Business and the Environment: Is There More to the Story?

Actions taken to improve the environment are frequently good for profits, but many executives, including economists, are not fully aware of just how good businesss environmental record is. As a result, they often have difficulty responding to critics. This article will present three major points: 1) the environment of the United States is much improved over the past several decades, and businesss pursuit of profits has been an important factor; 2) the publics information about business and the environment is poor; and 3) this faulty information fosters the impression that business is evading its responsibilities.JEL Classification Q50     

The effects of professional education on values and the resolution of ethical dilemmas: Business school vs. law school students

Prior research on the impact of ethics education within the business curriculum has yielded mixed results. Although the impact is often found to be positive, it appears to be both small and short-lived. Interpretation of these results, however, is subject to important methodological limitations. The present research employed a longitudinal methodology to evaluate the impact of an M.B.A. program versus a law program on the values and ethical decision making behavior of a cohort of students at two major universities in the northeast. The results suggest that the M.B.A. curriculum remains a value-neutral experience for most students. In contrast, the law school program had a significant impact on both values and ethical decision making.Donald L. McCabe is Associate Professor of Management at the Graduate School of Management, Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey. His research focuses on ethical decision making, interpretive processes under conditions of uncertainty, and issues of student values and ethics.Janet M. Dukerich is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on individual and group decision making and interpretation processes in organizations.Jane E. Dutton is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan. Her research interests center on organizational adaptation processes, and in particular, organizational responses to value-laden issues.     

Measuring the ABCs of Leisure Experience: Awareness,Boredom, Challenge,Distress

Abstract

The psychometric properties of four aspects of leisure experience (Awareness, Boredom, Challenge, Distress), originally identified and tested with adolescents, were investigated with college students. Findings indicated that the original subscales were internally consistent and could be applied, with minor modification, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, college major, or employment. Interrelationships among the four leisure constructs of Awareness, Boredom, Challenge, and Distress were found to vary as a function of both gender and ethnicity, yielding different profiles of African-American, Asian-American, European-American, and Hispanic-American male and female students.     

The Environmental Attitudes and Practices of Family Businesses in the Rural Tourism and Hospitality Sectors

This paper examines the environmental goals of rural, family owned/operated tourism business with a view to evaluating their conservation ethic and commitment to sustainable tourism. From a survey of 198 family businesses in Western Australia, it was determined that about half of them had implemented a range of sustainable management practices. Future research needs are identified, and management ideas are suggested which could encourage the adoption of sustainable tourism practices in rural family businesses.     

Constructing gender identity through masculinity in CSR reports: The South Korean case

Drawing on the themes of men and masculinity, this article examines texts in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports of local multinational enterprises (MNEs) in South Korea, an emerging economy. This article explores how Korean male hegemony is hidden and naturalized in CSR reporting. Focusing on the discursive construction of gender identity, we analyze how CSR reports portray gendered identities in ways that may foster gender inequality by examining how the texts reflect the inferior position of women and marginalized male workers in the workplace. We review 15 CSR reports from Korean MNEs as a primary data source for examining corporate policies and disclosure on gender-equality issues in the workplace. We explore the inherently embedded meaning of CSR reports to evaluate the masculine tone of gender relations in these texts. To deepen our understanding, we retrieved the original text segments, coded them by using a categorical framework and revisited our data to critically examine our interpretation of the narrative structures that we argue reflect and reproduce certain discourses of masculinity, through the (in)visibility of women, the marginalization of women and (part-time) men, and the silencing of their voices by the Korean male hegemony.     

Gender,fashion consumer group,need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference

Shopping preferences are affected by the culture in which an individual grows up as well as by individual differences in consumers such as differences in gender, fashion leadership and need for touch. The current study examined the influence of consumers' need for touch and fashion leadership on preference for shopping outlets (e.g. touch and non‐touch shopping channels) between genders and within a particular culture. The purpose of this study was to examine gender, fashion consumer group, need for touch and Korean apparel consumers' shopping channel preference. Participants were a convenience sample of 262 Korean college students who were recruited in Changwon, South Korea. A questionnaire was compiled that included a request for demographic information, the Need For Touch scale, the Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership, and items assessing preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels for clothing. Women and men did not differ in overall need for touch or instrumental need for touch. Fashion change agents and fashion followers did not differ in their preference for touch and non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for touch shopping channels was more greatly affected by variables such as need for touch, gender, and fashion innovativeness and opinion leadership than preference for non‐touch shopping channels. Preference for non‐touch shopping channels was virtually unaffected by the variables examined in the current study. Implications for theory and research are provided.     

Are There Hot Hands Among Mutual Fund Houses in Hong Kong?

This paper examines the short-term performance persistence of thirty-two fund houses in Hong Kong during January 1986 to December 1995. We compute fund house returns using averages of all equity funds in each house. Then we evaluate their hot hand performance using the median return as benchmark on a rolling monthly basis. The results show that there were only two 'hot hand' fund houses. Findings using annual returns confirm the non-existence of a hot hand phenomenon. However, we find a strong correlation between conditional and unconditional probabilities of winning repeatedly in consecutive months     

Responses Toward Corporate Crisis and Corporate Advertising

This article investigates how individual differences affect consumer responses to corporate advertising during a corporate crisis. Study 1, based on qualitative data, showed brand ownership, involvement with the crisis, and news media exposure were important factors in understanding consumer response toward the crisis and the company. Study 2, a survey, empirically demonstrated that prior attitude toward the company was the most critical factor affecting advertising-related behaviors. The study further suggested consumers of the brand were more likely to view the company favorably, to know more about the company, and to be more involved in their following of the crisis.     

A discrete‐time hazard analysis of the exit of burley tobacco growers in Tennessee,North Carolina,and Virginia

This article examines the exit and survival dynamics of burley tobacco growers in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia using a discrete‐time hazard logit model. The study also predicts the effects of selected farm and family characteristics on exit hazards, assesses the proportionality of their effects over time and their relative importance in explaining the variation in exit hazards among burley tobacco growers. Results provide the longitudinal progression of the probability of exiting the tobacco industry since the end of the federal tobacco program in 2004, and identify off‐farm participation, percentage of farm receipts from tobacco, tobacco price, educational level, and farm size as the most important determinants of the decision to exit the tobacco industry. Further, the effects of off‐farm participation and farm size on the exit hazards of burley tobacco farms are proportional over time while the effects of the percentage of farm receipts from tobacco and tobacco price are time variant.     

A Breed Apart? Security Analysts and Herding Behavior

Herding behavior occurs when security analysts ignore their private opinions and issue public forecasts that mimic the earnings forecasts of others. Joining the consensus provides cover for analysts' reputations. We question the ethics of this practice when the motive to protect one's reputation takes precedence over the forecast accuracy motive. While seemingly predictable behavior from a self interested perspective, herding behavior has subtle but long term ramifications for the efficient pricing of securities and the preservation of the public trust in the financial services profession. We call upon each individual analyst as well as the profession to exercise the moral courage necessary to cultivate a climate of personal and public integrity. Personal resistance and pro-active policies are prescribed as actions to assist analysts to become more cognizant of their motivations, as well as to promote a more ethical professional context.