The effects of tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty on the appropriateness of accounting performance measures

This article examines how task uncertainty, environmental uncertainty and tolerance for ambiguity (TFA) affect managerial opinions about the appropriateness of accounting performance measures (APM). Based on accounting and psychology literature, this study argues that task uncertainty and environmental uncertainty differ in their direct effects on the appropriateness of APM, and furthermore that the relationship between uncertainty and the appropriateness of APM is moderated by managers' TFA. Hypotheses are developed, and tested with data from a survey study among 250 managers in eleven organizations, using partial least squares (PLS). Overall, the results show that the two types of uncertainty have opposite effects on managers' opinions about the appropriateness of APM, and that these effects are moderated by TFA, which confirms expectations. No direct effect of TFA on the appropriateness of APM was found. Overall, these findings provide an explanation of the inconsistencies in the extant behavioural management accounting literature that has addressed the appropriateness of APM under uncertainty.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">The Sound of Silence – A Space for Morality?</Emphasis> The Role of Solitude for Ethical Decision Making

Building on research and measures on solitude, ethical leadership theories, and decision making literatures, we propose a conceptual model to better understand processes enabling ethical leadership neglected in the literature. The role of solitude as antecedent is explored in this model, whereby its selective utilization focuses inner directionality toward growing authentic executive awareness as a moral person and a moral manager and allows an integration between inner and outer directionality toward ethical leadership and resulting decision-making processes that will have an impact on others’ perceptions of leader authentic ethical leadership. Thus it is proposed that utilization of solitude positively predicts executive-level authentic ethical leadership action and in turn, ethical decision making perceived fairness and integrity. We also propose two moderators, strengthening the hypothesized (positive) association between solitude and ethical leadership; these are the executive’s ability for moral reasoning and a motivation for socialized (as opposed to personalized) power.     

Macht der Neuen Medien?

Virtual reality media mark the latest milestone in media evolution in respect to the media’s capacity to involve users’ senses and perceptual resources. Therefore, these new media are assumed to hold an especially strong potential to influence their users. Based on a conceptual model from presence research, this study explicates the potentially powerful effects of virtual media as users’ impression of ?being overwhelmed‘ by the medium, which can manifest in different steps (e.g., attraction of attention, suspension of disbelief, or presence). Subsequently, an experiment (N = 85) tests the impact of key characteristics of virtual media (sensory immersion and interactivity) on the conceptualized different steps of ?being overwhelmed‘. The study uses the example of a virtual museum. Both self-report data and a machine-based procedure (Secondary Task Reaction Times) are applied to measure the state (types) of ?being overwhelmed‘. Results indicate that the general assumption of powerful effects of virtual media should be specified in terms of person x situation models because the subjects’ personal characterists also affected the qualitiy and intensity of users being ?overwhelmed‘.     

The appropriateness of RAPM: toward the further development of theory

One of the few areas in management accounting and control research that has attained critical mass concerns the organizational and behavioral effects of budgeting. Many studies in this area focus on the use of budgets for managerial performance evaluation, and revolve around the construct Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures (RAPM). Despite the volume of the RAPM literature, concern has been expressed about its current state in terms of both theoretical progress and methodological practice. This paper provides an overview of the RAPM literature, and explains some important points of critique. In response to this critique, the last part of the paper explores the possibility for a further development of RAPM theory that is based on the concept of uncertainty. ©     

Chain liability in multitier supply chains? Responsibility attributions for unsustainable supplier behavior

When it becomes publicly known that products are associated with suppliers that engage in unsustainable behaviors, consumers protest, as Nestlé, Zara, and Kimberly Clark, among others, have learned. The phenomenon by which consumers hold firms responsible for the unsustainable behavior of their upstream partners suggests the notion of “chain liability.” This study aims to generate insights into the antecedents and consequences of such consumer responsibility attributions. Using data from four vignette-based survey experiments, the authors find that the chain liability effect increases if an environmental degradation incident (1) results from supplier behavior rather than force majeure, (2) results from a company decision rather than the decision of an individual employee, and (3) is more severe. Responsibility attributions do not differ with varying organizational distance from the supplier, firm size, strategic importance of the supplied product, or the existence of environmental management systems. The chain liability effect also creates strong risks for the focal firm; higher responsibility attributions increase consumers’ anger and propensity to boycott. Therefore, firms should work to ensure sustainable behavior throughout the supply chain, to protect them from chain liability.     

A time series analysis of Danish markets for pork, chicken, and beef

We offer a first-time empirical depiction of Danish dynamic meat price/quantity transmissions by formulating, estimating, and testing a VAR model of market-clearing quantities and prices of the Danish pork, chicken, and beef markets. The analysis illuminates how these markets dynamically handle shocks, and it is demonstrated that: (i) the three meats are close substitutes; (ii) chicken and pork market shocks have own-market and cross-market effects that occur rapidly and swiftly, while beef market shocks have more enduring impacts on pork and chicken markets; (iii) prices are in general more endogenous than quantities; and (iv) the price of chicken is much more endogenous than the prices of pork and beef.