Global performance management systems: The role of trust as perceived by country managers

This study focuses on a critical mechanism of the international human resource management process: performance management. The study specifically explores how the process of global performance management is perceived by the country managers of multinational corporations' subsidiaries in Australia. The study reveals that a multinational corporation's systemic demand for short-term profit has the potential for inhibiting employee–supervisor relationships and perceived effectiveness of performance management appears to be dependent on the relationship and level of trust between the country manager and her/his supervisor. On the basis of the research findings, relational communication and psychosocial factors such as trust play an important role in the functioning of a country manager vis-à-vis their perceptions of the performance management process. The study suggests that, with the current approach to global performance management for country managers, despite the expense involved in the process, many of the potential benefits may not be realized. Social exchange theory is proposed as the foundation for developing more effective and fluent global relationships based on trust.     

Ethics in Tax Practice: A Study of the Effect of Practitioner Firm Size

While much of the empirical accounting literature suggests that, if differences do exist, Big Four employees are more ethical than non-Big Four employees, this trend has not been evident in the recent media coverage of Big Four tax practitioners acting for multinationals accused of aggressive tax avoidance behaviour. However, there has been little exploration in the literature to date specifically of the relationship between firm size and ethics in tax practice. We aim here to address this gap, initially exploring tax practitioners’ perceptions of the impact of firm size on ethics in tax practice using interview data in order to identify the salient issues involved. We then proceed to assess quantitatively whether employer firm size has an impact on the ethical reasoning of tax practitioners, using a tax context-specific adaptation of a well-known and validated psychometric instrument, the Defining Issues Test.     

Governance in the Participative Organisation: Freedom, Creativity and Ethics

Organizations in changing environments need to become flexible, responsive and participative. We develop an understanding of governance in these organizations by drawing analogies between organization theory and theories of non-linear dynamics. We identify freedom and creativity as driving principles in 'chaotic' participative organizations, and explore the ethics of their exercise within organizational communities of practice, communities of discernment and communities of commitment.     

Antecedents and consequences of brand attachment: A literature review and research agenda

Consumers develop powerful connections with brands and they feel a strong bond or attachment to favourite brands that can lead to re-purchase behaviour, reduced price sensitivity and increased customer loyalty. Gaining greater in-depth knowledge of brand attachment offers a powerful means of understanding and facilitates modelling the mechanisms for achieving greater profitability and increased revenue for firms. The purpose of this paper is first to map the antecedents, mediators and consequences of brand attachment; second to provide scholars with a map of prior research as a starting point for future research; and third to offer insights to extend understanding of how consumers relate to and engage with brands. The antecedents to brand attachment are categorized under five headings: brand-related concepts; self-brand connection and connection; congruence and the self; emotional drivers of brand attachment; and service-related concepts. The consequences of brand attachment are categorized as: brand loyalty and switching resistance; purchase intentions and willingness to pay; and word of mouth. The review and future research agenda utilize the Theory, Context, Characteristics, Methodology structure: (T) theory and concepts; (C) context and industry sectors; (C) characteristics (antecedents, mediators and consequences); (M) methods used in prior research. Recommendations focus on: social media marketing; social media marketing influencers and psychological ownership.     

When absorptive capacity meets institutions and (e)learners: adopting,diffusing and exploiting e‐learning in organizations

E‐learning was thought to be one of the fastest growing industries on both sides of the Atlantic and has been frequently heralded as a transforming influence on global corporate training and higher education. Despite such rhetoric, the adoption, diffusion and exploitation have been slower than anticipated. In this paper we attempt to explain why this might have been the case in Europe by drawing on an increasingly influential body of management literature on the absorptive capacity (ACAP) of organizations to acquire, assimilate and use new technologies and ideas. We supplement this work on absorptive capacity with two other streams of literature on learners and on the business systems or institutionalist perspective, which focuses on the embeddedness of unique organizational forms, ideas and human resource development approaches in particular national business systems. We develop a model of absorptive capacity for e‐learning in organizations (ACAP for eL), which we argue has important theoretical implications for business and management academics in developing a model of technology transfer and diffusion, key lessons for HRD practitioners and politicians associated with furthering e‐learning developments in their organizations, and also for policy makers at government level wishing to spread the e‐learning message.     

Capitalising on learning: an exploration of the MBA as a vehicle for developing career competencies

This article reports the findings of a study of Canadian MBA graduates that explores the skills, knowledge and capabilities which they gained from the programme within the context of a career‐competency framework. It concludes that the development of knowing‐why career competencies (relating to career values, meanings and motivations) were the most important outcome of the course for the graduates. Knowing‐how career competencies (relating to skills and job‐related knowledge) were also valued highly. Increased self‐confidence was a valuable form of career capital for the graduates, although the antecedents and consequences of this appear to be somewhat different for men and women.     

Managerial myopia and the unintended real consequences of conditional conservatism

We examine whether the demand for conditional conservatism produces unintended real consequences that are exacerbated by managerial incentives to report higher earnings. We document a robust positive association between conditional conservatism and real earnings management (REM), particularly for firms whose CEOs face greater compensation incentives and capital market incentives to report higher earnings. Using mediation analyses, we find that conservatism has a negative indirect relation with future returns via REM over the next 1–3 years. In additional tests, we find that the relation between conservatism and REM is attenuated for firms with higher debt-to-equity, which suggests that debtholders moderate the negative relation between conditional conservative reporting and REM. Our findings suggest that, in contrast to its monitoring benefit, conditional conservatism can exacerbate managerial myopia, resulting in negative consequences for future firm value.     

Can behavioral nudges and incentives help lower-income households build emergency savings with tax refunds? Evidence from field and survey experiments

Tax refunds are an opportunity for lower-income households to accumulate emergency savings so they have cash on hand to cover expenses when income is insufficient. Our field experiments testing different behavioral interventions to encourage refund saving via online tax filing show small effect sizes (0.12–0.14) and a low aggregate savings rate (12%) that might be increased were filers to receive financial incentives. We test a key provision of the Refund to Rainy Day Saving and Financial Security Credit Acts using a survey experiment, finding that hypothetical refund saving jumps from 16% with no financial incentive, to 71% and 80% with 25% and 50% matches, respectively, findings which are mostly insensitive to refund size. Our results suggest that public policies to provide greater financial support—including stronger income supports—will better prepare lower-income households for financial emergencies than behavioral interventions to nudge refund saving.     

Who pays attention to sustainability reports and why? Evidence from Google search activity

We introduce country-level Google search activity as a direct measure of the level of stakeholder attention directed towards sustainability reports. We validate this measure by establishing that search activity for sustainability reports is correlated with temporal patterns in firms' supply of these reports. To frame the economic magnitude of this search behaviour, we then show that the level of attention directed towards sustainability reports is very low compared to the level of attention directed towards financial and accounting information. Next, we examine two related research questions. First, we identify who pays attention to sustainability reports. We find, consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve, that attention towards sustainability reports is strongly associated with economic development. Consistent with findings in prior research that suggest citizens in stakeholder-oriented countries have stronger preferences for firms to act prosocially, we also find that search activity for sustainability reports relative to search activity for financial performance metrics is greater in civil law countries than in common law countries. Finally, we then explore the question of why individuals pay attention to sustainability reports and find evidence that suggests sustainability reports are used for two primary purposes: evaluating the societal impacts of firms' actions; and, firm valuation.