Jeremy B. Fox

A multi-method evaluation of journals in the decision and management sciences by US academics

Numerous studies published in the academic literature address the issue of journal quality. However, little has been done to evaluate the broad set of journals pertinent to academic research in the decision and management sciences. This study examines the quality of such journals from a US point of view using both survey- and citation-based measures of journal quality. The survey-based measure is the perceived quality ratings assigned by US academics in the management science field. The citation-based measure is the impact factor, an indication of how often the articles in a journal are cited. This study finds that perceived quality ratings of the journals are positively correlated with citation impact factors. Also, both of these quality measures are found to be positively correlated with journal circulation and negatively correlated with acceptance rate. Journal quality ratings appear to vary across reviewers with different research interest areas and reviewers seem to rate journals higher if they have published in them.

Early Retirement Programs and Firm Performance

Early retirement programs are increasingly used as a human resources strategic response to changes in the business environment. For the period 1982-92, we found that investors tended to view early retirement programs favorably. These positive market responses further appeared to be influenced by the institutional rationale for a workforce reduction, the timing of a reductions announcement, firm size, the restriction of an early retirement program to white-collar employees, and the physical size of the public announcements of a program.

Sales growth of Chinese private owned enterprises (POEs): an exploratory analysis

Purpose – This study aims to provide an exploratory analysis of a broad range of factors that may help to explain the rapid growth of Chinese private owned enterprises (POEs).Design/methodology/approach – The analysis in this study takes advantage of an archival dataset constructed by the third author from proprietary data collected for a practitioner conference in China.Findings – Consistent with research on entrepreneurs in Western economies, the individual characteristics of the Chinese founders showed weak correlations with sales growth, but measures of founder motivation did correlate with sales growth. While the results for company characteristics were also weak, most of the factors related to company governance, strategy, competitive advantage, and stakeholder trust all showed significant correlations with the POEs rates of sales growth.Practical implications – The motivations of Chinese founders appear to matter more than their traits in explaining their ability to grow sales. Solid structure, st...

Age and pay valence in a production field setting

Abstract The relationship between age and the perceived value of pay (valence) was investigated for a sample of 453 nonunionized female employees at an American apparel plant. Pay valence was determined using a “pay addressing needs” format, suggested by Lawler (1971). For workers up to age 40, pay valence appeared higher for younger workers, but for workers older than 40 pay valence was unrelated to age. The ability of pay to satisfy specific Maslowian needs decreased with age (except with respect to physiological needs) for workers up to age 40.

The model employment termination act: Provisions and discussion

Recently, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws completed a drafting of the Model Employment Termination Act (META). The goal of this suggested state legislation is to end the patchwork of state-defined protections offered to employees who are terminated in at-will work environments. If META provisions are adopted there will be a substantial change in both the protection offered employees and the litigation of wrongful discharge claims within the adopting state. This article presents the changes proposed by META and discusses these changes and their potential implications for employers and employees.