Similar Empirical Studies Research Articles

The Role of Agile Values in Enhancing Good Governance in Public Administration during the COVID-19 Crisis: An International Survey

This study aimed to analyse the impact of digitalisation on good governance with respect to selected local public administrations during the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020. The overriding assumption made is that agile values mediate the relationship between digitalisation and good governance on this level of public administration. Data were obtained through a web-based survey conducted between June and August 2020. The empirical analysis was facilitated by applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 761 public managers from five Central European countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovenia). The results show that digitalisation acted as an essential driver of good governance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three out of four agile values—“employees and internal relationships”, “working public services”, and “change management”—were also shown to help make digitalisation more effective and thereby facilitate good governance. Despite some limitations (e.g., respondents’ subjective evaluations, the study only being performed during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the observed countries with different situations and consequent measures in response, and differences in the broader environment and local administration systems in the studied countries), the findings of the study are important given the lack of similar empirical studies. Public administrations should be digitalised and reformed in a way that ensures that they effectively and efficiently design, implement, measure, and continuously improve their strategies, tactics, and services, which can all be accomplished by being agile. The paper offers insights into: (1) the lessons learnt about the nature of digitalised public services/processes and agile management approaches in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on good governance; and (2) proposals for policymakers and managers in public administrations with regard to operating in extreme VUCA circumstances in any next wave of COVID-19 pandemic or in a new pandemic/public health disaster.

Postdocs in Russia: Peculiarities of Employment and Incentives

The article presents the results of the author’s research aimed at identifying the peculiarities of employment of postdocs, a relatively new labor category for the Russian academic labor market. Due to several difficulties associated with forming a sample of postdocs (difficulty in identifying key persons responsible for the development of postdoctoral programs; direct, but not always justified, refusals to provide data, difficulties in identifying potential respondents due to their occupation of various scientific positions in Russian universities), the “snowball” method was used. As a result, the empirical basis of the study was formed based on the results of an online survey of 44 postdocs. As part of the study, tasks related to compiling a socio-economic portrait of a postdoc based on economic, socio-demographic characteristics and indicators of research efficiency, identifying the characteristics of the employment and placement experience of postdocs, objective factors and individual motives for making decisions in the field of choosing postdoctoral programs were solved, as well as diagnostics of tools and channels for young researchers to search for vacancies. The authors distinguish between types of academic mobility (educational and labor) and consider postdoctoral studies as a promising form of external labor academic mobility aimed at attracting and retaining high-potential young researchers planning a long-term career in the academic labor market.Shifting the emphasis from the inbreeding model of university development (internal labor mobility) to the model of external labor academic mobility of young specialists allows those universities that can effectively manage the flow of academic human capital to receive additional socio-economic preferences and return on investment. There are very few similar empirical studies that analyze the features of the development of postdoctoral institutions in Russia and abroad and are based on quantitative and qualitative data from surveys of direct participants in external labor academic mobility – postdocs, which determines the scientific novelty and practical value of the proposed results.

CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF URBAN NEAR-SURFACE PARTICULATE MATTER MONITORING NETWORKS – EVIDENCE FROM WUHAN

Abstract. Recent years have seen the emergence of local air pollutant monitoring networks that feature close proximity to urban activities, higher requirement for temporal granularity, and improvisions in equipment hardware and installation conditions. These networks are intended for the pertinent monitoring and improvement of urban air quality, but potential technical issues may undermine their ability to serve such purposes. This study utilizes a minute-granularity network in a university campus, and designs and conducts a series of experiments on how it performs under practical scenarios, including response to sudden environment change, reflection of multi-scale influencing factors, usability of different baseline stations, and ability to detect local emission events. Statistical and signal-processing technics are applied for understanding these experiments. The results indicate the source of complexity in such networks, the preferred temporal granularity for capturing different temporal patterns, the necessary reserved time for mobile stations, and the sensor location requirement for monitoring local emission events etc. In practical terms, these results provide a large amount of information on the specific capabilities and limitations of a near-surface, high-granularity monitoring network in the urban environment, and what to consider and to expect as a designer or user of such a network. In scientific terms, it is a strong reminder of the significance of numerous uncertainty issues in similar empirical studies.

Projecting social contact matrices to populations stratified by binary attributes with known homophily.

Contact networks are heterogeneous. People with similar characteristics are more likely to interact, a phenomenon called assortative mixing or homophily. Empirical age-stratified social contact matrices have been derived by extensive survey work. We lack however similar empirical studies that provide social contact matrices for a population stratified by attributes beyond age, such as gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. Accounting for heterogeneities with respect to these attributes can have a profound effect on model dynamics. Here, we introduce a new method, which uses linear algebra and non-linear optimization, to expand a given contact matrix to populations stratified by binary attributes with a known level of homophily. Using a standard epidemiological model, we highlight the effect homophily can have on model dynamics, and conclude by briefly describing more complicated extensions. The available Python source code enables any modeler to account for the presence of homophily with respect to binary attributes in contact patterns, ultimately yielding more accurate predictive models.

ANALYSIS OF TRADE EFFICIENCY IN SERBIA BASED ON THE PROMETHEE METHOD

Various methods of multi-criteria optimization have been developed and have recently been widely applied in trade. With this in mind, this paper investigates the efficiency of trade in Serbia based on the Promethee method. Using this method, in relation to the analysis of the analysis, we can more accurately assess the efficiency of trade in Serbia in the function of improvement in the future by taking appropriate more efficient measures. The results of research obtained using the Promethee method show that the efficiency of trade in Serbia has been continuously increasing recently. It was the best in 2020. It was positively influenced by numerous macro and micro factors, such as: favorable economic climate, low inflation, lower interest rates, foreign retail chains, increased employment, increased living standards, stable exchange rate, digitalization of the entire business, etc. The impact of the Covid-19 coronary virus pandemic on trade efficiency in Serbia is negligible. It is, among other things, largely neutralized with the increase in electronic sales. This is the case in other countries as well (as evidenced by the recently published available empirical data of Eurostat for European Union distribution trade). Empirical research shows that this is not, however, the case with other sectors in Serbia, such as transport and storage, tourism and catering, banks, etc. To increase (or maintain the existing) efficiency of trade in Serbia in the future, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of management of human resources, assets, capital, sales and profits. The main problem is that there are no similar empirical studies of trade efficiency in other countries, which limits international comparison. This paper can therefore serve as an impetus for future similar empirical research.

Examining the impact of firm-specific and environmental-specific factors on short and long-term firm survival during an economic crisis

PurposeLooking back on the last 12 years, the whole planet went through two major economic crises (2008 and 2019), which both had a profound impact on the survival of businesses. The present study aims to develop and empirically test a conceptual framework that investigates the factors that have an influence on firm survival. More specifically, the study proposes a three-dimensional framework that includes performance drivers (utilizing resource-based view [RBV] factors), performance measures and the measurement of firm survival. Such a multi-dimensional approach has very rarely been explored in the existing literature.Design/methodology/approachA thorough literature review revealed gaps in the literature and offered the basis for developing the proposed conceptual framework of the study. Its empirical examination (hypothesis testing) was conducted with the use of a newly developed structured questionnaire that was distributed to a group of Greek manufacturing organizations (the final sample consists of 364 manufacturing companies). Empirical data were analyzed using the “structural equation modeling” (SEM) technique (multivariate analysis) and other similar techniques (i.e. exploratory factor analysis and analysis of variance). The study is empirical (based on primary data), explanatory (examines cause and effect relationships), deductive (tests research hypotheses) and quantitative (includes the analysis of quantitative data collected with the use of a structured questionnaire).FindingsOn the one hand, empirical results point out that “manufacturing-marketing alignment,” “manufacturing capabilities,” “structural configuration” and “business performance under crisis” have the most significant impact and on short-term survival (current situation). On the other hand, “competitive advantage” and “business performance under crisis” have the most significant impact on long-term survival (future situation). Focusing on RBV factors, only “structural configuration” and “manufacturing capabilities” directly affect short-term survival, while “manufacturing–marketing alignment” has an indirect effect on the same factor. Then again, all RBV factors indirectly affect long-term survival. Also, it is confirmed that short-term survival strongly affects long-term survival.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the debate concerning the antecedents of firm survival, since current empirical findings are quite inconsistent. Specifically, crucial performance drivers and other measures are incorporated into an original model, which reveals their synergies and their impact on the dynamic dimensions of firm survival. Additionally, it enhances the stream of research that investigates firm survival under crisis since very few similar empirical studies have been conducted. Finally, firm survival is not measured as a static concept but rather as a dynamic one (firm survival – current situation and firm survival – future situation). Overall, the final model can explain 35.2% of the variance in “firm survival – current situation” and 46.3% of the variance in “firm survival – future situation.”

Academic Leadership and University Performance: Do Russian Universities Improve after They Head by Top Researchers?

Studies that have examined organizations’ productivity and their leaders have found a rather weak relationship between a leader’s personal characteristics and organizational output. Similar empirical studies have also been conducted in relation to universities and rather contradictory results have been found. In this study, I take a theoretical approach to quantify the effects of top leadership on university research performance. I assume that top leaders may influence university research productivity, but this influence should be visible. I theorize two types of university leader: the “strategic manager” who seeks to reallocate resources to make it of use for the whole university and the “politician” who reallocates resources to benefit certain research areas, especially the one they specialize in. It is hypothesized that 1) if a leader is a strategic manager, an increase in overall university research productivity would be observed; and 2) if a leader is a politician, there will be an increase in university performance in the research field in which the leader specializes. Using an extensive sample of Russian universities, it is demonstrated that while there is no observable relationship between overall university research productivity and the university leader’s academic excellence, there is a positive influence by university leader’s academic productivity on the research performance of his/her specific research field. This study finds evidence that leaders qua “politicians” can have a profound effect on their respective research areas’ productivity.

Sustainability and Impact of Lean Six Sigma Practices: Learnings From Some KPO/BPO Organizations

Sustainability is a major challenge while introducing changes to the organizational way of working. The paper studies sustainability of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementations in KPO/BPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing/Business Process Outsourcing) industry. Five such case organizations that have implemented Lean Six Sigma practices in their Indian operations are studied. An exploratory case study method is adopted. The KPO/BPO case organizations are evaluated from four dimensions of people, process, technology and operational outcomes. Impact of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices on above four dimensions helps us to study and understand the underlying nature of relationships. Current study demonstrates some critical aspects that impact the sustainability of LSS implementations in case organizations. Business alignment, leadership commitment, tailoring LSS knowledge, and post implementation actions are some of the factors that play a critical role in the sustainability of LSS. This research has limitations of the case study method as it is limited to five case organization. Hence, the generalizations of findings and conclusions must be done cautiously. Further similar empirical studies in KPO/BPO’s can possibly give more insights into independent and dependent factors and the correlations between them. This study has significant managerial and academic implications as the KPO/BPO industry is a growing sector of Indian economy. Published literature on LSS implementation in services sector has picked up over last decade, but there is very little literature in KPO/BPO sector. This paper is an attempt by researchers to contribute to this key area.

Design for occupational safety and health of workers in construction in developing countries: a study of architects in Nigeria

Purpose. Design for safety (DfS) of workers is amongst the prominent ways of tackling poor occupational safety and health performance in construction. However, in developing countries there is extremely limited research on DfS. This study thus makes an important contribution to the subject of DfS in developing countries by specifically examining the awareness and practice of DfS amongst architects within the construction sector of Nigeria. Materials and methods. A survey of architects, yielding 161 valid responses, was conducted. Results. While there is high awareness of the concept of DfS, the actual practice is low. Additionally, although there is high interest in DfS training, the engagement in DfS training is low. Significantly, awareness of DfS, training and education related to DfS, and membership of a design professional body have very limited bearing on the practice of DfS by architects. Conclusions. The findings are thus symptomatic of the prevalence of influential DfS implementation barriers within the construction sector. Industry stakeholders should seek to raise the profile of DfS practice within the sector. Furthermore, similar empirical studies in the construction sector of other developing countries would be useful in shedding light on the status of DfS in these countries.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Writing Center Consultations on L2 Writers’ Essay Writing Skills

With the international growth of English-medium education, tertiary institutions are increasingly providing academic support services to L2 students, and thus, the number of writing centers working with L2 student writers has also increased. Writing center practices originated in L1 English educational contexts and their appropriateness for L2 English writers requires examination. This study investigated the effect of writing center consultations on the essay writing skills of L1 Arabic foundation level students at an English-medium university in the Gulf region. Analysis was based on quantitative measures of writing ability of two distinct groups of students: an experimental group who participated in tutoring sessions at the university’s writing center and a control group who did not. Findings indicated that students who participated in writing center consultations scored significantly higher in overall essay writing scores, as well as in two aspects of writing: task fulfilment (that is ideas) and text organization/coherence. These findings contribute to a limited bank of similar empirical studies on effectiveness of writing center sessions on students’ essay writing ability. They also support the case for the expansion of writing center work beyond the domains of predominantly L1 English academic communities.

Screening for Collusion by Detecting Structural Breaks in Market Behaviour - Dynamic Pricing Model for the Icelandic Gasoline Market

Introduction: In the past, economic analysis has not been widely used to detect cartels, according to the author’s literature review. By developing more effective methods to screen for collusion, competition authorities will be more successful in identifying collusion, which will lead to lower incentives for firms to collude. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the literature on how economists can detect collusion by looking at structural breaks in collusive behavioural indicators. Methodology: The main subject of this thesis is to examine the Icelandic market for gasoline, on the retailer level, from March 1993 to December 2006. Following a formal investigation by the Icelandic Competition Authority (ICA), all of the three vertically integrated firms that sold gasoline in Iceland, from March 1993 to December 2001, were fined for colluding continuously during the entire period. The analysis, used in this thesis, has two dynamic pricing collusive models and econometric tests to test endogenously for structural break, or breaks in market behaviour in the Icelandic gasoline market for the aforementioned period. The dynamic pricing models predict that during collusion, the incentives for the firms in the market to raise price, and therefore the margin, is higher when either demand is expected to increase or cost to decrease. Results: One break is detected, in the second half of 1999, but no support is found for a collusive equilibrium. The coefficients for expected demand and cost are inconsistent with ex ante expectations, i.e. that during the collusive period they would be significant. A change in the coefficient of import price explains the break in the two estimated models. The coefficient for import price shows relatively larger estimates for the first period (1993:3-1999:8/10), compared to other similar empirical studies. For the second period (1999:9/11-2006:12), the estimates are more alike estimates from other similar empirical studies. Discussion: A possible explanation regarding why the market behaviour during the first period is different from the second period, and other similar empirical studies, could be collusive market behaviour. Further analysis is needed to determine why the coefficient for import cost explains the structural break, and if it can be linked to a collusive equilibrium.

The relationship between IRA and local government expenditures: evidence from a cross-section of Philippine cities

AbstractIntergovernmental fiscal transfer (IFT) is one of the ways in which local government units (LGUs) source their funds. In the Philippines, the most common IFT is a lump-sum grant called the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Empirical studies show that the unconditional lumpsum grant is the IFT type that stimulates spending the least. Using data from Philippine cities, this paper finds evidence that total city government expenditures is positively associated with IRA. A one peso increase in IRA is associated with an almost unitary peso increase in city government expenditures. This estimate is much higher than the result of most similar empirical studies using data from other countries. Moreover, this relationship varies according to the capacity of the local government to generate its own funds. IRA has a smaller marginal effect on local government spending for LGUs with more locally sourced revenues. Furthermore, not all components of local government spending are affected by the IRA. Results also...

Sources of Occupational Pressure Among Lawyers and Legal Professionals

Abstract Current paper focuses the occupational stress in legal industry. Two similar empirical studies were carried out in 2006 and 20012. A web-based survey of occupational stress was conducted by employing an international questionnaire Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI-2). Some important trends in the Estonian lawyers’ occupational stress were found. The basic sources of occupational pressure in lawyers and legal professionals were identified. Most relevant sources of occupational pressure among lawyers and legal professional were home and work imbalance, managerial roles, and insufficient recognition, managerial roles, and hassles. We found that the relationship between job satisfaction and sources of occupational pressure was negative and significantly valid among five pressures of lawyers and legal professionals. Majority of lawyers and legal professional were adapted problem solving oriented coping strategy. Therefore, the social support from peer, friend, family member etc. was also widely used coping strategy by lawyers and legal professionals. Our findings well demonstrate that awareness of occupational stress in law industry has been raised

UN Millennium Development Goals and gender equality in employment in the Middle East

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address issues relating to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) in the Middle East, analysing socio‐cultural issues having direct relevance to the region's progress toward “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ meta‐analyses with data from the United Nations, the Arab Human Development Report, and various sources of measurement of national means for Hofstede's five‐dimensional model of cultural value.FindingsThe authors find that the percentage of women in employment, excluding the agricultural sector, in their sample of Middle East countries has declined since 2000, while in the samples of other Muslim‐majority and all other countries the percentage employed has increased.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the authors' research are that complete sets of data for women in employment are not available for all years for all countries in their samples.Practical implicationsImplications for practice for governments and businesses in Middle East countries are that women are a valuable economic resource which is being excluded from contribution and for the past decade the change in the Middle East has been in a negative direction.Social implicationsThe economic contributions and rights of women in the Middle East lag behind most of the developed and developing nations, including other Muslim‐majority nations.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence from publicly available data concerning the employment status of women in Middle Eastern nations. The authors found no similar empirical studies in the literature. The study is of value to planners and policy‐makers in business, government, and non‐governmental organisations.

Further Development of Beauchamp and Childress’ Theory Based on Empirical Ethics

The American ethicists Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress developed a framework of four ethical principles which are useful to analyze ethical complex cases in biomedicine. These four principles are respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Beauchamp and Childress believe that their approach to manage ethical difficult cases is cross cultural i.e. that it can be used in different cultures such as American, European, and Asian cultures. However, some of their critics claim that the framework of the four principles is American in nature and for this reason it cannot be used in other cultures. Beauchamp and Childress' theory is influential worldwide where it is taught to, and used by, students, nurses, physicians etc., therefore it is important to explore whether there are indications that this theory is actually useful in other cultures than the American and whether the theory should be modified for this purpose. This articlespecifically examines how to investigate whether there are indications thatthe principles and method of Beauchamp and Chil - dress are cross cultural. First, the theory of Beauchamp and Childress is introduced. Then a suitable method for studying the theory empiri- cally is outlined. This empirical method was used for a Danish empirical study where Danish oncologists and Danish molecular biologists were interviewed. This study is reviewed in the article and it is pointed out that this study indicates that the four principles of Beauchamp and Childress are important for Danish biomedical practice. Lastly, it is concluded that similar empirical studies can be made in other cultural settings to investigate whether there are indications thatthe 'principles approach' of Beauchamp and Childress is cross cultural.

Further Development of Beauchamp and Childress’ Theory Based on Empirical Ethics

The American ethicists Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress developed a framework of four ethical principles which are useful to analyze ethical complex cases in biomedicine. These four principles are respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Beauchamp and Childress believe that their approach to manage ethical difficult cases is cross cultural i.e. that it can be used in different cultures such as American, European, and Asian cultures. However, some of their critics claim that the framework of the four principles is American in nature and for this reason it cannot be used in other cultures. Beauchamp and Childress’ theory is influential worldwide where it is taught to, and used by, students, nurses, physicians etc., therefore it is important to explore whether there are indications that this theory is actually useful in other cultures than the American and whether the theory should be modified for this purpose. This article specifically examines how to investigate whether there are indications that the principles and method of Beauchamp and Childress are cross cultural. First, the theory of Beauchamp and Childress is introduced. Then a suitable method for studying the theory empirically is outlined. This empirical method was used for a Danish empirical study where Danish oncologists and Danish molecular biologists were interviewed. This study is reviewed in the article and it is pointed out that this study indicates that the four principles of Beauchamp and Childress are important for Danish biomedical practice. Lastly, it is concluded that similar empirical studies can be made in other cultural settings to investigate whether there are indications that the ‘principles approach’ of Beauchamp and Childress is cross cultural.

A resource-based view of university spin-off activity: New evidence from the Spanish case

Universities now play a major role in regional economic and social development. This new mission is transforming the traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. This entrepreneurial activity has mainly been carried out by transferring technology to industry; in particular by creating spin-off firms. Drawing on a resource-based view, the objective of this paper is to understand why some Spanish universities are more successful than others at generating spin-offs. In order to determine the factors that influence the spin-off activity, we used a balanced panel comprising all 47 Spanish Public Universities using information that is biannually available between 2002 and 2006. The results showed that university spin-offs are significantly positively associated with industry-funded research, the tradition of the university spin-off activity, the research orientation, and the existence of incubation services in the university. Furthermore, we also found some unexpected results which highlight some peculiarities of Spain and other countries with little tradition in university entrepreneurial activity, such as the absence of the effect of a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) on spin-off production.This study contributes to the literature on university spin-off activity. First, there are no similar empirical studies about Spanish universities. Second, we set out several policies to improve the dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology transfer activities.

A grounded theory study of cellular phone New Product Development

The grounded-theory case study methodology was applied to examine a profitable company in cellular phone New Product Development (NPD). The goal was to participate in focus groups of NPD teams to document how they reverse-engineered competitive designs. The focus group theme analysis was linked to taxonomies applied by similar empirical case studies in the literature. A brain storming technique was used with the case study focus group to capture and contrast the ideation processes with knowledge creation and educational psychology theories. Several models were created to externalise the NPD team design processes.

Canonical Least-Squares Monte Carlo: Empirical Evidences from S&P 100 Index and IBM Puts

This paper tests empirically the recently proposed canonical least-squares Monte-Carlo (CLM) method for pricing American options. Market data used are daily last prices for the American style S&P 100 Index puts (OEX puts) and IBM puts from 30 July 2008 to 30 January 2009, the period of which covers the US financial crisis of 2008. Unlike what have been done in many other similar empirical studies, rates interpolated from the US Treasury yield curve are used, and dividends, a continuous constant yield for the S&P 100 Index and a fixed cash amount for the IBM common stock, are taken into consideration. Compared with the benchmark prices from finite difference using historic volatilities, CLM outperforms in almost all twelve categories of moneyness and maturity for both OEX and IBM puts, and is shown to be a viable alternative for pricing American style options.

ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY, TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY AND FUNDING: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Universities are now responsible for economic and social development. This new mission is transforming the traditional university into an entrepreneurial university. This entrepreneurial activity has mainly been carried out by transferring technology to industry, in particular, by patenting.The objective of this paper is to understand why some Spanish universities are more successful than others at patenting. In order to determine the factors that influence the patenting activity, we used a sample made up of 47 Spanish Public On-Campus Universities existing in 2003. Firstly, we applied the Poisson model. Secondly, after finding overdispersion in the data, the two approximations of the binomial negative were estimated (NEGBIN I and NEGBIN II). Lastly, we compared the results obtained with the three regression models.The results show that university patents are significantly positively associated with research funding, university size, technology transfer experience and resources and scientific areas with a greater market orientation. On the contrary, our results support the idea that university's research quality has a negative effect on the patent outputs.This study contributes to the literature on university patenting activity. First, there are no similar empirical studies about Spanish universities. Second, our findings provide quantitative evidence of the importance of funding research and university support policies in patent production. As a consequence, we can set out several policies to improve the dissemination of scientific knowledge and technology transfer activities.