The mediating role of dynamic managerial capabilities: The interplay between dominant logic and small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises performance in China

Transition economies, such as China, are characterized by volatile and rapidly changing markets. Firms, in order to be successful and get a competitive advantage over their competitors, need to build intangible resources. In the light of the resource‐based view and dominant logic (DL), this study is an endeavor in this regard and proposes that DL and managerial capabilities are intangible resources, which can drive the performance of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). We hypothesized that dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs), measured by human capital along with social capital and managerial cognition, play a mediating role in the relationship between DL, consisting of proactiveness and routine, and firm performance. The data in this study were obtained through a survey from 204 SMEs in China and were analyzed by structural equation modeling to generate results. We found that while successfully utilizing intangible/operant resources that are characterized as firm dynamic capabilities, SMEs can achieve superior performance and competitive advantage. Our results support the proposed hypotheses that show the importance and significance of DL and DMCs in order to attain higher level of performance. The concept of DL and its impact on SME's performance has been less researched in general, particularly in China. Limited research is available regarding intangible resources and their impact on SME performance in China.     

Antecedents of task performance: An examination of transformation leadership,team communication,team creativity,and team trust

Higher education requires best leaders and collaborative environment to stimulate staff and student because of facing more challenges and to make the educational institutions remain relevant in a competitive global context. Considering the fruitful academic outcome, ideal leadership style and collaborative work are essential among teachers and students. Therefore, an empirical study was performed to investigate the effect of transformational leadership and team communication on task performance. The proposed model was verified by quantitative study to clarify the complex relationship between predicators and outcomes. Research data were collected from a sample of 273 master students from the University of Science and Technology of China. The collected data were examined through partial least square analysis technique. The results suggested that team perception of transformation leadership has positive effect on team communication and team trust to measure high task performance. In addition, team communication has positive effect on team trust, whereas team trust has a significant effect on team creativity, which enhances the task performance.     

Enforcement Principles and Environmental Agencies: Principal-Agent Relationships in a Delegated Environmental Program

This article examines whether states shirked enforcement responsibilities in their principal-agent relationship with the federal government when implementing a delegated environmental program. It evaluates determinants of environmental enforcement stringency, particularly whether penalties were less when imposed by states than by the federal government. It analyzes 6,048 hazardous waste administrative penalties across 32 states and all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regions over 14 years. It finds that state penalties are typically substantially lower than federal penalties, and that penalty amounts are typically also related to the partisan composition of elected officials and the characteristics of enforcement actions, such as the type, seriousness, and number of violations. Factors such as the influence of organized interest groups, agency sensitivity to economic conditions or the economic importance of regulated industries, and environmentalist preferences of elected officials and the public are typically unrelated to enforcement stringency.     

Optimal effort allocation by U.S. Senators: the role of constituency size

Legislators in a representative democracy are modeled as being able to allocate a fixed amount of effort between two objectives: national policymaking and local benefit-seeking. The model predicts that the effort allocated to local benefit-seeking should be a negative function of the population size of a legislator's constituency. We empirically test and confirm this prediction by examining the manner in which United States senators allocate their personal staff between home state and Washington D.C. offices.