The mediating effect of internal service quality on employee turnover – empirical evidence from Taiwanese nurses

Informed by social exchange theory (SET) this study examines the role of trust in strategic alliances. Interviews were conducted with 17 participants who were strategic alliance managers in their organization. The study finds that trust is important to strategic alliance managers, and without it alliance managers would find it difficult to keep their alliance going. Trust is built over time, and based on the past experiences that the alliance manager has with their partner. The study found that prior networks, timely and appropriate communication and information exchange, fairness preservation and inter-firm adaptation were important in developing trust in the strategic alliance.

Influence of high performance work systems on employee subjective well-being and job burnout: empirical evidence from the Chinese healthcare sector

Over the last two decades, high performance work systems (HPWSs) research has been dominated by examining the effects of these systems on firm performance. Research on the impact of HPWSs on employees has been marginalised. This study examines the impact of HPWSs on two psychological outcomes for employees, namely, subjective well-being (SWB) and workplace burnout, by utilising data collected from 1488 physicians and nurses in 25 Chinese hospitals. It also examines the moderating effects of employees' organisational based self-esteem (OBSE), as an individual intervention and physician–nurse relationships, as an organisational intervention, on the relationship between HPWSs and employee outcomes. HPWS is found to increase employees' SWB and decrease burnout. Such well-being-enhancing and burnout-relieving effects are stronger when employees have high OBSE. The positive effect of HPWS on SWB is also stronger when there is a collaborative relationship among employees in an organisation. The major contribution of this study is to unpack the ‘black box’ of how HPWS influences employee well-being in the Chinese healthcare sector context.

Modelling SME credit risk : a Thai empirical evidence

This paper develops and tests a model to predict small and medium enterprise (SME) financial distress based on empirical evidence from Thailand. A sample comprising 198 financial statements of non-financially distressed and 68 statements of financially distressed SMEs were used. A parametric t-test was conducted to establish differences between financial characteristics of the two groups of SMEs.

Results show statistically significant differences (t values significant at .001) between the two groups of SMEs in the financial ratios used for the study. Discriminant analysis was then conducted to develop a model for predicting the likelihood of an SME experiencing financial distress.

The model hits an accuracy level of 97%, which compares favourably with the probability of accurate classification by chance (i.e., 65% after adjusting for the unequal sample sizes of the two groups of SMEs). A test of the model with a new sample shows the validity of the model beyond the original sample, confirming that Thai SME financial distress is amenable to prediction to a statistically significant extent. The model is expected to serve SME managers and creditors in assessing financial health of SMEs before making important decisions. The results are also expected to inform policymakers in formulating economic policies concerning SMEs.

Firm compliance with social insurance obligations where there is a weak surveillance and enforcement mechanism: empirical evidence from Shanghai

This article examines why firms in Shanghai comply or over-comply with social insurance obligations in a regulatory environment where the expected punishment for non-compliance is low. Our first finding is that firms found to be in non-compliance in the first audit in 2001 were moved into a separate violation category and the probability of being reaudited in 2002 was significantly higher if the firm was in that category. Our second main result is that, across the board, firms which were reaudited continued to underpay in 2002 but the extent of underpayment was significantly reduced. © 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Coal - the black gold of economic growth in China: empirical evidence and the role of cleaner coal technologies in recent time

Coal comprises 70 per cent of China’s primary energy source and 80 per cent of China's electricity generation. This study investigates the long-run relationship between coal consumption-economic growth nexus considering both supply and demand side models in a multivariate framework over the period of 1978 and 2010. Our innovation in this paper is to include a coal-to-electricity efficiency indicator into the economic growth model ; and trade exposure in coal demand. Using Autoregressive Distributed Lag bounds testing approach, we find improvement in coal-to-efficiency indicator causes almost 35 per cent increase in real GDP in the long-run. The Toda-Yamamoto approach of causality test indicates unidirectional causality from coal consumption to economic growth; feedback effect both for coal-to-electricity efficiency indicator to economic growth and openness to coal consumption. For robustness check, using the generalised forecast error variance decomposition method we forecast the validity of causal relationships beyond the sample horizon. The paper suggests the role of advanced coal technologies will play a significant role along with other environmental and energy policies in maintaining sustainable economic growth in China .

New empirical evidence on the bid-ask spread

In this article, we model the determinants of spread for 734 firms listed on the NYSE over the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2008. We propose a panel data model of the determinants of spread. There are four main messages emerging from our work. We find a statistically significant effect of volume on spread inconsistent with the work of Johnson (2008). On price, we find mixed results, consistent with the literature. On the effect of price volatility on spread, our results are completely the opposite of the cross-sectional literature but sides with the relatively recent work of Chordia et al. (2001). We allow for persistence of spread as a determinant of spread and find significant evidence of spread persistence across all 16 sectors. Finally, we examine size effects and find statistically strong evidence of size effects based on the relationship between price and spread, persistence and spread, and volatility and spread.

Empirical evidence of recall bias for primary health care visits

BACKGROUND: While it is common for an economic evaluation of health care to rely on trial participants for self-reported health service utilisation, there is variability in the accuracy of this data due to potential recall bias. The aim of this study was to quantify the level of recall bias in self-reported primary health care general practitioner (GP) visits following inpatient rehabilitation over a 12 month period.

METHODS: This report is a secondary analysis from a larger randomised control trial of an economic evaluation of additional Saturday inpatient rehabilitation. Participants were adults who had been discharged into the community following admission to an acute general rehabilitation hospital. Participants were asked to recall primary health care visits, including community GP visits, via a telephone questionnaire which was administered at 6 and 12 months following discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. Participants were asked to recall health service utilisation over each preceding 6 month period. The self-reported data were compared to equivalent claims data from the national insurer, over the same period.

RESULTS: 751 participants (75% of the full trial) with a mean age of 74 years (SD 13) were included in this analysis. Over the 12 month period following discharge from rehabilitation there was an under-reporting of 14% in self-reported health service utilisation for GP visits compared to national insurer claims data over the same period. From 0 to 6 months following discharge from rehabilitation, there was an over-reporting of self-reported GP visits of 35% and from 7 to 12 months there was an under-reporting of self-reported GP visits of 36%, compared to national insurer claims data over the same period. 46% of patients reported the same or one number difference in self-reported GP visits between the 0 to 6 and the 7 to 12 month periods.

CONCLUSION: Based on these findings we recommend that an economic evaluation alongside a clinical trial for an elderly adult rehabilitation population include a sensitivity analysis that inflates self-reported GP visits by 16% over 12 months. However caution is required when utilising self-reported GP visits as the data may contain periods of both over and under reporting. Where general practitioner visits are expected to vary significantly between intervention and control groups we recommend that administrative data be included in the trial to accurately capture resources for an economic evaluation.

How do SMEs with single and multiple owners finance their operations differently? Empirical evidence from China

We study the impact of firm-level characteristics on the capital structures of private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as the differences between the capital structures adopted by SMEs with single and multiple owners in China. Our findings highlight the limited use of asset-based financing by Chinese SMEs. We also find that the propensity of SMEs with single-owners to use external debt was significantly less than those with multiple owners. Furthermore, our findings suggest that single-owned firms are subject to a more constrained pecking order than those with multiple owners.