Business school techspectations Technology in the daily lives and educational experiences of business students

Business School Techspectations is the second in a series of reports based on research by the DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) at DCU Business School. With its roots in an Irish business school, it is no surprise that LInK’s mission is to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the Irish economy. Ireland’s next generation transformation will be enabled by information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital participation by members of Irish society. As a university research centre we have an important role to play in supporting education, industry and government to accelerate this transformation

Social relations, human resource management, and knowledge transfer in work organisations: toward an integrated approach

Hailed as the basis for competitive advantage of contemporary firms, knowledge transfer has recently emerged as a key research topic in the organisation and management field. Despite wide recognition of the importance of social relations for effective knowledge transfer, there is little understanding of the micro-sociological foundations of this process, and even less understanding of the ways in which human resource management practices can support social relations conducive to knowledge transfer and sharing. The present study developed an integrated conceptual model with the aim to improve understanding of the mechanisms for and the conditions under which social relations can be transformed into useful, actionable knowledge. To test this model, quantitative data were gathered through a questionnaire survey of 135 knowledge workers from three Irish-based organisations. Qualitative data were also collected through semi-structured interviews with the human resource managers and knowledge managers of these organisations. The findings demonstrated that, at the interpersonal level of analysis, the effective transfer of knowledge hinges upon the extent to which individuals share a common lexicon for communication and trust each other, both professionally and personally. In particular, personal trust was found to be key to the transfer of tacit knowledge, thereby underlining the importance of positive affect as a criterion for the formation of productive knowledge exchange relations. In regard to the role of human resource management, it was found that employees’ perceptions of reciprocal task interdependence, job feedback, selective staffing, intensive socialisation, and relational-oriented training and development are related strongly to their perceptions of a social climate of teamwork and cooperation and, consequently, of knowledge sharing attitudes. Importantly, the effect of these practices was found to be mediated by employees’ perceptions of line managers’ support for knowledge sharing. The study concluded by suggesting the need for further integration of social relations into research on the role of human resource management practices in knowledge transfer and organisational learning

Assessing agricultural policy incentives for Greek organic agriculture: A Real options approach

The adoption of organic agriculture or livestock involves risk and uncertainty, and to overcome this, well designed schemes are required. Are the current support measures attractive for farmers who wish to convert to organic? At first, this study tries to assess the optimal investment trigger for a new comer into organic dairy sheep farming system and secondly, to evaluate the investment profitability of an existing organic farmer in his attempt to improve his farm. Results indicate that the framework of real options analysis is an appropriate form of analysis if the question of investment profitability is examined under risk and uncertainty and the role of economic subsidies offered to organic farmers is assessed.organic agriculture, dairy sheep farming, real options, agriculture policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

Assessing economic incentives for dairy sheep farmers: A real options approach

New policy measures have been introduced to transform Greece’s agriculture into a more modern and environmentally friendly agriculture. Adopting new technology and environmentally friendly production systems involves risk and uncertainty, which in turn stress the need for well designed policy schemes. This study attempts to examine the effects of income variability upon the decision to adopt new technology and environmentally friendly production systems by introducing the real options analysis to dairy sheep farming in Greece. The real options procedure revealed that the investment in new technology in dairy sheep farms under organic scheme is profitable. Attractive economic incentives that are offered by the applied agricultural policy to young farmers compensate for the risk and uncertainty of the activity.agricultural policy, organic sheep farming, real options, Livestock Production/Industries,

Policy implementations for organic agriculture: A real options approach

Organic farming has experienced a vast increase within the EU, despite the fact that it implies greater risk and uncertainty than that of conventional farming. This is the result of the increased environmental concern and the rising demand for quality food, which led to the implementation of the organic policy scheme. Nevertheless, the production of organic fruits, including cherries, is still limited in the EU. Farmers will adopt this alternative farming system only if the support provided by the existing policy regime out weights the increased risk and uncertainty. This study explores the effectiveness of the current policy measures for the production of organic cherries in Greece, using the real options methodology. The framework of real options analysis is an appropriate form of analysis so as to examine the investment’s profitability under risk and uncertainty and assess the economic incentives offered to organic farmers. The results indicate that the economic incentives provided by the existing policy regime, compensate for the risk and the uncertainty that farmers are undertaking. Furthermore, this study reveals that the profitability of the economic activity explored, lies mainly on the subsidies organic farmers receive.Keywords: organic agriculture, real options, agriculture policy, uncertainty, Agricultural and Food Policy, D81, Q14, Q18,

Bayesian prediction of jumps in large panels of time series data

We take a new look at the problem of disentangling the volatility and jumps processes of daily stock returns. We first provide a computational framework for the univariate stochastic volatility model with Poisson-driven jumps that offers a competitive inference alternative to the existing tools. This methodology is then extended to a large set of stocks for which we assume that their unobserved jump intensities co-evolve in time through a dynamic factor model. To evaluate the proposed modelling approach we conduct out-of-sample forecasts and we compare the posterior predictive distributions obtained from the different models. We provide evidence that joint modelling of jumps improves the predictive ability of the stochastic volatility models.Comment: 49 pages, 27 figures, 4 table

MODELLING ECONOMIC ALTERNATIVES FOR TOBACCO PRODUCERS: THE CASE OF SHEEP FARMING

After the introduction of the new tobacco regime, many regions in Greece, formerly specialized in tobacco cultivation, are now facing serious threats of economic and social decline. Sheep farming is considered by many analysts as a viable alternative to tobacco. This study analyses the financial performance of sheep production and the risk that producers are taking. Through a stochastic efficiency analysis with respect to a function we explore the economic viability of conventional and organic sheep farming; key factors determining the economic outcome of these activities are also investigated. Both organic and conventional sheep farming appear as viable alternatives. The viability of organic farming lies, mainly, in organic payments. Conventional farming generates a slightly lower but less uncertain net return.organic farming, dairy sheep, risk analysis, SERF, agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty,

Conceptualising collaborative processes in university research centres

In the context of a knowledge-based agenda understanding the dynamics of the collaborative process between universities and industry becomes critical. This paper develops an analytical framework for examining the processes underpinning the collaborative capabilities of University Research Centres (URCs). Drawing on the lens of collaborative communities, this multi-level framework provides a useful basis for understanding in more detail the unique motives, relational dynamics and negotiated orders informing and shaping the formation and sustenance of research collaboration in URCs. Implications for the management of scientific and technical (S&T) human capital are discussed

University research scientists as knowledge workers: contract status and employment opportunities

University research scientists epitomise knowledge workers who are positioned to avail of the employment conditions associated with ‘boundaryless careers’. Yet while employment flexibility has been hailed as a positive feature of knowledge work, relatively little is known about the forms such flexibility may take or its impact. This article considers the factors shaping the employment conditions of 40 research scientists working in five university research centres in Ireland. The findings suggest that, for knowledge workers such as research scientists, contract employment can deny them access to many of the employment conditions and opportunities that govern their long-term success as researchers