Collective Values, Behavioural Norms, and Rules: Building Institutions for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction

Growth, Poverty, Rules, Institutions, Human behaviour

Collectivism and the Costs of High Leverage

Prior literature shows that high leverage is associated with losses in market share due to unfavorable actions by customers and competitors. Building on this literature, we investigate the effect of collectivism on the product market performance of highly leveraged firms. Using a sample of 46 countries over the 1989–2016 period, we find significantly lower costs of high leverage for countries with higher collectivism scores. Moreover, we find that the impact of collectivism on high leverage costs is more pronounced for firms with high product specialization and with financially healthy rivals. In additional analysis, we find that collectivism helps highly leveraged firms retain employees and obtain trade credit from suppliers. Our findings thus suggest that a country’s culture affects corporate financial outcomes by influencing the actions of firm stakeholders

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Tourist Behaviors: A Review and Conceptual Framework

This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing tourist behaviors and identifies three categories of behaviors based on the applications of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the processes underlying these influences. Our findings indicate that tourist behaviors in the Before-Travel, During-Travel, and After-Travel stages differ significantly in terms of the applicability and process through which Hofstede’s cultural dimensions operate. The results of our analysis suggest three categories of behavioral patterns, namely, “Social Interaction Driven Travel Behaviors,” (SID), “Risk Tendencies Driven Travel Behaviors,” (RTD), and “Collectivity Orientation Driven Travel Behaviors,” (COD). SID relates to the evaluation of travel experiences in the after-travel stage. The dominant cultural values associated with SID are Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, and Power Distance. These three values act either independently or in pairs or all three together. RTD relates to the consumption of travel products in the during-travel stage, and COD relates to the formation of travel preferences in the before-travel stage. Individualism/Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance are associated with both RTD and COD. However, the underlying processes differ for these two categories of travel behaviors. In addition to their independent influences on travel behaviors, these two values associated with RTD and COD also have an interactive effect. For RTD, the Uncertainty Avoidance motive determines the Individualism/Collectivism outcome, whereas, for COD, the opposite is true: the Individualism/Collectivism determines the Uncertainty Avoidance outcome. The paper also discusses the application of a fifth cultural dimension, Confucian Dynamism (short-term versus long-term orientation), for the study of tourists’ behaviors.Hofstede’s cultural dimensions; tourist behaviors; traveller’s behaviors; Confucian Dynamism

A century of methodological individualism part 2: Mises and Hayek

2009 marks the centenary of methodological individualism (MI). The phrase was first used in English in a 1909 paper by Joseph Schumpeter in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Yet after 100 years there is considerable confusion as to what the phrase means. MI is often invoked as a fundamental description of the methodology both of neoclassical and Austrian economics, as well as of other approaches, from New Keynesianism to analytical Marxism. However, the methodologies of those to whom the theoretical practice of MI is ascribed differ profoundly on the status of the individual economic agent, some adopting a holistic and some a reductionist standpoint. The purpose of the research of which this paper is part is to uncover and evaluate some of the meanings of the phrase methodological individualism (MI). The first paper in the series, "A Century of Methodological Individualism Part 1: Schumpeter and Menger" (Denis, 2009), considers the contributions of Joseph Schumpeter, who was the first to use the term, and of Carl Menger, considered by many to be the founder of MI. The present paper considers the contributions of von Mises and Hayek. The conclusion drawn is that Mises and Hayek based their methodological stance on fundamentally different ontologies, with von Mises building on the reductionism of previous writers such as Schumpeter and Menger, and Hayek, on the contrary, adopting a holistic ontology more in line with Adam Smith, Marx and Keynes. From an ontological perspective this leaves Hayek as something of an outlier in the Austrian tradition

Exploring performance management in four UK trade unions

Purpose This article explores performance management in four UK trade unions. Specifically, the extent to which managers in the four unions accept or dismiss the unitarist, disciplinary and performative values that arguably characterise performance management practices. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design was adopted to investigate trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management. Managers were targeted because they hold the power to shape performance management practices in their specific areas. The research employed qualitative semi-structured interviews. Findings Performance management in trade unions is linked to the structure, purpose and orientation of different types of trade union. It is also linked to the wider environmental context. The trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management are linked to disciplinary and performative values. As such they are comparable to the unitarist forms of performance management described in the literature. There are moreover, similarities and differences between the approaches to performance management between trade unions and for profit or public sector organisations. Originality/Value The article adds to the emerging literature on internal trade union management by highlighting a particular aspect of human resource management

Group-Oriented Values, Rules and Cooperation

collectivism, cooperation, economic development, game theory, individualism, institutions, conflicts

A Model of a Rule of Law and a Rule of Man: Implications for the Design of Institutions

rule of law, rule of man, collectivism, discretion, enforcement, individualism, institutions, rules