A Typology of Situational Factors: Impact on Salesperson Decision-Making about Ethical Issues

We explore two dimensions of situational factors expected to influence decision-making about ethical issues among sales representatives – universal vs. particular and direct vs. indirect. We argue that these distinctions are important theoretically, methodologically, and managerially. We test our hypotheses by means of a survey of 252 sales representatives. Our results confirm that considering universal and particular and direct and indirect situational factors contributes to our understanding of decision-making about ethical issues within a sales context, specifically willingness to engage in an unethical act. We also find that personal factors act independently and interact with situational factors in decision-making about ethical issues. Both demographic factors, age and gender, and personality factors, Machiavellianism and self-monitoring, have main effects on decision-making, and some of these factors interact with situational factors to affect decision-making. For example, age of the decision-maker (younger) and size of commission (larger) interact such that the likelihood of choosing an unethical alternative is greater.     

Graduate nurse perceptions of the work experience

Findings from a longitudinal study on the perceptions of the work environment and job satisfaction for new graduate nurses in the first 18 months of employment at a Magnet Midwestern urban academic pediatric medical center are described. The findings indicated that orientation assisted the new graduate to become confident in his/her clinical competence and work management. By 18 months, the new graduate felt satisfied with access to resources and the ability to participate in professional development opportunities. The results suggest that the new graduate nurse's career adjustment extends beyond mastering clinical skills and includes a lifestyle adjustment to a profession that requires service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.     

The Relationships of Religion to Economics

The relationships between religion and economics are both complex and controversial. In this paper is explored one method for organizing those relationships. Four categories are examined which help identify possible options: economics separate from religion economics; in service of religion; religion in service of economics; and religion in union with economics. The paper begins with a definition of what is included under the headings of religion and economics. Next, each of the four categories is described and discussed. Conclusions close the paper.     

Paradigms and Novelty in Economics: The History of Economic Thought as a Source of Enlightenment

Over time, economics has experienced paradigm shifts, and there is every reason to think this will continue. In economics, as in the development of technological knowledge, paradigms do not emerge from nowhere, but build on precursors, possibly from other fields. Our understanding of current economic thinking can be enhanced by paying greater attention to the role of paradigms and by using concepts such as myth, plot structure, and cultural endowment, which are typically given greater attention by literary analysts than by economists, to study paradigms. Here we argue that together these can help us better understand how ideas from other times and fields may be combined with our own to generate better research and publications, and that a greater awareness of the history of economics may well be an excellent vehicle for enhancing that understanding.     

International human resource management: An Australian perspective

International human resource management (IHRM) is slowly emerging as a field of academic enquiry. There is, however, a dearth of case study material which documents IHRM strategies and experiences of companies-particularly companies which do not have their home base in the United States. This paper reviews current IHRM literature and reports the results of a recent study of four companies operating internationally from Australia: two are Australian-owned; one is an Australian subsidiary of a multinational oil company and the fourth is a regional division of a multinational automobile manufacturer. For the collection of data, a case study approach was used, with structured interviews of each company's personnel director, expatriate line managers (including returned managers and foreign nationals currently in Australia) and spouses. These case studies are analysed and the extent to which they contribute to the international human resource management literature is examined.The authors would like to thank the companies which participated in the study, and Mary Anderson, Hugh Davies, and Helen De Cieri for comments on earlier versions of the paper.     

The Scope for Fuel Substitution in Manufacturing Industries: A Case Study of Chile and Colombia

This article analyzes plant-level panel data from Chile andColombia to assess how manufacturers might respond to carbontaxes and other policies that induce substitution between cleanand dirty fuels. Is producer flexibility linked with sectorof activity, capital vintage, or rates of new capital formation?When adjustments in energy use occur, are they accomplishedthrough changes in factor proportions for individual producers,changes in the output shares of producers within an industry,or changes in the relative production levels of different manufacturingindustries? Patterns of energy use within and between industriesshow that fiscal policies can significantly influence the leveland mixture of energy use among manufacturers.     

Forecasting banking crises with dynamic panel probit models

Banking crises are rare events, but when they occur, their consequences are often dramatic. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the toolkit of early warning models that is available to policy makers by exploring the dynamics and exuberances embedded in a panel dataset that covers 22 European countries over four decades (from 1970Q1 to 2012Q4). The in- and out-of-sample forecast performances of several (dynamic) probit models are evaluated, with the objective of developing common vulnerability indicators with early warning properties. The results obtained show that adding dynamic components and exuberance indicators to the models improves the performances of early warning models significantly.     

The Distributional Impact of Health Financing in Europe: A Review

This article summarises, extends and updates previous empirical work on the distributional implications of alternative health care financing arrangements in a selection of European countries and the US. On the one hand, total health care payments are almost proportional to ability to pay in most countries. This is predominantly driven by a high reliance on public financing. On the other hand, private payments – out‐of‐pocket payments as well as private insurance premiums – are highly regressive. More extended reliance on private financing may therefore endanger the equitable nature of financing systems. In addition, private payments put a heavy burden on unfortunate households.