Environmental Reporting of Global Corporations: A Content Analysis based on Website Disclosures

Today, more corporations disclose information about their environmental performance in response to stakeholder demands of environmental responsibility and accountability. What information do corporations disclose on their websites? This paper investigates the environmental management policies and practices of the 200 largest corporations in the world. Based on a content analysis of the environmental reports of Fortune’s Global 200 companies, this research analyzes the content of corporate environmental disclosures with respect to the following seven areas: environmental planning considerations, top management support to the institutionalization of environmental concerns, environmental structures and organizing specifics, environmental leadership activities, environmental control, external validations or certifications of environmental programs, and forms of corporate environmental disclosures.     

The intranet's role in newcomer socialization in the hotel industry in Taiwan – technology acceptance model analysis

This study examined a research model for explaining the relationships of intranet adoption and newcomers' organizational socialization in the hotel industry. Data were gathered for a structural equation model (SEM) analysis, from 298 individual participants, who had only worked in a hotel for 6 months to 1 year. The research results demonstrated the mediation role of the perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use of the intranet. The SEM results also revealed that usage of the intranet did increase the extent of an employee's socialization into the organization. Moreover, PU has direct and indirect effects on socialization. Tests on gender and age differences were conducted. The invariance analysis of the theory model showed that both males and females demonstrated the same patterns in performing technology acceptance factors and socialization, whereas different age groups demonstrated significantly different paths. The direct effect of PU was not significant for the newcomers aged over 35.     

CEO's empathy and salience of socioemotional wealth in family SMEs – The moderating role of external directors

A focus on preserving socioemotional wealth may influence entrepreneurial activities in family firms. In this paper, we identify the emotion of empathy in the family CEO as an antecedent of socioemotional wealth creation. We argue that the presence of one or more external directors can have a direct as well as moderating influence on the relationship between CEO's empathy and the salience of socioemotional wealth to the family CEO. Our empirical tests confirm these hypotheses. Several areas of future research are suggested to incorporate empathy and other emotions in family business studies.     

Limits to strategic HRM: the case of the Mauritian civil service

Taking as its starting point the impressive evidence for the strategic human resource management (SHRM) model's effect on organizational performance, and for the relationship between public staff management and economic growth, the paper offers the civil service of Mauritius as a case study of SHRM's relevance to developing countries. It finds that SHRM is not practised in Mauritius, nor is it feasible in the near future, because it is not widely known, because there is no strategic management framework, because staff management is highly centralized and because political will to make radical changes in staff management is lacking. The case study does not support claims that SHRM and its associated practices have a universal validity, or that public staff management is a ‘magic bullet’ that delivers economic growth. Improvements to staff management in Mauritius, and possibly other developing countries, will require a creative and piecemeal adaptation of Anglophone ‘good practice’ that respects political, economic and social realities.     

Cross‐cultural evaluation of factors driving intention to purchase new food products – Beijing,China and south‐east England

It has been reported that consumers in different countries have distinctive perceptions of, and attitudes to, products. This study investigated consumers’ thoughts on new food products in south‐east England (n = 222) and Beijing, China (n = 139), using a questionnaire‐based largely on the Theory of Reasoned Action. Results indicated that consumers in both countries believe it is necessary for the food industry in their respective countries to introduce new food products and they would like to try new products. There appears to be great interest in new products among the Beijing Chinese, with most interest in new healthy food products. The influences on choices suggest that a marketing focus on quality, utility and health benefits would be most fruitful, as personal beliefs were more important in intention to purchase than the influence of other people. Results point away from the expected result that the Chinese, as a collectivist culture, would place more emphasis on others’ opinions than their own beliefs. This may be linked to food not being an item of conspicuous consumption, or to a cultural shift among urban Chinese.     

Was ist von der Familienpolitik der Großen Koalition zu erwarten?

A major evaluation of family policies in Germany came to the primary conclusions that family leave and early childhood education and care policies are effective. Specific German tax regulations, however, are less effective, as they decrease the incentives, especially for mothers, to return to the labour market or increase the number of hours they work. The tax regulations for couples, in particular, should be reformed, as this would offer funding possibilities for other worthwhile policies. However, it should not be forgotten that tax regulations are not just aimed at family policies. Indeed, their primary function is to reduce the burden on families and to keep them out of poverty, as demanded by the Germany Federal Constitutional Court. Given the findings of this evaluation, the new German government plans to implement policies which make sense but which do not go far enough. Public child care has been shown to increase maternal employment, household income and fertility in Germany. There are good reasons to invest further in public child care for young children; however, the focus should not only be on the quantity but also the quality of care.     

Medicaid and long‐term care: The effects of penalizing strategic asset transfers

Medicaid provides a critical source of insurance for long‐term care, and individuals may strategically offload assets (typically to children) to meet the means‐tested eligibility requirement. In this article, we quantify the extent of such behavior using variation in the penalty for improper parent‐to‐child transfers induced by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. We estimate difference‐in‐differences models based on the hypothesis that only individuals with high levels of nursing home risk (high risk) will alter transfers because of the Act. We find that over a 2‐year horizon, high‐risk individuals reduced transfers to children on the extensive margin by 11 percent and that the average total amount of transfers decreased by $4,860. The results hold only for coupled respondents. We also conduct a triple‐differences analysis to examine heterogeneity with financial literacy and find that even those with a low level of financial literacy responded to the penalty.