Can Labor Emigration Affect the Education of Girls? Evidence from Tajikistan

This study examines how large-scale, predominantly male emigration affects the education of girls staying in Tajikistan, the poorest post-Soviet state and one of the most remittance-dependent economies in the world. Using data from a three-wave household panel survey conducted in 2007, 2009, and 2011, this study finds that the net effect of migration on girls’ schooling turns from positive to negative with girls’ age. These results lend support to various conceptual channels through which the emigration of household members may affect girls’ education, including the relaxation of budget constraints, a change of the household head, and an increase in household work. At the practical level, the results imply that migration can be detrimental to women’s empowerment and cast doubt on whether emigration is an appropriate long-term development strategy for Tajikistan.     

INCOME‐GENERATING ACTIVITY: AN AVENUE TO IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SHGs

Self‐help groups (SHGs) are formed to work for increased income through collective effort and use of banking facilities by initiating some income‐generating activities taking advantage of the financial strength of a group. Taking into consideration the significance of SHGs to economic growth, the present study analyzes and compares the management of the income‐generating activities of SHGs in rural and urban areas. It also explores the extent of resource mobilization through various income‐generating activities, and the constraints faced by the SHGs while undertaking these activities. It is an exploratory research in which a multi‐stage stratified cluster random sampling technique was used for the selection of SHGs. Data were collected at group level and member level through purposely developed interview schedules and focused group discussions. The study revealed that, because of various financial and marketing‐related problems occurring while initiating and conducting the activities, very few SHG members actually started new income‐generating activities. Testing of hypotheses indicated that SHGs do not fulfil all the requirements of income‐generating activities carried out by its members. An overall low to medium level of resource mobilization by a majority of the SHGs presented a poor picture of SHGs in generating resources for undertaking entrepreneurial activities.     

数字化赋能视角下小微企业生态竞争力影响因素研究

在经济转型升级和生态文明建设背景下,小微企业的生存发展要顺应绿色发展趋势,打造生态竞争力。随着数字化时代的到来,数字化赋能小微企业实现绿色发展提升其生态竞争力必将带来深远影响。为更好研究数字化环境下小微企业生态竞争力受哪些因素影响,给小微企业生态竞争力的培育提供一定的参考,在现有相关研究基础上,从小微企业外部环境与内部管理、生产及文化层面出发,对数字化环境下小微企业生态竞争力影响因素进行识别并确定权重;构建了五维数字化赋能视角下小微企业生态竞争力影响因素关系模型;最后给出研究结论并提出相关建议。     

论《白衣女人》的主题情节

英国著名侦探小说家威尔基·柯林斯的代表作《白衣女人》一书不仅开创侦探小说之先河,且在写作手法上亦为英国小说另辟了一条新的蹊径。作为长篇侦探小说,《白衣女人》是关于拯救＂受困的公主＂及寻找社会身份的认同的文学作品,其故事枝蔓纵横、错综复杂,因而理清其主题情节就显得尤为重要。     

“Opt out” or kept out? The effect of stigma,structure, selection,and sector on the labor force participation of married women in India

Using the 61st and 68th rounds of National Sample Survey data, we investigate the role of stigma, the economy’s structure, potential selection bias, and sectoral differences in explaining the low labor force participation (LFP) of middle and secondary educated women in India relative to low‐ and high‐educated women (the “U‐shape”). Estimating LFP regressions on a sample of prime‐aged married women, we show that, controlling for background characteristics, if a woman’s husband works in a white‐collar job in a region with a high share of blue‐collar jobs, she is less likely to participate in the labor market (stigma). We also find a positive effect of an increase in an index of white‐collar job growth (structure) on married women’s LFP. These effects are present in both rural and urban sectors but are strongest in the rural sector. However, middle and secondary educated women are still found to have substantially lower LFP than low‐ and graduate‐educated women in both sectors. Indeed, over time, the U‐shape persists in the rural sector and deepens in the urban sector. Because unobservables are quite large in the urban sector, we use the method of instrumental variables and find an increasing return at middle levels but stagnation at higher levels.     

Does microfinance empower women? Evidence from self‐help groups in India

Microfinance programmes like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India have been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they empower women. However, only a few studies rigorously examine the link between microfinance and women’s empowerment. This article contributes to this discussion by arguing that women’s empowerment takes place when women challenge the existing social norms and culture, to effectively improve their well‐being. It empirically validates this hypothesis by using quasi‐experimental household sample data collected for five states in India for 2000 and 2003. A general model is estimated by employing appropriate techniques to treat the ordinal variables in order to estimate the impact of the Self Help Group (SHG) on women’s empowerment for 2000 and 2003. The results strongly demonstrate that on average, there is a significant increase in the empowerment of women in the SHG members group. No such significant change is observed however, for the members of the control group. The elegance of the result lies in the fact that the group of SHG participants show clear evidence of a significant and higher empowerment, while allowing for the possibility that some members might have been more empowered than others.     

创业机会的创新性、员工心理授权与企业绩效的实证研究

创业活动源于创业者对创业机会的识别,而创业机会的创新性强弱则介于模仿性机会和创新性机会之间,过往研究认为创业机会的创新性与企业绩效正相关。但心理授权理论认为员工对工作认知的不同将影响到其行为,故需考虑员工心理授权的调节作用,毕竟对创新机会的开发利用需要员工共同努力。研究发现,创业机会的创新性确实对企业绩效有显著的正向影响;而且心理授权的4个维度因子,即员工对自身能力的认知、影响力的认知、工作意义的认知以及工作自主性的认知均对企业绩效具有显著的正向影响,说明提升员工的心理授权感受将有助于提升绩效。还发现,员工对自身能力的认知、工作意义的认知以及工作自主性的认知均显著正向调节了创业机会创新性与企业绩效的关系,只有员工对自身影响力的认知的调节作用不显著。研究结论有助于从外部客观创业机会和内部员工心理授权感知两个过程看待企业绩效的提升,全面理解企业绩效的发生机制。     

信息化中女性就业问题的思考

信息化使女性劳动者劳动生产率、经济地位以及福利水平均得到了极大的提高,同时也使女性面临着应对技术与劳动力市场竞争变动的巨大挑战。文章论述了信息化与女性就业的关系,并针对其问题深入分析,力图为政府、企业亦或个人认识女性在信息化时代的作用和意义提供研究的参考。     

The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure

Despite knowing the potential effect of social reporting on firms' continuity, there is limited research into the influence of the composition of boards of directors on CSR disclosure. This paper adds to the emerging CSR literature empirical evidence by examining how board composition relates to a firm's social and environmental disclosure as well as the implementation of social policies. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007–2012, the results show that higher board independence facilitates the conveying of firms' good citizenship image through enhancing societal conscience. The results also show that female participation on boards is favorably affecting CSR engagement and reporting as well as the establishment of ethical policies. Hence, the research suggests that boards with higher female participation and independence boost the legitimacy of CSR reporting. Board gender diversity and independence facilitates directing part of the firm's scarce resources toward value maximizing social projects and subsequent reporting on these. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Individualization and Marketization of Responsibility for Gender Equality: The Case of Female Managers in China

This article investigates the question of where the responsibility for promoting gender equality resides in the Chinese employment context. Utilizing Acker's (2006) inequality regimes framework, the study explores women's underrepresentation in management roles in China and explains the persistence of gender inequalities in managerial echelons of Chinese organizations. Based on 30 interviews with female managers, the findings demonstrate the marketization and individualization of gender equality in organizational activity. The existing gender inequality, and the lack of responsibility for tackling it, has been either legitimized by eluding to the commercial‐only focus of organizations or rendered invisible through a belief in individual choice as the determining factor of career progression for women. Gender inequality in management is also maintained through the compliance of female managers themselves with the presumed legitimacy of gender‐based differential access to managerial roles. References to culture and tradition, market forces, competitive pressures, and individual choices by female managers are often made in explaining the unequal career paths and outcomes for men and women in their organizations. Our findings contribute to the human resource management (HRM) literature by framing macrosocietal context as a dynamic and endogenous aspect of management of human resources in organizations and provide novel insights into the interplay between HRM and societal context. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.