bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Is the standardization of human resource practices perceived as fair across national cultures?
Authors: Lunnan Randi , Elizabeth Mercer Traavik Laura 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions of fairness of a standardized performance appraisal in a multinational enterprise. The paper looks at the first step in understanding fairness perceptions by examining whether national culture influences the view on standardization itself and by comparing China, Lithuania, and Norway.Design/methodology/approachAn experiment using a scenario that outlined a performance appraisal tool in a multinational company is conducted. National culture and individual cultural values are the independent variables and the perception of fairness of the practice is the dependent variable. A sample of 80 management respondents from Lithuania, China, and Norway is taken.FindingsThe findings suggest that national culture influences perceptions of fairness of a standardized performance appraisal tool. Employees from countries undergoing profound economic and political change, that score low on the cultural dimension of self‐expression, tend to see the standardized tool as more fair than employees from a stable country high on self‐expression. Differences in fairness perception at the individual level are found, where respondents high on power distance had higher perceptions of fairness of a standardized tool. Both national and individual levels measures of culture affected perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is small; however, the differences are strong and indicate that perceptions of fairness vary. The experimental design allows good control, although it can limit generalizability to the field.Practical implicationsMultinational companies must understand that before analysis and choice of specific human resource practices it is important that they are aware of national and individual cultural differences towards standardization itself. Cultural differences affect reactions not only to the specific human practice but also to the standardization. Companies can use dimensions such as power distance and the survival/self‐expression dimension to understand the response of their employees. Being aware of this challenge may lead multinationals to pursue more fine‐tuned ways of communicating and implementing a standardized practice.Originality/valueUsing experiments to understand the implementation of practices in multinational organizations it is identified that, before deciding whether a practice should be locally adapted or standardized, the first step is to find out how standardization itself is perceived.
Limiting the brain drain
Authors: Gaiduk Roman , Gaiduk Julija , Fields Dail 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the roles of job‐ and organization‐related variables in explaining the attachment of Lithuanian employees to their current employer.Design/methodology/approachA total of 190 employees of a plastic manufacturing company located in an urban area in Lithuania completed a questionnaire containing 84 items describing job and organizational attributes. These data were analyzed using multivariate regression.FindingsIn multivariate analysis, job‐ and organization‐related variables each explained approximately equal proportions of the variance in employee attachment. When all of the job and organization‐related variables were used simultaneously to predict employee organizational attachment, only intrinsic job characteristics, opportunities for promotion and training, and communication to/from employees made significant unique contributions to explanation of employee organizational attachment. The job and organizational variables together explained 56 percent of the variance in attachment. While the organization‐related variables did not make a larger contribution to explanation of the variance in organizational attachment than to job‐related variables, organization‐related variables seem to explain how job‐related variables influence attachment.Practical implicationsThe paper provides practical insights to organizational managers in Lithuania about the relative importance of job‐ and organization‐related aspects of the work environment in predicting employee attachment to an organization. These insights may help reduce the current out‐migration trends of workers and help Lithuanian companies compete more effectively in the European Union (EU).Originality/valueOnly a few studies have examined the influence of different variables in determining the strength of employee‐employer relationships in transitioning countries of Eastern Europe such as Lithuania. The paper contributes value by empirically examining the applicability of prevailing models of the determinants of employee organizational attachment to the employment environment of Lithuania, a country transitioning from the Soviet era as a member of the EU.
Leadership in transformational Estonia
Authors: Tuulik Krista , Alas Ruth 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out whether the leadership expectations in independent Estonia differ from leadership expectations in other East European countries (EEC) and from other neighbouring countries and also to investigate actual leadership perception in Estonia.Design/methodology/approachTo find answers to the research questions stated above, two leadership surveys were carried out in Estonia in 2001 and 2003. The research carried out in 2001 concentrated on actual leader behaviour and the next wave of research, carried out in 2003, was devoted to desirable leader behaviour. The methodology of the surveys was based on the cross‐cultural Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program with its initial headquarters in the USA. The GLOBE research program is a world‐wide, multi‐phase and method project.FindingsThe crucial thing in the Estonian working environment during the transformation period was team spirit and team reinforcement. Unless Estonians are usually considered to be lonely spirits, the team in the working environment is considered to be very important. As opposed to other EEC countries, Estonia is more like other European countries when considering team orientation. The comparison of actual leadership patterns and desired leadership in Estonia showed that Estonians expect their leaders to be charismatic – value‐based, team‐oriented and participative. The leaders are not expected to be humane, self‐protective and autonomous – these styles are considered to inhibit outstanding leadership.Practical implicationsKnowledge of current research about the Estonian leadership style can be used in the training of future leaders in colleges and universities. With Estonia being a new member of the European Union, lots of companies will open their subsidiaries in this region if they have not done so already and information about culturally endorsed leadership profiles can be used while selecting and training people who will work with representatives of other cultures.Originality/valueThe leaders during the research period were considered to be charismatic – value‐based and team‐oriented, but not participative and too autonomous.
Social conflicts and the culture of cooperation in transitional society
Authors: Lakis Juozas 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the complexity of post‐Communist transition with regard to the processes of creating a legal and institutional environment, which will predispose social actors to cooperate to solve social problems and neutralize disparities. The paper also seeks to consider the shift from social destruction (everyone fighting with one an other) to social collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThe focus of the paper is on the scope of the simultaneously functioning political, social and moral extremes. They are seen as the key attributes of chaotic social transition and as material for creating cooperative links.FindingsPolitical and social transformation running simultaneously, and followed by legal and administrative modernization, provoked formerly unknown social conflicts in the transitional society. The case of Lithuania shows that the old methods for dealing with new conflicts were not suitable. Society became fragmented. Social costs of disintegration were high but not equal, when compared internationally. Interdependence between functionality, innovative and cultural potential of the state, and its capability to regulate conflicts and social controversies had been brought into political debates and public discussions after transition had been in progress for several years. This was a signal that political parties and the most influential social players became concerned about social outcomes of the reforms. Developing a new legal and institutional environment, empowering cooperation and conflict management in social interactions, is perceived as an indicator of the progress of the continuing transition.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of its nature and size, the research does not develop insights into the processes which were in some sense dependent on, and simultaneously became incentives for, the culture of cooperation in society; for example, dynamics of cooperation and competition among authorities and citizens, business and politics.Originality/valueThough great interest is shown in transitional processes in social and humanitarian studies, the rise of conflicts in society as well as the limitations of constructive ways of dealing with such conflicts are not yet the focus of social investigation.
Iron deficiency and its impact on academic achievement
Authors: Li Yun 
Published: May 2009

PurposeIt is widely accepted that good health and education are important components of human capability. Although China has made encouraging progress in education and health causes, the role of poor health as an intervening factor in education has not been fully recognized. Iron deficiency is the major micronutrient deficiency encountered by children and adolescents. Many medical and social studies have found a negative correlation between iron deficiency and children physical growth and cognitive development. However, few of the existing literatures work to the conclusion of a causal relationship considering the endogenity problem in the estimation of a human capital model. The purpose of this paper is to study the iron status of elementary school children living in the poor countryside of western China and its educational consequence with the application of instrumental variable (IV) estimation.Design/methodology/approachAn analytical framework of academic achievement production is adopted in the paper to empirically identify the relationship between iron deficiency and academic achievement to estimate the impact.FindingsUsing a sample of 45,549 school children from Gansu, the paper finds that around 86 per cent of the sample children are iron deficient and 40 per cent of the sample children are suffering from iron deficiency anaemia. The use of IV is innovative in identifying the endogenous health variable, namely iron deficiency.Originality/valueThis paper enriches existing studies on children health and education. IV estimation indicates that iron deficiency has a significant adverse impact on school children academic achievement. The paper suggests health intervention, such as iron intake fortification, as a possible measure for education cause.
Financial repression in China's agricultural economy
Authors: He Lin , Turvey Calum 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not financial repression exists in the saving and investment activities of farm households in rural areas of China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper empirically investigates repression in rural China using the McKinnon‐Shaw model and microeconomic data combined with lending and savings rates and ceilings by rural credit cooperatives.FindingsThe paper finds only limited evidence of a repression dominated by savings, while investment response appears to be, at least on average, normal or unrepressed. More specifically, the paper finds that the relationship between growth and investment is consistent with an unrepressed economy but savings do show evidence of repression.Originality/valueThe political focus of economic reformation in China has been one of rapid economic growth in urban areas and a neglect of the agriculture sector. This focus on urban growth has led some Chinese scholars to speculate that the residual impact is a repressed agricultural and rural economy, at least in the context of McKinnon and Shaw framework. However, such speculations have not previously been verified. This paper presents the first attempt to determine the relationships exclusively in the context of the agricultural economy.
Impact of credit disbursed by commercial banks on the productivity of wheat in Faisalabad district
Authors: Khalid Bashir Muhammad , Gill Zulfiqar Ahmad , Hassan Sarfraz 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe agriculture sector is the single largest contributor to the national income (gross domestic product – (GDP)) of Pakistan. Wheat is the main staple diet of the people of Pakistan. It contributes 13.7 percent to the value added in agriculture and 3.0 percent to GDP. Given its importance to the national economy, the government attaches high priority to raising agricultural productivity and farmer's income. For this purpose, financing for agricultural sector is very much needed and important. Like other institutional sources, commercial banks also provide agricultural credit. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of credit disbursed by them on the productivity of wheat.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data were collected from 114 randomly selected respondents through a well‐structured interview schedule. Cobb Douglous function was used to calculate the impact of credit on the productivity.FindingsThe coefficient of credit was highly significant, which showed that credit has a positive impact on the productivity of wheat and hence is an important tool for improving the productivity of agriculture sector.Originality/valueThe study in hand will be useful for the planners who are responsible for allocating funds for the agricultural sector in general and for wheat growers in particular. The recommendations of the study will go a long way to mitigating the problems being faced by the small farmers of Pakistan in securing institutional credit.
China's rural poverty line and the determinants of rural poverty
Authors: Wang Xiuqing , Liu Juan , Yao Shujie , Xin Xian 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to yield more plausible rural poverty lines for China and then assess the determinants of rural poverty using these newly revised rural poverty lines.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper it is argued that the Chinese official poverty line substantially misestimates the actual rural poverty situations. The poverty lines are derived with Ravallion's method with a rural household survey data of China's two provinces, Hubei, and Inner Mongolia. Poverty determinants using the derived as well as the other rural poverty lines are compared.FindingsThe results indicate that the poverty lines derived from a pan‐country level food bundle cannot fully reflect the regional poverty situation. Merely adjusting rural poverty lines at the country‐level consumer price index without fully considering changes in the structure of food consumption and food prices with respect to different regions may also lead to wrong poverty estimates. The comparisons between the model regression results using the newly derived poverty lines with the alternative rural poverty lines suggest that the current literature uses the World Bank or the Chinese official rural poverty lines to assess how the rural poverty determinants might yield implausible policy implications.Practical implicationsChina needs to adjust the rural poverty lines with full consideration to the structure of food consumption and food prices with respect to different regions.Originality/valueIt is indicated that the Chinese official poverty line substantially misestimates the actual rural poverty situations in China and this in turn affects the associated policy implications.
The globalisation of the wine industry: new world, old world and China
Authors: Thorpe Michael 
Published: May 2009

PurposeAs the Chinese economy continues to develop, rising incomes for many people has meant significant shifts in consumption patterns. Over the past several years, per capita wine consumption in China has doubled. Although off a relatively low base, this still represents a significant sales volume. At the same time, the wine industry in the country has been undergoing restructuring with China now emerging as a major producer in world terms. These developments have been occurring at a time when the global wine industry has become increasingly globalised with so‐called new world (NW) suppliers challenging established European companies in existing and emerging wine markets. In this context, the paper aims to look at the possible threats as well as opportunities presented by China as a relatively new player in the market.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews recent production and consumption trends in the world wine market. The changing patterns and growing volume of global wine trade is then assessed in light of the significant structural changes occurring in the industry in both importing and exporting countries. Recent developments in the wine market in China are identified and possible future implications for the world market are discussed.FindingsNW wine producers are increasingly encroaching on traditional wine consuming markets and gaining advantage in new and growing markets. One result has been an expanding and increasingly competitive global market place. China, meanwhile, is seen to have considerable potential for growth in terms of wine consumption, while at the same time posing a possible threat to existing exporters in third markets.Originality/valueKnowledge of emerging trends in wine markets and likely future developments are important for industry participants as well as policy makers in countries where wine is an increasingly important traded commodity. The paper provides an important contribution to the understanding of the global nature of the wine industry and the potential influence of China as both a major producer and consumer of wine.
Evaluation of new socialist countryside development in China
Authors: Guo Xiang‐Yu , Yu Zhi‐Gang , Schmit Todd , Henehan Brian , Li Dan 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of new socialist countryside (NSC) construction among different provinces in China. China prioritized a NSC reform policy in 2005 to address the growing disparities in incomes and living standards between rural and urban populations. These policies are evaluated to measure the extent of effective reform concerning farmer, agricultural, and rural economic development.Design/methodology/approachAn index system is developed and factor analysis is performed to describe the relative contributions of economic reform. Aggregate index scores are computed to rank provincial progress.FindingsRankings indicate the progression of rural economic reform is moderate, at best, and mostly isolated to well‐developed eastern provinces. Reform growth is also uneven across similarly rural provinces, indicating a need for continued attention in these poorer areas.Originality/valueContinued applications of the index and scoring procedure developed here will provide useful insights as time progresses and reform efforts continue.
Rigid growth characteristic of demand for oil in China's agro‐production
Authors: Wang Lihong , Tian Zhihong 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe demand for oil in agricultural production increases continuously with the world oil price soaring, reflecting a rigid growth characteristic, but there are no clear reasons for this. The purpose of this paper is to assess the essential reasons of this issue in theoretical and empirical perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops the model of derived demand for petroleum in agro‐production; analyzes the effect on agricultural labor‐machinery due to the changes in relative price of input factors; and reveals the reasons for the rigid growth of the demand for farm diesel; as well as estimates the substitution of agricultural machine for labor.FindingsThe results indicate that the rigid growth characteristic of the demand for farm diesel is due to the adjustment of the product and factor markets; and the most important reason is the changes in structure of the agro‐production inputs caused by the relative soaring price of agricultural labor‐machinery.Practical implicationsThe government should attach importance to its impact on farmers and take effective measures to insure the stable development of agricultural production.Originality/valueThis research investigates the main reasons for the rigid growth characteristic of demand for oil in China's agro‐production from a novelty perspective. The proposed conceptual model is unique, it analyzes the substitution of agricultural mechanical for labor from the perspective of changes in relative price, and selects the two level constant elasticity substitution production functions to estimate the substitution of agricultural machinery for labor.
A study on labor mobility and human capital spillover
Authors: Zhang Jinghua , Wu Fangwei , Zhang Deyuan , Wang Yongmin 
Published: May 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper, starting from a theoretical framework, is to analyze the spillover effects of human capital brought by labor mobility and their influence on the public education investment.Design/methodology/approachBased on the endogenous growth theory, the paper establishes a regional human capital spillover model to examine the spillover effects of human capital coming along with the regional labor mobility and the changes of public education investment decision brought by the spillover effects in China.FindingsIt has been found that the regional mobility of labor has made the developed areas gain the spillover benefits of human capital investment from the underdeveloped areas with their superiority of social and economic environment and restrained the incentives for public education investment in the underdeveloped areas, thus the different areas walk on a different growth path, with the expansion of the difference in the economic and education investment growth.Originality/valueThis paper analyzes the possible influences from the spillover of human capital on the economic growth and educational investment and finds a high possibility for the underdeveloped areas to get into a “low development trap” of education investment. The key to solving the problem is to internalize the externalities by the active public policy, in order to realize equal education, rational investment and balanced development.