The influence of ability,benevolence, and integrity in trust between managers and subordinates: the role of ethical reasoning

Numerous researchers have examined the antecedents of trust between managers and subordinates. Recent studies conclude that their influence varies depending on whether what is being examined is a manager's trust in a subordinate or a subordinate's trust in a manager. However, the reasons given to justify this phenomenon present limitations. This article offers a new theoretical approach that relates the influence of each antecedent to Aristotelian forms of reasoning, ethical, and instrumental. The proposed approach shows that the influence of each antecedent depends on which rationality prevails in the person who trusts. The contribution of this article is to better explain the phenomenon of interpersonal trust formation and its logic, while offering at the same time several practical implications for managers interested in developing an organizational culture based on trust. The article begins with a literature review of more relevant empirical studies analyzing superior–subordinate trust formation and presents some theoretical limitations of the arguments described in these works. Then, it offers a new theorerical approach based on Aristotelian thought to explain the influence of the antecedents of trust in management–subordinate relationships. The theoretical contribution is then confirmed in an empirical study of 163 mid‐level managers in Spain.     

Innovation and entrepreneurship as strategies for success among Cuban-based firms in the late years of the transatlantic slave trade

This article examines how Cuban-based firms and entrepreneurs circumvented ever- increasing risks in the illegal slave trade. The article sheds light to this question by analyzing new qualitative information of 65 Cuban-based firms against the Slavevoyages database. Our findings indicate that Cuban-based firms were entrepreneurial as they exploited the opportunities arising from the volatility of the slave trade by: (a) internalizing networks of agents which allowed the rapid diffusion of information, (b) diversifying trading goods and expanding the number of partnerships to reduce transaction costs and risk, and (c) adopting technological innovations that modified the design and use of vessels.     

On improving the least squares Monte Carlo option valuation method

This paper studies various possible approaches to improving the least squares Monte Carlo option valuation method. We test different regression algorithms and suggest a variation to estimating the option continuation value, which can reduce the execution time of the algorithm by one third. We test the choice of varying polynomial families with different number of basis functions. We compare several variance reduction techniques, and find that using low discrepancy sequences can improve the accuracy up to four times. We also extend our analysis to compound and mutually exclusive options. For the latter, we propose an improved algorithm which is faster and more accurate.     

Detection of Automobile Insurance Fraud With Discrete Choice Models and Misclassified Claims

The insurance industry is concerned with the detection of fraudulent behavior. The number of automobile claims involving some kind of suspicious circumstance is high and has become a subject of major interest for companies. This article demonstrates the performance of binary choice models for fraud detection and implements models for misclassification in the response variable. A database from the Spanish insurance market that contains honest and fraudulent claims is used. The estimation of the probability of omission provides an estimate of the percentage of fraudulent claims that are not detected by the logistic regression model.     

Socio‐demographic basic factors of German customers as predictors for sustainable consumerism regarding foodstuffs and meat products

An important step in promoting sustainable purchase behaviour is to explore the understanding of responsible consumerism from the consumers’ point of view. For this purpose, a study among 1040 German consumers was carried out using a two‐pronged approach. First, open‐ended questions were used to explore the characteristics of sustainable food consumption in general as well as the willingness and meaningfulness of a low‐meat diet from the consumers’ point of view. After that the interactive structure behind the term was studied using a quantitative empirical method. As standard of evaluation the four underlying socio‐demographic factors gender, age, wealth and education are used. Apart from the consumers’ financial situation, the applied statistics show significant correlations of the propensity for sustainable consumerism to each of the above factors. Women, middle‐aged and well‐educated consumers show a greater tendency to purchase environmentally and socially sustainable products. Accordingly, the suitability of socio‐demographic factors is confirmed in this study. The open‐ended questions fathom what attributes consumers connect with sustainable food consumption, in particularly with regard to the consumption of meat. It is clear that attributes that affect consumers directly and attributes which can be directly influenced by their actions are better perceived by the consumer. Altruistic factors or abstract aspects of food consumption (e.g. climate protection) are generally of less significance. Conversely, factors which concern the value added chain, like for example, origin and processing, have priority. To conclude, the findings enable the identification of the variables determining the sustainability construct. This allows policy makers to develop customized incentive systems. Similarly, private sector stakeholders are enabled to adapt marketing activities and their product mix to consumer demands.     

The Neglected Ethical and Spiritual Motivations in the Workplace

Journal of Business Ethics - Understanding what motivates employees is essential to the success of organizational objectives. Therefore, properly capturing and explaining the full range of such...     

Growth,development and tourism in a small economy: evidence from Aruba

This study will focus on tourism economic growth and its development impacts on a microstate and will explore their implications for tourism analysis and planning. The evidence presented in this article reveals that tourism in Aruba can generate desirable and widely distributed impacts. The tourist performance also has been remarkable and consistent. The results also suggest that the export‐led growth strategy has affected the whole of the economy in a positive way. The principal conclusion is that institutional intervention can only become a positive force within a context of rapid integration with the global market. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.