Harnessing Multidimensional Legitimacy for Codes of Ethics: A Staged Approach

Journal of Business Ethics - How can codes of ethics acquire legitimacy—that is, how can they lay down obligations that will be seen by their subjects as morally binding? There are many...     

Rebuilding the limit order book: sequential Bayesian inference on hidden states

The limit order book of an exchange represents an information store of market participants’ future aims and for many traders the information held in this store is of interest. However, information loss occurs between orders being entered into the exchange and limit order book data being sent out. We present an online algorithm which carries out Bayesian inference to replace information lost at the level of the exchange server and apply our proof of concept algorithm to real historical data from some of the world’s most liquid futures contracts as traded on CME GLOBEX, EUREX and NYSE Liffe exchanges.     

The Financial Reporting Practices of British Municipal Corporations 1835–1933: A Study in Accounting Innovation

This paper uses archival sources and contemporary literature to examine the development of the financial reporting practices of British municipal corporations. The paper explores the relationship between accounting theory, as embraced by the literature, and observed accounting practices, and examines both the environmental factors responsible for accounting change and the specific influences that proved crucial at particular points in time. The paper also shows that private-sector based explanations for accounting change do not apply to municipal corporations, and an alternative characterisation is presented.     

A Comparison Between the Conventional Stated Preference Technique and an Inferred Valuation Approach

Contrary to conventional stated preference valuation techniques that employ a direct questioning approach, the inferred valuation method utilises indirect questioning where respondents are asked for their belief regarding others’ values for a good or service. In this study, using choice experiments, we compare the results obtained through the two valuation techniques for environmental features of the Burren landscape in western Ireland. Consistent with previous studies, stated values using the conventional approach are found to be significantly higher than those obtained through the inferred valuation approach. In particular, this study highlights the dissimilarities in relative preferences observed between the two landscape attributes (rocky limestone pavements and orchid‐rich grasslands) from the two questioning formats. While respondents were indifferent between the two habitats, they believed the ‘average other’ to be significantly more concerned about the conservation of the rocky limestone pavements. We attribute this divergence in preferences to be a consequence of additional normative motives perceived by respondents with regard to the conservation of orchid‐rich grasslands.     

Discharge Policy Information in the Job Offer Letter: Its Impact on Recruit Perceptions of Psychological Contract Formation and Organizational Attraction

Using a 2 × 2 design, this study incorporates psychological contract theory and the “good cause norm” to investigate discharge policy information and implied promises of job security on reactions to the job offer letter. Results indicate that while embedded implied promises significantly increase perceptions of organizational attraction relative to a control, they demonstrate no discernable effects on recruit perceptions of organizational psychological contract obligations. Furthermore, embedded at-will disclaimers, alone or in combination with implied promises, significantly reduce perceptions of organizational attractiveness and organizational psychological contract obligations. Implications are discussed.     

An analysis of the talent management challenges in a post-communist country: the case of Poland

There is a dearth of empirical studies on talent management (TM) in the emerging markets, and in particular a lack of research on TM in the countries of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. Our empirical study in 58 organisations in Poland, a major economy in the CEE region, is one of the first studies to examine TM in this context. Our study highlights the particular nature of the TM challenges facing organisations in Poland and shows that there is little evidence to suggest that Polish practice is converging with Western models. Our paper suggests that TM is likely to challenge many traditional management practices and attitudes which continue to dominate Polish culture in the period of transition to a market economy.     

Assessing value-in-use: A conceptual framework and exploratory study

Developing approaches for understanding customer perceived value is a priority for managers and scholars alike. A conceptual framework for assessment of value-in-use is proposed and explored within the context of a maintenance service provider. In contrast to value models in previous empirical research, the framework includes assessment not just of provider attributes but also of the customer's usage processes, as well as customer evaluations of the value-in-use they obtain. Interviews with members of a cross-disciplinary buying group provide support for the framework, including the observations that individuals can assess the quality of their usage processes and that they can articulate value-in-use at both organisational and individual levels; the further concept of network quality also emerges from the data. Assessment of usage process quality as well as service quality evolves as the customer's goals evolve. Practitioners may wish to elicit usage process quality and value-in-use as well as service quality. Research directions include scale development for both usage process quality and value-in-use.     

Testing mean reversion in target-zone exchange rates

This study applies a multinomial logit model of human-capital migration to examine the factors influencing the movement of physicians within Canadian provinces between 1976 and 1992. The empirical investigation covers general practitioners and specialists (it excludes interns/residents) between seven regions (Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia). The results suggest that differences in real income have a positive and significant effect on a physician's decision to migrate form one province to another. Provinces with the highest after tax income, highest expenditure per physician, and highest fee-per-service rates have the highest net rate of in-migration. Income differences are however, not the only factor influencing a physician's choice to move. Working conditions within a province, which we proxy with the number of hospitals beds and health expenditures per capita, are also important factors. Likewise, the ratio of rural to urban population, distance between the major city in each province and provincial population all have a negative impact on a physician's migration choice. Finally, a dummy variable is used to allow for language differences between Quebec and the rest of the provinces and find that language differences have a significant and negative impact on a physician decision to migrate.