Albert C. Y. Teo

ON THE SOCIAL NETWORKS OF MANAGERS

Using data from the National Opinion Research Centers General Social Survey, we compared the organizational membership networks and core discussion networks of managers and nonmanagers. For the tw...

JOB ATTRIBUTE PREFERENCES: THE EFFECT OF GENDER IN JOB CHOICE OF UNDERGRADUATES

A number of studies conducted in the 1970s observed that males and females differed in their job attribute preferences. This study revisited the issue of gender differences in attribute preferences. Final‐year undergraduates (n= 270) were asked to rate 17 job attributes in terms of how important each was to them in choosing a job/employer. Results indicated that the effect of gender on job attribute preferences was generally weak. Other variables such as age, ethnicity, professional training area, and prior work experience also did not have a significant impact on undergraduates′ preferences.

Perceptual differences between recruiters and students on the importance of applicant and job characteristics: a research note based on evidence from Singapore

This study compared the perceptions of various important job applicant characteristics, job characteristics and job benefits between 107 corporate recruiters and 191 business undergraduates in Singapore. Results indicated significant incongruence between recruiter and student perceptions of a large number of job characteristics and benefits. However, perceptual differences were less extensive in the case of applicant attributes. The implications of these findings, and suggestions for greater perceptual congruence between recruiters and applicants, are discussed.

Effect of adoption of relational contracting practices on relationship quality in public projects in Singapore

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate relational contracting (RC) practices that give rise to higher quality interpersonal relations between these pairs of stakeholders at the end of public projects: clients and contractors; contractors and consultants; and clients and consultants. It developed models to predict the level of quality of interpersonal relations between the stakeholders at the completion of public projects. Design/methodology/approach – Using a set of questionnaire, data were collected from randomly selected construction industry practitioners who have had experience in public projects in Singapore. The data were analysed to identify association between the use of RC practices and quality of interpersonal relations between stakeholders. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted. Findings – It was found that when certain RC practices were adopted to a larger extent, public projects also have significantly higher quality of interpersonal relations between clients, contrac...

Differentiation, Variation and Selection: Evolutionary Implications of Technical Change Among the Worldwide Population of Hard Disk Drive Makers, 1956-1998

This paper describes a dynamic analysis of technological advances among hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturers in the areal density of their products across the history of the industry. The study provides (additional) evidence supporting a view of technological racing with leap-frogging rather than with persistent leadership domination in the HDD context - like others, we find that technology leaders in one year are less likely to innovate in the next year than those firms right behind them in technology. We also uncover new evidence that technological laggards do not disappear as quickly as expected by technology racing metaphors where a winner-take-all outcome is expected. Our efforts to explain this pattern of persistent heterogeneity with the usual kind of strategic positioning stories and specifications were not notably successful. But we did find evidence that technological innovation in HDD follows a trajectory consistent with a proportionate random process (akin to a Gibrat process) that favors technology leaders but only stochastically. We demonstrate through simulation that evolution in a population with selection favoring a characteristic evolving as a proportionate random process generates increased variation. This contrasts with a common social science framework for viewing evolution that assumes a fixed characteristic and implies decreasing variation.

How Constitutive Legitimation, Sociopolitical Legitimation, and Competition Affected Foundings of Singapore Hotels, 1832 to 1997

This study examines the evolution of the hotel industry in Singapore from 1832 to 1997. Specifically, the methodology of organizational ecology is used to analyze the pattern of foundings (i.e., entries) in the industry. The analyses indicate that constitutive legitimation (taken-for-granted status) has a positive impact on the founding rate, whereas competition has a negative effect. There is also evidence that various processes of sociopolitical legitimation (governmental endorsement) encourage foundings. Additionally, mass (the aggregate number of hotel rooms) is observed to lower the founding rate; however, there is no evidence that visitor arrivals affect hotel foundings.