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This paper aims to describe the effects of the Dutch policy program the Library at School on primary school pupils’ leisure book reading and attitude towards reading books, in the first year of the nationwide implementation of the program.Design/methodology/approach – In monitoring the effectiveness of the Library at School, online questionnaires were administered to students (grades 2‐6), teachers and reading‐media consultants. The study is based on data collected in the school year 2011‐2012 from a sample of 4,682 students from 229 classes, with 284 teachers of 68 schools.

Multilevel regression analyses show that effects of the Library at School on reading attitude and leisure reading cannot yet be discerned in 2011‐2012, although slightly positive univariate effects are found.

As yet, the number of participating schools is limited, hence statistical power is low on that level. Whether the sample can be considered representative for all Dutch primary schools is not certain.

The findings suggest that a school library in itself is not sufficient to promote book reading in leisure time. The role of the reading‐media consultant in facilitating both teachers and learners might have to be strengthened.

This study gives a first glimpse at the effects of the program the Library at School on the reading attitude and leisure reading of primary school students in The Netherlands. The continuous monitoring approach employed is new and can be helpful for similar policy programs in other countries.

We discuss workforce management, related to those aged 50+ , in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea. With international competitiveness becoming increasingly crucial, retaining the ‘right’ mix of employees to achieve strategic organisational goals is likely to determine organisational success. However, we argue that workforce management is not only influenced by organisational-level strategy but also by national institutional and sectoral policies. Decisions on whether and how to retain older workers are therefore (co-)determined by institutional incentives and barriers to doing so.

We find that British and Korean governments have legislated in favour of extended working lives and, hence, the retention of ageing workforces. In the United Kingdom, pension eligibility ages are being increased and in Korea mandatory retirement age has been raised to age 60. While changes to the UK pension systems leave individuals with the (financial) risks associated with extended working lives, the Korean government tries to protect individuals from financial hardship by enabling them to remain longer in their primary career. However, whether and how government regulation plays out depends on how organisations react to it. The Korean discussion, in fact, shows that there might be leeway: organisations might continue to externalise their employees early framed as honourable, or voluntary, early retirement, which might not be in the interest of the individual but very much in the interest of the organisation. It therefore appears as if the retention of ageing staff is not (yet) considered to be of strategic importance by many organisations in these countries.

Due to climate change and an increasing concentration of the world’s population in vulnerable areas, how to manage catastrophe risk efficiently and cover disaster losses fairly is still a universal dilemma.

This paper applies a law and economic approach.

China’s mechanism for managing catastrophic disaster risk is in many ways unique. It emphasizes government responsibilities and works well in many respects, especially in disaster emergency relief. Nonetheless, China’s mechanism which has the vestige of a centrally planned economy needs reform.

I propose a catastrophe insurance market-enhancing framework which marries the merits of both the market and government to manage catastrophe risks. There are three pillars of the framework: (i) sustaining a strong and capable government; (ii) government enhancement of the market, neither supplanting nor retarding it; (iii) legalizing the relationship between government and market to prevent government from undermining well-functioning market operations. A catastrophe insurance market-enhancing framework may provide insights for developing catastrophe insurance in China and other transitional nations.

First, this paper analyzes China’s mechanism for managing catastrophic disaster risks and China’s approach which emphasizes government responsibilities will shed light on solving how to manage catastrophe risk efficiently and cover disaster losses fairly. Second, this paper starts a broader discussion about government stimulation of developing catastrophe insurance and this framework can stimulate attention to solve the universal dilemma.

This study aims to focus on the internal audiences of a nation brand, i.e. the citizens of a country and is built on the theoretical premise that migration intentions (MIs) prevalent among the skilled and educated elite of a home country signifies a weak nation brand.

Through the theoretical support of the migration motive theory of push and pull (Richmond, 1993), nation branding theory (Anholt, 2006) and the two-construct country image model (Roth and Diamantopoulos, 2009), the authors constructed a framework that incorporates the relationship between affective and cognitive country images of both home and migrant country and migration motives and intentions to migrate.

The findings reveal that push and pull factors are strongly affected by the images of the home country and the migrant country, respectively and strong home country images are associated with weak MIs, while the opposite is true if a strong migrant country image is possessed. Further, evidence of the dominance effect of cognitive images in complex decision-making environments such as migration was also provided. Moreover, the results also suggest significant differences between Chinese and Pakistani respondents.

This study guides nation branding researchers by opening up a debate on self-images and conceptually independent attitudinal constructs of country image. For policymakers in developing countries, the results reveal that they should primarily strengthen their internal brands and focus on cognitive images to stem the flow of brain drain.

This study takes the traditional country image debate to migration discourse, moves it forward, contextualizes it as a function of a nation’s brand strength and provides evidence that confluence of migration studies with the theoretical stream of nation branding can provide significant explanations for migrant behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and age of the firm on retailer technical efficiency.

The methodology is based on the estimation of a stochastic parametric function. To estimate technical efficiency the output supermarket chain sales volume is used, calculated by isolating the retailer price effect on sales revenue.

The empirical analyses applied to panel data show that inventory investment and wage level have a positive impact on technical efficiency.

The limitations of the study include the generalisation of the conclusions to the entire sector, which must be done with due care, since only one of the players in the distribution channel (supermarket chains) has been analysed.

First, the estimation of the efficiency of the different supermarket chains helps the management of producers, since they can identify efficient supermarket chains, which is important for vertical relationships in the distribution channel. Second, the analysis of the determinant factors of efficiency for different chains may be used as external benchmarking.

The focus of the paper is on developing a useful methodology for managers, determining some of the sources of retail efficiency gains. The paper develops and tests a composite set of hypotheses, analysing the influence of some managerially controlled factors on technical efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the level of financial literacy among youth in the world based on previous studies. The study, particularly, focus at how socio-economic and demographic factors such as age, gender, marital status and income influence financial literacy level of youth and whether there is any interrelationship between financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour. Strong endeavour of the world economies to improve the financial well-being of their citizens has contributed to the rising importance of financial literacy as it equips the individuals to take quality financial decisions to enhance their financial well-being.

This literature review consists of seven key sections. The first section of this paper reviews the conceptual definitions of youth. Second part summarises the literature on financial literacy. Third, fourth and fifth section summarises the literature on the components of financial literacy, i.e. financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour, respectively. Sixth section reviews the empirical studies on the influence of socio-economic and demographic factors on financial literacy level. Seventh section summarises the literature on interrelationship between financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour.

The study reveals that the financial literacy level among youth is low across the most part of the world that has become a cause of concern. Also, it has been observed that various socio-economic and demographic factors such as age, gender, income, marital status and educational attainment influence the financial literacy level of youth and there exists an interrelationship between financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour.

Youth have to live a longer life ahead, thus, the decisions taken by them are going to affect them for a longer period of time, making it imperative for them to develop an understanding of the world of finance so as to avoid wrong choice of financial products. Thus, financial literacy is of significant relevance. This paper aims to understand the influence of various factors influencing the financial literacy as understanding the factors that contribute to or detract from the acquisition of financial literacy among youth can help in making policy interventions targeted at youth to enhance their financial well-being.

Empirical evidence concerning the relationship between diversity and firm performance continues to produce mixed results that are context-dependent (Guillaume et al., 2017). Additionally, little is known about the relationship between workplace diversity management and corporate ethics and whether diversity management is a contextual factor to consider in ethics research. This study assesses whether diversity management's contributions to firm performance are maximized through its effects on the firm's ethical processes. This paper examines three manifestations of diversity management (diversity recruitment, diversity staffing, and valuing diversity) and their relationship with firm performance as mediated by internal and external ethics.

The study used a sample from the Fortune 500 list of companies. The variables were constructed using several relevant indicators and applied to archival data collected from corporations' websites. The hypotheses on the relationship among diversity management, corporate ethics, and firm performance were tested using regression from the data gathered on 109 firms.

The analysis indicated that diversity management relates to both aspects of corporate ethics (internal and external ethics) but that only external ethics relate to firm performance. Results also found that external ethics partially mediate the relationship between diversity management and firm performance.

There are limitations to using corporate websites as sources of data. Furthermore, the research design assumed that diversity is an antecedent of ethics. Nevertheless, the findings convincingly demonstrate that diversity management has a strong positive relationship with both aspects of corporate ethics. Recommendations for further research are offered.

The paper shows the value of diversity management and its impact on corporate ethics. Knowing that diversity management efforts contribute positively beyond their intended purpose may encourage managers to continue or implement such efforts, which could lead to more diverse and ethical workplaces and increased firm performance.

The paper addresses critical gaps in research and responds to repeated calls for studies integrating the business case for workplace diversity with its moral imperative (Alder and Gilbert, 2006; van Dijk et al., 2012; Yang and Konrad, 2011). The paper also provides evidence of a link from diversity management to firm performance through external ethics.

Global trading of oil and gas means international markets are more open than at any previous time. As a result, the oil industry oligopoly is being deconstructed and vertically integrated MNCs are being reconstituted to address this fact. In parallel, emergent MNCs in the form of National Oil Companies are now entering the competitive arena. Traditionally dominant MNCs are adopting new operating models focused on technological and financial strength. We examine changes in the once-dominant industry paradigm of vertical integration using several theoretical lenses. These include transaction-cost economics, the resource-based view and institution theory. The giant MNCs operated globally for decades and are an important variant of the MNCs studied in strategic management literature. We suggest the current theoretical models do not explain sufficiently how these MNCs respond to current changes and by using industry observation we contribute to modernization of this literature.

This paper seeks to estimate total productivity change in retailing firms and to decompose it into efficiency change and technical change (TC) (i.e. the consequence of innovation and adoption of new technologies).

This paper adopts the efficient approach using the Malmquist productivity index for a sample of 96 supermarket chains operating in Spain between 1995 and 2003.

The results show a slight increase in average annual productivity among the firms analysed.

The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, because only one of the players in the distribution channel has been analysed.

It is shown that the main component of productivity change is TC. This result means that new ICTs have the capacity to alter the productive structures of retail firms, favouring their productivity.

The contribution of this paper is based on the application of the Malmquist index to evaluate productivity in the service sector.

As the global workforce ages, organizations face unprecedented challenges, especially managing effective communication between generations. The phenomenon of middle ageism (i.e. discriminating against middle-aged employees based on their age) has become more prevalent. The authors examined how contextual settings and communication affect attitudes toward middle-aged employees and hiring intentions.

Data were collected from 537 employees from various organizations, via questionnaires. The moderated mediation model was analyzed using Hayes' PROCESS models.

Results showed that attitudes toward middle-aged employees mediated the relationship between social climate of shared codes and language and hiring intentions. Social climate was positively related to attitudes toward their adaptability, but negatively to attitudes toward their ability. Also, decision-makers' own perceived employability moderated the relationship between attitudes toward employees' adaptability and hiring intentions, and the indirect relationship between social climate and hiring intentions.

Since age diversity is expected to become one of the most dominant diversity classifications in the very near future, coping with middle ageism constitutes a growing challenge for managers and HR staff. The findings indicate that in order to enhance sustainable employment and prevent discrimination, organizations need not only maintain a supportive climate for older employees, as an affirmative action, but also ensure better communication in terms of sharing codes and language that enhance positive attitudes toward middle-aged colleagues.

In an era where diversity and inclusion dominate human resource management decision making, this study contributes to the literature on the underexplored domain of age diversity.