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A semiparametric stochastic frontier model is proposed for panel data, incorporating several flexible features. First, a constant elasticity of substitution (CES) production frontier is considered without log-transformation to prevent induced non-negligible estimation bias. Second, the model flexibility is improved via semiparameterization, where the technology is an unknown function of a set of environment variables. The technology function accounts for latent heterogeneity across individual units, which can be freely correlated with inputs, environment variables, and/or inefficiency determinants. Furthermore, the technology function incorporates a single-index structure to circumvent the curse of dimensionality. Third, distributional assumptions are eschewed on both stochastic noise and inefficiency for model identification. Instead, only the conditional mean of the inefficiency is assumed, which depends on related determinants with a wide range of choice, via a positive parametric function. As a result, technical efficiency is constructed without relying on an assumed distribution on composite error. The model provides flexible structures on both the production frontier and inefficiency, thereby alleviating the risk of model misspecification in production and efficiency analysis. The estimator involves a series based nonlinear least squares estimation for the unknown parameters and a kernel based local estimation for the technology function. Promising finite-sample performance is demonstrated through simulations, and the model is applied to investigate productive efficiency among OECD countries from 1970–2019.

This chapter outlines the major analytical efforts performed as part of the overarching research project with the aim to investigate the organizational and environmental circumstances around the extreme negatively skewed performance outcomes regularly observed across firms. It presents the collection and treatment of comprehensive European and North American datasets where subsequent analyses reproduce the contours of performance distributions observed in prior empirical studies. Key theoretical perspectives engaged in prior studies of performance data and the implied risk-return relationships are presented and these point to emerging commonalities between empirical findings in the management and finance fields. The results from extended analyses of more fine-grained data from North American manufacturing firms uncover the subtle effects of leadership and structural features, and computational simulations demonstrate how the implied adaptive processes can lead to the empirically observed performance distributions. Finally, the findings from the analytical project activities are set in context and the implications of the observed results are discussed to reach at a final conclusion.

The study emphasizes the role of an individual's mindfulness and temperance in making employees fit their organizations by comparing the direct effect of mindfulness and its indirect effect through temperance on the employees' person–organization fit (P-O fit). Data were collected from 185 Indian employees working at managerial positions in manufacturing and service industries through an online questionnaire in a cross-sectional research design. Structure equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the associations, and it was observed that mindfulness among employees is positively related to their P-O fit. Similarly, employees' temperance is also positively associated with their P-O fit. Furthermore, it is observed that temperance acts as a partial mediator between mindfulness and P-O fit. Mindful employees would be more aware of their surroundings, making them aware of the values that the workplace demands. The same awareness would compel the employees to have temperance (self-control) to keep their values in line with organizational values. The study contributes to the virtue theory and the value congruence theory in the organizational context. This study recommends that the management promotes mindfulness and temperance among the employees through various interventions and new technological aids to promote the P-O fit of the employees. To the best of our knowledge, this original work has novelty to investigate the relationship of mindfulness with P-O fit, taking into account the role of temperance of the employee.

Research on the relationship between high job satisfaction human resources (HR) practices and work-related outcomes at the individual level rarely focuses on job crafting and levels of job passion. To fill this knowledge gap, we show how the relationships between perceived job passion by employees and the availability of HR practices and job satisfaction can vary in job crafting. Based on the job demands–resources (JD-R) perspective, this study was conducted primarily to test the effect of job crafting on the relationship between job passion and job satisfaction. Within the scope of the study, the mediator and moderator role of job crafting between these variables was investigated. The study was collected from 790 people working as blue collars in companies operating in the field of industry in Turkey by survey method. According to the findings of the study, it was observed that job crafting affects job satisfaction in the same direction. In addition to these, the partial mediator and moderator role of job crafting has been observed in the effect of job passion on job satisfaction. Considering these results, it has been observed that the passion for work of blue-collar employees affects job satisfaction. When job crafting is added to this effect, the intensity, strength, and direction of the effect between two variables can change. As a result of the study findings, it has been shown that managers and especially HR managers will strengthen the effect between job crafting and job satisfaction by ensuring the passion of blue-collar individuals.

We evaluate the hypothesis of temporal stability in risk preferences using two recent data sets from longitudinal lab experiments. Both experiments included a combination of decision tasks that allows one to identify a full set of structural parameters characterizing risk preferences under Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT), including loss aversion. We consider temporal stability in those structural parameters at both population and individual levels. The population-level stability pertains to whether the distribution of risk preferences across individuals in the subject population remains stable over time. The individual-level stability pertains to within-individual correlation in risk preferences over time. We embed the CPT structure in a random coefficient model that allows us to evaluate temporal stability at both levels in a coherent manner, without having to switch between different sets of models to draw inferences at a specific level.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher education in Qatar, similar to many countries around the world, witnessed a succession of disruptions to the way it operated. The disruption continued throughout much of 2020, and the need to adapt to arising changes and concerns permeated all aspects of teacher education, particularly the practicum experience. The chapter presents our attempt to investigate the influence of an adapted practicum experience which was based on the synthesis of qualitative evidence (SQD) model on the development of six student teachers’ technology knowledge and skills. Using a qualitative case study research design, we collected data from multiple data sources, including pre–post-interviews and weekly reflection logs. Quantitative data collected from a pre–post-administration of the SQD survey and TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge)-practical survey were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Findings from the thematic analysis and descriptive statistical analysis revealed evidence for participants’ increased TPACK-practical knowledge and skills, specifically in the domains of practical teaching and curriculum design. However, an emerging theme revealed that participants considered technology before pedagogy during instructional design. Findings also revealed two challenges to participants’ further development, namely working within a restricted learning environment and experiencing limited mentoring opportunities. We illustrated several implications for the design of the practicum experience and the required institutional support within the context of continued disruption to education and thereafter.

In recent decades, the use of capital punishment has declined, but in its place, a ‘new death penalty’ has arisen: life without parole (LWOP), which is being used far more frequently and for more crimes than capital punishment ever was. Yet, LWOP has received far less scholarly attention than the death penalty. Because of its greater scale, assessing the effects of LWOP on crime has important policy implications and is a better test of extreme penalties. Existing studies of LWOP focus on humanitarian issues and ignore its potentially reciprocal relationship with crime. Therefore, we use available LWOP data to fill these gaps in the literature, using models specifically designed to control for potential reciprocal effects. The results indicate there is no reciprocal causation between LWOP and violent crime and, at best, LWOP’s impact on crime is small, temporary, and, most importantly, no greater than the impact of life with parole.