高绩效工作系统、组织学习能力与企业绩效的关系研究

以往对组织学习能力进行研究的较多,但同时涉及前因及后果变量,从系统的角度对其进行的研究相对较少。本研究导入系统的观点,建立起以高绩效工作系统为前因变量,以企业绩效为结果变量的研究模型;对782个中国企业样本的实证研究结果表明,组织学习能力在高绩效工作系统和企业绩效之间起部分中介作用。本研究为高绩效工作系统以及组织学习能力的相关理论研究提供了新的视角,提示企业应与现代管理方式接轨,注重组织学习能力与各项人力资源管理实践相互协同的作用。     

Does Knowledge Mediate the Effect of Context on Performance? Some Initial Evidence

This research examines the links among four firm context variables, knowledge, and financial performance. Adopting a knowledge‐based, contingency view of the firm and assuming that strategy's locus is knowledge creation and application, we hypothesize that knowledge completely mediates the effects of context on performance. The results from analyzing 208 manufacturers found a positive relationship between applied knowledge and financial performance, but none between knowledge creation and performance. As for context, production technology routineness and low demand unpredictability were positively related only to greater applied knowledge; high technological turbulence was positively related to both knowledge creation and knowledge application; and firm size had no effect on either knowledge construct. No direct context‐performance relationships were found (i.e., all effects were indirect): knowledge, in particular applied knowledge, completely mediated the impact of context on performance.     

From Temporary Competitive Advantage to Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Both industrial organization theory (IO) and the resource‐based view of the firm (RBV) have advanced our understanding of the antecedents of competitive advantage but few have attempted to verify the outcome variables of competitive advantage and the persistence of such outcome variables. Here by integrating both IO and RBV perspectives in the analysis of competitive advantage at the firm level, our study clarifies a conceptual distinction between two types of competitive advantage ? temporary competitive advantage and sustainable competitive advantage ? and explores how firms transform temporary competitive advantage into sustainable competitive advantage. Testing of the developed hypotheses, based on a survey of 165 firms from Taiwan's information and communication technology industry, suggests that firms with a stronger market position can only attain a better outcome of temporary competitive advantage whereas firms possessing a superior position in technological resources or capabilities can attain a better outcome of sustainable competitive advantage. More importantly, firms can leverage a temporary competitive advantage as an outcome of market position to improving their technological resource and capability position, which in turn can enhance their sustainable competitive advantage.     

University–industry relationships and open innovation: Towards a research agenda

Organizations increasingly rely on external sources of innovation via inter‐organizational network relationships. This paper explores the diffusion and characteristics of collaborative relationships between universities and industry, and develops a research agenda informed by an ‘open innovation’ perspective. A framework is proposed, distinguishing university–industry relationships from other mechanisms such as technology transfer or human mobility. On the basis of the existing body of research, the role of practices such as collaborative research, university–industry research centres, contract research and academic consulting is analysed. The evidence suggests that such university–industry relationships are widely practised, whereby differences exist across industries and scientific disciplines. While most existing research focuses on the effects of university–industry links on innovation‐specific variables such as patents or firm innovativeness, the organizational dynamics of these relationships remain under‐researched. A detailed research agenda addresses research needs in two main areas: search and match processes between universities and firms, and the organization and management of collaborative relationships.     

The Male–Female Wage Gap and the Firm Effect: The Case of Young Italian Workers

Abstract. The idea that wages are determined by firm and individual characteristics suggests that there is a firm effect that influences wage differentials. This paper presents the results of an empirical analysis of gender wage differentials — based on INPS data for people between the ages of 20 and 25 employed in the private sector in 1996 — which takes into account the characteristics of workers and firms using a two‐level random‐effects model. Firm variables proved to be significant, and the proportion of females in the firm showed a negative effect on the wages of both men and women.     

Technological alliance portfolio configuration and firm performance

Firms pursuing technological alliances to gain competitive advantages have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s business environment. This article examines which technological alliance portfolio configuration is better for focal firm performance using a portfolio rather than a dyadic perspective. To assess technological alliance portfolio effects on Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, we adopted three explanatory variables—number of alliances, number of partners, and spanning structural holes. The growth rate of revenue and the growth rate of profit are used as dependent variables. We identify two characteristics of technological alliance portfolios from the two-step generalized method of moments estimates. First, we find that between two firms with the same number of alliances, the firm with the larger number of partners would have a better performance. This result is unlike those in previous studies because it distinguishes between the number of alliances and number of partners based on the network theory. Second, we find that spanning structural holes affects firm performance rather like a double-edge sword—it positively affects the growth rate of profit but negatively affects the growth rate of revenue of firms. In short, spanning structural holes is simultaneously beneficial for firm profitability and unfavorable for firm growth. This result differs from those of earlier studies because it shows that a firm spanning structural holes among alliance partners produces either a positive or a negative effect, suggesting that a firm should vary its strategy depending on whether it prioritizes profitability or growth.     

Total Board Compensation,Governance and Performance of Spanish Listed Companies

In this paper we present empirical evidence on the relationship between board remuneration of a sample of large Spanish companies and a set of explanatory variables such as performance and size of the company. The objective is to provide additional empirical evidence based on the agency theory for the Spanish institutional context, which differs from most ‘Anglo–Saxon’ model studies. We focus on the impact of a company's governance structure on the relationship between pay and performance. Specifically, we consider ownership concentration and firm leverage as key determinants of the board–shareholders relationship. Our results confirm the positive relationship between board remuneration and company performance, which is stronger for book values than for stock market measures. Industry performance also explains the remuneration and provides useful information for evaluating board behaviour. Company size is also related to board remuneration and affects the pay–performance relationship, although it is not relevant when we use an elasticity approach. Finally, the governance structure of companies is relevant when explaining the power of the compensation–performance relationship, and differences between the impact of ownership concentration and firm leverage on this relationship are found.     

Competitive Dynamics between Multinational Enterprises and Local Internet Platform Companies in the Virtual Market in China

We adopt the dynamic capability perspective and the institutional view as the guiding theoretical lenses to explain the relative performance of foreign internet platform companies (IPCs) operating in China. Based on data obtained from 51 interviews a multiple‐case‐study approach is adopted, with representative matched cases between foreign IPCs, including Google, eBay, Amazon and Groupon, and local IPCs. The findings highlight the unique characteristics of the IPCs and the Chinese context that challenge assumptions prevailing in the literature of the applicability of firm‐specific advantages in determining a sustainable competitive advantage. We highlight the dynamic capabilities of the firm, such as flexibility and experimentation, in contributing to sustainable competitive advantage. Further, rather than focusing on firm‐specific resources, we find that the active agency of the firm can approach institutions as resources through external links with diversified institutional players, which is crucial for multinational enterprise IPCs to develop sustainable competitive advantage. Drawing on the findings we present a number of propositions and implications for theory and practice.     

Quality management, environmental management and firm performance: A review of empirical studies and issues of integration

Quality management (QM) and environmental management (EM) are two business practices that may affect firm performance. These practices are being increasingly introduced into firms, which often use them jointly owing to their similarities. As a result of these similarities, their integration has become a popular topic of research and practice. In the field of integration, the highest level of integration may be achieved by means of a single, full QM–EM system (QEM) in which QM and EM lose their independence. It is therefore desirable to identify dimensions from which to assess these management practices and their effects on performance. The aim of this paper is to carry out a literature review in order to propose and analyse dimensions for QM, EM, QEM and firm performance, as well as models of cause–effect relationships between these variables. The topics reviewed are the following: (1) the QM and EM dimensions; (2) the empirical studies about QM–performance and EM–performance links; and (3) issues of integration. The review suggests that the large body of QM research may inform EM and QEM. This is so because research on the QM side is more advanced and developed than that on the EM side.     

Testing the Vitamin Model of job stress in Dutch health care workers

Three central hypotheses of Warr's Vitamin Model concerning the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and health outcomes were tested: (1) differential effects of job characteristics on the various well-being and health outcomes; (2) predominance of curvilinear associations; and (3) moderate influence of negative and positive affectivity on these relationships. The study participants were 162 employees from a health care organization (aged 19–54 years, 95% women) who completed questionnaires on job demands and job autonomy, as well as on the outcome variables depression, anxiety, job satisfaction, and health complaints. In addition, data on short-term sickness absence were collected. A higher level of job demands was significantly associated with a lower level of well-being and self-reported health. Job autonomy showed weaker relationships with the outcome variables. The effects of job demands were still large after controlling for negative and positive affectivity, while the effects of job autonomy in most cases became non-significant. The predicted curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and outcome variables did not have an additional value over a linear model in predicting the data. It is concluded that the present data from a homogeneous sample of mostly female nurses support Warr's Vitamin Model to a limited extent.     

Testing the Vitamin Model of job stress in Dutch health care workers

Three central hypotheses of Warr's Vitamin Model concerning the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and health outcomes were tested: (1) differential effects of job characteristics on the various well-being and health outcomes; (2) predominance of curvilinear associations; and (3) moderate influence of negative and positive affectivity on these relationships. The study participants were 162 employees from a health care organization (aged 19-54 years, 95% women) who completed questionnaires on job demands and job autonomy, as well as on the outcome variables depression, anxiety, job satisfaction, and health complaints. In addition, data on short-term sickness absence were collected. A higher level of job demands was significantly associated with a lower level of well-being and self-reported health. Job autonomy showed weaker relationships with the outcome variables. The effects of job demands were still large after controlling for negative and positive affectivity, while the effects of job autonomy in most cases became non-significant. The predicted curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and outcome variables did not have an additional value over a linear model in predicting the data. It is concluded that the present data from a homogeneous sample of mostly female nurses support Warr's Vitamin Model to a limited extent.     

A Comprehensive Profile of the Working Poor

Abstract. In this paper, a comprehensive profile of the ‘working poor’ is presented using data from the 2003 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey. We test an earnings model with effective cost constraints. The dependent variable is the likelihood of an employed individual being a member of the working poor. The explanatory variables are the worker's occupation and firm characteristics, and cost constraints comprising, on the one hand, the worker's family characteristics (notably family income), and, on the other, the costs to the worker of signals used by firms in making employment decisions. These include not only the cost of education but also what we call ‘discriminatory signals’, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity and citizenship status. The paper provides new insight into the complex set of relationships between the signaling variables themselves, between signals and occupations, and between industries and occupations, in the formation of relative wage rates.     

A NOTE ON THE USE OF SELECTED NONFINANCIAL RATIO VARIABLES TO PREDICT SMALL-BUSINESS LOAN PERFORMANCE*

Small business loan applications have not been evaluated successfully by traditional methods. This paper explores the possibility of using three types of nonfinancial ratio variables (owner, firm, and loan characteristics) to predict whether a small business will pay off or default its loan. The owner and loan variables were better predictors of loan success than the firm variables.     

Firm Size and Employment Dynamics: Estimations of Labor Demand Elasticities Using a Fractional Panel Probit Model

This paper examines the comprehensive discussion on the relationship between job creation, or destruction and firm size. More specifically, the study will determine whether the argument about small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) showing higher employment dynamics is confirmed or not. As such, the following work applies elasticities from a standard labor demand model derived from the estimations of fractional probit models for panel data, as process recommended in Papke and Wooldridge [2008; Journal of Econometrics 145(1–2): 121–133]. Elasticities are a useful measure of employment dynamics, if it is assumed that SMEs act on the same markets. The elasticity results from German establishment data illustrate that firm size does matter for the increase or decrease of employment. SMEs with less than 10 workers exhibit a higher employment dynamic, compared with other entities, at each respective percentile in the distribution of the wage share. Additionally, the outcome of the analysis weakly confirms the hypothesis that smaller firms are more restricted to capital markets, compared with large entities. The results also illustrate that firm size only explains one aspect of job creation and destruction. As stated in the well‐known Hicks–Marshall rules for elasticities of factor demand, the results illustrate that the reaction of labor demand on economic changes increases with the share of labor. Firms with a high share of labor also have larger elasticities, compared with firms with a strong use of capital. Both effects, the size effect and the effect of the proportion of labor, would blend in reality, and therefore, possibly lead to controversial results for the relationship between firm size and employment dynamics. In addition, a model with a negative relationship among both variables is too simple to explain the behavior of firms.     

Predicting above-median and below-median growth rates

Multiannual periods of consecutive above-median or below-median growth rates in operating performance, called runs, have a substantial influence on firm valuations. For estimating the probability of an above-median or below-median run and utilizing information efficiently, we employ a stepwise regression to automatically identify the parsimonious indicator-specific set of economically and empirically meaningful variables. Our novel approach uses logit models to distinguish firms that will persistently grow above or below the median over a period of up to 6 years. The predictive power for sales growth rates is highest to discriminate between above-median and below-median growth rates, while the future behaviour of operating income and net income growth rates can partially be explained for below-median growth rates.     

Path-related empirical research on M&A-outcome: review and research agenda

This article attempts to reflect the current state and progress of contemporary research on financial and non-financial M&A outcome. Based on a review of 183 empirical M&A studies an integrative framework is developed, in which impact factors are classified into four major dimensions to explore the impact on M&A outcome: antecedents, transaction content characteristics, transaction process characteristics, and the transaction itself. The review reveals that M&A research is dominated by studies focusing on state variables at the expense of path-related variables. The review also shows that, to date, neither state-related research nor path-related research on financial and non-financial M&A outcome categories have reached maturity. Although there is still room for clarifying the impact of various state-related variables, the most valuable new insights are expected to emerge from researching path-related variables. Building on these insights, an extensive future research agenda is presented, which focuses on path-related research questions and methodological issues.     

Leaders as role models: Effects of leader presenteeism on employee presenteeism and sick leave

ABSTRACT

There is a broad consensus that associations exist between leadership behaviour and employee health. However, much less is known about potential mediating processes underlying links between specific leader behaviours, for instance presenteeism (i.e. working while being ill), and indicators of employee health, such as sick leave. Integrating theories of social information processing, social learning, and the allostatic load hypothesis, we propose that employee presenteeism mediates the positive association between leader presenteeism and employee sick leave. This hypothesis was tested with a multilevel mediation model using three-wave longitudinal data from 74 leaders and their 412 team members across a time period of 22 months. As hypothesised, leader presenteeism had a positive effect on employee presenteeism which, in turn, had a positive effect on employee sick leave, controlling for baseline measures of employee presenteeism and sick leave, as well as employee general health status, shared workload and job autonomy, and demographic characteristics. Additionally, leader presenteeism had a positive indirect effect on employee sick leave through employee presenteeism. These results contribute to the occupational health psychology literature by suggesting that leader health-related behaviour can have consequences for employee health-related behaviour and employee health.     

Econometric analysis and managerial decision making

Econometric analysis is concerned with the quantitative relationships between economic variables and it can provide an important input into the decision making process of managers. Typically econometrics differs from other apsects of management science in that it considers problems primarily, though not exclusively, from a background of economics rather than of other disciplines and behaviour is usually dealt with at higher levels of data aggregation than the individual firm.This paper considers some applications of typical econometrics to the general area of managerial decision making, where primarily the techniques have a role to play in assisting the general process of data analysis. Initially discussion is pointed towards the use of the analysis for predictive purposes and the contrast with time series methods. Subsequently examples are presented where the objective is to obtain a better understanding of individual economic relationships that aim to be important inputs into the decision making process, for example cost and revenue analysis. Finally, an example is given of how these ideas contribute more generally to the activity of model building for the firm as a whole both for the purpose of forecasting and policy simulation.     

A Contingency Model of Boards of Directors and Firm Innovation: The Moderating Role of Firm Size

This study asserts that the effects of board characteristics on firm innovation need to be evaluated with reference to contingency variables. A literature review suggests that relatively few studies adopt a contingency view when examining the outcomes of boards of directors. This study examines the influence on firm innovation of characteristics such as board size, outsider ratio and board diversity, and suggests that their influence is contingent upon firm size. The model is tested on a sample of Italian companies and finds support for the contingency hypothesis. This study advances research on boards of directors by emphasizing the importance of context.     

Worker and Firm Heterogeneity in Wage Growth: An AKM Approach

This paper estimates a wage growth equation containing human capital variables known from the traditional Mincerian wage equation with year, worker and firm fixed effects included as well. The paper thus contributes further to the large empirical literature on unobserved heterogeneity following the work of Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis [1999; Econometrica 67(2): 251–333]. Our main contribution is to extend the analysis from wage levels to wage growth. The specification enables us to estimate the individual‐specific and firm‐specific fixed effects and their degree of explanation on wage growth. The analysis is conducted using Danish longitudinal matched employer–employee data from 1980 to 2006. We find that the worker fixed effect dominates both the firm fixed effect and the effect of the observed covariates. Worker effects are estimated to explain 7–12 per cent of the variance in wage growth whereas firm effects are estimated to explain 4–10 per cent. We furthermore find a negative correlation between the worker and firm effects, as do nearly all authors examining wage level equations.