Talking Up: Study of Upward Influence Strategies

In organizations with emphasis on transparency, flexibility, informal talks and open door policies, subordinate-superior relationships and communication patterns are a significant deviation from the norm. This study analyzes transcripts of 23 pieces of interviews for identification of Upward Influence (UI) strategies in a multi-national FMCG company, with aforementioned cultural traits. Extensively discussed strategies like, imitation, reason and logic, and upward appeal, were identified through conversation analysis. Two new strategies, emerged in the course of the analysis, viz. reasoned aggression and nonchalance. The study describes the choice and use of UI strategies in this particular organization. It proceeds to discuss the need for improved understanding of UI strategies in isolation and combination, and in relation to culture, team affiliations, and interpersonal relationships.

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Micro Enterprises: Do Banks Matter? Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

This paper looks at the impact of trade liberalization on output, factor intensity and labor productivity of micro enterprises with differential access to banks. It uses Indian data on micro enterprises employing fewer than ten workers in the manufacturing sector and finds that trade liberalization, measured by a fall in the tariff, is associated with higher enterprise output, capital-labor ratios and labor productivity in districts with a larger number of bank branches per capita. Evidence is consistent with strong complementarities between trade liberalization effects and better access to credit and greater economic dynamism due to greater bank presence in the enterprise’s location. In addition, the research points to greater likelihood of outsourcing of production activity to micro enterprises in more open industries. The study highlights the role of credit market institutions, labor regulation and linkages between micro enterprises and large firms in determining the effects of trade liberalization on developing country manufacturing.Trade Reform, Banks, Manufacturing, Informal Firms, Productivity, Outsourcing

Paving The Way: Recruiting Students into the Transportation Professions, MTI Report 08-03

The transportation industry faces a growing shortage of professional engineers and planners. One key strategy in solving this problem will be to encourage more civil engineering and urban planning students to specialize in transportation while completing their degrees, so that employers have a larger pool of likely recruits. However, very little is known about how these students choose a specialization. To help fill that gap, this report examines the factors that lead civil engineering undergraduates and urban planning masters students to specialize in transportation, as opposed to other sub-disciplines within the two fields. The primary data collection methods were web-based surveys of 1,852 civil engineering undergraduates and 869 planning masters students. The study results suggest steps the transportation community can take to increase the number of civil engineering and planning students who choose to specialize in transportation

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 of a National Survey, Research Report 10-12

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data, some minimal travel behavior data, and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 62% of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 24% if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. Other variants on a gas tax that received at least 50% support were increases of 10¢ per gallon with the revenues dedicated either to projects reducing accidents and improving safety or projects to “add more modern, technologically advanced systems.” For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. A central goal of the survey was to compare public support for two alternative versions of a new mileage tax and eight versions of a gas tax increase. All variations on the two taxes increased support over that for the base case of each (a flat-rate mileage tax of 1¢ per mile and a 10¢ gas tax increase proposed without any additional detail). For example, varying the mileage tax by the vehicle’s pollution level increased support by 14 percentage points. For the gas tax, most notably, dedicating the tax proceeds to maintaining streets, roads, and highways increased support by 38 percentage points

What do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year Four of a National Survey, MTI Report 12-07

This report summarizes the results of year four of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll asking 1,501 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard sociodemographic factors, travel behavior (public transit usage, annual miles driven, and vehicle fuel efficiency), and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 67 percent of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 23 percent if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. With respect to public transit, the survey results show that most people want good public transit service in their state. In addition, two-thirds of respondents support spending gas tax revenues on transit. However, questions exploring different methods to raise new revenues found relatively low levels of support for raising gas tax or transit fare rates. Also, not all respondents were well informed about how transit is funded, with only about half knowing that fares do not cover the full cost of transit

What do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year Four of a National Survey, MTI Report 12-07

This report summarizes the results of year four of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll asking 1,501 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues, with a special focus on understanding support for increasing revenues for public transit. Eleven specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. Other questions probed various perceptions related to public transit, including knowledge and opinions about federal taxes to support transit. In addition, the survey collected data on standard sociodemographic factors, travel behavior (public transit usage, annual miles driven, and vehicle fuel efficiency), and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 67 percent of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 23 percent if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. With respect to public transit, the survey results show that most people want good public transit service in their state. In addition, two-thirds of respondents support spending gas tax revenues on transit. However, questions exploring different methods to raise new revenues found relatively low levels of support for raising gas tax or transit fare rates. Also, not all respondents were well informed about how transit is funded, with only about half knowing that fares do not cover the full cost of transit

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From Year 2 of a National Survey, Research Report 10-12

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new federal sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data, some minimal travel behavior data, and attitudinal data about how respondents view the quality of their local transportation system and their priorities for government spending on transportation in their state. All of this information is used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. The survey results show that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes for transportation—under certain conditions. For example, a gas tax increase of 10¢ per gallon to improve road maintenance was supported by 62% of respondents, whereas support levels dropped to just 24% if the revenues were to be used more generally to maintain and improve the transportation system. Other variants on a gas tax that received at least 50% support were increases of 10¢ per gallon with the revenues dedicated either to projects reducing accidents and improving safety or projects to “add more modern, technologically advanced systems.” For tax options where the revenues were to be spent for undefined transportation purposes, support levels varied considerably by what kind of tax would be imposed, with a sales tax much more popular than either a gas tax increase or a new mileage tax. A central goal of the survey was to compare public support for two alternative versions of a new mileage tax and eight versions of a gas tax increase. All variations on the two taxes increased support over that for the base case of each (a flat-rate mileage tax of 1¢ per mile and a 10¢ gas tax increase proposed without any additional detail). For example, varying the mileage tax by the vehicle’s pollution level increased support by 14 percentage points. For the gas tax, most notably, dedicating the tax proceeds to maintaining streets, roads, and highways increased support by 38 percentage points

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results From a National Survey MTI Report 09-18

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,545 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The eight specific tax options tested were variations on raising the federal gas tax rate, creating a new mileage tax, and creating a new national sales tax. In addition, the survey collected standard socio-demographic data and some travel behavior data and asked a few attitudinal questions related to the quality of the transportation system and respondents´ priorities for government spending on transportation. These questions were used to assess support levels for the tax options among different population subgroups. None of the tax options achieved majority support, but three did fairly well, with support levels around 40%. These were a 0.5¢ sales tax (43% support), a 10¢ gas tax increase with revenue to be dedicated to projects that would reduce the transportation system´s impact on global warming (42% support), and a 10¢ gas tax increase spread over five years (39% support). The report also compares public support for alternative versions of the mileage and gas taxes. The base cases tested against alternatives were a flat-rate mileage tax of 1¢ per mile and a 10¢ gas tax with no additional information given about the tax. All variants of these base cases increased support levels, in most cases significantly. Varying the mileage tax by the vehicle´s pollution level increased support by 12 percentage points. For the gas tax, all four alternatives to the base case received higher support. Most notably, spreading the gas tax increase over five years increased support by 16 percentage points, and linking the increase to global warming reduction increased support by a full 19 percentage points