Factors influencing ethical climate in a nonprofit organisation: an empirical investigation

Drawing from Victor and Cullen's[Victor, B. and Cullen, J. B. (1987) ‘A theory and measure of ethical climate in organizations’, Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Vol. 9, pp. 51–71.],[Victor, B. and Cullen, J. B. (1988) ‘The organizational bases of ethical work climates’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33, pp. 101–125.] theoretical framework a recent study by Agarwal and Malloy[Agarwal, J. and Malloy, D. C. (1999) ‘Ethical work climate dimensions in a not‐for‐profit organization: An empirical study’, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 20, pp. 1–14.] examined ethical work climate dimensions in the context of a nonprofit organisation. This paper reviews the framework and extends the study further by investigating several factors that influence the perception of ethical work climate in a nonprofit organisation. The multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure is employed to test nine hypotheses. Results demonstrate somewhat unique findings regarding factors that influence ethical climate perception in a nonprofit context. Specifically, the findings of this study point to the level of education, decision style and the influence that superiors and volunteers have upon ethical perception. Results also demonstrate that factors that have been employed traditionally by forprofit management, such as length of service, codes of ethics, size of the organisation and peer pressure, do not effectively influence ethical perception in the nonprofit context. Finally implications of this study are discussed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Does Financial Distress Risk Drive the Momentum Anomaly?

This paper brings together the evidence on two asset pricing anomalies—continuation of prior returns (momentum) and the market mispricing of distressed firms—using UK data. Our analysis demonstrates both these effects are driven by market underreaction to financial distress risk. In particular, we find momentum is proxying for distress risk, and is largely subsumed by our distress risk factor. We also find, as with US studies, no evidence that size and book-to-market (B/M) effects in stock returns are linked to financial distress .     

The Anatomy of a Socially Responsible Corporation

Prior research treats corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a unitary construct. Using principal component analysis, we show that CSR activities can be divided into two types: responsive CSR (RCSR), which includes initiatives that address specific concerns caused by firm activity, and adaptive CSR (ACSR), which are initiatives that anticipate concerns before they arise. We find that responsive motives are roughly three times more dominant than adaptive motives. Larger firms, older firms, and more diversified firms invest more in RCSR while younger firms and more focused firms tend to invest more in ACSR.     

Entry liberalization and export performance: a theoretical analysis in a multi-market oligopoly model

This paper is an attempt to demonstrate how the entry (costless) of firms in an industry may have a dramatic effect on exports from an industry in a country. The results have tremendous implications for LDCs suffering from resource and BOP constraints but having reservoirs of cheap labor. The welfare effects of such entry liberalization policy (or subsidy) can be stated from the Bhagwati theorem that a reduction in an only (single) distortion is necessarily welfare improving by reducing monopoly or oligopoly distortions. However, we have shown that the entry liberalization policy is welfare superior to an equivalent subsidy policy where equivalent is defined in terms of the impact on exports. As a by product, we have also shown how one can integrate the oligopoly models of trade with the general oligopoly literature. The results on the limiting behaviour of an open economy oligopoly model extend the standard results in the oligopoly theory in a closed economy.     

Raising and Rising Voices in Social Media

Emerging cyber-collective social movements (CSMs) have frequently made headlines in the news. Despite their popularity, there is a lack of systematic methodologies to empirically study such movements in complex online environments. Using the Al-Huwaider online campaign as a case to illustrate our methodology, this contribution attempts to establish a rigorous and fundamental analysis that explains CSMs. We collected 150 blogs from 17 countries ranging between April 2003 and July 2010 with a special focus on Al-Huwaider’s campaigns capturing multi-cultural aspects for our analysis. Bearing the analysis upon three central tenets of individual, community, and transnational perspectives, we develop novel algorithms modeling CSMs by utilizing existing collective action theories and computational social network analysis. This article contributes a methodology to study the diffusion of issues in social networks and examines roles of influential community members. The proposed methodology provides a rigorous tool to understand the complexity and dynamics of CSMs. Such methodology also assists us in observing the transcending nature of CSMs with future possibilities for modeling transnational outreach. Our study addresses the lack of fundamental research on the formation of CSMs. This research contributes novel methodologies that can be applied to many settings including business, marketing and many others, beyond the exemplary setting chosen here for illustrative purposes.     

Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance

Would enhancing women's presence in community institutions of forest governance improve resource conservation and regeneration? This paper focuses on this little addressed question. Based on the author's primary data on communities managing their local forests in parts of India and Nepal, it statistically assesses whether the gender composition of a local forest management group affects forest conservation outcomes, after controlling for other characteristics of the management group, aspects of institutional functioning, forest and population characteristics, and related factors. It is found that groups with a high proportion of women in their executive committee (EC)—the principal decision-making body—show significantly greater improvements in forest condition in both regions. Moreover, groups with all-women ECs in the Nepal sample have better forest regeneration and canopy growth than other groups, despite receiving much smaller and more degraded forests. Older EC members, especially older women, also make a particular difference, as does employing a guard. The beneficial impact of women's presence on conservation outcomes is attributable especially to women's contributions to improved forest protection and rule compliance. More opportunity for women to use their knowledge of plant species and methods of product extraction, as well as greater cooperation among women, are also likely contributory factors.     

Experiments in farmers' collectives in Eastern India and Nepal: Process,benefits, and challenges

Do farmers' collectives, which pool land, labour, capital, and skills to create medium‐sized production units, offer a more viable model of farming for resource‐constrained smallholders than individual family farms? A participatory action research project in Eastern India and Nepal provides notable answers. Groups of marginal and tenant farmers, catalysed by the project, evolved into four different collective models with varying levels of cooperation, gender composition, and land ownership/tenancy status. Based on 3 years of action research, this paper examines how the models evolved and their differential outcomes. All groups have gained from cultivating contiguous plots in their efficiency of labour and machine use for land preparation and irrigation, and from economies in input purchase. Several collectives of tenant farmers have also enhanced their bargaining power vis‐a‐vis an entrenched landlord class and thus been able to negotiate lower rents and refuse long‐standing feudal obligations. However, the models differ in their extent of economic gain and their ability to handle gender inequalities and conflicts over labour sharing. The paper explores the historical, regional, and cultural factors that could explain such differences across the models. It thus offers unique insights into the processes, benefits, and challenges of farmers' collectives and provides pointers for replication and further research.     

Growing pains: Pre‐entry experience and the challenge of transition to incumbency

We examine how entrepreneurial entry by diversifying and de novo firms in new industries leads to different levels of performance. We propose that these types of firms differ in dynamic capabilities, which help them overcome growth impediments and transition to incumbency in the industry. Growth impediments arise at larger size, older tenure levels in industry, and after technological discontinuities. Because of their prior experience, diversifying firms are better equipped to handle the challenges of impediments to growth. Meanwhile, de novo firms, ostensibly tailor‐made for the targeted industry, are more likely to stumble over these growth challenges, and eventually lag behind diversifying firms. We find support for our hypotheses using a near census of firms in the U.S. wireless telecommunications industry over the 1983–2004 period. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thy Neighbor’s Mortgage: Does Living in a Subprime Neighborhood Affect One’s Probability of Default?

This article focuses on the potential externalities associated with subprime mortgage origination activity. Specifically, we examine whether negative spillover effects from subprime mortgage originations result in higher default rates in the surrounding area. Our empirical analysis controls for loan characteristics, house price changes and alternative loan products. Our results indicate that, after controlling for these characteristics, the concentration of subprime lending in a neighborhood does not lead to greater default risks for surrounding borrowers. However, we do find that more aggressive mortgage products (such as hybrid adjustable rate mortgages and low/no‐documentation loans) had significant negative spillovers on other borrowers. Stated differently, the aggressive alternative mortgage designs were more toxic to the housing and mortgage market than previously believed.     

Diffusion of rural innovations: Some analytical issues and the case of wood-burning stoves

The literature on the diffusion of rural innovations in Third World countries reveals a spectrum of approaches to the diffusion process. It is argued here that the effectiveness of a particular approach in the diffusion of particular innovations would depend on the technical, the economic and the social characteristics of the innovations. A typology of innovations in terms of these characteristics has been drawn up. This provides the analytical framework within which the instance of wood-burning stoves is concerned. A priori, the characteristics of this innovation are seen to be such as to necessitate the close involvement of the users in the design process itself; they point to the likely inappropriateness of the usual ‘top-down’ approach to diffusion. Available evidence relating to actual experience with promoting wood-burning stoves is seen to bear this out.