Human Resource Management as a Field of Research*

Drawing on Snow and Thomas's (Journal of Management Studies, 31 (1994), pp. 457–480) matrix, we empirically explore the state of the art in human resource management (HRM) research. The data were obtained through a questionnaire directed to HRM scholars all over the world, in which they were asked about their particular theoretical and methodological approaches. The evidence obtained shows clearly that HRM scholars are progressively abandoning the universalistic perspective and completing their models with contingent and contextual variables. Trying to classify the different contributions proposed and discuss their integration, HRM is described as a field of research with three dimensions: subfunctional, strategic and international. The paper concludes that to provide reliable explanations and valid responses to professional problems, HRM research must advance simultaneously in these three dimensions. As follows from our analysis, there are certain HR issues that still need to be addressed: (1) the strategic use of HR practices, (2) their international applicability, (3) global HR strategies and (4) the synergic integration of HR activities. Nevertheless, to advance our knowledge in these issues, it seems necessary to integrate previous research in subfunctional, strategic and international aspects of HRM.     

Vital Satisfaction as a Health Indicator in Elderly Women

The long life expentancy of the elderly motivates interest in their quality of life. Our study analyzes vital satisfaction as a global indicator of the three dimensions (physical, mental, and social) of the quality of life in relation to health. The subjects were 310 women, with an average age of 71.22 years old (SD 6.72), with minimum education, and active aging. The reliability was examined with the COOP-WONCA Charts and the Nottingham Health Profile. The results show that vital satisfaction significantly correlates with the three dimensions of health, in particular with the mental domain.     

A DEA Approach to Measure the Quality-of-Life in the Municipalities of the Canary Islands

The notion of the quality of life has always intrigued economists, sociologists and other researchers in the area of social science. Since the genesis of the definition of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a truthful measure of well-being and economic development, other sophisticated methodologies have been proposed in the literature to measure the quality-of-life (QOL) that extend in a multidimensional way this complex concept. Measuring QOL in municipalities consists in finding a set of comparable attributes that can be weighted by some metric in order to construct a synthetic index. Thus, the narrow vision obtained by a single measure as the GDP, in which differences in the QOL cannot be fully analyzed, is overcome. Based upon a refinement of data envelopment analysis (DEA)—the cross-efficiency method, the current paper develops a synthetic QOL index that is based in 19 partial indicators which present the tradeoffs of different dimension for the 87 municipalities of the Canary Islands in Spain. Marginal rates of substitution are calculated to evaluate the tradeoffs on QOL dimensions. A method is also proposed to determine the scores chart of each municipality which can be used as a tool to policy makers in order to establish a program of improving the ranking position of the municipality identifying the critical QOL factors.     

On a goodness-of-fit test for normality with unknown parameters and type-II censored data

We propose a new goodness-of-fit test for normal and lognormal distributions with unknown parameters and type-II censored data. This test is a generalization of Michael's test for censored samples, which is based on the empirical distribution and a variance stabilizing transformation. We estimate the parameters of the model by using maximum likelihood and Gupta's methods. The quantiles of the distribution of the test statistic under the null hypothesis are obtained through Monte Carlo simulations. The power of the proposed test is estimated and compared to that of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test also using simulations. The new test is more powerful than the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test in most of the studied cases. Acceptance regions for the PP, QQ and Michael's stabilized probability plots are derived, making it possible to visualize which data contribute to the decision of rejecting the null hypothesis. Finally, an illustrative example is presented.     

Efficient generation of random vectors by using the ratio-of-uniforms method with ellipsoidal envelopes

Stochastic simulation is widely used to validate procedures and provide guidance for both theoretical and practical problems. Random variate generation is the basis of stochastic simulation. Applying the ratio-of-uniforms method to generate random vectors requires the ability to generate points uniformly in a suitable region of the space. Starting from the observation that, for many multivariate distributions, the multidimensional objective region can be covered by a hyper-ellipsoid more tightly than by a hyper-rectangle, a new algorithm to generate from multivariate distributions is proposed. Due to the computational saving it can produce, this method becomes an appealing statistical tool to generate random vectors from families of standard and nonstandard multivariate distributions. It is particularly interesting to generate from densities known up to a multiplicative constant, for example, from those arising in Bayesian computation. The proposed method is applied and its efficiency is shown for some classes of distributions.     

Influence of form and timing of social support on parental outcomes of a child-maltreatment prevention program

This study examines how the form of social support (informal or formal) and the time frame at which it is provided (at the start or end of the program) influence parental outcomes on the “Apoyo Personal y Familiar” (APF) program for at-risk families showing inadequate child-rearing practices. A total of 496 parents participated, 247 parents referred by the municipal social services in the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon (Spain), and 249 non-referred parents. Initial and final levels of use of and satisfaction with informal and formal support were used as predictors of change scores in self-rating measures of beliefs about child development, perceptions of the parental role and child-rearing practices, applying hierarchical linear regression analyses. Perceived use of and satisfaction with support explained around 22% to 49% of the change scores in the Nurturist belief as a simple view of child development, Couple agreement on educational matters, Permissive–neglectful practices and Coercion practices, after accounting for the variance due to risk status, financial situation and family structure variables. Informal support always has a positive impact irrespective of when the help is provided, whereas formal support only has a positive impact when applied at the start of the program. The adequate provision of social supports can be an efficient way to prevent child maltreatment by promoting changes in parental beliefs and practices related to at-risk parenting.     

A new approach to truncated regression for count data

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - Standard Poisson and negative binomial truncated regression models for count data include the regressors in the mean of the non-truncated distribution. In...     

Complements or substitutes? The contingent role of corporate reputation on the interplay between internal R&D and external knowledge sourcing

Existing research does not provide a clear answer to the question of whether internal knowledge development and external knowledge sourcing are complementary or substitutive innovation activities. This paper adopts a contingent approach for addressing this issue by examining whether and how the interactive effect of internal R&D efforts and external knowledge sourcing on product innovation performance may be affected by the firm’s corporate reputation. In doing so, a three-way interaction model is applied to a sample of 251 Spanish high-technology manufacturing firms. Interestingly, initial results support the substitutive argument: the positive effect of internal R&D on product innovation performance diminishes as the exposure to external knowledge increases. However, in well reputed companies, interaction becomes positive, revealing a complementary effect. Thus, the study extends the traditional approach focused on determining whether internal and external knowledge sourcing are complements or substitutes by showing that their interplay depends on other firm-specific characteristics. Moreover, identifying corporate reputation as a source of complementarity between both activities provides an additional explanation of how corporate reputation contributes to a more effective management of knowledge assets.