Prediction in Some Poisson Errors in Variables Models

Predictive distributions are developed and illustrated for prediction in some Poisson errors in variables models. Two different situations in which multiplicative treatment effects are appropriate are considered within the context of predicting counts of road accidents. Hierarchical prior structures are investigated, and numerical integration and Gibbs sampling routines are used to derive the predictive and posterior probabilities. Examples of analyses are provided with data from road accidents in Sweden.     

Determinants of Relationship Quality in Importer–Exporter Relationships

Despite significant evidence pointing to the key role of relationship quality in solidifying commercial relationships, limited attention has been paid to its determinants in an international context. In an attempt to fill this research gap, our study examines the impact of asset specificity, role performance and cultural sensitivity on the quality of the relationships between importers and their foreign suppliers. It is based on a mailed survey involving 292 importing firms. Relationship quality is presented as a higher‐order concept that results in lower conflict and greater trust, commitment and satisfaction. The results indicate that asset specificity, role performance and cultural sensitivity play a significant positive role in building sound relationship quality. Several managerial implications are extracted from the study, as well as suggestions for future research.     

Producing and Using Video Data in the Early Years: Ethical Questions and Practical Consequences in Research with Young Children

This article considers ethical questions and practical challenges arising from the production of video data with young children, and suggests that such considerations are reciprocal and that video data should be seen as constructed collaboratively by all participants. Video data can be a valuable means of eliciting children’s perspectives, but it raises particular issues of consent and confidentiality. Opportunities for young children to use video cameras are helpful in supporting informed consent and active participation, whilst the visual nature of video renders anonymity and confidentiality more difficult, and anonymisation of images may impact upon data quality. Video, like all research data, is influenced by the actions and biases of participants, and young children’s experiences as consumers of television will influence their reading of, and responses to, video data. An advantage of video is that it can provide participants with feedback about their participation. Challenges remain with regard to ownership.     

The Effects of Different Group Sex Compositions on Support Rates and Coalition Formation

Une réplique des expériences de T. M. Mills sur des coalitions dans les triades, en variant la composition par sexe du groupe, met en lumière le fait que les femmes apportent un meilleur appui que les hommes, qu'elles établissent un plus grand nombre de coalitions et répartissent leur appui de f aeon plus équitable parmi les autres membres lorsqu'elles entrent en interaction avec des personnes de meme sexe. Tandis que le membre le plus inactif de la triade masculine devient un isole, le moins actif de la triade féminine regoit le meilleur appui émotif. Le modele de coalition typique dans la triade masculine est une coalition de deux membres et un isolé: dans le groupe féminin les trois membres du groupe etablissent des coalitions. Dans les triades mixtes, l'impact de l'interaction des membres d'un sexe avec ceux du sexe opposé est de faconner leurs comportements à l'image de ceux des autres. On suggère que le processus qui influence la constitution de coalitions dans les triades mixtes est reliéà la concurrence que se livrent les deux membres du meme sexe pour obtenir l'appui du membre du sexe opposé. Dans une telle situation il n'est pas rare de constater que le membre du sexe minoritaire devient un mediateur entre les deux membres majoritaires du sexe opposé. II s'ensuit une formation de deux coalitions composée du membre minoritaire et d'un membre majoritaire et parfois, des coalitions entre les trois membres du groupe. A replication of T. M. Mills' experiments dealing with coalition-formation in triads, varying the sex composition of the group, reveals that females are more supportive, form more coalitions and distribute their support more equally among others when interacting with members of the same sex, than males do. While the least active member of the triad becomes an isolate in the 3-male groups, the least active member in 3-female groups receives more support than any other group member. The typical coalition pattern in the 3-male groups is a coalition between two, with the third being an isolate: in the 3-female groups, coalitions develop between all three members of the group. In the mixed-sex groups, the effect of interacting with members of the opposite sex on both men and women is to make their behaviour more like the other's. It is suggested that the process that governs the formation of coalitions in mixed-sex triads is that of competition between the two majority-sex members for the support of the one member of the other sex, which often leads to the minority-sex member mediating between the competing pair of the opposite sex, and this results in the formation of two coalitions between the minority-sex member and each of the majority-sex members in the group, and sometimes even in the eventual establishment of coalitions between all three members of the group.     

Public income transfers and wealth accumulation at the bottom: Within and between country differences in Canada and the United States

Both Canada and the United States are considered liberal welfare states, yet exhibit notable differences in income poverty attributed to social policy. While a more generous welfare system lifts many above income poverty, models of household financial behaviour suggest that more income from the state should displace private savings via a substitution effect. Using nationally representative wealth surveys from Canada and the US from 1998/1999 to 2016 we extend knowledge on the relationship between the welfare state and private wealth accumulation. Specifically, we study household asset poverty defined as financial asset levels that fall below three-month adjusted income poverty threshold. Asset poverty rates varied over time in the two countries and were higher in the less generous US welfare state. Further, income transfer share was positively related to asset poverty in Canada but not in the US. Counterfactual estimates offered evidence of the substitution effect in Canada, where higher levels of transfers may crowd out private asset accumulation. Results invite further consideration of the concept of asset poverty and its relationship to welfare state characteristics.     

Exploring the motivation and willingness of self-initiated expatriates,in the civil engineering industry,when considering employment opportunities in Qatar

This paper provides empirical and contextual insight into the complexity of Self-Initiated Expatriates’ (SIEs) experiences in a unique setting. Factors that influence SIEs in the civil engineering industry, when considering overseas employment in Qatar, are identified and considered. Drawing comparison to organizational expatriates (OEs), this paper uses semi-structured interviews conducted with professionals from the civil engineering and construction industries. The research surfaced that different factors interconnect to affect individuals’ decisions about overseas employment. Three factors, specifically; location appeal, host country as an employment setting and effect of expatriation on the family, appear to be more influential to participants when the proposed destination is Qatar.     

Intensity of Interaction in Supply of Business Advice and Client Impact: A Comparison of Consultancy,Business Associations and Government Support Initiatives for SMEs

This paper assesses the supply of business advice using new empirical evidence from a large-scale survey of SMEs. The chief focus of the paper is on a comparison of suppliers that operate in different environments of regulation, contract and reputation. The paper argues that interaction intensity varies with the level of information asymmetry of these different environments, between different types of service supplier and their clients. Interaction intensity between suppliers also varies as a result of the level of trust they enjoy: for example, the low trust enjoyed by consultants appears to encourage higher intensity of interaction which improves the tailoring of the service to the client's needs and enhances impact. The paper assesses interaction intensity using the existence of site visits and/or a written brief/contract as indicators. Although these measures have limitations, the paper demonstrates clear and significant differences between suppliers in terms of interaction intensity, use of contracts and impact in three broad categories: private-sector consultancy (low trust, high intensity, high impact), business associations (high trust, low intensity, moderate impact) and government support agencies (moderate trust, moderate to high intensity, moderate or low impact). Multivariate estimation methods demonstrate that significant differences in interaction intensity, use of contracts and impact by client type are much less important than differences in supplier type. This indicates that suppliers generally develop more into niche service fields or groups of services rather than niches related to types of firm.     

The prevalence and composition of asset poverty in Canada: 1999, 2005, and 2012

A household is considered asset poor if its assets (financial assets or net worth, taken separately) are insufficient to maintain well‐being at a low‐income threshold for 3 months. We provide the first national‐level estimates of asset poverty for Canada, using the 1999, 2005, and 2012 cycles of the Survey of Financial Security, and juxtapose these estimates with income poverty. The analysis provides new insight into economic insecurity by showing that asset poverty rates are consistently two to three times higher than income poverty rates. In addition to the prevalence of asset poverty across socio‐demographic groups, we analyzed how the composition of the poor change over time. Age and geography shape the risk for asset poverty in distinct ways. We found that while education appears to play a comparable role in shaping both income poverty and asset poverty, immigration places Canadians at a relatively higher risk of income poverty but not asset poverty. Key Practitioner Message: ? Practitioners ought to consider assets as well as income in assessing economic vulnerability; ? Asset poverty levels are 2–3 times higher than income poverty levels; ? Certain groups (e.g., immigrants) may be income poor but maintain sufficient assets.     

Silence,Death, and D/discourse: Critical Literary Practices With Lesbian Seniors

This article reports on a federally funded research project in which old lesbians were invited to separate out and examine the complicated strands of lives lived through times of great social change—times in which notions of “woman,” “sexuality,” and “subjectivity” have been both over- and under-determined by dominant discourse (Stein, 1997). We argue, with Haug (1992), that close attention to the personal is central to critical feminist perspectives and that writers can become more aware of normalizing cultural influences when they pay close attention to language. In this article, we support our position with a case study of one participant in our “language school” (Haug, 1992). As we analyzed her written life narratives and oral testimony, we conclude that she was able to reconsider comfortable “coming out” narratives in order to construct new meaning and to challenge her understandings of the past.     

Ethnicity and Effectively Maintained Inequality in BC Universities

As Canadian postsecondary systems have expanded they have become more institutionally differentiated. In British Columbia, distinctions are made between research‐intensive universities (RIUs) and teaching‐intensive universities with respect to resources, programming, and perceived prestige value. We employ an effectively maintained inequality framework to examine the role played by ethnicity in the competition for admission to RIUs. Our findings indicate that, together with socioeconomic status and gender, ethnicity is significantly related to RIU attendance rates. Ethnic group differences were particularly marked—Chinese and Korean speakers being most likely and Tagalog speakers least likely to attend an RIU. High school grade point averages and English language proficiency scores moderated only some of these differences, raising questions about the efficacy of competitive admissions policies based solely on academic merit.