Does Zero Tillage Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholder Cropping Farmers?

The biophysical benefits of zero tillage (ZT) are well documented in the literature. However, the literature on its economic benefits, especially in the context of small and medium‐scale farmers in the temperate developing world is scanty. Using a study of 621 wheat farmers in Syria, we provide empirical evidence on the impacts of adoption of ZT on farm income and wheat consumption. We use propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR) approaches to account for potential selection biases. After controlling for confounding factors, we find that adoption of the ZT technology leads to a US$ 189/ha (33%) increase in net crop income and a 26 kg (34%) gain in per capita wheat consumption per year (adult equivalent) – an indication of meaningful changes in the livelihoods of the farm households. Besides the biophysical and environmental benefits documented elsewhere, our results suggest that adoption of ZT can also be justified on economic and food security grounds. Therefore, ZT can have sizeable impacts in transforming the agricultural sector in the temperate developing world provided that the technology is well promoted and adopted.     

Editorial

Although a substantial body of literature exists on the country-of-origin bias, the issue of whether or not such perceptions are uniform across product classes has not been resolved. This study examines how quality perceptions of consumers vary across four product classes: electronic items, food products, fashion merchandise, and household goods. Responses obtained from a sample of Nova Scotian consumers suggest that quality perceptions tend to be product-specific. Quality perceptions vary also for the 25 countries studied. A number of policy implications are also offered in the paper.     

Religion,spirituality, and well-being: A systematic literature review and futuristic agenda

Informed by religion and psychology literature, this study reviews the literature on religiosity, spirituality, and psychology to support existing theory development in the current emergence of “Management, Spirituality, and Religion” field of study, encourage new contextual thinking and develop a framework to guide businesses on the integration of spirituality and religiosity at work given their documented benefits in relation to personal well-being and productivity. Using the Web of Science (WoS) database, the paper reviews and synthesizes recent research in a systematic, transparent, and reproducible manner. In addition, to verify and include the state-of-the-art of high-quality scientific articles, we refer to the Chartered Association of Business Schools list leading to the adoption of the following criteria: (a) journals listed in the ABS ranking as 3- and 4-star class, (b) indexed under the field of ethics (i.e., ETHICS-CSR-MAN), (c) articles published between 2000 and 2021, and (d) topical relevance. The review extends the existing literature by developing a framework for organizations that helps in identifying possible linkages between religiosity, spirituality, and employee well-being. This was done by (1) extending the six indicators of Ryff's well-being framework, (2) highlighting potential spiritual practices for individuals and organizations and their implications, and (3) presenting a framework that is contextualized to the extent possible and that can serve as a useful guide for organizations. Insights from our review yield in turn two key propositions: (1) workplace spirituality and individual spirituality are both important for employees' well-being, and (2) individual religiosity is an important factor for personal well-being. This offers in turn reinvigorated awareness and new insights into the topic under study. The study highlights in closing an array of future possible research directions.     

Measurement Error Models with Auxiliary Data

We study the problem of parameter inference in (possibly non-linear and non-smooth) econometric models when the data are measured with error. We allow for arbitrary correlation between the true variables and the measurement errors. To solve the identification problem, we require the existence of an auxiliary data-set that contains information about the conditional distribution of the true variables given the mismeasured variables. Our main assumption requires that the conditional distribution of the true variables given the mismeasured variables is the same in the primary and auxiliary data. Our methods allow the auxiliary data to be a validation sample, where the primary and validation data are from the same distribution, and more importantly, a stratified sample where the auxiliary data-set is not from the same distribution as the primary data. We also show how to combine the two data-sets to obtain a more efficient estimator of the parameter of interest. We establish the large sample properties of the sieve based estimators under verifiable conditions. In particular, we allow for the mismeasured variables to have unbounded supports without employing the tedious trimming scheme typically used in kernel based methods. We illustrate our methods by estimating a returns to schooling censored quantile regression using the CPS/SSR 1978 exact match files where the dependent variable is measured with error of arbitrary kind.     

A contextual study of female-leader role stereotypes in the hotel sector

Guided by the role congruity theory (RCT), this paper examines the mismatch in female-leader role stereotypes and how this mismatch may lead to prejudicial evaluations against female leaders. It also tests how gender equality practices and leadership development programmes (LDPs) may mitigate prejudicial evaluations against female leaders. Following a quantitative approach, this study uses a paired sample t-test and linear approach (i.e. multiple regression) to model the relationships and test the hypotheses formulated. Drawing on a survey of 392 employees working in 4- and 5-star hotels in Jordan, the study shows that employees stereotype successful leaders to be more masculine than feminine while they attribute both feminine and masculine stereotypes to women. There is, thus, an element of congruity in female-leader role stereotypes which reduces prejudicial evaluations against female leaders. Moreover, the results indicate that gender equality practices and LDPs significantly enhance the emergence and effectiveness of women leaders. The importance of this study derives from extending the RCT through a contextual investigation in the hotel sector in Jordan. This was done by considering two additional constructs, i.e. gender equality practices and LDPs that mitigate prejudice against female leaders.     

Complementary approaches to preliminary foreign market opportunity assessment: country clustering and country ranking

Companies seeking to expand abroad are faced with the complex task of screening and evaluating foreign markets. How can managers define, characterize, and express foreign market opportunity? What makes a good market, an attractive industry environment? National markets differ in terms of market attractiveness, due to variations in the economic and commercial environment, growth rates, political stability, consumption capacity, receptiveness to foreign products, and other factors. This research proposes and illustrates the use of two complementary approaches to preliminary foreign market assessment and selection: country clustering and country ranking. These two methods, in combination, can be extremely useful to managerial decision makers in the early stages of foreign market selection.     

Incomplete Simultaneous Discrete Response Model with Multiple Equilibria

A bivariate simultaneous discrete response model which is a stochastic representation of equilibria in a two-person discrete game is studied. The presence of multiple equilibria in the underlying discrete game maps into a region for the exogenous variables where the model predicts a nonunique outcome. This is an example of an incomplete econometric structure. Economists using this model have made simplifying assumptions to avoid multiplicity. I make a distinction between incoherent models and incomplete models, and then analyse the model in the presence of multiple equilibria, showing that the model contains enough information to identify the parameters of interest and to obtain a well defined semiparametric estimator. I also show that the latter is consistent and     normal. Moreover, by exploiting the presence of multiplicity, one is able to obtain a more efficient estimator than the existing methods.     

The role of family conglomerates in emerging markets: What Western companies should know

Large, diversified, family‐owned businesses are dominant players in the economies of most emerging markets and can be excellent business partners for Western companies. This article highlights the evolutionary patterns of family conglomerates (FCs) and delineates principal drivers of their growth, expansion, and internationalization. Those aspects of FCs examined in this study include early mover advantages, foreign alliances, competitive market positioning, and diversification. Also discussed are entry‐mode considerations for Western companies contemplating doing business in the fast‐growth markets of East Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.