Capital Technology Research Articles

Determinants of Employment Potential in India’s Service Sector: The Post-reform Experience

Service sector in India has grown rapidly in the last one and a half decades. Its growth has been higher than the growth in other commodity-producing sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing sectors. If service sector becomes the leads the growth process, the pertinent questions are what is its potential to generate employment? Can we assume it as the emerging sector to accommodate the surplus labour? In other words, the present paper examines the employment dynamics in both organised and unorganised service sectors by empirically estimates the effects of macro-economic variables by using the data from 1972–1973 to 2011–2012. Considering the Keynesian theoretical explanation about the change in employment which depends on expected output or change in output, the empirical estimations corroborate the view that performance of service sector determines the capacity to generate employment in the sector where employment in organised services is positively influenced by non-services output, lagged output of services, human capital and net export and negatively associated with labour productivity, whereas employment in unorganised services is positively determined by non-services output and lag services output, but negatively influenced by productivity, technology and human capital.

Empirical Research on the Influence of Technological Capital on Technological Innovation

The purpose of the article aims to analysis the impact of technological capital on technological innovation. The former scholar pays primarily attention to the direct impact of technological capital on technological innovation with the method of qualitative research, while neglecting the role of intermediary variables. The paper uses 185 samples derived from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Shandong. Using the software of structural equation model, it is tested of the relationship of technological capital, information management, knowledge management and technological innovation. The research demonstrates that technological capital makes a positive impact on technological innovation through two paths of information management and knowledge management. Information management and knowledge management play a completely mediating role between technological capital and technological innovation. The study further also indicates that technological capital mainly effect on technological innovation through knowledge management.

Commodification and Digital Political Participation: The “15-M Movement” and the Collectivization of the Internet

La mercantilizacion y la participacion politica digital: el “Movimiento 15-M” y la colectivizacion del Internet A mercantilizacao e a participacao politica digital: o Movimento 15-M e a coletivizacao da internet DOI: 10.5294/pacla.2018.21.4.3 The objective of this article is to analyze an emerging process in the network society: the commodification of the Internet and political communication. This strategy of technological capitalism is becoming increasingly present in the lives of citizens around the world, and it represents a new challenge for critical thinking. In this article we will show the debate around this process and we will point out a few examples. However, despite the existence of this process of commodification, society is not taking a passive attitude. On the contrary, we have cases of social movements, such as the Spanish 15-M, which identified this process and designed a strategy to try to reverse it. However, and despite the efforts of this movement, many of the achievements of the 15-M against commodification have lost their validity. In this paper we review the current state of the debate on the commercialization of politics and, through a qualitative study, we show how the 15-M defined this process and established instruments to fight it. In the conclusions we discuss this process and show its current situation in Spain.

SIX SMARTNESS DIMENSIONS IN CULTURAL MANAGEMENT: SOCIAL/CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT PERSPECTIVE

Cultural management as a complex process is constantly facing social/cultural challenges (policy shifts, creativity, interest coherence, the rise of technological capital, cultural emigration, etc.) that affect the growing need and importance for smartness in management. There is a lack of inter-disciplinary research on smartness in the context of cultural management. The goal of this article is to ground smartness dimensions in cultural management in the context of changing the social/cultural environment. Strategy, Creative Development, Harmonization of Interests in the Cultural Sector, Empowered Cultural Sector Parties, Harmony of Intellectual and Technological Capital as well as the Culture of Shared Value Creation are presented in this article as six smartness dimensions in cultural management (the management of cultural sector and the cultural policy implementation at the state level). The object of the work – smartness dimensions in cultural management. Principal objectives: critically analyse a variety of concepts of cultural management; reveal the importance of smartness in cultural management in the context of changing social/cultural environment; explore the characteristics of smartness dimensions in cultural management. Methods employed: critical literature analysis and meta-analysis. Research conducted by authors of this article allowed to ground smartness dimensions as factors, possibly determining a more successful cultural management.

Influence of Intellectual Capital Dimensions on Knowledge Process Capability and Organizational Performance

Background and Objective: Intellectual Capital IC has been much studied in developed nations, but less considered on developing countries. This study was conducted in the context of a developing country like Pakistan to discover its impact on organizational performance. This study aimed to develop a conceptual model and to measure the individual dimensional effects of intellectual capital (human, structural, relational and technological capital) on knowledge process capability as well as organizational performance in the context of a developing country. Methodology: The survey was conducted with 267 respondents from the textile industry in Pakistan. This research used structural equation modeling with partial least squares regression. The structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to run the multiple regression analysis and the analysis is performed with Warp partial least square (WarpPLS) software. Results: Results corroborate that all dimensions of intellectual capital have significant positive effects on organizational performance, except for structural capital. Similarly, knowledge process capability is partially mediated with relational, human and technological capital. Conclusion: This study presents implications for human resource managers and policy makers by examining the various dimensions of intellectual capital on organizational performance in the context of a developing country. This study offers selected relevant intellectual capital dimensions in workplace settings and suggests the importance of knowledge process capability in an organizational context.

Higher education institutions, economic growth and GDP per capita in European Union countries

ABSTRACTThis paper presents an estimation of the contribution of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to economic growth and the Gross Domestic Product per capita of the European (EU) countries over the period 2000–2015. For this purpose, we analyse the universities’ effects on the supply side of their national economies, especially the contribution of the R&D of HEIs to technological capital of the European (EU) countries. We proposed a methodology of counterfactual scenarios, which assume a hypothetical situation in which HEIs do not exist, to estimating the effects of HEIs, applying techniques of growth accounting. The results obtained indicate that these effects are a significant source of growth in European (EU) countries, contributing to mitigating the adverse effects of the periods of crisis. The estimates show that GDP per capita would currently be more than 11% higher than that corresponding to a scenario without HEIs. The results obtained also show significate differences in GDP per capita between European (EU) countries associated with the activity of HEIs.

Impact of Knowledge Capital on the Production of Hungarian Firms

Several studies identified a positive relationship between a firm’s knowledge assets and its productivity. Knowledge assets are usually considered as the level of human and technological capital of the firm. Knowledge assets of the firm may also increase by the so-called spillover effect, especially in less developed host economies of foreign direct investment, which means diffusion of the technology, knowledge and managerial skills from foreign companies to local ones. Beyond the impact of the human and technological capital of firms, this paper also examines the effect of spillover of knowledge on the firms’ performance in Hungary within a linear regression model. The model is based on individual data of Hungarian enterprises, examining the change in performance as the difference of the variables between 1996 and 2014. The paper shows that knowledge assets (concerning human capital) basically determine the firms’ production in Hungary from 2000. The effect of research and development activity was not significant in the investigated period. Foreign shares in the industries’ total equity (proxy for spillover effect) have a weak and, after 2005, a negative influence on performance. The spillover effect in the Hungarian economy was not demonstrated by the regression model.

Technological capital: an alternative to the digital divide

ABSTRACTThis paper identifies individuals’ accumulated history with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a replacement for the contested and outdated term ‘digital divide.’ We propose that an individual’s ability to benefit from their technological history consists of four factors: awareness, knowledge, access, and technological capacity of the user’s social collective. Together, these factors make up the individual’s level or amount of Technological Capital. The development of this construct was based on empirical research conducted in Soweto, South Africa, and through an analysis of the literature on assessing individuals’ accumulated histories. The concept of technological capital has the potential for application in fields in which ICTs are used for communication, capacity building, and identifying barriers to adoption of new technologies. The use of the concept may have implications for policy decisions, resource allocation, and future research into differences among individuals’ and communities’ ability to benefit from the introduction of new technologies.

Identifying the Variables of Intellectual Capital and Its Dimensions with the Approach of Structural Equations in the Educational Technology of Iran

With the growth of the knowledge economy, organizations have found that the value of an organization is not just the financial capital of an organization but also its intellectual capital. Since intellectual capital is an intangible asset, identification of its indicators and its variables from the financial and cost perspective has become a challenge for managers. This has increased the importance of intellectual capital as research and economic categories. Due to the role of intellectual capital spending in the value added of organizations, this topic is the subject of new research. The purpose of this study is to identify intellectual capital variables based on cost indices in the Iranian educational technology. Therefore, firstly, cost indicators that are effective are found, then a questionnaire based on the Likert scale is developed. Exploratory factor analysis has been used to extract factors. After performing the factor analysis, the indicators are classified into nine categories. According to the extracted factors, 9 factors are classified into 3 groups. Confirmatory factor analysis has been used to confirm this categorization. For this purpose, all the statistical indices introduced by the experts in this field have been presented to confirm the model. The results of this research show that human capital dimension includes 4 factors, structural capital dimension includes 3 factors, and dimension of relational capital includes 2 factors in intellectual capital of Iranian educational technology.

The Impact of Knowledge Management on Organizational Performance

In today’s business, knowledge is considered as a core asset in any organization, even it can be considered as important as technological capital. It is part of human abilities and thus human capital. Knowledge management (KM) is becoming a fad in an increasing way so many organizations are trying to apply it in order to enhance their organizational performance. In this paper, literatures were investigated critically in order to show the real influence of knowledge management and some of its practices on organizational performance. It has been founded that KM including knowledge process and infrastructure capabilities affect positively in a huge manner on all aspects of organizational performance directly or indirectly. In the same vein, there is a huge need to continuously train and educate the learning organizations’ CEOs about the importance of KM through group works and training programs.

Ideologie po ideologiach. O cynicznej naiwności

The main idea of the article is that in our „postmodern” world ideologies are not at all dead but adopt new forms which I call both cynical (in Slotedijk’s sense of the term) and naïve. I start with reflecting on the very meaning of the term “ideology” and propose to adopt its broad and “dialectical” sense, embracing ideology as false knowledge and as false consciousness, but emphasizing its connection with power. After recalling some theories of the “end of ideology”, from Aron to Lyotard, through Polish thinkers such as Leszek Kołakowski, all based on a rather narrow sense of ideology. I argue that ideologies understood as a complex interconnection of desire and power have regained a crucial role, after the fall of the communist utopia, in the context of consumerist and technological capitalism and its conservative opponents.

Bank Technology: Productivity and Employment

The impact of technology investment on bank production and employment is examined. Using a new bank-level technology spending dataset from 2000-2017, we estimate the parameters of a firm-level production function correcting for endogenous input choices. We document that technology input on average contributes about 12.85% to the increase in value-added output. We then show that the bank employment and tasks are positively correlated with their lagged technology spending in the cross-section, supporting the task-based framework of Acemoglu and Restrepo (2018). These results indicate that technology capital is highly productive and technology adoption generally lead to more employment at the firm-level.

Habit and the Politics of Social Change

Re-thinking the political workings of habit and habituation, this article suggests, is vital to understanding the logics and possibilities of social change today. Any endeavour to explore habit’s affirmative potential, however, must confront its legacies as a colonialist, imperialist and capitalist technology. As a means to explore what it is that differentiates contemporary neoliberal modes of governing through habit from more critical approaches, this article compares contemporary ‘nudge’ theory and policy, as espoused by the behavioural economist Richard Thaler and the legal scholar Cass Sunstein, with the pragmatist philosophies of habit offered by John Dewey, William James and Shannon Sullivan. While nudge advocates focus on how policy-makers and corporate leaders can intervene in the ‘choice architectures’ that surround us to outsmart or bypass problematic human tendencies, I argue, pragmatist philosophers appreciate the necessity of collective efforts to develop new and flexible forms of habituatio...

Broad-based intangibles as generators of growth in Europe

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes broad performance-based measures of intangibles in European Union countries to find new sources of growth and shows that intangible capital (IC)-driven growth was halted in European industries during the 2008–2013 financial crisis period. Much of this IC, such as purchased organizational, research and development (R&D) and information and communication technology capital, is unaccounted for in systems of national accounts, so that total IC investment is 29.6% of value added, with R&D having the lowest gross domestic product share at 5.0%. On average, deteriorating IC growth has decreased labor productivity by −2.9% annually. Policies fostering multifactor productivity growth have been strongly biased and have ignored the loss of those skills necessary for long-term growth. During 2008–2013, innovation thus failed to compensate for Europe’s dwindling fixed-capital-intensive manufacturing and job losses, but broad-based IC offers a roadmap for recovery by relying on an increasing role for IC-producing services.

The Battle for STEM Workers: Implications for Firm Strategy

An increasingly important frontier for competition is in the labor market for skilled workers. In particular, competition for a limited supply of STEM workers (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) has drawn the attention of employers and policymakers worldwide because a) STEM workers are instrumental to the knowledge-based production that characterizes the industries that are driving growth in many modern economies (e.g. high-tech, pharma, healthcare), b) access to these workers can influence the firm's production choices and innovation outcomes, and c) constraints to the supply of these workers in specific markets affects prospects for attracting corporate investment and experiencing growth. Moreover, through their mobility, these workers are often the primary channel for the transfer of knowledge to new organizational contexts. Indeed, a critical determinant of employer performance in recent years has been the ability to successfully attract these workers, so to understand the innovative activities of firms, it has become important to understand the human capital investment and labor supply decisions of these workers. This symposium brings together leading experts in the human capital of science and technology to discuss factors affecting supply and demand in STEM labor markets. Implications for strategy are discussed.

Günther Anders’ Undiscovered Critical Theory of Technology in the Age of Big Data Capitalism

Günther Anders (1902-1992) was an Austrian philosopher, critical theorist, political activist, and a writer of poems, short stories and novels. His works on the critical theory of technology have remained rather undiscovered. His main work Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen (The Antiquatedness of the Human Being) appeared in two volumes and has thus far not been published in English. This essay reviews key aspects of Anders’ works and uses them to critically assess big data capitalism. It first discusses Anders’ concept of the Promethean gap; the gap between what humans can produce with the help of technologies and the capacity of imagining the negative effects these technologies can have. The essay also engages with Anders’ analysis of commercial television and radio. Anders sees capitalism as having catastrophic potentials. He argues that Auschwitz and Hiroshima are two symbols of 20th-century catastrophism. The article discusses Anders’ letter to Klaus Eichmann, the son of Adolf Eichmann, who was in charge of the organisation of the displacement and deportation of Jews in the Third Reich. It furthermore analyses the exchange of letters between Anders and Claude Eatherly, the pilot of an aircraft that supported dropping the nuclear bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. Finally, the paper engages with Anders’ critique of Martin Heidegger’s philosophy. In the age of the Internet and big data capitalism, Anders’ warnings about the potential negative effects of capitalist technologies and capitalism remain of crucial relevance and have taken on new qualities. Anders’ philosophy is an undiscovered critical theory of technology that allows us to critically understand power structures in the age of big data and social media.Günther Anders and Hannah Arendt. Source: posted on Flickr as CC by acido nucleio, https://www.flickr.com/photos/guntheranders/4248063814

Agricultural Productivity Growth and the Role of Capital in South Asia (1980–2013)

The study assessed agricultural sustainability in South Asia (i.e., Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal) by computing multi-lateral multi-temporal Total Factor Productivity (TFP) indices and their six finer components (technical change, technical-, scale- and mix-efficiency changes, residual scale and residual mix-efficiency changes) and examined the role of capital in driving TFP growth covering a 34-year period (1980–2013). Results revealed that all countries sustained agricultural productivity growth at variable rates with Bangladesh experiencing highest rate estimated @1.05% p.a. followed by India (0.52%), Pakistan (0.38%) and Nepal (0.06% p.a.). There were little or no variation in technical and scale efficiency changes among the countries. However, residual scale efficiency increased @0.44% p.a. in Bangladesh, 0.12% p.a. in Pakistan, remained unchanged in India and declined −0.39% p.a. in Nepal. Similarly, mix efficiency increased @0.44% in Bangladesh, remained unchanged in India and declined @−0.12% p.a.in Pakistan and −0.39% p.a. in Nepal. The major drivers of agricultural TFP growth were the levels of natural, human and technology capital endowments whereas financial capital and crop diversification had opposite effects. Policy implications include land and tenurial reforms aimed at consolidating farm operation size and smooth operation of the land rental market to improve natural capital, investments in education to improve human capital and agricultural R&D to enhance technology capital in order to boost agricultural productivity growth in South Asia.

Babes in tech land: expo labor as capitalist technology’s erotic body

This article investigates the tech industry practice of hiring “booth babes”—female models costumed in erotic outfits—to introduce new technologies at expos. My research identifies a gendered industrial logic that simultaneously sexualizes promotional spectacles while undervaluing women who create them. Challenging industrial ideologies that view booth babe labor as outside of the tech industry, I engage first in a discourse analysis of job calls for tradeshow modeling gigs, gray literature that evidences not only their industrial presence but also the values that tech companies place on their work. I then turn to their labor conditions, as conveyed through ethnographic interviews with tradeshow models, before drawing connections between booth babe work and other forms of post-Fordist labor. Finally, I propose that the utility of booth babes to the tech industry stems from their enactment of “promosexuality,” a set of corporate erotics oriented toward capitalist promotion.

Technological human capital, firm innovativeness, and entrepreneurial success: the moderating role of seeking and receiving external funding

The majority of research on human capital has focused on the role of general human capital in organisational performance. Our study examines technological human capital, a form of specific human capital, and proposes that it is particularly important for entrepreneurial success in emerging economies such as China. We propose a multi-level and multi-stage theoretical model in which entrepreneurs' technological human capital positively impacts firm innovativeness and entrepreneurial success. Further, entrepreneurs' ability to seek and receive external funding positively moderates the effect of technological human capital on firm innovativeness and the influence of firm innovativeness on entrepreneurial success.

Trade and Investment in the Global Economy

We develop a dynamic multi-country trade model with foreign direct investment (FDI) in the form of non-rival technology capital. The model nests structural gravity subsystems for FDI and trade, with accumulation/decumulation of phyisical and technology capital in transition to the steady state. The empirical importance of the FDI channel is demonstrated comparing actual aggregate cross-section data for 89 countries in 2011 to a hypothetical world without FDI. The gains from FDI amount to 9% of world’s welfare and to 11% of world’s trade, unevenly distributed among winners and losers. Net exports of FDI substitute for export trade in the results.