Team autonomy,organizational commitment and company performance – a study in the retail trade

The study focuses on the relationship between perceived team autonomy and company performance through highlighting organizational commitment as a mediating factor in this relationship. Data collected in 2007 came from 25 small-sized companies in the retail trade, covering both the employer and employee levels (n = 369). This study aims to shed light on the following questions: first, is team autonomy associated with organizational commitment and company performance? Second, does commitment mediate the relationship between team autonomy and company performance? Results indicated that team autonomy was both directly and indirectly positively associated with company performance. Furthermore, organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between team autonomy and company performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Knowledge Translation in Management Accounting and Control: A Case Study of a Multinational Firm in Transitional Economies

Abstract

This paper explores the knowledge transfer between a Western head office and its subsidiaries in the former Soviet Union with a focus on accounting-related knowledge. A framework of knowledge translation (Choi and Eriksson, Business Network Learning, pp. 69–88 (Amsterdam: Pergamon, 2001 Choi, S. and Eriksson, K. 2001. “The internationalization process as knowledge translation in international business relationships”. In Business Network Learning, Edited by: Håkansson, H. and Johanson, J. 69–88. Amsterdam: Pergamon.  [Google Scholar])) is applied and refined to structure the results, which show the development of the management accounting and control system in the knowledge translation process. The role of accounting as a mediator changes in the different phases of the process and accounting itself also translates due to local discretion. At the very beginning of the cooperation the role of accounting is emphasised in order to ensure satisfactory reporting, but personal cooperation within the matrix structure mainly replaces accounting in the intensive knowledge translation. Social capital is created in the translation phase, enabling later on local autonomy and head office's control at a distance based on accounting numbers. Thus the results suggest that management control through accounting information alone, without active channels for personal contacts, may not work in the former Soviet Union because of the prevailing business traditions and personal networking.     

ADVERSE SELECTION IN DYNAMIC MATCHING MARKETS

We study the Akerlofian adverse selection problem in a dynamic matching model where the competitive situation varies across different meetings. The ‘lemons principle’ is shown to limit the high quality sales within a wider range of quality distributions than in the Walrasian benchmark. High quality goods can nevertheless be traded, albeit less frequently than the low quality goods. For certain quality distributions, there exists a ‘partially pooling’ steady state where high quality sellers are active whenever at least two buyers compete for the good. Otherwise, the model features cycles in a sense that high quality goods are traded only in non‐consecutive periods.     

Lagging Effects of the Use of Activity‐Based Costing on the Financial Performance of Small Firms*

This paper contributes to the earlier small business literature by investigating the lagging effects of the use of activity‐based costing (ABC) on small firms' performance. Moreover, we examine if the small firms' past financial performance drives the adoption of ABC and explore whether the extent of ABC use leads, in turn, to improvements in firms' financial performance in the immediate future. In sum, the survey results indicate that small firms with adequate financial resources as well as firms experiencing declining growth tend to use ABC and such use facilitates their subsequent growth and profitability. Small firms seem to benefit from using ABC.     

Sensitivity of Job Destruction to Vintage and Tenure Effects

Matching models with endogenous job destruction typically deliver excessively volatile job destruction and moderate volatility of vacancies. In our model, vintage and tenure effects promote the creation of new matches that are temporarily more productive, while reducing the survival of temporarily less productive matches. This cleansing effect produces a counter‐cyclical inflow into unemployment, removes the strong response of job destruction to productivity shocks, and generates a downward‐sloping Beveridge curve, as in the data. The model also generates more volatility in vacancies, the job‐finding rate, and labor‐market tightness.     

The context-specific conceptions of learning in case-based accounting assignments,students’ characteristics and performance

The present study contributes to accounting education literature by describing context-specific conceptions of learning related to case assignments, and by exploring the associations between the conceptions of learning, students’ characteristics and performance. The data analysed consist of 1320 learning diaries of 336 students, connected with students’ characteristics and course grades. The results are in line with earlier studies in that most students in accounting describe reproductive conceptions of learning. However, instead of only increasing knowledge, case assignments seem to emphasise the application of knowledge to real life. Furthermore, the conception of learning seems to be associated with performance in the course and the age of the student. Since no positive development of the conceptions of learning is visible during the course, using case assignments as such does not seem to solve the problem of reproductive conceptions. Therefore, how case assignments are used in teaching needs to be carefully considered.     

Crafting Well-Being: Meanings and Intentions of Stay-at-Home Mothers' Craft-Based Leisure Activity

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings of and intentions behind craft-based leisure activities among stay-at-home mothers. The study attempts to shed light on the meanings of craft in relation to the participants’ and their families’ well-being. This qualitative study was based on the written narratives of 34 stay-at-home mothers, ages 23–40. The meanings of craft-making was described by home centeredness, items as personal fingerprints, mental resources, personal growth and identity, and social relationships. The intentions behind crafting were to help the stay-at-home mothers escape their daily worries, to pursue craft as a form of enjoying their family-centric life, and to enhance self-realization without the added stress of having to do so while negotiating their family's needs. The findings revealed that although the participants’ intentions were to enhance their subjective well-being, they in fact reflected their concern for the well-being of their families.