Showing papers by "KIMEP University published in 2019"

An Empirical Study of the Impacts of Perceived Security and Knowledge on Continuous Intention to Use Mobile Fintech Payment Services

Abstract: Financial technology (Fintech) services using emerging technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more prevalent. The recent proliferation of the mobile payment sector led by innov...

Why individual employee engagement matters for team performance? Mediating effects of employee commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour

Abstract: Adopting a multi-level research approach, this study aims to investigate the impact of employee engagement on team performance. It further explores the mediating effects of employee commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour on the employee engagement–team performance relationship.,The study follows a quantitative method. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey using snowball and convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics and bi-variate correlation analyses were conducted using SmartPLS 2 and SPSS 20 software, and subsequently, a structural equation model was developed.,The study suggests that better employee engagement could improve team performance in organizational contexts. Organizational commitment and citizenship behaviour played a mediating role in the employee engagement–team performance relationship. Further research on the meditating effects of demographic factors is suggested to advance knowledge in the employee engagement domain.,Based on premises of the social exchange theory and the employee stewardship theory, the study integrates multi-level variables to impact of individual employee engagement on organizational team performance. The findings of the study contribute to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence of the impact of individual-level variables on team-level performance. It reiterates the need for multi-level modelling of organizational behavioural research.,The study used a multi-theoretical approach to investigate team performance in organizational contexts, i.e. individual employee engagement, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour. This integrated model using predictors from multiple levels demonstrates that team performance could be enhanced from interactions of different factors of individual behaviour.

Supportive Chinese supervisor, innovative international students: a social exchange theory perspective

Abstract: This study investigates the impact of supervisor support on research innovation pursuit among international doctoral students in China. A total of 120 international doctoral students’ responses were employed through random sampling from the three business schools of Chinese public universities. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares technique, a second-generation statistical software package for structural equation modeling. The results revealed that supervisor support significantly affects students’ research innovation endeavors. The study also suggests that supportive supervision is necessary for fostering citizenship behavior, creativity and innovation pursuit among international doctoral students. The findings of this pioneering study will help higher education administrators, and policymakers revisit existing doctoral program management and deliveries processes and encourage academic supervisors to modify guidance and mentoring procedures for doctoral students.

Corporate social responsibility, business groups and financial performance: a study of listed Indian firms

Abstract: This study explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (C.S.R.) and financial performance of Indian firms. We also examine the relationship between C.S.R. and financial perfor...

The impact of sustainability performance indicators on financial stability: evidence from the Russian oil and gas industry

Abstract: Considering the dearth of research on the impact of sustainability reporting practices on financial stability in the context of transition economies, this study aims to explore sustainability reporting practices of top oil and gas companies in Russia and investigate the effects of sustainability performance indicators on financial stability in the context of a given emerging economy. The study is based on panel data analysis of sustainability performance indicators and financial data of forty-five largest oil and gas companies listed on the Russian Trading Stock Exchange over the period 2012-2016. Data on sustainability performance were collected through analyzing sustainability reports and annual reports, while financial data were obtained from audited financial statements downloaded from company websites. The empirical results indicate that companies improve their sustainability performance indicators in order to manage risk and improve their financial stability. The results also show that firm-specific characteristics, such as financial capacity, leverage, firm size, and firm age, are important underlying factors affecting the degree of financial distress and financial stability. The findings of the study provide managers and practitioners with useful aspects of sustainability performance indicators to improve financial stability and mitigate financial distress. Additionally, investors and practitioners should consider other underlying factors, including financial capacity, leverage, firm size, and firm age, that may influence financial stability. Finally, the findings are useful for policymakers and regulators in promoting Global Reporting Initiative guidelines which will ultimately lead to sustainable development and financial stability in the context of emerging markets.

Sentrepreneurial training and organizational performance: implications for future

Abstract: Purpose: The aim of this paper is to enrich our scholarly understanding on the topic of organizational performance. The paper talks about entrepreneurial training and suggests that it can have a significant impact on boosting organizational performance and an organization needs to act concerning to enriching its critical values to ensure they do their best for the business. Design/Methodology/Approach: This is a conceptual paper, which elaborates on the role and relationship between entrepreneurial training and organizational performance. The paper sheds light on how businesses can further their prosperity, performance and productivity through entrepreneurial training whilst reviewing prominent literature in the area. Findings: The results of the paper are providing a conclusive understanding to the fact that scholars have reported significant impact of entrepreneurial training on organizational performance. The paper has found that empirical evidence is in line with the prepositions this gives confidence in asserting that all business sectors can responsively work on boosting their organizational performance through entrepreneurial training. Originality/Value: The paper is based on the review of literature on the topics of interest pertaining to the undertaken variables.

Corporate governance in extreme institutional environment: Evidence from emerging economy

Abstract: Corporate governance (CG) is often split among rule and principle-based methods to regulate in distinctive institutional contexts. Relying on an alternative theoretical framework (i.e. institutional theory), rather than the dominant agency theory, this study conceptualizes corporate governance practices and structures as institutionally resolute and directed and explores the key institutional determinants of good CG practices in an emerging economy. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, this study conducted semi-structured interviews from eight CG professionals, followed by a survey questionnaire (N=105) from PSX listed firms. The study explores the the extent to which certain underlying formal and informal institutional determinants, such as the auditing, political, legal, board, shareholders awareness, voting, culture, and values play a determining role in corporate governance. Using exploratory factor analysis, this study identified five major barriers, i.e. firm-level barriers, external barriers, social barriers, education and training barriers and legal barriers which restrain good CG practices in Pakistan. In addition, this study identified four major drivers, i.e. internal drivers, regulatory drivers, motivational drivers and collaborative drivers which can promote good CG practices in Pakistan. The findings of multiple hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the CGI score has a significant positive relationship with both return on assets and return on equity. This study emphasizes the the necessity to revisit the foundation of institutional and agency theories in the environment of developing countries.

Ideologies of language revival: Kazakh as school talk:

Abstract: Aims and objectives:This paper describes the implicit ideologies that undergird a language revival context and addresses the semiotic processes through which ideological dominance is challenged. It...

Variations in employee duty orientation: impact of personality, leadership styles and corporate culture

Abstract: This study aims to assess the extent and variations of employee duty orientation in a transition economy context, i.e., in Kazakhstan. Adopting ideas from the attitudinal theory, normative theory and exchange theory perspectives, the study further investigates relationships between personality traits and duty orientation as well as moderating role of leadership styles and corporate culture on personality-duty orientation relationship. Data were collected from employees of 284 organizations in three main big cities of Kazakhstan. The findings revealed higher level of employee duty orientation as well as variations in employees’ duty orientation between local and multinational corporations. It also identified the influence of individual personality traits, leadership styles and organizational culture on employees’ level of duty orientation. Among different personality traits, conscientiousness appeared to have the highest significant positive influence, and emotionality has highest significant negative influence on duty orientation. Among different leadership styles, autocratic leadership seems to have the most significant influence on duty orientation. Among types of organizational culture, adhocracy culture appears to have most significant positive influence on duty orientation. While individual-level factors are mostly blamed for employees’ duty orientation, the findings show influence of contextual factors such as leadership styles and corporate culture on employee duty orientation. It depicts a holistic view of employee duty orientation and opens new avenues to consider duty orientation from multi-level perspectives. Based on empirical evidence, the study provides recommendations for managers to nurture employee duty orientation for improved organizational performance.

Content Order in Advertising and Thinking Styles: A Cross-Cultural Study of the United States and South Korea

Abstract: Considering cultural distinctions is an essential part of success in international advertising. In the current research, we provide novel findings of a cultural congruency effect of content order w...

The Emerging Eurasian Common Energy Market: What is Its Potential Impact on China’s Belt and Road Initiative?

Abstract: This article examines the coordinated energy policy of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the regulatory framework of the emerging Eurasian Common Energy Market as applied to its three major components: the Common Electric Power Market, the Common Gas Market and the Common Market of Petroleum and Petroleum Products. It aims to explore the issue of the potential impact of the EAEU energy policy and its associated regulatory framework on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The article argues that the operation of the Eurasian Common Energy Market will have a positive impact on the BRI project by harmonization and/or unification of energy-related regulations across a significant part of the New Silk Road as well as by the liberalization of the energy markets of EAEU Member States, bringing greater competition and abolishing barriers to trade between EAEU Member States in energy and related equipment, technology and services.

Informal employment in Kazakhstan: a blessing in disguise?

Abstract: Informality is heterogeneous, dynamic and difficult to quantify; the formal–informal gap in earnings is one major component of it that we wish to examine. Using the 2013 Kazakhstan Labor Force Survey, we analyze the returns that formal and informal workers receive for a given set of characteristics and also use a matching technique to decompose the gap. We observe that in Kazakhstan, there is a substantial earnings gap in favor of formal workers and that a quarter of the gap remains unexplained. Our study also highlights the importance of matching-based decomposition and distributional analysis in explaining the differences in earnings between formal and informal workers.

The General Principles of International Criminal Law in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Abstract: International Criminal Law [ICL] contains a number of general principles, which form the foundations of and conditions for holding individuals criminally responsible for crimes under international law (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression), and other crimes against the peace and security of mankind. Most general principles of ICL have been adequately implemented in the current (second) edition of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This paper assesses the quality of and identifies the lacunae in the implementation of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code, with a view to suggesting further improvements to this Code.

Are stock market and exchange rate affected by oil price in Kazakhstan

Abstract: This study explores the connection between oil price, stock prices, and exchange rate in Kazakhstan employing a monthly data from October 2007 to December 2017. Time series data were collected from...

Who Is “Diverse”?: (In)Tolerance, Education, and Race in Hong Kong

Abstract: This chapter will take a critical perspective on discourses of “diversity” in Hong Kong as expressed in the education system and the media, in order to argue that despite their apparently positive intentions, many efforts at raising awareness of “diversity” contribute to homogenizing racial groups, reinforcing racial and linguistic boundaries and rationalizing social stratification. Through ethnographic research with South Asian students at a multiethnic Hong Kong secondary school as well as analysis of Hong Kong media and policy, this chapter will demonstrate that such discourses of diversity depend on an understanding of society as composed of distinct and homogeneous blocks and thus help cast South Asians as a unified and exoticized group who are permanently “diverse.” This chapter joins with other work which takes a critical perspective on what it means to talk about diversity, in order to consider how awareness of Hong Kong’s linguistic and racial diversity could be supported in ways that might truly contribute to minority equality and empowerment.

Weighted Estimates for a Class of Quasilinear Integral Operators

Abstract: We establish the criteria of validity of some integral weighted inequalities for a class of quasilinear integral operators.

An Investigation of Journalists’ Job Satisfaction in Bishkek, Capital of the Kyrgyz Republic

Abstract: The results of a survey of journalists in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan (N=211) demonstrate that they primarily see their societal role as being to mobilize people with common interests and provide objective analysis. The media’s traditional role as a watchdog, meanwhile, was rated least important by journalists in the country, which is widely considered the “most democratic” in Central Asia. The study also found that the majority described themselves as being “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” professionally, a feeling directly impacted by their income, sense of autonomy, and supervisor’s perceived ability. Low salary, disagreement with editorial policy, and excessive pressure were found to be the leading reasons that Kyrgyz journalists left the profession. This research extends previous knowledge of journalists’ job satisfaction by examining the often-overlooked region of Central Asia. The surveys were conducted between April 29 and May 19, 2016, primarily in the Russian and Kyrgyz languages.

Language socialization in bilingual families: Functional Distribution of languages in baby-directed talk

Abstract: This paper analyzes language socialization practices in relation to revitalization of Kazakh and maintenance of Russianin urban bilingual families. It draws on audio data of self-recorded baby-directed talk. The analysis reveals that language practices re-produce the social order in which Russian is a more valuable and powerful linguistic resource than Kazakh. This implicit ideology of privileging Russian may explain how and why youngchildren in urban Kazakh families are turning out to be Russianspeaking despite quantitatively dominant input in Kazakh.

Working capital management and firm profitability: evidence from emerging markets

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between working capital management (WCM) and the profitability of top manufacturing firms in two main emerging markets in the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) region. The study employs panel data methodology using data of top manufacturing firms operating in Kazakhstan and Russia over the period 2010-2014. The empirical results show that Kazakh firms, following more aggressive strategies of working capital, exhibit higher profitability than Russian firms. The study also established a linear relationship between profitability and working capital, which indicates the absence of an optimal working capital level that could maximise the profitability of Kazakh and Russian firms. The findings indicate that managers can maximise shareholder value by following more aggressive practises of WCM in transition economies similar to Kazakhstan and Russia.

Examining the Mediating Role of Strategic Integration of Purchasing, And Advance Purchasing Practices in the Relationship between Purchasing Operational Performance and IT Investment in Purchasing

Abstract: The main purpose of the current study is to investigate the mediating role of strategic integration of purchasing, and advance purchasing practices in the relationship between purchasing operational performance and IT investment in purchasing. In this research, some other practices have been considered including involvement of suppliers, evaluation and assessment of suppliers and integration of logistics. Strategic integration of purchasing is referred as the degree to which the strategic relevance of purchasing function is recognized by a company. This has been regarded as an important antecedent of supply management practices and advanced purchasing. In the relation of performance, supply and purchasing practices and IT investments, one of the important factors is strategic integration of purchasing. The study has used survey-based method and data is collected by the aid of questionnaire. The collected data is analyzed with the SEM-PLS. The findings of the study have shown agreement with the proposed results. In author knowledge it is among the pioneering studies on the issues related to strategic integration of purchasing, advance purchasing practices, purchasing operational performance and IT investment in purchasing. This study will provide guidelines to policymakers, researchers and corporate personnel in understanding the relationship between strategic integration of purchasing, advance purchasing practices, purchasing operational performance and IT investment in purchasing.

Institutional Determinants of Good Corporate Governance: Evidence from Emerging Economy

Abstract: Economic globalization has encouraged debate on the differences and similarities between national corporate governance (CG) systems. However, in today’s world, it is pivotal to study how (and to what extent) is CG shaped by institutional environments both at national and firm level? Consequently, this study seeks to explore key institutional determinants of good CG practices in Pakistan. Drawing on the lenses of agency and institutional theories, the study conceptualizes CG practices and structures as institutionally resolute and directed. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology and found that CG models, particularly in developing countries, are irrelevant if they are not institutionally grounded and explicated. In particular, the study explores the extent to which certain underlying formal and informal institutional determinants, such as the auditing, political, legal, board, shareholders awareness, voting, culture and values play a determining role in corporate governance. The study emphasized the necessity to revisit the foundation of institutional and agency theories in the environment of developing countries. The study also suggests the reassessment of the implication of executives in agency theory literature concerning developing countries, relying on the general lack of knowledge by shareholders with respect to their rights.

Youth Organizations and State–Society Relations in Kazakhstan: The Durability of the Leninist Legacy

Abstract: Even though the Communist youth organizations officially disappeared in Kazakhstan following the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Kazakhstani authorities have revived them under different names and for the sake of serving similar ideological objectives. Using the concept of ideological recycling, this chapter shows that the structure, symbols, and administration of the state-created youth organizations in Kazakhstan are very much similar to those that existed in the Soviet Union.

Are Analysts Overly Optimistic Around Earnings Strings

Abstract: Firms that report consecutive earnings increases, called earnings strings, receive an overvaluation from the stock market. We examine whether the presence of earnings strings affects equity research analysts’ opinions beyond company fundamentals. We find that analysts issue more optimistic forecasts and more favorable stock recommendations for firms that report earnings strings and that this bias results in lower forecast accuracy. The bias is greater for longer strings, less skillful analysts, and for firms with poor information environment. Furthermore, we find that management guidance increases the cognitive bias around earnings strings.

Convexity Relations and Generalizations of o-Minimality

Abstract: We suggest generalizations of the notion of o-minimality. Namely, we introduce and study the notions of multi-R-minimality and right o-minimality (with modifications).

Sanctions and Taxes

Abstract: Are sanctions the most efficient means for convincing a nation to stop threatening security? We incorporate sanctions in a Robert Kohn trade model, likening security threats to global pollutants. Results suggest that Pigouvian taxes may contain the threats more efficiently than sanctions can. Econometric models of North Korea imply that comprehensive sanctions might reduce the number of arms tests. On the back of an envelope, we estimate that an income fall equivalent to about 7% of 2014 GDP might have eliminated all testing in 2015, controlling for the head of regime. But the result is not robust across all models.

Effect of Internal Marketing on Internal Supply Chain Management through Mediation of Employees’ Affective Commitment

Abstract: This study examined the relationship of internal marketing and employees’ affective commitment with internal supply chain integration. Furthermore, this study also uncovered the mediation mechanism by proposing employees’ affective commitment as mediator between internal marketing and internal supply chain integration for services firms. Data of 245 usable responses was collected from five major banks of Thailand through self-administered questionnaire by utilizing convenience sampling. Structural equations modeling was carried out in Smart-PLS 3 in order to test the proposed hypotheses. Results depicted that internal marketing is a significant predictor of internal supply chain integration and this relationship becomes stronger with the intervention of employees’ affective commitment. This study sheds a light on the importance of employees for service organizations and provide a way forward to managers for policy making about their employees in order to develop profitable and competitive assets for the organization.