Implications of core self-evaluations for a changing organizational context

There is a need for individuals who have the confidence and assertiveness to adapt to and create positive change in contemporary organizations. The concept of core self-evaluations provides one way to conceptualize this requisite positive self-construal. This article begins by covering the concept of core self-evaluations, highlighting what has been learned about the relationship between core self-evaluations and attitudes, motivation, performance, and career progress. After this review, implications of the core self-evaluation construct for challenges in contemporary organizations are reviewed. Specifically, the potential importance of core self-evaluations for creative performance, transformational leadership, coping with organizational change, and managing “boundaryless” careers is discussed.     

Rent seeking in groups

Rent-seeking contests between groups involve conflicts of interests at the levels of individuals, groups, and the society as a whole. We conduct a series of economic experiments to study the behavior of groups and individuals competing against each other in rent-seeking contests. We find substantial over-contribution to rent-seeking relative to the equilibrium predictions of standard models regardless whether individuals compete against other individuals, groups compete against other groups, or individuals compete against groups.     

Can real-effort investments inhibit the convergence of experimental markets?

Evidence shows that real-effort investments can affect bilateral bargaining outcomes. This paper investigates whether similar investments can inhibit equilibrium convergence of experimental markets. In one treatment, sellers' relative effort affects the allocation of production costs, but a random productivity shock ensures that the allocation is not necessarily equitable. In another treatment, sellers' effort increases the buyers' valuation of a good. We find that effort investments have a short-lived impact on trading behavior when sellers' effort benefits buyers, but no effect when effort determines cost allocation. Efficiency rates are high and do not differ across treatments.     

PCA oversedation: application of Healthcare Failure Mode Effect (HFMEA) Analysis

Hospital systems utilize many varied problem-solving processes to address system improvements and ensure patient safety. The Healthcare Failure Mode Effect Analysis (HFMEA) model is one of these tools and uses a multidisciplinary team to look at processes, diagramming the steps involved to identify potential failure points. The application of the HFMEA model allowed one large health care system to address a complex process by prioritizing proactive change improvements in order to prevent postoperative patient-controlled anesthesia oversedation events. The changes implemented identified 16 failure points with a hazard score of 16 or greater. One year later, the established system HFMEA goal was met: oversedation events were reduced by 50%.     

Public Versus Private Sector Procurement Ethics and Strategy: What Each Sector can Learn from the Other

The government purchasing market constitutes the largest business sector in the world. While marketers would benefit from a deep understanding of both sectors, how the two sectors differ in terms of ethics and strategy largely remains unknown. The purpose of this research, therefore, is to explore differences between the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors on two critical aspects of business-to-business procurement: ethics and strategy. Using survey data from a sample of 328 procurement professionals in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, key differences are explored. Findings suggest that buyers in the for-profit sector are more likely to behave opportunistically. Conversely, the buyers’ leaders in the not-for-profit sector behave more opportunistically and are more willing to turn a blind eye to their subordinate buyers’ opportunistic behaviors. In addition, key differences in procurement strategy are unveiled suggesting that not-for-profit procurement practices have some room for improvement. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications are drawn, and a future research agenda is proposed.     

Establishing HR Professionals’ Influence and Credibility: Lessons from the Capital Markets and Investment Banking Sector

Through two separate studies involving 47 interviews inside 22 institutions in the capital markets and investment banking sector, we explore the levels of influence and sources of credibility for senior HR professionals, and examine the challenges they face in establishing credibility. We compare these findings against previous research, which has identified several determinants of HR’s influence and credibility. Our findings confirm that HR’s modest influence is contingent on the predispositions and convictions of key stakeholders, notably the CEO, but also depends on the decision being taken. We find that the basis for senior HR professionals’ credibility is more individual than institutional, and that HR professionals and senior business managers differ in the priorities they assign to credibility determinants. Finally, the studies illuminate an enduring inherent tension for HR in establishing credibility, between servicing their internal clients’ needs and retaining a level of independence. We reflect upon the transient nature of HR credibility in this sector and others. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Why are some people more likely to become small-businesses owners than others: Entrepreneurship entry and industry-specific barriers

Why are some individuals more likely to become owners of small businesses than others? We classify industries using measures of entry barriers and proceed to investigate how determinants of entry vary in high- as opposed to low-barrier fields. Claims that neither financial-capital constraints nor the educational backgrounds of aspiring small-business owners predict the likelihood of small-business entry are investigated in this context. These claims of irrelevance, we find, are inconsistent with the facts. The wealth and educational background characteristics potential entrepreneurs possess predispose them to make distinctly different industry choices, both because of the differing rewards available to them and the very different entry barriers they face. The characteristics of potential entrants, in other words, draw them toward some industries and away from others.     

Real Indeterminacy in Monetary Models with Nominal Interest Rate Distortions

This paper demonstrates that in a standard flexible-price monetary model there exists real indeterminacy whenever the nominal interest rate moves too closely with either current or forecasted inflation. However, an aggressive response to lagged inflation will ensure determinacy. These conclusions are robust to a wide range of calibrations, and a monetary environment that allows for endogenous velocity. The results are affected by the inclusion of investment spending in the transactions constraint. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: E4, E5.