Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine what factors affect entrepreneurs with minority background to access public financial institutions’ funds in initiating and developing their new ventures. Following the signal theory, social capital theory and the liability of newness perspective, the effect of demographic characteristics of entrepreneurs were investigated and the differences between ethnic minority and non-minority entrepreneurs’ access to financial institutions’ funds were compared.

This paper draws on the data of 2,119 high technology and non-high technology firms from the Kauffman foundation survey. The empirical analysis was focussed on the characteristics of entrepreneurs of these new ventures and the nature of the financial arrangements of these businesses to test the theoretical framework.

This study provides empirical evidence that ethnic minority entrepreneurs are less likely to access loans from financial institutions than non-minority entrepreneurs. Moreover, the education level of ethnic minority entrepreneurs was identified as a key factor to help them to access financial institutions’ funds.

The main limitation is that the data did not allow us to explore the actual reasons for observed correlations between entrepreneurs’ ethnic background, demographic characteristics and their use of financial institutions’ funds.

Since the constraints in the access to financial resources greatly impact the success of new ventures, this study indicates through what factors minority entrepreneurs can increase their credence to get more financial support. In addition, it is also helpful for the loan managers of financial institutions to make rational decisions when they assess the application of minority entrepreneurs.

This study enriches the understanding of minority entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurship literature. First, it aggregates major minorities in the USA and strives to identify systematically different financing behaviors of these minority entrepreneurs; second, it provides empirical investigation on the correlation of ethnic minority background and access to funds from financial institutions and the moderating effect of a set of demographic factors.

Job satisfaction is essential in understanding turnover intentions. Previous studies reveal that highly educated hospitality employees generally have lower levels of job satisfaction, indicating that the antecedents of job satisfaction may be different from hospitality managers and frontline employees. This study compared the different antecedents of job satisfaction for housekeeping managers and employees.

This study used a mixed-methods approach for a two-part study. The researchers recruited housekeeping managers for the exploratory survey. The results of open-end questions helped us build a custom dictionary for the text mining of comments from Glassdoor.com. Finally, a multilinear regression of themes from housekeeping employees’ ratings on Glassdoor.com was conducted to understand the antecedents of job satisfaction for housekeeping managers and employees.

The results of the exploratory survey indicated that the housekeeping department has an urgent need for organizational support and training. The text-mining revealed organizational support impacts both managers and frontline employees, while training impacts managers more than employees. Finally, the regression analysis showed compensation, business outlook, senior management, and career opportunity impacted both groups. However, work-life balance only influenced managers.

With a large number of employees at low salaries, housekeeping departments have a higher-than-average turnover rate for lodging. This study is among the first to compare the antecedents of managers’ and frontline employees’ job satisfaction in the housekeeping department, extending Social Exchange Theory. It provides suggestions for the housekeeping department to decrease turnover intentions.

Purpose – To discover how SRI develops in the Asian context.

Methodology/approach – Extended search of SRI initiatives analyzed with Scandinavian neo-institutional approach on how ideas travel and Buddhist Economy.

Findings – Chinese SRI-initiatives imitate western peers, but the imitation results in partial isomorphism that will probably have a weak influence on Chinese companies in ESG.

Research limitations/implications – A limitation of the study is a lack of information and transparency on Chinese homepages.

Practical implications – Chinese SRI is in an early state, and will need back-up and push to become active if it will be able to influence Chinese companies.

Social implications – It is important to have a critical stance, and not trusting optimistic statements about SRI in China as a mean to integrate ESG activities in Chinese companies.

Originality/value of chapter – One of the first overviews and critical analysis of SRI in China.