Fueling Relational Energy? Proposing Psycap and Humor as Potential Antescendents

This study investigates relational energy within work context from the angle of potential ways to increase it and its associated benefits. Starting from two main streams of positivity at work, POS and POB, and based upon interaction ritual theory, social contagion theory, and conservation of resources theory, this work proposes PsyCap and humor as two prospective means of achieving this goal. In other words, it argues PsyCap and positive humor can positively impact the relational energy between an individual’s supervisors, followers, or coworker and herself, which in turn, can have various benefits for organizational members’ wellbeing and performance, including during the COVID-19 setbacks

Larry Page: From X to Y

Theory X and Theory Y represent assumptions on manager’s attitude towards human nature and behavior. Theory X assumes a negative manager attitude, while Theory Y assumes the opposite. Accordingly, Douglas McGregor, founder of this theory, believed X-type leaders should convert to Y-types if they are to motivate and perform successfully. This work aims to provide real-life support of McGregor’s assumption through a case study on the leadership profile of Larry Page, co-founder and twice CEO of Google and current CEO of Alphabet. Page’s leadership profile drawn from this analysis acts in favor of Theory Y’s assumptions, howev-er, transfer from X appears to have taken place beforehand. The conversion appears to be associated with the benefits anticipated by McGregor

Angel Investment and Kosovo’s Early-Stage Market: A Promising Opportunity?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether Angel Investment (AI) may serve as a suitable tool for the early-stage market of Kosovo. The activity of the Business Angel (BA) has experienced significant development lately, and moreover, supplementary attention by policymakers all over Europe and beyond. As a result, the BA community in Europe has published the Start-up Investor Manifesto in May 2014 aiming to adopt policies and actions towards the rise of entrepreneurship and innovation through the creation of 1.5 million new jobs in Europe by 2017. In addition, the Manifesto foresees enlargement of cross-border activity of BAs, including the emerging markets lying outside EU borders. Based on its increasing capacity and attention paid to, and on the fact that over 98% of registered Kosovar businesses are micro enterprises, AI may appear an appropriate instrument in advancing country’s early-stage market. Therefore, this paper intends to answer this interrogation by simultaneously studying the scientific arguments as well as best practices regarding AI both in developed and emerging markets. Accordingly it aims to provide a model on how the AI market could be developed in Kosovo

The Importance of External Audit in Detecting Abnormalities and Fraud in the Financial Statements of Public Enterprises in Kosovo

[full article and abstract in English] This paper focuses on determinants and their impact on the audit of public enterprises in Kosovo. In addition, it analyzes the impact of audit quality on improving the transparency and accountability of those enterprises. The study also assesses factors that affect the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of information in the audit reports of the Kosovo National Audit Office. The data were obtained based on observations, documentation, questionnaires, and interviews. Respondents were internal auditors of public enterprises in Kosovo as well as external auditors of the Kosovo National Audit Office. This research was designed using primary and secondary sources of data and was carried out in accordance with statistical analysis methods using the average algebraic size method and absolute variation indicators. The findings of this paper suggest that external auditors consider the potential risk of errors and fraud as being high, that they have aversive attitudes against errors and fraud, and that there exists for them a negative relationship between errors, fraud and financial reporting. Also, the quality of external audit positively affects the detection of fraud and anomalies within financial statements

Caesarean sections and private insurance: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE Financial incentives associated with private insurance may encourage healthcare providers to perform more caesarean sections. We therefore sought to determine the association of private insurance and odds of caesarean section. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, Embase and The Cochrane Library from the first year of records through August 2016. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA We included studies that reported data to allow the calculation of OR of caesarean section of privately insured as compared with publicly insured women. OUTCOMES The prespecified primary outcome was the adjusted OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance. The prespecified secondary outcome was the crude OR of births delivered by caesarean section of women covered with private insurance as compared with women covered with public insurance. RESULTS Eighteen articles describing 21 separate studies in 12.9 million women were included in this study. In a meta-analysis of 13 studies, the adjusted odds of delivery by caesarean section was 1.13 higher among privately insured women as compared with women with public insurance coverage (95% CI 1.07 to 1.18) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ(2)=0.006). The meta-analysis of crude estimates from 12 studies revealed a somewhat more pronounced association (pooled OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.44) with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ(2)=0.011). CONCLUSIONS Caesarean sections are more likely to be performed in privately insured women as compared with women using public health insurance coverage. Although this effect is small on average and variable in its magnitude, it is present in all analyses we performed

Angel Investment and Kosovo’s Early-Stage Market: A Promising Opportunity?

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether Angel Investment (AI) may serve as a suitable tool for the early-stage market of Kosovo. The activity of the Business Angel (BA) has experienced significant development lately, and moreover, supplementary attention by policymakers all over Europe and beyond. As a result, the BA community in Europe has published the Start-up Investor Manifesto in May 2014 aiming to adopt policies and actions towards the rise of entrepreneurship and innovation through the creation of 1.5 million new jobs in Europe by 2017. In addition, the Manifesto foresees enlargement of cross-border activity of BAs, including the emerging markets lying outside EU borders. Based on its increasing capacity and attention paid to, and on the fact that over 98% of registered Kosovar businesses are micro enterprises, AI may appear an appropriate instrument in advancing country’s early-stage market. Therefore, this paper intends to answer this interrogation by simultaneously studying the scientific arguments as well as best practices regarding AI both in developed and emerging markets. Accordingly it aims to provide a model on how the AI market could be developed in Kosovo

Caesarean section in uninsured women in the USA: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to assess the odds of caesarean section (CS) for uninsured women in the USA and understand the underlying mechanisms as well as consequences of lower use. STUDY DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and CINAHL from the first year of records to April 2018. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA We included studies that reported data to allow the calculation of ORs of CS of uninsured as compared with insured women. OUTCOMES The prespecified primary outcome was the adjusted OR of deliveries by CS of uninsured women as compared with privately or publicly insured women. The prespecified secondary outcome was the crude OR of deliveries by CS of uninsured women as compared with insured women. RESULTS 12 articles describing 16 separate studies involving more than 8.8 million women were included in this study. We found: 0.70 times lower odds of CS in uninsured as compared with privately insured women (95% CI 0.63 to 0.78), with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ=0.01); and 0.92 times lower odds for CS in uninsured as compared with publicly insured women (95% CI 0.80 to 1.07), with no relevant heterogeneity between studies (τ=0.02). We found 0.70 times lower odds in uninsured as compared with privately and publicly insured women (95% CI 0.69 to 0.72). CONCLUSIONS CSs are less likely to be performed in uninsured women as compared with insured women. While the higher rates for CS among privately insured women can be explained with financial incentives associated with private insurance, the lower odds among uninsured women draw attention at barriers to access for delivery care. In many regions, the rates for uninsured women are above, close or below the benchmarks for appropriate CS rates and could imply both, underuse and overuse