Employment Relationships and Firm Innovation: The Double Role of Human Capital

We examine how employment relationships and human capital influence innovation in a sample of Spanish firms. Previous research has indicated that human capital directly affects innovation, but few studies have considered human capital as a variable that mediates or moderates the effects of other variables on innovation. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 150 innovative Spanish firms and confirmed that, while human capital favours innovations, employment relationships are not directly associated with innovation unless they take human capital into account. Specifically, our analyses suggest that human capital mediates the relationship between a mutual investment employment relationship and innovation, which is characterized by high levels of incentives and expectations. However, we also found that human capital plays a moderating role when organizations develop an employment relationship characterized by low investments in personnel but high expectations from their work (the underinvestment model). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.     

A unified approach to permutation testing for equivalence

Statistical Methods & Applications - The notion of testing for equivalence of two treatments is widely used in clinical trials, pharmaceutical experiments, bioequivalence and quality control....     

The impact of corporate social performance on the cost of debt and access to debt financing for listed European non-financial firms

This study addresses the controversial issue of how non-financial performance affects the cost of debt capital and access to it. The relationship between corporate social performance and two measures of debt cost (accounting-based and market-based) and the measure of debt access are analysed by means of a multi-theoretical framework combining economics with social theories. By observing a sample of listed European non-financial firms over an 8-year period from 2005 to 2012, we find a negative relationship between corporate social performance and interest rate. Consistent with this result, we find a positive relationship between corporate social performance and debt rating. Thus, corporate social performance has a positive role in reducing the cost of debt capital. Moreover, firms with better corporate social performance are more attractive to lenders in terms of leverage allowance. Overall, our findings provide deeper insight into the reasons why companies should improve their corporate social performance.     

Prior education and entrepreneurial intentions: the differential impact of a wide range of fields of study

Studies on entrepreneurial intentions often neglect the heterogeneity of individuals’ education background. This paper develops an integrated intention-based framework and analyzes the impact of fields of study on entrepreneurial intentions. Based on a sample of 2423 final-year students, enrolled in 32 fields of study, and resorting to logistic estimations, we find that, beside the attitude towards starting a business, fields of study, considered at a highly detailed level, are relevant (direct and indirect) predictors of entrepreneurial intention. We unambiguously show that there is a huge hidden potential for new venture creation in fields of study related to creative and leisure activities (e.g., Arts and humanities, or, more specifically, Literature and linguistics, History and archaeology, Audio-visual techniques and media production, Sports, and Architecture and town planning), Law, and Health (most notably, Pharmacy and Veterinary). Significant differences in the level of intention between students of different fields of study indicate that universities should more extensively focus entrepreneurship education on students in other subject area than business or engineering/technology sciences.     

Working conditions in the export industry of northern Morocco: Legal framework and situation on the ground

Companies in northern Morocco that export manufactured goods and services run on a production system characterized by high pressure, flexible use of labour, strict supervision and the challenging of certain labour rights. This article studies the conditions of work at these enterprises on the basis of the theoretical model of the “localized global economy”, drawing distinctions based on types of enterprise, industry and occupational categories. The results show how changes to the labour law in 2004, which adopted the standards contained in international conventions, have given more power to multinational enterprises.     

Identification in Nonparametric Simultaneous Equations Models

This paper provides conditions for identification of functionals in nonparametric simultaneous equations models with nonadditive unobservable random terms. The conditions are derived from a characterization of observational equivalence between models. We show that, in the models considered, observational equivalence can be characterized by a restriction on the rank of a matrix. The use of the new results is exemplified by deriving previously known results about identification in parametric and nonparametric models as well as new results. A stylized method for analyzing identification, which is useful in some situations, is also presented.     

On the estimation of the spectral density for continuous spatial processes

In this work, we study the asymptotic properties of smoothed nonparametric kernel spectral density estimators for the spatial spectral density. We consider the case of continuous stationary spatial processes under a shrinking asymptotic framework. Expressions for the bias and the covariance structure are obtained and the implications for the edge effect bias of the choice of the kernel, bandwidth and spacing parameter in the design are also discussed, both for tapered and untapered estimates. Results are illustrated with a simulation study.     

Optimal designs for treatment comparisons represented by graphs

Consider an experiment for comparing a set of treatments: in each trial, one treatment is chosen and its effect determines the mean response of the trial. We examine the optimal approximate designs for the estimation of a system of treatment contrasts under this model. These designs can be used to provide optimal treatment proportions in more general models with nuisance effects. For any system of pairwise treatment comparisons, we propose to represent such a system by a graph. Then, we represent the designs by the inverses of the vertex weights in the corresponding graph and we show that the values of the eigenvalue-based optimality criteria can be expressed using the Laplacians of the vertex-weighted graphs. We provide a graph theoretic interpretation of D-, A- and E-optimality for estimating sets of pairwise comparisons. We apply the obtained graph representation to provide optimality results for these criteria as well as for ’symmetric’ systems of treatment contrasts.     

Further properties of generalized residual designs

The concept of ‘residuation’ is extended so that all ‘generalized residual designs’ (in the sense of Shrinkhande and Singhi) are in fact ‘residual’ with respect to the extended type of residuation. A measure of departure from the usual type of residuation is given in general, and stronger estimates of this measure are given for affine designs.