Yang, Jian, Zhou, Yinggang, and Wang, Zijun
Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 33, Issue 4, p. 670-680

Using monthly stock and bond return data in the past 150 years (1855–2001) for both the US and the UK, this study documents time-varying stock-bond correlation over macroeconomic conditions (the business cycle, the inflation environment and monetary policy stance). There are different patterns of time variation in stock-bond correlations over the business cycle between US and UK, which implies that bonds may be a better hedge against stock market risk and offer more diversification benefits to stock investors in the US than in the UK. Further, there is a general pattern across both the US and the UK during the post-1923 subperiod and during the whole sample period: higher stock–bond correlations tend to follow higher short rates and (to a lesser extent) higher inflation rates.

Labels: Finance, Yang

James R. Morris and John P. Daley
London: Chapman and Hall. 2009

A properly structured financial model can provide decision makers with a powerful planning tool that helps them identify the consequences of their decisions before they are put into practice. Introduction to Financial Models for Management and Planning enables professionals and students to learn how to develop and use computer-based models for financial planning. Providing critical tools for the financial toolbox, this volume shows how to use these tools to build successful models.

Placing a strong emphasis on the structure of models, the book focuses on developing models that are consistent with the theory of finance and, at the same time, are practical and usable. The authors introduce powerful tools that are imperative to the financial management of the operating business. These include interactive cash budgets and pro forma financial statements that balance even under the most extreme assumptions, valuation techniques, forecasting techniques that range from simple averages to time series methods, Monte Carlo simulation, linear programming, and optimization.

The tools of financial modeling can be used to solve the problems of planning the firm’s investment and financing decisions. These include evaluating capital projects, planning the financing mix for new investments, capital budgeting under capital constraints, optimal capital structure, cash budgeting, working capital management, mergers and acquisitions, and constructing efficient security portfolios.

While the primary emphasis is on models related to corporate financial management, the book also introduces readers to a variety of models related to security markets, stock and bond investments, portfolio management, and options.

This authoritative book supplies broad-based coverage and free access to @Risk software for Monte Carlo simulation, making it an indispensible text for professionals and students in financial management.

Labels: Daley, Finance, Morris

Colbert, Gary, Murray, Dennis, and Nieschwietz, Robert
Journal of Risk Research Vol. 12, Issue 2, p. 199-208

Previous research has examined the extent to which decisions made in binary choice situations are consistent with expected value. Li (2003) reports that decisions in multiple-play gambles are well explained by expected value, while single-play gambles are not consistent with expected value. The present study extends previous work by examining the use of expected value in the pricing of gambles. The results show that subjects' pricing decisions are much more consistent with expected value in multiple-play situations than in single-play situations, particularly when the subjects are provided with a simple decision aid (i.e. a very brief description of expected value and the calculated amount of the expected value). Additionally, substantially fewer subjects in our study made decisions consistent with expected value than in Li's (2003) study, suggesting that binary choice studies may overstate the extent of expected value usage.

Labels: Accounting, Colbert, Murray, Nieschwietz

Gregg, Dawn G. and Walczak, Steven
Electronic Commerce Research In Press

This study measures the value of website quality in terms of its impact on trust, intention to transact and price premiums. Prior research on online auctions has focused on the use of reputation systems for building trust in online auction vendors and subsequently to generate price premiums. This study examines the extent to which trust can be induced by improving the quality of online auction listings. A survey of 701 eBay users is conducted which compares the price premiums of two nearly identical online auction businesses, one that has online auction listings with a perceived high quality and the other that has substantially lower perceived quality. Results of this study indicate that website quality can explain 49 % of the variation in the trust for eBay sellers. In fact, it shows that sellers with good website quality are all perceived to be equally trustworthy regardless of their eBay reputation; whereas sellers with poor website quality are not perceived to be trustworthy even if they have a high eBay reputation score. The results also show that the trust resulting from increased website quality increases intention to transact and results in price premiums of 12% (on average) for sellers with higher quality listings. Theories from marketing, economics, and social psychology are used to explain why website quality induces trust in unknown vendors without providing any concrete evidence regarding the vendor's past history.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems, Walczak

James R. Morris
Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis In Press

Labels: Finance, Morris

Michael Mannino, Yanjuan Yang, and Young Ryu
Decision Support Systems Vol. 46, Issue 3, p. 743-751

We present an empirical comparison of classification algorithms when training data contains attribute noise levels not representative of field data. To study algorithm sensitivity, we develop an innovative experimental design using noise situation, algorithm, noise level, and training set size as factors. Our results contradict conventional wisdom indicating that investments to achieve representative noise levels may not be worthwhile. In general, over representative training noise should be avoided while under representative training noise is less of a concern. However, interactions among algorithm, noise level, and training set size indicate that these general results may not apply to particular practice situations.

Labels: InformationSystems, Mannino

Cabrera, Juan, Wang, Tao and Yang, Jian
Journal of Futures Markets Vol. 29, Issue 2, p. 137-156

Using intraday data, this study investigates the contribution to the price discovery of Euro and Japanese Yen exchange rates in three foreign exchange markets based on electronic trading systems: the CME GLOBEX regular futures, E-mini futures, and the EBS interdealer spot market. Contrary to evidence in equity markets and more recent evidence in foreign exchange markets, the spot market is found to consistently lead the price discovery process for both currencies during the sample period. Furthermore, E-mini futures do not contribute more to the price discovery than the electronically traded regular futures.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Nguyen, C., Mannino, M., Gardner, K., and Cios, K.
Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Vol. 6, Issue 1, p. 203 - 222

We introduce a new hybrid algorithm, ClusFCM, which combines techniques of clustering and fuzzy cognitive maps for prediction of protein function. ClusFCM takes advantage of protein homologies and protein interaction network to improve low recall predictions associated with existing prediction methods. ClusFCM exploits the fact that proteins of known function tend to cluster together and deduce funtions not only through their direct interaction with other known proteins, but also from other proteins in the network. We use ClusFCM to annotate protein functions for cerevisiae (yeast), Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) and Drosophila melanogaster (fly) using protein-protein interaction data from the General Repository for Interaction Datasets (GRID) database and functional labels from Gene Ontology (GO) terms. The algorithm’s performance is compared with four state of the art methods for function prediction – Majority, 2 statistics, Markov random field, and Functional Flow using measures of Matthews correlation coefficient, harmonic mean, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The results indicate that ClusFCM predicts protein functions with high recall while not lowering precision.

Labels: InformationSystems, Mannino

Blair Gifford
Journal of the International Hospital Federation In Press

The paper will also be presented at the Academy of International Business annual conference.

Labels: Gifford, HealthManagement

Sarah Kovoor-Misra
Journal of Organizational Change Management In Press

Labels: Kovoor-Misra, Management

Lawrence F. Cunningham, Clifford E. Young, James Gerlach
Journal of Services Marketing Vol. 23, Issue 1, p. 11-23

Purpose - Few marketing studies look at service classifications for self-service technologies (SSTs) and none directly compare consumer-based perceptions of traditional services to SSTs. To fill this gap, this study aims to examine how customers perceived traditional services and SSTs on service classifications criteria proposed by Lovelock, Bowen and Bell.
Design/methodology/approach - In two separate studies consumer ratings for each classification method on each service were obtained. Using multi-dimensional scaling (MDS), 13 traditional services and 12 SSTs were separately mapped onto a perceptual space of service classifications.
Findings - The comparison of the two perceptual spaces reveals that consumers viewed the classifications of convenience, person/object, and delivery for SSTs differently than that for traditional services. The classifications of traditional services were represented by two dimensions of customization/standardization and person/object. In contrast, the classifications of SSTs were represented by two dimensions of customization/standardization and separability/inseparability. Thus the description of the underlying dimensions of services varied by traditional services or SSTs.
Research limitations/implications - It is possible that the results of the MDS were influenced by the use of preset classifications. Results may also be influenced by the authors' choice of MDS method. Further research is needed regarding the classification of SSTs and the use of these classifications for SST design.
Originality/value - This research extends previous consumer-based classification research by including SSTs. The findings identified separate typologies for SSTs and traditional services. The typologies should be of interest to both researchers and managers who are interested in how SSTs are perceived by consumers.

Labels: Cunningham, Gerlach, InformationSystems, Marketing, Young

Aguinis, Herman, Pierce, Charles, Bosco, Frank and Muslin, Ivan S.
Organizational Research Methods Vol. 12, Issue 1, p. 69-112

The authors conducted a content analysis of the 193 articles published in the first 10 volumes (1998 to 2007) of Organizational Research Methods (ORM). The most popular quantitative topics are surveys, temporal issues, and electronic/Web research (research design); validity, reliability, and level of analysis of the dependent variable (measurement); and multiple regression/correlation, structural equation modeling, and multilevel research (data analysis). The most popular qualitative topics are interpretive, policy capturing, and action research (research design); surveys and reliability (measurement); and interpretive, policy capturing, and content analysis (data analysis). The authors found upward trends in the attention devoted to surveys and electronic/Web research, interpretive, and action research (research design); level of analysis of the dependent variable and validity (measurement); and multilevel research (data analysis). Implications for training doctoral students, retooling researchers, future research on methodology, the advancement of the organizational sciences, and the extent to which ORM is fulfilling its mission are discussed.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

C. Marlene Fiol, Michael G. Pratt, and Edward J. O'Connor
The Academy of Management Review Vol. 34, Issue 1, p. 32 - 55

Identity is often at the heart of ongoing intergroup conflicts in organizations. Drawing from theories of conflict management, social identity, and organizational identification, we develop the intractable identity conflict resolution model, which delineates a multiphase process by which the conflicting parties' identities shift in order to permit eventual intergroup harmony.

Labels: Fiol, Management, O'Connor

B. Alidaee, G.A. Kochenberger, K. Lewis, M. Lewis, and H. Wang
International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research Vol. 1, Issue 1-2, p. 9 - 19

A common approach to many combinatorial problems is to model them as 0/1 linear programs. This approach enables the use of standard linear program-based optimisation methodologies that are widely employed by the operation research community. While this methodology has worked well for many problems, it can become problematic in cases where the linear programs generated become excessively large. In such cases, linear models can lose their computational viability. In recent years, several articles have explored the computational attractiveness of non-linear alternatives to the standard linear models typically adopted to represent such problems. In many cases, comparative computational testing yields results favouring the non-linear models by a wide margin. In this article, we summarise some of these successes in an effort to encourage a broader view of model construction than the conventional wisdom, i.e. linear modelling, typically affords.

Aguinis, H., & Kraiger, K.
Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 60

This article provides a review of the training and development literature since the year 2000. We review the literature focusing on the benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. Our review, which adopts a multi-disciplinary, multi-level, and global perspective, demonstrates that training and development activities in work organizations can produce important benefits for each of these stakeholders. We also review the literature on needs assessment and pre-training states, training design and delivery, training evaluation, and transfer of training to identify the conditions under which the benefits of training and development are maximized. Finally, we also identify research gaps and offer directions for future research.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Jian Yang, Juan Cabrerab and Tao Wang
European Journal of Operational Research In Press

This paper examines daily return predictability for eighteen international stock index ETFs. The out-of-sample tests are conducted, based on linear and various popular nonlinear models and both statistical and economic criteria for model comparison. The main results show evidence of predictability for six of eighteen ETFs. A simple linear autoregression model, and a nonlinear-in-variance GARCH model, but not several popular nonlinear-in-mean models help outperform the martingale model. The allowance of data-snooping bias using White’s Reality Check also substantially weakens otherwise apparently strong predictability.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Zhiping Walter, and Melissa Succi Lopez
Decision Support Systems, Vol. 46 Issue 1, p. 206-215

Physician acceptance of clinical information technology (IT) is important for its successful implementation. We propose that perceived threat to professional autonomy is a salient outcome belief affecting physician acceptance of an IT. In addition, level of knowledge codification of an IT is an important technological context affecting physician acceptance. Data from a sample of U.S. physicians were collected to test the hypotheses using partial least squares analysis. Results show that perceived threat to professional autonomy has a significant, negative direct influence on perceived usefulness of an IT and on intention to use that IT. Level of knowledge codification is also an important variable. The effect of perceived threat to professional autonomy is larger for clinical decision support systems than for electronic medical records systems. Awareness of these results would help managers better manage IT implementation in health care settings.

Labels: InformationSystems, Walter

Better, Marco, Glover, Fred, Kochenberger, Gary, And Wang, Haibo
International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making Vol. 7, Issue 4, p. 571-587

Simulation optimization is providing solutions to important practical problems previously beyond reach. This paper explores how new approaches are significantly expanding the power of simulation optimization for managing risk. Recent advances in simulation optimization technology are leading to new opportunities to solve problems more effectively. Specifically, in applications involving risk and uncertainty, simulation optimization surpasses the capabilities of other optimization methods not only in the quality of solutions but also in their interpretability and practicality. In this paper, we demonstrate the advantages of using a simulation optimization approach to tackle risky decisions, by showcasing the methodology on two popular applications from the areas of finance and business process design.

Labels: DecisionSciences, Kochenberger

Sarah Kovoor-Misra and Marlene A. Smith
The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science Vol. 44, Issue 4, p. 422-444

This study examines how the POIs of members of an online retail organization were affected after an acquisition. The authors find that (a) POI is more complex than previously understood, and continuity, change and confusion in POI can coexist. (b) The organizational change reactivated previously unresolved POI issues. (c) The structure of POI includes cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions, and changes occurred in these dimensions. (d) Top managers and employees who have more interactions with outsiders in their jobs tend to be more confused and make less POI change than employees who primarily deal with internal operations. Finally, (e) the image of the acquired organization and the change strategies used are triggers of POI confusion and/or change in the acquiring organization. This article highlights the experience of individuals in the acquiring organization and suggests that POI is an important lens for understanding and managing organizational changes.

Labels: DecisionSciences, Kovoor-Misra, Management, Smith

Ira Selkowitz and Jeff Nystrom
Colorado Lawyers for the Arts http://www.lawyersforthearts.org/

Although some don't think the worlds of arts and business mix, successful musical artists know that having a sound business strategy can result in wider recognition of their talents, not to mention fewer legal entanglements. A seminal paper in the field of strategic management is "Are You Sure You Have a Strategy?" written by Donald C. Hambrick and James W. Fredrickson. The advice articulated in this paper is as timely now as it was when it first appeared in the Academy of Management Executive nearly a decade ago and our article applies the principles from this classic paper in the field of strategic management to the music business.

Labels: Management, Nystrom, Selkowitz

Blair Gifford and Andrew Kestler Journal of International Management Vol. 14, Issue 4, p. 340-352

This paper describes a current initiative by Newmont Mining Corporation (Newmont) to develop sustainable community benefit in communities around its mining operations in Peru in response to heightened criticism of Newmont by non-government organizations and the media. Using anthropologically oriented methods, a community health assessment project in an area of projected mining is described in detail in this paper. This case adds to London and Hart's social embeddedness strategy for multi-national enterprises (MNEs) working in developing nations by introducing a locally-based community interaction model, which we describe as a local legitimacy strategy, in an effort to bring about sustainable development in the communities that surround a MNE's production activities. The components of our local legitimacy strategy include co-analysis of community needs by MNEs and community partners, and planning and investment in developments to enhance the social fabric and the physical infrastructure needs of communities. The developing world is getting better at publicizing and monitoring the work of MNEs. We argue that it will be increasingly necessary for MNEs, like Newmont, to add local sustainable benefit into their strategic mix to gain the social license and legitimacy that is needed to operate in poorer communities.

Labels: Gifford, HealthManagement

Bahram Alidaee, Gary Kochenberger and Haibo Wang
Journal of Heuristics Vol. 14, Issue 6, p. 571-585

In a recent paper Glover (J. Heuristics 9:175–227, 2003) discussed a variety of surrogate constraint-based heuristics for solving optimization problems in graphs. The key ideas put forth in the paper were illustrated by giving specializations designed for certain covering and coloring problems. In particular, a family of methods designed for the maximum cardinality independent set problem was presented. In this paper we report on the efficiency and effectiveness of these methods based on considerable computational testing carried out on test problems from the literature as well as some new test problems.

Labels: DecisionSciences, Kochenberger

Steven Walczak
The Learning Organization Vol. 15, Issue 6, p. 486 - 494

Purpose - This article aims to examine international studies of knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning (OL).
Design/methodology/approach - The approach takes the form of a literature review of KM and OL research that focuses on a business or businesses located outside traditional Western economies.
Findings - There is a need to increase research that examines KM and OL existing in different and multiple countries. Additionally, cultural factors should be included in KM and OL research analysis.
Research limitations/implications - The limitation is that the only practical empirical evidence is supplied through the highlighted articles in the literature review.
Originality/value - The article shows that, in order to increase the application of KM and OL research world-wide, national culture and other geopolitical influences need to be represented in KM and OL models and measurement instruments.

Labels: InformationSystems, Walczak

Steven Walczak
The Learning Organization Vol. 15, Issue 6, p. 486 - 494

Purpose - This article aims to examine international studies of knowledge management (KM) and organizational learning (OL).
Design/methodology/approach - The approach takes the form of a literature review of KM and OL research that focuses on a business or businesses located outside traditional Western economies.
Findings - There is a need to increase research that examines KM and OL existing in different and multiple countries. Additionally, cultural factors should be included in KM and OL research analysis.
Research limitations/implications - The limitation is that the only practical empirical evidence is supplied through the highlighted articles in the literature review.
Originality/value - The article shows that, in order to increase the application of KM and OL research world-wide, national culture and other geopolitical influences need to be represented in KM and OL models and measurement instruments.

Labels: InformationSystems, Walczak

Colbert, Gary, Murray, Dennis, and Nieschwietz, Robert
Journal of Applied Business Research Vol. 24, Issue 4, p. 113-124

Recent archival studies have examined the association between auditor independence and non-audit services. The results of these studies suggest that fees for non-audit services are not associated with indicators of auditor independence in fact whereas these fees are associated with financial statement users' perceptions of auditor independence (i.e., independence in appearance). The present study attempts to reconcile these conflicting findings by using a behavioral research methodology that provides greater control over the independent variables and measures more directly financial statement users' perceptions. Our results indicate that fees for financial information systems development services do not affect perceptions of auditor independence, whereas, fees for tax services adversely affect perceptions of independence. Overall, the results provide mixed support for the recent Securities and Exchange Commission policy changes on auditor independence.

Labels: Accounting, Colbert, Murray, Nieschwietz

Tao Wang, Jian Yang and Simpson, Marc W.
Financial Review Vol. 43, Issue 4, p. 509-541

Intraday currency futures prices react to both surprises in the federal funds target rate (the target factor) and surprises in the anticipated future direction of Federal Reserve monetary policy (the path factor) in similar magnitude, and the reaction is short-lived. Dollar-denominated currency futures prices drop significantly in response to positive surprises (i.e., unexpected increases) in the target and path factors, but have generally little response to negative surprises. A monetary policy tightening during expansionary periods leads to an appreciation of the domestic currency, while a monetary policy loosening during recessionary periods tends to have no significant impact.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Scott, Judy
Communications of the ACM Vol. 51, Issue 11, p. 121-124

The article discusses enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, examining the effectiveness and usability of the system documentation used for training and to help users relearn their jobs. ERP documentation that is highly usable can result in more effective training and a quicker payback in ERP investment, the article states. Other topics include documentation that explains that rationale for the process embedded in ERP software, research streams on the technology acceptance model (TAM), and documentation support for relevant new tasks.

Labels: InformationSystems, Scott

Dennis W. Jansen, Qi Li, Zijun Wang, and Jian Yang
Journal of Econometrics Vol. 147, Issue 1, p. 141-150

This paper contributes to the literature in two important aspects. We first examine the role of fiscal policy on the U.S. stock and bond markets, and we document the conditioning information role of fiscal policy via interactions with monetary policy, a feature that has been forcefully emphasized in the recent theoretical literature but not yet thoroughly investigated empirically. The few existing empirical works only consider the role of fiscal policy as a direct information variable separate from monetary policy. Second, we employ a flexible varying coefficient specification in our econometric analysis, which has not been commonly used in this line of research. We find that a semiparametric varying coefficient model and its variants (Cai, Fan, Yao, 2000) appear to be particularly suitable for capturing the potentially complex interactions between fiscal and monetary policies.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Wang, Tao, Wu, Jingtao, and Yang, Jian
Journal of Futures Markets, Vol. 28 Issue 10, p. 993-1011

Using high-frequency returns, realized volatility and correlation of the NYMEX light, sweet crude oil, and Henry-Hub natural gas futures contracts are examined. The unconditional distributions of daily returns and daily realized variances are non-Gaussian, whereas the distributions of the standardized returns (normalized by the realized standard deviation) and the (logarithms of) realized standard deviations appear approximately Gaussian. The (logarithms of) standard deviations exhibit long-memory, but the realized correlation between the two futures does not, implying rather weak inter-market linkage in the long run. There is evidence of asymmetric volatility for natural gas but not for crude oil futures. Finally, realized crude oil futures volatility responds with an increase in the weeks immediately before the OPEC events recommending price increases.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Gregg, Dawn G.
Journal of Computer Information Systems In Press

This paper presents a study comparing existing reputation systems to determine if the different reputation system designs are equally capable of eliciting meaningful feedback from users and if the information from these systems is equally useful for evaluating whether or not to purchase from a given seller. A survey of online consumers and data from both the eBay and the Amazon reputation systems are used to determine the impact of reputation system design on overall system effectiveness. Results of this research indicate that the five-star response system used by Amazon may be more useful to users attempting to determine which sellers to buy from.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems

Corley, K.G., C.V. Harquail, M.G. Pratt, M.A. Glynn, C.M. Fiol & M.J. Hatch
Journal of Management Inquiry Vol. 15, Issue 2, p. 85-99.

In this article, the authors reflect on the past two decades of research on organizational identity, looking to its history and to its future. They do not provide a review of the literature, nor do they promote a particular perspective on the concept. Instead, they advocate pluralism in studying organizational identity while encouraging clarity and transparency in the articulation of definitions and core theoretical suppositions. Believing there is no one best approach to the study of organizational identity, their intent is to establish a reference point that can orient future work on organizational identity. They focus on three questions they feel are critical: What is the nomological net that embeds organizational identity? Is organizational identity "real" (or simply metaphoric)? and How do we define and conceptualize organizational identity? Last, they try to anticipate organizational identity issues on the horizon to suggest future directions for theory and research.

Labels: Fiol, Management

Gregg, Dawn G. and Walczak, Steven
MIS Quarterly, Vol. 32, Issue 3, p. 653-670

Businesses can choose who they want to be online. Product and company attributes that are directly perceivable in the real world can be manipulated to make a favorable impression on online buyers. This study examines whether creating a more professional online e-image can signal consumers about unobservable product or company quality, and whether this signal influences their willingness to transact with the company, and ultimately the prices they are willing to pay for the company's goods and services. An empirical study is presented that examines two online auction businesses utilizing different company names and auction listing styles to sell items in parallel over the course of one year. The findings suggest that increasing the quality of an auction business's e-image does increase consumers' willingness to transact with the business, and increases prices received at auction. The study also demonstrates the ability to use eBay as an experimental laboratory for testing a variety of hypotheses about purchasing behavior online.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems, Walczak

Gregg, Dawn G.
Decision Support Systems (In Press)

This research uses an action research methodology to develop a web-based collective intelligence application, DDtrac. DDtrac allows special education practitioners to collect data and share insights related to student performance during educational tasks and social interactions and can be used to assess special education student progress and improve decision making. A survey of 40 special education professionals and a four year case study using a single subject both indicate that educators, clinicians, families, parents, or other professionals that work with individuals with developmental disabilities achieve tangible benefit from the real time data tracking and decision support provided by the DDtrac application. The development of the DDtrac application and subsequent end-user evaluation is used to develop a set of six requirements for collective intelligence applications. These requirements can be used to guide future developers seeking to create web-based applications that harness the collective intelligence of groups.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems

Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H.
Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 93 Issue 5, p. 1062-1081

We conducted a content analysis of all articles published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology from January 1963 to May 2007 (N = 5,780) to identify the relative attention devoted to each of 15 broad topical areas and 50 more specific sub-areas in the field of industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology. Results revealed that some areas have become more (or less) popular over time, whereas others have not changed much, and that there are some lagged relationships between important societal issues that involve people and work settings (i.e., human-capital trends) and I/O psychology research that addresses them. Also, much I/O psychology research does not address human-capital trends. Extrapolating results from the past 45 years to the next decade suggests that the field of I/O psychology is not likely to become more visible, more relevant to society at large, or even to achieve the lofty goals it has set for itself unless researchers, practitioners, universities, and professional organizations implement several types of changes. For example, researchers can make more conscious decisions about which topics to tackle and collaborate more often with practitioners. Universities can re-think the incentive structure of academic research and consider offering sabbaticals for academics in business practice. Academics can re-think graduate training, as well as the socialization and mentoring of new faculty members. Finally, professional associations can offer joint academic practitioner sessions at conferences, in which both groups can work together on important problems; and certification bodies can incorporate more research-based content into
examinations.

Labels: Aguinis, Cascio, Management

Keaveney, Susan M.
Industrial Marketing Management; Vol. 37 Issue 6, p. 653-663

Marketer–engineer conflict is a pervasive and as-yet unresolved problem of critical importance to high-technology companies. This study updates and extends marketing literature by applying qualitative research methods including the critical incident technique to examine the causes of conflict between marketers and engineers in high-technology companies. Narratives from both marketers and engineers are interpreted from an attribution theory perspective as well as in the context of recent management research on interfunctional conflict. Results draw attention to a high proportion of personal attributions, indicating high levels of relationship-conflict; these results are in contrast to the task-conflict typically addressed by the marketing literature. Discussion highlights the changes in high-technology organizational culture since first by described by Workman 15 years ago [Workman, J. (1993). Marketing's limited role in new product development in one computer systems firm. Journal of Marketing Research, 30 (4), 405-421.], and recommendations for managers are offered.

Labels: Keaveney, Marketing

Injun Choi, Jisoo Jung, Michael Mannino, and Chulsoon Park
Data & Knowledge Engineering, Vol. 66, Issue 2, p. 243-263

BPTrigger is a process-oriented trigger model that provides economy of specification and efficient execution for complex business constraints. An essential part of trigger execution is detection and resolution of cycles. This paper presents an approach to determine the terminability of a cycle introduced by a BPTrigger in a business process and determine whether a cycle is allowable in terms of compensatibility. The foundation of the approach is a set of conditions for cycle termination derived from classifications of business processes by resource usage and activity types by compensation status. This paper formally presents cycle analysis procedures using the notion of cycle analysis graph. Further, a procedure is proposed which checks the terminability of multiple cycles using a composite cycle analysis graph constructed from the cycle analysis graphs of the associated cycles. The paper proves the correctness of the analysis and presents a validation example. The presented results extend some limitations of well-formed sphere which has addressed atomicity of workflow transactions.

Labels: InformationSystems, Mannino

Romanelli, Elaine, And Fiol, C. Marlene
Academy of Management Proceedings, p, 1-6

The evolution of new organizational forms has attracted growing theoretical and empirical attention, but little research has considered the micro-social processes that promote the emergence of quasi-similar organizations that may evolve over time into organizational forms with distinctive identities that are both claimed and granted. Drawing on social psychological theories of identity formation within and among organizational groups, we develop a model of identification and identity development for organizational forms that underpins arguments from ecological and institutional theory.

Labels: Fiol, Management

Aguinis, Herman, Pierce, Charles, Bosco, Frank, and Muslin, Ivan
Academy of Management Proceedings; 2008, p. 1-6

We conducted a content analysis of the 193 articles published in the first 10 volumes (1998-2007) of Organizational Research Methods (ORM). We identified more and less popular quantitative and qualitative topics, trends over time, and compared these topics with the methodological tools needed for theory testing in the organizational sciences.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Aguinis, H., Mazurkiewicz, M. D., & Heggestad, E. D.
Personnel Psychology (In Press)

We identify sources of biases in personality-based job analysis (PBJA) ratings and offer a web-based frame-of-reference (FOR) training program to mitigate these biases. Given the use of job analysis data for the development of staffing, performance management, and many other human resource management systems, using biased PBJA ratings is likely to lead to a workforce that is increasingly homogenous in terms of personality, but not necessarily a workforce with improved levels of performance. We conducted a field experiment (i.e., full random assignment) using two independent samples of employees in a city government and found evidence in support of the presence of biases as well as the effectiveness of the proposed solution. Specifically, FOR training was successful at decreasing the average correlation between job incumbents’ self-reported personality and PBJA ratings from .27 to .07 (administrative support assistants) and from .30 to .09 (supervisors). Also, FOR training was successful at decreasing mean PBJA ratings by d = .44 (administrative support assistants) and by d = .68 (supervisors). We offer the entire set of web-based FOR training materials for use in future research and applications.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Vinit M. Desai
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE Vol. 19: p. 594-608

Poor performance indicates that an organization's routines are not well suited for its environment and prompts decision makers to search for solutions. However, results conflict regarding how this search process influences risk taking in organizations. Managers in some organizations facing actual or expected performance shortfalls tend to take risks, while managers in other poorly performing organizations avoid risky changes. This conflict is interesting because some level of risk taking appears necessary for organizations to remain competitive, adapt to their environment, and improve performance. This study examines several mechanisms that moderate risk taking following performance shortfalls. First, I draw from organizational learning theories to argue that organizations with limited operating experience are less buffered from failure, and hence that poor performance constrains risk taking at these organizations. Second, I argue that organizations with poor legitimacy are also less buffered, and hence that performance shortfalls also lead to risk aversion at these organizations. Third, I draw from structural inertia theory to suggest that older organizations are less able to support risk taking following performance shortfalls. A test of these hypotheses on the capacity expansion behavior of U.S. railroad companies generally supports these hypotheses, although the effect of age is weaker. The findings contribute to theories of organizational learning and to several perspectives in organization theory more broadly.

Labels: Desai, Management

David Forlani, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Susan M. Keaveney
International Marketing Review Vol. 25 Issue 3, p. 292-311

Purpose - The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate how opportunity for control and firm capability interact to moderate the amount of risk that managers associate with various international entry-mode strategies. A secondary goal is to investigate how managers perceive the need to retain control over three core functional areas (marketing, production, and R&D) when making entry-mode decisions.
Design/methodology/approach - A field experiment design was implemented in a sample of US business owner/executives. Using an online data collection method, the study asked a sample of small-business owners and managers to assess the amount of risk they associated with three modes of entering the Japanese market: non-ownership (export), equal partnership (50/50 joint-venture), and sole-ownership. They were also asked how much control they needed to retain over R&D, production, and marketing for the venture to be successful.
Findings - Ownership-provided control interacts with capability to influence managerial risk perceptions. Managers in lower-capability firms see the least risk in the non-ownership entry mode while those in higher-capability firms see the least risk in the equal-partnership entry mode. Managers believe that for a new venture in a foreign market to be successful, control should be retained over the R&D function, regardless of entry mode.
Research limitations/implications - The findings appear to reconcile some of the conflicting predictions of the transaction cost and resource-based theoretical perspectives, because it appears that international managers consider both control (internationalization theory) and capability (resource-based theory) when judging the perceived risk of an entry strategy.
Practical implications - For firms that are incapable of managing in an international context, a low-control no-ownership entry mode is perceived as the least risky approach; for firms that have some capability for international management, then a partial-ownership mode such as a 50/50 joint-venture is perceived as having lower risk than no-ownership. In non-ownership and joint-venture type entry modes, managers are more apt to outsource the marketing function to an agent/partner, but not R&D. In contrast, managers believe that marketing needs to be maintained in-house when utilizing a sole-ownership entry mode.
Originality/value - By illustrating the role of perceived risk in foreign-market entry-mode decisions and demonstrating how capabilities interact with ownership-provided control to moderate these perceptions, the paper's findings suggest that managers' risk perceptions may mediate the effects of firm-specific factors, and thus contributes significantly to both theory and practice.

Labels: Forlani, Keaveney, Marketing, Parthasarathy

Cascio, W. F, & Aguinis, H.
Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 2, p. 133-165

We highlight important differences between twenty-first-century organizations as compared with those of the previous century, and offer a critical review of the basic principles, typical applications, general effectiveness, and limitations of the current staffing model. That model focuses on identifying and measuring job-related individual characteristics to predict individual level job performance. We conclude that the current staffing model has reached a ceiling or plateau in terms of its ability to make accurate predictions about future performance. Evidence accumulated over more than 80 years of staffing research suggests that general mental abilities and other traditional staffing tools do a modest job of predicting performance across settings and
jobs considering that, even when combined and corrected for methodological and statistical artifacts, they rarely predict more than 50% of the variance in performance. Accordingly, we argue for a change in direction in staffing research and propose an expanded view of the staffing process, including the introduction of a new construct, in situperformance, and an expanded view of staffing tools to be used to predict future in situperformance that take into account time and context. Our critical review offers a novel perspective and research agenda with the goal of guiding future research that will result in more useful, applicable, relevant, and effective knowledge for practitioners to use in organizational settings.

Labels: Aguinis, Cascio, Management

Ruhnka, John, and Bagby, John W.
CPA Journal; Vol. 78 Issue 6, p. 68-71.

In this article, the authors discuss the forensic implications of metadata in electronic files in the U.S. According to the authors, metadata in electronic files can play a potentially critical role in litigation outcomes because it reveals forensic information about the creation, authorship, history, and even intent of a document. They suggest that metadata may be removed in the ordinary course of business as necessary to preserve enterprise and client confidentiality.

Labels: Management, Ruhnka

Aguinis, H., Pierce, C. A., & Culpepper, S. A.
Organizational Research Methods (In Press)

Scale coarseness is a pervasive yet ignored methodological artifact that attenuates observed
correlation coefficients in relation to population coefficients. The authors describe how to
disattenuate correlations that are biased by scale coarseness in primary-level as well as metaanalytic studies and derive the sampling error variance for the corrected correlation. Results of two Monte Carlo simulations reveal that the correction procedure is accurate and show the extent to which coarseness biases the correlation coefficient under various conditions (i.e., value of the population correlation, number of item scale points, and number of scale items).
The authors also offer a Web-based computer program that disattenuates correlations at the primary-study level and computes the sampling error variance as well as confidence intervals for the corrected correlation. Using this program, which implements the correction in primary- level studies, and incorporating the suggested correction in meta-analytic reviews will lead to more accurate estimates of construct-level correlation coefficients.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Gregg, Dawn
Journal of Universal Computer Science Vol. 14 Issue 11, p. 1911-1920

There are many challenges developers face when attempting to reliably extract data from the web. One of these challenges is the resilience of the extraction system to changes in the web pages information is being extracted from. This paper compares the resilience of information extraction systems that use position based extraction with an ontology based extraction system and a system that combines position based extraction with ontology based extraction. The findings demonstrate the advantages of using a system that combines multiple extraction techniques, especially in environments where websites change frequently and where data collection is conducted over an extended period of time.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems

Pierce, C. A., & Aguinis, H.
Human Resource Management, In Press

The goal of this article is to encourage HR leaders to think more strategically about managing workplace romances. The traditional management approach is legal-centric in that it focuses on
minimizing risks of workplace romance. We advocate embedding the legal-centric approach within a broader and more strategic organizationally sensible approach that provides a balanced focus on minimizing risks and maximizing rewards of workplace romance. Drawing from the empirical workplace romance literature, we derive a set of organizationally sensible best-practice
recommendations that HR leaders can adopt to manage risks and rewards of romantic relationships in organizations. Implementing our more strategic recommendations should provide the added benefit of elevating HR professionals' roles as organizational leaders.

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Nigel Melville and Ronald Ramirez
Information Systems Journal, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p.247-273

Information technology (IT) innovation research examines the organizational and technological factors that determine IT adoption and diffusion, including firm size and scope, technological competency and expected benefits. We extend the literature by focusing on information requirements as a driver of IT innovation adoption and diffusion. Our framework of IT innovation diffusion incorporates three industry-level sources of information requirements: process complexity, clock speed and supply chain complexity. We apply the framework to US manufacturing industries using aggregate data of internet-based innovations and qualitative analysis of two industries: wood products and beverage manufacturing. Results show systematic patterns supporting the basic thesis of the information processing paradigm: higher IT innovation diffusion in industries with higher information processing requirements; the salience of downstream industry structure in the adoption of interorganizational systems; and the role of the location of information intensity in the supply chain in determining IT adoption and diffusion. Our study provides a new explanation for why certain industries were early and deep adopters of internet-based innovations while others were not: variation in information processing requirements.

Labels: InformationSystems, Ramirez

Yang, Jian, Su, Xiaojing, and Kolari, James
Journal of Banking & Finance; Vol. 32 Issue 5, p. 729-740

Traditional autocorrelation and variance ratio tests are based on serial uncorrelatedness rather than martingale difference. As such, they do not capture potential nonlinearity-in-mean, which could lead to misleading inferences in favor of the martingale hypothesis. This paper employs various parametric and nonparametric nonlinear models as well as several model comparison criteria to examine the potential martingale behavior of Euro exchange rates in the context of out-of-sample forecasts. The overall evidence indicates that, while martingale behavior cannot be rejected for Euro exchange rates with major currencies such as the Japanese yen, British pound, and US dollar, there is nonlinear predictability in terms of economic criteria with respect to several smaller currencies.

Labels: Finance, Yang

Aguinis, H., Ansari, M. A., Jayasingam, S., & Aafaqi, R.
Management Research, Vol. 6, P. 121-137.

Perceived entrepreneurial success and social power

Labels: Aguinis, Management

Gregg, Dawn G. & Scott, Judy
Communications of the ACM Vol. 51, Issue 4, p. 69-74

This research shows that reputation systems serve an important function in today’s online world. Results of this study indicate that more than 97% of complaints do allege serious problems with the seller. Comments often indicate that sellers lack business training and clear commerce standards, like proper communication skills (44.2%) and appropriate return policies (10.5%). However, a greater proportion of the complaints contain allegations of fraud. This study shows that 69.7% of negative comments posted in eBay’s feedback forum indicate that the seller may have defrauded the buyer by failing to deliver the item, misrepresenting the item in the product description, selling illegal goods, by adding charges after the close of the auction, or by shill bidding. This rate of fraud is twenty times higher than the rate quoted by eBay. This makes reputation systems important to both online auction houses and to law enforcement as they try to combat rising levels of online auction fraud.

Labels: Gregg, InformationSystems, Scott