Nonstandard work arrangements and configurations of firm and societal systems

In this study, we proposed and empirically confirmed that the use of nonstandard working arrangements (NSWAs) varies according to firm system and societal cluster. Utilizing the configurational, institutional and cultural perspectives, we explored antecedents to the use of four NSWAs across firms in six countries, expanding the scope of variables examined in relation to NSWAs and capturing context as a way of broadening the theory base on the subject. We found a tendency toward greater use of NSWAs among firm systems that foster internal socialization and career advancement over time as well as national contexts that promote employment protection and/or Institutional Collectivism. Finally, we found national context to be a significant determinant of firm system, reinforcing the importance of aligning national with organizational-level antecedents to the study of NSWAs.     

Still feeling employable with growing age? Exploring the moderating effects of developmental HR practices and country-level unemployment rates in the age – employability relationship

Abstract

A compelling issue for organizations and societies at large is to ensure external employability of the workforce across workers’ entire work-life span. Using the frameworks of age norms, stereotyping and age meta-stereotypes, we investigate whether (a) age is negatively related to perceived external employability; and (b) the age-employability link is moderated by HR developmental practices (HRDPs) and unemployment rate. We argue that being aware of stereotypes and age norms in organizations, and holding also meta-stereotypes about their group, older workers perceive themselves as less externally employable. However, the context –HRDPs that one has experienced, and the country unemployment rate – would act as buffers. Using data from a large-scale survey from over 9000 individuals in 30 institutionally diverse countries, we found that the negative relationship between age and perceived external employability was significant across all countries. In addition, at the individual level, we found that HRDPs acted as a buffer for this negative relationship, such that the effect was less pronounced for individuals who have experienced more HRDPs during their working life. At the country level, the hypothesized moderating effect of unemployment rate was not observed. Limitations, future research directions, as well as practical implications of the study are discussed.     

Are College Football Playoff Payouts Becoming More Imbalanced?

Atlantic Economic Journal -     

Antecedents of Retweeting in a (Political) Marketing Context

Word of mouth disseminates across Twitter by means of retweeting; however, the antecedents of retweeting have not received much attention. We used the chi‐square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) decision tree predictive method (Kass, 1980 ) with readily available Twitter data, and manually coded sentiment and content data, to identify why some tweets are more likely to be retweeted than others in a (political) marketing context. The analysis includes four CHAID models: (1) using message structure variables only, (2) source variables only, (3) message content and sentiment variables only, and (4) a combined model using source, message structure, message content, and sentiment variables. The aggregated predictive model correctly classified retweeting behavior with a 76.7% success rate. Retweeting tends to occur when the originator has a high number of Twitter followers and the sentiment of the tweet is negative, contradicting previous research (East, Hammond, & Wright, 2007 ; Wu, 2013 ) but concurring with others (Hennig‐Thurau, Wiertz, & Feldhaus, 2014 ). Additionally, particular types of tweet content are associated with high levels of retweeting, in particular those tweets including fear appeals or expressing support for others, while others are associated with very low levels of retweeting, such as those mentioning the sender's personal life. Managerial implications and research directions are presented. We make a methodological contribution by illustrating how CHAID predictive modeling can be used for Twitter data analysis and a theoretical contribution by providing insights into why retweeting occurs in a (political) marketing context.     

Desired goals and actual outcomes of e‐HRM

Much discussion exists in the academic literature about the potential goals of e‐HRM, but few scholars have looked at whether these goals are actually realised and what factors have an impact on this. This study examined the goals stated by organisations for the introduction of e‐HRM, whether these goals were actually achieved, and the factors affecting this through ten case studies in a range of UK organisations. The results demonstrated that e‐HRM is introduced in order to improve efficiency, service delivery, standardisation and organisational image, to empower managers and transform HR into a more strategic function. Efficiency, service delivery and standardisation goals were commonly realised. Some evidence of a transformational impact of e‐HRM was found, as the HR staff had more time and information to support the organisation in achieving its business strategy. However, no evidence was found of an actual increased involvement of HR in business decision making.     

Assessing value-in-use: A conceptual framework and exploratory study

Developing approaches for understanding customer perceived value is a priority for managers and scholars alike. A conceptual framework for assessment of value-in-use is proposed and explored within the context of a maintenance service provider. In contrast to value models in previous empirical research, the framework includes assessment not just of provider attributes but also of the customer's usage processes, as well as customer evaluations of the value-in-use they obtain. Interviews with members of a cross-disciplinary buying group provide support for the framework, including the observations that individuals can assess the quality of their usage processes and that they can articulate value-in-use at both organisational and individual levels; the further concept of network quality also emerges from the data. Assessment of usage process quality as well as service quality evolves as the customer's goals evolve. Practitioners may wish to elicit usage process quality and value-in-use as well as service quality. Research directions include scale development for both usage process quality and value-in-use.     

Accruals quality and the incentive contracting role of earnings

This paper investigates the association between accruals quality and the usefulness of accounting earnings in incentive contracting. Accruals quality, which measures the precision with which accruals predict future cash flows, has two potential opposing effects on the noise in earnings as a measure of managerial performance. Specifically, higher quality accruals should decrease the deviations of earnings from future cash flows and increase the sensitivity of earnings to cash flows that are not attributable to managerial actions. My evidence indicates that better accruals quality is associated with a higher weight on earnings in compensation contracts, which suggests that accruals quality overall reduces the noise in earnings. I also find that the positive association between accruals quality and the weight on earnings is mainly driven by innate accruals quality rather than discretionary accruals quality. Therefore, accrual errors resulting from the volatility of the operating environment are a primary source of noise in earnings considered by compensation committees.     

Re-creation tourism: de-extinction and its implications for nature-based recreation

Recent rapid developments in biotechnology and genomics mean that ‘de-extinction’ – the resurrection of extinct species – is now a real possibility. The opportunity to see living examples of long-dead creatures has important implications (benefits and risks) for nature-based tourism. This paper introduces the topic of de-extinction, briefly discusses how it relates to tourism and indicates areas for further research.     

Industrial Relations in Privatized UK Mining: A Contingency Strategy?

This paper explores variations in the pattern of colliery level industrial relations following the privatization of British Coal in four pits operated by the largest coal mining company in the UK. Differences are explained in terms of the competing institutions representing mineworkers and, most significantly, in relation to whether the mode of acquisition of the colliery required the management to maintain existing terms and conditions as a result of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981.