School environment and risk preferences: Experimental evidence

Using a field experiment with high school students, we evaluate the development of risk preferences. Examining the impact of school characteristics on preference development reveals both peer and quality effects. For the peer effect, individuals in schools with a higher percentage of students on free or reduced lunches (hence a higher proportion of low-income peers with whom to interact) are significantly more risk averse. For the quality effect, individuals in schools with smaller class sizes and a higher percentage of educators with advanced degrees have higher, more moderate levels of risk aversion. We further discuss economic, cognitive and emotional development theories of risk preferences. Data show demographic-related patterns: girls are more risk averse on average, while taller and nonwhite individuals are more risk tolerant.     

Recruiting GenX physicians

Making the right hiring decisions with GenX physicians can be a challenge. Learn some strategies for recruiting and retaining young practitioners.     

World Class Manufacturing: Further Evidence in the Lean Production Debate1

This paper reports the results of a study into the performance and management practices of 18 autocomponents plants, nine of which were located in the UK and nine in Japan. The study compared the performance of these plants and used quantitative measures to test the use of lean production techniques among the high performers. Five plants displayed high performance on measures of both productivity and quality. All of these were located in Japan. Several measures of management practice provided some support for the lean production model, particularly in the area of process discipline and control; measures of human resource management policy and work organization proved less significant. Contextual factors pointed to the conditions necessary to support lean production; higher performing plants had more stable demand and lower absenteeism.     

Pathways from physical childhood abuse to partner violence in young adulthood

Analyses investigated several competing hypotheses about developmental pathways from childhood physical abuse and early aggression to intimate partner violence (IPV) for young adult males and females at age 24. Potential intervening variables included: adolescent violence (age 15 to 18), negative emotionality at age 21, and quality of one's relationship with an intimate partner at age 24. At the bivariate level, nearly all variables were associated in the expected directions. However, tests of possible intervening variables revealed only a few significant results. For males, a strong direct effect of abuse on later partner violence was maintained in each model. For females, the quality of one's relationship with an intimate partner did appear to mediate the effect of childhood abuse on later violence to a partner, raising the possibility of gender differences in developmental pathways linking abuse to IPV. Implications with regard to prevention are discussed.     

“Trees Die From the Top”: International Perspectives on NGO Leadership Development

This paper examines the role of leadership development in NGO capacity building and assesses some of the challenges of developing a new generation of NGO leaders. The paper draws on the analysis of new and existing research into the dimensions of NGO leadership highlighting the importance of both individual attributes and contextual relevance. Effective NGO leaders are able to balance a range of competing pressures from different stakeholders in ways that do not compromise their individual identity and values. Leadership development programmes therefore need to focus on both the values and identity of individual leaders while also assisting leaders understand and proactively respond to their rapidly changing external environment. We conclude that there is an urgent need to build the capacity of NGOs to develop their leadership capability. Unless systems and processes to support this work are put in place then the apocryphal warning trees die from the top will have more than a ring of truth in it.