Pay‐Level Satisfaction and Employee Outcomes: The Moderating Effect of Employee‐Involvement Climate

The present study examined employee‐involvement climate (i.e., information‐sharing and decision‐making climate) as a moderator of the relationship between pay‐level satisfaction and employee outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, affective commitment, and turnover intention). Survey data were collected from 22,662 Belgian employees, representing 134 organizations. The hypotheses derived from distributive justice theory and from research on the meaning of pay received partial support. Multilevel analyses revealed that a decision‐making climate buffered the negative effects of low pay‐level satisfaction, and that an information‐sharing climate exacerbated the negative effects of low pay‐level satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of this differential moderating effect are discussed.     

How Debt Creates Pressure to Perform when Information Asymmetries are Large: Empirical Evidence from Business Start‐ups

In this paper, we empirically examine how leverage affects firm performance when information asymmetries are large. We argue that entrepreneurs are strongly incentivized to maximize earnings when leverage is high in order to reduce the likelihood of adverse credit decisions and firm liquidation. Our empirical tests focus on the effects of leverage on firm profitability and growth in earnings during a 5‐year window after start‐up for a large and unique sample of newly established ventures in Belgium. Accounting for the endogeneity of leverage, the data reveal that more highly indebted business start‐ups are not only more profitable but also realize larger earnings growth. Moreover, the positive effect of leverage on firm profitability intensifies as the venture matures.     

An econometric model of potential output, productivity growth, and resource utilization

This paper specifies a macroeconometric model providing a simultaneous framework for estimating the natural rate of unemployment, the full-employment (FE) labor force and hours of work, the FE productivity growth rate, and the growth path of potential (FE) output during 1960–2000. The estimated output and unemployment gaps are consistent with Okun’s Law. Historical perspective is provided on the expansion of the nineties by comparing it with those of the three previous decades in terms of growth and utilization of potential output. Factors accounting for the growth of potential output, productivity and labor supply are identified and compared.     

The Residual: On Monitoring and Benchmarking Firms,Industries, and Economies with Respect to Productivity

Productivity is an important component of profitability, and therefore an important variable for monitoring and benchmarking exercises. This survey discusses the basic accounting model as well as the various measurement problems one gets involved in. By virtue of its structural features, this model is applicable to individual firms and aggregates such as industries or economies.Though the measurement of productivity change and productivity differences is important, still more important is their explanation. Thus, first, this article reviews recent results relating to the decomposition of aggregate productivity change into components due to firm dynamics and intra-firm productivity change, results which were obtained by studying longitudinal enterprise microdata sets. Second, this article reviews a number of methods for decomposing productivity change and productivity differences, whether at the individual firm level or at aggregate level, into partial measures relating to technological change and efficiency change. The combination of both research strategies seems to be a promising undertaking.     

Increasing choice satisfaction through goal-based labeling

Business practitioners increasingly seem to believe in the power of goal-based labels (i.e., labels that link assortment items to consumption goals). While previous literature has focused on feature-based approaches to increase choice satisfaction, we introduce goal-based labeling as a consumer-based approach to increase choice satisfaction. Since goal-based labels (e.g., a ??Family Trip?? camera versus a ??Professional?? camera) relate choice alternatives directly to consumption goals, they allow consumers to bypass translating product attributes into goal attainment. Quantitative and qualitative results of an experimental study indicate that novice consumers, but not experts, benefit from goal-based labeling in multiple ways. Novice consumers use goal-based labels as an important cue in their decision making. This can significantly increase their chances at making an optimal choice. Choosing from a goal-based labeled assortment also has a positive effect on the choice satisfaction of novices. Mediation analyses show that a decrease in the choice uncertainty drives the positive effect of goal-based labeling on choice satisfaction. Novices apparently do not blindly follow the labels that are provided but try to understand the link between labels and attributes. Hence, among novices, inaccurately labeled assortments not only result in suboptimal choice but also in higher uncertainty and lower satisfaction. For experts, goal-based labeling is largely irrelevant, as it does not have an effect on their choice satisfaction, nor on their likelihood to make an optimal choice.     

Transformational Leadership: Managing the Twenty‐First Century Sales Force

In today's more diverse sales organizations, sales managers face important interpersonal challenges to achieving high‐quality relationships, which result in better performance within their sales force. In this article, it is argued that cultural distance can negatively influence sales manager and sales subordinate relationships. The quality of these relationships ultimately influences the level of effort that sales subordinates exert toward achieving organizational sales goals. However, despite the potential obstacle of cultural distance, sales managers can utilize transformational leadership as a means to mitigate its adverse effects on one‐to‐one relationships with members of the sales force.     

Structuring On-the-job Training: Report of a Multiple Case Study

Structured on-the-job training (OJT) has gained the attention of the business world as well as of researchers. The project discussed in this article contains a series of case studies of on-the-job training programmes in seven Dutch firms. Several dimensions are found to be useful in discriminating between types of OJT activities and between ways of structuring OJT. Trainee activities are either of a preparatory nature or a real work character. Assignments may be focussed on skill application, individualised study, or experiential learning. Jobs may be broken down to a greater or lesser extent and supervisors may have either a directive or a coaching role.     

Drivers of Socially Responsible Investing: A Case Study of Four Nordic Countries

In this study, we try to establish what determines the substantial differences in the Nordic countries’ size and composition of socially responsible investing (SRI). We investigate if these differences between Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden can be associated with key characteristics in economics, finance, culture, and institutions. We find that in particular economic openness, the size of the pension industry, and cultural values of masculinity (femininity) and uncertainty avoidance can be associated with the differences in SRI in the four countries. On basis of these findings, we lay foundations for an international theory of SRI.