Does Size Matter? A Study of Risk Perceptions of Global Population Growth

The global human population now exceeds 7 billion and is projected to reach 10 billion around 2060. While population growth has been associated with certain benefits (e.g., economies of scale, technological advancements), theoretical models, probabilistic projections, and empirical evidence also indicate that this growth could increase the likelihood of many adverse events (e.g., climate change, resource shortages) and the impact of these events, as more people are exposed to the outcomes. While concerns about these issues are well‐documented in the academic literature, there is little evidence concerning the public's perceptions of the risks associated with global population growth (GPG) and how these perceptions are likely to influence related decisions. To address these issues, we conducted a U.K.‐based study that examined respondents’ risk perceptions of GPG, their willingness to embrace mitigation/precautionary behaviors, and reasons for variations in these two factors. We found that GPG is perceived as a moderate‐to‐high risk, with concerns about the increased likelihood of resource shortages, ecological damage, and violent conflict being foremost. Respondents believed that the worst effects of GPG would arrive around 2050 and would be experienced by the world's poorest people. Respondents who perceived greater levels of risk from GPG were generally those who indicated a greater willingness to embrace mitigation behaviors (e.g., reduce resource consumption) and preventative actions (e.g., support political action to limit growth). We discuss how our findings might be utilized to better manage the potential challenges associated with GPG and we suggest several directions for further research.     

Does Fairness Matter in the Context of Anger About Nuclear Energy Decision Making?

Several recent studies have questioned whether nonoutcome forms of fairness matter in decision-making situations where individuals feel strongly engaged by the issue at hand. This survey-based study focuses on perceptions about a decision-making process related to a proposal to expand a nuclear power plant in the U.S. Southeast. It finds that anger moderates the impacts of outcome and procedural fairness on willingness to accept a decision process as satisfactory and legitimate. The more anger a person said he or she would feel if a decision were to contradict that person's point of view, the more perceived outcome and procedural fairness mattered. The study also finds that interpersonal fairness is also moderated by anger, but in the opposite direction. Interpersonal fairness had less of an impact on willingness to accept a decision for those who said they would feel angry if the decision did not go their preferred way.     

Whose company is it? The concept of the corporation in Japan and the west

This article examines the differences in the concept of the corporation and their possible implications for corporate performance, between Japan on the one hand and the United States and Europe (Germany, UK and France) on the other. The Japanese concept is used as the standard against which the other models are compared. The concept of the corporation is defined here as the answer to the question: ‘In whose interest should the firm be managed?’¹ This is the foundation on which corporate governance and the monitoring system for the CEO is built. The analysis is focused on large publicly-held corporations with widely diffused ownership.     

Agencification and Location: Does Agency Site Matter?

Two decades of New Public Management have placed agencifiction high on the agenda of administrative policy-makers. However, agencification (and de-agencification) has been one of the enduring themes of public administration. Agencies organized at arm’s length from ministerial departments have fairly often been located outside of the capital or political centre. Although practitioners tend to assign some weight to central versus peripheral location as regards political-administrative behavior, this relationship has been almost totally ignored by scholars in the field. In this paper, based on a large-N elite survey, we show that agency autonomy, agency influence and inter-institutional coordination seem to be relatively unaffected by agency site. This study also specifies some conditions under which this finding is valid.     

Does Quality Still Pay? A Reexamination of the Relationship Between Effective Quality Management and Firm Performance

Because of the changing competitive environment, quality might have lost some of its luster and emphasis in business. The research question we aim to address in this paper is: Does quality still pay in the new competitive environment? Using replication research, we re‐examine the impact of an effective total quality management (TQM) program on a firm's operating performance in the new competitive environment. We use publicly available data for award‐winning firms and adopt several control‐firm‐selection approaches in our event study. Based on data from more than 500 firms, we find that over a 10‐year period—6 years before to 3 years after winning their first quality award—firms in our sample perform significantly better than control groups in various operating performance measures. Not only do award‐winning firms have better results after receiving awards, they also have superior performance records before the award. Our results suggest that quality is still critical to achieving long‐term competitive advantages, and firms who continuously improve their quality continue to reap rewards by way of sales and financial performances exceeding those of their competitors.     

Does Iconicity in Pictographs Matter? The Influence of Iconicity and Numeracy on Information Processing,Decision Making,and Liking in an Eye‐Tracking Study

Researchers recommend the use of pictographs in medical risk communication to improve people's risk comprehension and decision making. However, it is not yet clear whether the iconicity used in pictographs to convey risk information influences individuals’ information processing and comprehension. In an eye‐tracking experiment with participants from the general population (N = 188), we examined whether specific types of pictograph icons influence the processing strategy viewers use to extract numerical information. In addition, we examined the effect of iconicity and numeracy on probability estimation, recall, and icon liking. This experiment used a 2 (iconicity: blocks vs. restroom icons) × 2 (scenario: medical vs. nonmedical) between‐subject design. Numeracy had a significant effect on information processing strategy, but we found no effect of iconicity or scenario. Results indicated that both icon types enabled high and low numerates to use their default way of processing and extracting the gist of the message from the pictorial risk communication format: high numerates counted icons, whereas low numerates used large‐area processing. There was no effect of iconicity in the probability estimation. However, people who saw restroom icons had a higher probability of correctly recalling the exact risk level. Iconicity had no effect on icon liking. Although the effects are small, our findings suggest that person‐like restroom icons in pictographs seem to have some advantages for risk communication. Specifically, in nonpersonalized prevention brochures, person‐like restroom icons may maintain reader motivation for processing the risk information.     

Customer Use of Virtual Channels in Multichannel Services: Does Type of Activity Matter?

Many firms have recently adopted virtual channels, based most notably on the Internet and the phone, to complement the delivery of services to their customers by their existing physical facilities. The success of such multichannel (MC) strategies relies on the alignment of service design decisions—namely those concerning the allocation of service activities to virtual channels—with customers’ MC behavior. Although prior studies have looked at the intensity with which customers use virtual channels, they have not addressed virtual channel use for different types of service activities. In our study, we investigate whether customers’ use of virtual channels for MC services varies with the type of service activities they engage in, and if so, in what way. In doing so, we address two objectives. First, we investigate the impact of accessibility to the physical channel on the degree of use of virtual channels (Internet and phone, aggregated) for different types of activities. Second, we look at channel preferences (Internet vs. phone) for different types of activities when customers do resort to virtual channels to conduct activities. To address our objectives, we develop and test hypotheses regarding customers’ use of virtual channels based on the match between activity attributes (complexity and volume) and channel attributes (access efficiency, interface efficiency, interface richness). Using data from a MC bank, we find that the impact of accessibility to physical channels (specifically, customer distance) on customers’ use of virtual channels, as well as the relative use of Internet versus phone, depend on the type of activities.     

How Does Centrality in Coopetition Networks Matter? An Empirical Investigation in the Mobile Telephone Industry

This research examines how a firm's position in a coopetitive network (formed through cooperation among firms within an industry) influences the extent of the firm's competitive aggressiveness and market performance. The authors collected data on the competitive and cooperative actions of firms in the mobile telephone industry from 2000 to 2006, using structured content analysis of news reports. The results show that the centrality of a firm in a coopetitive network contributes to the firm's competitive aggressiveness through increased volume and variety of competitive actions. Further, the more central a firm is in the network, the greater is its market performance. Firms that undertake more volume and variety of competitive actions improve their market performance. Overall, these results show that being in a central position in a coopetition network is quite advantageous for the firm.     

Does Industrial Composition Matter for Wages? A Test of Search and Bargaining Theory

Does switching the composition of jobs between low‐paying and high‐paying industries have important effects on wages in other sectors? In this paper, we build on search and bargaining theory to clarify a key general equilibrium channel through which changes in industrial composition could have substantial effects on wages in all sectors. In this class of models, wage determination takes the form of a social interaction problem and we illustrate how the implied sectoral linkages can be empirically explored using U.S. Census data. We find that sector‐level wages interact as implied by the model and that the predicted general equilibrium effects are present and substantial. We interpret our results as highlighting the relevance of search and bargaining theory for understanding the determination of wages, and we argue that the results provide support for the view that industrial composition is important for understanding wage outcomes.     

How Much Does Hiring and Firing Cost? Survey Evidence from a Sample of Italian Firms

We analyse the Italian labour market, which is typically considered to be highly regulated. We focus on the costs imposed on firms by the institutional environment in which they operate, and on the adjustment strategies that they pursue as a result. We have followed two complementary approaches: the analysis of the development of the laws relating to hiring and firing, together with a set of interviews of 61 manufacturing firms. This also allows us to quantify the extent of turnover costs on the total labour costs. Hiring costs, which include recruiting and training, range between 2.0 and 2.6 months of labour costs; firing costs range from less than half a monthly labour cost to 20 months of labour costs in cases of conflict.     

Value Traits Reinforcement and Perceived Importance: Does Context Matter?

This study examines whether business students' perception of value trait reinforcement and importance differ by their university context. Student perceptions in coeducational religious, coeducational public and all-female religious schools were compared. The results of this study indicate areas of similarity and differences among students in regard to the context of school type and that reinforcement differences seemed to contribute to the differences. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Postal Savings for National Development—The Experience of Japan and Future Perspective in a Globalized World

Global economic forces have been prompting the institutional changes in the public sector based on the market-oriented principles and such changes greatly have affected the postal savings system in Japan. Postal savings system’s public roles were fundamentally changed because of current administrative reform undertakings. In this article, firstly the role of collecting savings from ordinary citizens for fiscal policies was reviewed and the assessment of this public role is conducted. Secondly, abolishment of Universal Service Obligation due to the privatization of the postal savings system and the possible occurrence of Financial Exclusion are analyzed.

2 Untapped Potential in the Study of Negotiation and Gender Inequality in Organizations

Abstract

Negotiation is a process that creates, reinforces, and reduces gender inequality in organizations, yet the study of gender in negotiation has little connection to the study of gender in organizations. We review the literature on gender in job negotiations from psychology and organizational behavior, and propose ways in which this literature could speak more directly to gender inequality in organizations by incorporating insights from research on gender in intra‐household and collective bargaining. Taken together, these literatures illuminate how negotiations at the individual, household, and collective levels may contribute to the construction and deconstruction of gender inequality in organizations.     

Japan’s Innovation of Public Organizations in the Research and Development Field

The Japanese government implemented drastic restructuring of the central government in 2001. As a part of this reform, the incorporated administrative agency (IAA) system was newly introduced in view of carrying out certain public functions in a more flexible, business-like and autonomous way. Research and development activities in the public sector are now mostly conducted by the incorporated administrative agencies. In this article, the purpose of this reorganization is firstly described followed by the outline of this system and current accomplishments. In concluding, the Japanese undertaking of a new public organization is analyzed in comparison with the European and “Anglo-Saxon” countries.

Does Ownership Form Matter for Corporate Social Responsibility? A Longitudinal Comparison of Environmental Performance between Public,Private, and Joint‐venture Firms

This study examines whether a firm's ownership form has any influence on its social performance. Conventional wisdom suggests that public (publicly traded) corporations are more susceptible to corruption and socially irresponsible behavior than privately owned corporations because of the intense short‐term profit maximization pressure from shareholders and the lack of sufficient monitoring mechanisms. This study introduces an alternate perspective in thinking about the relationship between ownership form and corporate social responsibility. This study reasons that public corporations are more likely to become socially responsible because of their greater exposure to external influence and greater dependence on external actors with diverse interests. Using a panel data on the pollution management practices of 118 industrial facilities over a 13‐year period, this study shows that public corporations were indeed subject to greater external pressure to reduce pollution, and the pressure led to consistently stronger environmental performance.     

Is Corporate Social Responsibility in Japanese Firms at the Theoretically Derived Achievable Level? An Analysis of CSR Inefficiency Using a Stochastic Frontier Model

The purposes of this study are to investigate whether current corporate social responsibility (CSR) is at the theoretically derived achievable level (hereinafter referred to simply as achievable level), to introduce “CSR inefficiency” as the difference between actual and achievable levels of CSR, and to specify its determinants. We established that the achievable level of CSR activity is determined by a range of keiretsu group, government, sector, and resource factors, and choosing specific activities can affect the priority levels of social contributions. CSR inefficiency is affected by its own factors such as internal management, which are different from those of CSR activity. Our study suggests the importance of the differences between the achievable levels of CSR among firms. For example, firms in machinery, electrical equipment, public utilities, and service industries have greater inefficiency in environmental CSR than the other industries. Conversely, the achievable levels of construction and petroleum and gum industries for environmental CSR are higher. Service firms can achieve higher level of environmental CSR, although their emissions and wastes are not as large as those of manufacturing firms in general. In retail industries, the achievable level of environmental CSR is lowest among all industries, while those for labor issues and social contribution are as high as those of other industries. Public utilities have large CSR inefficiency compared with other industries, while construction, steel and nonferrous metals have small CSR inefficiency.     

Pay Referents and Satisfaction with Pay: Does Occupational Proximity Matter?

We explore whether employees compare their pay to the pay of others in a similarly prestigious occupation and, if so, whether this comparison has a negative impact on pay satisfaction. Using an experimental vignette methodology, Study 1 found that people are more inclined to compare with others from a similar or identical occupation and that comparison negatively impacts pay satisfaction. This comparison and its negative effect is particularly strong in high‐prestige occupations. Based on survey data, Study 2 also showed that the average pay of others in occupations of similar prestige is negatively correlated with employees’ pay satisfaction. This negative correlation was also stronger in higher‐prestige occupations. Our analysis highlights the importance of occupational prestige as a main factor influencing pay comparison.     

Does Experience Teach? Professionals and Minimax Play in the Lab

Does expertise in strategic behavior obtained in the field transfer to the abstract setting of the laboratory? Palacios‐Huerta and Volij (2008) argued that the behavior of professional soccer players in mixed‐strategy games conforms closely to minimax play, while the behavior of students (who are presumably novices in strategic situations requiring unpredictability) does not. We reexamine their data, showing that the play of professionals is inconsistent with the minimax hypothesis in several respects: (i) professionals follow nonstationary mixtures, with action frequencies that are negatively correlated between the first and the second half of the experiment, (ii) professionals tend to switch between under‐ and overplaying an action relative to its equilibrium frequency, and (iii) the distribution of action frequencies across professionals is far from the distribution implied by minimax. In each respect, the behavior of students conforms more closely to the minimax hypothesis.     

The Performance of MNE Subsidiaries in China: Does It Matter to Be Close to the Political or Business Hub?

This study examines the impact of distance on financial performance of multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries in China. We hypothesized and found that MNE subsidiaries performed better when located closer to the country's business hub, but performed less well when located closer to the political hub. We also hypothesized that distance effects are moderated by subsidiary size, subsidiary network, and state capital contribution to subsidiary. Our findings were based upon 45,248 MNE subsidiaries with location and geographic distance measured at the prefectural level in China.