Inducements,contributions, and fulfillment in new employee psychological contracts

This longitudinal study of newly hired Chinese college graduates (N = 143) investigates the effects of contract fulfillment, employee reports of company inducements (organizational support and job rewards), and supervisory reports of individual contributions (job performance and extra‐role citizenship behavior) upon changes in the graduates' psychological contracts. Three survey waves were administered a year apart, starting with the recruits' job offer acceptance. Analyses revealed that employee fulfillment and perceived contributions predicted particular changes in employer psychological contract obligations, whereas employer fulfillment and perceived inducements predicted changes in employee obligations. The effects of inducements on employee obligation changes and contributions on employer obligation changes were mediated by their respective fulfillment measures. Changes in obligations were greater in the first year of employment than in the second. This study yields implications for managing newcomers and researching the initial phase of employment. ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Local Perception of Public Goods: Recent Assessments of Willingness-to-pay for Endangered Species

A contingent valuation mail survey was administered in late 2001 to better understand current public opinion about controversial endangered species preservation in Orange County, California. Questionnaire design focused on additional taxes residents would be willing to pay to support recovery plans. Habitat and recovery of a single species, the Riverside fairy shrimp, is valued at around $25 per household, and the valuation is significantly changed by the higher scope of the public good provided, with an annual willingness-to-pay of around $50–60 per household for all local endangered species. Across the whole county, the public valuation of biodiversity is substantial yet probably could not fund necessary land acquisition for critical habitat, so continued national support for species preservation remains logical. (JEL Q51 , Q57 , Q58 )     

The eurozone crisis,German hegemony and labour market reform in the GIPS countries

This article argues that the eurozone crisis has led to Germany hegemony, a feature of which has been complete resistance to a genuinely European solution to the crisis. German political leaders have sought to make the eurozone a more stable currency area by demanding far reaching labour market adjustment in the debtor countries of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, GIPS countries. This article assesses why Germany's leaders elected to act as a coercive hegemon and examines the labour market reform pathways being travelled by GIPS countries. It argues that the austerity regime enacted under German hegemony has obliged the GIPS countries to introduce important labour market reforms. However, these reforms have not threatened the integrity of established national systems of industrial relations. As a result a Euro war of attrition has opened up between the European core and periphery.     

A Classroom Unemployment Compensation Experiment

This classroom experiment demonstrates how unemployment compensation can affect unemployment rates and wages. Students take the roles of workers and employers who use double oral auction labor markets to negotiate employment contracts. The instructor takes the role of a government that offers progressively higher levels of unemployment compensation. The experiment generates data that students can analyze to test the general predictive power of economic theory. Students also use their data to test the specific hypothesis that higher unemployment compensation increases the unemployment rate and causes wage compression.     

Leadership and Innovation: Informal Power and Its Relationship to Innovative Culture

The current article sought to contribute to the literature on leadership and power by exploring two relatively new and less‐examined bases of social power: information power and connection power. Data from 160 employees were collected, and principal component analysis was used to examine the uniqueness of each power source. Support was found for expert, legitimate, reward, coercive, and the newly developed construct of connection power. Limited support was found for referent and information power. Furthermore, the association between information power, connection power, and informal power with innovative culture (operationally defined as adhocracy culture) was examined. For exploratory purposes, one item measuring horizontal structure was included. The findings suggested that informal sources of power, particularly when combined with a horizontal organizational structure, complemented and reinforced an innovative culture. Implications and future research directions were discussed.     

An Experimental Education Market with Positive Externalities

A graphical approach shows that in order for the tax revenue to increase, following a reduction in the marginal rate, the increase of aggregate supply must be greater the lower the price level elasticity of aggregate demand.     

Women and Minorities in Economics Textbooks: Are They Being Adequately Represented?

The author examined 12 recent editions of principles of economics textbooks to determine the quantity of race- and gender-related material. Comparing the results to earlier studies demonstrates how efforts to incorporate more such coverage within the economics curriculum have influenced economics textbooks. In general, there has been an increase in the quantitative coverage of race- and gender-related material as measured by the number of pages, names, and tables of the textbooks.     

Framing environmental advocacy: a study of 30 years of advertising in National Geographic Magazine

To compete with the flood of environmental messaging from corporations and industry groups, environmental advocacy groups must adopt the most effective communication strategies to connect with audiences and motivate their behaviors toward environmental issues. This study examines the framing of environmental messages by advocacy groups in contrast to messages by other organizations in 30 years of environmental advertising in National Geographic Magazine. It measures changes in the degree to which environmental actions were framed in terms of gain for the environment versus avoidance of ecological loss and in terms of impacting current generations versus future generation. In addition, the study examined behavioral frames of taking less (conservation) versus doing more (recycling, volunteering, etc.) in environmental advocacy groups' advertising to better understand the kinds of actions the organizations are promoting. The organizations' strategies to engage audience behavior were also measured through message focus on reader behavior versus organization behavior. Findings suggest that frames engaged by environmental advocacy organizations have remained fairly stable over time but may not represent the best practices for message creation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.