Social Issues and Media Sensationalism: The Effectiveness of Teaching Methods to Affect their Perceived Importance

This study assessed the perceived importance of various social issues and the effect that teaching methods have on business students' perceptions of those issues. Subjects in the test group were shown an educational video that explained how some social issues are reported inaccurately with extensive coverage, or sensationalized in the media, resulting in a moral panic. Other issues are not covered as extensively, but may have a more significant impact on business, society and the subject. The importance of five social issues was rated by students who had completed a course that covered business ethics and social responsibility content and those who had not taken the course yet.Results indicated that business ethics and social responsibility course content had no effect on perceived importance of social issues, but that viewing the video did. Subjects who viewed the educational video on social issues in the news media rated those issues receiving extensive coverage as lower in importance than those subjects who did not view the video. Also, subjects who viewed the educational video rated those issues not receiving extensive coverage as higher in importance than those subjects who did not view the video. Implications for business ethics and social responsibility educators are discussed.     

The process of internationalization in the operating firm

Two factors have been emphasised as influencing the choice of, and subsequent shifts between, modes of foreign market servicing: (1) market-specific knowledge; and (2) the generalised knowledge from operating internationally. The process-oriented literature on internalisation has tended to emphasise the former over the latter. This article maintains that market-specific knowledge is not the only source of information available to a firm. As firms operate in foreign markets they develop, in addition to networks of institutional arrangements, a knowledge of the process of internationalization. Account therefore has to be taken of the general knowledge from operating internationally in understanding the development of institutional arrangements in foreign markets. Consequently, the appropriate unit of analysis is not the individual market but the operating firm as a whole. This argument is illustrated with reference to an empirical study of the internationalization of 25 UK-based organizations.     

Equity market data, bank failures and market efficiency

The paper examines the informational content of market data for long-term horizons in models, which predict bank failure. Univariate results document patterns such as declining prices, negative returns, declining dividends, and rising return volatility, up to 4 years before failure. Multivariate analysis shows that market information improves the failure predictive content of traditional models, which are based on accounting data. Out-of-sample predictions show that the use of stock market data does improve the forecast of bank failure. Furthermore, the persistence of this contribution generally increases with greater distances from the date of failure documenting the forward-looking nature of financial markets.     

The Influence of Servant Leadership on Restaurant Employee Engagement

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy which addresses the concerns of ethics, customer experience, and employee engagement while creating a unique organizational culture where both leaders and followers unite to reach organizational goals without positional or authoritative power. With employees viewed as one of the greatest assets for organizations, maintaining loyal, productive employees while balancing profits becomes a challenge for leaders, and drives the need to understand employee engagement drivers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore servant leadership from the perspective of employees. Participants were 11 employees from a servant leadership led restaurant who took part in two focus groups. The modified van Kaam method (Moustakas 1994) contributed to data analysis, which examined employee responses for comparison and assessment. Several themes emerged including servant leader experience, servant leader traits, the impact of servant leadership, the application of servant leadership, and limited employee attrition. The themes revealed servant leadership positively influences employee engagement while contributing to employee loyalty to the workplace. Based on the servant leader experience, participants were more committed, built healthy work relationships, and actively participated in achieving organizational goals. Findings are discussed in light of current research and practical applications are provided.     

Welfare Effects of Food Safety Recalls

Estimates of the welfare losses associated with food recalls typically assume the announcement causes demand to shift, or the willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) falls for all quantity levels. Several researchers, however, have observed evidence of a rotation as well, where WTP rises for some consumers and falls for others. Preference heterogeneity theory implies that this observation results from an increase in the dispersion of demand. We test this theory using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcement data and Nielsen Homescan panel data for the fresh produce category. We find that the rotation effect cannot be disregarded, but is still dominated in welfare calculations by the shift effect of a recall announcement.     

Local and Global Competition in Information Technology

We examine the implications of changing competitive dynamics in global information and communications technology (ICT) markets for government demand-steering policies whose goal is local rents. Both computing and telephony are undergoing changes in global industry structure and changes in the nature of competition. The convergence of computing and telephony and the rapid technological change (and accompanying technological uncertainty) driving this convergence reinforce trends toward vertical competition. The emergence of global ICT markets lowers entry barriers, likely encouraging government-supported local entrants into global ICT markets. There are, however, strongly offsetting disadvantages. The underlying economics of ICT markets under vertical competition will work to reinforce the dominant position of U.S.-based incumbents in many segments. The prospects for exports, command of rent-related standards, and large rents from exports are not very bright. We expect to see far more demand-steering attempts than successes. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1999, 13(4), pp. 336–371. Landau Economics Building, Department of Economics-6072, Stanford, California 94305-6072; and International Computer Services Research, Stanford Computer Industry Project, Landau Economics Building, SIEPR 144, Stanford, California 94305-6016. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: L5, F110.     

The Role of Nonattenuated Rights in Positive Economics: A Critical Appraisal

This article assesses the institutionalist elements of Friedrich Hayek's neoliberal political economy by presenting his views on the entangled relations between the state and markets in capitalism. Through the analysis of Hayek's work, the article contributes to further consolidating the view that neoliberalism is an ideological project of institutional transformation which, despite some enduring myths, has an irreplaceable role for a state with many important functions in a more limited democracy. Markets, for their part, are politically contested social constructions that depend on previous non-market institutions for their existence and legitimation. This paper argues that Hayek's work corroborates this institutionalist claim.     

An Asymmetric Information Model of Lockouts

This note proposes an asymmetric information model of collective bargaining where the firm has the bargaining power and the union the private information. Results show that the firm may use lockouts to induce the union to reveal its private information.