Coordinating a three-level contract farming supply chain with option contracts considering risk-averse farmer and retailer.

We considered a three-level contract farming supply chain comprising a risk-averse farmer, a risk-neutral supplier, and a risk-averse retailer. The farmer plants and grows fresh agricultural products with yield uncertainty, the supplier is the leader of the supply chain and the designer of the contracts, and the retailer sells processed products with random demand. Under CVaR criterion, this paper discusses three option contracts between the supplier and the retailer, as well as wholesale price contracts or replenishment cost-sharing contracts between the supplier and the farmer. Results show that when the farmer is risk-neutral, option contracts with or without replenishment cost-sharing contracts can maximize the total profit and increase the profits of all members simultaneously. When the farmer and the retailer are risk-averse, only option contracts with replenishment cost-sharing contracts can ensure supply chain full coordination and Pareto improvement by adjusting the option parameters and making the farmer's sharing ratio equal to his risk aversion coefficient. Moreover, through numerical analysis, we discovered that the interval of the Pareto improvement decreases with the retailer's risk aversion coefficient and the quantity loss rate, and increases with the farmer's risk aversion coefficient. The supplier will not be able to increase his own profits when the loss rate is excessively large. Therefore, the leader should consider the risk aversion degree of all parties and the quantity loss rate of fresh agricultural products before choosing contracts.

An incremental approach to dental contracts? Really?

A recent British Dental Journal article argued that the current general dental services contract could be modified incrementally to find a way of delivering NHS dental care within a set budget. Reaching any agreed position on the financing of dental care within the NHS requires that both parties (funders and service providers) feel content with the nuts and bolts of the agreement.This article argues that the UK Government has deliberately constructed the current units of dental activity contract to persuade dentists to cease providing NHS dental care in a way that allows the Government to blame dentists for the failure of the service. The idea that the Government might want to negotiate a better deal for dentists is, in the opinion of the author, unforgivably naive.

The Construct of Job Insecurity at Multiple Levels: Implications for Its Conceptualization and Theory Development.

Over the years, job insecurity has accumulated important scholarly work. As a result, research has identified multiple constructs that involve employees' concerns about job loss. Most of these are individual-level constructs (e.g., subjective and objective job insecurity), but, recently, an incipient body of literature has adopted a multilevel perspective by understanding job insecurity as a collective phenomenon (e.g., job insecurity climate, strength climate, downsizing or temporary hiring strategies). Furthermore, these constructs at different levels are underpinned by shared theoretical frameworks, such as stress theory or psychological contract theory. However, all this literature fails to present an integrative framework that contains the functional relationship for mapping job insecurity constructs across levels. Accordingly, the present study aims to examine job insecurity from a multilevel perspective, specifically by conceptualizing job insecurity at the individual level-understood as subjective and objective job insecurity-and at the organizational level, understood as job instability in an organization, job insecurity climate, and climate strength. The methodology of multilevel construct validation proposed by Chen, Mathieu and Bliese (2005) was applied; thus, (1) job insecurity were defined at each relevant level of analysis; (2) its nature and structure was specified at higher levels of analysis; (3) psychometric properties were tested across and/or at different levels of analysis; (4) the extent to which job insecurity varies between levels of analysis was estimated; and (5) the function of job insecurity was tested across different levels of analysis. The results showed significant relationships among these, and were related to an organizational antecedent (e.g., organization nature) and organizational and individual outcomes (collective and individual job satisfaction) in two European samples: Austria and Spain. Accordingly, this study exposed the multilevel validity of job insecurity constructs through an integrative framework in order to advance in the area of job insecurity theory and practice. The contributions and implications to job insecurity research and other multilevel research are discussed.

An incremental approach? An honest approach would be better.

This paper argues that before continuing to search for a satisfactory contract for the provision of dental care through the NHS, it is not incrementalism that is necessary, but honesty.

Research the effect of anticipated regret and fairness concerns on retailer-led supply chain.

Considering the consumer's anticipated regret caused by price discount, the impact of anticipated regret and manufacturers' fairness concerns on pricing and profits is explored, and a revenue-sharing contract to optimize the profits of supply chain is explored. In centralized decision-making model with manufacturer's fairness neutrality and retailer-led decentralized decision-making model with the manufacturer's fairness concerns, numerical simulation and model comparison is used to analyse regret sensitivity coefficient, consumer heterogeneity, the fairness concern coefficient on pricing decisions and profit coordination. Our results reveal that consumer's anticipated regret has a negative impact on product prices, retailer's profit and manufacturer's profit. Manufacturer's fairness concerns also increase product price and reduce profits of all parties. Retailer-led supply chain can share the revenue to achieve Pareto optimization. When formulating promotional strategies, retailers should consider the characteristics of anticipated regrets of consumers.

Psychological Contract Breach and Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Reviews.

A psychological contract is a set of individual beliefs that a person has about the reciprocal obligations and benefits established in an exchange relationship, such as an employment relationship in an organizational setting. A psychological contract breach is a subjective experience referred to the perception of one of the parties that the other has failed to adequately fulfill its obligations and promises. Breaches have been systematically connected to employees' attitudes and behaviors that hamper the employment relationship. Despite its apparent clarity, some relevant topics about psychological contract breach, psychological contract fulfillment and the relationships with their consequences still remain unclear. The main objective of this review of reviews is to conduct a review of reviews on psychological contract breaches, considering both systematic reviews and metanalytical papers with the purpose of synthesizing the evidence to date under the psychological contract theory. Using the SPIDER tool, our systematic review of reviews focuses on: (a) Sample; (b) Phenomenon of Interest; (c) Design; (d) Evaluation; and (e) Research type. Finally, only eight systematic reviews and meta-analyses met the inclusion criteria. Of the eight reviews included, seven were meta-analyses while the other was a systematic quantitative review. This study describes the available empirical research on psychological contract breaches and fulfillment and summarizes the meta-analytical evidence on their relationships with attitudinal and behavioral outcomes, as well as the role of potential moderator variables. Due to the methodological caveats of the reviews themselves and of the primary studies they were based on, our conclusions about the impact of psychological contract breaches on outcomes still remain tentative.

Examining how different social account timings influence stress resolution in the aftermath of a psychological contract breach.

A great deal of empirical research on the consequences of a psychological contract breach (PCB) has overlooked the role of time in understanding individuals' reactions to a PCB. Moreover, psychological contract research primarily focuses on how employees react to perceptions of a PCB, while questions regarding how the organization's responsiveness (i.e., social account) might impact these reactions remain unanswered. We aimed to enhance the understanding of stress reactions and recovery that are triggered by PCB perceptions and stimulate empirical research that treats psychological contracts as a dynamic phenomenon. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we investigated how social account delivery timing-and its subjective experience-influences individuals' stress resolution processes in the aftermath of a PCB. To this end, we used an experimental design and assessed participants' physiological (i.e., heart rate) and psychological (i.e., self-report) stress reactions after inducing a breach. Our results underscore that a PCB is experienced as a stressful event. In addition, we find that social account timing influences heart rate recovery following a PCB. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and offer recommendations for practitioners.

The New and Key Roles for Psychological Contract Status and Engagement in Predicting Various Performance Behaviors of Nurses.

The study examines the impact of the psychological contract (PC), including the often-studied PC breach in addition to the novel approach of PC status, as predictors of performance among nurses, mediated by engagement, job satisfaction, and psychological distress. A sample of 177 nurses and midwives from a medium to a large hospital in Australia completed a self-report questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to determine associations between the predictors (i.e., negative affectivity (NA), PC breach, PC status)), mediating variables (i.e., engagement, job satisfaction, and psychological distress), and three types of performance behaviors: organizational citizenship behavior for the individual, for the organization (OCBI, OCBO) and in-role behavior (IRB) simultaneously. Specifically, psychological contract status positively predicted engagement, whereas breach negatively predicted engagement and positively predicted job satisfaction. NA positively predicted distress, and distress negatively predicted OCBO and IRB. Lastly, engagement positively predicted job satisfaction, OCBI, OCBO, and IRB. The findings indicate that psychological contract status may predict engagement (and in turn, performance) over and above psychological contract breach, and thus this novel construct should be examined further. The importance of engagement for predicting the performance behaviors and mental health of nurses may also offer new insights.

Alternative Payments and Physician Organizations.

There are longstanding concerns about the sustainability of the US health care system. Payment reform has been seen over the last decade as a key strategy to reorienting the US health care system around value. Alternative payment models (APMs) that seek to accomplish this goal have become increasingly prevalent in the US, yet there is a perception that physicians are resistant to their use and that organizations have been slow to adopt such models. The reasons for the limited effectiveness of APM programs are multifactorial and include aspects related to the design and implementation of these programs and lack of alignment and coordination across different payers and health care sectors. Most importantly, however, is that the current organizational structures in US health care serve to dampen the direct impact of these incentives, often because health care delivery organizations face conflicting incentives themselves. Organizations filter and refine the incentives from multiple external payment contracts and develop internal incentive systems that best reflect the amalgamation of the incentives embedded across their contracts, and thus the fragmented nature of the US health care system serves to undermine efforts to transform care under value-based contracts. In addition to organizations having conflicting incentives, there also are fundamental problems with the design and implementation of APMs that hinder their acceptance among physicians and the organizations in which they work. Moreover, much remains to be learned about how organizations can best adapt to succeed under these models, and how organizational culture can be leveraged to transform care.

Medicina prepagada: problemas bioéticos evidentes en la atención de sus pacientes / Prepaid medicine: Evident bioethical problems in patient care

El sistema de salud en Colombia hace parte del Sistema de Seguridad Social Integral (SGSS) creado por la Ley 100 de 1993. La medicina prepagada existe como un contrato comercial de seguro de personas desde antes del SGSS, para mejorar la comodidad y el lujo, con libertad de elección de profesionales, sin trámites burocráticos para autorizaciones, oportunidad de citas, resolución rápida, eficiencia por ahorro en tiempo, dinero, efectividad y calidad en la atención. La naturaleza del vínculo comercial da pie para que los usuarios puedan tomar ventaja ilegítima del contrato y cambien las relaciones de poder y líneas de autoridad, amparados por el derecho que sienten que les confiere la compra con el fin de ver su inversión en resultados. Se generan así relaciones no idóneas, que transforman la relación médico-paciente, dando lugar a toda clase de conflictos, perversiones y vicios con consecuencias nefastas desde el punto de vista clínico, bioético y jurídico. El caso, analizado desde la metodología de análisis en ética clínica de Diego Gracia para resolver dilemas bioéticos, se aplica para hacer evidentes los conflictos y problemas bioéticos que surgieron en este contexto.

The health system in Colombia is part of the General Social Security System (GSSS) created by Law 100 of 1993. Prepaid medicine exists as a Personal Insurance Commercial Contract since before the SGSS, to improve comfort, luxury, with freedom of choice of professionals, without bureaucratic procedures for authorizations, opportunity for appointments, decisiveness, efficiency due to savings in time, money, effectiveness, and quality of care. The nature of the commercial relationship allows users to take illegitimate advantage of the contract and change the power relationships and lines of authority protected by the right they feel the purchase confers on them to see their investment in results. Inappropriate relationships are thus generated, which transform the doctor-patient relationship, giving rise to all kinds of conflicts, perversions, and vices with disastrous consequences from the clinical, bioethical and legal point of view. The case, analyzed from Diego Gracia's clinical ethics analysis methodology to resolve bioethical dilemmas, is applied to make evident the conflicts and bioethical problems that arose in this context.

Documento Técnico: "Lineamientos para el procedimiento de reasignación bajo contrato administrativo de servicios del personal de salud en el marco del artículo 27 de la Ley N° 31538-Tercera Convocatoria / Technical Document: "Guidelines for the reassignment procedure under an administrative contract for health personnel services within the framework of article 27 of Law No. 31538-Third Call

El documento detalla los requisitos, condiciones y otras especificaciones necesarias para el procedimiento de reasignación bajo el régimen especial de contratación administrativa de servicios - CAS, tercera convocatoria, conforme a los numerales 27.7 y 27.8 del artículo 27 de la Ley N° 31538; así como; promover que las unidades ejecutoras del Ministerio de Salud, unidades ejecutoras del salud de los gobiernos regionales, Instituto Nacional de Salud e Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, conduzcan el procedimiento bajo los principios establecidos en el presente lineamiento

Characteristics of Terminated Medicare Advantage Contracts, 2011 to 2020.

This cross-sectional study characterizes Medicare Advantage contract terminations and identifies the characteristics of enrollees who may have been disproportionately affected by these events.

A Signaling Game of Family Doctors and Residents from the Perspective of Personalized Contracted Service.

The role of the family doctor contracted service system in China's medical and health system is increasing day by day. However, with the steady increase in contracting coverage, the phenomenon of "signing up but not contracting" has become common; to improve the current situation, the personalized signing service model has been strongly advocated. To promote the smooth implementation of the personalized contracted service model with family doctor competency as its core, this study used the signal game model to analyze the market equilibrium state of the signing service model. The results of this analysis reveal the following: (1) The camouflage of the number of contracts leads to distortion of the signal effect and to market failure, that is, the cost of competency camouflage is the primary factor affecting the equilibrium of contracted services. (2) The incompleteness of contracted services leads to quantity but not quality in the contracting market, that is, the payment of personalized service packages, the value-added utility of personalized services, and service gaps are the key factors that affect the decision-making behavior of the public. With this knowledge in mind, a compensation incentive mechanism that matches the competence level of the family doctor should be established, the formulation of contracted service agreements should be improved, and the participation of family doctors and residents should be encouraged, while the promotion of personalized contracted services should be enhanced and relevant supporting measures should be improved.

An Analysis of Students' Work Values Education Strategies and Environment Based on Psychological Contract.

An implicit agreement between people and organizations is known as a psychological contract. It represents what each party anticipates from the other in terms of giving and receiving. The psychological contract theory has forced ideological and political educators to adapt their ideas and develop new teaching strategies. The psychological expectations of the educatees can be fully mobilized and the value orientation of both sides tends to be consistent through the creation of a strong psychological contract between the educators on both sides, which will help to increase the efficacy of ideological and political education. There is theoretical and empirical support for the organizational remedy after a psychological contract breach. Student work is intended to meet the individual needs of students or the needs of society, resulting in two completely distinct values, namely, values based on individuals and values based on societies. Students' work in the new era should be a harmonious blend of personal values and social values. In the study, students' work values fluctuated about 70% of the time, and psychological contracts had a significant impact on those work values. In the past 50 years, the psychological contract theory has seen the development and refinement of its theoretical framework, the clear definition of its content and organizational principles, the behavior research following psychological contract rupture and breach, the establishment and compensation of psychological contracts, and more. The process of organization management has benefited from the continuous concretization and expansion of its application field as a management theory and method.