Business Commons^™

President Eisenhower, Economic Policy, And The 1960 Presidential Election, Ann Mari May

College of Business: Faculty Publications

This article examines economic policy in the Eisenhower years and the president's role in the 1960 election. I measure the impact of changes in fiscal policy on real GNP and show that policy in 1959 was unusually contractionary and cannot be dismissed as merely evidence of Eisenhower's fiscal conservatism.

The Generalizability Of The Hidden Investment Hypothesis In Leading Japanese Corporations, Mitsuru Wakabayashi, George Graen, Mary Uhl-Bien

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The present study tests the generalizability of the hidden investment hypothesis (Wakabayashi, Graen, Graen, & Graen, 1988) for Japanese management systems. The hidden investment hypothesis was derived from a 13-year longitudinal study of the career progress of a cohort of 85 college graduates who joined a single Japanese company in the same year, and states that the higher the quality of the vertical exchange relationship between a manager and supervisor, the greater the career progress of that manager. To test for the generalizability of the hidden investment hypothesis, 1,075 line managers at four different hierarchical levels were sampled from five …

Framing The Problem And Making Decisions: The Facts Are Not Enough, Dennis Duchon, Kenneth Dunegan, Sidney L. Barton

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

One hundred ten engineers, scientists, and managers in a high-technology international engineering firm took part in an experiment that assessed the effect of framing on an R&D financial allocation decision. Subtle changes in frame of reference are found to have a powerful effect on decisions and perception of risk. R&D management implications are discussed.

Contemporary Philosophy Of Science And Neoinstitutional Thought, Ann Mari May

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Orthodox neoclassical economists as well cannot make sense of economics, but they too can make sense of logic and so they stipulate that economics must be presented in terms of their favorite logical system -logical empiricism-and therein lies one of the fundamental stumbling blocks to progress within the discipline of economics. The neoclassical paradigm that now dominates the profession is purportedly based upon a methodological foundation of logical empiricism, which the neoclassical economists themselves cannot conform to, but which nonetheless has proven to be quite useful in undercutting the legitimacy of those alternative research programs that do not support the …

A Report Card On The Economic Literacy Of U.S. High School Students, William Walstad, John C. Soper

College of Business: Faculty Publications

In the 1980's, assessment and critique of American education has taken center stage. A large segment of the public is upset with the educational achievement of precollege students in several content areas. Economics should now be added to the list of failing subjects because the results of our study show a poor performance by many high school students in their knowledge of basic economic concepts.

The study is-based on a large, national sample of students who took the second edition of the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL) (Soper-Walstad, 1987). The TEL is a nationally normed and standardized test of the …

Book Review: Managing Macroeconomic Policy: The Johnson Presidency By James E. Anderson And Jared E. Hazelton, Ann Mari May

College of Business: Faculty Publications

The emergence of active countercyclical stabilization policies in the 1960s presented politicians with the problem of formulating economically desirable policies that were politically feasible as well. Economists have traditionally concerned themselves with the technical aspects of stabilization policy, leaving the analysis of actual policy formation to political scientists. James Anderson and Jared Hazelton, in Managing Macroeconomic Policy: The Johnson Presidency, present us with an analysis of macroeconomic policy in the Johnson presidency that bridges this gap by attempting to determine how the "intermixture of economic and political considerations shaped and limited the actions of those involved in the development …

The Political Business Cycle: An Institutional Critique And Reconstruction, Ann Mari May

College of Business: Faculty Publications

John Maynard Keynes's General Theory provided the analytical framework and the rationale for using discretionary governmental policies to stabilize the economy at full employment. Although the Keynesian policy prescriptions continued to gain acceptance in the postwar period, the zenith of our confidence in the efficacy of stabilization policy was not reached until the mid-1960s. However, just as government intervention in the economy was becoming widely accepted, the familiar sound of ceremonial exhortations against governmental intervention again began to be heard. . . this time in the area of stabilization policy.

Interdependence: An Alternative Conceptualization, Bart Victor, Richard S. Blackburn

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Conceptualizations of interdependence offered by Thompson (1967) and McCann and Ferry (1979) fail to satisfy basic requirements for empirical or practical investigations of complex organizations. An alternative conceptualization based on interdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959) is presented here and used to explain the causes of interunit conflict and the effective- ness of coordination strategy. Hypotheses are presented, and future research is proposed.

Blau's Theory Of Structural Differentiation Revisited: A Theory Of Structural Change Or Scale?, John B. Cullen, Kenneth S. Anderson, Douglas D. Blaker

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The major objective of this study was to determine if Blau's (1970) theory of structural differentiation better captures differences in scale between organizations or structural changes within organizations. Data gathered on 134 Ph.D.-granting universities over nine years permitted us to compare results of within-organizations tests of Blau's theory those from both cross-sectional and longitudinal between-organization tests. The findings suggest that the theory's power lies in explaining structural differences between organizations rather than in explaining structural change.

Board Composition And The Commission Of Illegal Acts: An Investigation Of Fortune 500 Companies, Idalene F. Kesner, Bart Victor, Bruce T. Lamont

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Corporate boardroom processes and board composition have long been topics of interest and debate for both organizational researchers and practitioners. In recent years, however, criticism of corporate boards has increased dramatically, as evidences by the comments of former International Telephone & Telegraph chairman, Harold Geneen. According to Geneen, "the boards of directors of U.S. industry include numerous first-rate people doing what amounts to a second-rate job" (1984: 258). In defense of his position, he brought up many points, but board composition is the most central to his argument. Essentially, Geneen and other critics have argued that the designs of corporate …

Identification By Disaggregation, Matthew J. Cushing, Mary G. Mcgarvey

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Standard economic theory predicts that the actions of individual participants in competitive markets have negligible effects on market-determined aggregates. Applied researchers, and even some econometric textbooks, incorrectly infer from this that market prices can be modeled as econometrically exogenous with respect to the quantity demanded of an individual consumer. This faulty inference has even led some researchers (for example, Robert Engle, 1978; Nicholas Kiefer, 1984; Roger Waud, 1974) to employ an estimation strategy we call identification by disaggregation (IBD). This procedure attempts to circumvent the simultaneity problem in a macro regression by disaggregating the dependent variable and estimating the relationship …

Refining The Displacement Of Culture And The Use Of Scenes And Themes In Organizational Studies, Nancy C. Morey, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The move to displace the concept of culture traditionally used in anthropology to organizational research is discussed. Issues surrounding the culture concept and the juxtaposition of culture and organization are given special attention. Current thinking about the nature of the process of displacement is refined. Examples from an ongoing study of a city transit organization are used to demonstrate the use of cultural scenes and themes in organizational research.

Research Notes Organizational Commitment: A Comparison Of American, Japanese, And Korean Employees, Fred Luthans, Harriette S. Mccaul, Nancy G. Dodd

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Considerable attention is currently being given to exploring differences between Japanese and American workers that might explain the widening gap between the productivity growth rates of the two countries. Some researchers have suggested that this difference in productivity growth is, at least in part, due to Japanese workers' having a higher level of commitment to their orgnaizations than American works (Cole, 1979; Hatvany & Pucik, 1981; Marsh & Mannari, 1977; Whitehall & Takezawa, 1968). Turnover rates are commonly cited to support the popular notion that Japanese employees, whose turnover rate is about half that of their American counterparts, are more …

Weather Risk And Size Economies Of Large Machinery In Wheat Production, Glenn A. Helmers, Romanus Monji

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

Major objectives of this study were to determine the existence of economies or diseconomies of size for large farms and to determine the impact of farmers' risk aversion level on the size of farm machinery selected.

The Presidential Political Business Cycle Of 1972, Robert R. Keller, Ann Mari May

College of Business: Faculty Publications

Previous studies of the political business cycle have examined time series data to determine whether a pattern of pre-election boom and post-election slump exists. The studies do not investigate the behavior and mechanisms by which a politician may effectuate a political business cycle. We focus on one time period, 1969 to 1972, and conclude that President Nixon's personality and operating environment explain why he manipulated the economy for political gain. The mechanisms he utilized to improve macroeconomic conditions before the 1972 election include monetary policy, fiscal policy, and wage-price controls.

Book Review: The Development Of The U.S. Urban System, Vol. 1.: Concepts, Structures, Regional Shifts; Vol. 2: Industrial Shifts, Implications By Edgar S. Dunn, Jr., Roger F. Riefler

College of Business: Faculty Publications

At least since the North-Tiebout debate of the 1950s there has been a tradition of cross-fertilization between regional science and economic history to the benefit of both fields. Although numerous landmark studies mark this symbiosis, one specific study deserves particular mention: Regions, Resources and Economic Growth by Harvey S. Perloff, Edgar S. Dunn, Jr., Eric E. Lampard, and Richard F. Muth (The Johns Hopkins Press, 1960). That book, by combining a massive data collection and refinement effort with the then emerging shift/share technique of regional science, provided a comprehensive picture and causal examination of variations in U.S. regional growth patterns …

Farm, Ranch And Home Quarterly Institute Of Agriculture And Natural Resources, University Of Nebraska- Lincoln

Farm, Ranch and Home Quarterly

In this issue:

IANR Conservation Efforts........................... 2

Energy, Soil, Water-Program Stresses Conservation ............................. 3

Producers 'Break Tradition' .......................... 5

Soil Erosion: Mechanisms and Control ......................... 6

Can We Measure the Economics of Erosion? ....................... 9

Weed Control Essential in Reduced Tillage ......................... 11

Herbicides Important in Eco-farming ........................... 14

Conservation Tillage Aids Wildlife ............................ 16

Nebraska Erosion Magnitude Seen .......................... 17

Conservation TiIlage Effective, Inexpensive Erosion Control ...................... 18

Conservation TiIlage: Fertilizer Programs Should Match System ........................ 21

PUMP Improves Irrigation ........................... 23

Scheduling Key to Efficient Irrigation .................... 26

About The Authors ................................... 28

An Emic Perspective And Ethnoscience Methods For Organizational Research, Nancy C. Morey, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This paper is in answer to the call for new, innovative perspectives and methodologies for organizational research. Although the approach here falls within the subjective/idiographic/qualitative/insider set of methodologies rather than the objective/nomothetic/quantitative/outsider set, there is the potential to bridge the gap between the two sets. Coming largely from anthropology, the emic perspective is explained; the specific steps for ethnoscience analyses are summarized; and examples and implications are given.

Administration Size And Organization Size: An Examination Of The Lag Structure, John B. Cullen, Douglas D. Baker

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Recent longitudinal studies of the relationship between organization and administrative staff size (Freeman & Hannan, 1975) often to replicate the findings of earlier cross-sectional research (Blau herr, 1971). As a result, many researchers (Kimberly, 1976b) have argued that further longitudinal research is necessary.

Integration Of Social Indicators Into Holistic Geobased Models, F. Gregory Hayden

College of Business: Faculty Publications

The current need in social indicator modeling is a general framework for socio-environmental inquiry. This is consistent with John Dewey's advice on social measurement given more than forty years ago. This article will follow Marcus Felson's advice to develop socio-environmental accounts based on "map, clock, and calendar."' This can be accomplished by combining the social fabric matrix with temporal sequencing and geobased data systems.

Farm, Ranch And Home Quarterly Institute Of Agriculture And Natural Resources, University Of Nebraska- Lincoln

Farm, Ranch and Home Quarterly

In this issue:

2001 Assesses Needs..................... 2

Fats In your Diet-What Role Do They Play?...................... 3

Energy-Integrated Farming- Research and Demonstration For Energy Self-Sufficiency....................6

Consider Plant Disease in Row Crop Conservation Tillage ...............................14

Increase Production From Dry-land Pastures on Sandy Soil ..............................18

The COMPUTER-Its Time Is Now .................. 20

The Status of Family Farming in Nebraska................... 22

Price, Yield And Net Income Variability For Selected Field Crops And Counties In Nebraska, Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, Glenn A. Helmers

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

The primary objective of this study was to establish an empirical estimate of the riskiness of various crops in different regions of Nebraska. For this purpose the variate difference method was used to estimate random variability indexes of prices, yields, and net returns for six Nebraska crops (wheat, soybeans, alfalfa, oats, grain sorghum, corn). The period of analysis included 1957-1976 and one county in each of the eight crop reporting districts was analyzed. Where relevant, both dryland and irrigated alternatives were examined. Most business decision-makers accept more risk only under the conditions that the probability of higher returns accompany risky …

Social Desirability Response Effects: Three Alternative Models, Daniel C. Ganster, Harry W. Hennessey, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Three models are developed for the effects of social desirability (SD) on organizational behavior research results. SD can act as (a) an unmeasured variable that produces spurious correlations between study variables, (b) a suppressor variable that hides relationships, or (c) a moderator variable that conditions the relationship between two other variable.

Farm, Ranch And Home Quarterly Institute Of Agriculture And Natural Resources, University Of Nebraska- Lincoln

Farm, Ranch and Home Quarterly

In this issue:

An Investment Returned ....................... 2

The Northeast Station- 25 years of Research, Extension and Service......... 3

Opportunities and Obstacles- Women Choose Agricultural Careers.............. 11

The Animal Welfare Movement- Where did it come from and where is it going?.............. 14

Center Pivot Irrigation- Runoff Analyzed on Sloping, Clayey Soil .................. 16

Nitrogen Management- Soils Change in Nutrient Content......................... 18

New Directions in Research ................................ 20

Farm, Ranch And Home Quarterly Institute Of Agriculture And Natural Resources, University Of Nebraska- Lincoln

Farm, Ranch and Home Quarterly

In this issue:

IANR Budget Reductions Met With Least Program Change................. 2

Appreciating Nebraska's Ag Landscape..................... 3

Plant Pathology- Fighting $150 Million in Crop Losses.................... 7

Wheat Pathology- Wheat Diseases Associated With Crop Residues...............9

Chinese Turn Backs on Cultural Revolution, Study NU Ag Engineering.................12

SOLAR ENERGY For Home Heating................ 14

PREPARING NEBRASKA'S YOUTH For a Changing World..................... 18

Irrigated Corn Production- Interdependence of Water and Nitrogen Management.............. 20

MEAD SOYBEAN- A New Variety....................22

NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH..................24

A Survey Of Employee Perceptions Of Information Privacy In Organizations, Richard W. Woodman, Daniel C. Ganster, Jerome Adams, Michael K. Mccuddy, Paul D. Tolchinsky, Howard Fromkin

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In this study of employees in five multinational corporations, assessment was made of (a) employees' beliefs regarding the types of personal information stored their companies, (b) the accuracy of those perceptions, (c) reactions to various internal and external uses of this personal information, and (d) evaluations of the companies' information handling policies and practices.

The Transfer Of Japanese Manufacturing Management Approaches To U. S. Industry, Richard J. Schonberger

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Just-in-time (JIT) provisioning of manufacturing inventories is a notable feature of Japanese manufacturing management. Kawasaki Motors, USA, has committed itself to JIT objectives, which result in moving toward lotless repetitive manufacturing, a streamlined mode of operation characterized by minimal inventories and "shop paper," plus flexible market response. Kawasaki USA has forged a hybrid process of effecting change, featuring Japanese JIT objectives but without Japanese-style consensus mechanisms for making decisions and effecting changes

An Idiographic Approach To Organizational Behavior Research: The Use Of Single Case Experimental Designs And Direct Measures, Fred Luthans, Tim R.V. Davis

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The underlying assumptions of the dominant nomothetic (group-centered, standardized, and controlled environmental contexts, and quantitative methodologies) and idiographic (individual-centered, naturalistic environmental contexts, and qualitative methodologies) research perspectives are examined. An interactive theoretic (i.e., real people interacting in real organizations) for organizational behavior is suggested-a theoretic assumption that lends itself to an idiographic approach. Intensive single- case experimental designs and direct observational measures are proposed as a potentially powerful methodology for idiographic research of organizational behavior.

A Management Science Approach To Contingency Models Of Organizational Structure, Sang M. Lee, Fred Luthans, David L. Olson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

This study demonstrates the applicability of a quantitative modeling approach, specifically goal programming, in operationalizing the relationship between environmental variables and specific organizational structural variables for optimal goal attainment. A goal programming model is developed to analyze and determine the optimal relationships for goal attainment.

The contingency approach has emerged in recent years as the dominant theoretical framework for viewing organizational structure and design. Although open systems analysis (Katz & Kahn, 1966) emphasized the input of the external environment into organization structuring, the contingency approach attempts to establish functional relationships between environmental variables and organizational variables. Over the past decade …

A Forecasting-Programming Method For Swine Production-Marketing Decisions, Larry Janssen, James B. Hassler

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

This study reports on the development and progress of a forecasting-programming model for swine inventory management and marketing decisions. This model considers interrelationships between breeding herd, feeder pig and finishing hog activities. Objectives were: 1. To structure a dynamic operational decision model for a modern farrow-to-finish swine confinement unit which conforms with economic theory, uses price and cost forecast information and is as consistent as possible with current production scheduling practices. 2. To use and test this model during a combined production and marketing decision process and to compare economic results with results of a standard strategy.