Factors explaining shared clothes consumption in China: Individual benefit or planet concern?

Shared clothes represent one example of the sharing economy whereby users provide a variety of clothes to people at fees representing mutual value through online platforms. Sharing creates a more circular economy and represents one form of sustainable consumption. Many studies have proposed environmental concern as a key influencer of customer intention and behaviour, yet other motivations may be driving sustainable consumption behaviours such as sharing clothes. This study aims to expand our understanding of shared clothes in line with attitude–intention–behaviour theory. The aim is to examine the moderating role of environmental concern in the relationship between perceived economic, functional (app quality/platform) benefit, reputation and trust of the app/platform on (a) intention to use online clothes‐sharing platforms and (b) spending behaviour of current users of the same sharing platform. A total of 250 and 232 usable questionnaires were gathered from potential and current users of shared clothing. Results reveal that environmental concerns are higher for current users when compared with potential users of the sharing platform. Results of this study identify that personal considerations such as economic benefit outweigh environmental considerations for shared clothes consumers. Practical implications, limitations, and future directions are highlighted.     

Equal opportunity? Women's managerial careers in governmental organizations in China

There is very limited knowledge about women's management careers in China. This paper examines the opportunities for and barriers to women's careers in China, using governmental organizations as an example in which the State is not only the advocate of equal opportunity policies but also, in practice, the gatekeeper. One of the greatest disparities between male and female occupational patterns in China is in the sphere of government employment where only one in five employees is female. The aim of this paper is to understand the Chinese characteristics of gender inequality in management careers. In looking at the factors that influence women's upward mobility, the intention is to identify the barriers to the appointment of women to top jobs. Some barriers will be unique to governmental organizations and so will require special attention if they are to be eradicated. However, women also face more general barriers to success which transcend differences of occupational sector or society. It is hoped that this paper will lead to a greater understanding of how career barriers for women in China may resemble and differ from those faced by their counterparts in the West.     

Are generational differences in work values fact or fiction? Multi-country evidence and implications

Few would disagree that human resource initiatives aimed at enhancing employees' quality of life have universal appeal, but the definition of ‘quality of life’ varies by generation. Workplaces are becoming increasingly age diverse and the likelihood that an older employee will report to a younger manager is increasing. Burke's study for the Society for Human Resource Management found that in organizations with 500 or more employees, 58% of human resource management (HRM) professionals reported conflict between younger and older workers, largely due to their different perceptions of work ethics and work–life balance requirements. While cultural and gender diversity have received significant attention in the literature, little attention has been paid to the impact of age diversity on HRM practices. This study attempts to bridge this gap by examining the work values of four generational cohorts – Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y – across five countries. Generational differences were found when the effects of culture and life stage were controlled for. Significant differences were observed with Generation Y in particular, presenting creative challenges in accommodating the needs of this cohort while still watching the bottom line. This study establishes the legitimacy of intergenerational differences as an important social categorization variable.     

Ethics in the Production and Dissemination of Management Research: Institutional Failure or Individual Fallibility?

Over the past 50 years, we have witnessed considerable growth in business education, increased competition among business schools, and higher expectations for faculty scholarship. Increasing competition among scholars for limited publication opportunities in top‐tier journals and the proliferation of bottom‐tier journals has given rise to a variety of systemic ethical issues and dilemmas, for scholars and their institutions. In this article, we critically examine the current state of normative publishing activities and expectations, including doctoral education, promotion and tenure processes and research expectations, editorial and peer review processes, academic freedom, acceptable breadth, depth, and accuracy or legitimacy of research designs and methodologies, academic integrity, replication, and data availability concerning the trends and implications of contemporary and future management scholarship. We also provide recommendations for additional research and discussion on these issues.     

Crowding-out or crowding-in? Direct voice,performance-related pay,and organizational innovation in European firms

Building on motivation crowding theory (MCT), this article contributes to the human resources management (HRM)-innovation debate by examining the potential trade-offs between HRM practices targeted to increase employees' intrinsic motivation, such as direct employee voice (EV), and the presence of extrinsic incentives in the form of individual and collective performance-related pay (PRP). The results of the analysis on more than 22,000 European establishments show support for the positive relationship between EV and a firm's organizational innovation, and that this relationship is weaker in companies that adopted individual PRP schemes (piece-rate plans). Moreover, while we found that collective PRP (profit-sharing) does not moderate the relationship between EV and organizational innovation, a positive and significant moderation effect emerged when the combined presence of individual and collective PRP was considered. By advocating that the coexistence of multiple forms of PRP could overcome the crowding-out effect of individual PRP on EV, the study contributes to the HRM debate by also calling for a better understanding of the potential contingencies between different HRM practices when innovation is focus of the analysis.     

Why is group-based pay perceived as meaningful,meaningless or negative? Exploring the meanings of pay suggested by reflection theory

This study explored the propositions of the reflection theory of pay [Thierry (2001), Work Motivation in the Context of a Globalizing Economy, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 149–166]. The theory is grounded in theories of individual motivation. However, in a group-based pay context more socially oriented motivational factors may also play a role. In addition, the theory does not take into account that pay may have negative meanings. In this study, we have adopted a qualitative approach to improve the understanding of what meanings group-based pay may have. The research questions were the following: (1) why is group-based result-oriented pay perceived as meaningful, (2) why is group-based result-oriented pay perceived as meaningless and (3) why is group-based result-oriented pay perceived to have a negative meaning. To study the meanings attached to group-based pay, we conducted 29 focus group interviews (88 employees) in six municipal organizations in Finland. The results showed that the reasons for perceiving group-based pay as meaningful were related to the value of money, compensation for performance, the positive messages signalled by the pay and positive outcomes. On the other hand, when pay was perceived as meaningless, the arguments were related to the weak instrumentality of money, weak links between performance and pay, incompatibility and lack of knowledge. The negative meanings were related to negative message conveyed by the pay and its outcomes. When these results were compared with four meanings proposed by reflection theory, all four categories were found in the speech of the interviewees. In addition, two new categories were found and designated as ‘messages’ and ‘outcomes’. These new categories were theoretically linked to social identity theory.     

Should the firm or the employee pay for upskilling? A contract theory approach

Upskilling involves costly effort on behalf of existing employees to acquire new skills that are required to execute high value-added projects. A firm-financed training scheme allows the screening of applicants but comes with the cost of hidden actions, as some employees might train themselves yet continue working on low-value projects. A policy relying on worker self-training and incentive compatible contracts allows attracting more workers to high-value projects, yet it must grant a positive informational rent to flexible workers. The analysis reveals the optimal contract specific to each of the two training schemes. The profit comparison shows that the training strategy depends on how large is the net value created by upskilling, which is a characteristic of the business or industry.     

Innovative work behaviour and performance-related pay: rewarding the individual or the collective?

In order to change employee behaviour, companies frequently turn to forms of performance-related pay (PRP). At the same time, there is a clear imperative to encourage employee innovation. In this study we focus on the relation between PRP, organizational and job-level task resources and innovative work behaviour (IWB). In doing so, we distinguish between individual and collective PRP and build on insights from high-performance work systems and employee creativity literature. Using survey data of 927 employees from five Belgian industries, we find that individual PRP weakens the important positive relation of task-level job resources like learning opportunities on IWB. The combination of both individual and collective PRP, on the contrary, strengthens the positive relationship between organizational resources like upward communication and IWB.     

Just made in China or designed in China?

Does China just produce the world’s cars,or can it bring forward a top-global brand? With China projected to overtake even Europe in the number of cars produced this year,another question arises:Does China just produce the world’s cars,or can it bring forward a top-global brand? I argued before that Designed in China often does not convey an image of top-quality in the eyes of the customer.Even on the home market     

黎瑞刚:All in or NOT?

黎瑞刚这次的职务变动再次成为大家关注的焦点。近日,上海市人民政府发布了关于上海文化广播影视集团有限公司人事任免通知,免去黎瑞刚总裁职务,任命王建军为上海文化广播影视集团有限公司总裁。消息一出,众人哗然。黎瑞刚对此表示,他的职务调整是实至名归。黎瑞刚曾任上海文广新闻传媒集团总裁、上海第一财经传媒有限公司董事长。2002年10月,出任上海文广新闻传媒集团(SMG)总裁后,他一手主导了SMG的体制内改革,被媒体认为是体制内最像企业家的台长,在熟悉他的     

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.     

Because you're worth it? Determinants of Vice Chancellor pay in the UK

Wage inequality has increased across most developed nations; this has been manifested in a wide range of organisations and sectors, with implications for well‐being and sustainability; within UK universities, this has become increasingly visible. There is increasing pressure on universities to deliver social and economic impact in an increasingly market‐driven and metric‐driven environment. In the UK context, increasing financial pressure has led to both an escalation of student fees and constrained wage growth for faculty. In contrast, most Vice Chancellors have secured substantive pay packages raising concerns that regulatory failures may be contributing to the rise. We show that Vice Chancellors use their internal power within organisations to extract a disproportionate amount of the value created by the institution. However, we encountered much diversity according to the quality of governance, highlighting the extent to which not only contextual but also internal dynamics drive wage inequality.     

From pay to praise? Non-cash employee recognition in Canadian and Australian firms

Despite deep theoretical roots, a prominent place in the practitioner literature, and increasing use by organizations, non-cash employee recognition plans have thus far received relatively little empirical study by academic researchers. Drawing on survey data from 349 Canadian and Australian firms, this study examines the incidence of individually based and group-based non-cash recognition (NCR) programmes, ascertains whether there are relationships between use of non-cash and cash-based reward practices, and identifies possible predictors of NCR programmes. Results indicate that non-cash plans are indeed common in both countries, but do not appear to substitute for cash-based performance plans, contrary to enthusiasts' suggestions. The most important predictor of non-cash programmes is unionization, which is negatively related to both individually based and group-based NCR programs in Canada, and to group-based programmes in Australia.     

Autonomous bureaucrats in independent bureaucracies? Loyalty perceptions within supreme audit institutions

The independence of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) is essential to their effectiveness, yet the actual autonomy of SAIs auditors can be questioned. To whom do SAI officials owe their loyalty? To what extent are their loyalty perceptions reflected in their auditing reports? Our comparative study triangulates interviews, direct observations, and documents and, based on Q methodology, constructs four types of SAI officials who disavow traditional loyalties to political appointees or external stakeholders but abide to Constitutional and professional rules as well as to their respective audit institutions. Loyalty perceptions reflect SAIs’ associational contexts and are related to different work outcomes.     

Is China uniform? Intra-country differences in the takeoff of new products

Multi-national corporations (wrongly) introduce new products in China rather late. Such a strategy arises because research treats all of China as one monolithic country, thus, finding that takeoff occurs quite late. However, for large or multi-ethnic countries, intra country diversity may be quite high, rivaling or exceeding that among inter country differences of some continents (e.g., Europe). This study examines the takeoff of new products among provinces of China based on data of 30 Chinese provinces on 10 categories over 34 years. Rooted in the theory of institutions and product network externalities, this study tests the drivers of new product takeoff using a discrete time hazard model. The major results are as follows: First, time to takeoff varies dramatically across provinces in China. Second, the average time to takeoff varies substantially between products with strong and weak network externalities. Third, time to takeoff is converging across provinces. Fourth, the intra-country differences in time-to-takeoff are explained by economic institutional variables: economic wealth, trade openness, education, media and transportation infrastructure; and product characteristics: network externalities and year of introduction. Fifth, the vast differences in takeoff of new products across provinces suggest that a waterfall strategy within China might be more profitable.     

Do inter-city differences in intra-city wage differentials have any interesting implications?

Recent research has related characteristics of cities to differences in the distribution of wages across workers with different skill levels. We demonstrate that these differences in wage differentials arise naturally as a compensating variation in Rosen’s theoretical model of inter-city wages. For example, if the income elasticity of demand for housing services is less than unity, cities with higher house prices will have smaller money wage differentials between low and high skill workers. This result has no implications for differences in either absolute or relative real productivity or welfare of unskilled workers. Similarly, changes in the amenity of an urban area may result in changes in relative wages of skilled and unskilled workers with no implications for real productivity or welfare differentials.Empirical tests in which housing cost differentials are added as a determinant of inter-city differences in an intra-urban wage differential model provide empirical confirmation of the theoretical expectations. It appears that intra-urban money wage differentials, differences in the quality of life, and variation in the cost of living in each city are jointly determined variables just as Rosen’s model of inter-city wage differentials predicts.     

A fair go? The gender pay gap among corporate executives in Australian firms

In virtually all economies, executive positions are highly male dominated. This study examines the pay gap between male executives and female executives in large Australian firms from 2011 to 2014 to evaluate whether female executives are paid equitably compared with male executives. The mean pay comparison shows that female executives earn 80.7% of the total pay earned by male executives. A large part of the gender pay gap is explained by differences in positions held; female executives are particularly underrepresented in highly paid executive positions. After controlling for executive position and other relevant individual and firm characteristics, there remains a 15.1% gender gap in total pay. Our findings suggest that to achieve the goal of gender equity, both the proportion of women at executive level and the executive-level gender pay gap need to be monitored.     

Towards more disorganised decentralisation? Collective bargaining in the public sector under pay restraint

While sector‐level collective bargaining can provide the institutional leverage to sustain and improve employment standards, a proliferation of disorganised local settlements may reduce its effectiveness. This article examines this proposition for local government in the UK, highlights the risks of a ‘destructive’ disorganisation of employment relations and calls for a renewal of articulation mechanisms between sector and local levels of collective bargaining.     

Do cultural differences explain differences in attitudes towards unions? Culture and attitudes towards unions among call centre workers in Britain and India

This article adds to the literature on worker attitudes towards unions by investigating the impact of cultural attitudes and the call centre labour process on union attitudes among call centre workers in Britain and India. It is hypothesised that workers with egalitarian and collectivist cultural attitudes will be more likely to have pro‐union attitudes than other workers, although if the impact of cultural attitudes is mediated by history and institutions, it might be expected that this relationship is stronger for British than Indian workers. Conversely, if union attitudes are largely a function of the call centre labour process, we would expect union attitudes to be similar among workers in both countries. Our results only partially support our hypotheses. Collectivist attitudes are only weakly related to union attitudes among the British sample but are more strongly related in the Indian sample. There are significant differences between union attitudes among our British and Indian samples. The article concludes that relationship between cultural attitudes and union attitudes are heavily dependent on institutional context. Cultural attitudes are unlikely to be either a constraint or a facilitator of union efforts to organise workers.     

Do inter-city differences in intra-city wage differentials have any interesting implications?

Recent research has related characteristics of cities to differences in the distribution of wages across workers with different skill levels. We demonstrate that these differences in wage differentials arise naturally as a compensating variation in Rosen’s theoretical model of inter-city wages. For example, if the income elasticity of demand for housing services is less than unity, cities with higher house prices will have smaller money wage differentials between low and high skill workers. This result has no implications for differences in either absolute or relative real productivity or welfare of unskilled workers. Similarly, changes in the amenity of an urban area may result in changes in relative wages of skilled and unskilled workers with no implications for real productivity or welfare differentials.Empirical tests in which housing cost differentials are added as a determinant of inter-city differences in an intra-urban wage differential model provide empirical confirmation of the theoretical expectations. It appears that intra-urban money wage differentials, differences in the quality of life, and variation in the cost of living in each city are jointly determined variables just as Rosen’s model of inter-city wage differentials predicts.