Display rule perceptions and job performance in a Chinese retail firm: The moderating role of employees’ affect at work

This study investigates the relationship between emotional display rule perceptions and job performance. Building on theories of emotional labor and ego-depletion, we cast employees’ positive and negative affective states at work as crucial moderators. Results obtained in a sample of 245 frontline service employees and their 63 immediate supervisors from a retail firm in China demonstrate that display rule perceptions were positively related with task and contextual performance among employees experiencing little positive affective states at work, but not among employees experiencing highly positive affect. Moreover, display rule perceptions were positively associated with one aspect of contextual performance (voluntary learning) among employees with little negative affect, whereas highly negative affect buffered this linkage. Taken together, this study highlights performance consequences of employees’ display rule perceptions and uncovers key boundary conditions for these relationships.     

Mergers & acquisitions and the acquirer-target cultural differences

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We investigate the impacts of cultural environment on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. To measure the cultural environment of a...     

Robust Actuarial Risk Analysis

This article investigates techniques for the assessment of model error in the context of insurance risk analysis. The methodology is based on finding robust estimates for actuarial quantities of interest, which are obtained by solving optimization problems over the unknown probabilistic models, with constraints capturing potential nonparametric misspecification of the true model. We demonstrate the solution techniques and the interpretations of these optimization problems, and illustrate several examples, including calculating loss probabilities and conditional value-at-risk.     

Seismic vulnerability assessment of historical urban centres: case study of the old city centre of Faro,Portugal

The necessity of implementing seismic vulnerability assessment procedures to the Portuguese building stock has become urgent as recent predictions indicate the possibility of the occurrence of an earthquake similar to the well-known 1755 Lisbon earthquake within the next 50 years. Obviously, at first instance, large-scale procedures should be used rather than more extensive and accurate methodologies suited for individual buildings assessment. Moreover, it is fundamental to operate in the most vulnerable areas in our built environment, typically, the historical urban centres. As it is recognised, it is within these areas, that old masonry buildings are generally concentrated, being both the most representative and vulnerable constructive typology. Comprising 354 buildings, the case study of the old city centre of Faro is herein presented aiming at analysing and evaluating the seismic vulnerability of its old masonry building stock. In order to achieve these objectives, a vulnerability-index-based methodology was used for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of the old masonry buildings belonging to the historical centre of Faro (Ribeirinha area) carried out through detailed inspection and survey. The results obtained were analysed using a geographical information system tool. The integration of such vulnerability and loss results represents a valuable tool for city councils and/or regional authorities to plan interventions, on the basis of a global view of the site under analysis, leading this way to more accurate and comprehensive risk mitigation strategies which comply with the requirements of safety and emergency planning. The application of this large-scale scoring methodology has confirmed moderate-to-high values for the vulnerability of this particular area, which combined with its high seismicity, may be quite alarming.     

Evolution of Strategic Levers in Insurance Claims Management: An Industry Survey

This article discusses competing strategic goals and success factors in nonlife insurers' claims management using new and ad hoc empirical data. We structure the study of the companies' aims along the three main conflicting goals: (1) the minimization of claims volume, (2) the optimization of internal claims processes, and (3) the maximization of customer satisfaction. We analyze the insurance industry perspective through a qualitative survey carried out in Germany and Switzerland. Findings on the current and expected importance of selected topics are derived. The results shall lead to managerial implications improving industry practice and serve as a starting point for further research. Our findings are relevant for academics and practitioners beyond the two markets surveyed in the study.     

产业融合:横向产业研究

现代产业横向上的相互交融，使得我们很难判断一小企业在传统产业结构里的具体位置．同样，发展什么产业是推动经济增长的主要动力，也变得模糊下清了。现代经济以知识为主的高级生产要素逐步取代了传统的有形低级生产要素，这是一个重要的历史趋势。在这个条件下，本文将传统产业结构纵向糅合并横向切断，分析商品的形成过程及相应的企业组织形式，并归纳出包括研发设计、生产制造和营销服务三个核心元素的横向产业模式。警示企业或区域寻找其具有核心竞争力的横向产业，是更切合现代产业和区域经济持续发展的方向．     

Risk Communication and the Social Amplification of Public Sector Risk

Concerns exist within the public sector about the ability of organizations to communicate issues of risk. These concerns include: the nature and magnitude of risks; the vulnerability of those who may bear the consequences associated with an event; and the sense of helplessness felt by victim groups. Apart from the public sector's role as risk generator, regulator and communicator, it also has some responsibility for dealing with the consequences of a major catastrophic event through agencies such as health care and the emergency services. Under certain conditions, it is apparent that concerns over risk issues can escalate beyond a level expected by those charged with the management of that risk. Within this framework, the effective communication of risk and uncertainty is an integral, but often neglected, part of public sector activities. This article explores the process of risk communication and risk amplification and suggests a number of perspectives on policy development.     

A Markovian cross-impact model

The author describes a cross-impact method which is based on Markov-chain theory. This allows scenarios to be derived which explicitly include the time dimension. An example of the use of the method is included which deals with the installation of nuclear reactors for energy production.     

The Audit Commission and Public Services: Delivering For Whom?

This article examines the role of the Audit Commission in the delivery of public services. It charts the changing role of the Audit Commission since its inception in 1983 from that of a financial watchdog to a delivery monitor. Though its impact upon public services generally has increased, its impact is uneven between public services because of their different regulatory regimes. The authors conclude that the public, however defined, has very little influence upon the regulation of public services—despite official rhetoric. Consequently, the role of the public in regulating the delivery of public services represents a relatively excluded and even forgotten dimension, thus undermining claims made by the Audit Commission of acting in the public interest when monitoring the delivery of public services.