Xiaowei Luo

Keeping it all in the Family: The Role of Particularistic Relationships in Business Group Performance during Institutional Transition:

We examine the role of particularistic relationships (such as family and prior social ties) in business groups during institutional transition and test how particularistic ties between top leaders affect business group performance in Taiwan, where such ties have been central to the functioning of business groups. We propose that during market-oriented transition, family and prior social ties could improve group performance by providing informal norms that strengthen the intermediation within business groups and that family relationships could reduce strategic restructuring and generate performance benefits. Results of a longitudinal study over 24 years show that market transition enhanced the contribution of family and prior social relationships but not that of common-identity relationships, such as being from the same hometown, which do not involve prior direct personal contact. We also found that during transition, the positive contribution of family members would rise up to a threshold, after which additional family members tended to derail group performance, possibly due to informational disadvantages and a legitimacy discount in the eyes of foreign investors. The study helps to make sense of different predictions about the role of particularistic ties in business group performance and makes an initial attempt at revealing how social structure affects performance. Our findings have implications for research on the value of business groups in institutional transition, interorganizational relationships, and the contingencies of social relationships.

Student Achievement and National Economic Growth.

Educational policy around the world has increasingly focused on improving aggregate student achievement as a means to increase economic growth. In the last two decades, attention has focused especially on the importance of achievement in science and mathematics. Yet, the policy commitments involved have not been based on research evidence. The expansion of cross‐national achievement testing in recent decades makes possible longitudinal analyses of the effects of achievement on growth, and we carry out such analyses here. Regression analyses appear to show some effects of science and mathematics achievement on growth, but these effects are due mainly to the inclusion of the four “Asian Tigers” and are not consistent over time. These empirical findings call into question educational policy discourse that emphasizes strong causal links between achievement and growth.

Continuous Learning: The Influence of National Institutional Logics on Training Attitudes

This research attempts to understand and test a core assumption in neoinstitutional theory, i.e., that institutional logics shape individual attitudes and preferences, by studying cross-national differences in peoples attitudes toward the continuous learning model of employee training---an increasingly popular model of training. I propose that national institutional logics regarding the individuals role (empowered versus limited) can shape peoples preferences for the new model of training. By using a historically grounded typology of national polities depicting the organization of authority (statism) and society (corporateness), I suggest how these two dimensions carry distinct logics about the individuals role and, in turn, shape peoples training orientation. Training attitudes of people in 16 European (EU) countries/regions are examined using data from the 1995 Eurobarometer Training Survey. Results from hierarchical models show that, beyond the influence of individual characteristics, people from nonstatist (i.e., collective authority is located in civil society rather than in the state) and noncorporatist (i.e., individuals are incorporated into the society as autonomous actors rather than members in collectives) countries are more likely to prefer the continuous learning model of training. By explicitly linking institutional logics with individual attitudes, this study contributes to the neoinstitutional perspective, studies on training attitudes, and cross-national research.

Nation-state participation in intergovernmental technology organizations

The world regime of development in the post-WWII era has given rise to the expansion of intergovernmental technology organizations (IGTO) and membership. Providing standards and regulations and engaging in collective research and development, these organizations play an important role in constructing the political, cultural, and technological landscape in the world. This study reveals that nation-states joined more IGTOs over time, but to varying degrees, and examines factors affecting state participation in such organizations. We propose that in the post-WWII era, nation-state participation in IGTOs is largely shaped by both the worldwide rational and participatory models for nation-states and national institutional structures, over and above the effects of national economic, scientific, and technological development. We argue that the following institutional mechanisms are at work: (1) the nation-states less incorporated into the world polity through various linkages join more IGTOs; (2) national-polity style and the governments participatory path affect the internal institutional arrangements which lead to differing nation-state participation. Support for these hypotheses was found with membership data for IGTOs in panel regression analysis and structural equations model with latent factors.

WHAT SKILLS TO TRAIN?: AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF TRAINING CONSULTING ORGANIZATIONS

Research on employee training has largely focused on either the employer or employees, and has investigated the likelihood or amount of training rather than the content of training. Our understanding about how organizations decide to focus on different skills therefore remains constrained. To address this issue, the current study examines what affects training consulting organizations’ focus on different types of training, and in particular, their focus on personal development training, a highly popular type of training in recent years. Training organizations have become an increasingly important supplier in the training field. Building on the neo-institutional perspective of organizations, I propose an institutional analysis of training organizations. I argue that at a fundamental level, the kinds of skills organizations consider useful (such as specific-technical, general-technical, human relations, and personal development skills), are affected by the shared organizing principles of their time, and I draw on the research on managerial ideology to understand how such shared frameworks evolved over time. Training organizations try to conform to the dominant organizational model at their founding in order to gain legitimacy for their product offerings and convince their clients of the efficacy of their services. The focus of training is thus shaped by the dominant organizational model at founding and tends to stay with training organizations. Specifically, I argue that training organizations founded later in time, when the participatory citizenship model of organization became dominant, are more likely to focus on personal development. I analyze a 10% random sample (N=269) of the population of training organizations in 1994 with logistic models. Empirical results are consistent with the proposed link between the skills trained and the dominant organizational model at the training organizations’ founding. Characteristics of training organizations focused on personal development are also compared with those focused on other types of training. The implication of this study for the classic question, “why do employers provide general-skill training?” is discussed.

The Rise of the Social Development Model: Institutional Construction of International Technology Organizations, 1856-1993

of the ITO population, the social development model has risen rapidly over time in comparison with the industrial and professional models. Rationalistic political theories, which tend to treat international organizations as negotiated arrangements among nation-states or interest groups, locate organizational changes in the power capabilities and interest calculation of such actors. These theories do not explain this historical change among ITOs. Building upon the constructivist approach and sociologys institutionalism, this study emphasizes ITOs as constructed by world cultural norms. I propose that the rise of a liberal and rationalized world regime of development in the post-World War II era affected the popularity of different ITO models by supplying a new norm for technology. Data were collected for the population of ITOs established between 1856 and 1993, and the impact of the main forces on the rise of the social development model was formally tested with event-history methods. The study demonstrates the importance of world cultural norms in shaping the evolving field of ITOs.