Operationalizing the antecedents and outcomes of union participation in the Indian context

Purpose Unions and organizations interests are often seen to be in competition. However, union-voice hypothesis suggests that unions can provide a distinctive mechanism to lower organizational costs by reducing exit behavior, absence from work and conflict levels at work. This study aims to look at union participation as a form of voice which is affected by a number of antecedents and in turn has an effect upon the workers performance (i.e. worker behavior effectiveness [WBE]) in an organization. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on data from 340 permanent labors working in 19 manufacturing units across different regions of India to explore both the antecedents and outcomes of union participation. Hypotheses are tested using mediation analysis. Findings Results indicate statistically significant relationships between union participation, its antecedents and WBE, with union participation partially influencing the relationship between the constructs. Originality/value Uniqueness of the study lies in its findings which report positive relationship among union participation, its antecedents and behavior effectiveness. Contrary to the traditional belief that unions are detrimental to the health of any organization, the study suggests that workers decision to join and participate in unions should be viewed positively because only if a person is willing to stay with the organization, he/she seeks to resolve the issues/problems through collective mechanism of union participation and which in turn leads to enhanced performance, reduced absenteeism at the workplace.

Dynamic Regulation of Growth and Physiology of Microbes under Complex Changing Conditions

ABSTRACTAs microbes deplete local resources and transition from exponential to stationary phase they can change greatly in size, morphology, growth and expression-profiles. These responses can also vary importantly between individual cells, as shown by population snapshots. However, it has been difficult to track individual cells along the growth curve to determine the progression of events or correlations between how cells enter and exit dormancy. We have developed a platform for tracking >105 parallel cell lineages in dense and changing cultures, independently validating that the imaged cells closely track the batch population. This provides a microcosm of bulk growth with exceptional resolution and control, while enabling conventional bulk assays on the same culture. We used the platform to show that for both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, growth changes from an ‘adder’ mode in exponential phase to a mixed ‘adder-timer’ entering stationary phase, and then a near-perfect ‘sizer’ upon exit – creating broadly distributed cell sizes in stationary phase – and rapid return to narrowly distributed sizes upon exit. By high-throughput tracking of single cells as they enter and exit stationary phase, we further show that the heterogeneity in entry and exit behavior has little consequence in regular wake up from overnight stationary phase but can play important role in determining population fitness after long periods of dormancy or survival against antibiotics.

THE EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION ON EXPORTERS’ EXITING BEHAVIOR: THE EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

This study investigates the impact of stricter environmental regulation on export exit behavior of Chinese manufacturing firms from 1998 to 2009. After controlling heterogeneous firm, we find that (i) on average, the stricter regulation has not significantly caused more export exit; (ii) under stricter policy, foreign invested pure (or pollution intensive) exporters are not more likely to exit export than domestic pure (or pollution intensive) exporters; (iii) only weak evidence supports the pollution haven hypothesis for domestic pure exporters. All our robustness checks such as difference in difference analysis, different regulation measurement, and matched firm analysis show similar results.

An Empirical Analysis of Students’ Involvement and Exit Behaviors in College Organizations: The Case of Nanjing Agricultural University in China

Student organization is considered an important approach for the sustainable development of ideological and political education, and it helps construct learning style and campus culture. This research studies college students’ motivations for their involvement and exit behaviors. Using a binary choice model, we analyze critical factors affecting the involvement and exit behaviors of college students based on social cognition theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and expectancy theory. On the one hand, our results show active cognition is most influential for the involvement behavior, followed by personal interest. Meanwhile, active cognition is positively affected by mother’s higher education level and senior students’ influence. Respondents who agree that joining organizations brings closer relations with teachers and other students as well as promoting heterosexual communication are more likely to join. On the other hand, the most influential factor for the exit behavior is unclear promotion mechanisms. Low-quality activities and wasting time with organizations cause students to quit. Moreover, lack of training opportunities and professional guidance dampens members’ enthusiasm. Complicated interpersonal relations, bureaucratic style, entering a higher grade and changing psychology cause some members to quit and further affect organizational learning. We provide additional insights on management strategies towards organization sustainability, such as improving leader selection and building harmonious interpersonal relations.

Ownership and Exit Behavior: Evidence from the Home Health Care Market

In the US health care system a high fraction of suppliers are not-for-profit companies. Some argue that non-profits are “for-profits in disguise” and I test this proposition in a quasi-experimental way by examining the exit behavior of home health care firms after a legislative change considerably reduced reimbursed visits per patient. The change allows me to construct a cross provider measure of restriction in reimbursement and to use this measure and time-series variation due to the passage of the law in my estimates. I find that exits among for-profit firms are higher than those of not-for-profit firms, rejecting the null that these sectors responded to the legislation in similar ways. In addition, my results expand the view that “not-for-profit” firms are a form of “trapped capital.” There is little capital investment in the home health care market, so the higher exit rates of for-profit firms after the law change indicate the possible role of labor inputs in generating differences in exit behavior across sectors.