James Richardson

Personal and behavioral predictors of automobile crash and injury severity

The purpose of this paper is to develop a statistical model explaining the relationships between certain driver characteristics and behaviors, crash severity, and injury severity. Applying techniques of categorical data analysis to comprehensive data on crashes in Hawaii during 1990, we build a structural model relating driver characteristics and behaviors to type of crash and injury severity. The structural model helps to clarify the role of driver characteristics and behaviors in the causal sequence leading to more severe injuries. From the model we estimate the effects of various factors in terms of odds multipliers--that is, how much does each factor increase or decrease the odds of more severe crash types and injuries. We found that driver behaviors of alcohol or drug use and lack of seat belt use greatly increase the odds of more severe crashes and injuries. Driver errors are found to have a small effect, while personal characteristics of age and sex are generally insignificant. We conclude with a discussion of our modeling approach and of the implications of our findings for appropriate traffic safety interventions and future research.

Institutional Determinants of Macro‐Level Entrepreneurship

This multicountry study empirically explores the institutional determinants of macro–level entrepreneurship. Findings suggest that a societys normative, cultural–cognitive, and regulative institutions are related to entrepreneurial activity. Normative and cultural–cognitive institutions’ descriptive power in explaining entrepreneurial activity is higher than regulative institutions’ or per capita gross domestic product. This suggests that differences in values, beliefs, and abilities may play a greater role than purely economic considerations of opportunity and transaction costs. Specific attention is given to opportunity– and necessity–motivated entrepreneurship due to their relationship to economic development.

Drivers at Fault: Influences of Age, Sex, and Vehicle Type

Using log-linear modeling techniques, the probability of fault among collision-involved drivers in Hawaii is related to three categorical variables: age, sex, and vehicle type. Very young and very old drivers face up to three times the risk of being at fault compared to middle-aged drivers. Substantial gender effects also occur at both ends of the age distribution. Pickup truck drivers have higher odds of being at fault than automobile drivers, while van drivers have lower odds. An ‘‘odds multiplier’’ computation combines the effects of the variables to permit comparison of the relative odds of fault between various categories of drivers. The implications of these findings are reviewed in terms of policy responses toward these high-risk combinations.

Patterns of motor vehicle crash involvement by driver age and sex in Hawaii

The purpose of this paper is to develop a statistical description of patterns of motor-vehicle crash types among drivers of different age and sex in order to identify underlying differences in behavior and ability. Using techniques of categorical data analysis and comprehensive data on crashes in Hawaii during 1991 and 1992, we relate crash type (e.g., sideswiper, sideswiped, rearender, rearended, etc.) to driver age and sex categories. We also examine interactions between driver age and sex, crash type, and vehicle type. By fitting a loglinear model, we find that different crash types are associated with different driver groups in a way that suggests systematic differences in driver behavior and ability. In particular, young drivers have much greater frequency of rollovers and of being the rearender or headoner, whereas older drivers have much higher frequency of being rearended, sideswiped, or broadsided. The most notable effect of vehicle type is the much higher frequency of rollover for pick-up trucks, a vehicle much more frequently driven by young male drivers. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings for appropriate interventions and future research.

Culture in family business: a two‐country empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically compare values and beliefs of family‐business members with those of professional managers across two countries.Design/methodology/approach – The methodological approach utilizes a survey comparing 163 family‐firm members and 168 bank managers in Ukraine and the USA, looking for differences between the culture of members of family‐owned firms and non‐family professionals; and especially the direction of any differences.Findings – The findings show significant differences between family‐firm members and non‐family professionals in both countries. Differences are in the same direction for three constructs. While this study is limited in only examining two countries, the results imply a conclusion that higher social flexibility and spirituality and lower power distance are potentially universal in terms of family‐firm culture.Originality/value – This studys value is in illuminating specific fundamental cultural traits that may be related to family‐firm co...

Entrepreneurship and development in Asia

Both theory and evidence suggest that entrepreneurial activity can be a source of job creation and economic growth. Governments and international development organisations have initiated numerous programmes to stimulate and support entrepreneurs in both developing and developed countries of Asia. Many such programmes are focused on the very poor. Large public and private investments have been made. This paper reviews some of the theory and evidence about the role of entrepreneurial activity in economic development and poverty alleviation. The relationship is shown to be complex – entrepreneurial activity appears to be neither necessary nor sufficient for economic development to occur. Possible explanations of the role of entrepreneurship in economic development are discussed to suggest future research.

Experimental test of a Nash-efficient mechanism for collective choice with compensation

Abstract The social conflict over siting hazardous facilities presents a formidable problem in public decision making. Collective choice mechanisms incorporating compensation have been proposed to resolve such conflicts but existing mechanisms have theoretical shortcomings. We test a new mechanism that has Pareto efficient, individually rational, Nash equilibria. We investigate behavior and convergence in multiperiod mechanisms with computer simulations and laboratory experiments. In both the simulations and the laboratory experiments, the new mechanism outperformed existing mechanisms. However, in the laboratory, the mechanism was unable to solve the difficult coordination problem of reaching a Nash equilibrium under conditions of incomplete information. A one period version of the mechanism based on max-min behavior significantly outperformed the multiperiod mechanism.

Nash-efficient siting of hazardous facilities

Abstract Compensation has been proposed to resolve a particularly difficult problem in risk management and public choice—the siting of hazardous facilities. Within the framework of collective choice with compensation, we investigated alternative decision mechanisms for the siting problem. Our goal was to find a Pareto efficient, individually rational, incentive compatible mechanism, or show that none could exist. We present a new mechanism which implements Pareto efficiency and individual rationality in Nash equilibrium. It was found, however, that incentive compatibility cannot be simultaneously implemented. We investigated convergence of our multiperiod mechanism under alternative behavioral hypotheses using computer simulations. Cournot-Nash behavior does not converge; however, more sophisticated behavior converges to a Nash equilibrium.

On the Publication of New Ideas in Management

Are the leading management journals unlikely to be first to publish important new ideas? Though an empirical question, the issue is of central concern to scholars at the frontier of theory development. Of 15 core ideas in strategy, we found that the leading management journals were almost never the place of original publication and were slower than other management-related journals to publish subsequent papers containing these new ideas. Is this a shortcoming of the leading journals? Or is it appropriate? We discuss current publishing alternatives and the apparent need for a better forum for the scholarly communication of new ideas in management.