Business Commons^™

Developing The Psychological Capital Of Resiliency, Fred Luthans, Gretchen R Vogelgesang, Paul B. Lester

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In these turbulent times, we propose the importance of developing the psychological capital dimension of resiliency. After providing the theoretical background and meaning of psychological capital in general and resiliency in particular, the authors present proactive and reactive human resource development (HRD) strategies for its development. The proactive HRD includes increasing psychological assets, decreasing risk factors, and facilitating processes that allow human resources to enhance their resilience. The reactive HRD largely draws from a broaden-and-build model of positive emotions and self-enhancement, external attribution, and hardiness. The article includes specific guidelines for HRD applications and an agenda for future needed research.

Market Disintermediation And Producer Value Capture: The Case Of Fair Trade Coffee In Nicaragua, Peru And Guatemala, Eric J. Arnould, Alejandro Plastina, Dwayne Ball

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Does participation in Fair Trade coffee marketing deliver added value to small-scale producers in developing countries? Is Fair Trade fair to producers as promised? The present study adopts a survey methodology designed to measure a combination of socio-economic impact indicators as well as measures particular to the Fair Trade coffee growing and marketing experience. We surveyed over 1200 small-scale coffee producers in Nicaragua, Peru, and Guatemala, of which about two-thirds participate in coffee marketing schemes sponsored by Transfair, USA. The study reports selected results related to production, marketing, material quality of life, education, health, and general wellbeing. Results show that …

Service Personalization And Loyalty, A. Dwayne Ball, Pedro S. Coelho, Manuel J. Vilares

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Purpose:

To investigate the effect of service personalization on loyalty, and to measure some of the psychological dynamics of the process.

Methodology:

structural equation modeling.

Findings:

We show that the effect of service personalization on loyalty exists, but that the effect is not all direct. Personalization works through improving service satisfaction and trust. Personalization and improved communication act together in such a way that they account for the variance in loyalty that would be otherwise explained by corporate image.

Research limitations:

Data, though comprising a very large probability sample, are from one economic sector in one European country.

Practical implications: …

The Importance Of Vertical And Shared Leadership Within New Venture Top Management Teams: Implications For The Performance Of Startups, Michael D. Ensley, Keith M. Hmieleski, Craig L. Pearce

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The current study investigated the relative influence of vertical versus shared leadership within new venture top management teams on the performance of startups using two different samples. Vertical leadership stems from an appointed or formal leader of a team (e.g., the CEO), whereas shared leadership is a form of distributed leadership stemming from within a team. Transformational, transactional, empowering, and directive dimensions of both vertical and shared leadership were examined. New venture performance was considered in terms of revenue growth and employee growth. The first sample was comprised of 66 top management teams of firms drawn from Inc. Magazine’s …

Potential Added Value Of Psychological Capital In Predicting Work Attitudes, Milan Larson, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Meeting the challenge of effectively managing human resources requires new thinking and approaches. To extend the traditional perspective of economic capital, increasing recognition is being given to human capital and more recently social capital, this article proposes and empirically tests the potential added value that psychological capital may have for employee attitudes of satisfaction and commitment. After first providing the background and theory of PsyCap, this article reports a study of manufacturing employees (N = 74) that found a significant relationship between PsyCap and job satisfaction (r=.373) and organization commitment (r=.313). Importantly, the employees’ PsyCap had a significant added impact …

Estimating Demand For Business Recycling Services In Two Nebraska Cities, Eric Thompson, Mingming Pan, Cory Buland

Bureau of Business Research Publications

Creating opportunities for business recycling is an important priority for the State of Nebraska and communities throughout the state. In particular, there is a need to expand opportunities in smaller communities that do not always have the infrastructure or markets for recycling found in the state’s largest cities such as Omaha and Lincoln. With this in mind, the following report, sponsored by WasteCap Nebraska and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, uses a survey of businesses to evaluate business attitudes toward recycling, current recycling efforts, and the level of need and interest for recycling training and services in two mid-size …

The Recovery Is Sustained: The Nebraska Business Forecast Council, Randy Cantrell

Business in Nebraska

In September and October of this year, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita combined with an already-stretched world oil market to generate a spike in energy prices throughout the United States. The price spike naturally generated concern for the economy. Most recent recessions in the U.S. economy have been preceded by peaks in oil prices. Did the energy price spikes following Katrina and Rita derail the quickly-growing U.S. economy? The early evidence, and the economic outlook, suggest that the answer is no.

Despite the hurricanes, third quarter GDP growth continued to be very strong, exceeding 4%. Further, strong job growth returned to …

Economic Importance Of Irrigated Agriculture 2003, Charles Lamphear

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

Just how important is irrigated agriculture to the Nebraska economy? This question was first addressed nearly forty years ago in a study conducted by Drs. Theodore W. Roesler and F. Charles Lamphear, University of Nebraska Department of Economics. This initial study was updated in 1972 and, again, in 1991. The latest update study for 2003 was recently completed by Dr. Charles Lamphear, emeritus professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UN-L). He was assisted by emeritus professors Dr. Roy Frederick, UN-L Department of Agriculture Economics and Dr. Dale Flowerday, UN-L Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, along with several UN-L extension specialists. The results …

Nurturing The Spirit At Work: Impact On Work Unit Performance, Dennis Duchon, Donde Ashmos Plowman

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Workplace spirituality is defined as a workplace that recognizes that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community. This definition, based on three fundamental spiritual needs, has implications for how leaders can enhance work unit performance by nurturing the spirit at work. In an exploratory study of six work units in a large hospital system we used an instrument that measures workplace spirituality. The results led to propositions concerning the effect of work unit spirituality on work unit performance and the relationship between work unit spirituality and …

Business Priorities For Reducing The Cost Of Doing Business In Nebraska: Recent Results And Industry Differences, Eric Thompson, Cory Buland

Business in Nebraska

The cost of doing business in Nebraska influences many Nebraska proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations operating throughout the economy. Four times a year, the Bureau of Business Research surveys Nebraska businesses about factors that influence the cost of doing business in the state. This report presents the results of a survey sent to 500 Nebraska businesses during July and August of 2005.

The survey presents businesses with a list of 19 cost factors ranging from market-driven matters (such as the cost of supplies and raw materials, labor costs, or utility costs) to factors more directly tied to federal, state, and local …

Quantifying Cognitive Biases In Analyst Earnings Forecasts, Geoffrey C. Friesen, Paul Weller

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

This paper develops a formal model of analyst earnings forecasts that discriminates between rational behavior and that induced by cognitive biases. In the model, analysts are Bayesians who issue sequential forecasts that combine new information with the information contained in past forecasts. The model enables us to test for cognitive biases, and to quantify their magnitude. We estimate the model and find strong evidence that analysts are overconfident about the precision of their own information and also subject to cognitive dissonance bias. But they are able to make corrections for bias in the forecasts of others. We show that our …

The Economic Impact Of The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletic Department, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

When the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium is filled for Cornhusker home games (as it has been for an NCAA-record 268 consecutive times since 1962), millions of dollars of economic activity are generated through ticket sales, broadcast rights, and concession sales. This spending and attendance indicate that Cornhusker football provides a popular, high-quality product that creates a high level of consumer demand. Cornhusker football also creates a large ripple effect in the economies of Lincoln, Omaha, and elsewhere in the state of Nebraska as fans attending Husker games spend at restaurants, hotels, retail stores, gasoline service stations, and other businesses …

Combining Equity And The Precautionary Principle: Examples Drawn From Hog Production In Poland, F. Gregory Hayden

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Equity criteria are one set of efficiency criteria crucial for evaluating and judging production institutions and processes. Efficiency means the ability to produce a desired effect. Before efficiency can be determined, criteria must be established with regard to what is desirable. Equity—that is, fairness and justice - is one of the effects desired from production processes. Thus, (1) by definition, equity and efficiency cannot be separated. (2) Neither can they be separated in real-world production processes. If, for example, the loss of workers’ respiratory health due to work in a hog production facility is considered unfair and unjust treatment of …

The Impact Of Growth On Quality Of Life And Fiscal Conditions In Lincoln, Nebraska, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

While growth has moderated in the last few years, the 1990s were a period of rising employment and population in Lincoln, Nebraska. The city and metropolitan area experienced sustained and steady growth, roughly on par with the expansion of other mid-sized cities throughout the United States. The growth brought changes to the city, which raised questions about what benefits and costs might have resulted from these changes.

This following study by the UNL Bureau of Business Research examines some of the implications of growth for Lincoln, Nebraska. The study examines how growth in the 1990s and early 2000s affected wages …

Continued Growth In Nebraska, Saeed Ahmad, John Austin, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Bruce Johnson, Donis Petersan, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Business in Nebraska

National economic conditions will continue to favor growth over the next three years. Increased business investment will combine with rising industrial production, expanding exports, and moderate increases in consumer spending to grow the economy. The rate of inflation is expected to increase as well.

The rate of real (inflation-adjusted) growth will moderate compared to strong economic growth during 2004. Real gross domestic product will grow 3 percent to 3.5 percent over the next three years. High oil prices will remain a drain on the economy, siphoning spending from domestically produced goods and services. Fuel prices are expected to remain at …

If You Build It, Will They Come? An Examination Of Public Highway Investments And Economic Growth, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

Economic research studies in general have not found that more highways lead to a larger economy in states and regions. Over the last three decades, the presence of more highway capital in a state has not been found to attract more private capital to the economy. Most studies have not found that highways, and new investment in highways, increase the level of employment or labor earnings in the economy overall. Finally, most studies have found that the presence of more highways in a state has done little over the last three decades to make state economies more productive.

To be …

The Tale Of Two Cultures: Attitudes Towards Affirmative Action In The United States And India, Gwendolyn Combs, Sucheta Nadkarni

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This study seeks to inform multinational corporations as they integrate domestic and international affirmative action policies and strategies. Improvement of these abilities can have important implications for human resource management and organizational productivity outcomes. To increase our understanding of the international perspectives of affirmative action, we examine employee perceptions of the structure of affirmative action plans in the United States and India. The differences in affirmative action plans implemented in these countries as well as country cultural differences offer interesting backdrops for examining cross-country differences in employee perceptions of affirmative action.

Views Of Teaching And Research In Economics And Other Disciplines, William Walstad, Sam Allgood

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Anecdotes are often quite suggestive. A graduate student in economics who was serving as a teaching assistant once reported that his major professor came into his office and told him that he was spending too much of his time helping his undergraduate students and not enough time on his research. Was the professor expressing a preference for time spent on teaching over research? Or was the professor suggesting to the student that the academic market rewards research more than teaching? Regardless, the underlying message that gets transferred from such an experience, as early as graduate education and perhaps throughout a …

Report Of The Committee On Economic Education, William Walstad

College of Business: Faculty Publications

A major development in 2004 was the launch of a CEE-sponsored "Teaching Innovations Program" (TIP) for faculty members in economics. It is funded by a $675,000 grant over five years from the National Science Foundation and is co-directed by William Walstad and Michael Salemi. It has three phases for faculty participation. In Phase 1, faculty members will attend instructional workshops where they will work in teams to learn about interactive learning strategies and materials. Two such workshops are planned for May and June of 2005-one at the University of North Carolina and the other at Georgetown University. Additional workshops will …

Revisiting Brown V. Board Of Education: A Cultural, Historical-Legal, And Political Perspective, Michael W. Combs, Gwendolyn Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This Article explores how Brown v. Board of Education and subsequent Court decisions have impacted the structure of society and racial cultural tradition of America. Brown ranks among the first instances in which a modern American institution actually tackled the cultural basis of racism and discrimination. More directly, during oral arguments to consider the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Justices seemed to have understood the political and cultural importance of possibly overturning the doctrine that shaped race relations for more than fifty years. The Warren Court’s strategy to treat severally the constitutional pronouncement and the remedial …

Cognition And International Entrepreneurship: Implications For Research On International Opportunity Recognition And Exploitation, Shaker A. Zahra, Juha Santeri Korri, Jifeng Yu

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

International entrepreneurship (IE) research has grown rapidly, encompassing many industries and world regions. Past IE research has examined the macro, industry and firm-specific variables that lead to companies’ early internationalization and its financial and non-financial outcomes. Most prior IE research has been correlational in focus and static in design. Focusing on early internationalization, we propose that a significant shift can occur in IE research by applying a cognitive perspective and examining how entrepreneurs recognize and exploit opportunities in international markets. A cognitive approach will allow researchers to probe entrepreneurs’ motivations to internationalize and capture their mental models. The article highlights …

Business Priorities For Reducing The Cost Of Doing Business In Nebraska, Eric Thompson, Jyothsna Safnath

Business in Nebraska

The cost of doing business in Nebraska affects all residents of the state. It directly influences the profitability and prospects of tens of thousands of Nebraska proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. The indirect effects may be even more far-reaching, affecting both the cost of living and the quality of life in the state. Business costs influence the prices that businesses must charge for providing goods and services. These costs even affect whether certain retail and service businesses survive in small and mid-size Nebraska communities. The cost of doing business also may influence the size of the Nebraska economy. Many Nebraska manufacturers, …

A Consumer-Behavior Perspective On Intimate Partner Violence, Debra Lynn Stephens, Ronald Paul Hill, James W. Gentry

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

This research examines women’s experiences of and responses to intimate partner violence using the perspective of the extended self. From in-depth interviews with a demographically diverse group of women in the United States, the primary theme to emerge was that chronic abuse is experienced as the male partner’s ongoing campaign to incorporate the abused woman into his extended self, by appropriating or destroying the aspects of her that give her autonomy. The most important implication for agencies serving abused women is that many of their clients are faced with the daunting task of repairing or reconstructing their core and extended …

Implementing Affirmative Action Plans In Multinational Corporations, Gwendolyn Combs, Sucheta Nadkarni, Michael W. Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Diversity is rapidly becoming an imperative business strategy in the global economy. Affirmative action is central to promoting a positive diversity climate. However, cultural, social, and legal differences around the world pose major challenges to multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing successful affirmative action plans (AAPs) at the global level. We present a model for global affirmative action plans that first identifies and examines the major environmental challenges faced by MNCs in implementing global affirmative action practices, as well as suggestions to combat these challenges. Second, the model delineates global affirmative action practices that rest on two building blocks—differentiation and integration. …

Modeling Clusters Of Extreme Losses, Beatriz Vaz De Melo Mendes, Juliana Sa Freire De Lima

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We model extreme losses from an excess of loss reinsurance contract under the assumption of the existence of a subordinated process generating sequences of large claims. We characterize clusters of extreme losses and aggregate the excess losses within clusters. The number of clusters is modeled using the usual discrete probability models, and the severity of the sum of excesses within clusters is modeled using a flexible extension of the generalized Pareto distribution. We illustrate the methodology using a Danish fire insurance claims data set. Maximum likelihood point estimates and bootstrap confidence intervals are obtained for the parameters and statistical premium. …

A Primer On Duration, Convexity, And Immunization, Leslaw Gajek, Krzysztof Ostaszewski, Hans-Joachim Zwiesler

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The concepts of duration, convexity, and immunization are fundamental tools of asset-liability management. This paper provides a theoretical and practical overview of the concepts, largely missing in the existing literature on the subject, and fills some holes in the body of research on the subject. We not present new research, but rather we provide a new presentation of the underlying theory, which we believe to be of value in the new North American actuarial education system.

Optimal Dividend Strategies: Some Economic Interpretations For The Constant Barrier Case, Maite Marmol, M. Merce Claramunt, Antonio Alegre

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We consider the surplus process of a non-life insurance portfolio with a dividend component represented by a constant dividend barrier strategy. The optimal dividend barrier is known when individual claim amounts follow an exponential distribution. This result for the optimal dividend barrier is used to develop combinations of the levels of the insurer's initial surplus and of the barrier which, under certain economic and financial criteria, can be regarded as optimal.

A New Hybrid Defined Benefit Plan Design, Wayne E. Dydo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Traditional defined benefit plans can be difficult to understand and complex to administer. Hybrid plans (cash balance and pension equity) arose in part to address the former issue, but at a price of greater administrative and litigation risk. I introduce a design for defined benefit pension plans that is easy to communicate to participants, allows for accrual patterns that closely replicate those of the two most common forms of hybrid pension plans, and avoids the controversial nondiscrimination issues that currently trouble sponsors of hybrid plans. The design defines the benefit as a fixed percentage of pay payable over a period …

Risk-Based Regulatory Capital For Insurers: A Case Study, Christian Sutherland-Wong, Michael Sherris

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We study the issues in determining regulatory capital requirements using advanced modeling by assessing and comparing capital requirements under the two alternative approaches. A dynamic financial analysis (DFA) model is used for this case study. These issues are of current international interest as regulators, insurers, and actuaries face the significant issues involved with the introduction of risk-based capital for insurers.

Reputation Pricing: A Model For Valuing Future Life Insurance Policies, Rami Yosef

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

The reputation of a life insurer is used to develop a model for determining the value of future life insurance policies. An M / G / 00 process is used to describe the sales and terminations (due to death or maturity) of future policies. The intensity of the arrival process is assumed to depend on the company's reputation. Explicit expressions are derived for the actuarial reserves and expected profits of these future policies.