Corporate responsibility perceptions in change: Finnish managers' views on stakeholder issues from 1994 to 2004

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in Finnish managers' corporate responsibility perceptions from 1994 to 2004. Following earlier research, the concept of corporate responsibility is operationalised using the stakeholder approach. Empirically, we ask how managers' views on stakeholder issues have changed during the 10‐year research period, and how managers' stakeholder orientation compares with their economic orientation. The data were collected using a survey research instrument in the years 1994, 1999 and 2004. The research results show a positive change in managers' corporate responsibility perceptions during this time period. In addition, managers' stakeholder orientation seems to be in balance with their economic orientation. However, the economic context – in terms of both their own company's economic position and the general economic situation – has an effect on managers' stakeholder orientation.     

Young managers' interpersonal stress and its relationship to management development practices: an exploratory study

This exploratory study investigates whether there is a relationship between young managers' interpersonal stress and various management development practices. In recent years, practitioners and researchers have focused on stress studies and related practices in the workplace. However, stress encountered by young managers has received less attention. We examine possible sources of young managers' interpersonal stress and develop a scale through exploratory factor analysis. Participants are less than 35 years old, mainly from the financial, high‐tech and service industries in Taiwan. Organizational managerial development practices are discussed to understand their relevance to young managers' interpersonal stress. The results suggest that the more opportunities young managers have to make decisions, the more their opinions will differ from those of their middle‐aged fellow managers and senior subordinates. However, organizations with formal assessment may lessen disagreements with middle‐aged fellow managers. Future studies regarding young managers' interpersonal stress can be carried out using this scale and can explore whether other, specific organizational management development practices are related to lower stress levels among young managers.     

Over the Line: Managers' experience of a labour strike

The experiences of managers who continue to work through a labour stoppage is a largely overlooked question in industrial relations research and practice. Qualitative long interviews were conducted with managers who worked through a strike. A shared narrative for managers' strike experiences emerged. Managers perceived that their prestrike workplace was cooperative and characterized by positive labour‐management relationships. The strike was experienced as contentious and personalized with managers reporting that they and their families were targets of aggression from strikers. The managers envisioned a more formal poststrike workplace characterized by less collegial labour‐management interactions. We discuss the implications of these findings and call for further research on managers' experiences of industrial relations events. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confucian ethics,moral foundations,and shareholder value perspectives: An exploratory study

A survey study was conducted to look into the effect of Confucian ethics and the psychological foundations of morality on business managers' perspectives on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using responses from 393 Chinese managers, we first conducted confirmatory factor analysis to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model and then employed hierarchical regression to explore the relationships among Confucian ethics, moral foundations, and managers' shareholder value perspectives. The results indicate that both Confucian ethics and managers' moral foundations had significant influence on shareholder value perspectives. In fact, moral foundations and Confucian ethics interacted and jointly affected managers' positions on the shareholder value model of corporate responsibility. This study demonstrates the importance of psychological foundations of morality to managers' CSR orientations and substantiates the persistent impact of Confucian ethics/cultural traditions on today' business practices.     

Characteristics of international work: Narratives of the global manager

This study extends our understanding of the notion of the global manager by empirically examining their personal experiences as coordinators across multiple geographies and cultures. Basing our work on in‐depth interviews, we study narrative fragments of 45 global managers, identifying the most prominent issues in fulfilling the job of worldwide coordinator and the impact of their work on their personal life. The findings further indicate that global managers' experiences are characterized by three tensions: distance versus closeness, hierarchy versus culture, and work flexibility versus family equilibrium. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Family firms and the interests of non‐family stakeholders: The influence of family managers' affective commitment and family salience in terms of power

The goal of this research is to analyze the heterogeneity of family firms in the normative attention to their non‐family stakeholders. With this aim, we suggest that the psychological process of top family managers in terms of individual affective commitment to their firms is a key variable to explain that heterogeneity. However, we also suggest a moderator effect of the family stakeholder salience in the relationship between the managers' affective commitment to the firm and the establishment of firm goals toward non‐family stakeholders. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis on data obtained from 207 family executives show a significant positive influence of managers' affective commitment on the establishment of goals related both to internal (employees) and external (customers and community) non‐family stakeholders. In addition, we can observe a negative moderator effect of the family utilitarian power—as an indicator of the family stakeholder salience—on the relationship between the family managers' affective commitment and the goals related to non‐family employees.     

Customer satisfaction,corporate image,and service quality in professional services

This study explores the impact of corporate image and service quality on customer satisfaction in the professional service industries. Data were collected on audit firms, sending a questionnaire to financial executives of leading Italian companies. The results show that the most important variable explaining customer satisfaction was the apparent effectiveness of the audit firm. In relation to service quality, managers' satisfaction was primarily driven by their perception of audit firm's work as a useful value-adding service. The length of audit firm–auditee relation, the location of the auditor's office, and the financial executive's personal characteristics were also significant drivers of customer satisfaction.     

Excluded Women: How can this Happen in the Hotel World?

This study is concerned with the possible processes that occur in organisations which appear to work against women fulfulling their managerial potential. Hotel managers' attitudes and perceptions were the focus of study in an attempt to understand the informal influences and pressures that may be-deliberately or inadvertently communicated to women. Interviews held with the hotel managers revealed a marked consistency in the way that the hotel industry was viewed.     

International transfer pricing and subsidiary performance: The role of organizational justice

International intrafirm trade is increasingly important in the global economy. Intrafirm transactions are governed by transfer‐pricing policies mandated by parent companies. Economic and accounting theories have long prescribed policies that maximize the parent company's short‐term profits but may have other, unintended outcomes. These outcomes are explored in a single‐case study. Based on this case study and organizational justice theory, a theoretical framework is developed to show how frequently used transfer‐pricing policies, through their impact on subsidiary managers' perceptions of justice, can significantly affect the subsidiary's strategic performance. First, the conditions under which transfer‐pricing policies can be perceived as procedurally, interactionally, or distributively unfair are presented. Second, it is proposed that those justice perceptions have an impact on subsidiary managers' commitment, trust in the parent company, neglect, ethical behavior, productivity, work quality, and compliance, and that the magnitude of this impact is moderated by the quality of relations between the parent company and subsidiary managers. Finally, it is predicted that such attitudes and behaviors may generate important agency and transaction costs that jeopardize the expected outcomes of international strategies of vertical integration. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Managers' emotional displays and employees' willingness to act entrepreneurially

In this study we draw on the literature of emotions and entrepreneurial motivation to analyze how and why emotional displays of managers influence the willingness of employees to act entrepreneurially. Using an experimental design and 2912 assessments nested within 91 employees from 31 small entrepreneurially oriented firms, we find that managers' displays of confidence and satisfaction about entrepreneurial projects enhance employees' willingness to act entrepreneurially, whereas displays of frustration, worry, and bewilderment diminish employees' willingness. Moreover, we find that displays of satisfaction, frustration, worry, and bewilderment moderate the effect of managers' displayed confidence on employees' willingness to act entrepreneurially. Our findings have implications for the emotions and entrepreneurial motivation literature.     

An Exploratory Study of Managers' Perspective of Work‐Life Balance in Nigeria: A Case Analysis of the Nigerian Banking Sector

This study describes an exploratory research of managers' perspective of the concept of work‐life balance (WLB) policies and practices in Nigeria. This is done through in‐depth case studies of 20 banks in the banking sector. The data set is comprised of responses from 102 middle line managers in the Nigerian banking institutions. A review of the extant literature on WLB initiatives in the banking sector revealed that there is a dearth of knowledge on WLB policies and practices in an African context. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature, this study examines the range and scope of WLB practices, managers' perception of WLB, and the forces helping or constraining to shape the choices of work life balance practices and policies. The findings reveal that there is diversity in terms of how middle‐line managers understand and experience WLB initiatives in Nigeria. Another finding highlights the practice of favoritism in most banks using WLB initiatives. In addition, the study shows that cultural sensitivity affects how WLB is appreciated and utilized. The study suggests some policy implications in the form of support for WLB policies in this context. © 2013 Crown copyright.     

American and European expatriate managers: An empirical investigation

This article compares American and European expatriate managers' backgrounds, job satisfaction, and perception of local work and cultural environment in Turkey in reference to their adaptation to the host country and their job performance. It reports that the sample managers demonstrate differences in all these dimensions. Therefore multinational companies are recommended to develop human resources policies in choosing expatriate managers most likely to adapt to work and host country environments by paying attention to managerial qualifications and local conditions. They should also train and prepare both expatriate and local managers to ensure smooth relationships between two groups. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Listed peers' giving and corporate philanthropy: The motivations to imitate

The impact of industrial peers' donations on firms' charitable practices has been tested and verified in existing literatures. This paper further studies the motivations and scenarios of non-listed companies to imitate their listed counterparts in the same industry to formulate charitable policies. Deeply rooted in institutional isomorphism theory, uncertainty and professional networks are employed as philanthropic motives for unlisted companies to mimic their listed peers. Managerial decision mechanisms and network status perceptions enhance imitation by reinforcing decision uncertainty and network effect. Institutional environment heterogeneity can amplify or reduce the imitative stimulus of managers' decision mechanisms and status perceptions. Our empirical tests are based on a unique dataset of 14,873 unlisted firms and their corresponding listed counterparts in China from 2006–2016, and use Tobit regression methods. The results show a significantly positive association between listed peers' giving and non-listed firms' donation. The peer effects are intensified when non-listed firms' decentralized decision-making and higher managers' status identification are present. Furthermore, when the institutional environment changes from weak to strong, the impetus of decentralized decision-making and status identification will be weakened. These findings contribute to the corporate philanthropy literature and facilitate the development of effective corporate charity policies and government promotion of philanthropic responsibility.     

Female Managers' Ethical Decision-Making: A Multidimensional Approach

The increasing number and influence of women in society brings up several issues related to values and ethics. Looking at business ethics from the gender perspective made us ponder if it would be fruitful to analyse the feminine and masculine dimensions of decision-making style. The article follows the research tradition using the multidimensional ethics scale, and it aims at developing the scale to better include female decision-making. We came to the conclusion that, as the multidimensional ethics scale used in measuring managers' moral decision-making is derived from modern ethical theories focusing on indications of masculinities more than femininities, the scale leaves feminine decision-making dimensions invisible. Our argument is that in seeking a deeper understanding of (female) managers' moral decision-making, we must find a broader basis for the analysis and develop the scale further so that it allows different voices to be heard and different dimensions to be seen.     

The use of foreign currency derivatives,corporate governance,and firm value around the world

This paper examines the impact of currency derivatives on firm value using a broad sample of firms from thirty-nine countries with significant exchange-rate exposure. Derivatives can be used for managers' self-interest, for hedging or for speculative purposes. We hypothesize that investors can appeal to a firm's internal (firm-level) and external (country-level) corporate governance to draw inferences on a firm's motive behind the use of derivatives, since well-governed firms are more likely to use derivatives to hedge rather than to speculate or pursue managers' self-interest. Consistent with this explanation, we find strong evidence that the use of currency derivatives for firms that have strong internal firm-level or external country-level governance is associated with a significant value premium.     

Comparing value orientations of German and Chinese managers: impacts of demographic and business-related factors

This article investigates the impact of demographic and business-related factors on universal values through surveying a large sample of German and Chinese managers. ANOVA analyses indicate that especially the factors age, job tenure and business sectors have substantially large and significant effects on basic human value orientations of German managers. For Chinese business leaders, the educational level and job tenure are the most relevant factors affecting their value priorities, while the factor age has lower impacts. Consistently with Schwartz (2006b), who postulates a pan-cultural consensus regarding value priorities, the findings of this study reveal a broad basis of similarities between both countries' managers. However, distinctions evolve; the factor company location has impacts on Chinese managers' but not on German managers' values. This indicates a distinctive Chinese intra-cultural variety which may have arisen from the heterogeneity of Chinese culture, whereas the relatively low degree of intra-cultural variety in Germany is likely to result from the homogeneity of German culture. Whether the diverse geographic sizes of both countries have impacts on the degree of intra-cultural diversity is an issue which may be debated.     

Corporate culture,ethical stimulus,and managerial momentum: Theory and evidence

Research on organizational culture and ethical decision making has shown that ethical trainings predict and interact with other institutional variables to establish an ethical culture, while other studies suggest that the exposition of moral symbols leads to an increase of individuals' moral awareness. This study examines whether the relation between managerial momentum and fund performance is contingent upon ethical stimuli, team composition and interactions between them. It thus bestows insights to better inform institutional investors (including those working with mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance) about the nature and impact of ethical stimuli, when coupled with managers' momentum and team size, on the prediction of overall return of managed funds. I develop a new measure of managers' momentum termed “managerial momentum” and test our proposed theory and hypotheses using large samples of U.S. and Canadian mutual funds. The evidence reveals that there is sizeable positive effect of both corporate culture with its ethical dimensions and ethical stimulus on the fund performance. Furthermore, there is subtle evidence that both factors divulge additional information about the fund performance, but their effects are conditional on higher managerial momentum or team size, suggesting that managerial momentum alone is not sufficient. However, it is necessary to have the institutional ethical climate and/or managers' continuous ethical training to achieve viable and resilient investment opportunities tailored to the needs of different clienteles.     

Expatriate managers: Reasons for failure and implications for training

The high incidence of expatriate U.S. managers' being unable or unwilling to complete their overseas assignments suggests that more needs to be done to prepare those managers and their families.     

Leveraging perceived HPWS to improve service encounter quality in high-contact service industries

This study utilizes social exchange theory to explicate how perceived high-performance work systems (perceived HPWS) improve service encounter quality through overall justice and psychological contract fulfillment processes. We amassed survey responses from focal employees and their respective customers in three waves. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the impact of perceived HPWS on service encounter quality via overall justice and psychological contract fulfillment. Results from structural equation modeling affirmed a positive and direct association between perceived HPWS and service encounter quality. Additionally, the positive relationship between perceived HPWS and service encounter quality was uniquely and serially mediated by overall justice and psychological contract fulfillment. The current study makes a novel contribution by revealing how high-contact service organizations can leverage frontline employees' (rather than managers') perception of HPWS to optimize service encounter quality.     

Social ties between SME managers and bank employees: Financial consequences vs. SME managers' perceptions

We investigate whether social ties between SME managers and bank employees affect SME access to lending, investment, growth and profitability. On the one hand, we examine the influence of social ties on financial indicators based on SME financial statements; on the other hand, we study the impact of social ties on SME managers' perceptions of their firms' main banks. Using a dataset from Poland, we find that social ties improve SMEs' access to bank financing and stimulate their investments. However, this positive impact occurs only when social ties involve bank decision-makers. In contrast, SME managers perceive all types of social ties with bank workers as valuable.