Woodrow W. Cushing and Daniel E. McCarty
This study develops a model for estimating an index measure of asset specificity based on the liquidation value of corporate firms and the proportional distribution of their…
Abstract
This study develops a model for estimating an index measure of asset specificity based on the liquidation value of corporate firms and the proportional distribution of their pre‐liquidation assets. A statistically significant positive relationship was found to exist between the estimated specificity index and financial leverage supporting the theoretical prediction. Additional evidence was found that firms with higher variability in sales, lower probabilities of failure, higher valued non‐debt tax shields and higher levels of financial slack use less financial leverage.
J. Howard Finch and John G. Fulmer
There are techniques available for deciding on initial project viability. Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) and other…
Abstract
There are techniques available for deciding on initial project viability. Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) and other techniques are well known and widely used in an effort to estimate a project's initial profitability and feasibility. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the use of two of these techniques to evaluate in‐progress projects and to measure the financial performance of an entire group of projects in a division over a specified time period. Many managers would like a system that allows them to evaluate on‐going projects and a system that allows them to state, for example, how one entire division performed, on all of its projects, over the 1990–1995 time period. Among other things, this will allow management to evaluate the performance of one division relative to other divisions.
Charles M. Cameron, John M. de Figueiredo and David E. Lewis
We examine personnel policies and careers in public agencies, particularly how wages and promotion standards can partially offset a fundamental contracting problem: the inability…
Abstract
We examine personnel policies and careers in public agencies, particularly how wages and promotion standards can partially offset a fundamental contracting problem: the inability of public-sector workers to contract on performance, and the inability of political masters to contract on forbearance from meddling. Despite the dual contracting problem, properly constructed personnel policies can encourage intrinsically motivated public-sector employees to invest in expertise, seek promotion, remain in the public sector, and work hard. To do so requires internal personnel policies that sort “slackers” from “zealots.” Personnel policies that accomplish this task are quite different in agencies where acquired expertise has little value in the private sector, and agencies where acquired expertise commands a premium in the private sector. Even with well-designed personnel policies, an inescapable trade-off between political control and expertise acquisition remains.
Matthew E. Brashears and Laura Aufderheide Brashears
Balance Theory has accumulated an impressive record of empirical confirmation at both the micro- and macro-levels. Yet, it is unclear why humans consistently prefer balanced…
Abstract
Purpose
Balance Theory has accumulated an impressive record of empirical confirmation at both the micro- and macro-levels. Yet, it is unclear why humans consistently prefer balanced relations when imbalance offers the opportunity to reap material rewards. We argue that balance is preferred because it functions as a “compression heuristic,” allowing networks to be more easily encoded in, and recalled from, memory.
Methodology/approach
We present the results of a novel randomized laboratory experiment using nearly 300 subjects. We evaluate the independent and joint effects of degree of balance/imbalance and presence/absence of kin compression heuristics on network recall.
Findings
We find that memory for relationship valence is more accurate for balanced, rather than imbalanced, networks and that relationship existence and relationship valence are separable cognitive elements. We also use comparisons between kin and non-kin networks to suggest that humans are implicitly aware of the conditions under which imbalanced networks will be most durable.
Research limitations/implications
We show that the tension/strain postulated to generate mental and behavioral responses to increase balance likely stems from cognitive limitations. More broadly, this connects balance theory to models of human cognition and evolution and suggests that human general processing ability may have evolved in response to social, rather than physical, challenges.
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Contrasting the Madisonian model of democracy with Westminster style arrangements, this chapter examines how American political scientists and policymakers expressed second…
Abstract
Contrasting the Madisonian model of democracy with Westminster style arrangements, this chapter examines how American political scientists and policymakers expressed second thoughts about the constitutional settlement of 1787 and looked towards the British political system for possible reforms to their own. In particular, it details the arguments offered by Thomas Finletter, James MacGregor Burns, and others, from the 1940s through to the early 1960s that the United States might adopt certain features of the Westminster model. The chapter analyzes their proposals and the – essentially negative – reception that they received. It concludes by addressing the failure of these proposals and the endurance of fragmented government within the United States.
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Leslie Hazle Bussey and Jennie Welch
A vast array of leadership dispositions associated with school and student success is well-documented in extant leadership development literature. However, persistent challenges…
Abstract
A vast array of leadership dispositions associated with school and student success is well-documented in extant leadership development literature. However, persistent challenges face practitioners as they attempt to measure leader dispositions and apply what is known about dispositions to hiring, selection, development, and retention of school leaders. We begin this chapter with an exploration of the essential leader dispositions which surfaced through an exhaustive cross-disciplinary review of literature, in concert with a review of disposition tools and frameworks in use in a variety of practical settings. Next, we illuminate significant challenges associated with reliably measuring school leader dispositions and explore promising emergent innovative strategies for assessing disposition development. Though difficult to measure, we argue that dispositions are too important to ignore and conclude with practical recommendations for using research on leader dispositions to cultivate outstanding school leaders.
Sarah Kelly, Michael Ireland, Frank Alpert and John Mangan
Two studies were undertaken with the aim of determining the nature and prevalence of exposure to alcohol sponsorship communications associated with sport. Study 1 reports a…
Abstract
Two studies were undertaken with the aim of determining the nature and prevalence of exposure to alcohol sponsorship communications associated with sport. Study 1 reports a content analysis of alcohol sponsors' leveraging across popular sporting events. Study 2 examines alcohol sponsors' activation in social media. A high proportion of alcohol sponsorship messages containing content appealing to young adult drinkers are revealed across multiple media. Events and policy implications are addressed.