Reviews

Skålnes, Tor The Politics of Economics Reform in Zimbabwe, Continuity and Change in Development Antle, John M. and Sumner, Daniel A. The Economics of Agriculture Helleiner, G.K. (ed.) Manufacturing for Export in the Developing World, Problems and Possibilities     

Unions and Employment Growth: The One Constant?

Sequential analyses of the major workplace data sets available to British researchers—the cross-sectional Workplace Industrial/Employee Relations Surveys (WIRS/WERS)—have revealed shifts in some previously well-established associations between union presence and firm performance, so much so in fact that it has become conventional to speak of a pronounced reduction in the "disadvantages of British unionism." One finding that seems to have persisted in cross section, however, is the negative effect of unions on employment growth. Following on a recent study in this Journal, we reexamine the issue using employment data from a panel of firms surveyed at two points in time rather than a single cross section. We report similar evidence of employment retardation in union regimes. On the other hand, the new data also suggest that some other unfavorable union effects may be longer-standing than previously reported.     

Corporate Psychopaths,Bullying and Unfair Supervision in the Workplace

This article reports on empirical research that establishes strong, positive, and significant correlations between the ethical issues of bullying and unfair supervision in the workplace and the presence of Corporate Psychopaths. The main measure for bullying is identified as being the witnessing of the unfavorable treatment of others at work. Unfair supervision was measured by perceptions that an employee’s supervisor was unfair and showed little interest in the feelings of subordinates. This article discusses the theoretical links between psychopathy and bullying and notes that little empirical evidence confirms the connection in management research. The sample of 346 Australian senior white collar workers used in the research is described as is the measure of behavior for identifying psychopaths. The findings are then presented and discussed showing that when Corporate Psychopaths are present in a work environment, the level of bullying is significantly greater than when they are not present. Further, that when Corporate Psychopaths are present, supervisors are strongly perceived as being unfair to employees and disinterested in their feelings. This article concludes that around 26% of bullying is accounted for by 1% of the employee population, those who are Corporate Psychopaths.     

Understanding and measuring tourist destination images

A destination image is ‘the expression of all objective knowledge, impressions, prejudice, imaginations, and emotional thoughts an individual or group might have of a particular place’ (Lawson and Baud Bovy, 1977 ). Destination images influence a tourist's travel decision-making, cognition and behaviour at a destination as well as satisfaction levels and recollection of the experience. This paper looks at the concept of tourist destination images and how destination image research has been approached from different academic disciplines and by practitioners such as tourism marketers. In particular, different techniques for the measurement of a tourist's destination images are reviewed and the dominance of structured, word-based approaches is highlighted. This paper adds to previous work that has listed the main attributes used in image studies by including recent studies, many of which are Australian. In the paper it is argued that to provide valid image research, a preliminary phase of qualitative research is important in order to distil the constructs relevant to the population being studied. Construct elicitation techniques, such as free-elicitation, interactive interviews and focus group interviews, are discussed along with new techniques that include the visual aspect of image, such as photo-elicitation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.