bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Empirical investigation of predictors of success in an MBA programme
Authors: Gupta Atul , Turek Joseph 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The twofold purpose of this study was to determine if selected variables were predictors of: student performance in the MBA programme; and student performance on the MBA MFT exam.

Design/methodology/approach
– This study focuses on MBA graduates at a US university who have successfully completed the entire programme requirements. Real student performance data, collected from 2007 to 2012, were analysed using multivariate regression techniques.

Findings
– Results suggest that academic performance in an MBA programme is positively related to undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and GMAT exam score, two of the most common admissions criteria in use today. Additionally, performance in an initial skills-building course exhibits a strong positive correlation with performance in subsequent MBA courses. With respect to performance on the Major Field Test (MFT-MBA), our results indicate that students who do well in the MBA programme tend to score at a higher level than those with lower overall GPAs.

Research limitations/implications
– The research study was limited to MBA graduates at a business school in central Virginia. Further studies can determine whether differences in predictors of success in the MBA programme from those found in this study might exist.

Practical implications
– Results of this study provide practical implication for MBA programme curriculum development and assist MBA admission committees in designing MBA programme admission criteria.

Originality/value
– An extensive literature exists about the variables that influence the performance on the MFT exam at the undergraduate level. This is the first study to explore these relationships at the graduate level.
Farm wages and public works
Authors: Mahajan Kanika 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) on farm sector wage rate. This identification strategy rests on the assumption that all districts across India would have had similar wage trends in the absence of the program. The author argues that this assumption may not be true due to non-random allocation of districts to the program’s three phases across states and different economic growth paths of the states post the implementation of NREGS.Design/methodology/approach– To control for overall macroeconomic trends, the author allows for state-level time fixed effects to capture the differences in growth trajectories across districts due to changing economic landscape in the parent-state over time. The author also estimates the expected farm sector wage growth due to the increased public work employment provision using a theoretical model.Findings– The results, contrary to the existing studies, do not find support for a significantly positive impact of NREGS treatment on private cultivation wage rate. The theoretical model also shows that an increase in public employment work days explains very little of the total growth in cultivation wage post 2004.Originality/value– This paper looks specifically at farm sector wage growth and the possible impact of NREGS on it, accounting for state specific factors in shaping farm wages. Theoretical estimates are presented to overcome econometric limitations.
Structural change and the changing relationship between the industrial and the service sector
Authors: Roy Amrita 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to examine the relationship between the industrial and the service sector outputs at the aggregate level and for different sub-services in India and also tries to find out whether the relationship is changing over time.Design/methodology/approach– This paper studies a panel of 16 major Indian states in India over the period 1980-2011. Using an econometric analysis, it proceeds to estimate the increase in inter-linkage between the output of the service sector and the output of the industrial sector. This study considers a variable coefficient model where the output elasticity of the service sector with respect to the output of the industrial sector changes with time. The changing element here is considered to be the result of the changing structure of production within these industries.Findings– It has been observed that the output of the services sector at the aggregate level and the output of the industrial sector are highly correlated, and demand generated for services output from the industrial sector over the period 1993-2011 is mostly due to the changing structure of production within these sectors.Originality/value– This paper takes the initiative to estimate the increase in inter-linkage between the output of the service sector and the output of the industrial sector resulting from the changing structure of production within the industrial and the service sectors.
Sustainable supply chain management
Authors: Tseng MingLang , Lim Ming , Wong Wai Peng 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– Assessing a measure of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) performance is currently a key challenge. The literature on SSCM is very limited and performance measures need to have a systematic framework. The recently developed balanced scorecard (BSC) is a measurement system that requires a balanced set of financial and non-financial measures. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the SSCM performance based on four aspects i.e. sustainability, internal operations, learning and growth, and stakeholder.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper developed a BSC hierarchical network for SSCM in a close-loop hierarchical structure. A generalized quantitative evaluation model based on the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and Analytical Network Process (ANP) were then used to consider both the interdependence among measures and the fuzziness of subjective measures in SSCM.

Findings
– The results of this study indicate that the top-ranking aspect to consider is that of stakeholders, and the top five criteria are green design, corporate sustainability, strategic planning for environmental management, supplier cost-saving initiatives and market share.

Originality/value
– The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, this paper provides valuable support for supply chain stakeholders regarding the nature of network hierarchical relations with qualitative and quantitative scales. Second, this paper improves practical performance and enhances management effectiveness for SSCM.
An intellectual capital maturity model (ICMM) to improve strategic management in European universities
Authors: Secundo Giustina , Elena- Perez Susana , Martinaitis Žilvinas , Leitner Karl-Heinz 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The public sector is one of the least addressed areas of intellectual capital (IC) research. Universities are an interesting area of investigation because they are considered critical players in the knowledge-based society. The purpose of this paper is to develop a more general, flexible and comprehensive “IC Maturity Model” for Universities (ICMM), a framework for defining and implementing IC measurement and management approaches, as part of the whole strategic management of universities. Thus, the ICMM proposes a staged framework to initiate a step-by-step change within a university based upon its current level of IC management maturity. The different steps of maturity might be an answer to cope with the huge diversity of European universities, some of which have strong managerial orientation, while others follow collegial forms of governance.

Design/methodology/approach
– The research approach is based on what has been called the “third stage” of IC research (Dumay and Garanina, 2013), focused on the practices of IC approaches rather than on its theoretical conceptualisation. The ICMM has been developed under the “Quality Assurance in Higher Education through Habilitation and Auditing” project framework, initiated by the Executive Agency for Higher Education and Research Funding of Romania (EUFISCDI). Three Mutual Learning Workshops (MLWs) were organised as a mean to bring together 15 international experts and practitioners to share their views and experience on IC reporting and setting up task forces.

Findings
– An ICMM, which is a flexible model of implementing IC approaches within public universities, is developed. The ICMM provides a theoretical continuum along which the process of maturity can be developed incrementally from one level to the next, moving from IC data collection, awareness of IC, adjustment of IC specific indicators, measurement of IC, reporting of IC, interpretation and decision making, strategy and planning.

Research limitations/implications
– Future research needs to conduct empirical studies in universities to generalise the effectiveness of the ICMM model and guidelines for implementation.

Practical implications
– The ICMM provides a staged framework to initiate a step-by-step change within a university based upon its current level of IC management maturity and its IC value creation dynamics. It allows universities to follow different paths, not necessarily a linear sequence.

Originality/value
– Although several methods for IC measurement and management exist, most of these cannot accommodate the trade-off between the comparability aims and the efforts to capture the institution’s uniqueness when designing an IC model.
Graduate identity development in South Africa
Authors: Dunne Ilka , Bosch Anita 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the misunderstandings that hamper the graduate identity development process of black South African graduates in the first year of work. The authors introduce the role of an independent mediator in supporting identity development in a graduate development programme (GDP). The independent mediator mediates between graduate and manager when misunderstandings occur that inhibit the warranting process during professional identity development.

Design/methodology/approach
– In seeking to understand the graduate transition from student to professional, the authors used identity studies as the foundation from which to track a group of 21 graduates on a year-long GDP, in a financial institution in Johannesburg, South Africa. A model of emergent graduate identity was utilised to gain insight into the warranting process and associated behaviours that graduates employ in their interactions with others in the workplace.

Findings
– As warranting is based on people’s own assumptions and beliefs about a particular situation or role, misunderstandings can occur during the warranting process when graduates are determining their professional identity, and managers are either affirming of disaffirming this identity. These misunderstandings were exacerbated by the fact that the graduates were often South African multi-cultural, first-generation professionals who lacked insight into and experience of corporate dynamics, this impacted on how they found their place in the organisation. Both graduates and managers were often not equipped to deal with cultural, racial, and other differences. When the graduate programme manager stepped in to play the additional role of independent mediator, helping to mediate misinterpretations during the identity formation process, the negative impact of misunderstandings was lessened, and graduates transitioned to a professional identity with greater ease. Managers also learned about managing multi-cultural individuals and their own, often limiting, experiences and worldviews.

Practical implications
– This highlights the value of a third-party intervention in graduate identity transitions, particularly in contexts where the graduate has little or no experience of what it means to be professional, and where managers are not equipped to deal with people who come from backgrounds that differ vastly from their own.

Originality/value
– The role of a third-party in shaping the identities of graduates during the identity warranting process, referred to as the independent mediator in this paper, has not been presented in research before. Studies of this nature would give us insight into how best to support graduate identity development and improve the design of GDPs.
Can managers coach their teams too much?
Authors: Buljac-Samardzic Martina , van Woerkom Marianne 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The relationship between managerial coaching and team performance may be mediated by team reflection because coaching is often thought to lead to reflection, which has been found to lead to improved performance. In contrast, this relationship might be moderated by team reflection, because poorly reflective teams are more likely to depend on coaching than highly reflective teams. The purpose of this paper is to test these rival hypotheses.Design/methodology/approach– The authors employed a longitudinal survey method at two points in time in two long-term care organizations. Team members were asked to rate the level of managerial coaching and team reflection. Team managers were asked to evaluate team performance.Findings– Team reflection turned out to be a moderator and not a mediator in the relationship between managerial coaching and team performance. Only the performance of poorly reflective teams benefits from managerial coaching.Practical implications– Excessive coaching of highly reflective teams may be a waste of the energy and time of both managers and teams and may even harm team efficiency. Therefore, team managers would be wise to estimate the team’s level of reflection in order to adjust their coaching interventions accordingly. Future research should explore how managers can be supported in making a valid assessment of the team’s reflective capabilities and in adjusting their coaching interventions accordingly.Originality/value– This paper sheds light on the relationship between managerial coaching and team performance by testing contradicting explanations regarding the role of team reflection.
Migration timing and its determinants for nocturnal migratory birds during autumn migration
Authors: La Sorte Frank A. , Hochachka Wesley M. , Farnsworth Andrew , Sheldon Daniel , Fink Daniel , Geevarghese Jeffrey , Winner Kevin , Van Doren Benjamin M. , Kelling Steve 
Published: April 2015

Summary

Migration is a common strategy used by birds that breed in seasonal environments, and multiple environmental and biological factors determine the timing of migration. How these factors operate in combination during autumn migration, which is considered to be under weaker time constraints relative to spring migration, is not clear.

Here, we examine the patterns and determinants of migration timing for nocturnal migrants during autumn migration in the north‐eastern USA using nocturnal reflectivity data from 12 weather surveillance radar stations and modelled diurnal probability of occurrence for 142 species of nocturnal migrants. We first model the capacity of seasonal atmospheric conditions (wind and precipitation) and ecological productivity (vegetation greenness) to predict autumn migration intensity. We then test predictions, formulated under optimal migration theory, on how migration timing should be related to assemblage‐level estimates of body size and total migration distance within the context of dietary guild (insectivore and omnivore) and level of dietary plasticity during autumn migration.

Our results indicate seasonal declines in ecological productivity delineate the beginning and end of peak migration, whose intensity is best predicted by the velocity of winds at migration altitudes. Insectivorous migrants departed earlier in the season and, consistent with our predictions, large‐bodied and long‐distance insectivorous migrants departed the earliest. Contrary to our predictions, large‐bodied and some long‐distance omnivorous migrants departed later in the season, patterns that were replicated in part by insectivorous migrants that displayed dietary plasticity during autumn migration.

Our findings indicate migration timing in the region is dictated by optimality strategies, modified based on the breadth and flexibility of migrant's foraging diets, with declining ecological productivity defining possible resource thresholds during which migration occurs when winds at migration altitudes are mild. These observations provide the basis to assess how avian migration strategies may be affected by adjustments in seasonal patterns of atmospheric circulation and ecological productivity that may occur under global climate change.
Antagonistic effect of helpers on breeding male and female survival in a cooperatively breeding bird
Authors: Paquet Matthieu , Doutrelant Claire , Hatchwell Ben J. , Spottiswoode Claire N. , Covas Rita 
Published: April 2015

Summary

Cooperatively breeding species are typically long lived and hence, according to theory, are expected to maximize their lifetime reproductive success through maximizing survival. Under these circumstances, the presence of helpers could be used to lighten the effort of current reproduction for parents to achieve higher survival.

In addition, individuals of different sexes and ages may follow different strategies, but whether male and female breeders and individuals of different ages benefit differently from the presence of helpers has often been overlooked. Moreover, only one study that investigated the relationship between parental survival and the presence of helpers used capture–mark–recapture analyses (CMR). These methods are important since they allow us to account for the non‐detection of individuals that are alive in the population but not detected, and thus, the effects on survival and recapture probability to be disentangled.

Here, we used multi‐event CMR methods to investigate whether the number of helpers was associated with an increase in survival probability for male and female breeders of different ages in the sociable weaver Philetairus socius. In this species, both sexes reduce their feeding rate in the presence of helpers. We therefore predicted that the presence of helpers should increase the breeders' survival in both sexes, especially early in life when individuals potentially have more future breeding opportunities. In addition, sociable weaver females reduce their investment in eggs in the presence of helpers, so we predicted a stronger effect of helpers on female than male survival.

As expected we found that females had a higher survival probability when breeding with more helpers. Unexpectedly, however, male survival probability decreased with increasing number of helpers. This antagonistic effect diminished as the breeders grew older.

These results illustrate the complexity of fitness costs and benefits underlying cooperative behaviours and how these may vary with the individuals' sex and age. They also highlight the need for further studies on the sex‐specific effects of helpers on survival.
Seed size and the evolution of leaf defences
Authors: Kraft Thomas S. , Wright S. Joseph , Turner Ian , Lucas Peter W. , Oufiero Christopher E. , Supardi Noor Md. Nur , Sun I‐Fang , Dominy Nathaniel J. 
Published: April 2015

SummaryLeaf defences vary widely among tree species, affecting rates of herbivory, survival and reproduction.Two contrasting hypotheses account for variation in leaf defences among species. The first predicts that a slow life history, which is characteristic of larger seeded species adapted to resource‐limited environments, is associated with well‐defended leaves. The second, apparency theory, predicts that elevated leaf defences are necessitated for species that are more detectable to herbivores.Here we use comparative methods and a global data set to test (i) the relationship between seed size and leaf defences and (ii) the relationship between clumping (spatial apparency) and leaf defences.We found that seed size was positively related to leaf fracture toughness, but not phenolics or tannin concentration and that spatial aggregation was unrelated to leaf defences.Synthesis. Our results suggest that larger seed size and increased leaf toughness are correlated as part of a trait syndrome associated with a slow, resource‐limited life history, not clumped dispersion and increased spatial apparency.
The impact of decoupled payments on U.S. cropland values
Authors: Ifft Jennifer , Kuethe Todd , Morehart Mitch 
Published: April 2015

AbstractAn extensive literature has shown that various farm programs may influence the value of farmland, but other studies have not examined the cropland price effects of direct, or decoupled, payments separate from countercyclical payments. This study uses nationally representative confidential field‐level panel data with farmer‐reported per‐acre land values. We analyze the impact of decoupled and other farm program payments on farmland values. Using a fixed effects model and controlling for various factors that influence farmland values, we find that an additional dollar of decoupled payments has a large and statistically significant impact on farmland values of about $18 per acre. These results are comparable with similar studies undertaken in Europe.
Early‐life house dust mite allergens, childhood mite sensitization, and respiratory outcomes
Authors: Casas L. , Sunyer J. , Tischer C. , Gehring U. , Wickman M. , Garcia‐Esteban R. , Lehmann I. , Kull I. , Reich A. , Lau S. , Wijga A. , Antó J. M. , Nawrot T. S. , Heinrich J. , Keil T. , Torrent M. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractBackgroundExposure to indoor allergens during early life may play a role in the development of the immune system and inception of asthma.ObjectiveTo describe the house dust mite (HDM) allergen concentrations in bedroom dust during early life and to evaluate its associations with HDM sensitization, wheezing, and asthma, from birth to school age, in 5 geographically spread European birth cohorts.MethodsWe included 4334 children from INMA‐Menorca (Spain), BAMSE (Sweden), LISAplus and MAS (Germany), and PIAMA‐NHS (the Netherlands). Dust samples were collected from bedrooms during early life and analyzed for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p1) and Dermatophagoides farinae (Der f1). HDM concentrations were divided into four categories. Sensitization was determined by specific IgE. Wheezing and asthma information up to 8/10 years was collected through questionnaires. We performed mixed‐effects logistic regression models and expressed associations as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals.ResultsHouse dust mite concentrations varied across cohorts. Mean allergen concentrations were highest in INMA‐Menorca (geometric mean (GM) Der p1 = 3.3 μg/g) and LISAplus (GM Der f1 = 2.1 μg/g) and lowest in BAMSE (GM Der p1 = 0.1 μg/g, Der f1 = 0.3 μg/g). Moderate and high HDM concentrations were significantly (P‐values < 0.05) associated with 50–90% higher prevalence of HDM sensitization. No significant associations were observed with respiratory outcomes.ConclusionOur study based on geographically spread regions, a large sample size, and a wide range of allergen concentration shows that HDM allergen concentrations vary across regions and that exposure during early life plays a role in the development of allergic sensitization but not in the development of respiratory outcomes.