The Relationship of Downward Mobbing with Leadership Style and Organizational Attitudes

The present study investigates (1) the relationship of different leadership styles (transactional, transformational, authoritarian, paternalistic) with mobbing behaviors of superiors (i.e., downward mobbing) and (2) organizational attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention) of mobbing victims. Data were collected from 251 white-collar employees. Path analysis findings showed that transformational and transactional leadership decreased the likelihood of mobbing, whereas authoritarian leadership increased it. Paternalistic leadership was mildly and negatively associated with mobbing. Regarding the consequences of mobbing for employees’ organizational attitudes, the same analyses suggested that higher perceptions of downward mobbing was significantly associated with lower job satisfaction, lower affective commitment, higher continuous commitment, and higher turnover intention.     

The Relationship Between Paternalistic Leadership and Organizational Commitment: Investigating the Role of Climate Regarding Ethics

One of the important factors influencing perceptions of the existence of an ethical climate is leader behaviors. It is argued that paternalistic leadership behaviors are developed to humanize and remoralize the workplace. In various studies, leadership behaviors and climate regarding ethics were evaluated as antecedents of organizational commitment. In this sense, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between paternalistic leadership behaviors, climate regarding ethics and organizational commitment. Data were obtained from 142 individuals. Results indicated that benevolent paternalistic leadership had a moderate effect on affective commitment and strong effect on continuance commitment. Moreover, it was found that paternalistic leadership had an effect on the perception of an ethical climate. Strong relationship was found between climate regarding ethics and affective commitment; moderate relationship was found between climate regarding ethics and continuance commitment. Finally, results indicated that climate regarding ethics had a mediating effect between benevolent paternalistic leadership and affective commitment. Gül Selin Erben holds MA degree on Human Resources Management. She is a Phd candidate on Organizational Behavior field. She works as a research assistant at the Maltepe University. Ayşe Begüm Güneşer holds MA degree on Human Resources Management and she holds Phd degree on Organizational Behavior.     

Consumer Sales Law in Poland: Changing the Law,Changing Attitudes

The purpose of this paper is to show what the future implementation of the Consumer Sales Directive by Poland may involve. The analysis focuses on the substantive legal and other changes necessary to give full effect to the Directive. Polish guarantees law is compared with the Directive in order to identify similarities and divergences and highlight areas in need of reform. A brief account of the extra-legal factors affecting the position of consumers in post-Communist countries supplements the legal analysis in order to show what sort of reforms are necessary. It will be demonstrated that the black letter laws do not need as much change as certain other issues, such as political, economic, and social factors, and, most of all, the idiosyncrasies of the legal profession. Finally, the role of the European Communities in the process of harmonisation of post-Socialist laws with the European Union standards is briefly analysed. Although the analysis of guarantee laws is focused on Poland, the reader is encouraged to see the wider picture of post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and the specificity of the position of consumers there.     

The Relationship Between Political Attitudes and Moral Judgment: Examining the Validity of the Defining Issues Test

Most ethics studies employing accounting subjects have utilized the Defining Issues Test (DIT), generally finding the moral judgment abilities of accounting students and accountants to be less advanced than those of the general population (Ponemon and Gabhart, 1994). This study assesses the validity of the DIT by examining whether an individual can achieve a higher moral judgment score on the DIT by responding from the role of a political liberal. Accounting undergraduates, defining themselves as liberal, moderate or conservative, completed the DIT once from their own perspective and once from either an "extremely conservative" or "extremely liberal" perspective.The results indicate that DIT scores can be influenced by an aspect of political ideology not reflecting maturation in moral judgment. Subjects decreased their moral judgment scores when responding to the DIT dilemmas from a conservative perspective. Contrary to moral development theory, subjects were able to increase their moral judgment scores when responding from the perspective of a political liberal. These results imply that, given the generally conservative political orientation of the profession, the DIT may systematically understate the moral judgment abilities of accounting students and accountants.     

Wages,Health Insurance and Pension Plans: The Relationship Between Employee Compensation and Small Business Owner Income

Small business owners claim that their ability to provide higher wages and more frequent employee health insurance and pension benefits is severely constrained by the profitability of their firms. This paper examines the proposition that employee wage levels, provision of employee health insurance, and sponsorship of an employee pension plan are associated with small business owner income. A large trade-association survey supplies the data for the inquiry. Regression analysis (OLS and logistic) demonstrates that all three forms of employee compensation are tied to business owner income. Further, the business owner income variable "washes out" the generally accepted relationship between size of business and wages, though not the relationships between size of the business and the presence of health insurance nor between the size of business and the presence of pension benefits. The regressions also indicate that unit costs of health insurance and pension benefits are higher for those employing 10 or fewer and 20 or fewer respectively compared the other small businesses.     

我国保险业与互联网保险融合动因、困难与策略

发展互联网保险是现阶段中国保险行业发展的必然选择。互联网保险具备的明显优势使其对传统保险构成了颠覆性改造。保险机构与互联网企业将位居同一起跑线并互相融合,保险企业必须具备强大的互联网＂基因＂方能在互联网保险领域占据一席之地。保险企业与互联网保险融合策略就是保险企业为适应互联网保险带来的巨大的外部经营环境变化,应对市场竞争,在分析、评价自身经营和发展所面临的环境基础上,对未来一定时期内经营发展所要达到的目标及为实现这一目标而采取的一系列策划与谋略。     

A Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Ostracism: The Roles of Relational Climate,Employee Mindfulness,and Work Unit Structure

Journal of Business Ethics - Drawing on insights from social learning and social cognitive perspectives and research on the multilevel reality of leadership influences, we developed and tested a...     

The Link Between Gasoline Prices and Vehicle Sales

This paper examines the link between fuel prices and sales of cars and trucks. U.S. automakers have long denied that such a link exists. One source of this false belief is an obsession with the crude count of units sold, equating Hummers with Minis. Another source is the conventional “wisdom” that Americans are unwilling to pay for fuel economy. The paper presents theoretical reasons and market evidence that refute Detroit’s conventional wisdom. American manufacturers’ reaction to rising fuel prices over the last few years revealed the shortcomings of the U.S. automakers’ recent product and powertrain strategies. The effect of rising fuel prices has, in effect, been offset by reducing prices of vehicles in inverse proportion to fuel economy. Thus, unit sales of large SUVs could be maintained, but their revenue (and profit) fell because vehicle prices were cut, directly or indirectly. The paper concludes with a few practical guidelines that business economists should use to prevent their companies from experiencing the recent massive losses experienced by the U.S. automobile industry. JEL Classification D120     

企业营销创新中真实型领导与创新绩效的关系研究

本文在相关文献研究与实际调研的基础上,建立了企业营销创新中包含真实型领导、组织氛围、隐性知识共享以及创新绩效之间相互关系的结构方程模型,并以246家企业为样本对其进行了实证检验。研究发现,企业营销创新中真实型领导对组织氛围和隐性知识共享有正向的显著影响,组织氛围对隐性知识共享有正向的显著影响,组织氛围和隐性知识共享对创新绩效有正向的显著影响,组织氛围及隐性知识共享在真实型领导和创新绩效之间发挥了完全的中介作用。这一结论进一步丰富了真实型领导理论,为企业真实型领导的实施提供了一种新思路。     

专业自保公司与企业内部自保的比较研究

本文对专业自保公司这种介于内部自保和商业保险之间的一种特殊的保险进行了分析.内部自保基金只是企业内部的一种风险准备金,国际上基本达成公认内部自保基金不具有保险属性,不能享受税前抵扣的好处.专业自保公司和内部自保在运作方式、组织结构、税收地位认定和监管方式上均是有区别的.国际上趋向于以更全面更合理的角度来分析专业自保公司的交易结构和经营实质.专业自保公司相比于企业内部自保是更具优势的风险管理方法.     

Consumer Choice: A Study of Insurance Buying Intention,Attitudes and Beliefs

This article continues the theme, introduced in a previous article, of testing the validity and relevance of Fishbein's Theory of Reasoned Action to the purchase of life assurance. In this, the second stage, empirical analysis of the data is conducted and its meaning and relevance considered. Conclusions are then drawn as to the dimensions which seem to be important to the purchasing of life assurance.     

组织文化与知识管理战略关系研究

在组织文化既定的条件下,知识管理可以以不同的战略去适应文化氛围。本文从知识管理有效性的角度出发,在深入分析知识管理战略和竞争价值观框架下组织文化内涵的基础上,探讨了既定的文化背景下知识管理战略的选择问题。     

Personal Selling and Sales Management in the Internet Environment: Lessons Learned

Researchers have suggested that businesses are undergoing a paradigm shift due to the emergence of Internet; a ubiquitous information platform. There is no doubt that its emergence has had and will continue to have considerable impact on business processes and practices. In this special issue of the JMM we address Internet's impact upon the personal selling and sales management processes and practices of contemporary firms. As co-editors of this special issue, we have had a chance to only publish a small set of papers. Therefore, in this editorial we attempt to explicate the lessons learned from the development of the Internet and associated information platforms, with the aim to address the broader issues that have emerged in this area. We specifically divide our discussion into Business to Consumer (B2C), Peer to Peer (P2P), and Business to Business (B2B) lesson. We first review learning from existing practices in the B2C, P2P, and B2B domains. This is followed by a discussion on the impact of the Internet on personal selling and sales management practices. At the end of this editorial, papers in this special issue are discussed with respect to their learning and positioning.     

The Relationship Among Knowledge,Opportunity, and Ethical Perceptions: A Cross-National Investigation

The focus of this paper was to study the effectof prior knowledge and situationalopportunities on ethically questionablebehaviors among students of differentnationalities. A study was conducted toinvestigate the role and impact of thepredictor variables (knowledge and opportunity)on ethical perceptions toward copyrightviolations. The study also examined thedirect and the moderating effects of age,nationality, ethnic identity, gender, andeducation major. The research was conducted ona sample of 160 students of an Americanuniversity located on the U.S.–Mexican border. The results indicate that the predictorvariables, knowledge and opportunity,significantly affect ethical perceptions. Demographic variables like age, nationality,gender, and education major had no directeffects ethical perceptions. Different ethnicidentities, however, exhibited significantdifferences in their ethical perceptions. Onexamining moderating effects of the demographicvariables, younger respondents weresignificantly different from older respondents. Differences between the ethnic identityconstruct and nationality are highlighted. Implications of prior student knowledge aboutethical standards and expectations arediscussed.     

Ethical Differences Between Men and Women in The Sales Profession

This research addresses the question of whether men and women in sales differ in their ethical attitudes and decision making. The study asked 209 subjects to respond to 20 ethical scenarios, half of which were "relational" and half "non-relational." The study concludes (1) that there are significant ethical differences between the sexes in situations that involve relational issues, but not in non-relational situations, and (2) that gender-based ethical differences change with age and years of experience. The implications of these finding for sales organizations are discussed.     

The Moderating Impact of Quantitative Information on the Relationship Between Source Credibility and Persuasion: A Persuasion Knowledge Model Interpretation

An experiment manipulated source expertise, source bias, and message format. The findings reveal that expert sources are expected to quantify message claims whereas non-expert sources are not. Persuasion is greater when these expectations are met versus when the source and the message format are incongruent, but only when the source also has self-interest in the advocacy. It appears that source-message incongruity and source bias focus attention on the source and, in combination, lead to negative inferences about the source's manipulative intent. This interpretation is consistent with the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright 1994).     

The Impact of Personality Variables,Prior Experience,and Training on Sales Agents' Internet Utilization and Performance

ABSTRACT

Emerging literature on the impact of the Internet on business-to-business (B2B) marketing has primarily focused on examining this issue from the perspective of manufacturers and buyers. This study focuses on the sales agent, a third prominent actor in B2B markets, and tests a conceptual model that relates a sales agent's personality, demographic, and user-situational constructs to that sales agent's Internet utilization for selling activities. Further, the model tested in this study relates a sales agent's Internet utilization to perceived sales performance. Findings in this study indicate that internal locus of control, learning orientation, and sales related Internet training relate positively to a sales agent's Internet utilization, and that a sales agent's age relates negatively to Internet utilization. Further, the results support a positive relationship between a sales agent's Internet utilization and sales performance. This study emphasizes that the Internet can be a productive tool for sales agents. The implications of the results of this study for sales agents with respect to training and recruitment are discussed and avenues for future research are suggested.     

Exploring the Interface Between Strategy-Making and Responsible Leadership

Theorists have long argued that a process of individualisation is inherent in conditions of late modernity. Whilst individualisation has been acknowledged in the business ethics literature, studies have often overlooked the processes by which individuals are given greater responsibility for ethical decision making and the personal and institutional effects of this responsibility. This article develops a notion of ‘ethical individualisation’ to help one understand and explore how and why ethical responsibility is being devolved to employees in the UK consulting industry. The article argues that an individualised ethics is incapable of preventing malpractice in the face of institutional conflicts of interest.