City of Discontent? The Influence of Perceived Organizational Culture,LMX, and Newcomer Status on Reported Bullying in a Municipal Workplace

Workplace bullying is a counterproductive behavior that has captured the attention of researchers in recent years. The extent of reported bullying behavior in US organizations varies however; it is estimated to affect 15% to 50% of workers with projected annual costs of over $40 billion including direct and indirect costs. Workplace bullying poses a serious ethical challenge by sending messages about appropriate conduct within the organization’s culture. In this study, we focus on environmental factors as predictors of self-reported bullying in a public-sector organization. Specifically, the factors of interest are organizational culture, commitment to change, and leader-member exchange (LMX). We also investigate newcomer status and its relationship to reported bullying. Findings demonstrated perceived stability in the organization and higher levels of LMX showed lower levels of workplace bullying. Further, an organizational culture that emphasizes rewards lead to higher levels of bullying and newcomers are subjected to more bullying than longer service workers.     

A decomposition of US business sector TFP growth into technical progress and cost efficiency components

A problem with index number methods for computing TFP growth is that during recessions these methods show declines in TFP. This is rather implausible since it implies technological regress. We develop a new method to decompose TFP growth into technical progress and inefficiency arising from the short run fixity of capital and labour, and apply this to new data on the US corporate nonfinancial sector and the noncorporate nonfinancial sector. The analysis sheds light on sources of the productivity growth slowdowns over the period 1960–2014.     

Corroborating social media echelon in cancer research

Worldwide medical facilities differ, and for this reason, the causes of death can vary. Cancer is considered the second leading cause of death after heart disease worldwide, and the same causes of death are observed in the United States (US). Therefore, the purposes of this study are to explore worldwide research levels in the field of cancer and the social collaboration of researchers and institutions in this field. This article examines the structural patterns of international co-authors and co-institutions in science citation index papers in cancer research. The study uses measures from the social network analysis method, including degree centrality, betweenness centrality, eigenvector centrality, and effectiveness, to investigate the effects of social networks in the area of cancer research. Empirical analysis results identify the US is the most central country, followed by Germany, Italy, France, and China, in terms of co-authored networks in this research field. Institutional analysis results indicate that the University of Milan is at the top in terms of degree centrality. The Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus in France and German University of Düsseldorf occupy the second and fourth positions, respectively. The University of California in Los Angeles and Harvard University, both in the US, are at third and fifth positions, respectively.     

Religious pluralism and religious participation: a median-based approach to the non-substantive problem

Sociologists of religion have long been interested in the interaction between religious pluralism and religious vitality. Previous empirical studies approach this theme by drawing on data of denominational participation rates across geographical units, investigating the property of association between the quantity of one minus the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (religious pluralism), and the total religious participation rate (religious vitality). However, this association could be theoretically spurious. Taking advantage of the median’s statistical property of being less sensitive to the variations of extreme values, this study proposes to apply the median instead of the arithmetic summation of religious participation rates to measure geographical-unit-level religious vitality. This method is illustrated by analyzing the New York State census of religion 1865 and the U.S. county survey 1990.     

A mixed-mode sensitive research on cannabis use and sexual addiction: improving self-reporting by means of indirect questioning techniques

In this article, we describe the methods employed and the results obtained from a mixed-mode “sensitive research” conducted in Spain to estimate certain aspects concerning patterns of cannabis consumption and sexual addiction among university students. Three different data-collection methods are considered and compared: direct questioning, randomized response technique and item sum technique. It is shown that posing direct questions to obtain sensitive data produces significantly lower estimates of the surveyed characteristics than do indirect questioning methods. From the analysis, it emerges that male students seem to be more affected by sex addiction than female students while for cannabis consumption there is no evidence of a predominant gender effect.     

Earthquake triggered networked risk and response: based on relevant literature

Death, injury, conflict, and disorder caused by natural and man-made disasters have resulted in significant challenges to good governance and impeded the goal of achieving the benign development of society. This paper uses a particular method for analyzing the research situation and identifying current trends and focuses. It then proceeds to explore future research needs. The study finds that future researchers will shift their emphasis from the risks caused by natural disasters to those arising from man-made disasters; meanwhile, the study will consider the complex systems of interaction to understand causality. The objectives of management, hence, should change from investigating the impacts of risks to crisis control. Eventually, an evolutionary disaster-based social-risk framework is established, and some suggestions for future research are provided.     

Dimensional effects of Korean SME’s entrepreneurial orientation on internationalization and performance: the mediating role of marketing capability

This study examines how three different dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk-taking) each determine internationalization strategies and enhance international performance among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the mediating role of marketing capabilities. An integrative theoretical framework built on international entrepreneurship and a resource-based approach was tested in the context of Korean SMEs. Analyses of 401 survey data collected from Korean exporting SMEs revealed the differential effects of each entrepreneurial orientation and the mediating effect of marketing capability on internationalization strategies and performance. Proactiveness and risk taking appeared to function as significant antecedents of marketing capability. Marketing capability, in turn, significantly decreased internationalization scope and increased the financial performance of Korean SMEs, though it did not influence internationalization scale. This study further confirms that the mediating role of marketing capability in entrepreneurial orientation-performance relationships vary by entrepreneurial orientation dimensions. Taking the direct and indirect roles of the entrepreneurial orientation dimensions together, this study recommends the critical prioritization of risk-taking over proactiveness. It extends previous approaches to the triad of resource–capability–performance. Theoretical contributions and insightful managerial implications are also provided.     

The role of venture capitalist to enhance the growth of Spanish and Italian university spin-offs

The establishment of spin-offs to commercialise university knowledge/technology is a potential mechanism to promote economic and innovative development. Nevertheless, University Spin-Offs (USOs) are usually resource-constrained, especially in obtaining funding, limiting their growth. Venture Capital (VC) investors play an important role in the financing and the improvement of their managerial skills, which are critical for firm growth. This paper aims to explore both the effect of VC partners on the USOs’ growth and the cross-national differences in the role played by them. To study both issues, we empirically analysed 516 Spanish and 904 Italian USOs created by 50 Spanish and 57 Italian universities, respectively, and observed them between 2005 and 2013. The results showed different effects in the Spanish and Italian cases. While in Spain the presence of VC partners positively affects the USOs’ growth, in Italy there is not a significant effect. This evidence calls for systematic policies by public administrations and universities to foster USO growth.     

Expert and entrepreneur: the unique research domain of professional service entrepreneurs

Professionals are knowledge experts who create customized solutions for clients. Many professionals practice in the context of strong professional institutions that prescribe intense socialization and codes and norms. While some professionals work as employees, many start their own firms in order to practice. Firm start-up for professionals is more prevalent than for most other occupations. While professional institutions often constraint their activities, firm start-up for professional service entrepreneurs (PSEs) involves similar entrepreneurial activities as other entrepreneurs, creating an interesting paradox worth investigating. This paper explores the uniqueness of PSEs and the firms they start, and the distinctiveness and value of research in the context of PSEs and professional service firms.     

A survey of network-based analysis and systemic risk measurement

The financial crisis led to a number of new systemic risk measures and a renewed concern over the risk of contagion. This paper surveys the systemic risk literature with a focus on the importance of contributions made by those emphasizing a network-based approach, and how that compares with more commonly used approaches. Research on systemic risk has generally found that the risk of contagion through domino effects is minimal, and thus emphasized focusing on the resiliency of the financial system to broad macroeconomic shocks. Theoretical, methodological, and empirical work is critically examined to provide insight on how and why regulators have emphasized deregulation, diversification, size-based regulations, and portfolio-based coherent systemic risk measures. Furthermore, in the context of network analysis, this paper reviews and critically assesses newly created systemic risk measures. Network analysis and agent-based modeling approaches to understanding network formation offer promise in helping understand contagion, and also detecting fragile systems before they collapse. Theory and evidence discussed here implies that regulators and researchers need to gain an improved understanding of how topology, capital requirements, and liquidity interact.