Managerial Altruism and Governance in Charitable Donations

We describe a double agency problem in firms' charitable donations. When managers have better knowledge about the effectiveness of donations and their altruistic preferences, it is difficult for shareholders to tell whether charitable donations are made for a strategic purpose or due to managerial altruism. We characterize the equilibrium donations in a heterogeneous competition model. We show that managerial altruism is a substitute for the effectiveness of donations, and excess donations cannot be prevented by a compensation scheme that reduces the interest conflicts between ownership and management. Under board authorization, the board will tolerate donations with high effectiveness and low altruism as well as donations corresponding to low effectiveness and high altruism. Under a penalty scheme, the altruistic manager will increase donations, in order to increase donation's strategic benefit to compensate for the loss from the penalty. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do I Really Want to Work Here? Testing a Model of Job Pursuit for MBA Interns

Job pursuit refers to the intentions, decisions, or behaviors indicative of a candidate's interest in a particular employer. This study develops and tests a process model of job pursuit for MBA interns with data collected before, during, and after their internships. Our model integrates theory from the person‐environment fit and organizational socialization literature. Results show pre‐entry person‐organization (P‐O) fit and social aspects tactics jointly motivate proactive information seeking about the employer (from those inside and outside the assigned department) during the internship, and interactively motivate information seeking outside the assigned department. Yet, only information seeking inside the assigned department is related to learning about the employer. Learning about the employer also predicts job‐acceptance intentions, which in turn predicts job‐acceptance decisions. The model developed in this study should serve as a guide to help human resource managers understand job pursuit and acceptance in internships and other similar employment relationships. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

In the eyes of the beholder: the HRM capabilities of the HR function as perceived by managers and professionals

This study investigated factors influencing line managers' and professionals' perceptions of the HRM capabilities of the HR function. Using a sample of 913 managers and professionals in subsidiaries of 11 Nordic multinational corporations, we tested the extent to which features of the unit's HRM system, attitudes of the unit's general manager and characteristics of the HR manager helped explain the perceived HRM capabilities. The analysis revealed that perceived HRM practice visibility and HRM inducements (the link between individual performance and HRM‐related benefits) were strong predictors of individual perceptions of the HR function's HRM capabilities. The use of e‐HRM and the most senior manager's attitudes towards the unit's HRM practices were also significantly related to perceived HRM capabilities.     

The strategic use of managerial incentives in a non‐profit firm mixed duopoly

A mixed duopoly setting is examined where a private non‐profit firm (NPO) competes with a private profit‐maximizer. The NPO's stakeholders select a contract for their managers. A novel NPO objective function is utilized which takes into account all the likely returns to the NPO's stakeholders (NPO profits and the surplus accruing to the NPO stakeholders) in such a commercial setting. In sub‐game perfect equilibria, it is shown that the NPO's managers generally will not be given the NPO's true objective to optimize. It is also shown that aggregate social welfare may increase or decrease due to this managerial contracting behavior or the use of NPO membership fees. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Small businesses and the environment: turning over a new leaf?

Previous studies on the environmental practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK and beyond have portrayed owner‐managers as laggards who underplay their firm's environmental impacts and resist environmental management due to its perceived cost. Yet a recent cross‐sector survey of 220 UK SMEs suggests that this intransigent stance may be slowly changing. Responses indicate a high percentage of owner‐managers actively involved in recycling, energy efficiency, responsible buying and selling, and efforts to reduce their carbon emissions. Owner‐managers saw it as their responsibility to help solve environmental problems and were reportedly willing to accept the costs of tougher environmental regulations and taxation. Business owners were motivated not just by the ‘push’ of legislation and environmental concern but by the ‘pull’ of potential cost savings, new customers, higher staff retention and good publicity for their firms. The survey also found that owner‐managers had resonance with the Stern Review's (2006) conclusions that the benefits of strong early action on climate change outweigh the costs, and that a transition to a low‐carbon economy will bring opportunities for business growth. This indicates that SMEs may be coming round to the idea that there is a business case for sustainability, although there is still some scepticism on the overall profitability of environmental action. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Psychological distancing: the effects of narrative perspectives and levels of access to a victim's inner world on victim blame and helping intention

• To explore what is an (in)effective way to tell victim stories in order to elicit support for charitable causes, an experiment was conducted to examine how narrative perspectives (first‐person versus third‐person) and levels of access to a victim's inner world (high versus low) may influence reactions to the victim. It found that the two factors interacted to influence victim blame and helping intention through affecting the perceived psychological distance of the victim. Specifically, the first‐person (versus third‐person) narrative increased victim blame and reduced helping intention by motivating participants to distance themselves from the victim when the level of access to the victim's inner world was relatively high but not when the level of access was relatively low. The findings contribute to our understanding of what would be an (in)effective way of telling victim stories to elicit compassionate reactions to those in need.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rallying the Troops or Beating the Horses? How Project‐Related Demands Can Lead to Either High‐Performance or Abusive Supervision

In today's high‐pressure work environment, project managers are often forced to “do more with less.” We argue that this imperative can lead project managers to engage in either high‐performance or abusive supervision behaviors. To understand this process, we develop a model and associated propositions linking a project manager's cognitive appraisal of project‐related demands to high‐performance work practices versus abusive supervision behaviors—both of which impact three project outcomes: stakeholder relationships, people‐related project success factors, and employee well‐being. We propose that the choice between high‐performance work practices and abusive supervision behaviors is moderated by a project manager's personal resources (psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and dark triad personality).     

Human Capital Factors Affecting Human Resource (HR) Managers' Commitment to HR and the Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Value on HR

Human resource (HR) managers’ commitment to their occupation (HR) leads to the proper delivery and implementation of HR practices and, therefore, is deemed as a critical factor for the success of HR practices. Based on sociocognitive, human capital, and signaling theories, this study examines: (a) HR managers’ own and their chief HR officer's (CHRO) HR‐specific human capital as antecedents of their commitment to HR, and (b) the mediating mechanism through which the CHRO’s HR‐specific human capital positively influences HR managers’ commitment to HR. Based on 146 HR managers from 146 organizations in South Korea, the findings of the current study suggest that HR managers with higher levels of HR‐specific human capital and those working with CHROs with higher levels of HR‐specific human capital tend to have higher levels of commitment to HR. In addition, CHROs with higher levels of HR‐specific human capital positively influence HR managers’ commitment to HR by signaling to them that HR and its function are valued and cared about by their organizations. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed along with study limitations and further research directions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Altruism versus Egoism in Human Behavior of Mixed Motives

ABSTRACT . This article begins with the observation that people often cooperate in social dilemmas. Specifically, they may do so either for altruistic reasons or for reasons indirectly linked to self‐interest. Because these competing motivations exist in different contexts, we explore the consequences of the incorporation of altruism in the economic framework in the context of a series of prisoner's dilemma experiments. Our experiments involve student subjects in groups of three. Each student plays two rounds of a monetary prisoner's dilemma game with the other two subjects in that group. We find evidence for recognizably different levels of the altruistic behavior of cooperation due to personal attributes and specific experimental conditions. Cooperation rates are higher for female students and more senior students. Of more interest is the evidence that economics majors tend to behave more cooperatively than noneconomics majors.     

Are high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work‐related disability disadvantage

We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) and work‐related disability disadvantage. We develop competing “enabling” and “disabling” hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance‐related pay, teamworking, and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer–employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. While disabled employees report lower work‐related well‐being than their nondisabled counterparts, we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.     

Exploring what nonprofit branding can learn from contemporary art

• As more and more nonprofits seek to refashion themselves as brands, they tend to take inspiration from for‐profit organizations. Another domain that has had similar purposes to those of nonprofit branding for many years is contemporary art. This is an exploratory paper that looks at a recent trend in art, “message art,” and how it might inform nonprofit branding. Message art deals with many social issues that drive major nonprofits today including everything from pro‐environment causes to anti‐segregationist issues. This paper has two purposes: (1) to call attention to message art among nonprofit brand managers and (2) to explain how they can use this art. Message art is useful to the extent that it calls attention to new ideological trends and often provides selected pieces of art that can serve as exemplars of brand essence for relevant causes. Results are provided from a small, qualitative study of women's feelings about selected examples of feminist art. Two pieces of art drew the most positive responses. One piece, “Egyptian Rocket Goddess,” is felt to be a harbinger of Third Wave Feminism. Another piece, “Blessed Art Thou Among Women,” is felt to be an effective source of inspiration and direction for feminist organizations, which focus on mother–daughter relationships.

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MBTI Personality Types of Project Managers and Their Success: A Field Survey

This paper describes a survey of 280 project managers that reveals both their personality types (via Myers‐Briggs personality inventory) and their success in project management. The results show that a project manager's personality is better suited for functioning with partial data and under ambiguity than the rest of the population. These traits were found for both women and men. The conclusion is that project managers (females and males) have a unique personality‐type distribution that distinguishes them from the general population. The findings can contribute to better understanding the traits that characterize the project management population, and their relationship to project success.     

Values,gender and attitudes towards environmental policy: A study of future managers

This study explores if the value priorities and their impact on future managers' attitudes towards environmental responsibilities vary with gender. While relevant prior studies mostly focus on gender‐based variations of individuals' personal values in developed economies, we concentrate on both personal values and pro‐environmental attitudes in an emerging economy. This study is built on MBA students (a proxy for future managers) in India since India is characterized as a male‐dominated society and a producer of larger number of MBA graduates. Overall, our results show that personal values and attitude towards environmental responsibilities do not vary significantly with gender. Only two values (among the 21 values) and one value type (out of 10 values) get significantly higher ranking from females compared with males. Further, although ‘universalism’ and ‘benevolence’ are found to have a statistically significant impact on respondents' attitude towards environmental responsibility, the latter is invariant to the respondents' gender. Our findings may indicate India's transformation from a male‐dominated society towards a more gender‐balanced society. These findings can be used to operationalize a pro‐environmental recruitment policy and to formulate strategies to improve female participation in MBA cohorts of business schools.     

Green human resource management and the enablers of green organisational culture: Enhancing a firm's environmental performance for sustainable development

Scholars have shown that green human resource management (GHRM) practices enhance a firm's environmental performance. However, existing studies fail to explain how GHRM initiatives can enable a green organisational culture or how such a culture affects the environmental performance and sustainable development of the firm. This paper examines the relationship between GHRM practices, the enablers of green organisational culture, and a firm's environmental performance. We conduct a large‐scale survey of 204 employees at Chinese manufacturing firms. Our findings suggest that proenvironmental HRM practices including hiring, training, appraisal, and incentivisation support the development of the enablers of green organisational culture. We suggest the key enablers of green organisational culture include leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement, and employee empowerment. Our paper contributes to HRM theory in terms of originality and utility of research by explaining that the enablers of green organisational culture positively mediate the relationship between GHRM practices and environmental performance. Managers are provided with a detailed understanding of the GHRM practices needed to enable an organisational culture of environmentally aware employees. Finally, we address potential implications of this work for teaching green organisational culture to future generations of responsible managers.     

A comparison of American and international prototypes of successful managers

In the present study, similarities and differences between prototypes of successful managers were examined across four cultural groups: Americans, Europeans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Managers from the hospitality industry (N = 366) used an 84–item attribute inventory to rate a successful middle manager. In addition, Americans' stereotypes of ethnic managers were compared with prototypes held by managers from those ethnic cultures. Specifically, American managers' perceptions of Asian and Hispanic managers were compared against Asian and Hispanic/Latin American managers' prototypes. A high level of correspondence in prototype characteristics was found across the four cultural groups. In addition, American‐defined ethnic manager stereotypes also contained profiles similar to cultural prototypes. However, important differences were also detected on many managerial characteristics. Implications of the findings for cross‐cultural congruence and areas for future research are discussed.     

The Paternalistic Bias of Expert Advice

Using a theoretical model of noisy expert advice, I show that language inflation can be a rational response to the vagueness of language. Experts will tend to overstate their positions to a like‐minded decision maker (DM) and this constitutes a Pareto improvement over sending a sincere message. When the message space is bounded, overstatement may interfere with the DM's ability to aggregate the experts' information, because communication is less precise when the same message is sent for many states of the world. Despite this, I show that experts are willing to send either the most extreme message to the DM, or a partially overstated message, because by doing so the expert can decrease the likelihood the DM makes a suboptimal decision due to his subjective interpretation of the advice. Because the expert inflates his message toward the policy he believes the DM would be better off choosing, rather than sincerely revealing his information, I refer to this behavior as a paternalistic bias.     

Middle Manager Leadership and Frontline Employee Performance: Bypass,Cascading, and Moderating Effects

We investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross‐level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first‐line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three‐level hierarchical linear modelling results supported the four hypotheses.     

Hiring Managers in the Manufacturing Industry of Malaysia

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the staffing practices of managerial positions among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The results are based on responses from 68 hiring managers. A person needs to have at least three years of orking experience before the person can be selected for a middle-level managerial position. Sources for recruiting 60% of the managerial positions are determined by the human resource managers. The top management had the final say in hiring 69% of the managers. Media advertisement is the most highly utilized source to recruit managers. Testing is seldom used to choose managers.     

A Comparison of Reporting Lags of Multinational and Domestic Firms

This study examines whether multinational firms report earnings sooner than domestic firms. When compared with domestic firms, the reporting environment and business operations of multinational firms are significantly more complex. There is a greater amount of information asymmetry between managers and shareholders of multinational firms. Therefore, multinational firms potentially face higher monitoring and external financing costs. To reduce these costs, we conjecture that managers of multinational firms take steps to reduce the information asymmetry between shareholders and management by increasing the timeliness (a proxy for relevance) of their earnings reports. Specifically, we expect multinational firms to announce earnings earlier than domestic firms. We separate earnings reporting delay into auditor‐related delay and management's discretionary delay. While test results weakly support the hypothesis that auditors take longer to audit multinational firms, there is strong evidence that managers of multinational firms release their earnings reports sooner than domestic firms.