Special issue on “The role of intellectual capital and integrated reporting in management and governance: a performative perspective”

Journal of Management and Governance -     

CHANGING BUSINESS MODELS IN INTERNATIONAL BANK FUNDING

This paper investigates the foreign funding mix of globally active banks. Using BIS international banking statistics for a panel of 12 advanced economies, we detect a structural break in international bank funding at the onset of the great financial crisis. In their postbreak business model, banks rely less on cross‐border liabilities and, instead, tap funds from outside their jurisdictions by making more active use of their subsidiaries and branches, as well as interoffice accounts within the same banking group. (JEL C32, F65, G21)     

Multivariate Approach for Comparative Evaluations of Customer Satisfaction with Application to Transport Services

In problems related to evaluations of products or services (e.g. in customer satisfaction analysis) the main difficulties concern the synthesis of the information, which is necessary for the presence of several evaluators and many response variables (aspects under evaluation). In this article, the problem of determining and comparing the satisfaction of different groups of customers, in the presence of multivariate response variables and using the results of pairwise comparisons is addressed. Within the framework of group ranking methods and multi criteria decision making theory, a new approach, based on nonparametric techniques, for evaluating group satisfaction in a multivariate framework is proposed and the concept of Multivariate Relative Satisfaction is defined. An application to the evaluation of public transport services, like the railway service and the urban bus service, by students of the University of Ferrara (Italy) is also discussed.     

No‐Bubble Condition: Model‐Free Tests in Housing Markets

We test for the existence of housing bubbles associated with a failure of the transversality condition that requires the present value of payments occurring infinitely far in the future to be zero. The most prominent such bubble is the classic rational bubble. We study housing markets in the United Kingdom and Singapore, where residential property ownership takes the form of either leaseholds or freeholds. Leaseholds are finite‐maturity, pre‐paid, and tradeable ownership contracts with maturities often exceeding 700 years. Freeholds are infinite‐maturity ownership contracts. The price difference between leaseholds with extremely‐long maturities and freeholds reflects the present value of a claim to the freehold after leasehold expiry, and is thus a direct empirical measure of the transversality condition. We estimate this price difference, and find no evidence of failures of the transversality condition in housing markets in the U.K. and Singapore, even during periods when a sizable bubble was regularly thought to be present.     

Is the Employment Function Structurally Unstable? An Empirical Test: Italian Manufacturing Industry, 1970–1984

Abstract. This paper tests the hypothesis that the high variability of the real input prices (especially real wage) coefficients in the empirical employment equations reflects structural characteristics of the economy considered, namely the balance of power between trade unions and fums. A dynamic equation with output, real wage and real prices of raw materials as explanatory variables is estimated using Italian manufacturing industry data 1970-1984. The model appears to be well specified and consistent with the literature. However, extensive parameter stability analysis yields results compatible with the view of the employment equation as structurally unstable. The fact that the equation appeared to be well specified and representative arouses the suspicion that other equations for different periods and economies could be equally unstable.     

Overcoming “Crisis”: Mobility Capabilities and “stretching” a Migrant Identity among Young Irish in London and Return Migrants

We bring into dialogue the migrant identities of young Irish immigrants in the UK and young returnees in Ireland. We draw on 38 in-depth interviews (20 in the UK and 18 in Ireland), aged 20–37 at the time of interview, carried out in 2015–16. We argue that “stretching” identities – critical and reflective capabilities to interpret long histories of emigration and the neglected economic dimension – need to be incorporated into conceptualizing “crisis” migrants. Participants draw on networks globally, they choose migration as a temporary “stop-over” abroad, but they also rework historical Irish migrant identities in a novel way. Becoming an Irish migrant or a returnee today is enacted as a historically grounded capability of mobility. However, structural economic constraints in the Irish labour market need to be seriously considered in understanding return aspirations and realities. These findings generate relevant policy ideas in terms of relations between “crisis” migrants and the state.     

The Effect of Cultural Capital on High School Dropout: An Investigation in the Italian Provinces

This article studies at a detailed geographical level the relation between cultural capital and high school dropout. Bronfenbrenner’s systemic theory and Heckman’s perspective on cognitive/non-cognitive skills are considered as theoretical framework. We analyzed data from 103 Italian provinces employing Covariance Structure Analysis and spatial indices of autocorrelation. We found a consistent protective effect of cultural capital on dropout, independently of economic performance, in Central and Southern provinces, but not in Northern provinces. Spatial analyses showed very heterogeneous patterns of autocorrelation for dropout (especially across Southern provinces) even between neighboring areas, in spite of a more compact clustering when considering cultural and economic indicators. These results indicate that living in an environment with animated cultural life might enhance students’ non-cognitive skills, thus fostering their involvement in formative activities and the development of their human capital.     

‘A great job and a family’: work narratives and the work and family interaction

This article investigated how work narratives of dual-earner families are materially and symbolically configured in discourses of reconciliation of work and home life. Following critical studies of the work–family interaction, this research takes into consideration symbolic and social structures and tries to look into the interrelation of factors such as job resources, job satisfaction, levels of autonomy with the self-esteem and sense of ‘self’ which parents derive from their paid work. Hochschild's concept of ‘emotional culture’ is used to explore how parents' experience of work is intertwined to their occupational groups and how it is associated with different narratives of work–family interaction. This study is conducted through qualitative methods, using in-depth semi-structured interviews on a sample of 27 dual-earner families. The data collected are composed of in-depth accounts that are then examined through the method of narrative analysis. The data indicate that, for divergent occupational levels, work generates different material and symbolic resources, which account for divergent narratives of work and home. The sociological analysis of occupational levels with the associated emotional culture of work and family then provides an exploratory model for understanding the links between social class and work–family interaction.     

Executive remuneration standards and the “conformity gap” at controlled corporations

In this paper we analyze the relationship between conformity to executive remuneration standards, corporate ownership, and the level and structure of CEO compensation for large European listed companies in the years 2007 and 2010. We show that controlled corporations conform to executive remuneration standards less than widely held firms. We also show that weaker compliance is associated with lower CEO pay and more cash-based incentive structures. We interpret this “conformity gap” from the perspective of individual firms and from a societal perspective, with the aim to contribute to frame the policy questions concerning executive pay at controlled corporations. Different policy implications depend on whether the conformity gap reflects a lower need for managerial incentives, given the monitoring by controlling shareholders, or the latter’s willingness to extract private benefits of control. We argue in this paper that the former hypothesis prevails, so that regulators should abstain from increasing the level of enforcement of executive remuneration standards.     

A permutation approach for testing heterogeneity in two-sample categorical variables

In many sciences researchers often meet the problem of establishing if the distribution of a categorical variable is more concentrated, or less heterogeneous, in population P ₁ than in population P ₂. An approximate nonparametric solution to this problem is discussed within the permutation context. Such a solution has similarities to that of testing for stochastic dominance, that is, of testing under order restrictions, for ordered categorical variables. Main properties of given solution and a Monte Carlo simulation in order to evaluate its degree of approximation and its power behaviour are examined. Two application examples are also discussed.