Managerial Tacit Knowledge,Individual Performance,and the Moderating Role of Employee Personality

This study investigates the relationship between knowledge-sharing mechanisms, managerial tacit knowledge, and individual performance in the Malaysian public sector. Moderation effects of employee personality on these variables were also examined. Findings from 308 Malaysian public sector managers suggest that individual performance is influenced by levels of accumulated managerial tacit knowledge (LAMTK), which were moderated by employee personality traits. The findings also show that individual performance has an impact on the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing mechanisms.     

Science,enterprise and profit: ideology in the knowledge-driven economy

Key policy documents relating to the 'knowledge-driven economy' show that policy makers, university heads and other interested academics have come to view the task of creating science-based industries through the lens of enterprise ideology.Proceeding on the assumption that the scientific fundamentals are already in place, the belief is that industrial applications can be achieved by infusions of enterprise. Such a framing is attractive to those unwilling or unable to engage with the complexities of scientific research or new product development. It offers a surface intelligibility combined with an apparent amenability to straightforward policy interventions. At the same time it is quite unclear, apart from the taking of risks, what attributes and behaviours are actually involved in enterprise. Even the relevance of risk is questionable. Despite the ideological pressure to demonstrate a link between entrepreneurship and risk, none of the relevant research has succeeded in doing so. Nor has risk been a prevalent feature of new venture creation in general and science-based start-ups in particular. The policy is an act of faith, based neither on research nor on experience. Its reliance on enterprise is less a solution than a hope that one will spontaneously appear.     

Federalism and government regulation: the case of the Canadian insurance industry 1927–34

Abstract. Federalism poses special problems for the regulatory activities of the state. In Canada, federal and provincial governments have frequently disagreed over which could best exercise such controls, keeping in mind not only the public interest but also the needs of the private parties involved. The business of insurance is a case in point. The decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council confirmed that the provinces had important powers to regulate the writing of insurance. Yet Ottawa argued that protection of policyholders and considerations of economy and efficiency required uniform national standards. The provinces pointed instead to the greater simplicity and responsiveness of local control as well as to the steadily diminishing sphere of constitutional authority possessed by the central government. This conflict came to a head between 1927 and 1934 when the Insurance Superintendents of Ontario and Quebec led the resistance to the activities of the federal Insurance Department. Support for the provincial bureaucrats came from reciprocal and mutual insurers, while the joint-stock life insurance companies backed Ottawa. Indeed, these private interests used the federal-provincial conflict to seek special favours from the regulatory agencies. The dispute ended because politicians concluded that little was to be gained from the continuation of bureaucratic competition. Sommaire. Le fédéralisme pose des problèmes particuliers pour les activités de contrôle de l'Etat. Au Canada, les gouvernements federal et provinciaux se sont souvent trouvés en désaccord au sujet de la question de savoir à qui il était préférable de confier l'exercice de ces contrôles, gardant à l'esprit non seulement l'intérêt public, mais aussi les besoins des intérêts privés en cause. Le secteur des assurances constitute un exemple particulièrement bien choisi. Les décisions du Comité judiciaire du Conseil privé ont confirmé que les provinces disposaient de pouvoirs importants pour réglementer l'établissement des contrats d'assurance. Ottawa a cependant fait valoir que la protection des détenteurs de polices ainsi que des considerations d'économie et d'efficacité nécessitent l'application de normes uniformes à l'échelle nationale. Les provinces ont, de leur côté, attiré l'attention sur la simplicité accrue et la rapidité d'application des mesures de contrôle local, ainsi que sur les pouvoirs constitutionnels de plus en plus restreints dont dispose le gouvernement central. Ce conflit a atteint son point culminant entire 1927 et 1934, lorsque les Surintendants des assurances de l'Ontario et du Québec ont pris la tête d'un mouvement de résistance aux activités du ministère fédéral des assurances. Les compagnies qui offraient des assurances réciproques et mutuelles ont appuyé les bureaucrates provinciaux, tandis que les compagnies d'assurance-vie par actions ont soutenu Ottawa. En fait, ces intérêts privés ont exploité le conflit federal-provincial pour essayer d'obtenir un traitement de faveur de la part des organismes de contrôle. Le différend a pris fin le jour où les hommes politiques ont conclu que l'on n'avait rien à gagner de la poursuite des affrontements bureaucratiques.     

Service providers' reactions to intimate partner violence as a function of victim sexual orientation and type of abuse

In this online vignette study, a national sample of domestic violence shelter service providers (N = 282) completed a 10-item questionnaire about a woman experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). Scenarios varied in terms of couple sexual orientation (heterosexual or lesbian) and type of abuse (physical or nonphysical). Results indicate that although participants did not overtly discriminate against a woman in a lesbian relationship, they were less likely to perceive her as a victim, and their acceptance of a lesbian as a client was more dependent on their comfort with her than was the case for a woman in a heterosexual relationship. Type of abuse, as expected, had a main effect on many questions, with physical abuse taken more seriously than nonphysical abuse. Scores on the Attitudes Toward Lesbians subscale (Herek) were unrelated to responses. Implications for service providers are discussed.     

Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings

This article examines how out-group perceptions among Asian Americans, blacks, Latinos, and whites vary with the racial composition of their surroundings. Previous research on the contextual determinants of racial attitudes offers mixed expectations: some studies indicate that larger percentages of proximate out-groups generate intergroup conflict and hostility while others suggest that such environments promote interracial contact and understanding. As most of this research has been directed at black-white relations, the applicability of these theories to a multiethnic context remains unclear. Using data that merge the 1992–1994 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and 1990 Census, we find that in neighborhood contexts, interethnic propinquity corresponds with lower levels of out-group prejudice and competition, although intergroup hostility is higher in metropolitan areas with greater minority populations. Further tests suggest that these results do not occur from individual self-selection; rather ethnic spatial and social isolation bolster negative out-group perceptions. These findings suggest the value of residential integration for alleviating ethnic antagonism .     

Oh Ye of Little Faith! A Response to Davis and Wanna

In response to falls in public sector employment and the closure of public management programs in universities, Davis and Wanna (1997) raised the significant question: ‘Does the teaching of public administration have a future?’ A study of the changes in roles, functions and competencies and education needs of ‘new’ public sector managers suggests that universities have a distinctive role in meeting their need for management education.