Strategic manoeuvres and impression management: communication approaches in the case of a crisis event

This historical study examines the actions of the Australian former asbestos company, James Hardie, when faced with a potentially ruinous corporate scandal between 2001 and 2007. The company became vilified as public awareness grew of the damage to public health its use of asbestos had caused. In response, it set-up a knowingly underfunded compensation fund supported by a strategy of misinformation and denial. Its actions are analysed using Oliver’s typology of strategic responses and theories of crisis management and crisis communications, providing insights into the company’s motivations for adopting strategies that took it to the brink of financial collapse.     

On the performance of rule-based contribution schemes under endowment heterogeneity

We experimentally test different rule-based contribution mechanisms in a repeated 4-player public goods game with endowment heterogeneity and compare them to a VCM, distinguishing between a random and an effort-based allocation of endowments. We find that endowment heterogeneities limit the efficiency gains from these rule-based contribution schemes under random allocation. Under effort-based allocations, substantial efficiency gains relative to a VCM occur. These are largely driven by significant reductions of contributions in VCM, while the rule-based mechanisms generate stable efficiency levels, even though falling short in realizing the maximal efficiency gains. Our results indicate that the procedure of endowment allocation impacts the perception of what constitutes a fair burden sharing.     

Offsetting Versus Mitigation Activities to Reduce $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ Emissions: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis for the U.S. and Germany

This paper studies the voluntary provision of public goods that is partially driven by a desire to offset for individual polluting activities. We first extend existing theory and show that offsets allow a reduction in effective environmental pollution levels while not necessarily extending the consumption of a polluting good. We further discuss the impact of an increased environmental preference on purchases of offsets and mitigation activities. Several theoretical results are then econometrically tested using a novel dataset on activities to reduce \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) emissions for the case of vehicle purchases in the U.S. and Germany. We show that environmental preference triggers the stated use of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) offsetting and mitigation channels in both countries. However, we find strong country differences for the stated purchase of \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) offsets. While such activities are mainly triggered by a high general awareness of the climate change problem in the U.S., the perception that road travel is responsible for \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) emissions to a large extent is more important for driver’s license holders in Germany.     

Economic development for an exploding population

The author outlines proposals for the organization and implementation of development policies in Zimbabwe. Suggestions are made for adjustments for policies and life styles to respond to threats of overpopulation, depletion of resources, pollution, and famine. Types and problems of development and fallacies of development planning are examined. Methods of research are briefly discussed     

Retaining and satisfying project managers – antecedents and outcomes of project managers’ perceived organizational support

Although theory and research from the domains of organizational behavior and human resource management suggest that individuals’ perceived organizational support (POS) plays a crucial role in enhancing job satisfaction and in reducing turnover intentions, there is a lack of research applying Organizational Support Theory to the realm of project management. Project-based organizations have an increasing demand for highly qualified project managers who feel supported by their employing organization and intend to remain in their positions. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study was to investigate predictors of project managers’ POS (both from a career management and from a project portfolio management perspective) and to examine how this variable related to their job satisfaction and intention to quit their project manager position. Using a sample of 541 project managers and 135 project portfolio coordinators nested in 135 firms, the analysis revealed that POS related positively to project managers’ job satisfaction and negatively to their turnover intention. A career path for project managers was positively associated with POS, especially when it was accompanied by adequate qualification opportunities. Results further stress the significance of top management involvement and the support of project management offices for project managers’ POS.     

Der deutsche Leistungsbilanzüberschuss

Persistent and significant current account imbalances are often seen as one of the greatest threats to the global economy and a catalyst for protectionist tendencies. Germany is often criticised for running a high surplus. However, economists disagree about whether and to what extent the German current-account surplus is excessive and which policy measures could help to rebalance the current account. The authors argue that the German current-account surplus is a global phenomenon and hence requires in addition to economic policies that could stimulate investment activity in Germany an internationally coordinated approach. Taking into account the specific circumstances of a country, the WTO could act as an institutional framework to deal with global imbalances. In particular the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Mechanism could be further developed into a forum for coordinating members’ trade policy and for agreeing on reciprocal measures among members. The concrete design could be based on other established international mechanisms, such as the European Semester.     

Human Resource Management and the ability,motivation and opportunity to continue working: A review of quantitative studies

Organisations are challenged to retain older workers, however knowledge on how this should be done is scattered. The aim of this paper is to integrate knowledge on the actions organisations can take to facilitate the extension of working lives by identifying and examining the effectiveness of Human Resource Management activities directed at the extension of working lives. To this end a systematic review was conducted, which identified 110 peer-reviewed and unpublished empirical articles concerning the influence of job demands, job resources and Human Resource practices on the ability, motivation and opportunity to work(ing). The results indicate that offering job resources has a positive effect on the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working. Furthermore, work ability was found to be most negatively related with job demands whereas employability was most positively related with developmental practices. The paper concludes by suggesting directions for future research and practical implications to encourage evidence-based practice.     

A Rejoinder to the long road to publishing: A user-friendly exposé1

The focus of this paper is an investigation into the approaches to studying of Portuguese students of introductory accounting using the short version of the ASSIST instrument. In doing so, it also examined the impact upon the strategy adopted of the discipline area of students and gender. The results validate the use of the inventory with students of accounting in Portuguese higher education and add weight to the use of translated versions of this instrument elsewhere. The findings indicate that Portuguese students of introductory accounting favour a strategic approach over either a deep or a surface approach and suggest that both the individual student's discipline area and gender have an impact upon the adopted approaches to studying.     

Participation in continuous,on-the-job training and the impact on job satisfaction: longitudinal evidence from the German labour market

A number of studies in the human resources literature acknowledge the importance of workplace training for inducing organizational commitment on the part of workers. However, small sample sizes and the absence of relevant panel data have raised concerns about the general validity of results and highlighted the need for further research to explicitly include on-the-job training as an important facet of job satisfaction. A similar empirical gap exists in the economics and industrial organization literature, where, despite the importance of both on-the-job training and job satisfaction to influence labour productivity, the relationship between the two has received surprisingly little attention. The aim of this paper is to bridge this gap in our knowledge and assess the impact of further training on job satisfaction in the western regions of Germany. We use data derived from the German Socio-economic Panel, which covers the period 1984 to 2002. Concentrating on full-time employed individuals, we focus in particular on the 1989, 1993 and 2000 interview waves, which include a number of questions on work-related training and offer detailed information on the type and duration of training received, and whether employers sponsored such training. The empirical results of the study provide information about the decision to participate in further training and the latter's impact on job satisfaction. Gender inequality issues in Germany's segmented labour market are explained by reference to discrepancy theory, equity theory, social exchange theory and the perception of a breach in the psychological contract between firms and female trainees.     

Interfirm learning in environmental safety: evidence from the bakken

This paper examines whether firm learning economies lead to reduced environmental incidents in Bakken unconventional oil drilling. We model the relationship between environmental safety and learning in preventing environmental incidents. We do not find evidence that firm or interfirm learning leads to increased environmental safety. We do find evidence that idiosyncratic quality of matches between firms and subcontractors is associated with improved environmental safety.