This dissertation examines whether a degree earned abroad is less valuable for Asianimmigrants in the U.S. labor market than for White immigrants and, if so, the reasons for such disparities. Many studies have documented the existence of a foreign education penalty. However, the underlying mechanisms for the lower returns to foreign education are still being determined. Building on the demographic heterogeneity framework, this study aims to advance our understanding of immigrants’ experience in the labor market by investigating whether the lower earnings returns for Asian immigrants with foreign education stem from lower educational quality/transferability, as suggested by the human capital approach, or from biased practices in the labor market, as proposed by credentialism. Methodologically, this study will compare the earnings outcomes of Asian immigrants to those of U.S.-born Whites as well as foreign-educated white immigrants. Using ACS data from 2015-2019 on White and Asian workers aged 25-64 with bachelor’s degrees or higher, I analyze the impact of STEM majors and the English-speaking proficiency of the sending country to explore the effect of human capital transferability. Then, I examine the effect of a country’s GDP per capita and the rates of tertiary education to capture the effect of educational quality. To access credentialism, I compare the earnings differences for Asian immigrants who earn degrees in regions more culturally or historically similar to the U.S. to those degrees earned in other regions. Then, I examine the residual earnings difference between foreign-educated White and Asian immigrants to access queuing theory. Finally, I separate the study population into subsamples of men and women to investigate whether Asian immigrants’ labor market disadvantages are contingent on gender. Chapter 2 to 5 can be read as a stand-alone study that uses nationally representative survey data to study the aspects listed above. Results from these analyses show that the earnings disadvantage of Asian immigrants educated in foreign countries is largely due to the limited transferability of their human capital in the U.S. labor market rather than to credentialism. Returns to foreign education are higher for immigrants with STEM degrees or from countries where English is an official language. In addition to the human capital transferability, this study also shows that White immigrants seem to have an advantage over Asian immigrants if they were educated in places with longer linguistic and cultural differences compared to the United States. In addition, my findings support the explanation that female immigrants’ varied family experiences and migration paths are different from those of their male counterparts, thus leading to their notable disadvantages in the labor markets. The results indicate that establishing clear and transparent processes for recognizing foreign academic and professional credentials is a critical way to alleviate the lower returns on Asian immigrants’ foreign credentials. / Sociology

The purpose of this study was to investigate self-efficacy and organizational efficacy as reported by assistant principals for relationships to their job preparation experiences in one K-12 public school district. Bandura defined self-efficacy as "]belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" (1997, p. 3). Organizational efficacy has been defined as "an aggregated judgment of an organization's individual members' assessment of their (a) collective capacities, (b) mission or purpose, and (c) sense of resilience" (Bohn, 2010, p. 233). As efficacious beliefs have reciprocal influence that can better fortify performance (Bandura, 1997), this study explored both self-efficacy and organizational efficacy to provide a bi-level depiction of assistant principal efficacy. The self-efficacy measurement was gathered through the 2006 School Administrator Efficacy Scale (SAES) survey (McCollum, Kajs, and Minter, 2006a, 2006b) and the organizational efficacy measurement was gathered through the 2010 Organizational Efficacy Scale (OES) survey (Bohn, 2010). Additionally, self-reported demographics and job preparation experiences were gathered through a participant information survey. Beyond descriptive analyses that established benchmarking efficacy measurements for the participating school district, ANOVA analyses revealed no significant relationships in self-reported self-efficacy or organizational efficacy based upon the job preparation experiences of assistant principals. The benchmarking measurements were presented to inform school district leaders as they direct future district succession, mentoring, or professional development planning for increased efficacious leadership development and for improved human capital management results. / Ed. D.

This dissertation consists of three empirical essays focused on understanding how informational and behavioral barriers influence human capital investments in developing countries. In particular, I study two key actors in education production – teachers and parents, and how their beliefs shape investments in child human capital with implications for student learning and inequality. Chapter 1 uses a field experiment with teachers in India to investigate the role and malleability of teachers’ beliefs. In many developing countries, teachers often perceive only a weak mapping between their effort and what students learn. I conduct an experimental evaluation of a psychosocial intervention in India that targets teachers’ beliefs about perceived control – self-beliefs about one’s ability to influence outcomes. I study the extent to which this intervention affects teachers’ beliefs, their effort in class, and their students’ academic performance. I devise a novel experimental task to elicit beliefs through revealed preference, about the relationship between their teaching effort and the performance of students in their classroom. I find that the intervention induced a 14% increase in teachers’ beliefs about their ability to increase learning, as measured by the revealed preference task. Treated teachers exert greater effort at the intensive margin, scoring higher on an index of classroom effort. They also spend more time grading student work and provide more detailed feedback to students. Finally, students taught by teachers in the treatment group learn more, scoring 0.09 SD higher in the end-of-year exams. These findings suggest that teacher beliefs can serve as a powerful lever for changing teaching practice and raising learning levels in developing countries. Chapter 2 studies the relationship between parental perceptions about children’s performance and parental investment in children’s human capital, and how this relationship evolves over the course of schooling. Using rich longitudinal data on investments, test scores, and parental assessments, I implement alternative specifications for the parental investment function that allow investment to depend on the entire history of lagged investment and inputs, account for past parental beliefs to circumvent reverse causality, and use household fixed effects to account for fixed characteristics at the household level. I find that compared to children with poor perceived performance, children with better perceived performance are up to 16 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in private as opposed to public schools, and receive up to 40% higher investment in schooling. This relationship intensifies as children progress from primary to secondary school. Results are robust across specifications, with evidence of complementarity between perceived ability and schooling. Within a household, parents’ behavior is reinforcing, with more spent on the child believed to be the better performer. These findings inform our understanding of parental investment response and intra-household allocation of human capital investment decisions. Chapter 3 (co-authored with Daniel Chen, Sultan Mehmood, and Shaheen Naseer) uses a field experiment to evaluate the impact of providing information about teacher value-added to public school teachers in Pakistan. We show that growth mindset training shifts teachers’ beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, and reduces stereotypes against first-generation learners and students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In contrast, exposure to narrative or empirical evidence about teacher value-added did not have statistically significant effects. We document patterns of teachers’beliefs in a resource-constrained setting and show that perceived returns to effort are increasing in parental education and past performance of students, indicating that teachers view these as complementary inputs for teaching.

Yes / This article reviews the literature on human capital resources and develops a conceptual model incorporating social capital, relational capital and knowledge as the components of human capital resources and linking these to competitive advantage. Scholars from various disciplines expanded our understanding of human capital as important organizational resources but research in this field remains fragmented. Building on past research this review contributes to existing knowledge in human capital resources by introducing an integrated conceptual framework comprising of both micro-level human capital and macro-level strategic human capital resources. In so doing it provides alternative definitions for human capital resources with the aim to make their assessment and understandability more meaningful and clearer than what has been offered so far. Moreover, by bringing knowledge, social capital and relational capital under human capital, this review encourages a dialogue among scholars from various disciplines to investigate the creation and accumulation of strategic human capital resources holistically.

The successful integration of refugees originating from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a crucial and important task for Sweden. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights regarding the importance of education attained prior to migration for refugee’s labour market outcomes. This thesis investigates the return on pre-migration education for refugees, focusing on employment probability on the Swedish labour market. Utilising quantitative analysis of cross-sectional survey data provided by the European Social Survey spanning between the years 2010-2022, this study finds that for an additional year of schooling, MENA refugees have on average a 1.1 percentage points higher probability of being employed compared to natives. This is most likely caused by a larger signalling value of education for refugees. Still, refugees have a lower probability of being employed upon arrival in Sweden compared to natives with the same years of schooling. Furthermore, the study highlights the vital role of host-specific human capital in improving employment probabilities for refugees. These findings underscore the importance for policy makers of validating pre-migration education and that domestic human capital programs, including language training and workplace practice, play an important role in the integration of MENA refugees into the Swedish labour market. This report contributes to the existing literature by increasing the knowledge.

Purpose - This thesis aims to explore the combined effects of entrepreneurs' human and social capital on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises through internationalization.  Research question - How does the interplay of an entrepreneur´s human and social capital influence small and medium-sized enterprise´s growth through internationalization? Method - This research is a qualitative single case adopting an inductive approach aligned with an ontology relativism position and social constructivism position of epistemology. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data for the research. The data was analyzed using the Gioia method, creating 33 first-order terms, 8 second-order themes, and, lastly, the aggregate dimension.  Findings - The results of this research show that both the entrepreneur's human and social capital play a decisive role in the growth of SMEs through internationalization. There is a strong correlation between human and social capital, which means that SMEs cannot effectively go through the internationalization process solely with the support of one of these capitals without the other. By effectively utilizing both human and social capital, companies can create advantages and increase their competitiveness. Implications - This research's Theoretical implications highlight that by examining the interplay between entrepreneurs' human and social capital, researchers can identify key factors for successful SME internationalization and understand network leveraging for growth. Additionally, this research provides practical implications by emphasizing the importance of leveraging human and social capital, existing networks, and strategic relationships to enhance SME internationalization and drive sustainable growth.

På grund av den stigande konkurrensen på arbetsmarknaden inom redovisning- och revisionsbranschen möter företag utmaningar med att behålla medarbetare på lång sikt. Konsekvenserna blir att personalomsättningen ökar och sin tur påverkar lönsamheten då prestationen hos medarbetare försämras. Det finns olika anledningar till varför anställda lämnar företaget där många av dessa kan förebyggas genom att företag tillämpar anpassade strategier. Denna studie riktar sig till att undersöka hur stora företag respektive SMEs behandlar strategier för att behålla medarbetare långsiktigt, samt redogöra för om det finns några skillnader eller likheter som kan hänföras till storleken på företagen. Men behandlar även vilka ekonomiska effekter en uppsägning medför. Studiens utformning baseras på en kvalitativ metod där fyra stora företag och fyra SMEs har intervjuats vilket utgör grunden fördet empiriska materialet. För att uppnå studiens syfte grundas den i en multipel fallstudiedesign. Studien har resulterat i att det finns skillnader i hur olika företag implementerar olika strategier för att behålla medarbetare på lång sikt, men att dessa skillnader snarare beror på företagets mål än storlek. I resultatet framgår anledningar till varför medarbetare lämnar samt vad detta har för ekonomisk effekt på företagets lönsamhet. / Due to the rising competition in labor markets, accounting firms face challenges in retaining their employees long term. The consequences of employee resignation is that employee turnover rates increase, which affects profitability. There are several reasons why employees choose to leave their workplace, which can be prevented if the company uses adequate strategies. The purpose of this study is to research how bigger companies versus SMEs apply strategies to insure employee retention and present if there are any differences or similarities between these that can be attributed to company size. The study also deals with the economic consequences of an employee’s resignation. A qualitative research design where four larger companies and four SMEs have been interviewed has been used to make up the empirical material. The research is based on a multiple case study in order to reach its purpose. The results of this study shows that there are differences in how different companies implement strategies to ensure employee retention long term, but that these differences depend more on the company’s distinguished business goals and cultures than on their size. The results also explain why employees leave the company and what effects this has on company profitability.

「高潛力人力資本」即所謂的「高潛力人才（High potential或Talent）」係指那些具備企業目前與未來所需要的核心職能，並具有卓著績效貢獻者而言。在人才類型而言，他們即屬核心人才（Core Employees），如企業中的關鍵性管理與研發人才。 然而高潛力人才的培育也是有等級性的區分，公司同時要考慮到內部初階、中階及高階的高潛力人力資本的需求。高潛力人才是公司未來高階經理人的種子，相對於企業間對於各等級的經理人彼此挖角的人才競爭方式，越來越多企業意識到自行培育能認同公司理念的高潛力人才之重要性。是故很多企業開始打造自己的高潛力人才─也就是未來經理人的培訓之路，而因此促成了「儲備幹部制度」（Management Associate Program，簡稱MA制度）的誕生。 而近年來台灣企業紛紛起而效之，除了本土金融公司之外，科技公司與零售服務商也一一加入儲備幹部的招募、培訓制度的設計，與未來發展的考量，希望發展出適合所屬產業與自身公司體制之儲備幹部制度。 然而關於台灣本土企業之儲備幹部制度研究量尚有限，是故本研究希望從「高潛力人力資本」在「企業智慧資本」中的定義出發，結合學術理論與業界訪談，探究不同企業在運行儲備幹部制度的動機、邏輯與制度設計，進而透過綜合的分析與探討，歸納出儲備幹部在人力資本的定位與角色，以及儲備幹部發展的內涵與特質，再進而推論出台灣本土企業在運行儲備幹部制度時應有之綜合考量與成功因素。 / The definition of high potential human capital, also regarded as high potentials, refers to the employees who have the core competency and could contribute extinguish performance to the company. They are the core employees in the company, playing an important role in management and development functions. The cultivation of high potentials differentiates into the basic class, intermediate class, and high class, based on the demand of company. Because high potentials are candidates of future chief executive, more and more companies realize the importance to cultivate their own high potentials who identify with company’s philosophy, rather than to hunt the talents from other companies. Based on above reasons, the management associate program (MA program) was applied and well developed in many companies. Recently, not only finance holding companies but also technology and retail service companies, based on their industry features and future development, are working on their own MA program. However, the studies related to MA programs of Taiwanese companies are not abundant. Therefore, this study focused on the definition of high potential human capital and intellectual capital, combining with industry interviews, to discuss the motivation, design, and the operation of MA programs in different companies. This study summarized the position and importance of MA in human capital, discussed the intrinsic characteristics of MA program, and thus concluded the dominant factors to achieve successful MA program that could be applied in Taiwan.

The primary contribution of the thesis is to extend our knowledge about the channels through which these different agents -the schools, the parents and the individual himself- influence human capital investment, in particular investment in higher education. In addition to this primary contribution, I apply and develop econometric methods adapted to the special features of educational data with respect to other research areas./ La principale contribution des travaux présentés dans cette thèse est d'approfondir notre connaissance sur la manière dont différents agents - l'école, les parents et l'individu lui même- influencent l'investissement en capital humain, en particulier au niveau de l'enseignement supérieur. Le deuxième apport de la thèse est l'application et le développement de méthodes adaptées aux particularités des données en éducation par rapport à d'autres domaines de recherche. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished