Ethical principles of Catholic social teaching behind the United States bishops' letter on the economy

This article analyzes six ethical principles at work in the Pastoral Letter of the Roman Catholic Bishops on the United States economy. The first three principles derive from the Thomistic tradition with its attempt to avoid the extremes of collectivism and individualism. Human beings are by nature social and called to live in political society. The principle of subsidiarity guides the role of the state. Distributive and social justice furnish the criteria for a just distribution of human goods. The fourth ethical principle which is a later development in the Catholic tradition recognizes human rights including economic rights. In keeping with recent emphases in Catholic teaching the fifth principle insists that the goods of creation exist to serve all and stresses the social aspect of property. The sixth principle enunciates a preferential option for the poor and has come to the fore in the light of recent liberation theology. Charles E. Curran is Ordinary Professor of Moral Theology at The Catholic University of America and for the 1987–88 academic year Rachel Rebecca Kaneb Visiting Professor of Catholic Studies at Cornell University. He is a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and of the Society for Christian Ethics. His two most recent books are Faithful Dissent (Kansas City, MO: Sheed and Ward, 1986) and Toward an American Catholic Theology (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1987).     

The fallacy of “only the strong survive”: The effects of extrinsic motivation on the persistence decisions for under-performing firms

Under-performing firms persist even though existing theoretical perspectives indicate that they should be selected out of the market. Building upon threshold theory [Gimeno, J., Folta, T., Cooper, A., Woo, C., 1997. Survival of the fittest? Entrepreneurial human capital and the persistence of underperforming firms. Administrative Science Quarterly 42, 750–783.] and using Staw's [Staw, B.M., 1981. The escalation of commitment to a course of action. Academy of Management Review 6 (4), 577–587.] theoretical model of commitment to a course of action, we explore and test the factors that lead entrepreneurs to persist with under-performing firms. We found environmental munificence, personal investment, personal options, previous organizational success, and perceived collective efficacy impact the decision to persist with an under-performing firm. In addition, extrinsic motivation moderates those relationships. This research adds to the growing literature on highly persistent, under-performing firms and complements and extends threshold theory.     

Effects of warm-heartedness and reward distribution on negotiation

Research is needed to identify the conditions and dynamics by which foreign managers and local employees can negotiate their differences integratively. In an experiment with 120 participants in South China, employees with foreign managers who communicated warm-heartedness, compared to indifference, indicated that they had cooperative goals, a quality relationship, were confident in future collaboration, and concluded that their manager was an effective leader. Employees with foreign managers who structured mutual rather than independent or comparative rewards found their manager’s ideas reasonable and integrated them into their decisions. Results, especially if they can be replicated in field settings, suggest how foreign managers can negotiate effectively and develop their relationships with Chinese employees.     

Trust, contracting and the prospectus process

This study explores the role of trust and the ways in which trust is created within the prospectus process. It is argued that trust is a necessary condition for economic exchange and that trust must exist prior to contracting. The theoretical analysis provided deconstructs the contract as the original event and points to the limitations of traditional accounting analyses in understanding economic exchange. In addition, examples from the prospectus process are used to illustrate how some of the capital market institutions and institutional practices that we observe create and recreate the trust necessary for exchange.     

推进生态产品价值创造的流域综合治理项目管理模式优化研究——以深莞茅洲河流域水环境治理项目为例

在全国大力发展生态文明背景下,生态产品价值对流域综合治理项目效益提出了更高的要求。生态产品价值创造视角下流域综合治理项目更加关注生态、经济、社会效益的统一,而传统的流域综合治理项目在推进生态产品价值创造的过程中仍然存在如协同治理的缺失、源头治理的忽视、施工效率的低下等诸多问题,严重影响了生态产品价值挖掘的充分性与高效性。文章基于系统均衡理论,以中国电力建设股份有限公司所开展的深莞茅洲河流域水环境治理项目为例,总结流域综合治理项目管理模式经验,并提出科学顶层设计、完善实施路径、创新项目实施模式三个维度的优化措施,助力流域提高生态产品供给量,实现人和自然和谐共生的流域综合治理目标。以生态产品价值创造的视角研究流域综合治理项目效益,进一步深化了流域综合治理理论的发展,为全国流域综合治理提供可参考的经验。     

Research Quality Rankings of Heterodox Economic Journals in a Contested Discipline

This article argues that the discipline of economics consists of two subdisciplines: heterodox and mainstream economics. Being distinct bodies of knowledge, it is possible that the processes of building scientific knowledge are different enough so to generate distinctly different referencing and citation practices. Therefore, a specific impact contribution score is necessary for ranking heterodox journals in terms of their contribution to building heterodox economics. If properly developed such a metric could also be used to produce a single overall quality‐equality ranking of mainstream and heterodox journals. Utilizing citation data and peer evaluations of 62 heterodox economics journals, a research quality measure is developed and then used to rank the journals. The measure is then used in conjunction with the SSCI five‐year impact factor to produce a comparative research quality‐equality rankings of the 62 heterodox and the 192 mainstream journals in the SSCI.     

British regional growth and sectoral trends: global and local spatial econometric approaches

This article looks beneath the surface of British sub-regional aggregate Gross Value Added (GVA) growth over the period 1995 to 2007, by examining how the differing growth dynamics of the secondary and services sectors have influenced the overall regional growth process. A spatial econometric analysis is undertaken which tests regional secondary and services real GVA per capita for absolute and conditional convergence at the NUTS 3 level. Both local and global spatial analysis techniques are utilized in order to gain a detailed insight into the growth process over the period 1995 to 2007.     

Human Resource Approaches to Retirement: Gatekeeping,Improvising, Orchestrating,and Partnering

This qualitative study examines the patterns in human resource (HR) approaches to retirement across 24 organizations to explore innovative practices as well as gain understanding of the differences in how firms are dealing with major changes surrounding retirement and workforce demographics. Using organizational adaptation theory and carrying out a thorough analysis of in‐depth interviews with HR managers, we identify three dimensions that differentiate organizations’ approaches to retirement: (1) actions and interactions of key stakeholders in the retirement process; (2) HR information gathering focus regarding workforce issues; and (3) HR posture around changes needed in retirement policies and practices. Based on organizational profiles on these dimensions, four distinct approaches to retirement emerge and are described in some detail: gatekeeping, improvising, orchestrating, and partnering. These different approaches also provide insight into how organizations differ in their adaptation to change. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.