Place Greater Importance Research Articles

Job Attribute Preferences of Incoming University Students and Newly-Hired Employees in the Context of the Romanian Labour Market

The purpose of this study is to investigate which job and organisational attributes incoming first-year students prefer in a job, and whether their preferences differ from those of newly-hired employees. Factor analysis of the job attributes reveal four underlying factors: job itself, firm attributes, compensation and rewards, and supportive work environment. Results show that students’ perceptions differ from those of employees only with regard to the importance of firm’s attributes. This study also examines whether preferences for job attributes differ when students’ growth need strength, academic achievement, and gender are taken into account. Results indicate that students with high growth needs place greater importance on job attributes centred on job itself, but lower importance on job attributes concerning supportive work environment. Furthermore, female students rate job attributes pertaining to supportive work environment significantly higher than male students.

Labor mobility and antitakeover provisions

How do firms protect their human capital? We test whether firms facing an increased threat of being acquired strengthen their antitakeover provisions (ATPs) in order to bond with their employees. We use the adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by US state courts, which exogenously decreases knowledge-worker mobility, thus elevating takeover risk and reducing employee incentives to innovate. Firms respond to the IDD adoption by strengthening ATPs that defend against hostile takeovers, especially when they have greater ex-ante employee mobility and human capital and place greater importance on employee relations. We find no evidence that managers strengthen ATPs for entrenchment or takeover bargaining purposes in this setting. Our findings show that ATPs can be used to credibly commit to employees in order to protect long-term value creation.

A comparison of treatment preferences, decision making, and psychosocial outcomes in advanced cancer patients with and without minor children: A matched cohort study.

91 Background: Patients with advanced cancer who have minor children face unique challenges when coping with their life-limiting illness and the impact of their illness on their families. The goal of this study was to examine whether psychosocial functioning, treatment preferences, and treatment decisions in advanced cancer differ by parental status. Methods: A cohort of 60 parents with metastatic solid tumors age-matched with 60 non-parents (N = 120) participated in three structured interviews assessing treatment preferences and decisions over six months with complementary medical record review. Participants also completed validated measures of psychosocial functioning. Results: Seventy percent (n = 85) of the sample completed all study assessments. Mean age (45 years, SD 8), mean performance status score (ECOG = 1.2, SD 0.9), median duration of metastatic illness (19 months, range 1-115), gender ratio (66% female), and dropout rates were similar between groups. Parents and non-parents reported similar overall health-related quality of life, but parents were more likely to report poorer emotional well-being (p = 0.006) and more symptoms of depression (p = 0.04) and anxiety (p = 0.04) than non-parents. Parents and non-parents were equally likely to describe life-extension as their primary goal of anti-neoplastic treatment. Parents reported greater willingness to live in pain (48% “very willing” vs 27%, p = 0.007) and accept intubation/ventilation (40% vs 20%, p = 0.01) for life-extension. Compared to non-parents, parents were more likely to report their family members as the most influential factor in their decision-making (44% vs 12%) and less likely to cite their oncologist’s recommendation (25% vs 41%). There were no significant differences between groups for completion of a health care power of attorney or living will. Conclusions: Compared to similarly aged adults with metastatic cancer, parents experience greater psychological distress, are more willing to live in pain for life extension, and place greater importance on family-related factors in their cancer treatment decision-making.

Postnatal home visitation: Lessons from country programs operating at scale.

BackgroundNewborn mortality remains unacceptably high in many countries. Postnatal home visits (PNHVs) have been endorsed as a strategy for delivery of postnatal care (PNC) to reduce newborn mortality as well as to improve maternal outcomes. This paper reports on a review of coverage-related performance of such programs implemented at scale through government health services in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Uganda.MethodsWe undertook a multi-country, mixed-method program review and used available survey and administrative data and key informant interviews to characterize performance of postnatal home visitation programs. In results presented in this paper, we have relied primarily on population-based surveys, notably Demographic and Health Surveys and Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys. In addition, based on key informant interviews, we sought to understand the implementation challenges experienced delivering PNHVs, as well as responses to those challenges, in order to provide useful insights to countries to design home visitation programming when they can meet requirements for effective delivery at scale – and to identify other options when they cannot.ResultsContact coverage of PNC within 48 hours of birth following home birth (the group most prioritized in these programs) is below 10% in most of the countries reviewed; in no country does it exceed 20%. Most country programs have been unable to achieve PNHV contact coverage that would have any meaningful impact on newborn or maternal mortality. Country responses to disappointing performance have varied: some continued programming unchanged, some suspended attempts to provide PNHVs, and others modified their strategies for providing postnatal care (PNC).ConclusionsPolicymakers and program managers need to consider seriously context and local feasibility when determining whether and how to use a strategy like PNHVs. At the global level, we need more than evidence of effectiveness (as determined through proof-of-concept trials) as a basis for formulating recommendations for how governments should provide services. We must also give serious attention to what can be learned from experience implementing at scale and place greater importance on feasibility of implementation in the real world.

Trade Secrets Protection and Antitakeover Provisions

How do firms protect their human capital? We test whether firms facing an increased threat of being acquired strengthen their antitakeover provisions (ATPs) in order to bond with their employees. We use the adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by US state courts, which exogenously decreases knowledge-worker mobility, thus elevating takeover risk and reducing employee incentives to innovate. Firms respond to IDD adoption by strengthening ATPs that defend against hostile takeovers, especially when they have greater ex-ante employee mobility and human capital and place greater importance on employee relations. We find no evidence that managers strengthen ATPs for entrenchment or takeover bargaining purposes in this setting. Our findings show that ATPs can be used to credibly commit to employees in order to protect long-term value creation.

Shaping the Relative Importance of Needs from Recent to Early Autobiographical Experiences

Although past work suggests that people place greater importance of enhancement needs (e.g., self-esteem) over safety needs, recent work demonstrates that contextual factors like event valence (satisfying or distressing) can shift the importance of security above enhancement needs. This study examines whether the effect of event valence on relative need importance for recent memories can carry over to shift the importance of safety relative to enhancement needs in one's earliest childhood memories. At time 1 (T1), participants recalled their most "distressing" (security-relevant) or "satisfying" (enhancement-relevant) experience and rated the importance of 10 needs in defining the event. Next, all participants freely recalled their earliest memory and rated the importance of different needs in defining that event. As predicted, event valence determined the importance of security relative to enhancement needs at T1, such that enhancement needs were more important for satisfying events whereas security needs were more important for distressing events. Moreover, as predicted, these differences in relative need importance at T1 (satisfying vs. distressing) carried over to shape relative need importance in participants' earliest memories. We close by discussing implications for human motivation.

Sales force management practices in organizations with a supportive climate towards creativity

In this research paper, the author draws on the theoretical insights of the organizational creativity and marketing literatures, and empirically examines the link between creative working environments and human resource management practices in the sales force. A questionnaire survey from a random sample of 168 sales managers from different industries was used. Exploratory structural equation modeling and independent t-tests were used for the analyses. Results provide evidence that companies with working environments that support creativity place greater importance in the implementation of general sales force management practices, namely (1) selection and placement, (2) training, (3) performance appraisal, and (4) pay and bonus systems compared to firms with less supporting environments toward creativity.

Are the Traits we Prefer in Potential Mates the Traits they Value in Themselves? An Analysis of Sex Differences in the Self-concept

When evaluating potential mates, men place greater importance on youth and beauty, whereas women place more importance on status and resources. Six studies tested the hypothesis that the self-concepts of men and women reflect the preferences of potential mates. Studies 1–3 showed that traits related to status were an important aspect of men's self-concepts, whereas traits related to physical attractiveness were an important aspect of women's self-concepts. Studies 4–6 found that men were more upset when derogated by rivals on traits related to status, whereas women were more upset when derogated on their physical attractiveness, suggesting that status and attractiveness are integral parts of men's and women's self-concepts respectively. The importance of the self-concept in human mating is discussed.

Intellectual property and Africa: the agony and entropy

In recent weeks, I have been considering the problems faced by those seeking to secure, protect, or exploit IP in the African continent. It seems that, despite the wide spectrum of cultural, ethnic, geographic, and economic differences demonstrated across that vast continent, there are some features which are so widely shared as to be virtually pandemic. One problem facing Africa’s 54 countries (or more, depending on how you count countries and which ones you recognize) is that it is difficult to obtain information as to what the law is and how it works. Most African countries have very small IP professions, which means that there is little or no economic incentive for any publisher to assume the financial burden of launching and selling specialist law journals, law reports, and practitioners’ reference works. For the insider, this means an increased degree of reliance on one’s own personal knowledge and experience, and of reliance on the assistance of one’s closest colleagues; for the outsider it means that advice relating to the filing of a patent, an opposition to a trade mark or a defence to an action for copyright infringement cannot be found without making personal contact with an expert in the country or countries concerned. It also means that, where the same question is asked of several practitioners in the same jurisdiction, their answers are different not because they each analyse the application of the law to a set of facts in a different way but because they often seem to hold different pieces of their country’s legal jigsaw in their hands. A second problem relates to the relative difficulty in communication both within Africa and between Africans and the outside world. Levels of telecommunications penetration, and particularly the lack of broadband wireless internet access, place greater importance on slower and less reliable media such as the fax and the regular postal service. This means that, where IP information is available, it percolates slowly. It also means that much information which, in many developed countries, one simply gathers from an official website is far more difficult to access. A further problem is that the general level of interest and excitement regarding IP rights which is found in those countries which own the most of them is far lower in those countries which either generate few such rights themselves or regard those rights as being matters of low priority. In many countries where IP is seen as an imported commodity that must be paid for, with consequences for their balance of payments, and where local need (in the case of patented healthcare products) or demand (in the case of branded fashion items and consumer goods) runs higher than the ability to pay for it, it is easy to see why local resentment of foreign IP runs high as well. Then there are countries in which the problems of internal security, external threats, environmental disaster, and demographic instability are so great that IP is viewed as a distraction from the immediate concern for survival. The picture is not uniformly grim. South Africa has a vibrant and articulate IP community. Many of Nigeria’s practitioners have studied the subject in depth in Europe and elsewhere and possess an impressive understanding of the field. Across the top of North Africa too, pockets of professional excellence can be found. But the overall situation remains bleak and two of the braver attempts to remedy it—the OAPI regional patent in Francophone Africa and the ARIPO system mainly English-speaking parts—have remained underutilized as IP owners display their indifference to the need to obtain protection or their lack of confidence that protection is what they will receive. There is no obvious solution or quick fix to Africa’s IP problems. In the short term, however, we must remember that we are dealing with human beings and only with sets of rules. Before our brethren in Africa can improve the situation there, they must believe that they can do so. We must encourage them and support them, rather than confining our input to complaining about how things are and kicking out at those who have so far failed to put them right. Without the support of the wider IP community, the agony of Africa and its ensuing entropy will only continue, to the detriment of us all.

Effects of Commitment and Psychological Centrality on Fathering

Propositions from identity theory suggest that interactional and affective commitment to a role identity affects the psychological centrality of that role identity. In turn, the centrality of one's role identity translates into role performance (Stryker & Serpe, 1994). This conceptual model was tested with a sample of 186 fathers in first marriages with at least one child 18 years or younger. The results showed that fathers who perceived their wives as evaluating them positively as fathers were more likely to report higher levels of involvement in child‐related activities and place greater importance on the father role identity. This prominence, in turn, was associated with higher levels of involvement.

Just-in-time purchasing: an empirical study of operational practices, supplier development and performance

This paper examines the role of supplier development in establishing and managing efficient buyer–supplier operational links. The paper develops and assesses a measurement instrument for “operational” and “supplier development” just-in-time purchasing practices, followed by an examination of the relationships between the two sets, and an investigation into whether the use of “operational” and “supplier development” practices has a bearing on higher plant performance. A plant-level survey was carried out on a sample of electronics and machinery plants. The study empirically: • documents the close connection between the buyer–supplier operational link and the buyer’s practices for supplier development; • demonstrates that recourse to supplier development programs and their nature depend on the kind of vendor–vendee operational connection; • test whether different plant performance outcomes result from the implementing of different “operational” and “supplier development” practices. It demonstrates that better-performing plants exhibit more advanced design and logistic links with sources, more formalised vendor-rating and ranking procedures, greater use of organisational devices for supplier-organisational integration and place greater importance on supplier assistance and training.

Comparing American and British practices in AMT adoption

This paper compares AMT adoption practices in large American and British companies, investigating their motives, size and nature of their investments, planning processes, fit between AMT and strategy, functional areas involved, nature of financial techniques employed and the anticipated benefits, risks and difficulties. Data collected from 93 large American companies and 67 British companies is used for this comparison. The results show that American and British companies invest in AMT for similar reasons, however, there are differences identified in terms of the nature and size of investments and the AMT planning process. American companies are more sophisticated in their evaluation of AMT proposals and place greater importance on many of the expected benefits of AMT than do British companies. In American companies there is more involvement in AMT adoption from managers in different functional areas than is the case in British companies.

Cost-effectiveness analysis in a setting of budget constraints--is it equitable?

One of the promises of cost-effective analysis is that it can demonstrate how to maximize health benefits attainable within a specific limited budget. Many people argue, however, that when there are budget limitations, the use of cost-effectiveness analysis leads to health care policies that are inequitable. We asked prospective jurors, medical ethicists, and experts in medical decision making to choose between two screening tests for a population at low risk for colon cancer. One test was more cost effective than the other but because of budget constraints was too expensive to be given to everyone in the population. With the use of the more effective test for only half the population, 1100 lives could be saved at the same cost as that of saving 1000 lives with the use of the less effective test for the entire population. Fifty-six percent of the prospective jurors, 53 percent of the medical ethicists, and 41 percent of the experts in medical decision making recommended offering the less effective screening test to everyone, even though 100 more lives would have been saved by offering the more expensive test to only a portion of the population. Most of the study participants justified this recommendation on the basis of equity. A smaller number stated either that it was not politically feasible to offer a test to only half the population or that the additional benefit of the more expensive test (100 more lives saved) was too small to justify offering it to only a portion of the public. People place greater importance on equity than is reflected by cost-effectiveness analysis. Even many experts in medical decision making -- those often responsible for conducting cost-effectiveness analyses -- expressed discomfort with some of its implications. Basing health care priorities on cost effectiveness may not be possible without incorporating explicit considerations of equity into cost-effectiveness analyses or the process used to develop health care policies on the basis of such analyses.

Do they want their children to be like them?: Parental heritage and Jewish identity

The concept of “parental heritage” focuses attention on the deliberate transmission of parents’ values and characteristics to their children, yet little empirical research has considered this dimension of the socialization of children. The importance of parental heritage is demonstrated in this study of 815 parents whose children were attending Jewish day or afternoon schools. The parents’ ratings of the importance of nine dimensions of Jewish identity in their own lives and in the lives of their children when they grow up show remarkable consistency between the two. Yet several striking differences also exist: parents place greater importance on knowledge and less on friends for their children than for themselves. The meaning of these findings is discussed along with the value of this method for understanding parents’ transmission of values and identity to their children.

Small and Medium-Sized Japanese Joint Venturtes in Korea

Professor Jinjoo Lee is professor of management science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST); Young-suk Hyun is currently an assistant professor of business administration at the HanNam University, Taejon, few studies have undertaken analyses of the characteristics of Japanese foreign direct investment in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences of behaviour and performance between small and medium-sized indigenous firms (IFs) and Japanses joint ventures (JJVs) operating in Korea. The results of bivariate analyses of behavioural differences between the two groups show that IFs exhibit more effort in technology assimilation and also show a greater interest by top management in innovation compared with JJVs. IFs also place greater importance on long range planning/forecasting formand for technology and investment while JJVs are more export-oriented and place greater importance on long range planning/forecasting for market demand. IFs tend to be more innovative but less productive than JJVs.

Type A behavior, academic aspirations, and academic success.

This study investigated the link between the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern and attainment of success in an academic setting. First semester college freshman were administered 3 sets of questionnaires during the course of the fall semester that were designed to assess academic activities, outside responsibilities, and importance of academic success. Indices of actual academic performance were obtained from university records. The hypotheses that Type A students (1) would be involved in more activities, (2) place greater importance on academic success, and (3) actually achieve higher performance levels than Type B students, were confirmed. In addition, the results found that compared to Type B, the Type A students perceived more parental pressure, came from higher SES families, and were more clear as to what was expected of them. Implications for further research are discussed.