Sjoerd Beugelsdijk

Strategic Human Resource Practices and Product Innovation

Using creativity theory as a heuristic device, I develop hypotheses on the relation between strategic human resource practices and a firms capability to generate product innovations. My empirical tests in a sample of 988 Dutch firms indicate the importance of task autonomy, training and performance-based pay for generating incremental innovations. Regarding radical innovations, the results point to the importance of task autonomy and flexible working hours. The use of standby contracts is associated with significantly lower levels of innovativeness. We also find interaction effects between individual HR practices, between HR practices and firm size, and between HR practices and R&D intensity.

Differences in social capital between 54 Western European regions

Beugelsdijk S. and Van Schaik T. (2005) Differences in social capital between 54 Western European regions, Regional Studies 39 , 1053–1064. Based on the extant literature, a newly developed index measuring social capital at the regional level in Europe is presented. It is shown that there are large regional differences on this social capital index. It was tested if higher scores on this social capital index correlate with higher levels of economic development and regional economic growth in 54 Western European regions. Though further research is required, these preliminary results suggest a positive relationship exists between social capital and regional economic development. The paper concludes with suggestions for future empirical research.

Trust and Economic Growth

Economists increasingly pay attention to social capital as an important determinant of macroeconomic growth performance. At the same time, there is discussion regarding the robustness of the results of empirical growth studies. In a seminal paper, Knack and Keefer (1997) assess the effect of trust on growth. This paper analyses the robustness of their results along several dimensions, acknowledging the complexity of therobustness concept. Our findings show that the robustness of the relationship between trust and growth in terms of both the size and the significance of the estimated effect, is highly dependent on the set of conditioning variables. An answer to the question whether there is an economic payoff of trust - and if so, how large this payoff actually is - is therefore difficult to provide on the basis of cross sectional empirical growth studies.

Cultural and Institutional Determinants of Bilateral Trade Flows

This paper studies the intangible costs of international trade by extending the basic gravity equation with measures of cultural and institutional distance, and institutional quality. Analyzing a sample of bilateral trade flows between 92 countries in 1999, we find that institutional distance has a negative effect on bilateral trade, presumably because the transaction costs of trade between partners from dissimilar institutional settings are high. In contrast, we find that cultural distance has a positive effect on bilateral trade. A potential explanation for this finding is that firms prefer trade to host-country production in culturally distant countries. Finally, we find that the institutional quality of both the importer and exporter increases the amount of bilateral trade.

Bonding and Bridging Social Capital and Economic Growth

In this paper we develop a formal model of economic growth and two types of social capital. Following extant literature, we model social capital as participation in two types of social networks: first, closed networks of family and friends, and, second, open networks that bridge different communities. Higher levels of social capital may crowd out economic growth through a reduction of working time. At the same time, participation in intercommunity networks reduces incentives for rent seeking and cheating, promoting economic growth. We test our hypotheses in a sample of European regions using unique data from the European Value Studies (EVS). Our findings show that it is important to distinguish between the nature of the social interaction.

What's in a p? Reassessing best practices for conducting and reporting hypothesis-testing research

AbstractSocial science research has recently been subject to considerable criticism regarding the validity and power of empirical tests published in leading journals, and business scholarship is no exception. Transparency and replicability of empirical findings are essential to build a cumulative body of scholarly knowledge. Yet current practices are under increased scrutiny to achieve these objectives. JIBS is therefore discussing and revising its editorial practices to enhance the validity of empirical research. In this editorial, we reflect on best practices with respect to conducting, reporting, and discussing the results of quantitative hypothesis-testing research, and we develop guidelines for authors to enhance the rigor of their empirical work. This will not only help readers to assess empirical evidence comprehensively, but also enable subsequent research to build a cumulative body of empirical knowledge.概要社会科学研究最近一直就发表在领先期刊上的实证测试的有效性和影响力受到相当多的批评,商务学问也不例外。透明度和实证研究结果的可复制性是建立学术知识的累积体必不可少的。然而,当前的做法受到更多的审视以实现这些目标。JIBS因此正在讨论和修改其编辑实践以提高实证研究的有效性。在这篇社论中,我们反思有关从事、报告和讨论定量假设测试研究结果的最佳实践,并为作者们提出提高其实证工作严谨性的指导方针。这将不仅帮助读者们全面地评估实证证据,而且能使后续研究建立起实证知识的累积体。RésuméLa recherche en sciences sociales a récemment fait l’objet de critiques importantes concernant la validité et la puissance des tests empiriques publiés dans les revues de référence, et les sciences de gestion ne sont pas une exception. La transparence et la reproductibilité des résultats empiriques sont essentielles pour construire un ensemble cumulatif de connaissances académiques. Pourtant, les pratiques courantes sont sous vérification accrue pour atteindre ces objectifs. Par conséquent, JIBS discute et révise ses pratiques éditoriales pour améliorer la validité des recherches empiriques. Dans cet éditorial, nous réfléchissons sur les meilleures pratiques concernant la réalisation, la communication et la discussion des résultats de la recherche quantitative fondée sur des tests d’hypothèses, et nous développons des conseils aux auteurs pour améliorer la rigueur de leur travail empirique. Ceci va non seulement aider les lecteurs à évaluer les preuves empiriques de manière complète, mais aussi permettre à la recherche ultérieure de construire un ensemble cumulatif de connaissances empiriques.ResumoA pesquisa em ciências sociais tem sido objeto de consideráveis críticas sobre a validade e o poder dos testes empíricos publicados em periódicos de ponta, e a pesquisa em negócios não é exceção. Transparência e replicabilidade de achados empíricos são essenciais para construir um corpo de conhecimento acadêmico cumulativo. No entanto, as práticas atuais estão sob escrutínio crescente para atingir esses objetivos. O JIBS, portanto, está discutindo e revisando suas práticas editoriais para aumentar a validade da pesquisa empírica. Neste editorial, refletimos sobre as melhores práticas no que se refere à realização, relato e discussão de resultados da pesquisa quantitativa de testes de hipóteses, e desenvolvemos diretrizes para que os autores melhorem o rigor de seu trabalho empírico. Isso não só ajudará os leitores a avaliar as evidências empíricas de forma abrangente, mas também permitirá pesquisa subseqüente para construir um corpo de conhecimento empírico cumulativo.ResumenRecientemente, la investigación en ciencias sociales ha sido objeto de considerables críticas en relación a la validez y el poder de las pruebas empíricas publicadas en las principales revistas líderes, y los estudios empresariales no son excepción. La transparencia y la replicabilidad de los hallazgos empíricos son esenciales para construir un cuerpo cumulativo de conocimientos académicos. Sin embargo, las prácticas actuales se someten a un creciente escrutinio para conseguir estos objetivos. JIBS está discutiendo y revisando sus prácticas editoriales para aumentar la validez de la investigación empírica. En este editorial, reflexionamos sobre las mejores prácticas con relación a la realización, el reporte y la discusión de resultados de investigación cuantitativa de prueba de hipótesis, y desarrollamos lineamientos para que los autores mejoren el rigor de su trabajo empírico. Esto no sólo ayudará a los lectores a valorar la evidencia empírica de manera exhaustiva, sino que también permite que la investigación posterior construya un cuerpo cumulativo de conocimiento empírico.

Cultural distance in international business and management: from mean-based to variance-based measures

Extant practice in international management is to measure cultural distance as a nation-to-nation comparison of country means on cultural values, thereby ignoring the cultural variation that exists within countries. We argue that these traditional mean-based measures of cultural distance should take within-country cultural variation into account. Therefore, we propose the use of variance-based measures of cultural distance. To illustrate our argument, we examine total US foreign affiliate sales in more than 40 host countries over the 1983–2008 period, complemented with data from the World Values Survey. We analyze the effects of three cultural distance measures: the Kogut and Singh (1988) mean-based index of cultural distance, the Kogut and Singh (1988) index conditioned by host-country cultural variation and a variance-based measure that takes into account both home- and host-country cultural variation. Our findings indicate that, when within-country cultural variation is taken into account, the explanatory power of the Kogut and Singh (1988) index is substantially decreased. In addition, our variance-based measure of cultural distance outperforms the Kogut and Singh (1988) measure in the explanation of foreign US sales. We therefore suggest to move from mean-based to variance-based measures of cultural distance, thereby taking the cultural variation within countries into account.

Cultural Distance and Firm Internationalization: A Meta-Analytical Review and Theoretical Implications:

This paper presents the most comprehensive review and meta-analysis of the literature on cultural distance and firm internationalization to date. We analyze the effects of cultural distance on key strategic decisions throughout the entire process of internationalization. For the preinvestment stage, we examine the decisions on where to invest (location choice), how much to invest (degree of ownership), and how to organize the foreign expansion (entry and establishment mode). For the postinvestment stage, we examine the decisions of how to integrate the foreign subsidiary into the organization (transfer of practices) as well as the performance effects of cultural distance at both the subsidiary and the firm level. We find that firms are less likely to expand to culturally distant locations but if they do, they prefer greenfield investments and integrate subsidiaries more through transfer of management practices. Cultural distance does not seem to affect how much capital firms invest and whether they enter through a joint venture or full ownership. Interestingly, cultural distance has a strong negative effect on subsidiary performance but no effect on the performance of the whole multinational company. In addition, we find that the effects of cultural distance are not sensitive to time, but they are sensitive to the cultural framework used (e.g., Hofstede vs. Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) and the home country of the company (developed vs. emerging market). Based on our study, we feel confident to offer some theoretical insights, recommendations for improving the validity and reliability of cultural-distance research, and ideas for future research.

Entrepreneurial Culture and its Effect on the Rate of Nascent Entrepreneurship

This paper investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and the rate of nascent entrepreneurship. Embedded in trait research, we develop a new composite measure of entrepreneurial culture using data from the World Values Survey. To corroborate the results obtained when regressing this newly developed measure on 2002 levels of nascent entrepreneurship in a sample of 28 countries, we also employ existing indicators of entrepreneurial culture, i.e. McClelland’s N achievement index (The achieving society, Princeton, NJ: D. van Nostrand Company, 1961), Granato et al. Achievement motivation index (American Journal of Political Science, 40(3):604–631, 1996), Lynn’s Competitiveness index (The secret of the miracle economy; different National attitudes to competitiveness and money. Social Affairs Unit, Exeter, 1991), and GLOBE’s (2004) performance orientation measure. In contrast with the existing measures we find a significant positive effect of our new measure of entrepreneurial culture, leading us to (1) discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these existing measures, and (2) interpret the wider implications of our findings for the research into the role of entrepreneurial culture in explaining international differences in entrepreneurship rates.

Regional economic development in Europe: the role of total factor productivity

ABSTRACT Regional economic development in Europe: the role of total factor productivity. Regional Studies. This paper documents the fact that the large and persistent differences in economic development across subnational regions in European Union countries can largely be attributed to differences in total factor productivity (TFP). Applying the technique of development accounting, the paper decomposes differences in output per worker across 257 European Union regions into a component due to the local availability of production factors and a component due to TFP. As the analysis reveals, TFP differences are large even within countries, and are strongly related to economic geography and historical development paths. This suggests limited interregional diffusion of technology and of efficient production practices.