The paper aims to investigate the relationship between firm size and organizational actions on adopting social media for corporate reputation management. The sample group of 198 companies is selected with a simple random sample method from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings: Sixty nine companies were from the Fortune 500 listings, seventy one companies from the NYSE midsize capitalization and fifty eight companies from the NYSE small capitalization listings. This study employs cross tabulations and Chi-square analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis that enables the comparison of three samples that are independent. The results of the study show that (1) large firms have more social media ownership than small firms, (2) large firms respond to social media posts at a greater frequency and quickly than small firms, and (3) firm size is less likely associated with response styles to social media for online reputation management. The results show that reply time and response styles of organizations to social media customers in the 2015 survey has no significant change compared to that of 2011. There appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were found not to be adequately monitoring or leveraging social media communication for their reputation management.

The purpose of this study is to investigate empirical evidences of productivity of life insurance institutions in Malaysia. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the productivity of the life insurance institutions in Malaysia. The overall findings show that the total factor productivity (TFP) has progressed by 2.5% per year during the study period from 2012 to 2016 in the Malaysian insurance industry. However, TFP change has declined from 2012 to 2015 and observed a negative growth in 2015-16 (3.3%). The highest productivity progress was documented during 2012-13 at a rate of 11.7% while the minimum productivity progress was during 2014-15 (only 0.2%). The results also indicate that the decomposition of TFP found that overall progress could mainly be attributed to technological change (TC). However, technical efficiency change (TEC) and pure technical efficiency change (PTE) have negative impact on TFP. The findings also show that most of the insurance companies have a steady growth. Therefore, this study will contribute new insights for the policy makers and insurance institutions to take appropriate steps in developing relevant policies for increasing productivity of insurance institutions in Malaysia

Studies looking at many aspects of SNS addiction have dramatically increased in recent years. Most of the SNS addiction research has focused on individual behaviors. There is little academic research about SNS addiction in the workplace. This study, therefore, plans to examine the organizational behaviors related to SNS addiction in the workplace. We investigate whether negative behaviors in the workplace induce SNS addiction, and how SNS addiction influences the organizational or social attitudes of employees. We also explore the possible mediating effect of SNS addiction. We use an online survey and collected 285 responses from office workers in South Korea. The results tested by a structural equation modeling indicate, first, that both abusive supervision and workplace bullying have aroused SNS addiction among employees; second, employees’ SNS addiction increases both from work-to-family-conflicts and family-to-work-conflicts; and third, SNS addiction fully mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace bullying, as well as the relationship among abusive supervision, workplace bullying, and work-family conflicts. The study finds that abusive supervision and workplace bullying are important antecedents of SNS addiction, and that SNS addiction affects conflicts in both work-to-family and family-to-work situations. Therefore, companies should be cognizant of potential mediating influences in monitoring employees’ SNS usage in order to improve their work environments.

The study aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) best practices of the world automotive industry - Peugeot, BMW, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota among others – and recommend that they plan their business strategies and managerial responses accordingly. Based on the comparative research and case studies, this research finds that all five automobile manufacturers have taken very similar measures and actions in order to establish and maintain a high level of CSR practices. Sustainability was a core value in all five companies and served as a guiding principle in every aspect and approach of their business. This study finds that all five companies have CSR strategies in place to increase energy efficiency as well as reduce the usage and wastage of water in their production and plants. This research also finds that all companies monitor their suppliers and their own production process to ensure that they maintain their CSR standards. More impressively, this sustainable management practice is transferred along the companies’ supply chain through education and training. Their suppliers and business partners are closely monitored to make sure that their high CSR standards are respected and followed. However, we find that there also are some differences in terms of their CSR deliveries and activities.

Many studies have shown that job performance and leadership are important in our society. In addition, to improve the quality of work or to improve the work efficiency is still a lot of challenges for each leader. In Vietnam, there are few specific studies on the impact of leadership styles on employee engagement such as: transformational leadership styles, business leadership styles and leadership styles. In the field of higher education, the fewer studies on these issues. A study is conducted to test the impact of leadership styles on the engagement of cadres, lecturers and staff at public universities in Vietnam. Using adjustment techniques, inspecting the scales and theoretical models representing the relationship among the influential factors. The research is based on a sample of 309 cadres, lecturers and staff currently working in universities in Vietnam and used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the relationships among the variables. The study results show that the scales of the variables: transformational leadership, transactional leadership, laissez faire leadership, job satisfaction and organizational engagement attain the validity and reliability in the research. The study results also show transformational leadership, transactional leadership and laissez faire leadership are directly and indirectly affected by job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

This study examines the relationship between R&D intensity and disclosure. R&D activities are essential in bringing innovation to companies. However, R&D activities are naturally uncertain and increase information asymmetry. Thus, firms with high R&D activities are more likely to have the incentive to communicate the potential of R&D investment to the market through voluntary disclosure and, concurrently, resolve information asymmetry. Meanwhile, incentives to less voluntary disclosure exist because of the proprietary cost and the risk of competitiveness loss. Furthermore, the uncertainties inherent in R&D activities caused the possible decrease in the information accuracy. For the two opposing views, this study investigates the relationship between R&D intensity and disclosure frequency using the Regulation Fair Disclosure data in Korea. Moreover, the relationship between R&D intensity and usefulness of the information disclosed is also examined. Using firm sample listed in the 2011–2016 Korea Stock Market, results show that firms with high R&D intensity make disclosures more frequent. Subsequently, the analysis using forecast sample shows that management forecast error is higher in firms with high R&D intensity. This research contributes to the existing literature by presenting evidence that R&D intensity is a significant factor affecting manager's disclosure behavior and information usefulness.

This paper explores community-based flood disaster risk governance by applying a sensemaking approach. The conceptual sensemaking framework consists of individual experience, dialogue, and socialization components, which together comprise an interconnected system. This study presents a method for applying this framework by using a concerns table and a SWOT analysis to examine the concerns of residents living in a flood plain. A series of community-based workshops on flood risk reduction was conducted with residents of the floodprone Muraida community in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. During the workshops, residents’ concerns regarding flood risk surfaced. This study used an idiographic approach to examine the proceedings of the workshops. SWOT issue analysis was used to examine the strengths and weaknesses in the Muraida community’s internal capacities, and examine the opportunities and threats in the external capacities (e.g., local government). Additionally, a SWOT strategy analysis was conducted to identify strategies for knowledge sharing and development of cooperative countermeasures that can be undertaken between the Muraida community and the local government. The results show that the concerns table can not only summarize the main concerns of all workshops, but also provide an understanding of alternative flood risk countermeasures that can be carried out.

Indonesia’s most eastern provinces enjoy special autonomy status but still suffer from the highest poverty level in the entire nation. Using the Williamson index to test the Simon Kuznets theory, this study examines development equality at pre-and post-special autonomy in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. It uses gross domestic products per capita and population from 29 regencies/cities in Papua and 13 regencies/cities in West Papua to measure the Williamson index in addition to in-depth interviews with legislative members and document analysis to validate the findings. The study found that the regional development gap before special autonomy is relatively smaller than that existing after special autonomy. The Kuznets’ curve is not proven in the special autonomy era, meaning that the imposition of autonomy status has led to the creation of a higher development gap in these provinces. Although the special autonomy status has prompted an increased opportunity for political participation by the indigenous people, greater challenges are posed by the lack of human resources, poor government administration, difficult geographical access and the issue of land acquisition. Continuous development initiatives followed up with adequate supervision, greater transparency and law enforcement from government bureaucrats and legislatures are recommended to reduce the inequality.

The paper aims to investigate empirical causes of poverty of the Khmer ethnic people and suggest policy implication to help the Khmer ethnic people escape poverty in Tra Vinh province and the Mekong Delta. The study has been conducted with direct interviews with 300 Khmer households living in seven districts and cities in Tra Vinh province and with the use of multivariate regression. The research results show that a number of causes that affect poverty of poor households include lack of capital for production, lack of means of production, poor health and lack of labor, large families, lack of job opportunities or unemployment, and lack of willingness to escape poverty and education. Thus, there should be poverty reduction policy for the poor househlods in the coming time. Based on the current situation and regression results, the authors propose a number of recommendations: 1) Focus on preferential loan policies for poor people 2) Provide occupational training programs for improving incomes for the Khmer ethnic households 3) Build up special infrastructure in the Khmer ethnic areas 4) Focus on promoting cultural and belief institutions in areas of the Khmer ethnic people and 5) Improve and build up healthcare clinics services and facilities.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the main approaches to assessing human capital and develop proposals for its most objective assessment of it at the different levels of manifestation - individual, microeconomic and macroeconomic. The article considers the basic approaches to the evaluation of human capital, used in practice: retrospective (costly) and prospective (income based). Cost based methods involve measuring the value of human capital based on the total costs associated with its formation. The proposed additional evaluation criteria, in particular, the use of the expert approach and the developed indicators of a qualitative assessment of the human capital of the enterprise will allow development that is more efficient and use of available human resources. Human capital is becoming a major factor in the formation and development of an innovative economy and knowledge economy. Accordingly, the proposed additions to the assessment of human capital at the country level are aimed at assessing it from a new angle, taking into account the current global trends in the formation of an innovative economy and digitalization. They meet qualitatively new requirements for human capital as the main productive factor in the creation of new highly efficient technologies that promote the active development of the social sphere, science, education, health, etc.