Analysing the Institutional Logic of Late DRG Adopters

Abstract: This study investigates how institutional logics that are prevalent in an organizational field influence change in management accounting. More precisely, we examine the institutional logics of late DRG adopters through which organizations attempt to address the pressures imposed by the institutional field of health care. Specific attention is also paid to the way in which organizations operate at different institutional levels and what kinds of interrelationships exist between these levels. Such developments may at least partially explain why the implementation and adoption of DRG–based accounting systems in Finnish health care took almost twenty years.     

International advertising campaigns in fast-moving consumer goods companies originating from a SMOPEC country

A particularly interesting area of research concerns how international fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies from small and open economies that operate in turbulent markets plan successful advertising campaigns for international markets. The objective of this research was to determine how they are planned and what factors affect this planning. The theoretical part of the study reviews literature related to the internationalization of firms, international advertising campaigns, and standardization versus adaptation of international advertising. Based on the literature, a theoretical framework and propositions regarding the international campaign planning process for FMCG companies were developed. The empirical part uses the multiple-case study method to examine four FMCG companies that were founded in Finland. The empirical results show that five stages are especially important in the international campaign planning of FMCG companies. Moreover, the companies need to consider a number of factors when deciding on international adverting campaigns. The study presents a number of theoretical contributions and managerial implications. A novel finding relates to the importance of understanding the impact of the internationalization/globalization phase of the company. During internationalization often within the home continent, companies increasingly adapt advertising campaigns to different countries, whereas globalization to other continents calls for increased standardization across countries. Another interesting finding was that FMCG companies from small and open-economy (SMOPEC) countries often use innovative non-traditional campaigns to overcome the resource limitations.     

Implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on market orientation in retail banking

Journal of Financial Services Marketing - This qualitative study examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of market orientation (MO) in the context of retail...     

Neural Network Used to Analyze Multiple Perspectives Concerning Computer-Based Learning Environments

The aim of this study is to explore thepossibilities of neural networks to support theanalysis and representation of the complex qualitativedata in behavioral sciences. In this study for testingthe methodological possibilities we analysed data ofdesigners', teachers' and students' interpretations ofthe same educational software. The intentions of threedesigners concerning the interaction with their ownsoftware were compared with the interpretations ofthree teachers' anticipations of the interaction, andwith the actual learning situations of three pairs ofstudents. The particular kind of neural network usedfor the data analysis was TS-SOM (Koikkalainen, 1994),which is a variant of a self-organizing map SOMalgorithm (Kohonen, 1984). On the basis of the resultsit can be concluded that the method seems to bepromising to handle and visualize the data reductionin a systemic manner without oversimplifying thecomplex data. Furthermore, the method supports theresearcher in finding the most essential places whereto focus more detailed qualitative analyses. Thevisualization tools also allow us to verify theinterpretations between independent raters, whichincreases the reliability of qualitative dataanalysis.     

On the ideological role of employee reporting

This paper analyzes narrative employee reporting and problematizes corporate talk about employees. Annual and CSR reports of the 25 biggest Finnish companies from the year 2008 are investigated, and the CEO letters and the special sections addressing employee-related issues are analyzed. The study employs the concept of ideological strategies as developed by Eagleton (1991/2007) to analyze the ideologies underlying employee reporting. The analysis shows that corporate disclosure, though relatively developed in some areas, still paints a partial picture of people within companies. Employees are presented in a fairly narrow, mechanistic manner as efficiently aiming at a kind of development and growth of [only] instrumental value to companies, and not as complex, individual human beings possessing a variety of qualities and needs. The study reveals how corporate talk presents the relationship between companies and labor according to a unitarist perception. Particularly, the study shows how corporate talk works to naturalize and universalize this ideological claim and, hence, hide its contingent nature. The study adds to an increasing body of accounting literature using interpretive and critical approaches to analyze corporate disclosures and to study the less developed area of narrative employee reporting. The study also highlights the possible advantages of social accounting.     

A CEO with many messages: Comparing the ideological representations provided by different corporate reports

This study analyzes how corporate reporting can be used to reinforce particular worldviews in the ongoing discursive debate over sustainability. The use of language is compared in CEO letters from two types of disclosures: the annual and sustainability reports of two Finnish companies during 2000–2009. The analysis is based on Thompson's (1990) schema regarding the modes of ideology. Significant differences are noted; the CEO letters in the annual reports prominently use the economic discourse of growth and profitability, but they rely on the ‘well-being’ discourse in the sustainability reports. Despite the difference in discourse, by using different forms of ideological strategies, both types of disclosure serve the dominant social paradigm. The findings presented in this study highlight the need to further develop corporate sustainability reporting practices.     

From HRM to psychological contracting - the case of Finnish mobile content producing companies

The paper explores how human resource management (HRM) is currently intended, used and experienced in 10 Finnish companies operating in the field of telecommunications. Our specific focus is on direct and indirect forms of managerial control and the psychological contract. We examine how psychological contracts are created and maintained, and study their relationship with HRM as a means of either direct or indirect control. Our findings indicate that employees are voluntarily assuming the obligation to exercise organizational control as a part of their psychological contract in exchange for the freedom and autonomy that they enjoy. Recruitment emerges as a top employer priority. However, not many other human resource (HR) techniques are used. Rather, carefully selected workers are allowed the autonomy and freedom to define what constitutes their psychological contract, with a duty to control its attractiveness from the employers' point of view.     

A literature review on HRM and innovation – taking stock and future directions

This article reviews the growing body of empirical evidence (N = 35) on the impact of HRM on innovation that has been published during the past 25 years (1990–2015). Our most definitive finding concerns the impact of bundled HRM practices, which can be firmly linked to innovation. The role of high-commitment practice bundles appears particularly important. Studies on the various individual practices indicate that practices that foster employee commitment, loyalty, learning and intrinsic motivation are conducive to innovation. Some evidence points to the role of macro- and micro-level moderators setting boundary conditions (e.g. industry and strategy) for the HRM–innovation relationship and to mediators, such as creativity and knowledge management, as explanatory mechanisms as to why HRM impacts innovation. We noted a number of insufficiently covered areas that call for further research. We present four specific recommendations: (1) different phases of the innovation process deserve greater attention; (2) the invention of radical innovation warrants further investigation; (3) measurement of innovation and HRM should be more consistent; and (4) the theoretical underpinnings of the relationship between HRM and innovation should be strengthened. We conclude by reflecting the ‘black box’ stage between HRM and innovation through the AMO framework.     

Conducting Dyadic Multiple Issue Negotiation Experiments: Methodological Recommendations

We take a critical, yet constructive look at the literature that focuses on multiple issue negotiation experiments. Our purpose is to offer suggestions for improvement when conducting such experiments. We focus on experiments, which are conducted using an externally imposed value point structure for the negotiators across issues together with background context information. Negotiator performance in such experiments is generally poor in the sense that Pareto inferior settlements are typically generated. A possible explanation is that negotiators sometimes follow the externally imposed value points and sometimes their own values pertaining to the context. Hence we conclude that it would be better if multiple issue negotiation experiments would not be based on an apriori given value point structure - unless we have compelling reasons for it - particularly if no agents are used. The common argument against doing this is that we cannot then identify Pareto optimal or Pareto preferred settlements for the subjects. Recent research integrating the fields of Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) together with negotiation analysis, however, provides a possible solution to this problem. An experiment conducted by the authors is used to illustrate our methodological recommendations.     

Just Look at the Numbers: A Case Study on Quantification in Corporate Environmental Disclosures

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper sheds further light on the role of quantification in corporate environmental disclosures. Quantification is an inherently social practice, which has...