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The present paper is a phenomenological study of capital inflow, economic growth and financial crisis in the Southeast Asian countries in general and Malaysia in particular. The paper seeks to explain how unregulated capital inflow in an open economy leads to unsustainable growth It comes to the broad conclusion that although capital inflow is conducive to economic growth, it may also generate the problem of macroeconomic vulnerability and unsustainability, and in such a situation, the occurrence of financial crisis may not be an uncommon possibility.

Continuous knowledge sharing by active users, who are highly active in answering questions, is crucial to the sustenance of social question-and-answer (Q&A) sites. The purpose of this paper is to examine such knowledge sharing considering reason-based elaborate decision and habit-based automated cognitive processes.

To verify the research hypotheses, survey data on subjective intentions and web-crawled data on objective behavior are utilized. The sample size is 337 with the response rate of 27.2 percent. Negative binomial and hierarchical linear regressions are used given the skewed distribution of the dependent variable (i.e. the number of answers).

Both elaborate decision (linking satisfaction, intentions and continuance behavior) and automated cognitive processes (linking past and continuance behavior) are significant and substitutable.

By measuring both subjective intentions and objective behavior, it verifies a detailed mechanism linking continuance intentions, past behavior and continuous knowledge sharing. The significant influence of automated cognitive processes implies that online knowledge sharing is habitual for active users.

Understanding that online knowledge sharing is habitual is imperative to maintaining continuous knowledge sharing by active users. Knowledge sharing trends should be monitored to check if the frequency of sharing decreases. Social Q&A sites should intervene to restore knowledge sharing behavior through personalized incentives.

This is the first study utilizing both subjective intentions and objective behavior data in the context of online knowledge sharing. It also introduces habit-based automated cognitive processes to this context. This approach extends the current understanding of continuous online knowledge sharing behavior.

This paper explores the development of household accounting practice in post‐war Japan through a review of reported experiences of the winners of an annual accounting prize scheme organized, since 1954, by the Central Council for Saving Information. While academic study of accounting at home is a developing area, analysis has tended so far to rely mainly on Anglo‐Saxon contexts. This paper’s examination of Japanese household accounting practice offers evidence from a very different context. The paper uses the prize schemes to document key changes in household accounting practice over the last half century which essentially has seen a switch in focus from short‐term budgetary control to lifetime planning and a growing concern with broader social and environmental issues. Such changes appear to be closely related to changes in the economic and social roles served by the Japanese household.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what would make disaster donors different from non-donors, with particular attention paid to differences in two forms of donations: the monetary donation that directly benefits the beneficiary and the charitable donation that is used by charitable organizations to support their disaster relief activities. Differences in the perceived effectiveness of other disaster relief activities, skepticism about charitable organizations, disaster experience, disaster preparedness, and disaster insight were also examined between the two groups.

A total of 300 Japanese participants were asked to complete a14-item questionnaire online. A series of comparative analyses were conducted to examine differences between donors and non-donors in the questionnaire items.

Although non-donors evaluated the effectiveness of the monetary donation more positively than the charitable donation, donors evaluated the effectiveness of all the disaster relief activities more positively than non-donors. Moreover, donors were more prepared for disasters and more insightful into the current situation of the disaster victims than non-donors.

Along with the internal and external factors previously found, disaster awareness may be a key to increasing people's intention to donate for disaster victims. Such awareness could be fostered through successful disaster education and appropriate media coverage of disasters.

The findings that non-donors generally have a less positive view of disaster relief activities imply that non-donors may be less knowledgeable than donors about how charitable activities can work and benefit disaster victims.

Managers of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from developed economies are often cautious to understand the cultural environment where they do business. This is predominantly true in developing economies, and even more so in certain Arab countries where MNEs have limited knowledge and experience. The purpose of this study is to report on the development of a research instrument that is applicable to Arab business culture, following the 2011 Arab Spring. The investigation draws on data from three different groups of people, i.e. leaders (business professors and leading politicians), business people and postgraduate business students, all of Palestinian nationality. The article examines the Arabic culturally based business structure called Wasta, a system that relies on social networks and the reciprocal exchange of favors. A research instrument is developed to measure three dimensions of Wasta across these three different groups of people and examines their influence on relationship satisfaction and organizational performance. The findings reveal that the groups are affected differently by these dimensions and see different utility in Wasta. Such insights may be useful for MNE practitioners when entering Arab countries, when seeking to employ younger Arabs and when partnering with Arab businesses or dealing with government officials.

Research paper

This study has focused on the impact of Wasta on relationship satisfaction and on relationship performance for three different groups of individuals: business people, students and leaders. It was hypothesized that higher levels of each component of Wasta would contribute positively to relationship satisfaction, and that the latter would in turn lead to higher relationship performance. Findings generally supported these hypotheses with some variations among groups. Furthermore, it was predicted that the model would be relevant to all three groups, but would be structured differently reflecting their different views of business. The findings of this study help answer our research question about the socio-economic, cultural and political factors that influence the business process involving Arab and non-Arab business managers.

Original paper

Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed based on the knowledge and cultural context of the Western world. Several researchers note that national culture may have an impact on international industrial buyer-seller relationships. Including culture in the models is highly important, especially as the business environment is increasingly more global and different countries have different business cultures. The goal of this paper is to define the most suitable industrial buyer-seller relational process models for describing relationships in various contexts. The paper includes a through literature review and a single case study in order to reach this objective. A new state theory model evolved during the research. It consists of two beginning states: searching and starting; four purely middles states: constant/static, decline, growth, and troubled; and a purely end state: termination. The state of dormant/inert is both a middle state and an end state, that is, when the relational actors are not in contact does not mean that the relationship has ended, but instead, for example, new legislation may have been implemented, which requires the actors to evaluate their relationship and its future. A relationship goes through the two beginning states in the order mentioned above, but after that, any state may occur.

This study examines what social ties within collectivist settings mean for women's venturing and how these ties support women in gaining empowerment through their ventures.

Thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with women entrepreneurs located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were conducted to examine the influence of social ties in their ventures.

The findings reveal that women in this context, contrary to most reported findings in the extant literature, both rely more on and find strong ties more conducive than weak ties in most of their entrepreneurial behaviours and activities. Results also show how the UAE's collectivist cultural norms shape social networks and inform individual decision-making, resource acquisition, well-being and self-efficacy as well as enhance women's empowerment through entrepreneurship. The women entrepreneurs were found to leverage their social ties for both power and action throughout their entrepreneurial journey consistent with their culture.

A conceptual model, derived from the results of a qualitative study, illustrating the relationships between women entrepreneurs' use of social ties and the empowering capacities of venturing within a collectivist cultural context is developed. Based on these findings, the authors discuss the implications for policymakers and recommend avenues for future research, and research designs, on women entrepreneurs in collectivist contexts.

Over 30 years, many comparative surveys have found Japanese employees and managers far less satisfied with their jobs than their Western counterparts. This paper explores the findings and interpretations from these studies, and then proposes an alternative explanation based on childhood socialization practices and the history of Japanese society. This explanation is then used to illuminate the recent social problems of karoshi (death from overwork) and ijime (bullying) in the Japanese workplaces.

Aims to describe how Japan sees robotics for the future based on the author's observation of robots displayed at the World Expo 2005.

Visits with the Expo and the relevant symposium.

Japan is convinced of the immense potential of the new robotic market.

Gives the Japanese view on robotics for the future to observers outside Japan.