Are Men Always Picked Over Women? The Effects of Employment Equity Directives on Selection Decisions

This study replicates and extends previous work by Oppenheimer and Wiesner [1990, Sex discrimination: Who is hired and do employment equity statements make a difference? Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Personnel and Human Resources Division], and examined the effects of minority qualifications on hiring decisions, the effects of employment equity directives when minority candidates are less qualified and the effects of different types and strengths of employment equity directives on hiring decisions. The results indicate that when employment equity is in place, people are increasingly more likely to hire underrepresented group members, to the extent that they are more qualified. Men appear to be treated in a positively biased manner, and are more likely to be hired when they are less qualified. Women are less likely to be hired when they are under-qualified, and in the absence of employment equity directives or when there is a suggestion that women are underrepresented. Moreover, when␣employment equity directives are strengthened, there appears to be a subtle backlash for women but not for men. Eddy S. Ng is an assistant professor at Trent University. He was on faculty at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 2006–2007. Willi H. Wiesner is an associate professor at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University.     

Determinants of weather derivatives usage in the Austrian winter tourism industry

This study investigates the motivations, concerns and obstacles regarding the use of weather derivatives in the winter tourism industry. The findings from the interviews with 61 ski lift operators in Austria indicate that while the majority of operators are aware of weather risks and report substantial weather exposure, using weather derivatives as a means of offsetting potential loss is rarely considered. This is primarily due to a lack of awareness and knowledge, but on becoming aware of the availability of such instruments ski lift operators express interest in their possible use. The task is thus to increase awareness, knowledge and support for the ski lift operators with reference to the use of weather derivatives.     

Integrated Thinking and the Transparency of Tax Disclosures in the Corporate Reports of Firms

The purpose of our study was to link two global corporate developments, namely integrated thinking and the transparency of tax disclosures. The International Integrated Reporting Council's long‐term vision is for integrated thinking to be embedded in mainstream business practice, facilitated by integrated reporting. The development of the transparency of tax disclosures was driven by tax avoidance practices of multinational companies. The vision of embedding integrated thinking into mainstream business and the increased focus on the transparency of tax disclosures have developed independently, but thus far there has been no serious consideration of how they may be related. We argue that there is a natural relationship between these two developments. We use PwC's (2014) framework for measuring the transparency of tax disclosures and apply the framework to the corporate reports of a sample of 45 large firms. We use regression analysis to test the association between the transparency of tax disclosures in corporate reports and integrated thinking and find them to be positively associated.     

Marketing and the law

Marketing decisions are particularly vulnerable to legal rulings made in both the courts and the legislatures. The effective management of those legal implications challenges the modern marketing professional. Grasping marketing’s overall legal environment, including its governing case law, regulatory statutes and future trends, is essential. This review will provide analysis of recent court cases and legislation with particular emphasis on creatively assisting the marketer’s management of the legal factor.