Preference Learning in Consecutive Experimental Auctions

This paper explores the origins of the strikingly high price premia paid for new food products in lab valuation exercises. Our experimental design distinguishes between two explanations of this phenomenon: novelty of the experimental experience versus the novelty of the good, i.e., preference learning—bids reflect a person's desire to learn how an unfamiliar good fits into their preference set. Subjects bid in four consecutive experimental auctions for three goods that vary in familiarity, candy bars, mangos, and irradiated meat. Our results suggest that preference learning is the main source of the high premia, and that novelty of the experimental experience does not in itself artificially inflate valuations.     

The Role of Narcissistic Hypocrisy in the Development of Accounting Estimates

In an experiment including experienced managers, we investigate how supervisor and subordinate narcissism influence a supervisor's review of a subordinate's accounting estimate. While narcissistic supervisors express greater liking for narcissistic subordinates (narcissistic tolerance), they nonetheless reject and revise the accounting estimates of narcissistic subordinates to a greater extent than they reject estimates of non-narcissistic subordinates (narcissistic hypocrisy), even when doing so inhibits the supervisor's ability to reach a profit target. Our findings contribute to extant research in accounting and psychology. We demonstrate that narcissistic hypocrisy extends beyond the evaluation of others and alters narcissists' willingness to rely on other narcissists in a meaningful financial reporting decision. We also find that narcissistic hypocrisy is robust across age, gender, and supervisory experience.     

Impacts of recreational diving on hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) behaviour in a marine protected area

The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is a critically endangered species encountered by recreational divers in marine protected areas (MPAs) circumtropically. Few studies, however, have examined the impacts of recreational diving on hawksbill behaviours. In 2014, we collected turtle sightings surveys and dive logs from 14 dive operations, and conducted in-water observations of 61 juvenile hawksbill turtles in Roatán, Honduras, to determine if differences in dive site use and diver behaviours affected sea turtle behaviours in the Roatán Marine Park. Sightings distributions did not vary with diving pressure during an 82-day study period. We found the amount of time turtles spent eating, investigating and breathing decreased when approached by divers. Our results suggest diver interactions may negatively impact sea turtle behaviours, however it is unknown if recreational diving has a cumulative effect on turtles over time. We recommend that MPA managers should implement monitoring programmes that assess the impacts of tourism on natural resources. We have established monitoring of hawksbills as representatives of the marine habitat in an MPA, which has the potential to be heavily impacted by dive tourism, and provide recommendations for continued monitoring of the resource.     

Suit the action to the word,the word to the action: Eliciting motives for trust and reciprocity by attitudinal and behavioural measures

Two important primitives of social capital are the disposition to trust and to reciprocate manifested in social life. In this paper, attitudinal and behavioural evidence is used to investigate the nature of the motivations underlying behaviour in Trust and Dictator games. In doing so, we have three aims. First, to find out whether, and to what extent, answers to a questionnaire about attitudes towards trust and civicness predict subjects’ behaviour. Second, to disentangle strategic from other-regarding motivations by comparing behaviour in Trust and Dictator Games. Third, to investigate to what extent a correspondence could be found between subjects’ attitudinal ‘type’ and their behaviour in the two interactive experimental settings. The paper builds on previous work in the area and in particular finds that using surveys to distinguish between the behavioural responses of different attitudinal types–“Trusting” or “Prudent” on the one hand and “Trustworthy” or “Untrustworthy” on the other, allows us to dig deeper into the underlying motivations of the experimental subjects. The self-declared trusting tend to manifest trust by investing more in the risky interaction than the prudent, and the self-declared trustworthy are inclined to return more than the untrustworthy. Moreover, the self-reported trustworthy and untrustworthy tend to manifest positive or negative reciprocity, respectively. The evidence suggests that the former are moved by the intention to reward and the latter by the desire to punish a stingy Sender by returning an even smaller amount than received. This seems to confirm the “multiple self” view (Elster, 1986), whereby in the personality of each individual many components–possibly distant in terms of the motivating sentiments–are gathered together.     

The effects of power relationships: knowledge,practice and a new form of regulatory capture*

Abstract

In the wake of disasters, criticism tends to target regulatory failures and regulatory capture. In this status quo, the roles of regulators are black-boxed and criticism fails to explore what has been happening within and around regulatory institutions. This paper explores how relationships between regulators of hazardous industry and those who interact with them affect regulatory practice. Actor-network theory was utilised to generate findings drawn from a study of the Australian pipeline industry in order to reveal perspectives and the approaches of regulators in regulating pipeline risks. The findings indicate that pipeline regulators have a particular logic in practicing risk analysis. This paper argues that such a logic can be theorised as a new form of regulatory capture that limits the way regulators regulate risks and constrains the potential of regulatory outcomes. It is urged that a new form of logics of practice needs to be developed so as to improve the process of risk regulation in preventing catastrophic accidents.     

A content analysis of auditors' reports on IT internal control weaknesses: The comparative advantages of an automated approach to control weakness identification

We employ an automated content analysis approach to provide a snapshot of the terminology auditors actually use to describe information technology weaknesses (ITWs). We develop and use a dictionary based on textual analysis of auditors' reports on internal control filed under Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act from 2004 to 2009. Using the dictionary with content analysis software led to the identification of 14 categories of ITWs in order of decreasing frequency of occurrence: (1) access, (2) monitoring, (3) design issues, (4) change and development, (5) end-user computing, (6) segregation of incompatible functions, (7) policies, (8) documentation, (9) masterfiles, (10) backup, (11) staffing sufficiency and competency, (12) security (other than over access), (13) outsourcing and (14) operations. The use of automated content analysis methodology also helped us identify potential disconnects between terminology used in auditors' reports and that used in published frameworks and guidelines. We provide the dictionary and discuss the methodology used in creating and applying the dictionary to the analysis of the textual content of auditors' reports on internal control, including the advantages and limitations of automated ITW identification.     

Cross-national differences in cognitive style: implications for management

An important obstacle to productive working relationships between managers from different countries may be cross-cultural variations in cognitive style. This study examined the traditional dichotomy between the 'intuitive' East and the rational or 'analytic' West. A total of 394 managers from six nations and 360 management students from five nations completed the Cognitive Style Index, a self-report measure of the intuitive-analytic dimension. Reliability coefficients suggested that the properties of the instrument are broadly consistent across cultures. Comparison of mean scores showed that the most intuitive groups were located in the Anglo, North European and European Latin slices of Hickson and Pugh's 'culture cake', and the most analytic were in the Developing Countries and Arab categories. On the basis of these findings, it is argued that it may be more fruitful to classify nations in terms of their stage of industrial development rather than the hemisphere in which they are located. Ways of overcoming difficulties in encounters between managers from different cultures may include training in how to identify, respond to and change cognitive styles, and the selection of individuals or management teams whose styles are compatible with those of their foreign counterparts.