The ambivalent effect of complexity on firm performance: A study of the global service provider industry

Prior literature is ambivalent about whether organizational complexity has positive or negative effects on firm performance. Using rich data on global service providers, we explore this ambivalence by disentangling performance consequences of different types of organizational complexity. We show that complexity arising from the coordination of different services and operations negatively influences profit margins through increased coordination costs, whereas complexity coming from the sophistication of particular services may positively influence margins through informational advantages. We also investigate the moderating effects of process commoditization and client-specific investments. Our findings point to critical performance dilemmas facing global service providers in a highly competitive industry, and they help better differentiate performance effects of complexity at different organizational levels.     

Sexual violence at first intercourse against women in Moshi, northern Tanzania: prevalence, risk factors, and consequences

To explore the relationship between sexual violence at first intercourse and later sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Moshi, Tanzania, we analysed data from a representative household survey that comprised face-to-face interviews with 1,835 women and tests for six STIs on biological samples from 1,235 of these women. Overall, 10.9 per cent report forced first intercourse and 15.3 per cent report unwanted first intercourse. Unadjusted analysis shows a relationship between forced first intercourse and STIs (OR: 1.72, 95 per cent CI: 1.19-2.51). Life-course variables mediate this relationship. Significant predictors of having an STI include older age, more sexual partners, and a partner who has children with other women. Coerced first intercourse appears to be associated with changes in the life course of women and with a heightened risk of contracting an STI.     

The Prevalence of Problem Gambling in Denmark in 2005 and 2010: A Sociodemographic and Socioeconomic Characterization

Gambling is a worldwide phenomenon. For most persons this causes only small or no problems, but for some, pathological gambling can be the result of entering the gambling environment. The objectives were to estimate the past year and lifetime prevalence of problem gambling in the adult Danish population (16 years or older) in 2010 and trends since 2005 and, furthermore, to investigate whether problem gamblers differed from non-problem gamblers with regard to sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. Data were derived from two national representative Danish health surveys. The survey in 2005 was based on region-stratified random sample of 10,916 Danish citizens (response rate: 52.1 %) and the survey in 2010 was based on a random sample of 23,405 Danish citizens (response rate: 62.7 %). Problem gambling was defined using the lie/bet questionnaire. The past year prevalence of problem gamblers in Denmark remained stable from 2005 to 2010 (0.9 and 0.8 %, respectively). The highest past year prevalence of problem gamblers was found among young men in both 2005 and 2010. Furthermore, problem gamblers were more prevalent among men, disability pensioners, less educated and those not married or cohabiting. The present study indicates that a high level of education and being employed have a protective effect against problem gambling. More research is needed in order to understand what attracts and maintains the interest of men in gambling environments as well as why women are not occupied by gambling in the same degree as men.     

(Auto)Ethnography and cycling

This article discusses the formation, salience and reformation of everyday bodily routines and resources in relation to cycling; it also examines how we can study them ethnographically in different places. I discuss forms of embodied, sensuous and mobile ethnography that can illuminate how routines, habits and affective capacities of cycling are cultivated and performed. The article argues that autoethnography is particularly apt at illuminating the embodied qualities of movement, and it sits within established ethnographies of ‘excising’ and ‘mobile bodies’. In the second part of the article, I draw upon ongoing autoethnographies of cycling in a familiar place (my hometown, Copenhagen) and by learning to cycle ‘out-of-place’ (in London) and ‘in-a-new–way’ (when commuting long distance on a racer bike). The study challenges static notions of the body by analysing how cyclists’ (and researchers’) affective capacities develop as they practice cycling.     

Female Entrepreneurship and the Metanarrative of Economic Growth: A Critical Review of Underlying Assumptions

This critical review of the literature on female entrepreneurship problematizes the metanarrative of economic growth and the mechanisms through which it both operates and is maintained. Central to this is the axiomatic ‘underperformance hypothesis’, which states that ‘all else being equal, female entrepreneurs tend to be less successful than their male counterparts in terms of conventional economic performance measures’ (Du Rietz and Henrekson (2000, p. 1). As an axiom, the truth of the ‘underperformance hypothesis’ is taken for granted, and thus it invisibly serves as a starting point, delimiter and interpretive lens for analysis in this field. While it remains invisible, the hypothesis will continue to reproduce the differences between male and female entrepreneurs, and thus the subordination of women to men in the realm of entrepreneurship. The review illustrates how, by associating females with underperformance, the persistent influence of the metanarrative of economic growth has been masked and the image of the female entrepreneur as problematic and inferior to her male counterpart has been reinforced. The authors argue that a postmodern feminist epistemology will destabilize both the metanarrative of economic growth, and the axiomatic ‘underperformance hypothesis’ it supports, thus opening up space for a heterogeneous understanding of (female) entrepreneurship. By questioning accepted knowledge about female entrepreneurs, the review sets the platform for the exploration of new research questions and a broad agenda for future research. Such an agenda is crucial in order to move future research beyond the pervasive influence of the metanarrative of economic growth and its attendant underperformance hypothesis.     

Fractional Regression Hot Deck Imputation Weight Adjustment

Fractional regression hot deck imputation (FRHDI) imputes multiple values for each instance of a missing dependent variable. The imputed values are equal to the predicted value plus multiple random residuals. Fractional weights enable variance estimation and preserve correlations. In some circumstances with some starting weight values, existing procedures for computing FRHDI weights can produce negative values. We discuss procedures for constructing non-negative adjusted fractional weights for FRHDI and study performance of the algorithm using simulation. The algorithm can be used effectively with FRDHI procedures for handling missing data in the context of a complex sample survey.     

Robust regression estimators compared via monte carlo

This paper presents results of a Monte Carlo simulation of eight families of robust regression estimators in various situations. The effects studied include long-tailed error terms, measurement error in the independent variables, various spacings of the independent variables, different sample sizes and correlation between the independent variables. An estimator that combines the best features of several of the estimators is recommended for further study.     

LABOR MARKET PERFORMANCE EFFECTS OF DISCRIMINATION AND LOSS OF SKILL

We examine the impact of discrimination on labor market performance when workers are subject to a risk of losing skills during an unemployment experience. Within a search and matching framework, we show that both natives and immigrants are affected by discrimination. Discrimination in one sector has positive spillovers, inducing employment to increase in the other sector and the effect on labor market performance therefore depends on whether discrimination is present in only one sector or in both. Discrimination may induce workers to train more or less than natives after having lost their skills, dependent upon in which sector there is discrimination. Net output tends to be most negatively affected by discrimination among high‐skilled workers. (JEL J15, J31, J61, J64, J71)     

Policy Coherence for Sustainable Agricultural Development: Uncovering Prospects and Pretence within the Swedish Policy for Global Development

Within the European Union, promotion of ‘policy coherence’ is intended to improve co‐ordination across sectors and groups of professionals, who make competing claims for agricultural development in low‐income countries. This article examines the prospects for stakeholders in Sweden to implement such a policy, drawing on experiences from the launch of a national multi‐stakeholder platform with the participation of 99 organisations. Its findings demonstrate institutional fragmentation and struggles for legitimacy, with the internationally heralded Swedish Policy for Global Development operated largely as a tokenistic instrument, legitimised by the pretence of stakeholder engagement. It argues for improved institutional support to facilitate cross‐sectoral dialogues to deconstruct social boundaries which are no longer relevant.