Bandit Heroes: Social,Mythical, or Rational?*

Bandits steal from their fellow men. Yet they are regularly subjects of folksongs, novels, and movies. In these outlets they are presented as folk heroes despite their crimes. Sociological explanations for this phenomenon based upon Eric Hobsbawm's concept of the “social bandit” and psychological explanations based upon myth building have been brought forth to explain the seeming contradiction. We propose an alternative explanation for the bandit hero phenomenon. We argue that bandits, acting solely in their own self‐interest, unintentionally provide valuable services to societies under the rule of a predatory government. We identify three separate mechanisms by which bandits benefit society that do not necessarily hinge upon class struggles or historical dialectics. The social benefits that bandits generate form the foundation for their positive reception.     

Social Value Orientation and Climate Strength as Moderators of the Impact of Work Group Cooperative Climate on Affective Commitment

We investigate the moderating role of an individual's social value orientation (which refers to self‐ versus other‐regarding preferences) and of climate strength (which refers to the extent of agreement among group members on group norms and values) on the relationship between work group cooperative climate and affective commitment among professional employees. We develop two plausible but opposite hypotheses on the moderation effect of social value orientation, one based on the behavioural assimilation assumption and the other on goal transformation theory. We argue that the work group's climate strength is an important contingency factor that affects which of both contradictory predictions holds. In a sample of 209 academic employees of a Belgian university, we find support for our arguments. Specifically, a cooperative climate enhances the affective commitment of employees with a prosocial value orientation (as predicted by the behavioural assimilation argument) but only when there is strong consensus among group members about the group's climate (high climate strength). Conversely, for those whose social value orientation is towards the self rather than others, a cooperative climate enhances affective commitment (consistent with goal transformation theory), especially when the climate is not agreed upon (low climate strength). These findings underscore recent claims that the predictive power of different theories in organizational behaviour depends on an individual's motives and values. We discuss the implications of our findings for the management of work groups consisting of employees with different social value orientations.     

Corporate greening through prosocial extrarole behaviours – a conceptual framework for employee motivation

Scholars in environmental management have called for better grounding of research on corporate greening within established organizational theories. We propose a conceptual framework (including suggestions for operationalizing it) that embeds empirical research within behavioural intent models and the concept of value‐creating prosocial behaviours. We argue that conceiving of corporate greening as a prosocial behaviour in this manner provides an improved understanding of the dominant factors that motivate employees to engage in ecoinitiatives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Firm Turnarounds: an Integrative Two-Stage Model*

This paper presents a model proposing that turnaround firms exhibit two classes of response to decline: (a) decline-stemming strategies that reverse the dysfunctional consequences of decline, and (b) recovery strategies that position the firm to better compete in its industry. We further propose that effective top management actions supporting both of these strategies are vital to recovering from decline. Our model of the turnaround process questions some existing assumptions about turnarounds and extends theory in several key areas. First, we argue that success in initially stemming decline requires managers to go beyond retrenchment or focusing on financial issues to include effective management of a firm's external stakeholders and internal climate and decision processes. Second, we outline important contingencies impacting each class or stage of response to decline and discuss the interaction between stages. Finally, we demonstrate how our model provides explanations for several unresolved issues regarding turnarounds and has implications for management practice.     

Towards a Social Theory of Agency

We challenge critics of agency theory who suggest that agency theory's value does not extend outside a narrow context dominated by egocentric agents seeking only to maximize wealth at the expense of the principal. Instead, we argue that agency theory's flexibility allows for its application to a variety of non‐traditional settings where the key elements of agency theory, such as self‐interest, information asymmetry, and the mechanisms used to control agency costs can vary beyond the narrow assumptions implied in traditional agency‐based research. We suggest that extending agency theory to diverse settings using a deductive approach can be accomplished by formally recognizing and incorporating the institutional context surrounding principal–agent (P–A) relations into agency‐based models. Thus, criticisms that agency theory fails to acknowledge the social context in which P–A relations occur provides not a barrier but an opportunity for extending our understanding of P–A relations to a variety of diverse contexts.     

An empirical study of other‐oriented and rational self‐interest leadership approaches

Other orientation is defined as “the extent to which individuals are concerned with the welfare of others” (Meglino & Korsgaard, 2007, p. 59). Other‐oriented leaders focus their attention on organizational objectives coupled with a human resource emphasis, whereas rational self‐interested leaders concern themselves with organizational objectives coupled with self‐emphasis. This quantitative study examines philanthropian and servant leadership, which are other‐oriented leadership approaches, and transactional leadership, which is a rational self‐interested leadership approach, to determine the effectiveness of the approaches in the 21st century. This study further examines the results of a hermeneutic phenomenological study of philanthropian leadership that introduced a new other‐oriented leadership model. This study focuses on leadership preferences of leaders, employees, and third‐year undergraduate business students to determine if there is a significant difference between preferences among groups for other‐oriented and rational self‐interest‐oriented leadership approaches.     

Trading Partners and Trading Volumes: Implementing the Helpman–Melitz–Rubinstein Model Empirically

Helpman, Melitz and Rubinstein [Quarterly Journal of Economics (2008) Vol. 123, pp. 441–487] (HMR) present a rich theoretical model to study the determinants of bilateral trade flows across countries. The model is then empirically implemented through a two‐stage estimation procedure. We argue that this estimation procedure is only valid under the strong distributional assumptions maintained in the article. Statistical tests using the HMR sample, however, clearly reject such assumptions. Moreover, we perform numerical experiments which show that the HMR two‐stage estimator is very sensitive to departures from the assumption of homoskedasticity. These findings cast doubts on any inference drawn from the empirical implementation of the HMR model.     

Exploring the impact of self‐construal and cultural intelligence on alcohol consumption: implications for social marketing

• There is enormous cross‐cultural variation in alcohol choices and drinking behaviour. Because of the inherent differences in historical drinking culture, as well as differences in alcohol policy globally, similarities and differences in drinking patterns have long been a focus of interest among public health and social marketing researchers. Thus, the purposes of this study are (1) to explore differences between groups (Australian and non‐Australian‐born respondents) on self‐construal, cultural intelligence and alcohol consumption and (2) to investigate the impact of self‐construal and cultural intelligence on alcohol consumption in Australia. Data for this study were collected through a large public university in Australia (N = 669). The paper found that people with interdependent self‐concept were less likely to drink alcohol than people with independent self‐concept and cultural intelligence was not significantly related to hazardous alcohol use, harmful alcohol use and dependence symptoms. Variations between Australian‐born and overseas‐born groups were evident. Limitations of the current study and an agenda for future research are outlined.

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hierarchic competitive equilibria

Without an interiority or strong survival assumption, an equilibrium may not exist in the standard Arrow–Debreu model. We propose a generalized concept of competitive equilibrium, called hierarchic equilibrium. Instead of using standard prices we use hierarchic prices. Existence will be shown without a strong survival assumption and without a non-satiation condition on the preferences. Under standard assumptions this reduces to the Walras equilibrium. Hierarchic equilibria are weakly Pareto optimal and any Pareto optimum can be decentralized without a border condition. We prove the existence of a Pareto optimal hierarchic equilibrium under additional assumptions. Later, we establish a core equivalence result.     

Reexamining the Workplace Justice to Outcome Relationship: Does Frame of Reference Matter?

Using a combination of self‐interest and deontological theories as justification, we propose a demarcated view of workplace justice that separates justice for an individual (personal justice) and inferred assessments of justice for organizational members (third party justice). Results of two studies confirmed the appropriateness of separate justice measures and demonstrated differential effects on key criteria based on the relevancy (personal or joint) of the outcome in question. Specifically, Studies 1 and 2 found that personal justice was a better predictor of organizational commitment and turnover intentions while third party justice was more closely related to workplace cohesion (Study 1), citizenship behaviours (Study 2), and deviance behaviours (Study 2). Implications of these findings and future research needs are discussed.     

Enactment,Sensemaking and Decision Making: Redesign Processes in the 1976 Reorganization of US Intelligence

Weick’s theories of organizing and sensemaking help enrich the assumptions in the organization design school. This study builds on Weick’s theories of sensemaking to illustrate how three fundamental organization design assumptions — dominant variables, causal laws and executive dictates — were found to be restrictive in the explanation of redesign processes in the 1976 reorganization of the US intelligence community. The assumption of dominant variables was challenged by the appearance of a multitude of events, or enactments, which were selected by organization members for further attention. The assumption of causal laws was challenged by the appearance of individual‐level cause maps which were filtered, through sensemaking processes, into organization‐level workable realities. The assumption of executive dictates was challenged by the appearance of attempts to punctuate redesign processes as organizational decisions. The study suggests value in moving from simple organization design assumptions to more reliable findings drawn from detailed observations of redesign processes.     

Satiation and existence of competitive equilibrium

In this paper, we introduce a new assumption concerning the (non)satiation property of preferences and establish the existence of a competitive equilibrium under it. The assumption is weaker than the standard nonsatiation assumption and “weak nonsatiation” introduced by Allouch and Le Van (2008). In particular, it allows preferences to be satiated only inside the set of individually rational feasible consumptions, while the two nonsatiation assumptions do not. It is also worth noting that just like the two nonsatiation assumptions, our new assumption depends solely on the characteristics of consumers.     

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A MICROECONOMIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

This paper provides a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Depending on whether an individual can be considered as selfish, or whether she has also social preferences, motives for CSR, can be explained in different ways. Furthermore, we explicitly highlight the influence of different Corporate Governance System on CSR as well as the relationship between firms' size and social commitment. Because it is difficult to distinguish between different theories in empirical studies, we argue that an experimental approach might be suitable to test theories of CSR.     

The relationship between high performance work systems and employee proactive behaviour: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation as mediating mechanisms

Drawing on the contextual perspective, this study provides novel empirical evidence on how the organisational context (specifically, the firm's human resource strategy) has an effect on employee proactivity. We use matched data from managers and employees in 102 Spanish professional service firms to examine how high performance work systems contribute to enhance employee proactive behaviours through two motivational variables: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation. Results of a multilevel study demonstrate that role breadth self‐efficacy mediates between HPWS and employee proactivity, but flexible role orientation does not mediate this relationship.     

Within and Beyond Communities of Practice: Making Sense of Learning Through Participation,Identity and Practice*

abstract Situated learning theory offers a radical critique of cognitivist theories of learning, emphasizing the relational aspects of learning within communities of practice in contrast to the individualist assumptions of conventional theories. However, although many researchers have embraced the theoretical strength of situated learning theory, conceptual issues remain undeveloped in the literature. Roberts, for example, argues in this issue that the notion of ‘communities of practice’– a core concept in situated learning theory – is itself problematic. To complement her discussion, this paper explores the communities of practice concept from several perspectives. Firstly, we consider the perspective of the individual learner, and examine the processes which constitute ‘situated learning’. Secondly, we consider the broader socio‐cultural context in which communities of practice are embedded. We argue that the cultural richness of this broader context generates a fluidity and heterogeneity within and beyond communities. Finally, we argue that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish conceptually between the terms ‘participation’ and ‘practice’ because of occasional duplication of meaning. We propose, instead, a refinement of the definition to allow for greater conceptual clarity.     

Explaining Collective Intentionality

A BSTRACT . The Construction of Social Reality contains interesting suggestions about the ways in which phenomena of we-intentionality derive from beliefs and desires of social agents. This explanatory trust is in deep tension with Searle's general view that we-intentionality is a primitive phenomenon. I propose that we preserve the explanations and reject the general view, and argue for the proposal.     

INCENTIVES AND SOCIAL NORMS: A MOTIVATION‐BASED ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL NORMS

Abstract It is now commonplace to regard social norms as a subject of growing interest in the economic literature (e.g. game theoretical approaches based on ‘other‐regarding’ individual preferences, the analysis of the impact of rewards or punishment on individuals’ behaviour through experimental economics as well as field experiments, the revival of the institutionalist tradition spurred on by the influential work of Douglas North and followed by many others and the growing influence of neuroeconomics). In this paper, we focus on the relationship between incentives and social norms and survey the literature that could constitute the foundations of a motivation‐based economic analysis of social norms. Our main findings are that (1) the interaction between incentives and social norms is far from obvious since taking social norms into account involves the introduction of supplementary motives, in addition to self‐interest, into the economic analytical framework; (2) the analysis of the interaction between incentives and social norms resists an approach exclusively in terms of crowding‐in and ‐out effects because it is sensitive to whether it concerns behaviours driven by honour or by social stigma; (3) as a result, it is difficult to precisely evaluate the policy implication of the interactions between incentives and social norms.     

The failure of CAP reform: a public choice analysis1

This paper uses public choice theories to explain why agricultural subsidies were centralised and why this hinders reform. It shows that the Commission is not responsible for the expansion of the CAP by arguing that budget‐maximising behaviour is irrational in the circumstances and that bureau shaping explains its stance on reform. The input process and the success of agricultural groups vis‐à‐vis consumer and taxpayer groups is explained using both the pluralist and Olsonian account of interest group politics. The conclusion analyses the latest difficulties in achieving reform at Berlin and the prospects for reform.     

Stock Prices and the Real Economy: Power Law versus Exponential Distributions

This paper explores the relationship between the stock prices and the real economy. The standard approach – the so called consumption-based asset pricing model – attempts to explain it based on the assumption of the representative agent. In this paper, we argue that the representative agent assumption is fundamentally flawed. Drawing on the recent advancement of “econophysics” on financial markets See Mantegna and Stanley (An Introduction to econophysics: correlations and complexity in finance, 2000) for the introduction to econophysics, we argue that in contrast to the neoclassical view, there is in fact a wedge between financial markets, the stock prices in particular, and the real economy.     

Incentive Asymmetries in the Mergers and Acquisitions Process*

abstract This paper focuses on the relationship between incentive asymmetries and some potentially undesirable outcomes along the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process which could potentially destroy the shareholder value of the merged corporate entity. Incentive asymmetries are seen as belonging to the three categories of ‘risk‐antecedent’, ‘information‐antecedent’ and ‘pure self‐interest antecedent’. We propose that incentive asymmetries are responsible for increases in the number of M&A projects and that they might create a ‘lemons problem’ with M&A candidates. Incentive asymmetries are also suggested to lead to prolonged contract‐writing phases, biased financial evaluations and acquisition price escalation, as well as undermined post‐M&A integration plans. If resolutions to these problems are sought, the use of high‐ and low‐powered incentive schemes will need to reflect risk, information and pure self‐interest.