7,029 research outputs found
The impact of cultural diversity on firm innovation: evidence from Dutch micro-data
An important question for firms and policy makers is whether the recruitment of foreign workers can boost innovation. Migration studies have demonstrated positive economic impacts of cultural diversity on productivity and innovation at the regional level, but the impacts at firm level are less well known. Merging data from four different sources, provided by Statistics Netherlands, we construct and analyze a unique linked employer-employee micro dataset of 4582 firms that includes qualitative information on firm innovation. We consider both the number of immigrants these firms employ and their cultural diversity. Potential endogeneity of migrant employment is addressed by an instrumental variables approach that accounts for the past geographic distribution of immigrants and the past culinary diversity of the municipality the firm is located in. We find robust evidence that firms employing relatively more migrants are less innovative. However, there is evidence of integration in that this effect is generally less strong or even absent for second generation immigrants. Moreover, firms employing a more diverse foreign workforce are more innovative, particularly in terms of product innovations. The benefits of diversity for innovation are more apparent in sectors employing relatively more skilled immigrants
Does Social Capital Improve Labour Productivity in Small and Medium Enterprises?
This paper carries out an empirical assessment of the relationship between social capital and labour productivity in small and medium enterprises in Italy. By means of structural equations models, the analysis investigates the effect of different aspects of the multifaceted concept of social capital. While the bonding social capital of strong family ties seems to be irrelevant, the bridging social capital of weak ties connecting friends and acquaintances is proved to exert a significant and positive influence both on labour productivity and on human development.Labour productivity, Small and medium enterprises, Industrial organization, Social capital, Social networks, Structural equations models
Platform-Driven Collaboration Patterns: Structural Evolution Over Time and Scale
Within an increasingly digitalized organizational landscape, this research
delves into the dynamics of decentralized collaboration, contrasting it with
traditional collaboration models. An effective capturing of high-level
collaborations (beyond direct massages) is introduced as the network
construction methodology including both temporal and content dimensions of user
collaborations - an Alternating Timed Interaction (ATI) metric as the first
aspect, and a quantitative strategy of thematic similarity as the second
aspect. This study validates three hypotheses that collectively underscore the
complexities of digital team dynamics within sociotechnical systems: Firstly,
it establishes the significant influence of problem context on team structures
in work environments, emphasizing the need to consider the specific nature of
tasks in analyzing collaborative dynamics. Secondly, the study reveals specific
evolving patterns of team structures on digital platforms concerning team size
and artifact maturity. Lastly, it identifies substantial differences in team
structure patterns between digital platforms and traditional organizational
settings, underscoring the unexplored nature of digital collaboration dynamics.
The findings of this study are instrumental for organizations navigating the
digital era, offering insights into effective knowledge sharing in the
decentralized leadership of digital teams. By mapping out network structures
and collaborative patterns, this study, with a focus on Wikipedia as a
representative digital platform, paves the way for strategic interventions to
optimize digital team dynamics and align them with broader organizational
goals.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Individualisation and Growing Diversity of Employment Relationships
At a time when the economic recession is more severe, and trade unions are weaker, than at any time since the War, it would be unproductive to speculate about the extent to which these changes have been imposed, acquiesced, or agreed by the workers concerned. Instead we focus on recent changes in employment relationships in Britain, and their consequences, and then on the winners and losers, which provides a cue for considering the longer term desirability of some of these developments for social justice and cohesion.Labour-management relations, individual and collective voice
Forming Student Online Teams For Maximum Performance
What is the best way to assign graduate business students to online team-based projects? Team assignments are frequently made on the basis of alphabet, time zones or previous performance. This study reviews personality as an indicator of student online team performance.  The personality assessment IDE (Insights Discovery Evaluator) was administered to 450 students in the first six-week course of a proprietary online university MBA program. The IDE was utilized for the study because the university had selected the IDE as a part of its business curriculum. In the second week, students were randomly placed on 138 virtual teams and quantitative data collected from an assignment where students self-reported their IDE type. A qualitative method was used to determine subject IDE type in those cases where subjects did not clearly identify their type. Performance was measured using three instructor- graded assignments completed during the course. Student virtual teams were categorized as random, variable and dominant, contingent upon the composition of team personality types. This study found no statistically significant relationship between IDEâs personality types or the cognitive trait variables of attitude (extroversion and introversion) or trait function (thinking and feeling) on team performance.  Personality trait did not appear to be a variable with the intentional formation of higher performing online student teams. All personality traits performed equally as well. Personality Bias (IDE type homogeneity) was the closest to being statistically significant as a factor in virtual team performance. A model is presented describing the relationship between personality and performance
South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation
This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying âwanted/positiveâ and âunwanted/negativeâ effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization
Fragmentation in the future of work:A horizon scan examining the impact of the changing nature of work on workers experiencing vulnerability
Introduction: The future of work is characterized by changes that could disrupt all aspects of the nature and availability of work. Our study aims to understand how the future of work could result in conditions, which contribute to vulnerability for different groups of workers. Methods: A horizon scan was conducted to systematically identify and synthesize diverse sources of evidence, including academic and gray literature and resources shared over social media. Evidence was synthesized, and trend categories were developed through iterative discussions among the research team. Results: Nine trend categories were uncovered, which included the digital transformation of the economy, artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning-enhanced automation, AI-enabled human resource management systems, skill requirements for the future of work; globalization 4.0, climate change and the green economy, Gen Zs and the work environment; populism and the future of work, and external shocks to accelerate the changing nature of work. The scan highlighted that some groups of workers may be more likely to experience conditions that contribute to vulnerability, including greater exposure to job displacement or wage depression. The future of work could also create opportunities for labor market engagement. Conclusion: The future of work represents an emerging public health concern. Exclusion from the future of work has the potential to widen existing social and health inequities. Thus, tailored supports that are resilient to changes in the nature and availability of work are required for workers facing vulnerability
2019 Latin America Think Tank Summit Report
The Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, FundaciĂłn Ideas Para La Paz (FIP), Fedesarrollo, and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung hosted the 2019 Latin America Think Tank Summit under the theme âThink Tanks: Helping to Manage the Transitions, Trade and Turmoil in Latin America.
The Disappointments of Networks
The past 25 years have seen a âturn to cultureâ in copyright scholarship. This cultural turn has produced an expansive account of copyrightâs disadvantages with respect to qualitative cultural and political goals such as: promoting democracy, individual self-authorship, expressive diversity, and more inclusive power distribution in shaping culture and discourse. The prevailing view among proponents of the cultural turn is that copyright stands in the way of the democratisation of creative and discursive spheres online. This article challenges that view. I contend that online, âfreeâ content economiesâcharacterised by peer production, decentralised selection, and peer to peer content sharingâhave not lived up to the hopes of cultural turn thinkers. I focus on structural matters (structures of incentive, structures of power), critically applying descriptive and normative frameworks of the cultural turn. Proponents of the cultural turn have been concerned about copyrightâs role in concentrating cultural power. They should also be concerned about concentrations of cultural and communicative power in âfree contentâ economies. If they were concerned that commercial incentives under copyright regimes privileged bland and homogeneous content, they should also be concerned about the troubling incentives at play in online economies based on harvesting user attention and selling advertisements. This is not to say we should aim for maximalist copyright online. I show that both expansions of exceptions and limitations to copyright, and measures that strengthen copyright ownersâ exclusive rights, may entrench problematic incentives and power structures both online and off. The practical implication of my analysis is this. We should carefully assess how developments in law (proposed or actual) affect structures of power and incentive in the creative sphere as a whole, whether they formally âweakenâ copyright or âstrengthenâ it
Data distribution satellite
A description is given of a data distribution satellite (DDS) system. The DDS would operate in conjunction with the tracking and data relay satellite system to give ground-based users real time, two-way access to instruments in space and space-gathered data. The scope of work includes the following: (1) user requirements are derived; (2) communication scenarios are synthesized; (3) system design constraints and projected technology availability are identified; (4) DDS communications payload configuration is derived, and the satellite is designed; (5) requirements for earth terminals and network control are given; (6) system costs are estimated, both life cycle costs and user fees; and (7) technology developments are recommended, and a technology development plan is given. The most important results obtained are as follows: (1) a satellite designed for launch in 2007 is feasible and has 10 Gb/s capacity, 5.5 kW power, and 2000 kg mass; (2) DDS features include on-board baseband switching, use of Ku- and Ka-bands, multiple optical intersatellite links; and (3) system user costs are competitive with projected terrestrial communication costs
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