The relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout: Mediation through work alienation and the moderating role of political skill

We tested the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and job burnout and the mediating role of work alienation in this relationship. We also examined the moderating role of political skill in the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout. Based on time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data collected from 272 employees in 92 firms operating in China, our results showed that laissez-faire leadership was positively related to burnout both directly and via work alienation. Moreover, the positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership and burnout was contingent on political skill, such that the relationship was weak when political skill was high. The study provides useful suggestions to help managers curb employees' feelings of burnout and work alienation.     

The impact of increasing non-agricultural market access on EU demand for imported fish: implications for Lake Victoria chilled fillet exports

Import demand functions for origin-specific chilled fish filletsto the EU using a Rotterdam-type production model are estimated.Results are used to project the impact of the EU expanding marketaccess to non-African countries. The preference erosion argumentsuggests that the lower tariffs will erode the competitive positionof African countries; however, when the total impact of pricesis considered, expanding preferential access may result in increasedimports from African countries. If tariffs are reduced to zero,the total EU imports are projected to increase by 4.1 per centresulting in a 2.2 per cent increase in chilled fillet importsfrom Lake Victoria.     

A Cramér-type large deviation theorem for sums of functions of higher order non-overlapping spacings

Let U ₁, U ₂, . . . , U _n–1 be an ordered sample from a Uniform [0,1] distribution. The non-overlapping uniform spacings of order s are defined as \({G_{i}^{(s)} =U_{is} -U_{(i-1)s}, i=1,2,\ldots,N^\prime, G_{N^\prime+1}^{(s)} =1-U_{N^\prime s}}\) with notation U ₀ = 0, U _n = 1, where \({N^\prime=\left\lfloor n/s\right\rfloor}\) is the integer part of n/s. Let \({ N=\left\lceil n/s\right\rceil}\) be the smallest integer greater than or equal to n/s, f _m (u), m = 1, 2, . . . , N, be a sequence of real-valued Borel-measurable functions. In this article a Cramér type large deviation theorem for the statistic \({f_{1,n} (nG_{1}^{(s)})+\cdots+f_{N,n} (nG_{N}^{(s)} )}\) is proved.     

Board gender diversity and dividend policy in Australian listed firms: the effect of ownership concentration

Asia Pacific Journal of Management - We examine the association between board gender diversity and corporate dividend payout. Our results suggest that although board gender diversity impacts...     

Influence of national and engineering culture on team role selection

Engineering education is an emerging field of research. Due to its applied nature, recent theoretical developments have been followed by empirical evidence and interdisciplinary research. The present study attempted to describe the team roles assumed by members of project teams composed of young engineering students. The study was conducted in Pakistan by using the Belbin Team Role Self Perception Inventory. It was found that young Pakistani engineers assumed the roles of implementer, coordinator, shaper and team worker. This study attempts to understand role choices through the framework of national cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede and engineering education culture offered by Godfrey and Parker. The study strongly recommends that engineering curriculum should incorporate activities which could foster creativity among engineers. Moreover, engineering students should be motivated to innovate through collaboration in a problem and project based environment, which is seriously lacking in engineering education of Pakistan.     

Threat of termination and firm innovation

This study investigates how the ex-ante threat of termination affects firm performance in innovation measured by number of patents and citations. Empirical results show that the threat of termination is negatively associated with both measures of firm innovation. This relation however is sensitive to industry structure. The negative effect of the threat of termination on innovation is statistically significant only for high-tech firms. For low-tech firms there is no statistically significant relation between the threat of termination and firm innovation. One plausible explanation is that high-tech firms are inherently risky and have higher rates of project failure. Adding the risk of higher threat of termination makes the manager more risk averse and forces her to avoid investing in value increasing innovations. Managers in low-tech firms don’t face such pressures. The policy implication is that high-tech firms should lower threat of termination and increase tolerance for project failure to encourage innovation.     

Firm performance,corporate governance and executive compensation in Pakistan

This study examines the effects of firm performance and corporate governance on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in an emerging market, Pakistan. Using a more robust Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach for a sample of non-financial firms listed at Karachi Stock Exchange over the period 2005–2012, we find that both current- and previous-year accounting performances has positive influence on CEO compensation. However, stock market performance does not appear to have a positive impact on executive compensation. We further find that ownership concentration is positively related with CEO compensation, indicating some kind of collusion between management and largest shareholder to get personal benefits. Inconsistent with agency theory, CEO duality appears to have a negative influence, while board size and board independence have no convincing relationship with CEO compensation, indicating board ineffectiveness in reducing CEO entrenchment. The results of dynamic GMM model suggest that CEO pay is highly persistent and takes time to adjust to long-run equilibrium.     

Repricing and Executive Turnover

We examine whether the threat of executive turnover faced by a firm affects its decision to reprice stock options held by its executives. We estimate a model of voluntary turnover among top executives and show that the predicted turnover from this model is positively related to the probability of repricing. The relationship is robust to the inclusion of several known determinants of repricing. Our results are consistent with a model in which a tight labor market makes executives hard to replace, forcing firms to reprice stock options when they go underwater.     

Consequences of extended work hours: A comparison of moonlighters,overtimers, and modal employees

Stringent corporate controls on employee moonlighting and/or overtime are not uncommon. But are they necessary? Even the concept of overtime may need to be rethought—what about the “normal working hours” of managers and professionals who work hours at home or on the road—hours typically uncompensated?