Andy H Barnett, Michael Malcolm and Hugo Toledo
This is a policy paper that analyzes the economic impact of mandated employment quotas for citizen workers among firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
This is a policy paper that analyzes the economic impact of mandated employment quotas for citizen workers among firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the nature of the efficiency losses associated with these quotas, and then explore a workable policy alternative that can achieve the same employment objectives with lower efficiency loss.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins with an extensive discussion of UAE labor policy, together with some data and salient features of the UAE labor market. The authors use this discussion to motivate and analyze a theoretical model of the way in which labor quotas impact firm production, input employment and efficiency. The authors then extend this model to the proposed policy alternative.
Findings
The UAE’s labor quotas create inefficiencies on a number of fronts, including productive inefficiency, higher product prices and the possibility of reducing the number of jobs available to citizen workers. The proposed policy alternative has the potential to ameliorate these efficiency losses, while still creating jobs for citizens.
Originality/value
Labor quotas for citizen workers are a unique brand of labor regulation that has largely escaped economic analysis. Understanding their implications is informative in the context of labor market regulation generally, and particularly for countries with large expatriate labor forces that struggle to provide job opportunities for citizens.
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Hillman Wirawan, Muhammad Jufri and Andi Anto Patak
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of spiritual group training on improving the spiritual well-being (SWB) among adolescences. The SWB is one of the factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of spiritual group training on improving the spiritual well-being (SWB) among adolescences. The SWB is one of the factors that determines adolescences’ positive behavior. A number of previous studies have supported that spirituality and juvenile delinquency were negatively correlated. The level of SWB is mostly influenced by the peers’ group interaction and the role of others in the environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a Spiritual Group Training by utilizing a number of relevant literature. The authors constructed the training using the meaning of life, values of life, life goals, life connections, and relation to God. In order to yield empirical evidence, the authors performed a pre- and post-test experimental design. The study recruited 26 randomly selected students from five high schools. The authors adapted a 13-item SWB scale to measure the participants’ SWB.
Findings
The results showed that Spiritual Group Training significantly improved participants’ SWB (t=9.71, p<0.001). The results confirmed the study hypothesis that spiritual group training enhanced adolescences’ SWB.
Research limitations/implications
Designing a proper intervention and evaluation was a challenging task for the authors. In this study, the authors evaluated the training by utilizing a simple pre- and post-test design. Future investigations should employ a different evaluation design.
Originality/value
Most studies support the notion that spirituality is negatively correlated with adolescence’s negative behavior. However, only a few, if any, investigations have focused on developing certain training focusing on SWB. This study contributed an important idea on the use of SWB to develop adolescence SWB.
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WILLIAM A. BARNETT, A. RONALD GALLANT, MELVIN J. HINICH, JOCHEN A. JUNGEILGES and DANIEL T. KAPLAN
Leadership education is a prominent component of youth programming. In their efforts to promote leadership development, most youth programs promote character development and teach…
Abstract
Leadership education is a prominent component of youth programming. In their efforts to promote leadership development, most youth programs promote character development and teach interpersonal skills but fall short in teaching leadership because they fail to encourage the use of authority. In this paper, we present the stories of five late adolescent exemplars as a case study of youth leadership emergence through volunteerism. These youth demonstrated leadership by transitioning from participating in community service activities to becoming organizers of their own beneficent efforts. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with these adolescent leaders, we present themes that were important to their emergence as leaders. We then discuss how these findings should be used to inform youth development programs that are designed to encourage youth leadership through volunteerism.
Edeltraud Guenther, Timo Busch, Jan Endrikat, Thomas Guenther and Marc Orlitzky
The purpose of this literature review is to reorient empirical research on the causal links between corporate ecological sustainability (CES) and corporate financial performance…
Abstract
The purpose of this literature review is to reorient empirical research on the causal links between corporate ecological sustainability (CES) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Toward this end, we summarize the findings of four meta-analyses (conducted between 2012 and 2016), which indicate that there is, on average, a small positive association between CES and CFP. In addition, these empirical associations seem to be contingent on the firm’s strategic approach with regard to ecological sustainability (e.g., proactive vs reactive approach) and on the operationalization of both constructs. We conclude that future research may benefit from an even more explicit, analytic shift to the circumstances under which it pays for firms to go green. The main research limitations we point out are model misspecifications, endogeneity, and problems in the measurement of both CES and CFP.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
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OF all trades or professions, with pretensions to some measure of specialization, if not learning, librarianship is the only one which does not make preliminary technical training…
Abstract
OF all trades or professions, with pretensions to some measure of specialization, if not learning, librarianship is the only one which does not make preliminary technical training an absolute condition of entrance to its fellowship. We know, from past experience, that the ranks of the library profession are filled from all sorts of sources and by all kinds of men, very few of whom can show a diploma, or any kind of certificate, beyond their own word and the testimony of interested friends, to prove that they possess any special qualification for the work. In this respect librarianship differs from every other branch of the municipal and public educational services of the country. There is no independent test of fitness applied, even for positions of great responsibility, and librarians hold tenure of their offices by means of credentials which would not be accepted in the case of most town clerks, medical officers, accountants, surveyors, schoolmasters, and even sanitary inspectors. We are assumed to possess qualifications of a profound and immense range, but, beyond the undoubted power to announce this, by means of the voices and tongues with which we are lavishly endowed, our references are, for the most part, testimonies to character and experience, rather than to scientific training and professional capacity. Mr. X. spends fifteen years in the service of the O. Public Library, which was organised by a superannuated railway guard in 1862, on lines which were, no doubt, suggested by his former experience in dealing with parcels, passengers, and other luggage. This system has the merit of being based upon the science of Mathematics, because number is the main factor relied upon in every department, and for every purpose. It may, possess, moreover, an elementary relationship to the science of literature by making some use of the ordinary English alphabet, and so we have a combination of letters and numerals which is satisfactory evidence that the librarian was no fool, although he was only a railway guard. His literary methods are, therefore, of the A, B, C, 1, 2, 3. type, and all his assistants are carefully trained in the art of preserving bibliographical order by observing that 5 comes between 4 and 6, and q after p. Now, the assistant who has been brought up in this kind of library may have 15 years' so‐called experience behind him to which he can proudly refer, when applying for a chief post, and there is nothing on earth to show that he does not know absolutely everything about literature, bibliography and library methods—ancient and modern, retrograde and advanced, childish and scientific, or that he is not, in every sense of the word, a Complete Librarian. Indeed, the possession of such an imposing qualification as Fifteen Years' Experience is enough to intimidate any ordinary committee who have no standards by which to compare such a phenomenon. There is no standard by which we can at present judge the qualifications of any librarian, unless he is ass enough to reveal his shortcomings by writing books and papers, and what is really happening every day is simply that appointments are being made on the successful candidate's own valuation of his fitness. He is not tested as regards his professional ability at all, and library authorities are driven to appoint men who have had a long term of experience, no matter how elementary or antiquated it may be. They cannot do anything else in the absence of proper training schools, and certificates of special knowledge, issued by independent and impartial examining bodies. It is quite common to hear librarians boasting about their ten, twenty, or thirty years of experience, who would be sorely put to it to answer intelligently any ordinary question in English literature, systematic classification, or bibliography. These men have managed to establish a kind of freehold for mere experience, minus every other qualification, and it is their continuance in office which has prevented Public Libraries from being more liberally recognised by both State and local authorities. This absurd substitution of mere experience in feeble and unworthy methods, for systematic training in the higher departments of librarianship, has produced a race of self‐sufficient librarians—inferior in general intelligence to commercial clerks and shopmen—who have succeeded, by their narrow‐minded mal‐administration and absence of culture, to thoroughly eradicate any little scrap of confidence in the Public Library idea originally cherished by the people. It is fashionable among those gentlemen to blame parliamentary and municipal stinginess and indifference, as the sole causes of the inadequate financial provision to be squeezed out of a 1d. rate. They can account for everything on this theory—small salaries, invisible book‐funds, poor buildings equipped with inferior furniture, and so on—forgetting, in their inflated self‐sufficiency, how much of this neglect and indifference is due to their own ignorance and failure to interest either people or governors. The argument that everything must wait till the penny rate is abolished is the refuge of everyone who has failed to realize the important fact that, if recognition is wanted, it must be worked for. It may be taken as pretty conclusive that the failure of Public Libraries to obtain greater support from the people and Parliament is due largely to an all‐round failure to meet public needs in a thoroughly efficient manner. It matters not if some twenty or thirty places are managed on business‐like and scientific lines. They cannot influence other places at a distance, scattered all over the Kingdom to the number of 450, and inaccessible in other respects to the reformative effect of a good example. There are plenty of superior, cock‐sure librarians going about, with all the authority conferred by twenty years' experience—and nothing else—telling the people that the utmost degree of accomplishment to be had for a penny has been reached. This alone is enough to counteract the good work of fifty well‐managed libraries. The people say to themselves, “If our library represents all we can get for a penny, and our librarian is the sort of man we may expect in the future, what's the good of paying more for a double dose of the same kind of outfit?”
WHILE there is no doubt that the system of issuing books at “net” prices is of great benefit to booksellers, there is also no doubt that, unless care is taken, it is a serious…
Abstract
WHILE there is no doubt that the system of issuing books at “net” prices is of great benefit to booksellers, there is also no doubt that, unless care is taken, it is a serious drain upon a limited book‐purchasing income. A few years ago the position had become so serious that conferences were held with a view to securing the exemption of Public Libraries from the “net” price. The attempt, as was perhaps to be expected, failed. Since that time, the system has been growing until, at the present time, practically every non‐fictional book worth buying is issued at a “net price.”
Yuxiao Ye, Andy C.L. Yeung and Baofeng Huo
In this research, we examine the impact of ISO 14001, an international environmental management accreditation, on the long-term financial risk and sales growth of firms.
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, we examine the impact of ISO 14001, an international environmental management accreditation, on the long-term financial risk and sales growth of firms.
Design/methodology/approach
We employ a quasi-experimental design and construct 682 treated and control firms that are matched using propensity score matching. We then test our hypotheses using the difference in difference model.
Findings
We find that, although ISO 14001 leads to lower financial risk, standard management systems such as ISO 14001 actually hinder the sales growth of firms, an unanticipated outcome. In particular, this trade-off worsens over time, becoming particularly more severe among firms that adopt ISO 14001 early and operate in less-polluting industries.
Research limitations/implications
We present a hidden side of environmental accreditations, indicating a potential trade-off in the long-term efficacy of environmental standard management systems.
Practical implications
Firms must be cautious about adopting environmental management systems. Over time, a focus on environmental certification could potentially hinder firms' long-term growth. Firms should also be aware of certification timing and levels of industry pollution to resolve the tension in the trade-off.
Originality/value
This research is one of the first studies demonstrating that environmental accreditations result in a trade-off between reducing financial risk and improving sales growth.
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Colin Jones, Kathryn Penaluna and Andy Penaluna
This paper aims to propose a unified framework for understanding the development and distribution of value within and from enterprise and entrepreneurship education. In doing so…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a unified framework for understanding the development and distribution of value within and from enterprise and entrepreneurship education. In doing so, the authors trace the origins of value creation pedagogy back 100 years and reconnect this lost literature to contemporary thinking as to what constitutes value creation pedagogy.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper identifies specific temporal-specific problems with current thinking in enterprise and entrepreneurship education vis-à-vis who gains the value from value creation pedagogies. To address this identified anomaly, the authors seek to develop a spectrum of value-creating activities/processes applicable to enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The underlying aim of this approach is to provide clarity around who specifically benefits from value creation pedagogies, how and when.
Findings
In developing a spectrum of value-creating activities/processes applicable to enterprise and entrepreneurship education, the authors have successfully located all major forms of value creation pedagogies in an iterative manner that caters to the authentic development of value for oneself and others. The proposed model assumes that the creation of authentic value for others should be preceded by the development of specific capabilities in the value creators.
Practical implications
There are important implications that arise for all enterprise and entrepreneurship educators in the discussions presented here. Most importantly, value creation pedagogies should be fueled by the ongoing development of purpose, agency and capability via cultivated reflection.
Originality/value
This paper broadens the notion of what constitutes value creation pedagogy in enterprise and entrepreneurship education. In doing so, the authors elevate the importance of student creative competency development over value creation.