Sources of Industrial Leadership: Studies of Seven Industries,David C. Mowery and Richard R. Nelson,editors.

Review of Industrial Organization -     

Perceptions of Power Within a Membership-based Seniors' Community Center

As opportunities for citizenship diminish in everyday life amid increasing consumption and privatization, there is a growing realization of the importance of participation and citizen power, particularly for older adults. Gaventa's (1980) Gaventa, J. (1980). Power and powerlessness: Quiescence and rebellion in an Appalachian Valley. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. [Google Scholar] concepts of visible, invisible, and hidden power and Arnstein's ladder of citizen power (1969) framed this study, which used participatory methods, including creation and facilitation of a members' group at a small seniors' center, to address the question: What are the factors that undermine or cultivate citizen power at a small community center for seniors? The data were organized under three power-related themes: powerlessness, reluctance to claim power, and claiming power. Findings suggest that negative social constructions associated with aging act as instruments of invisible power. Further, community center membership, to be considered meaningful, should be imbued with visible power, so that seniors can be involved in decision making and leadership.     

Knowledge,beliefs and attitudes of squash venue operators relating to use of protective eyewear

Sports venues are in a position to potentially influence the safety practices of their patrons. This study examined the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of venue operators that could influence the use of protective eyewear by squash players. A 50% random sample of all private and public squash venues affiliated with the Victorian Squash Federation in metropolitan Melbourne was selected. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 squash venue operators during August 2001. Interviews were transcribed and content and thematic analyses were performed. The content of the interviews covered five topics: (1) overall injury risk perception, (2) eye injury occurrence, (3) knowledge, behaviors, attitudes and beliefs associated with protective eyewear, (4) compulsory protective eyewear and (5) availability of protective eyewear at venues. Venue operators were mainly concerned with the severe nature of eye injuries, rather than the relatively low incidence of these injuries. Some venue operators believed that players should wear any eyewear, rather than none at all, and believed that more players should use protective eyewear. Generally, they did not believe that players with higher levels of experience and expertise needed to wear protective eyewear when playing. Only six venues had at least one type of eyewear available for players to hire or borrow or to purchase. Operators expressed a desire to be informed about correct protective eyewear. Appropriate protective eyewear is not readily available at squash venues. Better-informed venue operators may be more likely to provide suitable protective eyewear.     

On the asymptotic normality of Fourier flexible form estimates

Rates of increase in the number of parameters of a Fourier factor demand system that imply asymptotically normal elasticity estimates are characterized. This is the multivariate analog of work by Andrews (1991). Our proof strategy is new and consists of relating the minimum eigenvalue of the sample sum of squares and cross-products matrix to the minimum eigenvalue of the population matrix via a uniform strong law with rate that is established using results from the empirical processes literature. In its customary form, the minimum eigenvalue of the Fourier sum of squares and cross-products matrix, considered as a function of the number of parameters, decreases faster than any polynomial. The consequence is that the rate at which parameters may increase is slower than any fractional power of the sample size. In this case, we get the same rate as Andrews. When our results are applied to multivariate regressions with a minimum eigenvalue that is bounded or declines at a polynomial rate, the rate on the parameters is a fractional power of the sample size. In this case, our method of proof gives faster rates than Andrews. Andrews' results cover the heteroskedastic case, ours do not.     

Computations for constrained linear models

The article presents an algorithm for linear regression computations subject to linear parametric equality constraints, linear parametric inequality constraints, or a mixture of the two. No rank conditions are imposed on the regression specification or the constraint specification. The algorithm requires a full Moore-Penrose g-inverse which entails extra computational effort relative to other orthonormalization type algorithms. In exchange, auxiliary statistical information is generated: feasibility of a set of constraints may be checked, estimability of a linear parametric function may be checked, and bias and variance may be decomposed by source.     

Imposing curvature restrictions on flexible functional forms

A general computational method for estimating the parameters of a flexible functional form subject to convexity, quasi-convexity, concavity, or quasi-concavity at a point, at several points, or over a region, is set forth and illustrated with an example.     

Who gets the job? First-generation college students' perceptions of employer screening methods

What are first-generation college students' (FGCS) perspectives of employment screening methods? The authors investigate which methods FGCS believe are likely to cause an employer to extend a job offer and which methods yield the best pool of job applicants. Survey data were collected from undergraduate business majors. They were analyzed using means comparisons and bivariate correlation t tests. FGCS perceived resumes and interviews as most likely to help applicants get hired. Implications are discussed.     

Serious Leisure as an Avenue for Nurturing Community

Using a communitarian framework to explore relationships between individuals and community, survey research was used to examine relationships among volunteers’ personal value orientations of individualism and collectivism, experiences of volunteering as serious leisure, and perceptions of sense of community and social cohesion. Based on survey responses from 300 current volunteers at ten voluntary organizations, findings linked collectivism and individualism to serious leisure, which in turn strongly associated with sense of community and social cohesion. In these empirical findings, serious leisure emerged as a pathway for nurturing community.     

A Statistical Inquiry into the Plausibility of Recursive Utility

We use purely statistical methods to determine if the pricingkernel is the intertemporal marginal rate of substitution underrecursive utility. We introduce a nonparametric Bayesian methodthat treats the pricing kernel as a latent variable and extractsit and its transition density from payoffs on 24 Fama-Frenchportfolios, on bonds, and on payoffs that use conditioning informationavailable when portfolios are formed. Our priors are formedfrom an examination of a Bansal-Yaron economy. Using both monthlydata and annual data, we find that the data support recursiveutility.