Jobs mismatch and productivity impact of information technology

This paper studies the link between jobs mismatch and the impact of information technologies (ITs) on the efficiency of small service firms. From the perspective of job matching theory, the paper explores how small service firms that use ITs obtain an optimal matching between new skill requirements and workforce skills. The hypotheses suggest that optimal equilibrium will be obtained by matching IT intensity to ITs training and the proportion of workers with high educational levels. The study tests the hypotheses on a large sample of small services firms in Spain. The results confirm that matching the educational levels of the workforce with the IT intensity of the firm increases the efficiency of small service firms, while mismatch will decrease it. The contribution of IT training to firms' efficiency depends on training intensity but not on IT intensity.     

Business Students' Choice of Short-Term or Long-Term Study Abroad Opportunities

Recent years have seen a proliferation of short-term study abroad opportunities. Although they are both supplementing and replacing semester-long study abroad programs, research has focused primarily on semester (long-term) programs. We draw on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore factors that predict why students choose long-term and short-term programs. Results indicate that students perceive more social pressure to engage in short-term programs, and higher barriers limiting participation in long-term programs. All TPB factors significantly predicted students' intentions to study abroad in both short-term and long-term programs with one exception; perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict intentions to participate in short-term programs. These findings can be used to improve marketing of short-term and long-term programs by addressing student concerns specific to each type of program, potentially increasing the number of students choosing to study abroad.     

A comparison of citizen and “expert” preferences using an attribute-based approach to choice

This paper explores whether expert judgements can be taken as a proxy for citizen preferences for determining investment strategies for public goods. As an illustration, we focus on the provision of Public Rights Of Way (PROW) by Local Government Authorities in England. These provide rights of passage over property to those other than the owners, and little information is available on the welfare effects of changes in the provision and use of PROW. Given limited funds, reliance on expert judgement could be a cost effective alternative for decision-making compared with stated preference surveys of citizens. Two methods are compared. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to elicit expert judgement to proxy citizen preferences for different attributes of PROW. The Choice Experiment (CE) technique is then used to derive preferences directly through personal interviews with citizens. Overall it was found that judicious use of AHP by experts can, in this instance, be used to represent citizen views. However, this result may not be easily generalisable to other settings.     

Women on boards of directors: Why skirts in seats aren’t enough

Most organizations focus their attention on simply achieving gender diversity on their boards. This approach misses the point. A complex relationship exists between board gender diversity and good governance whereby such diversity can have a negative, positive, or neutral impact on organizational performance, indicating that organizations may only reap the benefits of gender-diverse boards under proper conditions. This article examines which conditions allow gender-diverse boards to flourish and which conditions lead to failure. Organizations usually increase female representation on boards of directors to achieve one of two goals: gender parity or improved governance. Each of these goals is influenced by different circumstances and thus must be approached in a unique manner. Three recommendations are offered herein for organizations trying to achieve each goal. Gender, ethnic, and cultural board diversity all share related justifications and challenges, so organizations that follow the recommendations in this article will be well positioned to benefit from all three sources of increased diversity on their boards of directors.     

Impact of financial and multinational operations on manager perceptions of dividends

We survey managers of firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange about their views on dividends. We find the perceptions of factors that influence dividend policy differ between managers of financial and non-financial firms. Industry classification also affects how managers view statements about the dividend pattern, dividend setting process, dividend policy and firm value, residual dividend theory, and explanations for paying dividends. However, we find weak, if any, multinational operations effect on manager perception of dividends. We conclude that researchers investigating dividends should partition the data by industry type and perhaps other firm characteristics to better understand the dividend puzzle.     

Bricolage as a Path to Innovativeness for Resource‐Constrained New Firms

Evidence suggests that both nascent and young firms (henceforth: “new firms”)—despite typically being small and resource‐constrained—are sometimes able to innovate effectively. Such firms are seldom able to invest in lengthy and expensive development processes, which suggests that they may frequently rely instead on other pathways to generate innovativeness within the firm. In this paper, we develop and test arguments that “bricolage,” defined as making do by applying combinations of the resources at hand to new problems and opportunities, provides an important pathway to achieve innovation for new resource‐constrained firms. Through bricolage, resource‐constrained firms engage in the processes of “recombination” that are core to creating innovative outcomes. Based on a large longitudinal dataset, our results suggest that variations in the degree to which firms engage in bricolage behaviors can provide a broadly applicable explanation of innovativeness under resource constraints by new firms. We find no general support for our competing hypothesis that the positive effects may level off or even turn negative at high levels of bricolage.     

A Knowledge-Based Explanation of Franchise System Resources and Performance

The knowledge-based view (KBV) holds that the knowledge that an organization possesses is its most important strategic resource. Despite how important the adequate use of knowledge is to franchise system success, the KBV has yet to guide many franchising studies. The most important principle of KBV is to recognize system-wide resources through the eyes of knowledge-based resources. Using two separate secondary data sets, we examine the relationships between the knowledgeable employment of system resources and system performance. Empirical results reveal consistent support for our hypotheses. The ensuing discussion focuses on the implications of our findings.     

Regulatory changes in the electric utility industry: Investigation of effects on shareholder wealth

In 1992, the regulatory environment for electric utilities changed dramatically with enactment of the Energy Policy Act, mandating increased competition in this formerly monopolistic industry. The results of our study suggest that these regulatory changes in the electric utility industry and the opening of transmission lines to outsiders had negative and significant effects on stock values for the overall sample of firms examined. The basic results indicate that the movement toward greater competition dissipates economic rents associated with the previously held monopolistic situations. Multivariate analysis indicates that firms with greater levels of nuclear assets and higher earnings per dollar of assets prior to the regulatory actions suffered greater negative abnormal returns than other firms in the sample. Additionally, firms in a more competitive environment prior to regulatory changes had less negative abnormal returns. Results also show utility firms are riskier after deregulation with an increase in market risk of 48.88% and in firm specific risk of 23.66%. Overall, it appears that, as with other deregulation of natural monopolies in the US, increased competition will benefit some producers, harm other producers and generally dissipate economic rents to consumers.