Research into employee trust: epistemological foundations and paradigmatic boundaries

This article explores the epistemological roots and paradigmatic boundaries of research into employee trust, a growing field in human resource management. Drawing on Burrell and Morgan's well‐known sociological paradigms and their epistemological foundations, we identify the dominant approaches to employee trust research to examine its strengths and limitations. Our review of the literature on employee trust revealed that the majority of the most cited papers were written from a psychological perspective, characterised by positivistic methodologies, variance theory explanations and quantitative data collection methods. We also found that most of the studies can be located in the functionalist paradigm, and while accepting that functionalism and psychological positivism have their merits, we argue that research in these traditions sometimes constrains our understanding of employee trust in their organisations. We conclude that trust researchers would benefit from a better understanding of the ontological, epistemological and axiological assumptions underlying of HRM research and should embrace greater epistemic reflexivity.     

Exploring the Links Between Corruption and Growth

This paper models the transmission channels through which corruption indirectly affects growth. Results suggest that corruption hinders growth through its adverse effects on investment, human capital, and political instability, while fostering growth by reducing government consumption and, less robustly, increasing trade openness. Overall, a total negative effect of corruption on growth is estimated from these channels. These effects are found to be robust to modifications in model specification, sample coverage, and estimation techniques as well as tests for model exhaustiveness. The negative effect of corruption on growth is found to diminish in economies with low governance levels or a high degree of regulation. No one‐size‐fits‐all policy response appears supportable.     

Real Estate Performance Benchmarks in New Zealand and South Africa

This article discusses the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of New Zealand property index and the Richard Ellis property index for South Africa. The background, volatility, method of estimation, composition, and subindices are detailed. The availability and source of the indices are also provided.     

Impediments to sales force automation

Sales force automation (SFA) occurs when firms adopt technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sales-related activities. Research has shown, however, that 55-75% of SFA projects fail. This paper first identifies and explains impediments that exist in three SFA areas: planning, communication, and evaluation. The high failure rate of SFA can also be explained by gaps that exist, between the sales force and management, in SFA perceptions and goals. Finally, after discussing each of these areas, study implications are provided to sales managers and suggestions are offered for future research.     

Beyond money for nothing; beyond set‐aside?

Beyond money for nothing; beyond set‐aside? Set‐Aside has been effective in educing supply. ‘Slippage’ has not been a major factor in the operation of the policy. However, set‐aside has not been cheap: the budgetary costs of set‐aside have exceeded the budgetary costs of dealing with surplus production via export subsidies in many years. Experience with the environmental impact of set‐aside suggests that its major environmental contribution, beyond the types of environmental benefits provided by existing agri‐environmental policies, is to provide for birds and wildlife within relatively intensively cropped areas. While the future requirement for supply control appears likely to be reduced, there may be a continuing environmental rationale for some form of land diversion. We propose a competitive land diversion scheme targeted to provide space for habitat and wildlife in the more intensive areas of production. Such a scheme can be seen as a form of environmental compensation and would be consistent with the adoption of the principle of sustainable development within the EU. We do not claim that this approach would be suited to the conditions in all EU countries. This would depend on the agricultural and environmental conditions and the public preferences towards the environment. Par delà le gaspillage, en plus du gel des terres. ? La jachère aura permis de réduire ?offre. Les ‘dérapages’ n'auront pas été trop importants. Mais le gel des terres n'aura pas été une petite dépense:au fil des ans, le plus souvent, le coût budgétaire correspondant aura été supérieur à celui des subventions à?exportation pour se débarrasser des surplus. A ?expérience, les observations sur les conséquences environnementales du gel des terres suggèrent fortement que le bénéfice majeur à en attendre, en plus des avantages directs procurés par les mesures agri‐environnementales, est de fournir des abris pour les oiseaux et la faune sauvage au sein de zones intensivement cultivées par ailleurs. Au moment où les mesures de contrôle de ?offre semblent devoir être réduites, il apparaît ainsi des raisons pour continuer la politique de mise en jachère. Il est proposé ici une politique de mise en jachère compétitive, destinée à procurer des abris à la faune sauvage dans les zones intensément cultivées. Un tel système pourrait être considéré comme une mesure compensatoire au titre de ?environnement, par conséquent compatible avec les principes du développement durable en Europe. Cela ne veut pas dire qu'il devrait être mis en place partout dans tous les pays europeens. Cela dÉpendrait des situations agricoles et environnementales locales, ainsi que des préfÉrences des citoyens vis‐à‐vis de ?environnement. Alternativen zum bezahlten Nichtstun; Alternativen zur Flächenstilllegung? Die Flächenstilllegung hat das Angebot effektiv verringert. Schlupfverluste haben bei der Umsetzung der Politik keine große Rolle gespielt. Die Flächenstilllegung war jedoch nicht billig: In vielen Jahren überstiegen die Haushaltskosten für die Flächenstilllegung die Haushaltskosten für Exportsubventionen zum Abbau der Uuberschüsse. Die Erfahrungen mit den Umweltauswirkungen der Flächenstilllegung legen es nahe, dass ihr größter Beitrag zum Umweltschutz ‐ über den von vorhandenen Agrarum‐weltpolitikmaßnahmen erzielten Nutzen für die Umwelt hinaus ‐ darin besteht, für Vögel und andere Tiere in relativ intensiv genutzten Bereichen einen Lebensraum zu schaffen. Während sich zukünftig die Notwendigkeit einer Angebotsbegrenzung wahrscheinlich verringert, könnte die eine oder andere Form der Umwidmung von Land aus Umweltgesichtspunkten auch weiterhin begründet sein. Wir empfehlen ein wettbewerbsfähiges Programm zur Umwidmung von Land, welches das Schaffen von Lebensräumen für Tiere auf intensiv genutzten Produktionsflächen zum Ziel hat. Ein solches Programm kann als eine Form von Umweltkompensation betrachtet werden und ginge mit dem erklärten Ziel der nachhaltigen Entwicklung innerhalb der EU einher. Wir behaupten nicht, dass dieser Ansatz für die Bedingungen in alien EU‐Ländern geeignet wäre. Dies hinge von den Agrar‐ und Umweltbedingungen und den öffentlichen Präferenzen für Umwelt ab.     

Psychographic segmentation of park visitor markets: evidence for the utility of sensation seeking

This paper examines whether a segmentation of a large sample (N=9495) of visitors to parks in Ontario, Canada in terms of the psychological push factor motive sensation seeking enables identification of differences between them in park-related attitudes and behaviours. A cluster analysis of individuals based on their attitudes to three dimensions of park experience identified in this study (active enjoyment of nature, escape stress, and sensation seeking) resulted in three clusters of visitors (1 group of higher, and 2 groups of lower, sensation seekers). The higher sensation seekers were found to differ from both groups of lower sensation seekers on a broad variety of attitudes and behaviours to do with parks. In particular, higher sensation seekers visit parks more often to camp than do lower sensation seekers, differ from lower sensation seekers regarding the kinds of things that are incentives for them to visit parks, and with respect to the sources of information about parks they are likely to use, are more likely than lower sensation seekers are to be involved in each of a broad range of activities during their park visits, and place higher importance on numerous facilities and services as well as being more satisfied with them. The implications of these results for park marketing and management are examined, and directions for further research on this topic, especially regarding risk management in parks, are also considered.