Method of Payment and Post‐acquisition Performance: The UK Evidence

We study the effect of different acquirer types, defined by financial status and their payment methods, on their short and long‐term performance, in terms of abnormal returns using a variety of benchmark models. For a sample of 519 UK acquirers during 1983–95, we examine the abnormal return performance of acquirers based on their pre‐bid financial status as either glamour or value acquirers using both the price to earnings (PE) ratio and market to book value ratio (MTBV). Value acquirers outperform glamour acquirers in the three‐year post‐acquisition period. One interpretation is that glamour firms have overvalued equity and tend to exploit their status and use it more often than cash to finance their acquisitions. As we move from glamour to value acquirers, there is a greater use of cash. Our results are broadly consistent with those for the US reported by Rau and Vermaelen (1998). However, in contrast to their study, we find stronger support for the method of payment hypothesis than for extrapolation hypothesis. Cash acquirers generate higher returns than equity acquirers, irrespective of their glamour/ value status. Our conclusions, based on four benchmark models for abnormal returns, suggest that stock markets in both the US and the UK may share a similar proclivity for over‐extrapolation of past performance, at least in the bid period. They also tend to reassess acquirer performance in the post‐acquisition period and correct this overextrapolation. These results have implications for the behavioural aspects of capital markets in both countries.