Ting Ren

A Sectoral Comparison of Wage Levels and Wage Inequality in Human Services Industries

The authors explore differences among for-profit, nonprofit, and local government organizations in wage levels and inequality. Based on the intrinsic-motivation perspective and agency theory, the authors hypothesize that compared to for-profit organizations, nonprofit and local government organizations (a) are less likely to provide financial incentives, (b) pay lower or higher compensation to their employees, depending on a host of factors, and (c) have less wage inequality. The authors use wage data for five narrowly defined industries in a single state (Minnesota) where all types of organization produce the same service, employ employees with similar job titles, compete in the same labor markets, and face similar regulations. They also employ detailed data from a survey administered in two of these industries. The empirical analyses lend support for the theoretical hypotheses. However, the differences across sectors are small in magnitude.

Value Congruence as a Source of Intrinsic Motivation

Using a multisource dataset consisting of information from organizational survey and public database of nursing homes in a Midwestern state in the United States, the present study empirically investigates the relationships between employee-organization value congruence, organizational delegation of decision-making and monitoring in the workplace. The results show that value congruence between employees and the organization complements delegation of decision-making, substitutes for monitoring, and further improves organizational performance, especially which of the relational dimension. These findings suggest that value congruence can serve as a source of intrinsic motivation for employee effort and mitigate agency problems in the workplace. Copyright

Comparing Workplace Organization Design Based on Form of Ownership Nonprofit, For-Profit, and Local Government

This study offers hypotheses concerning differences in organization design among for-profit (FP), nonprofit (NP), and local government (LG) organizations. We empirically examine design in a sample of 105 Minnesota nursing homes, using data from an original survey. The findings generally support our hypotheses: (a) NP and LG nursing homes delegate more decision-making authority to their nurses than their FP counterparts, (b) NP and LG nurses enjoy greater efficiency wages than their FP counterparts, (c) NP homes rely more on the social networks of their employees to recruit new employees than FP and LG homes, (d) FP tend to use more performance-based incentives than NP and LG, and (e) there is little difference in the extent to which FP, NP, and LG homes monitor their nurses. The differences that we do detect are significant but are probably tempered by regulation, market competition, and institutional pressures for similarity.

Ownership and Quality in Markets with Asymmetric Information: Evidence from Nursing Homes

Abstract The ownership and governance of for-profit (FP), nonprofit (NP), and local government (LG) organizations are different. Therefore, the objectives of these different types of organizations and their performance may differ. We conjecture that in markets where there is substantial asymmetric information between providers and customers, FP firms, LG organizations and NP organizations provide similar levels of quality attributes that are observable to their customers and are well understood by them. However, FP firms are likely to provide lower levels of less-well observed and less-well understood desirable but costly quality attributes than their NP and LG counterparts. Using a rich dataset, we study the quality of outcomes for Minnesota nursing homes, which do not compete on prices. We find support for our theoretical conjectures: FP homes provide lower quality on a number of dimensions, especially those that are less observable by nursing home residents and their families.

Employee value congruence and job attitudes: the role of occupational status

Purpose – Extant research has shown the positive effects of value congruence on individual attitudes, behaviors and performance. However, very few studies have been conducted to examine the difference in the relationship between value congruence and attitudinal outcomes across people of different attributes. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the relationships between employee-organization value congruence and job attitudes vary across different occupational groups, with the focus on different levels of nurses. The study provides evidence to organizations to adopt better approaches to harness the benefit from employees’ spontaneous work motivation. Design/methodology/approach – Nursing homes provide a unique research context because of the different nursing occupations with varying degree of identifying characteristics including educational attainment, skill level, income and decision-making power. The present study thus examines how the relationships between nurses-home value congruence and nurs...

A Comparative Study of Allocation of Decision-Making Across Stakeholder Groups: The Case of Personal Care Industries

The article compares the allocation of decision-making across stakeholder groups in for-profit, nonprofit and local government personal care facilities in one state in the United States. We analyze detailed survey data on nursing homes, childcare centers and group homes. We find that in comparison to nonprofit and government organizations, for-profit firms delegate more decision-making power to executives and owners, and less to their employees, consumers, families, boards of directors, and community representatives. The differences, although generally small, support the hypothesis that decision-making is allocated to different groups in accord with the broad objectives of the organization. Copyright

Effects of Different Stakeholder Groups’ Strategic Control on Organizational Effectiveness and Well-Being of Customers and Employees: An Empirical Investigation

The allocation of strategic decision-making authority in an organization has both efficiency and distributional effects. Effective allocation takes into account the availability of information and knowledge relevant to decision-making in different areas, and is supported by adequate incentives for decision-makers. Irrespective of how and why they obtained their decision-making roles, those with decision-making power will likely seek to affect outcomes in favor of their objectives, which includes their own well-being or that of groups or goals they favor.

Does Ownership Matter in the Selection of Service Providers? Evidence from Nursing Home Consumer Surveys

This study considers the role of ownership in consumer choice of service providers in mixed-ownership industries. First, it analyzes theoretically consumer search in the face of severe asymmetric information about important service attributes in a market where nonprofit, for-profit, and local government providers coexist. Second, the article distinguishes between two consumer decision strategies, traditional search for information, and using ownership as a signal of quality. Third, the article analyzes an original data set about nursing homes and their customers (residents and their families). We found that (a) despite empirical evidence showing that nonprofit nursing homes are of higher quality, consumers who use ownership status in their search were more likely to choose for-profit organizations; (b) better educated consumers are more likely to choose nonprofit over for-profit organizations; (c) consumers who search more in-depth and who find information about nursing home lobbies less important for selection are more likely to choose homes that are nonprofit. The choice of local government–owned homes is based on a process that resembles weakly the process used to choose nonprofit homes more than for-profit homes.

The impact of pay-for-performance perception and pay level satisfaction on employee work attitudes and extra-role behaviors: An investigation of moderating effects

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of pay-for-performance (PFP) perception and pay level satisfaction on work attitudes (job satisfaction, turnover intention and affective commitment) and extra-role behaviors (discretionary effort and interpersonal helping), and further, how three aspects of conditional factors – intrinsic motivation, leader–member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) – moderate the main-effect relationships. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted at a Chinese private-owned company in the beauty industry, and a survey was conducted with the frontline employees in each office, asking information about their perceptions and attitudes toward the PFP scheme implemented in the company, work attitudes and performance, individual characteristics and their perceptions of group and organizational characteristics. Findings Results show that PFP perception and pay level satisfaction are significant predictors of work attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Further, depending on the specific work outcome examined, the three conditioning factors are found to strengthen the hypothesized main-effect relationships. The findings of the study have important theoretical and practical implications for the implementation of PFP schemes in organizations. Originality/value The findings contribute to the scholarship on PFP schemes in two ways. First, the findings show that PFP perception and pay level satisfaction are important for understanding employee work attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Second, the investigation of the moderating roles that intrinsic motivation, LMX and POS play in the relationships of PFP perception and pay level satisfaction with the work outcomes provides evidence to the limited understanding about the conditions that may strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of PFP schemes.

Fund Ownership, Investment Preference, and Performance: The Venture Capital Industry in China

The venture capital (VC) industry has emerged and grown in China accompanying the development of the Chinese market economy Based on observations, the founding stage of the industry is during the period 1985–1997, when VCs were funded mostly by state capital, while a few foreign VCs, such as IDG, had just started to enter the Chinese market. The early developing stage spans 1998–2005, coinciding with the Internet investment boom in the United States, when a large number of oversea returnees brought capital back to China to create thousands of Internet companies.