An Examination of the Factors that Influence Whether Newcomers Protect or Share Secrets of their Former Employers*

abstract This research investigated the factors that influence a decision that is often faced by employees who have made a transition from one organization to another: the decision about whether to protect secrets of their former employer or to share them with their new co‐workers. A total of 111 employees from two high‐tech companies participated in interviews. Their comments were analysed and, based on both relevant literature and the results of that analysis, a theory of the factors that influence newcomers' protect vs. share decisions was developed. According to that theory, newcomers first decide whether or not information is a trade secret of their former employer by considering (1) whether the information is part of their own knowledge, and (2) whether the information is publicly available, general, and negative (about something that did not work). If newcomers decide the information is a trade secret, they then evaluate (1) the degree to which their obligations are biased towards their former or new employer, and (2) the degree to which they identify more strongly with their former or new employer. Newcomers whose obligations and identifications are biased towards a new employer are more likely to share secrets. If these obligations and identifications are balanced, newcomers may share information in a way that allows them to believe they are fulfilling their responsibilities to both their former and their new employers.     

“We are all so different that it is just … normal.” Normalization practices in an academic hospital in the Netherlands

Internationally, academic hospitals are giving increasing attention to diversity management. This paper sheds light on the actual praxis of cultural diversity management by professionals in workplace interactions. An ethnographic study in a Dutch academic hospital showed that normalization practices were obscuring diversity issues and obstructing inclusion of cultural minority professionals. The normalization of professionalism-as-neutral and equality-as-sameness informed the unequal distribution of privilege and disadvantage among professionals and left no room to question this distribution. Majority and minority professionals disciplined themselves and each other in (re)producing an ideal worker norm, essentialized difference and sameness, and explained away the structural hierarchy involved. To create space for cultural diversity in healthcare organizations in the Netherlands and beyond, we need to challenge normalization practices.     

The daughter effect: do CEOs with daughters hire more women to their board?

Using a sample of S&P 100 firms, we find that CEOs with a daughter are more likely to hire new women to their board of directors than CEOs without a daughter. Our results provide additional evidence that parents’ attitudes and actions are affected by the gender of their children and that the effect is strong enough to influence important decisions at large corporations.     

Self-Regulation for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA): Analysis of OBA Notices

This study assessed how and to what extent self-regulation of online behavioral advertising (OBA) is executed on participating companies' websites. Based on the principles of OBA, as outlined by the Digital Advertising Alliance and Federal Trade Commission, we analyzed the format of OBA notices, explanation of OBA notices, opt-out options, transparency, and use of unacceptable notices. A series of content analyses was done in the years 2013 and 2015. Our results indicated slight improvements over the years, but the specific details of the implementation continued to fall short of the standards. In terms of accessibility and visibility, many websites demonstrated problematic presentations or lack of the components necessary to increase consumers' understanding and control over the practice of OBA.     

Influences on managerial perceptions of stakeholder salience: two decades of research in review

Management Review Quarterly - Mitchell et al.’s (Acad Manag Rev 22(4):853–886, 1997) theory of stakeholder salience is still the leading theory for stakeholder identification and...