Knowledge management through the development of knowledge repositories: towards work degradation

This paper questions the consequences of the use of electronic knowledge repositories for work and employment. Drawing on critical research suggesting that knowledge management associated with such tools presents similarities to scientific management principles, it proposes to examine the following key research question: how do employees experience the transformation of the employment relationship when a knowledge repository is introduced to the workplace? The inquiry is grounded in an exploratory qualitative case study of a knowledge management system designed to foster knowledge‐sharing in a Belgian public administration. The findings illustrate two complementary outcomes: this system resulted in employees experiencing deskilling and work degradation, and was met with resistance. Significantly, this paper considers work degradation as a reflexive phenomenon in the context studied, where knowledge‐sharing systems produced deskilling and resistance as part of a specific re‐regulation process.     

Sources of inequality in selected MENA countries

The paper deals with income inequality in the selected MENA countries focusing on the dynamics of domestic wage differentiations. The main aim is to identify the sources of inequalities. GDP per capita, share of manufacturing sector, urban share of population, gender participation in the labor force, education and openness may be possible factors. The paper analyzes pay inequalities using a panel regression model where the Theil index is used as the dependent variable. The results show that GDP per capita and female labor force participation have positive (increasing) effects, and openness has a negative (decreasing) effect on pay inequalities in these countries.     

The possibilities and limits of telework in a bureaucratic environment: lessons from the public sector

By modifying the spatial and temporal framework of work, telework involves a reorganisation of the conduct of work that affects the employment relationship in different ways. In this paper, we focus on control issues. Based on the empirical study of two experiences led in the public sector, we illustrate the necessity to redefine the rules of control and to recast managerial practices and role.     

Structural equation modeling with ordinal variables: a large sample case study

In the behavioral sciences, response variables are often non-continuous, ordinal variables. Conventional structural equation models (SEMs) have been generalized to accommodate ordinal responses. In this study, three different estimation methods on real data were performed with ordinal variables. Empirical results obtained from the different estimation methods on given real large sample educational data were investigated and compared to recent simulation results. As a result, even very large sample is available, model estimations and fits for ordinal data are affected from inconvenient estimation methods thus it is concluded that asymptotically distribution free estimation method specialized for ordinal variables is more convenient way to model ordinal variables.     

Knowledge,technological convergence and economic growth: a dynamic panel data analysis of Middle East and North Africa and Latin America

Quality & Quantity - This paper aims to investigate the role of various knowledge indicators, such as research and development, information and communication technologies and trade, in the...     

ON THE CONCAVITY AND QUASICONCAVITY PROPERTIES OF UTILITY FUNCTIONS

Concavity and quasiconcavity have always been important properties in financial economics particularly in decision problems when an objective function has to be maximized over a convex set. Both properties have mainly been used as purely technical assumptions. In this paper, we link concavity and quasiconcavity of a utility function to the basic concepts of risk aversion, prudence, risk vulnerability and temperance. We show that concavity means the agent is more risk vulnerable than prudent. In particular, we can see when a function is both concave and quasiconcave and when it is only quasiconcave.     

Wage Inequality and Returns to Education in Turkey: A Quantile Regression Analysis

This paper investigates the male wage inequality and its evolution over the 1994–2002 period in Turkey by estimating Mincerian wage equations using ordinary least squares and quantile regression techniques. Male wage inequality is high in Turkey. While it declined at the lower end of the wage distribution it increased at the top end of wage distribution. Education contributed to higher wage inequality through both within and between dimensions. The within‐groups inequality increased and between‐groups inequality decreased over the study period. The latter factor may have dominated the former contributing to the observed decline in the male wage inequality over the 1994–2002. Further results are provided for the wage effects of experience, public sector employment, geographic location, firm size, industry of employment and their contribution to wage inequality. Recent increases in foreign direct investiment inflows, openness to trade and global technological developments are discussed as contributing factors to the recent rising within‐groups wage inequality.     

Can Market Potential Explain Regional Disparities in Developing Countries? Evidence from Turkey

Regional disparity is one of the important characteristics of the Turkish economy. This study examines the impact of market potential on the regional differences in Turkey by investigating wages in the manufacturing industry for 1987 and 2000. Evidence suggests that market potential is an important determinant of inequality in Turkey. In addition, public–private decomposition reshapes the dispersion of wages supportive of rising heterogeneity in the private manufacturing industry. This increases the explanatory power of market potential, which is observed to be high in western Turkey and diminishes toward eastern Turkey. Our findings highlight that during the postliberalization era of the 1980s, Turkey's regional inequality concern transformed into a structural problem which can be explained by provincial market potential. Moreover, our results underline that the modern geography framework, which has been tested for developed economies, is able to elucidate the regional differences in a developing country suffering from persistent imbalances.     

Factors Influencing Intercultural Sensitivity of Hospitality Employees

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the factors influencing the development of intercultural sensitivity among hospitality employees. The study particularly looks at the relationship between intercultural sensitivity levels of hospitality employees and their previous educational work experiences. Based on a survey (Intercultural Sensitivity Scale) scale with 443 hospitality employees overall means were calculated. Results of the analysis show that exposure to other cultures by participating previously in student exchange programs (e.g. ERASMUS), work and travel programs, and spending long periods of time abroad increased people’s intercultural sensitivity. Interestingly though, the study found that having formal tourism and hospitality education did not have any influence on the level of intercultural sensitivity of hospitality employees.     

More on Properness: The Case of Mean-Variance Preferences

This paper focuses on the situations where individuals with mean-variance preferences add independent risks to an already risky situation. Pratt and Zeckhauser (Econometrica, 55, 143–154, 1987) define a concept called proper risk aversion in the expected utility framework to describe the situation where an undesirable risk can never be made desirable by the presence of an independent undesirable risk. The assumption of mean-variance preferences allows us to study proper risk aversion in an intuitive manner. The paper presents an economic interpretation for the quasi-concavity of a utility function derived over mean and variance. The main result of the paper says that quasi-concavity plus decreasing risk aversion is equivalent to proper risk aversion.