Vol. 7(3) March 2014
Elderly Workers in the Workforce
Meekhof Shawn, Mangliers Kim and Mishra Jitendra
The purpose of this paper is to address the current issue
of the elderly remaining in the workforce longer than previous generations. The
reasons behind this shift seem to benefit both the employees and the employers.
Although this causes a congested workforce and puts more competition on the new
workers when applying for a job, employers are happy with the older workers for
the knowledge, skills and abilities they possess. Having the elderly continue to
work into their sixties and beyond is a good thing because it keeps them busy and
healthy. They are living longer, so there is no reason why they should not be working
longer as well. The world we live in is changing and the way in which people use
it should change and adapt to stay current.
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Performance of Intellectual Capital Management of
Indian Public Sector Enterprises – using GRA and MPI
Datta Biswajit
Intellectual capital is most vital enabler of enterprises.
Managing intellectual capital effectively can greatly enhance the competitive advantages
of any enterprises. This study focused on how the enterprises utilize intellectual
capital, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of enterprises. This research
established a novel assessment model to measure the performance of intellectual
capital management. The research target is the Indian Public Sector Enterprises.
The research collected data from the Annual Report of PSEs listed in Bombay Stock
Exchanges for the period 2001-02 to 2010-11. A total of 50 companies were randomly
selected amongst Indian Public Sector Enterprises and were chosen as empirical samples.
The results demonstrated that this novel assessment method really identifies the
relative advantages and benchmarking for Indian Public Sector Enterprises. The best
company is chosen both in operational performance and productivity improvement.
This model is a performance assessment model to judge Intellectual Capital along
with Financial Capital.
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Knowledge Management Strategy in Professional Service
Firms
Gottschalk Petter
Knowledge management is concerned with knowledge sharing
and knowledge creation in organizations. Knowledge management activities include
creation, acquisition, identification, storage, sharing and application of knowledge10.
Some knowledge management activities contribute to exploration (i.e. discovery of
new knowledge), while others contribute to exploitation (i.e. application of what
is already known). Exploitation refers to solution reuse, while exploration refers
to solution innovation. Exploitation leverages existing knowledge through the application
of pre-established procedures, technologies and policing approaches. Exploration
can lead to new investigative approaches and new examination procedures8.
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FDI and Total factor Productivity Relations: An Empirical
Analysis for BRIC and Turkey
Kadı Filiz
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been one of the important
subject of the world economy during the last three decades. FDI have both direct
and indirect influence on economic development. Foreign direct investment can effect
economy directly by increasing gross fixed capital formation and indirectly like
increase information level of domestic firms and competion. Foreign direct investment
(FDI) is a source of both capital, new technology and intangibles such as organisational
and managerial skills. However, the empirical evidence in the literature in support
of this recommendation for sample of developing countries is not unanimous. In this
study, a panel data approach is used to study the effects of FDI on Total Factor
Productivity in a sample of 5 countries BRIC and Turkey. We have implemented a statistical
descriptive model that allows us to say that FDI has a negative impact on TFP for
these countries.
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The design of incentive systems for improving team
effectiveness: A research framework
Sánchez-Expósito María J., Gómez-Ruiz Laura and Naranjo-Gil David
Incentives are keys to guide individual behavior in team
settings but the effectiveness of an incentive system depends on the interaction
with diverse team features. This paper reviews the management accounting literature
focused on incentive systems and team effectiveness. We provide a comprehensive
framework for organizing and for evaluating the relationship between incentive systems
and team effectiveness. Based on the analysis of the input-mediator-outcome framework,
we suggest future directions to improve management accounting research focused on
the design of incentive systems in team-based settings.
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Ecologically Conscious Consumer and Consumption Behavior:
The Lebanese Context
Nouri Beyrouti, Abdul-Nasser El-Kassar and Tamara Jarrar
Environmental concerns and involvement in environmental
matters became more noticeable during the 2000’s. Academicians and researchers have
been investigating and determining factors and criteria that characterize the ecologically
conscious consumers. Today, business entities and organizations are not only responsible
for maintaining effective wastes’ disposal to reduce pollution, they rather became
further involved in developing, manufacturing and marketing new products that are
based on the utilization of eco-friendly alternatives, starting from the composition
and blueprint of the package, reaching the product itself. There are significant
challenges associated with examining the topic (ECCCB); our primary objective is
to address these challenges. As a context for our study, we have chosen the survey
method to collect data using a self-administered questionnaire, a sample of 250
students from four major Lebanese universities. The sample is from a diverse socioeconomic
group of young people and represents a relatively unexplored, yet extremely important,
consumer market segment. A key finding showed that social influence was a predictor
of Lebanon students’ green purchasing behavior and consumption followed by environmental
concern, environmental protection and perceived environmental responsibility.
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Studying the Relationship between Employees’ Optimism
with their Self-belief and Social Undermining at Islamic Azad University of Kerman
Province
Beheshtifar Malikeh and Safariyan Mojtaba
This study is aimed to examine the relationship between
employees’ optimism with their self-belief and social undermining at Islamic Azad
Universities of Kerman Province. Sample of the study consisted of the whole employees
of Islamic Azad Universities of Kerman Province (N=1135). To determine the sample
size, 290 people were chosen using Cochran’s formulae. Results indicated that there
is reverse relationship between employees’ optimism (and positive expectation component)
and their social undermining, yet no relationship was observed between the employees’
selective attention and their social undermining. And, there is reverse relationship
was observed between employees’ self-belief (and self-esteem component) and their
social undermining, yet no relationship between the employees’ personal efficiency
and social undermining. Finally, there is relationship between the employees’ optimism
and their self-belief (as well as self-esteem and personal efficiency). General
conclusion shows that social undermining is recently increasing as the most widespread
behavioral disorder. Optimism and self-belief are factors enabling the individual
to effectively interact and communicate and reduce his social undermining. On the
other hand, these two characteristics lead to positive employees’ behaviors which
can improve his abilities.
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Elucidating the Relationship between Moral Philosophy
and Consumer Ethical Beliefs: A Case Study of Argentine Consumers
Tai An Lin and Lu Long-Chuan
Successful global commerce requires an understanding
of cultural differences. Given the unique characteristics of each culture, consumers
also vary in ethical beliefs across cultures. However, Latin American consumers
are under-represented in related literature, despite the important established role
of Argentine consumers. Therefore, this study investigates how moral philosophy
and consumer ethical considerations are related. Analysis results indicate that
highly idealistic consumers are less likely to engage in both passively benefiting
activities and deceptive practices than less idealistic ones. However, highly relativistic
consumers are more likely to engage in passively benefiting activities than less
relativistic ones.
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