Company Characteristics and Environmental Policy

This paper investigates the relationship between various firm characteristics and environmental disclosures. Our findings evidence that firms with higher environmental ratings present a statistically significant larger size, belong to more environmentally sensitive industries as compared with firms with lower environmental ratings and disclose environmental information according to GRI guidelines. However, neither profitability nor listing status seems to explain differences in environmental disclosure practices between Greek companies. The most influential variable for explaining firms' variation in environmental ratings is size, followed by GRI reporting and industry membership. This study adds to the international research on environmental disclosure by providing empirical data from a country, Greece, where empirical evidence is still relatively unknown, extending the scope of the current understanding of the environmental reporting practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The impact of Greek labour market regulation on temporary employment – evidence from a survey in Thessaly,Greece

This paper uses an original data-set for 186 workplaces in Thessaly (central Greece), to study consequences of Greece's strict employment protection law (EPL) and national minimum wage for temporary employment. We find higher temporary work contract rates among workplaces that pay low wages close to the minimum. We also find that EPL ‘matters’, in particular, managers who prefer temporary contracts because temporary workers are less protected definitely employ more. Our findings thus support the view that a firm's HRM decisions regarding internal versus external allocation of tasks are influenced by labour regulation.     

Sources of TFP growth in a framework of convergence-evidence from Greece

The main hypothesis tested in the paper is whether technology is a conduit of productivity growth for a country that falls behind the frontier. Although the current analysis focuses on a country growth narrative, the evidence represents a pair of countries (i.e. Greece and Germany) that admittedly form the periphery and the core of Europe. The first lesson taken from the study is that for more than two decades the speed of productivity adjustment was rather low in Greece, underlying a number of unobserved rigidities that exist both at the industry and the institutional level. Even though the speed of technology transfer is low, the adoption of foreign technology remains an important source of productivity growth. Other key findings are that productivity gains from trade exist but their full realization requires a substantial time lag. Additionally, the degree of trade openness improves absorptive capacity, confirming the dual role of trade as recently stressed in the productivity literature. R&D activity is another productivity growth contributor but only through higher rates of innovation.     

Kuznets’ swings and intangible investments in forecast: the case of Greece

This article offers an analysis of the relationship between intangible investments and the pattern of local economic productivity in Greece. There are two main objectives in the article: (i) to explore the pattern of economic development in the country; (ii) to find evidence whether this pattern – and its trend – can be better predicted through a forecasting model including intangible investments (next to other relevant factors). To operationalize our study, we use the World Bank Development Indicators database which offers a time-series for Greece for the period from 1981 till date. This data set has two alternative relevant measures for intangible investments: knowledge- and health-related investments. In our analysis we employ first, a centred moving average with a stochastic estimation of the trend, and second a double exponential smoothing, as two alternative (‘deductive’ and next ‘inductive’) approaches to identifying a trend in our data for Greece. We find evidence for a Kuznets swing type of cyclical pattern for Greece – confirmed by triangulation. Most significantly, we also find a relationship between local economic development and intangible investments. These results prompt an evidence-based query about underlying Myrdalian and Tieboutian foundations of wave theory for understanding local economic crises.     

Content vs. Process in the HRM‐Performance Relationship: An Empirical Examination

This study investigates the impact of a human resource management (HRM) system, which integrates both content and process of human resource (HR) practices, on organizational performance, through collective employee reactions. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,250 Greek employees working in 133 public‐ and private‐sector organizations, which operate in the present context of severe financial and economic crises. The findings of the structural equation modeling suggest that content and process are two inseparable faces of an HRM system that help to reveal a comprehensive picture of the HRM–organizational performance relationship. Based on the findings that collective employee reactions mediate the HRM content (i.e., organizational performance relationship) and HRM process moderates the HRM content (i.e., employee reactions relationship), the study has several theoretical and practice implications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Achieving Competitiveness in Greek Accommodation Establishments during Recession

The article examines the strategies that Greek hotels have implemented to strengthen their competitiveness during recession. The research is based on a nationwide e‐mail survey to hospitality managers/owners. The results reveal that the most important perceived competitiveness factor is cost reduction and implementation of actions against crisis, followed by innovation, human resource management and marketing. The study also proposes actions that can improve the competitiveness of accommodation establishments. The article helps fill the gaps in our understanding of how hospitality firms tackle competition during crises, and suggests managerial policies that can help hospitality firms to strengthen their positioning and competitiveness during crises. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of human resource practices on organizational performance: evidence from Greece

The present study addresses a central research question: how do human resource management practices contribute to organizational performance? We examined the following HR practices: (1) job security; (2) selective hiring; (3) self-managed teams and decentralization of decision making; (4) compensation policy; (5) extensive training; and (6) information sharing. We surveyed food managers in Greece and recorded their perceptions on HR practices and their relation to firm performance.

Results provide overall support for all HR practices except of job security. Selective hiring was found to be a key practice that improved organizational performance. Compensation policy, information sharing, decentralization of decision making and extensive training were significant predictors for all performance variables. Directions for further research are provided.     

The effect of extrinsic rewards on public and private sector employees' psychological empowerment: a comparative approach

This paper examines the impact of five extrinsic rewards (financial incentives, promotion opportunities, organisational prestige, relations with supervisor and relations with peers) on employees' psychological empowerment. Further, the present study compares these effects and the level of psychological empowerment between public and private employees. The results demonstrated that extrinsic rewards differentially affected both samples. Financial incentives, promotion opportunities and organisational prestige had a stronger effect on private employees' psychological empowerment, whereas relations with supervisor and peers were significant predictors of public employees' psychological empowerment. The results also indicated that private employees experience greater psychological empowerment, meaning and impact than public counterparts.