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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the current state of physician leadership. Theory of expert leadership (TEL) was applied to explore the effects of physician inherent knowledge, industry experience and leadership capabilities on leader behaviors and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: This review (August 2011–February 2022) applied the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis strategy. Our search began with 3,537 studies and a final sample of 12 articles. Findings: The findings offer a number of studies that note the relationship between physician leadership and the three dimensions of TEL. How influential these are on leadership behaviors and health-related outcomes varies. We also found a number of studies that described general physician leadership behaviors that were not directly linked to factors of TEL, as well as two additional themes: leader identity and trust. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first systematic review that has applied a highly cited theory (i.e. TEL) to the data and the first that has focused solely on a U.S. population. These findings offer healthcare organizations insight into the potential strengths and challenges of physician leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Management international / International Management / Gestiòn Internacional is the property of Management International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper extends the risk-return argument of modern portfolio theory to the institutional typologies with which state-sponsored local government investment pools (LGIPs) operate. By using fixed-effects regression on monthly panel data from 18 LGIPs across seven years, the author found that institutional typologies with which LGIPs operate matter. An LGIP should be structured and managed based on its ability to mitigate risks. The paper contributes to increasing the accountability and fiscal governance over public money and promotes public funds investment laws in the US, UK and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes PA research on organizational performance in a new direction by testing a configurational model using self-organizing maps, a machine learning methodology. The model was built and tested using six performance dimensions from 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). Four distinct performance profiles or groups were identified: very low performers, average performers, transitional performers, and high performers. Implications for theory development and practice of configurational models of public organizational performance were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study empirically examines perceptions of environmental report believability based on a firm's relative performance and level of assurance obtained on environmental activities under the recently clarified and recodified attestation standards in the United States. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a 2 × 3 between-subjects experiment to identify differences in 153 non-expert environmental report users' perceptions of report believability based on positive or negative firm performance and (level of) assurance provided by an accounting firm. Findings: Results show a main effect in that negative performance reports are perceived to be more believable than positive performance reports, as driven by negative performance reports being significantly more believable when no assurance is present. The firm performance effect is eliminated once limited or reasonable assurance is provided. Further, positive performance reports with limited, but not reasonable, assurance are perceived to be more believable than reports without assurance. No differences are identified within the negative performance condition. Practical implications: Limited assurance might be used as an impression management tool to enhance the believability of positive performance environmental reports. Users, practitioners, and standard-setters should also be aware that users might believe environmental reports are assured, even when no such assurance has been provided. Originality/value: This paper examines the impact of assured environmental reporting on users that review firms' environmental reports outside of a shareholder/investor role. The study also demonstrates conditions in which firm performance and assurance impact perceptions of report believability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between geographical diversification and the underwriting performance for the world's largest reinsurance groups. It also aims to verify that the form and nature of the relationship between diversification and performance follow an S-shaped curve with increased diversification of the largest reinsurance groups. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis in the paper is based on the concept of Geographical Spread Index defined and calculated by UNCTAD. Data on largest reinsurance groups in the world are published annually by Standard & Poor's for only a limited number of reinsurance groups. To overcome the small sample problem, a re-sampling procedure from the original sample, similar to a bootstrap sample, is used to validate the results. Findings – The results show that, overall, international geographical diversification has a positive effect on a reinsurance firm's underwriting performance but that this relationship is not linear. It rather follows an S-shaped curve. Although data limitation does not allow more sophisticated investigations, the results reported in this paper are nevertheless significant. It seems that at an early stage of expansion in proximate markets there are efficiency gains for the firm. With increased internationalization there may be a diminution in performance because of higher transaction costs or learning costs for new markets. Further expansion in foreign markets brings back efficiency and higher performance. Research limitations/implications – Only cross-section data for a small sample of companies are available and therefore it is not possible to analyze the dynamics of geographical diversification. A firm may deliberately expand for long-term strategy reasons such as market share even though this is detrimental to medium-run performance. Also, the analysis cannot provide any answer to the existence or not of a maximum level of international diversification beyond which performance would decline. Originality/value – In the literature on firm diversification in the financial services sector, product diversification and performance has received significant attention with mixed results but except for a few papers, the internationalization aspect has not been examined. The reinsurance sector is important since reinsurance activities are, by nature, more geographically diversified than other financial activities. Furthermore, the largest European reinsurance groups dominate this worldwide market and many reinsurance companies have, in the past decade, increased their foreign direct investment and acquired other companies in part because of the belief that only very large players will have the cost advantages necessary to remain competitive in global markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the productivity challenges as well as the production-related technological investments in the U.S. manufacturing sector in order to create a rich framework for productivity-enhancing policy making. It offers an industry-based analysis of the evolution of manufacturing productivity performance and subsequently presents original, survey-generated data on automation investment. Productivity performance drivers are statistically identified and a discussion of the still poorly understood relationship between automation and productivity is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Today’s global business environment essential requirement to an industries reduction of wastes, reduction of variations, reduction of lead time and innovative feature quality product with minimum cost. That strives to improve customer satisfaction, break through strategies to solve problems with fastest process speed. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) strategy and framework can help during recession or upcoming recession to improve business excellencies and companies strategies against recession. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper followed views of authors, industrial experts from oil industries regarding LSS strategy, framework, comparative key factors of Lean and Six Sigma to overcome continuously decline oil prices globally. LSS strategy will proactively work as preventive tool for insipid economical growth of oil-exporting countries. Findings – To follow the LSS guidelines, oil-exporting countries can improve their business performance during ongoing oil price fall that may be influenced on gross domestic product of countries. Originality/value – The case study may provide some help to survive ongoing crisis of continuously fallen oil price that is highly problematic for oil-exporting countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of work suggests that the presence of women and of independent directors on boards of directors is associated with higher corporate environmental performance. However, the mechanisms linking board composition to corporate environmental performance are not well understood. This study proposes and empirically tests the mediating role of sustainability-themed alliances in the relationship between board composition and corporate environmental performance. Using the population of public oil and gas firms in the United States as the sample, the study relies on renewable energy alliances to measure sustainability-themed alliances and longitudinally analyzes lagged data for independent and control variables. The study found that (1) the higher the representation of women on a firm's board, the more likely the firm is to form sustainability-themed alliances, and (2) the higher the representation of independent directors on a firm's board, the more likely the firm is to form sustainability-themed alliances. Such alliances, in turn, positively contribute to corporate environmental performance. This paper discusses the study's contributions to the board composition-social performance literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper aims to draw on the stakeholder theory to examine the association between corporate governance and social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach -- This paper hypothesized that corporate governance is positively associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR), and good corporate governance also leads to good social responsibility in the following year. Corporate governance was measured by using the corporate governance index provided by Brown and Caylor (2006,2009). CSR data come from Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD), Inc. Findings -- Regression analysis documents significant evidence to support a positive association between corporate governance and social responsibility. Evidence suggests that good governance leads to good CSR performance. Originality/value -- The results should interest managers who engage in behavior leading to or maintaining strong corporate governance mechanisms, financial analysts who conduct research on corporate governance and firm performance and policymakers who design and implement guidelines on corporate governance mechanisms. Moreover, results of this study can increase individual investors' confidence in investing in companies with stronger corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to undertake a simultaneous assessment of interdependence in the behaviours of front-line and back-office employees and their joint effect on customer-related organisational performance. It also tests for a moderating influence of the emotional intelligence of front-line salespeople and back-office employees.Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 105 front-line sales employees and 77 back-office employees. The customer-related organisational performance data come from a UK business-to-business (B2B) electronics company. With these triadic data, this study uses partial least squares to estimate the measurement and structural models.Findings Salespeople’s customer orientation directly affects customer-related organisational performance; the relationship is moderated by salespeople’s emotional intelligence. The emotional intelligence of salespeople also directly affects the customer-directed citizenship behaviour of back-office employees. Furthermore, the emotional intelligence of back-office staff moderates the link between the emotional intelligence of salespeople and back-office staff citizenship behaviour. Back-office staff citizenship behaviour, in turn, affects customer-related organisational performance.Originality/value The emotions deployed by employees in interactions with customers clearly shape customers’ perceptions of service quality, as well as employee-level performance outcomes. However, prior literature lacks insights into the simultaneous effects of front-line and back-office employee behaviour, especially in B2B settings. This paper addresses these research gaps by investigating triadic relationships – among back-office employees, front-line employees and customer outcomes – in a B2B setting, where they are of particular managerial interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyze the performance implications of the regional and global strategies pursued by multinational companies. It aims to argue that a firm could experience different performance effects for its intra- and inter-regional operations due to differences in the liability of foreignness between these two levels. Design/methodology/approach – Using a large sample of multinational enterprises (MNEs) drawn from all triad regions during the period 1998-2008, the paper uses panel data methods to analyze the relationships in the sample. Findings – The paper finds significant support for the difference in the effects of intra- and inter-regional operations on performance between firms that operate within their home region and those that venture outside it. Originality/value – This is one of the first papers to examine an impact of regional sales dispersion on MNEs' performance. An exclusion of home country sales from the home region sales is a novel feature of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a nationally representative sample of working adults to quantify how a culture trust improves business performance. Analysis of the national sample showed that organizational trust and alignment with the company's purpose are associated with higher employee incomes, longer job tenure, greater job satisfaction, less chronic stress, improved satisfaction with life, and higher productivity. Employees working the highest quartile of organizational trust had average incomes 10.3% higher those working in the middle quartile of trust (p = 0.000) indicating that trust increases productivity. In order to demonstrate the causal effect of trust on business performance, we created an intervention to increase organizational trust in a division facing high job turnover at a large online retailer. The intervention increased organizational trust by 6% and this improved job retention by 1%. These studies show that management practices that increase organizational trust have salubrious effects on business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delegating managerial tasks is essential for firm growth. Most firms in developing countries, however, do not hire outside managers but instead rely on family members. In this paper, we ask if this lack of managerial delegation can explain why firms in poor countries are small and whether it has important aggregate consequences. We construct a model of firm growth where entrepreneurs have a fixed time endowment to run their daily operations. As firms grow large, the need to hire outside managers increases. Firms' willingness to expand therefore depends on the ease with which delegation can take place. We calibrate the model to plant-level data from the United States and India. We identify the key parameters of our theory by targeting the experimental evidence on the effect of managerial practices on firm performance from Bloom et al. (2013). We find that inefficiencies in the delegation environment account for 11 percent of the income per capita difference between the United States and India. They also contribute to the small size of Indian producers, but would cause substantially more harm for US firms. The reason is that US firms are larger on average and managerial delegation is especially valuable for large firms, thus making delegation efficiency and other factors affecting firm growth complements. (JEL D22, G32, L25, L26, O14) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Financial, Accounting & Managerial Studies is the property of Journal of Financial, Accounting & Managerial Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using data on 601 firms in the United States filing for bankruptcy protection from 1982 to 2013, this paper explores how managerial optimism and CEO retention affect corporate performance and bankruptcy resolution. Our results indicate that over the period leading to the filing, managerial optimism causes bankruptcy-filing firms to adopt more aggressive strategies in terms of cash policy and tapping the external debt market to meet fund requirements. The greater the optimism, the worse the bankruptcy performance and the less probable survival is. Furthermore, the presence of managerial optimism sheds light on the critical role for incumbent CEO retention in distressed firms. While an optimistic attitude is proven to be detrimental in bankruptcy-filing firms, retaining pre-filing CEOs in office, whether retained until the petition filing or through the bankruptcy resolution, mitigates the negative influences of managerial optimism on corporate performance and aids the firm to successfully survive bankruptcy protection. The tests validate the negative optimism effects and positive retention effects in bankruptcy-filing firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Firm growth and its underlying modes are rarely examined on their own, which impedes our understanding of their relative importance, correlations among them and their associations with competition and future performance. We address these using a comprehensive seven‐mode decomposition of employment growth in all US firms (2004–2013). We find that organic modes such as opening or closing plants contribute more than transactional modes such as acquisitions and selloffs, and that growth modes exhibit age‐size differences and are generally positively correlated within firms. Trade competition in manufacturing increased closures and decreased acquisitions but had no effect on new units. Transactional growth positively correlates with future survival, unlike organic growth. Together, our findings expand our understanding of firm growth as a composite of multiple growth modes. Managerial Summary: Managers have many ways to grow a firm, but studies typically emphasize transactional modes such as acquisitions and selloffs. Using data on all US firms over 2004–2013, we study seven growth modes in an integrated and comprehensive model. We find that organic modes contribute more to growth than transactional modes, that young, large firms grow less relative to old, large firms, that when firms grow (shrink), they tend to grow (shrink) using multiple modes simultaneously and that growth modes vary in their association with competition. Importantly, transactional growth positively correlates with future survival, unlike organic growth. Together, these findings not only suggest that growth modes vary in their contribution to firm growth but also that they may differently influence subsequent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of sustainability deals with protecting and sustaining society and environment for future generations while trying to meet the maximization of market capitalization objective. Despite the increased awareness of corporate sustainability, questions remain on how to measure performance. The objective of this paper is to propose a new measurement method, which is Multimoora Sort, for corporate sustainability performance and make an empirical case with the 25 companies listed in Fortune 500 USA. We chose four economic subcriteria, two environmental subcriteria, and four social subcriteria for the methodology. The results of the study show that the proposed methodology is a practical and efficient decision method. The most important contribution of the study to the literature is to present a new evaluation method in the measurement of sustainability performance as well as the results of the empirical case are supported by the resource dependency theory, institutional theory, and stakeholder theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) are designed based on a win-win approach to environmental protection that reconciles environmental protection and economic performance. Despite the claims about VEPs, there has been an ongoing debate over their efficacy with regard to whether environmental goals are balanced by economic interests on both theoretical and empirical grounds. To resolve this controversy, this paper empirically investigates a public VEP by the US Environmental Protection Agency: Green Lights (GL). For this, the paper constructs a treatment effects regression model to account for the effects of non-random assignment for GL participants and non-participants. The proposed model can simultaneously estimate probit models that predict corporate participation in the GL program and linear models that test the extent to which this participation contributes to economic performance. The results indicate significant positive effects of corporate participation in the GL program on economic performance, providing support for the win-win perspective. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of total quality management (TQM) practices implemented in Palestinian hospitals and their relationship to organizational performance using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. Design/methodology/approach -- A survey of 51 hospitals operating in the West Bank of Palestine was conducted in order to test the validity and reliability of TQM constructs and their relationship to organizational performance. Findings -- The results showed that TQM constructs used in this study are positively related to hospital performance and for the most part the relationship was significant; they were capable of explaining a significant portion of variance in performance. Three elements were found to be strongly significant predictors of performance-people management, process management, and information and analysis. Research limitations/implications -- Although hospitals operating in the Gaza Strip were excluded from the study, this research promotes critical management practices that help channeling organization resources into areas aimed at improving quality and performance. Practical implications -- The study showed that there are certain areas where administrators or managers need to focus on should they aspire for better performance. The constructs used in this study can be used to assess the implementation of quality practices and highlight areas for movement. Originality/value -- This paper provided practitioners, administrators, and academics with a fresh perspective on quality management practices and their impact on organizational performance. It also served as a foundation for future initiatives and programs aimed at improving quality in hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper is the first to identify the determinants which explain the presence of women on the board of directors and to study the relationship between gender diversity and financial performance in a US REIT context. We apply a two-stage Heckman approach to a unique panel dataset of 112 US Equity REITs over the period 2005-2015. Our results show that a REIT's likelihood of having a woman on the board of directors depends strongly on board attributes. Especially institutional investors support gender-diverse leadership teams, which might be driven by the perception that women contribute to an enhanced internal monitoring in the REIT context, in which external monitoring is weakened through ownership restrictions. We find evidence of a U-shaped relationship between gender diversity in executive positions and price per net asset value (PRICE/NAV). In the case of REITs, a critical mass of female executives is reached at approximately 30% representation. This finding holds especially for real estate sectors with a strong consumer orientation and a high proportion of women in the workforce, such as retail and healthcare. Our performance analysis demonstrates that gender diversity has a positive effect on market performance (PRICE/NAV), but not on operating performance (FFO/SHARE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: This paper investigates the interaction effects of specialization and relational capital on performance. We distinguish between upstream and downstream relational capital and theorize that higher levels of specialization will buffer against decreases in upstream relational capital, because of deeper domain expertise and stronger downstream relational capital. Conversely, higher levels of generalization permit greater gains from increases in upstream relational capital, due to leverage across a more diversified downstream portfolio of activities. We test and find support for these hypotheses in the context of the US lobbying industry. Our study contributes to the strategic human capital literature by isolating the dimension of specialization and relational capital embodied within individuals and providing performance implications of the interactions. Managerial Summary: Both “what you know” and “whom you know” impacts performance. Generalists and specialists are different on the “what you know” dimension. On the “who you know” dimension, we distinguish between upstream (supplier) and downstream (client) relationships. We show that specialists are buffered by deeper downstream relations from performance declines when their powerful upstream connections lose power. Generalists benefit from broader networks when their upstream connections gain power. Thus, when the value of their relationships change, specialists and generalists should each assess when they can reap performance benefits, and when they need to bolster against adversities. For firms, our study suggests hiring the right mix of specialists and generalists is important to reduce risks from relational losses while enjoying the performance benefits from relational gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The mechanism by which leadership influences organizational performance has largely been unexplained. This study intends to fill this gap. This study identified the six specific leadership practices: promoting inter-unit collaboration, managing diversity, providing performance feedback, ensuring goal directedness, developing employees, and resource provision. This study also identified a number of generic functions of leadership, that is, promoting cooperation, clarifying employees’ roles, and improving skills in organization. Then the mediating effects of the three generic functions were tested in order to link the specific leadership practices to organizational performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling was used for analyzing the data from the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to investigate the mediating model.Findings The effects of the six specific leadership practices on organizational performance were mediated by the three generic leadership functions.Originality/value The result of this study delineated the linking paths between leadership practices and organizational performance which has largely remained as a black box. Moreover, since the specific leadership practices are categorized by the generic functions that are instrumental for organizational performance, it provides theoretical and empirical grounds for managerial prescriptions for improving organizational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective – Resilience is one of the most relevant aspects of business today. Taking action for resilience requires new ideas that embrace uncertainty and consider adaptations for absorbing environmental pressures and responding to unidentified risks. The present study empirically explores the efforts of foreign subsidiaries in the United States. Methodology – The analysis focuses on firms' activities across states. Parent company scale and performance, local market size, labor availability, and presence of other foreign firms are investigated in their power to discriminate between resilience activities and non-resilience actions. Findings – The results show the relative significance of overall parent performance in determining a subsidiary's resilience at a particular subnational location. Novelty – This study's focus on resilience activities and their determinants are unique. Original outcomes guide local actions for increasing business agility and inform multinational companies' executives about the importance of generating adequate business performance in preparation for disruption and supporting affiliates' resilience at their localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century big corporations have evolved into one of the main business organizations of the world. Moreover, large corporations started to dominate many industries in the United States (US). Today, in the globalization era, they have become much more powerful as in the past. The US corporations are major players in the business world and influence our lives. The aim of our paper is to analyze the evolution of the first ten largest US corporations by their revenues and profits in the 2011-2012 period. The research type is a literature review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of competitive strategies and organizational structure on hotel performance and to explore whether organizational structure has a moderating effect on the relationship between competitive strategies and hotel performance. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a causal and descriptive research design to determine the cause-and-effect relationships among competitive strategies, organizational structure, and hotel performance based on previous studies. A 28-question self-administered questionnaire comprising three sections was employed. The target population for this study was US hotel owners and general and executive managers whose e-mail addresses were listed on a publicly available database. A census survey was carried out and e-mails were sent to all of the hoteliers listed in the database. Findings – The results show a competitive human resources (HR) strategy to have a direct impact on a hotel's behavioral performance, and a competitive IT strategy to have a direct impact on a hotel's financial performance. Organizational structure is found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between both of these strategies and behavioral performance, a result similar to those reported by Jogaratnam and Tse and by Tarigan. However, the results of the current study show that organizational structure has no influence on the relationship between a brand image strategy and a hotel's behavioral performance, nor does it have any moderating effect on the relationship between a hotel's financial performance and its competitive brand image, HR or IT strategy. Practical implications – When hoteliers face an uncertain environment, they need to select which form of organizational structure to adopt with care. Hotels that adopt an organic structure allow greater flexibility in the workplace, meaning that they may lose control of their employees and productivity. A mechanistic organizational structure, in contrast, gives hoteliers the power to monitor employee behavior and productivity, which may help them to achieve goals and boost financial performance. Originality/value – The paper provides further evidence of how competitive HR and IT strategies help to explain hotel performance, whereas a brand image strategy and organizational structure are not good explanatory factors in this regard. Hotels with a mechanistic such structure enjoy a greater relationship between a competitive HR strategy and behavioral performance than their organically structured counterparts. With regard to IT strategic implementation, in contrast, hotels with an organic structure enjoy superior behavioral performance to those with a mechanistic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — The internet has become a ubiquitous technology for business and it possesses the potential to make the concept of value chain into a more attainable reality. The purpose of this paper is to conjecture that the way the internet is utilized and the extent to which the internet impacts business performance vary from country to country. The paper aims to compare two countries regarding the pattern of internet utilization, the impact of the internet on organizational performance, and the readiness for the internet from the value chain perspective. Design/methodology/approach — A survey study was conducted with CIOs and IS directors in the USA and South Korea. A research instrument was developed by adopting and revising two existing instruments on IT value chain and on business internet practices. Findings — The findings suggest that the two countries are more similar in the way they utilize the internet than anticipated despite discernable differences observed in some areas of internet utilization. The study also provides an empirical evidence for the connection between the organization's readiness for the internet and the impact of the internet on organizational performance. Research limitations/implications — Varying sampling and data collection processes between the two countries may have introduced unintended bias to the study. Practical implications — The findings of the study provide empirical evidence that the internet has become a truly global business tool that makes the concept of value chain an achievable reality. Originality/value — This comparative study makes a unique contribution for both academicians and practitioners to gain a better understanding how the internet is adopted and utilized in different countries and to chart a course to capitalize on the technology from a value chain perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of service quality on US airlines’ economic performance. In order to cover this goal, four quality indexes related to the airline industry, and two economic performance indicators, revenues and return on investment (ROI), have been considered. Data from American airline companies from 2006 to 2013 have been used to determine if airlines’ profitability increases when service quality improves. Considering the effects on airlines’ profitability, the results confirm the positive and significant influence of service quality on the ROI of the US airline companies. A non-significant effect was found for airline revenues in relation to quality. No previous research in this area has been done so these findings could encourage airline companies to invest in quality, since this policy can have a positive return on their profitability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper addresses the issue of the transatlantic gap in research excellence between Europe and USA by examining the performance of individual universities. It introduces a notion of leadership in research excellence by combining a subjective definition of excellence with an objective one. It applies this definition to a novel dataset disaggregated for 251 Subject Categories, covering the 2007–2010 period, based on Scopus data. The paper shows that European universities are able to show excellence only in a few disciplinary areas each, while US universities are able to excel across the board. It explains this difference in terms of institutional differences in recruitment process and governance of universities. It discusses the European model of distributed excellence in terms of the recent rise of input competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a specific set of management practices and policies and policies (organizational behavior modification, the management principles, and the management process) on human resource outcomes and on individual employee performance. A comprehensive management practices and policies performance model is theorized and empirically assessed. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from a sample of full-time employees working in the Southern USA are analyzed using a partial least squares/structural equation modeling methodology. Findings – Considering the direct and indirect links among the constructs the authors conclude the following: organizational behavior modification, the management principles, and the management process combine to improve organizational commitment and job satisfaction; organizational commitment and job satisfaction combine to improve employee engagement and workplace optimism; and employee engagement and workplace optimism combine to enhance individual performance. Research limitations/implications – The model tested reflects the synergy created though the implementation of the management practices and policies and policies and the impact of that synergy on human resource outcomes and individual employee performance. This is the first assessment of this comprehensive model. Replication and verification of the model are suggested. Practical implications – Practitioners are provided with a framework for assessing the synergistic impact of the management practices and policies on human resource outcomes and individual employee performance. The theorized model and results provide practicing managers with a blueprint for the systematic implementation of the management practices and policies. Originality/value – A comprehensive management practices and policies performance model is proposed and empirically assessed. The results support the proposition that implementation of the management practices and policies leads to improved human resource outcomes and individual employee performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impact of the corporate governance, using a plethora of measures, on the performance of the US investment banks over the 2000-2012 period. This time period offers a unique set of information, related to the credit crunch, that we model using a dynamic panel threshold analysis to reveal new insights into the relationship between corporate governance and bank performance. Results show that the board size asserts a negative effect on performance consistent with the ' agency cost' hypothesis, particularly for banks with board size higher than ten members. Threshold analysis reveals that in the post-crisis period most of investment banks opt for boards with less than ten members, aiming to decrease agency conflicts that large boards suffer from. We also find a negative association between the operational complexity and performance. Moreover, the CEO power asserts a positive effect on performance consistent with the ' stewardship' hypothesis. In addition, an increase in the bank ownership held by the board has a negative impact on performance for banks below a certain threshold. On the other hand, for banks with board ownership above the threshold value this effect turns positive, indicating an alignment between shareholders' and managers' incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes an empirical model linking a retail firm’s inventory management effectiveness to superior competitive operational performance for specific product-line retail segments. Using 16 years of US retail firm financial data from the COMPUSTAT Fundamentals database across 12 distinct competitive retailing segments, we develop and test a time-series model that links several inventory management execution measures to the competitive operational outperformance of retail firms. The analysis presented provides strong evidence that measures of inventory management performance are not ‘one size fits all’ for the retail industry, and helps to explain why extant research has had difficulty linking inventory control policy effectiveness to operational performance advantages in retailing. We discuss the implications of these empirical findings on the study of inventory policy execution, and offer some guidance for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]