Examining the Ability,Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) framework in HRM research: Conceptualization,measurement and interactions

Despite the increasing popularity of the Ability, Motivation, Opportunity (AMO) framework in the Human Resource Management (HRM) field, AMO research is at a crossroads in theoretical and empirical development. This is due to (a) a lack of clarity about the conceptualisation and measurement of AMO variables, (b) the construction of AMO articles that do not distinguish between AMO differences and AMO-enhancing HRM practices and fail to integrate them, (c) a lack of understanding about how AMO variables at the individual and organizational levels interact to generate individual and organizational performance, and (d) a lack of consideration of the process (mediators and moderators) through which AMO generates performance gains. Based on the analysis of 104 quantitative HRM articles published between 1997 and 2022, this study helps to draw clearer distinctions among AMO variables and levels of analysis. The review of the empirical literature shows that there is excessive heterogeneity with regard to the conceptualization and utilisation of AMO variables, which in turn leads to scale proliferation. We find that research on AMO-enhancing HRM practices and AMO differences is rarely combined and tends to be tested at a single level rather than more logical cross-level effects between AMO-enhancing HRM practices, AMO differences and performance. We also found that whereas Ability and Motivation differences mediate the relationship between AMO-enhancing HRM practices and performance, opportunity appears to be a boundary condition in the relationship between Ability and Motivation with performance outcomes. The paper concludes with relevant avenues for future AMO research suggested for the field of HRM.     

Modelling long-term pan-European population change from 1870 to 2000 by using geographical information systems

Summary.  The paper presents work that creates a geographical information system database of European census data from 1870 to 2000. The database is integrated over space and time. Spatially it consists of regional level data for most of Europe; temporally it covers every decade from 1870 to 2000. Crucially the data have been interpolated onto the administrative units that were available in 2000, thus allowing contemporary population patterns to be understood in the light of the changes that have occurred since the late 19th century. The effect of interpolation error on the resulting estimates is explored. This database will provide a framework for much future analysis on long-term Europewide demographic processes over space and time.     

Publicizing atrocity and legitimizing outrage: Picasso’s Guernica

Picasso created his most famous painting, Guernica, in just over three weeks in 1937 after the bombing of the little town of Guernica, located in the Basque region, during the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. In its sharp lines, its confusion and its distorted shapes, Guernica shows the suffering and pain of war. Rather than using color, especially vivid reds, Picasso used only black and white paint as symbols of death, mourning and tragedy. He believed that brighter colors might distract the viewer from the agony of the scene. In Guernica, most of the figures have open mouths; hear them shouting, groaning or screaming. The aim of this paper and its relevance to public relations is to examine whether and how visual communication can publicize and frame a military event, the character of military leaders, and warfare as a generic aspect of democratic self-governance. This paper proposes that rhetorical, discursive art can contribute impact to public relations efforts, by focusing attention, making issues public, and making informative, framing, and democratizing statements. Even more important is the ability of art to express moral outrage, especially when giving voice to muted interests.     

Controlling type I error in the reference‐scaled bioequivalence evaluation of highly variable drugs

Reference‐scaled average bioequivalence (RSABE) approaches for highly variable drugs are based on linearly scaling the bioequivalence limits according to the reference formulation within‐subject variability. RSABE methods have type I error control problems around the value where the limits change from constant to scaled. In all these methods, the probability of type I error has only one absolute maximum at this switching variability value. This allows adjusting the significance level to obtain statistically correct procedures (that is, those in which the probability of type I error remains below the nominal significance level), at the expense of some potential power loss. In this paper, we explore adjustments to the EMA and FDA regulatory RSABE approaches, and to a possible improvement of the original EMA method, designated as HoweEMA. The resulting adjusted methods are completely correct with respect to type I error probability. The power loss is generally small and tends to become irrelevant for moderately large (affordable in real studies) sample sizes.     

Maximal domains of preferences preserving strategy-proofness for generalized median voter schemes

We characterize the maximal sets of preferences under which generalized median voter schemes are strategy-proof. Those domains are defined by a qualified version of single-peakedness, which depends on the distribution of power among agents implied by each generalized median voter scheme. Received: 28 April 1997/Accepted: 30 January 1998     

Economic recession and the reverse of internal migration flows of Latin American immigrants in Spain

Fluctuations in internal migration flows have been closely associated with changes in economic processes. However, foreign immigrants’ spatial responses to changing national economic conditions have not yet been sufficiently studied. This paper aims to analyse the impact of the Spanish economic downturn on Latin American immigrants’ mobility by examining their territorial patterns of internal migration. In order to elucidate the intensity and directionality of Latin Americans’ internal flows between 2004 and 2013, divided in two periods – before and during the crisis–, we relied on the data of the Residential Variation Statistics, and the creation of a typology of provinces according to each province’s socio-economic characteristics. We calculated the net migration rates for the main immigrant groups and generated origin–destination matrices. This study shows that Latin Americans’ internal flows in Spain have been affected by the economic downturn, revealing a decrease in intensity and a change in directionality. The economic crisis in Spain has caused a change in the previous dynamic of geographical dispersion and has become a new factor of differentiation in the distribution of the Latin American population in Spain.     

Results of a Quality of Work Life Index in Spain. A Comparison of Survey Results and Aggregate Social Indicators

The European Union launched the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 with the aim of establishing itself as the world’s most powerful economy. The importance of job quality has returned to the top of the European employment and social policy agenda. As targets are set, significant progress has been made in the creation of indicators. In this study, we compute a composite index for quality of work life using the dimensional structure provided by the European Commission, and present our results for regions, sectors, professional categories and sizes of firm in Spain in the period 2001–2004. We find that better results are found in the more developed regions, in service sectors, in bigger firms and in jobs with more responsibility. Finally, we compare the results of the index with workers’ subjective perceptions of job satisfaction, measured by a quality of work life survey. The test results reveal a strong relationship between the two measurements.     

Gender,family negotiations and academic success of young Moroccan women in Spain

This article examines the lives of pioneering young women from Morocco, the first to enjoy educational and social success in Catalonia, by analyzing the family negotiations entered into during this process. The study is based on the life stories of these young Moroccan women and on ideas that emerge from discussion groups involving the women themselves and experts in education and other fields. We report that the young women perceive a certain degree of flexibility on the part of their families in their intra-family relations and the model of woman they are prepared to accept. However, our study also provides evidence of the fact that their success is associated with a constant process of negotiation, the women having to exercise their agency above and beyond their parental expectations and control, leaving them in a position of solitude.     

Nanoblogging PR: The discourse on public relations in Twitter

By analysing 653 tweets that include the word “public relations” or the acronym “PR”, the purpose of this paper is to show how Twitter contributes to the development of the theory and practice of public relations. In order to achieve this aim, an exploratory research has been conducted.