Leadership for Collaboration

Abstract

‘Leadership’ and ‘collaboration’ are integral to twenty-first century governance and management but, despite a growing literature, understanding about leadership for collaboration is hampered by a lack of specificity and nuance in theory and empirical research. This article responds to these limitations by working within an interpretive framework and employing Q-method to uncover different interpretations of leadership for collaboration operant among public managers in Wales. The article uses the concept of situated agency to explain why public managers offer diverse interpretations of leadership for collaboration despite working within the same governance framework, and to identify challenges to public managers in determining appropriate leadership for collaboration.     

Choosing an Accounting Method to Explain Public Policy: Social Return on Investment and UK Non-profit Sector Policy

We examine why certain accounting methods are chosen by government policy-makers to explain and rationalize their policy actions. We focus on the case of social return on investment (SROI), an accounting methodology that aims to capture and quantify the value created by social purpose organizations, and employs techniques of monetization and the expression of value as a ratio of benefits for investments [see REDF. (2000). SROI methodology: Analyzing the value of social purpose enterprise within a social return on investment framework. San Francisco: REDF; New Economics Foundation (NEF). (2007). Measuring real value: A DIY guide to social return on investment]. In particular, we examine how and why SROI was chosen for explaining and rationalizing the UK Government's policy of greater involvement of non-profit sector organizations in public service delivery. Our central contribution is to propose two important factors, which we identify as the capturability and communicability of accounting methods, that help to explain why a particular accounting method would be chosen by policy actors to explain and rationalize their public policy choices. The research helps further our understanding of the intersection between accounting and public policy by focusing explicitly on accounting's important role in explaining and rationalizing public policy.     

To be entrepreneurial,or not to be entrepreneurial? Explaining differences in franchisee entrepreneurial behavior within a franchise system

Although franchising scholars largely acknowledge that franchisees may behave like entrepreneurs, little is known about whether and why franchisees differ in their entrepreneurial behaviors. Franchisees are semi-autonomous entrepreneurs running geographically dispersed units within established organizations. We therefore use corporate entrepreneurship (CE) literature to define and measure franchisee entrepreneurial behavior, and we build on an entrepreneurial motivation framework to develop an integrative set of hypotheses that explain differences in franchisee entrepreneurial behavior. We test these hypotheses using survey data on 119 franchisees within a single Dutch franchise system. Our results show that the extent of franchisee entrepreneurial behavior varies considerably, even within a single franchise system. The differences in franchisees’ entrepreneurial behaviors can be explained by differences in franchisees’ intrinsic goals, relational satisfaction and local competition.     

The causes of mergers: tests based on the gains to acquiring firms' shareholders and the size of premia

Despite the large number of event studies of mergers that have been undertaken, considerable disagreement still exists over whether mergers increase the value of the merging firms, and if so why. Most event studies measure the average returns to the acquired and acquiring companies' shareholders separately, and based on these averages conclude either that mergers increase wealth, or that they reduce it. From this the authors go on to claim support either for a hypothesis about how mergers increase efficiency, or for one that claims they do not. This paper develops a methodology that uses the distribution of gains and losses across the two samples of firms, and their relationship to one another to test four hypotheses about why mergers occur: (1) the market‐for‐corporate‐control hypothesis, (2) the synergy hypothesis, (3) the managerial discretion hypothesis, and (4) the hubris hypothesis. The hypotheses are tested with data for 168 mergers between large companies from 1978 through 1990. Considerable support is found for the managerial discretion and hubris hypotheses, and some support is found for the market‐for‐corporate‐control hypothesis. Little or no support is found for the hypothesis that mergers create synergies and that shareholders of both the acquiring and acquired firms share gains from these synergies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

美国的内城贫困问题

在简要介绍美国"内城"的概念以及相关背景的基础上,对美国内城的人口经济社会特征进行分析,运用相关的分析视角和理论假设,就美国内城贫困引发的公共服务问题展开讨论,最后从内城贫困的肌理、歧视性政策、社会保障政策、社区建设、公共政策、社会公正等方面进行了思考.     

Opportunities to work at home in the context of work‐life balance

Discussion of ‘work‐life balance’ and ‘family‐friendly’ employment is much in vogue among politicians and business leaders. Often, but not always, working at home is included within such practices. However, the concepts of work‐life balance and family‐friendly are commonly left ill‐defined by researchers and policymakers alike. In this article we outline formal definitions of these terms, which place spatial issues ‐ and hence working at home ‐ at the heart of the debate. This leads us on to examine working at home through the theoretical lens offered by attempts to explain the rise of work‐life balance arrangements. Twelve hypotheses emerge from the literature and are tested on the management data contained in the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey or WERS98. Many of these hypotheses pass weak statistical tests but fail on stronger logistic regression tests. The article shows that the option to work at home is more likely to be available in the public sector, large establishments and work environments in which individuals are responsible for the quality of their own output. These workplaces are typically less unionised but not especially feminised.     

Environmentally driven mode of business development: a management control perspective

A prerequisite for successful business development is that the control system is designed and used in such a way that strategically important areas can be planned and followed up. Thus, it must be possible to relate results on the quality front, for example, to the company's strategy, which is why quality systems are often integrated with the overall system of control. Environmental management systems, on the other hand, often tend to lead a life of their own, quite disconnected from the overall control system with its routines for strategic planning and follow-up. This can perhaps explain why environmental work has not become a natural part of corporate business development, despite the market for environmentally friendly products. In this article, we therefore focus particularly on control systems and their role in the promotion of an environmentally driven mode of business development. It appears that the integration of environmental management systems with other control systems has been found to be important. The tentative model presented here indicates the conditions under which such integration is possible. It also shows how a company's approach to environmentally driven business development can fall into various phases. The model includes three dimensions: (1) strategy, (2) control systems, and (3) attitude to environmental work. A number of hypotheses are formulated regarding the importance of these dimensions for the successful promotion of an environmentally driven mode of business development in large companies. The article concludes with some suggestions as to how the model can be used in further research.     

The decentralisation of employment relations in the British public sector

The aim of this article is to investigate differences between the British public and private sectors in terms of the decentralisation of employment relations. Drawing on data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, the article arrives at three main conclusions. First, the analysis reveals that while local‐level managers in both sectors have similar levels of responsibility for employment relations issues, those in the public sector are, on the whole, significantly less likely to be able to exercise authority. Second, the results indicate some marked variations in practice within the public sector, with managers in education having the greatest level of authority. Finally, the article explores the extent to which differences in local‐level authority between the public and private sectors can be explained by higher‐level collective bargaining, and the presence of higher‐level personnel specialists. These factors have only a partial influence, and do not fully explain why local‐level employee relations managers in some areas (notably health) are less able to exercise authority than their counterparts in the private sector.     

Fund immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Chinese equity funds

This paper discusses the connection between public equity fund characteristics and performance reactions to COVID-19 using data over 1300 equity funds across 105 Chinese fund companies. Empirical evidences from over 20 fund characteristics show that the liquidity, diversification and pre-2020 Sharpe ratio, fund management abilities, agency costs can determine the fund immunity to COVID-19. Based on these characteristics mentioned, our empirical results can explain why COVID-19-induced drop in fund performance is milder among open-end funds, active funds, ETFs, and growth funds, and also can explain why funds controlled by private companies or by sino-foreign joint ventures or by companies with more independent directors of financial experiences perform better in the pandemic. Our work also provides some valuable suggestions for investors and regulators confronting an exogenous shock.     

Application Research of the Integrative Mathematics Model in Household Consumption Behavior

In this paper, two hypotheses are integrated into an independent model to explain consumer behavior. The model is empirically tested using data from China Family Cost Survey of 2001. The results indicate that China household consumption behavior is commonly explained by two hypotheses as an independent model, reverse to previously treating them as commutative exclusive hypotheses.     

Public and Private Management: What’s the Difference?

Critics of New Public Management argue that differences between public and private organizations are so great that business practices should not be transferred to the public sector. In this paper the theoretical arguments on the differences between private firms and public agencies are reviewed, and 13 hypotheses are identified on the impact of publicness on organizational environments, goals, structures and managerial values. Evidence from 34 empirical studies of differences between public agencies and private firms is critically evaluated. Only three of the publicness hypotheses are supported by a majority of the empirical studies: public organizations are more bureaucratic, and public managers are less materialistic and have weaker organizational commitment than their private sector counterparts. However, most of the statistical evidence is derived from studies that use narrow measures of publicness and fail to control for other relevant explanatory variables. Whether the existing evidence understates or overstates the distinctiveness of public agencies is therefore unclear. A research agenda and methods are identified for better comparisons of management in public and private organizations.     

The how and why of integrated reporting in a public health care organization: The stakeholders' perspective

Despite the widespread calls for in‐depth case studies on adoption of the International Integrated Reporting Council Framework, in practice, it appears to be underexplored, above all in the public sector. Our aim is to explore how and why a public health care organization (PHO) has chosen to adopt the practice of integrated reporting, and we then delve into whether the PHO's perception of the document's value coincides with that of the stakeholders, who are its recipients. Often, society's perception of value can differ considerably from an organization's. Thus, for our research purposes, a case study was examined, adopting a qualitative approach and action research methodology. Our findings demonstrate the centrality of the value created for patients and of the “normative” scenario that takes place during the implementation of an integrated report in a PHO. Moreover, the concept of legitimacy was found to be virtually synonymous with institutionalization.     

20 YEARS AFTER: THE FALL AND RISE OF SOCIALISM IN EAST GERMANY

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, public opinion in East Germany is dominated by a deep hostility towards free markets and an uncritical attitude towards state intervention. This article argues that the mistakes that have been made in the economic transformation of East Germany continue to have an effect to this day. Supporters of the free economy failed to explain why the grievances people faced were not caused by allegedly 'unbridled' markets, but by false policies. Hopefully, a future reunified Korea will avoid repeating these mistakes.     

Collaboration in the Shadow of the Technology Frontier: Evidence from the Flat Panel Display Industry

The literature on competition through innovation tends to emphasize the benefits of technological leadership. However, we explain why a capable firm might prefer to shadow the technology leader—remaining slightly behind rather than competing directly at the frontier. On the basis of a formal model and the competitive dynamics literature, we propose that the more benefits a firm gains from collaboration with a technological leader through licensing and supply agreements, the more likely the firm is to take a shadowing position. Our hypotheses, particularly regarding licensing from a technological leader, receive support from a large sample in the flat panel display industry. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of environmental and organizational factors on innovation adoptions: Consequences for performance in public sector organizations

Although technical and administrative innovations have received much academic interest in recent years, our understanding of why some organizations adopt these innovations and others do not is still underdeveloped. This paper examines organizational and environmental factors that may explain the adoption of innovations in public sector organizations. Furthermore, how technical and administrative innovations affect firm performance is also examined. Regarding organizational factors, we analyze strategy and firm size. Regarding environmental factors, we analyze the effect of uncertainty and market concentration. Hypotheses are developed and tested using a combination of archival and survey data from the public healthcare sector. Our results suggest that environmental and organizational factors have inconsistent effects on the adoption of administrative and technical innovations in public sector organizations. Our findings also show that high adopters of both types of innovations are more sensitive to environmental factors than organizational factors. Furthermore, our paper shows that organizations that combine technical and administrative innovations increase their performance.     

Participation of suppliers in greening supply chains: An empirical analysis of German automotive suppliers

The public increasingly holds companies accountable for environmental misbehavior in their supply chains. To offset that risk corporations start initiatives to green their supply chains. Yet suppliers often fail to properly participate in these initiatives. This paper presents a conceptual framework to explain supplier participation in green initiatives, by investigating customer requirements, supplier readiness, relational norms and customer investment as possible drivers. The framework and hypotheses were tested using survey data of 54 German automotive suppliers. Partial least squares methodology was deployed for hypothesis testing. The study found supplier readiness and customer requirements to be significant drivers in supplier participation. Relational norms and customer investment did not per se yield significant importance for explaining supplier participation, but when taking into account firm size, the data suggests that cooperative relation norms and customer investment work as an additional driver in green supply chain management for larger suppliers. This research is one of the few studies that explore drivers for supply chain participation at the supplier's level.     

对“付费性公益”的一个理论解释

在市场经济中构建公益服务体系,因其混合性和高度复杂性,已成为挑战市场与政府范式的前沿课题。文章通过对公权事务、人权事务与共生事务的划分定义了公益概念,将公益划分为三个层次,提出并分析了付费性公益概念;借鉴社会学"场域"概念和康芒斯交易理论,划分了三个资源配置场域,对物品进行了新的分类,并以此建立了三类供求关系构型,以解释付费性公益与市场和政府之间的职能分工;从三个层面梳理出付费性公益运行的三重机制体系。     

TRUST AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY IN A LIBERAL MARKET

Although apparently anti-competitive, the organised professions are deemed to be in the public interest because they ensure a supply of expertise within an ethical framework. Since they rely on the concept of a fiduciary relationship between the professional and the client, any failure of trust can undermine the structure. The paper explores the basis for trust, why trust may have failed, and how it might be restored.     

A Strategic Choice–resource Dependence Analysis of Union Mergers in the British and Australian Broadcasting and Film Industries

Since the late 1980s there has been a marked increase in the rate of union restructuring and merger in both Britain and Australia. This has been particularly prevalent in the film and broadcasting industries in both countries. This organizational change has largely been triggered by environmental turbulence which has altered the availability and control of resources required for organizational survival. Accepting the concept from strategic choice theory that trade unions are able to exercise a degree of choice over the way in which they manage and adapt to changes in their external and internal environments, the paper demonstrates how an integration of strategic choice and resource dependence perspectives can explain why organizations behave in different ways and, in particular, why trade union mergers in the film and broadcasting industries have occurred. Further, the perspective also explains why some trade unions chose not to merge. An integration of resource dependence theory with strategic choice theory explains why trade unions make particular strategic decisions. Conversely, strategic choice explains how organizations acquire resources and manage dependencies. The paper concludes by making the case for an integration of the two perspectives for future studies of organizational behaviour and change.     

Determinants of government underfunded public pension liabilities in the OECD

Underfunded government liabilities for public pensions constitutes a major expenditure in the management of social programmes in many countries, but to date has not attracted much attention from accountants as it does not easily fit within an accrual-based accounting system. This paper discusses major measurement problems associated with this liability and then examines determinants of variations in projected flow-based funding patterns among OECD governments. Alternative ‘behavioural persistence’ and ‘regression to the mean’ hypotheses about the determinants of underfunding practices are formulated and tested using an OECD data set describing the financial and socio-economic characteristics of government-sponsored public pension systems in these countries. Consistent with the behavioural persistence hypothesis, cross-sectional variations are found to be associated with the funding ratio and the rate of taxation required to keep government debt constant. Variations in underfunding practices across the sample are also sensitive to cultural differences in attitude towards public pension accountability between continental European and Anglo-American countries.