Empirical Implications Research Articles

Disagreement Predicts Startup Success: Evidence from Venture Competitions

This paper examines the relationship between disagreement surrounding a startup proposition and its future success. I find that the more venture competition judges disagree on the quality of a startup, the more likely the startup is to succeed, particularly when its proposition is unique. To explain this correlation, I build on the notion that (i) entrepreneurs pursue opportunities based on their subjective beliefs and (ii) common opinion alone cannot be a source of competitive advantage. Therefore, value is disproportionately created and captured by founders with unconventional ideas that spark disagreement, and potential investors should harness disagreement as a predictor of success. I leverage data from 67 venture competitions to show that the empirical implications of this theoretical framework are supported by the data, whereas alternative explanations (e.g., that judges disagree more about risky ventures) are not. Additionally, I provide insights into which evaluators tend to disagree more often (e.g., former entrepreneurs) and which aspects of a startup (e.g., business model) are most polarizing. This work has broad implications for investors and institutions that strive to evaluate the potential of startup ideas. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2024.0169 .

Longitudinal relationship between adolescent emotional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward powerful people: Disentangling between-person differences from within-person effects.

This study investigated the longitudinal effects between adolescent emotional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward powerful people (i.e., actions aimed at benefiting or supporting individuals who hold significant influence or authority within a group or society), based on the perspective of positive socialization cycle. We recruited 543 Chinese adolescents (284 girls, M age at Time 1 = 11.27 years) and collected three waves of data over 3 years, each approximately 1 year apart (n Time 2 = 449, n Time 3 = 417). Traditional cross-lagged panel model was conducted to test the longitudinal relationship between emotional self-regulation and prosocial behavior toward powerful people. Then, a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was performed to disentangle the between-person differences from the within-person predictive processes. The results showed that, emotional self-regulation in the previous year was positively associated with prosocial behavior toward powerful people in the next year, whereas earlier prosocial behavior toward powerful people was not predictive of subsequent emotional self-regulation. Findings advocate the domain-specific nature of self-regulation and prosocial behavior and deepen our understanding of the relationship between the two from the culture-specific perspective. This study also highlights the value of emotional self-regulation intervention as a viable way to promote adolescent prosocial development. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

More than Meets the “I”: A Panoramic View of Epistemic Trust in Psychotherapy

Introduction: Epistemic trust (ET), the authenticity and personal relevance we assign to interpersonally transmitted knowledge, is considered an essential component of any effective therapy. Despite its clinical significance, comprehensive empirical support is still lacking regarding whether ET is an inherent characteristic of the patient or acts as a catalyst for therapeutic change. Consequently, unlike other critical components, a clear distinction between its aspects – the patient’s attributes, the therapist’s contribution, and their unique therapeutic relationship – remains elusive, leaving our understanding incomplete. The current study examines the constituents of ET in therapy and its related effects through three distinct lenses: a blended snapshot lens, a prognostic lens, and a lens focusing on state-like changes. The constituents of ET were measured as follows: patient attributes were measured using attachment orientation and interpersonal functioning scales; therapist contribution was evaluated through scales assessing the therapist’s use of techniques; and the patient-therapist therapeutic relationship was gauged using the working alliance scale. Methods: We collected and analyzed data from 116 patients who participated in manualized psychodynamic psychotherapy sessions to investigate the trait-like and state-like components of ET. Results: The results offer a comprehensive panoramic view with small to medium, but meaningful, correlations between ET and patients’ attributes (ranging from 0.18 to −0.26); therapists’ contributions (ranging between 0.15 and 0.28); and the patient-therapist therapeutic relationship (ranging between 0.17 and 0.23). Conclusion: While some findings were consistent with our expectations, others were contrary, highlighting the necessity of considering the variations between and within patients as they have distinct theoretical, clinical, and empirical implications. Employing these three distinct lenses helps therapists gain a better understanding of the clinical picture reflected by the patient over different treatment periods. This broad perspective is of prognostic importance and encourages clinicians to adjust the treatment focus to meet the evolving needs of their patients.

New people, new policy: How personnel renewal in the party executive affects party policy change. The case of Austria

The party organization literature has long acknowledged that changes in a party’s internal power structure bring about changes in leadership personnel. However, empirical assessments of how such personnel changes relate to party behavior are rare. We explore personnel renewal in the party executive as a driver of party policy change and argue that focusing on these processes provides for an encompassing perspective on the connection between intra-party power and party behavior. Building on the party change literature, we theorize on personnel renewal in the party executive as a potential stand-alone driver of party policy change as well as on its interplay with other explanatory factors and test empirical implications based on all major Austrian parties (1949–2019). Findings suggest that personnel renewal in the party executive has a profound effect on party policy and that these personnel changes are in part driven by party performance.

Personal Values and Their Impact on the Opinion Leadership of Managers and Employees in Internal Communication

ABSTRACT Opinion leaders play a prominent role in the internal communication network of organizations, although the concept and its drivers have rarely been addressed in internal communication research. Based on a representative online survey of 1,030 managers and employees in German private and public corporations, this paper analyzes the impact of personal values on the opinion leadership of managers and employees. The results show that specific personal values positively predict opinion leadership and particularly harmonizing behavior, with some differences between managers and employees. Theoretical and empirical implications for internal communication research and practice are discussed.

The Global and Local Patterns of Reading-Related Cognitive and Ecological Variables in Chinese First-Grade Children: A Cross-Sectional Network Analysis.

In the current study, we tested a network model of reading difficulty by using state-of-the-art psychological network analysis. Four hundred and fifty-three Chinese first-grade children (about 38% female, mean age = 7.00, SD = 0.41) were divided into good (n = 154), competent (n = 147), and struggling readers (n = 152) based on their scores of Chinese character reading. The Extended Bayesian Information Criterion graphical lasso (EBICglasso) method was applied to estimate cross-sectional networks for the three groups. Each network included four cognitive nodes (homophone awareness, morphological structure awareness, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and two ecological nodes (family socioeconomic status and the number of books at home). Chronological age and nonverbal intelligence were also included in the estimated networks. The global (i.e., global structure and global connectivity) and local patterns (i.e., the most important edges and nodes) in each network were reported. The network comparison results showed that global connectivity was significantly lower among struggling readers than for good readers, implying that a holistic impairment of bidirectional connections among multiple variables relates to the difficulty in learning to read. The theoretical and empirical implications and the significance of applying the network approach to reading research are discussed.

Competing or completing digital religion: priests’ attitudes toward Ortho-bloggers in Romania

ABSTRACT Religious blogging has gained momentum in the last decade. Extensive research covers the evolution, organization, and activity of online Christian religious bloggers among Catholics, Protestants, and Neo-Protestant groups and most analyses focus on the perspective of bloggers. In this context, limited attention within the literature in English is paid to online Orthodox groups and very little is known about the clergy’s views of the activity of Ortho-bloggers. This article addresses this gap in the literature and aims to explain the attitudes of Orthodox priests toward Ortho-blogging activities. It uses Romania as a case study, due to its Orthodox majority, its strong internet infrastructure, and the online activity of the Orthodox Church. The analysis draws on qualitative methods—semi-structured interviews with Orthodox priests, conducted in January–February 2021. The results indicate that priests have normative attitudes toward Ortho-bloggers and their activities online. The findings have important theoretical and empirical implications for the study of religion and the engagement with new modes of communication in new democracies.

Revisiting citizen preferences for who should govern and how. the case of cross-national surveys

ABSTRACT A growing body of literature suggests that many citizens reject representative politics and demand instead that people or unelected experts direct governmental decision-making. This study contributes to this literature by highlighting how undetected response biases and other sources of measurement error have misled previous inquiries about patterns of support for political processes. Using recent cross-national surveys with innovative measurement proposals, the article finds that theorized dimensions of the political process represent citizens’ views consistently across citizen backgrounds only when measurement errors are corrected. This technical adjustment has substantive theoretical and empirical implications for further explanatory analyses. First, it shows when indicators measuring the political process are comparable across citizens’ groups, sharing understandings about and abilities to identify the dimensions of the political process with low response bias. Second, it finds that uncontrolled measurement errors obscure analyses of who supports political processes. Several patterns in explaining citizens’ preferences turn statistically non-significant, and new predictors emerge –mostly associated with citizens’ conservatism and resource mobilization theory. The findings offer new insights and methodological suggestions for future comparative research on citizens’ preferences for who should govern and how.

Contextual drivers of energy demand and supply from renewable sources

This study investigates the socio-economic and environmental drivers shaping renewable energy demand and supply within a meso-level setting (Italian regions, 2004–2020). Employing a panel vector error correction mechanism (PVECM) and an integrative biplot analysis, the research outcomes reveal a market equilibrium between demand and supply in the short and long run. Human capital accumulation is identified as pivotal in driving the renewable energy transition. Significant regional heterogeneities indicate challenges in achieving convergence towards sustainability and socio-economic development and well-being. Key empirical implications include enhancing education and vocational training to strengthen human capital and implementing tailored regional strategies for sustainable infrastructure development. These findings support policymakers in formulating targeted policies for a resilient, balanced energy future and addressing regional disparities in renewable energy adoption.

조직 양면성과 직원몰입에 대한 창발적 리더십의 효과

This study aims to evaluate the effect of emergent leadership on employee engagement, which refers to the comprehensive commitment state of organizational members, and organizational ambidexterity. Hence, employee engagement, organizational ambidexterity, and emergent leadership are surveyed among 368 workers at manufacturing companies, and 339 responses are used. Statistical analyses, including structural equation modeling, are performed on a mediation model. The result shows that employee engagement contributes positively to organizational ambidexterity and that the partial mediating effect of emergent leadership is supported by this relationship. The results suggest that a method can be devised to increase organizational ambidexterity for various solutions in a highly uncertain business environment. Additionally, empirical implications are suggested.

How Does the Performance of Islamic Microfinance Institutions Affect the Welfare of SMEs?: Empirical study of BTM Mulia Babat

This study aims to assess the direct and indirect effectiveness of Islamic microfinance services, particularly financing products, in enhancing the welfare of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Lamongan, with Baitul Tamwil Muhammadiyah (BTM) Mulia Babat as the case study. The partial least square-structural equation modeling method is used in this quantitative study, examining data from 52 respondents, where the respondent data are BTM Mulia Babat business financing customers. The findings of this study found that Islamic microfinance services and business assistance directly have a positive impact on SMEs' increase in income. However, Islamic microfinance services and business assistance indirectly do not impact SMEs' welfare. Despite the increase in SMEs' income, it directly impacts SMEs' welfare. The novelty of this study is to identify the effectiveness of Islamic microfinance institutions in improving the welfare of SMEs. This study presents evidence of the impact of Islamic microfinance institutions on the welfare of micro and medium entrepreneurs. It can encourage more Islamic microfinance programs to offer feasible Islamic microfinance services as an alternative to boosting SMEs in the regions. This study's empirical implications and findings highlight the importance of business assistance from Islamic MIFs as business financing providers to support businesses.

Motivation and Organizational Commitment on Loyalty and Islamic Banking Employee Performance

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of motivation and organizational commitment on the loyalty and performance of Islamic bank employees, either directly or through mediating variables.Design/methodology: This research belongs to quantitative research with data analysis methods using Smart PLS 3.0 software. The research instrument used was a research questionnaire. The total sample of 353 employees.Findings: The results of the study found that Organizational Commitment affects Employee Performance, Organizational Commitment affects Loyalty, Loyalty affects Employee Performance, motivation has no effect on Employee Performance, motivation has no effect on loyalty, loyalty mediates the effect of organizational commitment on employee performance, but loyalty does not mediate the effect of motivation on employee performance. Practical implications: The Empirical implication of this research is to determine the conditions and factors that can increase of Islamic Bank Employee performance through motivation, organizational commitment, and loyalty.Originality/Value: This study recommend that Islamic banks should create activities or programs in the form of training or workshops or other activities to increase the spirit of employee motivation at work so that later it can lead to employee loyalty.Keywords: Motivation, Organizational Commitment, Loyalty, Employee Performance

Knowledge management process and worker’s performance: role of smart technology and training/ skill development

The objectives of this study are to examine the impact of Knowledge management process on worker performance in Hail health cluster, to inspect the mediating role of smart technologies between Knowledge management process and worker performance. Further, to explain the importance of training/skill development as moderator between use of smart technologies and worker performance in the context of Hail health cluster Saudi Arabia. This study is quantitative in nature and data is collected with the help of well-developed questionnaire randomly from 302 employees working in different hospital in Hail health cluster. Smart PLs is used, for analyzing the PLS-SEM of conceptual framework. After the Analysis, this study found positive and significant relationship of knowledge management process (knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition and knowledge utilization) with worker performance. Further, smart technologies play important role in enhancing the worker performance directly and also play mediating role between of knowledge management process (knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition and knowledge utilization) with worker performance. Moreover, training/skill development has positive moderating role between smart technologies and worker performance. This study not only has theoretical and empirical implications but its practical implication, this study provides the open horizon for utilization, sharing and acquisition of knowledge for increasing the performance of worker in healthcare sector. Further, this study explains the smart technology mediating role to link these variables. Moreover, it is considered that training/skill development is important for utilization smart technologies for enhancing the performance of healthcare workers. Overall, this study is very beneficial for the ministry of health, administration and policy makers for development of this heath sector by boost up the productivity of employee. This study is very important in the context of health cluster of Hail. With the best of authors’ knowledge this study is one of the initial studies related to unveil the impact of knowledge management process with its important dimension such as (knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition and knowledge utilization) with worker performance. Further smart technologies are mediator and training/ skill development is moderator.

The level of Emotional Value and Customer Trust Assessment of State-Owned Enterprise Bank Customer of Kebayoran Baru South Jakarta

Purpose: The rapid development of economy in Indonesia has given a positive influence to the services sectors including State-Owned Enterprise banking, everyone will need banks as their business partners. Customers’ trust is a great asset for banks. The long-term relationship of customer-banks depends on the presence of customers’ trust on the banks. The significance of this phenomenon in banking industry becomes more critical where banks have to know their individual customers as well as contextual factors that influence on customers’ emotional value and customers trust.Design/methodology: This study aims to measure the level of customers emotional value and customers’ trust. 400 customers from any state-owned enterprise bank in Kebayoran Baru - South Jakarta were selected to form the sampling frame.Findings: The results show that both emotional value and customer trust is at a good level. All products, services and product features are able to create the emotional value expected by customers. All employees, products and facilities provided by bank are able to create consumers trust in the bank.Practical implications: The empirical implication of this research is to determine the conditions and the level of emotional value and customer trust in state-owned enterprise bank.Originality/Value: All companies in the banking industry must increase their awareness of the importance of providing value related to the emotional side of customers and also the importance of maintaining customer trust. The contribution of this research focuses on efforts to attract customer through their emotional value and trust.Keywors: Emotional Value, Customer Trust, State-Owned Enterprise Bank.

Digital transformation in human resources management and work-at-home

Purpose Based on the ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) theory, this study aims to investigate the role of digital human resources management (digital-HRM) practices in influencing hotel employee behaviors, especially their adoption of work-at-home (WAH). Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted in two stages in hotels in Vietnam. Stage 1 used a mixed method to develop an instrument to measure digital-HRM practices. In Stage 2, through a survey of 303 respondents, the research investigated digital-HRM practices’ additive and interactive effects on WAH. Findings The study shows that digital-HRM comprised five factors. Except for digital recruitment, the other digital-HRM practices significantly affected WAH. In addition, the research suggests that digital training and employee involvement should be combined to enhance employee willingness for WAH. Research limitations/implications Drawing on the AMO theory, this study constructs a digital-HRM measurement scale to study the antecedents and consequences of these practices to improve employees’ digital work efficiency. In addition, through both additive and combinative (a two-way interaction) models, the study enhances the HRM and hotel management theory by understanding why digital-HRM practices are essential to boost employees’ digital competencies to adopt remote working. Practical implications By investigating the role of digital-HRM practices in improving employees’ adoption of WAH, this study provides empirical implications for hotels to manage digital-HRM practices better and thus makes remote working effective. Originality/value The existing literature reveals the lack of a deep understanding of how HRM practices can promote digital devices and services and their influence on employee behaviors, especially in the hotel sector. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is unique in extending the AMO theory into the digital context to illuminate components of digital-HRM practices and clarify how digitalizing HRM practices can motivate hotel employees to accept WAH.

Playing the sycophant card: The logic and consequences of professing loyalty to the autocrat

AbstractDespite the centrality of the loyalty–competence framework in research on authoritarian politics, scholars have only focused on material aspects of what elites do in their service to the dictator. Yet nonmaterial aspects such as sycophantically praising the autocrat in speech—a common, everyday practice under authoritarianism, have been ignored. We propose a novel theory to explain under what conditions elites “overpraise” the ruler and imitate his rhetoric, and whether they will be rewarded. We test the empirical implications through semisupervised text analysis and an original dataset of almost 1000 annual legislative addresses of Russian governors. Contrary to common assumptions that sycophancy is uniform across elites, we find that governors who are politically and economically vulnerable and without alternative career paths behave more sycophantically and show that they survive in office longer. Our results have important implications for how personality cults develop and how dictators navigate the loyalty–competence trade‐off.

Sequential Reporting Bias

ABSTRACT Firms with correlated fundamentals often issue reports sequentially, leading to information spillovers. The theoretical literature has investigated multifirm reporting, but only when firms report simultaneously. We examine the implications of sequential reporting, where firms aim to maximize their market price and can manipulate their reports. The introduction of sequentiality significantly alters the biasing behavior of firms and the resulting informational environment relative to simultaneous reporting. In particular, a lead firm always manipulates more when reports are issued sequentially. Moreover, relative to simultaneous reporting, sequential reporting reduces the overall information available to the market about each firm, resulting in less efficient and less volatile prices. Additionally, we find that stronger correlation in firm fundamentals can amplify the lead firm’s incentive for manipulation under sequentiality, in contrast to simultaneous reporting. We offer further results regarding, for example, market response coefficients, and provide a number of empirical implications. JEL Classifications: C72; D82; D83; G14; M41.

Examining the impact of environmental centralization on enterprise total factor productivity through a quasi-natural experiment conducted in China

This paper explores the effects and influence mechanisms of environmental centralization on enterprise technological progress and productivity in China. Taking the reform of vertical environmental governance (VEG) as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper compares the differences in total factor productivity (TFP) of enterprises in environmental centralization regions and environmental decentralization regions by adopting the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method. The empirical results show that: (1) The average TFP of enterprises in the environmental centralization areas is 0.0598 higher than that in the environmental decentralization areas, and this average effect increases with the extension of the reform duration. (2) Environmental centralization strengthens government intervention in environmental issues. The improvement in the intensity of environmental regulation and the willingness of firm green innovation are the intermediate causes of the improvement in enterprise TFP. (3) VEG’s effect is heterogeneous regarding regional development, industry type, and enterprise characteristics. This study has empirical implications for further refining the fiscal system to leverage the role of public finance on environmental governance and enterprise development.

Does sovereign ESG shape corporate cash management in emerging markets?

Environmental, social, and governance aspects are becoming increasingly crucial factors for investors decisions. This paper examines the effect of sovereign environmental, social, and governance (SESG) practices on the cash-holding decisions of firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Utilizing firm-level data from 2010 to 2022, we find that improved SESG standards lead firms to reduce their cash holdings. The results are robust to sample selection, additional control variables, different estimation methods, and endogeneity concerns. Furthermore, we show a negative relationship between each SESG pillar (environmental, social, and governance) and corporate cash holdings. These findings offer valuable empirical implications for various stakeholders. Regulators can consider the potential impact of SESG standards on corporate financial health, potentially informing future regulations. Shareholders can leverage these findings to assess the potential financial benefits of strong SESG adherence by the companies in which they invest.

Mass Mobilization, Elite Competition, and Diversionary Use of Sanctions

Abstract How does the domestic environment affect a government's incentives to use coercion against another country? Traditional diversionary literature indicates that governments facing internal pressures will initiate military actions overseas to improve popularity. I argue that struggling governments are more inclined to employ economic sanctions over military force because of lower cost and political risk. I further posit that when governments encounter nonviolent protests and strong competition in the legislature, they have more incentives to initiate sanctions. Foreign sanctions are used to project sanctioning leaders’ competence and increase national cohesion. I test the empirical implication of the argument on a sample of 137 countries from 1975 to 2005. The multinomial logit results show that diversionary use of sanctions is more likely when incumbents face maximalist nonviolent mobilization and higher legislative opposition, but these domestic challenges do not prompt military actions. This study presents a domestic explanation for sanctions initiation; it also casts doubt on the conventional predictions that beleaguered governments will resort to the use of force.