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A Behavioral Roles Approach to Assessing and Improving the Team Leadership Capabilities of Managers
Charles J. Hobson, David Strupeck, Jana Szostek |
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A Behavioral Roles Approach to Assessing and Improving the Team Leadership Capabilities of Managers
Charles J. Hobson
Indiana University Northwest
David Strupeck
Indiana University Northwest
Jana Szostek
Indiana University Northwest
Success in today’s globally competitive marketplace requires that managers have the ability to effectively lead teams. While some individuals appear to have an innate, almost effortless capability to lead teams, most managers benefit from systematic efforts to assess and improve their performance in this critical area. Research on small group interaction and leadership behavior in teams is used to identify a set of task, social, and dysfunctional behavioral roles that are critical to team leader success. The widely used, well-researched leaderless group discussion (LGD) exercise is proposed as a potentially useful tool to measure team leadership role behaviors. A structured protocol is introduced, employing the LGD to assess and improve team leadership capabilities in individuals. Examples of protocol use in business and academia are discussed. Finally, several directions for future research are considered.
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Networking and Entrepreneurship in Small High-Tech European Firms: An Empirical Study
Mette Moensted |
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Networking and Entrepreneurship in Small High-Tech European Firms: An Empirical Study
Mette Moensted
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Networking is a basic feature of entrepreneurial management in small firms. This paper looks at the creation and dynamics of networks in small high-technology firms and their entrepreneurial conditions. Networking is the active process of one intermediary putting other intermediaries into circulation. Network are shown to involve two major strategic mechanisms: 1) opening to complementary competence and resources in order to gain access to new knowledge and people, by managing in networks, and 2) closing and collaborating as mutual obligation to protect and form alliance, as managing of networks. The paper is based on interviews by the author in 35 case firms in the biotech and ICT industries in Denmark (Copenhagen) and France (Sophia Antipolis), of which four are studied longitudinally. Networking is found to be an active way of creating entrepreneurial opportunities and organisation for high-technology innovation. They do not merely exploit existing opportunities, they use networks to form new relations for creating opportunities, and the article thus shows the impact of networking for small high tech firms.
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DVD Movie Piracy in Hong Kong: Autopsy of a Brick-and-Mortar Market
W. D. Walls, P. J. Harvey |
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DVD Movie Piracy in Hong Kong: Autopsy of a Brick-and-Mortar Market
W. D. Walls
University of Calgary, Canada
P. J. Harvey
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
This paper is a clinical examination of a surviving brick-and-mortar market for pirate DVDs during its final years of intermittent operation in Hong Kong. We examine the flow of customers, the logistics of market exchange, and the frequency of market disruption due to law enforcement. A sample of pirate DVDs was collected and examined to assess quality and the source of the original copy. During our field work, we also observe intervals of complete cessation of—to our knowledge—the last full-fledged hard goods market for pirate movies, computer software, and games operating in Hong Kong. The confluence of street-level enforcement (which raises piracy costs) and increased online availability (which lowers demand for hard goods piracy) may soon cause the physical hard goods markets for pirate films to disappear entirely as cyberspace becomes the primary domain for sharing digital content.
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Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Selection Decisions in India and the United States
Comila Shahani-Denning, Purvi Dudhat, Roni Tevet, Nicole Andreoli |
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Effect of Physical Attractiveness on Selection Decisions in India and the United States
Comila Shahani-Denning
Hofstra University
Purvi Dudhat
Hofstra University
Roni Tevet
Hofstra University
Nicole Andreoli
Hofstra University
This study examined the influence of physical attractiveness on selection decisions in two very different cultures, namely the United States and India. Most of the research on attractiveness bias has been conducted in western cultures like the United States. India was chosen for comparison because India continues to grow strong in the global marketplace and it is important to understand how decisions are made in the Indian environment. This was the first study to compare the attractiveness bias in India and the United States. 203 Indians and 129 Americans participants reviewed resumes and photographs of attractive and unattractive men and women. Different photographs were used in the American and Indian sample with separate pilot tests conducted in each study. Participants rated each applicant on how qualified the applicant appeared for the job, how likely it was that he/she would hire the applicant, and what amount he/she would offer the applicant as a starting salary. The results of the American sample support the “beauty is beastly” stereotype with attractive males receiving the highest ratings and the attractive female receiving the lowest ratings. The results of the Indian sample support the ‘what is beautiful is good’ stereotype with the attractive female and male applicant being perceived to be more qualified, more likely to be hired and to receive a higher salary than the unattractive female or male.
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Contextual Factors as Moderators of the Effect of Employee Ethical Ideology on Ethical Decision-making
Gerard A. Callanan, Paul F. Rotenberry, David F. Perri, Peter Oehlers |
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Contextual Factors as Moderators of the Effect of Employee Ethical Ideology on Ethical Decision-making
Gerard A. Callanan
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Paul F. Rotenberry
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
David F. Perri
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Peter Oehlers
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Organizations have increased their usage of pre-employment screening instruments that measure ethical ideology (i.e. which applicants hold an ethical ideology versus a non-ethical ideology) as a means to predict ethical decision making on the job. Consistent with previous research, this study investigates whether an individual’s ethical ideology, as measured by degree of relativism and degree of idealism, is actually linked with ethical decision making when individuals are presented with specific ethical choices. Uniquely adding to the existing literature, this study, utilizing real-life ethical scenarios, also assesses whether a given set of contextual factors, including the perceived opportunity to commit an unethical act, the degree of benefit to the individual if the unethical decision is made, and the perceived chance of getting caught, serve to moderate the relationship between ethical ideology and ethical decision making. Subjects for this study were business students from a large state university located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The total sample (N=235) contained a mix of undergraduates (81.3%) and graduate students (18.7%). Males comprised 51% of the participants. The data were analyzed using correlations and repeated measures ANOVA. Results show a linkage between ethical ideology and decision making and that contextual factors serve to influence the relationship. In particular, participants, regardless of their ethical ideology, chose more ethical options for resolving the dilemmas when the perceived opportunity to commit the unethical act was low and when the perceived chance of getting caught was high. Further, for individuals whose relativism score was high, a higher perceived personal benefit resulted in a greater likelihood that the unethical option will be chosen. For individuals whose idealism score is low, a lower perceived chance of getting caught resulted in a greater likelihood that the unethical option will be chosen. The article discusses the implications of these results for employee selection and for work environment design. Recommendations for future research are also presented.
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Effects of Information Technology Investment on Organizational Performance in India and Iran: An Empirical Study
Ghasem Ali Bazaee |
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Effects of Information Technology Investment on Organizational Performance in India and Iran: An Empirical Study
Ghasem Ali Bazaee
Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch, Tehran, Iran
Despite enormous investment in IT during the recent years, demonstrating the effects of such investment on organizational performance has proven extremely difficult. Different findings have been reported, some showing positive and some negative effects, justifying the present research which examines the effect of IT investment in gas and oil companies in Iran and India respectively. A conceptual model was developed to explain how such investment affects organizational performance in the information technology area. Several hypotheses based on the model were tested in an Indian and an Iranian company in the area, with data collected by means of individual interviews with 200 middle managers in each company. The interviews produced measures of the various variables in the model. Multiple regression analyses of the data from the two companies showed that IT investment positively affected IT performance in both companies mediated by managerial capability in both cases.
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Effects of Corporate Distress on the Stock Prices of Lending Banks: An Empirical Study
Jiang-Chuan Huang, Chin-Sheng Huang |
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Effects of Corporate Distress on the Stock Prices of Lending Banks: An Empirical Study
Jiang-Chuan Huang
Transworld Institute of Technology, Taiwan
Chin-Sheng Huang
National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, Taiwan
This paper examines the share price reactions of lending banks when their corporate borrowers encountered financial distress as reflected by loan defaults and/or margin trading announcements. The experimental sample is drawn from two types of financially distressed firms, 90 defaulted firms and 73 margin trading firms, respectively, over a 10-year period, 1996-2005. The empirical evidence indicates that news of corporate distress has a materially adverse impact on the stock prices of the main lending banks. Specifically, the news of loan default and margin trading by a corporate borrower accounts for an average decline of 3.741% and 3.174% for main lending banks’ stock returns over an 11-day period around the date of default, respectively. In addition, the empirical results also show that bank exposure, distressed firms’ bank debt, bank-firm relationships, and economic contraction have significant influences upon banks’ abnormal returns around the announcement of corporate distress events.
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Relations among Ethnocentrism, Product Preference and Government Policy Attitudes: A Survey of Japanese Consumers
Ken Chinen |
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Relations among Ethnocentrism, Product Preference and Government Policy Attitudes: A Survey of Japanese Consumers
Ken Chinen
California State University Sacramento
Rice farming in Japan molds the prototype of Japanese culture. Japan uses this argument to justify the high level of tariffs and subsidies in the agricultural sector, particularly on rice. The combination of high tariff barriers on rice, significant subsidies in agriculture sector, administrative trade barriers, and trade surplus invites significant criticism against Japanese trade practices, despites its effort to lowering tariff rates on many agricultural products and non-agricultural imports. Japanese ethnocentric trade behaviors regarding the rice market has challenged other countries to develop strategies to open the market. This study examined the effect of rice evaluation and attitude toward rice importation and ethnocentrism on overall preference toward rice grown in Japan and the US, using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The first generation of Japanese (born and raised in Japan) in Sacramento, California were asked to participate in the survey. A total of 114 Japanese participated in the survey in 2002. This study found that location preference of rice production had a significant association with rice evaluation and consumer ethnocentrism. It is suggested that as more Japanese experience foreign rice their negative reactions to foreign rice will be changed.
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The Failure of the African Anti-corruption Effort: Lessons for Managers
William De Maria |
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The Failure of the African Anti-corruption Effort: Lessons for Managers
William De Maria
University of Queensland, Australia
Corruption is big business in Africa. Since 1996 an international effort to rid Africa of corruption has been underway. The paper exposes this effort as a failure. The paper attributes this failure to a flaw deep within the international management model utilised by western governments and NGOs, whereby corruption has been removed from its natural cultural context. The paper argues that to tackle corruption is to first understand it historically and culturally. International management has to learn that the meanings of corruption are not scientific, trans-cultural and singular. They are normative, ethnographic and multiple. Corruption cannot submit to empirical investigation nor can it be comprehended outside the lived experience.
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The Impact of Business Unit Strategy, Structure and Technical Innovativeness on Change in Management Accounting and Control Systems at the Business Unit Level: An Empirical Analysis
Frank H.M. Verbeeten |
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The Impact of Business Unit Strategy, Structure and Technical Innovativeness on Change in Management Accounting and Control Systems at the Business Unit Level: An Empirical Analysis
Frank H.M. Verbeeten
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Netherlands
This study tests the hypothesis that business unit strategy and business unit structure affect change in a business unit’s Management Accounting & Control System (MACS). Business units are parts of a larger ‘whole’ organization, such as departments, teams, strategic groups or divisions. Change in MACS has been assessed by asking managers to estimate the number of changes that has taken place in their business unit’s MACS over a two-year time period. Using data from a survey amongst 61 business unit managers in the Netherlands, the study suggests that the costing & transfer pricing and reward system are relatively ‘resistant to change’. The results also indicate that the administrative capacity of a business unit is the main driver of change in MACS. Finally, business unit strategy and business unit structure affect change in specific components of MACS at the business unit level, apparently depending on whether the change in MACS facilitates or influences managerial decisions.
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Investigating Seasonal Anomalies in Asian Stock Market Prices: A Stochastic Dominance Approach
Wei-Ning Chen, Ya-Hui Hsueh, Yu-Ta Chen, Chingliang Chang |
144 |
Investigating Seasonal Anomalies in Asian Stock Market Prices: A Stochastic Dominance Approach
Wei-Ning Chen
Kainan University, Taiwan
Ya-Hui Hsueh
Kainan University, Taiwan
Yu-Ta Chen
Kainan University, Taiwan
Chingliang Chang
Kainan University, Taiwan
In this research, we examine the possible January effect on some Asian stock market price, namely Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In spite of the non-normal nature of stock returns, most previous studies have employed the mean-variance criterion or Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) statistics, which rely on the normality assumption and depend only on the first two moments, to test for calendar effects. To overcome this drawback, in this paper, we use the stochastic dominance approach and the Davidson and Duclos test to examine the existence of January effects for some Asian markets using daily data for the period from 1990 to 2007. Our empirical results support the existence of monthly seasonality effects in these Asian markets but suggest that first order stochastic dominance for the January effect has largely disappeared.
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The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Health Capital and Economic Growth: A Panel Study of 38 Countries from 1999 – 2005
Lara K. Gardner, Sang H. Lee |
153 |
The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Health Capital and Economic Growth: A Panel Study of 38 Countries from 1999 – 2005
Lara K. Gardner
Southeastern Louisiana University
Sang H. Lee
Southeastern Louisiana University
This paper analyzes the impacts of the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) on a country’s human capital and economic growth. Using data from the World Development Indicators and the International Health Organization, we construct a panel data set of 38 countries from 1990–2005 which allows us to explore the dynamic relationships between HIV/AIDS, human capital, and economic growth within countries over time. We control for unobserved country-specific effects that may be correlated with observed determinants of GDP by using a fixed-effects estimation method. Economic growth is measured as change in real GDP per capita, and we proxy health capital with the difference between measured life expectancy at birth for the total population and a relative benchmark. Our results indicate that HIV/AIDS prevalence has a detrimental impact on GDP per capita by reducing human capital within countries over time.
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The Development of a Verified Fair Value Approach to Accounting for Employee Stock Options
Harry Howe, Jeffrey Lippitt |
162 |
The Development of a Verified Fair Value Approach to Accounting for Employee Stock Options
Harry Howe
State University of New York Geneseo
Jeffrey Lippitt
Ithaca College
We consider problematic features of SFAS 123 (R) and then present a new approach to the accounting for Employee Stock Options (ESO) that addresses prominent criticisms of both grant date accounting (inaccurate estimates) and exercise date accounting (delayed recognition). The accounting for our Verified Fair Value (VFV) approach begins with a model-derived recognition of an ESO obligation, which is presumed to be the best available estimate of the present value of the Realized Intrinsic Value (RIV). Distinctive features of the VFV approach include disaggregation of the ESO expense into accruals and fair-value changes and a truing-up mechanism which could provide useful feedback about the accuracy of ESO model valuations. The recognition of subsequent changes in the intrinsic and time values of the option converge on a value that is exactly equal to the issuer’s cash cost for the option. Information provided under the VFV approach would align with the requirements to reconcile comprehensive income and cash flows presently contemplated by the IASB and FASB in their Discussion Paper for the Financial Statement Presentation Project. Verified Fair Value is accurate and reliable, transparent, readily verified, easily auditable, practical and promotes consistency and transparency.
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A Study of the Attitudes of Chinese Consumers to Aesthetic Product Designs
Yaonan Lin, Ching Yi Lai |
177 |
A Study of the Attitudes of Chinese Consumers to Aesthetic Product Designs
Yaonan Lin
Fu Jen University, Taiwan
Ching Yi Lai
Fu Jen University, Taiwan
Aesthetic product design has been growing in recent years, as an area of marketing concern. This is largely because the buying behavior of consumers has been shown to depend a lot on the appearance, the ‘look’ of products to consumers. The purpose of this study is to develop a useful framework for understanding Chinese consumer aesthetic attitudes. Based on the results from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten convenience samples, the findings suggest that some aspects of such attitudes are influenced strongly by cultural norms in China. The most important of these are aesthetic ‘utility,’ ‘conformity’, ‘simplicity’ and feelings’ each of which are derived from Chinese traditional values, such as the importance of saving, the desire for collective interpersonal relationships, and the seeking of spirits in society. Other aspects of their aesthetic attitudes, such as ‘westernization’ and ‘novelty’ come from Western culture influences, like media communication and globalization. It is argued that the framework developed in this study can provide the basis for future studies that analyze the attitudes and behaviours of Chinese consumers toward the aesthetics of product design.
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The Development and Application of a Decision Support Methodology for Product Eco-Design: A Study of Engineering Firms in Thailand
Prin Boonkanit, Athakorn Kengpol |
185 |
The Development and Application of a Decision Support Methodology for Product Eco-Design: A Study of Engineering Firms in Thailand
Prin Boonkanit
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand
Athakorn Kengpol
King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand
The objective of this research is to propose a decision support methodology for the development and application of product eco-design, with special reference to engineering firms in Thailand. Its aim is to help firms develop new eco-products, by concentrating on new products which have significant ‘improvement ratios’ between themselves and old or existing products. Our analysis suggests that there are four main benefits from the proposed methodology: (1) a reduction in the time and cost of doing environmental analyses; (2) better quality products that are more ‘friendly’ to the with environmental (3) simpler solutions to problems at the design stage; and (4) improved support for eco-design decisions. The results from an air conditioner manufacturer case study demonstrate that the application of the methodology developed in this study can enhance the quality of compressor loading products, that it can lead to products (of this type) which have higher performance and energy efficiency ratios, as well as larger electricity consumption savings, higher profits per unit, and lower average development times and costs.
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