Managerial ownership and performance: A commentary essay

Florackis, Kostakis, and Ozkan [Florackis, C., Kostakis, A., and Ozkan, A., 2008. Managerial ownership and performance, Journal of Business Research, forthcoming] empirically examine the exact nature of the relationship between managerial ownership and corporate performance in the framework of semi-parametric regression. This commentary explores the authors' contribution to the corporate governance literature in the light of recent advances in semi-parametric regression. The commentary also considers how Florackis et al.'s findings align with important, emerging work in the corporate governance literature.     

Indigenous ecotourism in the Mayan rainforest of Palenque: empowerment issues in sustainable development

Indigenous ecotourism in the Mayan rainforest has received little research attention. This study examines issues related to the level of empowerment in a Mayan village located near the Palenque World Heritage Site in southern Mexico. An adapted empowerment framework was used to assess community empowerment and its relationship with stakeholders’ participation by collecting the views of internal and external stakeholders in indigenous ecotourism. Using a checklist of 60 empowerment indicators, the study developed a wheel of empowerment tool that graphically illustrates and compares levels of empowerment/disempowerment in local communities. Results indicate that although there is a will from many villagers to participate in tourism, lack of knowledge, limited economic resources and the poor negotiation skills of local leaders have disempowered the community from undertaking ecotourism ventures. Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have not supported the community until recently, the private sector has played little part, and while the Mexican government is shaping the course of indigenous ecotourism with support programmes, state agencies have resisted local ecotourism development. Overall, the community fell below the midpoint on the Wheel of Empowerment Scale. These findings show a need for more effective empowerment strategies to maximise community involvement in managing cultural and natural resources for tourism development.     

Estimating demand elasticities under rationing

Eliminating rationing in the United Kingdom following the Second World War was a concern for policy-makers because of potentially large fluctuations in post-war prices and the impact on unrationed goods. This study shows that in using virtual prices, elasticities can be estimated from a ‘free’ demand system consistent with observed consumer choices. Substitution estimates without accounting for rationing are misleading. In contrast, using virtual prices and estimating a ‘free’ market system yield results similar to those of the pre-war period. Results show that food rationing affected expenditure across unrationed goods. Rationing on other services had little effect on expenditure across unrationed goods.     

Utilization-focused performance reporting

How best to define performance measures is a much-debated issue. Mismatches between goals and indicators can lead to distortions that undermine impact-oriented steering. This article presents a model of goal and indicator development and explains its applicability, benefits and limitations.     

A study of trust over time within a social network mediated environment

Abstract

Trust is central to many marketing models; however, few studies have measured its components over time. Many longitudinal studies have relied on retrospective recall. This study builds a theory of trust development and undermining over time within the context of social-network media.An inductive study phase used phenomenological webnography to build a theory of trust development. 352 peer-review comments were analysed over six years. Outcomes of this phase informed subsequent deductive tests.Four dimensions of trust emerged – ability, benevolence, integrity and predictability – with different salience over time. Ability, a cognitive-based dimension, was important in initial trust-building. Integrity and predictability, linked to the brain’s emotion area, became important later. Undermining of trust was a shorter process than its development.     

Learning about hardiness and servant leadership by accompanying refugees at a united nations resettlement camp

The internationalization of curriculum has contributed to a number of models for study abroad programs, service learning, and global engagement. Some frameworks are intentionally grounded in program theories and objectives shared by multiple stakeholders and the mission of the sponsoring academic institution. This article describes an international program inspired by a partnership between a Jesuit University and the United Nations agency charged with the purpose of safeguarding the rights and well‐being of refugees. The international program was grounded in the practice of accompaniment and theoretical frameworks of hardiness and servant leadership. These principles are described in the context of the curriculum, objectives, activities, and outcomes. The article concludes with lessons learned and future direction for design and delivery.