Ethical decision making in the medical profession: An application of the theory of planned behavior

The present study applied Ajzen's (1985) theory of planned behavior to the explanation of ethical decision making. Nurses in three hospitals were provided with scenarios that depicted inadequate patient care and asked if they would report health professionals responsible for the situation. Study results suggest that the theory of planned behavior can explain a significant amount of variation in the intent to report a colleague. Attitude toward performing the behavior explained a large portion of the variance; subjective norms explained a moderate amount of the variance; and, perceived behavioral control added little to the explanation of variance. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Donna M. Randall is an Associate Professor in Management and Systems at Washington State University. Her research interests include organizational commitment, media coverage of elite crime, and ethical issues in management. Her publications have appeared in such journals as Decision Sciences, Academy of Management Review, and Journal of Business Ethics. Annetta M. Gibson is a doctoral student in the Department of Accounting and Business Law at Washington State University and a CPA. Her research interests lie in the area of behavioral accounting and ethical issues in auditing, accounting, and management. She has published in the Journal of Business Ethics.     

Planning Behavior Variables in Small Firms

Much of the empirical data that identifies the incidence of planning in small firms and the variables associated with that planning is based on small samples subject to geographic and industry constraints. The intent of this article is to partially overcome those limitations by testing relationships using results from a large Australian-wide, multiple-period sample. For each of three years, the frequency with which firms maintained documented business plans was determined and tested for associations with a range of traditional "business structure" demographic variables and a group of "management structure" variables. Results support expectations that size, volume, training, intention to change operations, and the major decision-maker's education are positively associated with business planning. Results also indicate that a significant number of firms change planning behavior states over time.     

Associations between social responsibility disclosure and characteristics of companies

Surveys have shown a trend of increased corporate disclosure of social responsibility information. This paper suggests some reasons why companies provide social responsibility information and examines the effects of four variables (size, systematic risk, social constraints and management decision horizon) on the social responsibility disclosure practices of Australian companies.     

The Education and Training Mismatch

Ken Mayhew argues that money spent on eduction is misallocated and that the biggest problem for training is lack of demand for a flexibly skilled workforce.     

Cost‐ and Income‐based Measures of Human Capital

Human capital is increasingly believed to play an important role in the growth process, however, adequately measuring its stock remains controversial. In this paper three general approaches to measurement are identified; cost‐based, income‐based and educational stock‐based. This survey focuses on the first two approaches and provides a critical review of the theories and their applications to data from a range of countries. Particular emphasis is placed upon the work of Jorgenson and Fraumeni (1989, 1992) and some new results for New Zealand based upon their approach are also presented.     

Longevity and the life-cycle of management buy-outs

The longevity debate about buy-outs has hitherto been restricted. By focusing on large highly leveraged transactions, existing research has taken only a partial view of how long buy-outs last and the factors influencing longevity. This paper develops and tests hypotheses concerning the influences on buy-out longevity across the whole spectrum of management buy-out applications. Both quantitative and case study evidence from the U. K. is presented. A heterogeneity view of buy-outs is supported. Tests using quantitative data show that earlier exit is associated with larger buy-outs, and buy-outs arising on privatization from the public sector and from non-U. K. parents. Case study evidence principally supports hypotheses that earlier exit is associated with financing institutions being in a relatively stronger position than management and with more rapidly changing market conditions for the firm.