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--- - |2 The capacity of an organization to innovate, change, and be effective depends on the skills and abilities of employees, highlighting the importance of developing individual capabilities. The 70:20:10 framework is used by practitioners to guide them when developing effective learning and development programs. Although the framework has been adopted globally in both private and public sectors, its effectiveness has not been assessed in relation to the transfer of learning. Using qualitative data from the Australian public sector, this study explores how the framework is being implemented and whether it facilitates the transfer of learning to build middle management capability. Results showed that despite middle managers' awareness of, and willingness to take part in, ongoing skill development, attempts to develop capability through learning transfer by implementing the 70:20:10 framework were not achieving the desired outcomes. The research suggests that learning transfer and managerial capability development was hindered through four misconceptions regarding the framework's implementation. These are: an overconfident assumption that unstructured experiential learning automatically results in capability development; a narrow interpretation of social learning; the expectation that managerial behavior would automatically change following formal training and development activities without the need to actively support the process; and a lack of recognition of the requirement of a planned and integrated relationship of all three aspects of the framework. We suggest future research seeks to explicate the role of social learning in supporting the efficacy of both formal and experiential learning. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

--- - |2 This study explores how entrepreneurs develop human resources within their firms. Based on an analysis of interviews with entrepreneurs and new venture consultants, we describe entrepreneurs' human resources development (HRD) approaches. We found that entrepreneurs rely on networking and creativity, aim to leverage employees' interest and competencies, and allow cocreation by employees; current requirements and situational conditions shape entrepreneurs' HRD decisions. To elaborate on our findings, we draw on the distinction between causation and effectuation. We describe an entrepreneurial HRD process that combines both a causation‐based and an effectuation‐based HRD approach. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

--- - |2 Following the 2007/2008 global financial crisis, the UK public sector has experienced major funding cuts resulting in staffing reductions and a dilution in the employment deal. Consequently, the aim of this study is to understand how i‐deals, which are unique conditions of employment negotiated between an individual and their employer (Rousseau, 2005), may be used to accept a new psychological contract and foster employee engagement during austerity. Four qualitative team case studies were conducted comprising senior, middle‐line, and first‐line managers, and either professional or nonprofessional employees, within one English local authority (LA). Methods included 29 × one‐to‐one and three focus group semistructured interviews incorporating the critical incident technique. By examining i‐deals through the lens of social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), this research demonstrates the role of reciprocity in the form of i‐deals to accept the new psychological contract and foster engagement. Here, for some employees, once concrete and universal resources were available to a certain level (e.g., pay), the difference (e.g., universal resources such as a pay rise, external training) was substituted by more particularistic resources (e.g., flexibility and developmental i‐deals) herewith extending Foa and Foa's (1976, 1980, and 2012) resource theory. Furthermore, resultant economic or social exchange may be due to the individual attribution of why the i‐deal was agreed, rather than the i‐deal content. Finally, when i‐deals are denied, action to lower the risk of psychological contract breach is advised. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

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--- - - Journal of Educational Measurement, Volume 55, Issue 3, Page 355-356, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Abstract This research derived information functions and proposed new scalar information indices to examine the quality of multidimensional forced choice (MFC) items based on the RANK model. We also explored how GGUM‐RANK information, latent trait recovery, and reliability varied across three MFC formats: pairs (two response alternatives), triplets (three alternatives), and tetrads (four alternatives). As expected, tetrad and triplet measures provided substantially more information than pairs, and MFC items composed of statements with high discrimination parameters were most informative. The methods and findings of this study will help practitioners to construct better MFC items, make informed projections about reliability with different MFC formats, and facilitate the development of MFC triplet‐ and tetrad‐based computerized adaptive tests. - Journal of Educational Measurement, Volume 55, Issue 3, Page 357-372, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Abstract Person reliability parameters (PRPs) model temporary changes in individuals’ attribute level perceptions when responding to self‐report items (higher levels of PRPs represent less fluctuation). PRPs could be useful in measuring careless responding and traitedness. However, it is unclear how well current procedures for estimating PRPs can recover parameter estimates. This study assesses these procedures in terms of mean error (ME), average absolute difference (AAD), and reliability using simulated data with known values. Several prior distributions for PRPs were compared across a number of conditions. Overall, our results revealed little differences between using the χ or lognormal distributions as priors for estimated PRPs. Both distributions produced estimates with reasonable levels of ME; however, the AAD of the estimates was high. AAD did improve slightly as the number of items increased, suggesting that increasing the number of items would ameliorate this problem. Similarly, a larger number of items were necessary to produce reasonable levels of reliability. Based on our results, several conclusions are drawn and implications for future research are discussed. - Journal of Educational Measurement, Volume 55, Issue 3, Page 421-432, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Abstract This study investigates the effect of multidimensionality on extraction of latent classes in mixture Rasch models. In this study, two‐dimensional data were generated under varying conditions. The two‐dimensional data sets were analyzed with one‐ to five‐class mixture Rasch models. Results of the simulation study indicate the mixture Rasch model tended to extract more latent classes than the number of dimensions simulated, particularly when the multidimensional structure of the data was more complex. In addition, the number of extracted latent classes decreased as the dimensions were more highly correlated regardless of multidimensional structure. An analysis of the empirical multidimensional data also shows that the number of latent classes extracted by the mixture Rasch model is larger than the number of dimensions measured by the test. - Journal of Educational Measurement, Volume 55, Issue 3, Page 403-420, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Abstract Bayesian methods incorporate model parameter information prior to data collection. Eliciting information from content experts is an option, but has seen little implementation in Bayesian item response theory (IRT) modeling. This study aims to use ethical reasoning content experts to elicit prior information and incorporate this information into Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation. A six‐step elicitation approach is followed, with relevant details at each stage for two IRT items parameters: difficulty and guessing. Results indicate that using content experts is the preferred approach, rather than noninformative priors, for both parameter types. The use of a noninformative prior for small samples provided dramatically different results when compared to results from content expert–elicited priors. The WAMBS (When to worry and how to Avoid the Misuse of Bayesian Statistics) checklist is used to aid in comparisons. - Journal of Educational Measurement, Volume 55, Issue 3, Page 373-402, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Extant literature draws numerous links between aspects of human resource development (HRD) activity and organizational creativity/innovation, noting that investments in learning positively impact creative output. Within this research base, studies suggest that the ability to self‐direct learning activity can influence creative performance, but we do not yet understand how such processes operate, particularly in small‐medium enterprise (SME) contexts. Given the positive economic and social impacts generated by SMEs, themselves often being sources of breakthrough product or service innovation, this is an important research problem that requires our collective attention. This article argues that while the ability to self‐direct learning activity does contribute to the generation of ideas in SME contexts, the presence of multiple stakeholder voices in the learning conversation suggests that learning is better conceptualized as codirected rather than self‐directed. This study finds that codirected approaches to learning operate through a mechanism termed “participative dialogue,” whereby both employees and managers contribute to learning conversations. It also highlights the role of employee critical self‐appraisal in driving self‐directedness and contributing to the generation of ideas. Findings ultimately suggest that codirection of learning benefits idea generation because such approaches facilitate the emergence of unexpected patterns of thinking, which drive the divergence that creativity depends upon. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

--- - |2 This is a methodological presentation of the relationship between semantics and survey statistics in human resource development (HRD) research. This study starts with an introduction to the semantic theory of survey response (STSR) and proceeds by offering a guided approach to conducting such analyses. The reader is presented with two types of semantic algorithms and a brief overview of how they are calculated and how they can be accessed by interested researchers. Subsequently, we use semantic data to reanalyze a previously published study on the relationships between perceptions of a trainee program, intrinsic motivation, and work outcomes. The semantic algorithms can explain between 31 and 55% of the variation in the observed correlations. This article shows how the statistical models originally used to explore the survey data can be replicated using semantics either alone or as an identifiable source of variation in the data. All the steps are presented in detail, and the datasets as well as the statistical syntax necessary to perform the analyses are made available to the readers. Implications for methodology and the improvement of predictive validity in HRD research are discussed. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

--- - |2 According to the U.S. Department of Justice (2007), over 10,000 formerly incarcerated individuals are released each week from federal and state prisons. The purpose of this study is to draw upon human capital theory to examine the relationships between the types of training programs and gainful employment for formerly incarcerated individuals. Three types of training programs considered in this study are school‐based training programs, pre‐employment training programs, and postemployment training programs. Generalized linear mixed models are used to determine if each type of training program is related to employment status and income. Based on a sample from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), postemployment training programs are positively related to gainful employment for formerly incarcerated individuals. This result emphasizes the pivotal role of employers in addressing mass incarceration through human resources development (HRD). - Human Resource Development Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 263-286, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 This study examined the extent to which the factor structure of the Knowledge‐Creation Practice Inventory (KCPI) is invariant across different occupational groups in South Korea, based on the studies of Song et al in 2011 and 2012. Inspired by Nonaka's (1994) knowledge‐conversion theory, the inventory consists of four dimensions (i.e., knowledge sharing, creating concepts, justifying concepts, and building prototypes), measured by 11 items. A total of 2,364 responses collected from school teachers (n = 1,864), public‐sector employees (n = 214), and private‐sector employees (n = 286) were utilized to examine the measurement invariance, using a series of hierarchical multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. The results indicated that the four‐factor, 11‐item measurement model is equivalent across the three groups, supporting configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and factor variance/covariance invariance, except factor mean invariance. A series of post‐hoc tests were additionally conducted to identify the factor mean differences among the three groups. Based on the results of this study, future researchers should use more diverse samples including a wide range of cultures or different subcultural groups (e.g., occupations, genders, and educational backgrounds) to expand the universality of the factor construct. Relevant organizations can utilize the inventory to assess their current capacity of knowledge creation and design for appropriate human resource (HR) or organizational development interventions to nurture and enhance employees' learning‐related behaviors. Since the generalizability and validity of the KCPI were supported in this study, at least among these three groups, more reliable, rigorous group comparisons are available for future research utilizing this inventory. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 243-262, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 Managerial coaching (also known as the leader‐as‐coach model) is becoming prevalent as a new management paradigm to develop and empower employees and help them increase their performance. At the same time, the composition of the workforce has changed, with female employees reaching almost 50% of workers and around 30% of managers. Accordingly, scholars have set out to understand if gender affects managerial behaviors and employee responses. The goal of this study is to evaluate if significant differences in performance should be expected when coaching female and male employees. The results suggest that female and male responses to managerial coaching are more complex than expected. Managerial coaching positively affects female behavioral and result performance and male behavioral performance, but—contrary to expectations—no significant effect was found for coaching on male result performance. Additionally, female and male employees differ in their self‐evaluation of the focal performance constructs, with females evaluating their contribution to performance at lower levels than their male counterparts. The results suggest that, to be an effective developmental tool, the approach taken with coaching should take into consideration the recipient's gender and address different areas of performance. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 219-241, Fall 2018.

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--- - |2 From the perspective of a person‐centered approach, the purpose of this study is to identify and analyze latent profiles of employees according to the employees' levels of work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) and family‐to‐work conflict using latent‐profile analysis. This study utilized work, family, and health study (WFHS) data compiled from 823 employees at select Fortune 500 information technology (IT) companies. The data were examined using multinomial logistic regression analysis to determine whether individuals could be grouped into certain profiles according to their demographic characteristics. The group differences in the outcome variables of the WFC were also considered using the analysis of variance technique. The results suggest that HR/HRD professionals should consider how various types and intensities of conflicts combine to influence employees and should deploy this information when designing strategies and interventions to reduce WFCs. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 203-217, Fall 2018.

--- - |2 The development of leaders and building of leadership capacity are central concerns of HRD research and practice, yet the large and high‐impact area of leadership education provided by U.S. universities to undergraduate students is missing from the domain literature. Over the past 20 years, leadership education has become a common feature at universities and colleges in the United States and is experiencing strong demand and institutional support. Leadership development operates in parallel to the traditional curriculum shaping the career trajectories of university graduates and adding to the talent pool of hiring organizations. This article outlines the status of university‐based leadership education in the United States, offers a critical assessment, and highlights areas in need of investigation and scholarship of relevance to HRD. - Human Resource Development Quarterly, EarlyView.

This article examines the state of research on the learning organization in the field of HRD and future directions that hold promise for enriching our understanding of organizational learning and the learning organization. The article differentiates these two streams of research and explores areas where one body of research may be useful to the other. The article draws heavily on studies using the Dimensions of a Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ©). Emerging work testing cross‐cultural validity and levels of analysis, as well as social network analyses, shows promise in deepening our understanding of the construct. Finally, a case is made for the need for studies of learning organization interventions in order to continue to test the usefulness of the construct of a learning organization for HRD practitioners.

The Big Five personality test is used to generate psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism scores using a large UK individual level micro dataset. These scores show that high levels of narcissism and Machiavellianism can be associated with a higher incidence of employment in managerial occupations, while high levels of psychopathy are related to higher employment in the other services sector. The article finds a wage premium to Machiavellianism that is largest at the 90th percentile, over and above all productivity‐related explanations. The average hourly wage increase for a one‐point move up the Machiavellianism scale is around 2.1 per cent.

Cross‐level invariance in a multilevel item response model can be investigated by testing whether the within‐level item discriminations are equal to the between‐level item discriminations. Testing the cross‐level invariance assumption is important to understand constructs in multilevel data. However, in most multilevel item response model applications, the cross‐level invariance is assumed without testing of the cross‐level invariance assumption. In this study, the detection methods of differential item discrimination (DID) over levels and the consequences of ignoring DID are illustrated and discussed with the use of multilevel item response models. Simulation results showed that the likelihood ratio test (LRT) performed well in detecting global DID at the test level when some portion of the items exhibited DID. At the item level, the Akaike information criterion (AIC), the sample‐size adjusted Bayesian information criterion (saBIC), LRT, and Wald test showed a satisfactory rejection rate (>.8) when some portion of the items exhibited DID and the items had lower intraclass correlations (or higher DID magnitudes). When DID was ignored, the accuracy of the item discrimination estimates and standard errors was mainly problematic. Implications of the findings and limitations are discussed.

When dealing with missing responses, two types of omissions can be discerned: items can be skipped or not reached by the test taker. When the occurrence of these omissions is related to the proficiency process the missingness is nonignorable. The purpose of this article is to present a tree‐based IRT framework for modeling responses and omissions jointly, taking into account that test takers as well as items can contribute to the two types of omissions. The proposed framework covers several existing models for missing responses, and many IRTree models can be estimated using standard statistical software. Further, simulated data is used to show that ignoring missing responses is less robust than often considered. Finally, as an illustration of its applicability, the IRTree approach is applied to data from the 2009 PISA reading assessment.

This study proposes a structured constructs model (SCM) to examine measurement in the context of a multidimensional learning progression (LP). The LP is assumed to have features that go beyond a typical multidimentional IRT model, in that there are hypothesized to be certain cross‐dimensional linkages that correspond to requirements between the levels of the different dimensions. The new model builds on multidimensional item response theory models and change‐point analysis to add cut‐score and discontinuity parameters that embody these substantive requirements. This modeling strategy allows us to place the examinees in the appropriate LP level and simultaneously to model the hypothesized requirement relations. Results from a simulation study indicate that the proposed change‐point SCM recovers the generating parameters well. When the hypothesized requirement relations are ignored, the model fit tends to become worse, and the model parameters appear to be more biased. Moreover, the proposed model can be used to find validity evidence to support or disprove initial theoretical hypothesized links in the LP through empirical data. We illustrate the technique with data from an assessment system designed to measure student progress in a middle‐school statistics and modeling curriculum.

Linking functions adjust for differences between identifiability restrictions used in different instances of the estimation of item response model parameters. These adjustments are necessary when results from those instances are to be compared. As linking functions are derived from estimated item response model parameters, parameter estimation error automatically propagates into linking error. This article explores an optimal linking design approach in which mixed‐integer programming is used to select linking items to minimize linking error. Results indicate that the method holds promise for selection of linking items.

The early detection of item drift is an important issue for frequently administered testing programs because items are reused over time. Unfortunately, operational data tend to be very sparse and do not lend themselves to frequent monitoring analyses, particularly for on‐demand testing. Building on existing residual analyses, the authors propose an item index that requires only moderate‐to‐small sample sizes to form data for time‐series analysis. Asymptotic results are presented to facilitate statistical significance tests. The authors show that the proposed index combined with time‐series techniques may be useful in detecting and predicting item drift. Most important, this index is related to a well‐known differential item functioning analysis so that a meaningful effect size can be proposed for item drift detection.

The Japanese labour market has been regarded as ‘dualistic’ in terms of employment status (regular vs non‐regular). While it is true, this perspective misses recent changes in regular employment in terms of labour flexibility. The government has attempted labour market deregulation since the 1990s to increase the flexibility of not only non‐regular but also regular employment, and the labour market has become more diversified. Labour unions lack power resources to resist these neoliberal changes, however, because of their insufficient access to policy‐making, low union density and a lack of solidarity against the background of economic stagnation and competition under globalization.

We analyse competing explanations for the lower pay of employees with disabilities, using 2008–2014 data from the American Community Survey matched to O*Net data on occupational job requirements. The results indicate that only part of the disability pay gap is due to productivity‐related job requirements. The remaining pay gap — experienced by employees whose impairments should not limit their productivity — reflects potential discrimination. The discrimination‐related pay gaps appear to be smallest and possibly non‐existent for women and men with hearing impairments, and largest for those with cognitive and mobility impairments. Overall the results indicate that discrimination is likely to remain an influence on the pay of many workers with disabilities.

While most scholarship on corporate social responsibility (CSR) focuses on company‐level CSR initiatives, it increasingly also examines government programs for CSR. However, research on how governments contribute to CSR has mainly focused on domestic and not international CSR challenges. This literature also does not specify whether governments shape CSR through mandatory regulation or supportive initiatives. This article adopts a process‐tracing approach to determine how governments regulate international CSR. It demonstrates that the legal and political systems in the liberal market economies of the UK and the US lead to different forms of public CSR regulation — notably in the areas of labour standards in apparel and tax transparency in extractives. The UK government has been more likely to support bottom‐up collaborative multi‐stakeholder initiatives, whereas the US government has favoured top‐down mandatory regulation.

Many jobs feature tensions between workers’ own motivations, and the objectives imposed on them by management or economic imperatives. We call these tensions ‘meaning of work conflicts’. We ask whether trade unions can intervene in them, or whether they are simply too subjective to be a credible campaigning focus. We examine two professional groups in Britain and France, musicians and healthcare staff. Among musicians, workers tend to negotiate meaning of work conflicts themselves, seeing little role for unions in this process. This engenders legitimacy problems that unions have had to find ways around. By contrast, in the hospitals sector, there is more scope for unions to campaign over the meaning of work, thus potentially increasing legitimacy among staff and the public. The difference is explained by the more diffuse and fragmented nature of employer structures in music, and the more chaotic set of motivations found among music workers.

This article provides evidence on the effectiveness of voluntary positive action in addressing inequality between female and male careers. The setting is UK medical schools where two natural experiments are exploited. The first is the introduction of the Athena SWAN charter in 2005, whereby 12 UK universities signed up to the principles of the charter. The second is the announcement in 2011 by the National Institute for Health Research to only shortlist medical schools with a ‘silver’ Athena SWAN award for certain research grants. This second change potentially impacts schools that are further away from silver status more than those that were already close in 2011. While there is a marked improvement of women succeeding in medical schools between 2004 and 2013, early Athena SWAN adopters have not increased female participation by more than other schools whose institution signed up later. In addition, tying funding to Athena SWAN silver status has yet to have an impact on female careers, although medical schools have invested in efforts to achieve silver status. Together, these results emphasize the challenges associated with addressing gender equality through voluntary self‐regulation.

Do firms with employee ownership (EO) programs exhibit greater employment stability in the face of economic downturns? In particular, are firms with EO programs less likely to lay off workers during negative shocks? In this article, we examine the relationship between EO programs and employment stability in the United States using longitudinal Form 5500‐CompuStat matched data on the universe of publicly traded companies during 1999–2011. We examine how firms with EO programs weathered the recessions of 2001 and 2008 in terms of employment stability relative to firms without EO programs, and also whether such firms were less likely to lay off workers when faced with negative shocks more broadly. In our econometric analyses, we use a rich array of measures of EO at firms, including the presence of EO stock in pension plans, the presence of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), the value of EO stock per employee, the share of the firm owned by employees, the share of workers at the firm participating in EO and the share of workers at the firm participating in ESOPs. We also consider both economy‐wide negative shock measures (increases in the unemployment rate, declines in the employment‐to‐population ratio) and firm‐specific negative shock measures (declines in firm sales, declines in firm stock price). Our results indicate that EO firms exhibit greater employment stability in the face of economy‐wide and firm‐specific negative shocks.

Does the presence of a unionized nursing workforce retard US hospitals’ transition from paper‐based to electronic health records (EHRs)? After tying archival data on hospitals’ structural features and health information technology (IT) investment patterns to self‐gathered data on unionism, I find that hospitals that bargain collectively with their registered nurses (RNs) appear to delay or forego the transition away from paper, consistent with existing theory and research in industrial relations and institutional economics. However, this relationship is fully mediated by a hospital's payer mix: those serving a larger share of less lucrative, elderly, disabled and indigent patients are more likely to adopt EHRs if they are unionized than if they are not, a result that holds even at the median payer mix. Indeed, this accords with research on the interplay of labour and technology as the aforementioned dynamics are driven entirely by RN‐exclusive bargaining units for whom the new IT serves as a complement rather than as a substitute in production. Given the outsized role that unions play in the US healthcare sector, the overall sluggish performance of the sector, and the expectations that policymakers have for EHRs, evidence that these unions are welfare‐enhancing should be welcome news.

Public institutions and trade unions in particular are often portrayed as facing a deep crisis. In order to better understand to what extent unions are still perceived as legitimate institutions from the society as a whole (working and non‐working individuals), we analyse the determinants of confidence in unions across 14 European countries between 1981 and 2009. Confidence in unions is explained through individual‐level variables (by a rational and an ideational mechanism) and contextual‐level factors (relevant economic and employment relations characteristics). Using data from the European Values Study (EVS) merged with contextual datasets, we develop a series of regression models to examine the main determinants of confidence in unions. We demonstrate that confidence in unions cannot only be traced back to the support from members and left‐wing oriented individuals but it is also related to non‐working individuals and vulnerable social groups, in particular when confronted with economic shocks. Our findings challenge both the ‘crisis of confidence’ in institutions and the ‘crisis of unionism’ narratives. Implications for union representation and organizing strategies are discussed.

This paper investigates whether short‐time work (STW) programmes achieve their stated goal of being devices intended to preserve jobs and keep workers employed in times of crisis. Our identification strategy exploits a change in the financial incentives provided to employers and employees for the temporary suspension of work contracts or the reduction of working time. We use longitudinal administrative data and estimate difference‐in‐differences regressions and instrumental variable bivariate probit models with endogenous covariates, which try to take account of the potential endogeneity of participation in STW. Our results suggest that discretionary policy changes in the incentives of STW schemes can be effective in the short run but they lose their ability when the decline in demand and the lack of work are more permanent.

Using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, we explore whether the fortunes of employees paid for performance differ from those of fixed pay workers during recession. Only in the bottom quintile of the wage distribution were performance pay employees more likely to experience greater falls in real wages than fixed pay employees. Accounting for fixed unobserved worker characteristics suggests that this was not due to the wage‐setting mechanism itself, but that other factors are likely to be at play. While across most of the earnings distribution there was little evidence of greater wage flexibility among performance pay employees, they did have longer job tenure than fixed pay employees over the recession.

Whether ‘employee ownership’ takes the form of worker cooperatives, co‐ownership or simply employee share ownership plans, there are normally high expectations that a range of positive outcomes will result. Yet many empirically based studies tend to find a much more complex picture. An influential segment of that empirical literature has posited the need for a number of mutually reinforcing workforce management components to be in place alongside co‐ownership. Drawing on detailed case research in two large and successful co‐owned retailers in Spain and Britain this paper examines the role of these wider elements supporting employee ownership. We find that employee ownership can be linked to higher productivity and lower employee turnover, while at the same time being linked to higher absenteeism and mixed effects on attitudes. Expectations held by managers and employees are higher; these expectations are not always fully met. The role of managers was also found to be crucial.

Response accuracy and response time data can be analyzed with a joint model to measure ability and speed of working, while accounting for relationships between item and person characteristics. In this study, person‐fit statistics are proposed for joint models to detect aberrant response accuracy and/or response time patterns. The person‐fit tests take the correlation between ability and speed into account, as well as the correlation between item characteristics. They are posited as Bayesian significance tests, which have the advantage that the extremeness of a test statistic value is quantified by a posterior probability. The person‐fit tests can be computed as by‐products of a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. Simulation studies were conducted in order to evaluate their performance. For all person‐fit tests, the simulation studies showed good detection rates in identifying aberrant patterns. A real data example is given to illustrate the person‐fit statistics for the evaluation of the joint model.

Test assembly is the process of selecting items from an item pool to form one or more new test forms. Often new test forms are constructed to be parallel with an existing (or an ideal) test. Within the context of item response theory, the test information function (TIF) or the test characteristic curve (TCC) are commonly used as statistical targets to obtain this parallelism. In a recent study, Ali and van Rijn proposed combining the TIF and TCC as statistical targets, rather than using only a single statistical target. In this article, we propose two new methods using this combined approach, and compare these methods with single statistical targets for the assembly of mixed‐format tests. In addition, we introduce new criteria to evaluate the parallelism of multiple forms. The results show that single statistical targets can be problematic, while the combined targets perform better, especially in situations with increasing numbers of polytomous items. Implications of using the combined target are discussed.

As noted by Fremer and Olson, analysis of answer changes is often used to investigate testing irregularities because the analysis is readily performed and has proven its value in practice. Researchers such as Belov, Sinharay and Johnson, van der Linden and Jeon, van der Linden and Lewis, and Wollack, Cohen, and Eckerly have suggested several statistics for detection of aberrant answer changes. This article suggests a new statistic that is based on the likelihood ratio test. An advantage of the new statistic is that it follows the standard normal distribution under the null hypothesis of no aberrant answer changes. It is demonstrated in a detailed simulation study that the Type I error rate of the new statistic is very close to the nominal level and the power of the new statistic is satisfactory in comparison to those of several existing statistics for detecting aberrant answer changes. The new statistic and several existing statistics were shown to provide useful information for a real data set. Given the increasing interest in analysis of answer changes, the new statistic promises to be useful to measurement practitioners.

The focus of this article is on scale score transformations that can be used to stabilize conditional standard errors of measurement (CSEMs). Three transformations for stabilizing the estimated CSEMs are reviewed, including the traditional arcsine transformation, a recently developed general variance stabilization transformation, and a new method proposed in this article involving cubic transformations. Two examples are provided and the three scale score transformations are compared in terms of how well they stabilize CSEMs estimated from compound binomial and item response theory (IRT) models. Advantages of the cubic transformation are demonstrated with respect to CSEM stabilization and other scaling criteria (e.g., scale score distributions that are more symmetric).

The development of cognitive diagnostic‐computerized adaptive testing (CD‐CAT) has provided a new perspective for gaining information about examinees' mastery on a set of cognitive attributes. This study proposes a new item selection method within the framework of dual‐objective CD‐CAT that simultaneously addresses examinees' attribute mastery status and overall test performance. The new procedure is based on the Jensen‐Shannon (JS) divergence, a symmetrized version of the Kullback‐Leibler divergence. We show that the JS divergence resolves the noncomparability problem of the dual information index and has close relationships with Shannon entropy, mutual information, and Fisher information. The performance of the JS divergence is evaluated in simulation studies in comparison with the methods available in the literature. Results suggest that the JS divergence achieves parallel or more precise recovery of latent trait variables compared to the existing methods and maintains practical advantages in computation and item pool usage.

In equating, when common items are internal and scoring is conducted in terms of the number of correct items, some pairs of total scores (X) and common‐item scores (V) can never be observed in a bivariate distribution of X and V; these pairs are called structural zeros. This simulation study examines how equating results compare for different approaches to handling structural zeros. The study considers four approaches: the no‐smoothing, unique‐common, total‐common, and adjusted total‐common approaches. This study led to four main findings: (1) the total‐common approach generally had the worst results; (2) for relatively small effect sizes, the unique‐common approach generally had the smallest overall error; (3) for relatively large effect sizes, the adjusted total‐common approach generally had the smallest overall error; and, (4) if sole interest focuses on reducing bias only, the adjusted total‐common approach was generally preferable. These results suggest that, when common items are internal and log‐linear bivariate presmoothing is performed, structural zeros should be maintained, even if there is some loss in the moment preservation property.

Transnational collective agreements (TCAs) are an important development in the international dimension of industrial relations. This article compares four case studies of multinational companies in the UK covered by TCAs. Findings show that while the formal influence of TCAs was limited, they were invoked around particular disputes and could strengthen union influence in a context otherwise characterized by limited union rights. Such influence depended on the co‐ordination of workplace‐ and firm‐level industrial relations institutions, union access to management at headquarters level and union receptiveness to and outward engagement with transnational activity. The formal but also the informal dimensions of these dynamics played a significant role.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Democracy are two paradigmatic approaches to transnational labour governance. They differ considerably with regard to the role accorded to the representation of labour. CSR tends to view workers as passive recipients of corporate‐led initiatives, with little attention paid to the role of unions. Industrial Democracy centres on labour involvement: those affected by governance need to be part of it. Examining the Bangladesh Accord and Alliance as governance responses to the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster, this article offers a comparative perspective of how Industrial Democracy‐oriented and CSR‐oriented initiatives translate into differences in implementation. The article highlights that while CSR can foster effective problem‐solving in the short run, Industrial Democracy is necessary to build governance capacities involving workers in the long run.

This article establishes a link between the degree of productivity dispersion within an industry and collective bargaining coverage of the firms in the industry. In a stylized unionized oligopoly model, we show that differences in productivity levels can affect the design of collective wage contracts a sector‐union offers to heterogeneous firms. Using German linked employer–employee data, we test a range of our theoretical hypotheses and find empirical support for them. The dispersion of sector‐level labour productivity decreases the likelihood of firms being covered by a collective bargaining agreement on the industry level, but increases the likelihood of firms being covered by firm‐level agreements. The results hold for different subsamples and (panel) estimation techniques.

Drawing on principal–agent perspectives on corporate governance, the article examines whether employees’ hourly pay is related to ownership dispersion. Using linked employee‐workplace data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2011, and using a variety of techniques including interval regression and propensity score matching, average hourly pay is found to be higher in dispersed ownership workplaces. The premium is broadly constant across most of the wage distribution, but falls at the 95th percentile to become statistically non‐significant. This contrasts with earlier papers which indicate that higher level employees are the primary beneficiaries of higher pay from dispersed ownership. The dispersed ownership pay premium is not readily explained by efficiency wage perspectives but is consistent with a managerial desire for a ‘quiet life’.

Confronted with membership losses and declining bargaining power, trade unions have engaged in both political and organizational responses. A frequent type of organizational response has involved the creation of conglomerate unions, which bring together workers from various sectors and occupations. Pointing out a number of parallels between organizational developments in trade unions and political parties, this article analyses the emergence of conglomerate unions as a cause and consequence of changing conceptions of union democracy. Drawing on two in‐depth case studies conducted in France and Germany, the article examines how trade unions perceive their situation and how they define a reform rationale based on increasing their organizational ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’. In accordance with this rationale, unions engage in mergers and create larger conglomerates, thereby centralizing decision‐making bodies and professionalizing their staff. The reform of trade unions’ internal organization, in turn, affects unions’ capacity for interest aggregation and representation.

Gaining physical access to potential respondents is crucial to human resource development (HRD) survey research. Yet a review of the HRD, human resource management, and best‐selling business and management research methods texts in the United States, and United Kingdom reveals that, even where the process of gaining access is discussed and its cruciality stressed, inside accounts and insights regarding the daunting and problematic nature and its impact on data collected are rarely emphasized. More specialist methods literature, although outlining some potential issues, again offers few insights into the actual realities likely to be faced in the real world. Consideration of recent articles in HRD journals highlights also that, despite the widespread use of surveys, often via the Internet, such issues of physical access are rarely mentioned, reporting at best merely summarizing from whom and how data were obtained. We speak to this problem by offering two inside accounts of multiorganization research studies utilizing a survey strategy and Internet questionnaire, where gaining access to people across a large number of organizations threw up many challenges. These accounts offer clear insights into the issues and implications for rigor associated with gaining access when undertaking Internet surveys using both purchased lists (databases) and volunteer panels. In particular, they highlight the importance of recognizing that gaining access is often problematic, and provide a context for our recommendations for research practice, thereby assisting the mitigation of potential problems.

We investigate how individual workers and local labour markets adjust over a long time period to a discrete and plausibly exogenous technological shock, namely the introduction of containerization in the UK port industry. This technology, which was introduced rapidly between the mid‐1960s and the late‐1970s, had dramatic consequences for specific occupations within the port industry. Using longitudinal micro‐census data, we follow dockworkers over a 40‐year period and examine the long‐run consequences of containerization for patterns of employment, migration and mortality. The results show that the job guarantees negotiated by the unions protected dockworkers' employment until the guarantees were removed in 1989. A matched comparison of workers in comparable unskilled occupations reveals that, even after job guarantees were removed, dockworkers did not fare worse than the comparison group in terms of their labour market outcomes. Our results suggest that job guarantees provided a safety net which reduced the cost to workers of sudden technological change.

Using panel data on corporate social responsibility (CSR) matched with corporate proxy statement data for a large and representative sample of 1,492 publicly traded firms in Japan over 2006–2014, we provide fixed effect estimates on the positive and significant effects on gender diversity of CSR. Such effects are, however, felt only after two to three years. The CSR effects are larger and more significant for firms that adhere more closely to the participatory Japanese management system. Our findings are robust to the inclusion of controls capturing the mediating effects of various work–life balance practices, pointing to the direct impact of CSR on gender diversity.