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This study examines forecast accuracy associated with the forecast of 55 revenue data series of 18 local governments. The last 18 months (6 quarters; or 2 years) of the data are held-out for accuracy evaluation. Results show that forecast software, damped trend methods, and simple exponential smoothing methods perform best with monthly and quarterly data; and use of monthly or quarterly data is marginally better than annualized data. For monthly data, there is no advantage to converting dollar values to real dollars before forecasting and reconverting using a forecasted index. With annual data, naïve methods can outperform exponential smoothing methods for some types of data; and real dollar conversion generally outperforms nominal dollars. The study suggests benchmark forecast errors and recommends a process for selecting a forecast method.

The purpose of this paper is to present a numerically adaptive finite element (FE) method for accurate, efficient and reliable eigensolutions of regular second- and fourth-order Sturm–Liouville (SL) problems with variable coefficients.

After the conventional FE solution for an eigenpair (i.e. eigenvalue and eigenfunction) of a particular order has been obtained on a given mesh, a novel strategy is introduced, in which the FE solution of the eigenproblem is equivalently viewed as the FE solution of an associated linear problem. This strategy allows the element energy projection (EEP) technique for linear problems to calculate the super-convergent FE solutions for eigenfunctions anywhere on any element. These EEP super-convergent solutions are used to estimate the FE solution errors and to guide mesh refinements, until the accuracy matches user-preset error tolerance on both eigenvalues and eigenfunctions.

Numerical results for a number of representative and challenging SL problems are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness, efficiency, accuracy and reliability of the proposed method.

The method is limited to regular SL problems, but it can also solve some singular SL problems in an indirect way.

Comprehensive utilization of the EEP technique yields a simple, efficient and reliable adaptive FE procedure that finds sufficiently fine meshes for preset error tolerances on eigenvalues and eigenfunctions to be achieved, even on problems which proved troublesome to competing methods. The method can readily be extended to vector SL problems.

Unlike other populations, entrepreneurs may be unable to fully escape from job-related stress due to their financial and/or psychological connection to their ventures. The authors argue that stress is a universal, intangible variable that profoundly influences the entrepreneurial process. In the present review, the authors critically synthesize past literature to evaluate the substantive body of research on stress in entrepreneurship and assess the impact of stress on individuals’ well-being. The authors find that entrepreneurial stress stems from role conflict or overload, issues related to business operations, and concerns from life outside the venture. Further, stress may result in changes to personal satisfaction and psychological well-being, contingent upon an individual’s stress tolerance, coping strategies, or recovery practices. The entrepreneurial process, from creation to exit, is comprised of several transition periods, all of which are uniquely stressful. The authors explore the implications of our findings by discussing stressors that may manifest during each stage of the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, the authors respond to calls for more dynamic investigation of entrepreneurial stress while also highlighting the need for more research into stressors associated with specific entrepreneurial activities.

Although scholarly inquiry into entrepreneurial stress has existed for nearly 40 years, little is known about how events drive stress responses in entrepreneurs, and how entrepreneur coping responses impact their well-being, relationships, and venture performance. In response to these deficiencies, the authors propose a stress events theory (SET) which they apply to an entrepreneurial context. The authors begin by providing a brief review of existing literature on entrepreneurial stress, which highlights unique stressors and events that entrepreneurs encounter. The authors then introduce event systems theory as developed by Morgeson, Mitchell, and Liu (2015). From this foundation, the authors develop SET, which describes how entrepreneurs react to particular event characteristics (novelty, disruptiveness, criticality, and duration). Additionally, the authors propose that how entrepreneurs interpret events drives coping choices, and that the accuracy of these coping choices subsequently differentiates the quality of entrepreneur well-being, interpersonal relationships, and venture-related consequences. The authors conclude with a discussion of contributions and areas of future research using our proposed theory.

Judgments and decision are central to entrepreneurship, but capturing them empirically is challenging. Shepherd and Zacharakis (1997) addressed this challenge by identifying metric conjoint analysis as an experimental method capable of capturing the decision policies of actors engaged in entrepreneurial task, creating a “window of opportunity” for entrepreneurship research. On the twentieth anniversary of this chapter, the authors reflect on the impact the ideas had on their own work and careers, while, at the same time, address the possibility that the “typical” conjoint study may have reached the end. From this platform, the authors identify unknown attributes, interactive effects, rich media, mixed methods, and sophisticated data analysis as potential pathways by which conjoint analysis can continue to advance understanding of entrepreneurship. Their conclusion is that when coupled with impactful research questions, innovative uses of conjoint analysis have an important role to play in the future of entrepreneurship research. Hence, the authors believe that Dean A. Shepherd’s and Zach Zacharakis’s bold effort will continue as a quintessential resource for those researchers who wish to tap the mind of entrepreneurs, investors, and other key actors as they traverse the journey of business venturing.

The literature on international entrepreneurship offers two competing views on why new ventures internationalize: (a) the nature of the opportunity pulls them international or (b) the founder pushes the firm international. While these two internationalization drivers are not independent, they do represent unique causal mechanisms. Previously, the tools available to understand the entrepreneur’s disposition toward internationalization were limited. The present study uses the theoretical foundation of the international entrepreneurial orientation construct and from it develops and tests an attitudinally-based individual-level measure of disposition toward internationalization. To ensure the validity and reliability of the new measure, termed International Entrepreneurial Orientation Disposition, studies were conducted to: develop new scale items, examine their psychometric properties and construct validity, and demonstrate criterion validity. A strong measurement model is developed using structural equation modeling (CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.07), and the measure is shown to be useful as a predictor of perceived international venture attractiveness.

This paper examines the determinants of success in seeking local government earmarked funding. We compile data of the aggregate amounts of the New York City Council discretionary expense grants received or requested by each council district every year during 2011-2013. The statistical results show that the allocation of the expense grants are politically motivated with more earmark funds flowing to the districts council leaders and key committee chairpersons represent. Furthermore, constituents of key committee chairpersons are more successful in the earmarking process. Districts with larger African American population have lower success ratios possibly because they request significantly more earmarks. These empirical findings are consistent with anecdotal perceptions that earmarking is not substantially effective in meeting community need.

We consider how the commercialization of social ventures may result from their founders’ personal experiences of commercial organizing. Building on theories of individual imprinting, we theorize that the commercialization of social ventures is influenced by two types of commercial experience: parental imprinting from the commercial work experience of a founder’s parents, and work imprinting from a founder’s professional experience within for-profit organizations. We find support for our theory based on analysis of a novel dataset of over 2,000 nascent social ventures and their founders. We further find that the marginal effects of additional work imprinting from a founder’s commercial experience decline with the longevity of this experience. We discuss implications of our findings for literatures on social ventures, imprinting, and hybrid organizations.

Global leadership is a vibrant and still emerging field of study. As scholarship grows in this area, the boundaries of the field become more defined. This has a direct impact on curriculum selection for courses and degree programs focused on global leadership. This article begins by exploring how emerging areas of study become recognized as disciplines and applies this knowledge to the global leadership discipline. We also look at doctoral-level degree programs in global leadership, comparing, and contrasting their offerings and approaches, and reflecting on global leadership doctoral education’s role in the ultimate crafting of the discipline. Finally, the curriculum strategies within the doctoral program in global leadership at Indiana Tech are discussed to illustrate the complex and multidisciplinary approach required to prepare global leadership scholars-practitioners.