Ethical Perspectives in Work Disability Prevention and Return to Work: Toward a Common Vocabulary for Analyzing Stakeholders’ Actions and Interactions

Many studies have emphasized the importance of medical, insurance, and workplace systems treating individuals fairly in work disability prevention (WDP) and return-to-work (RTW). However, ethical theories and perspectives from these different systems are rarely discussed in relation to each other, even though in practice these systems constantly interact. This paper explores ethical theories and perspectives that may apply to the WDP–RTW field, and discusses these in relation to perspectives attributed to dominant stakeholders in this field, and to potential differences in different jurisdictional contexts. Literature was sought primarily in biomedical ethics, business ethics, and public administration ethics. In biomedical ethics, four ethical principles are dominant: autonomy, beneficence, nonmalevolence, and justice. Business ethics involve theories on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), social contracts, and organizational justice. Public administration ethics focus on constitutional theory, citizenship, social equity, virtue, and public interest. Several concepts were identified as relevant for ethical analyses in the WDP–RTW field, including justice; individual autonomy; nonmalevolence; economic and social responsibility; and social contracts. These concepts provide a vocabulary that may be used to analyze stakeholders’ actions and interactions in RTW processes. It was also noted how the power balance between stakeholders will influence which ethical perspectives will influence RTW. Jurisdictional differences that influence RTW processes with regard to stakeholder responsibilities were identified, as well as varying beliefs as to who is the client in different compensation systems. A social contractual approach may inform an analysis of cultural and legal differences.     

Implications of the integral approach and earnings management for alternate annual reporting periods

We compare the last 12 months’ earnings ending in quarter four (i.e., fiscal year earnings), three, two and one. Lipe and Bernard (2000) offer two competing explanations for higher volatility in fourth quarter earnings relative to other quarters. First, under the integral approach, any estimation errors in the earlier quarters are corrected through fourth quarter earnings, which could make them more volatile. Second, earnings management concentrated in the fourth quarter renders fourth quarter earnings more volatile. While both explanations have similar implications for the properties of quarterly earnings, their implications differ for the properties of annual earnings ending in each quarter. Our result comparing earnings variability is more consistent with earnings management than the integral approach. We examine the relative earnings attributes and find that fiscal year earnings attributes rank lower. Finally, we re-investigate the accrual anomaly and find that the accrual anomaly is more pronounced for fiscal year earnings.     

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Interpretation within Dartmoor National Park in Reaching the Goals of Sustainable Tourism Development

In the face of growing pressure placed on the natural environment from increased tourism, this study considers the role of interpretation in achieving sustainable tourism development in natural areas used for tourism. Knowledge gain, attitude change and behaviour modification were used as key indicators in the assessment of the interpretive effectiveness of the High Moorland Visitor Centre in Dartmoor National Park, UK. Through comparing responses to questionnaires from pre- and post-visit samples, this study found that interpretation added to visitor's knowledge of the site. This increase in knowledge encouraged visitors to see how they could change their behaviour to be more respectful of the natural environment. This indicates that there is indeed scope for interpretation, to help modify the behaviour of tourists through increased knowledge and awareness. Attitude change did occur as a result of interpretation in the centre, but only to a limited extent. Participant observation carried out at the centre revealed that interactive material played a vital part in the effectiveness of interpretive messages. Overall results from this study suggest that interpretation, if carefully designed, is capable of contributing to the goals of sustainable tourism development by achieving knowledge restructuring and resulting behavioural intentions of visitors.     

Optimal unemployment insurance and redistribution

We characterize optimal income taxation and unemployment insurance in a search‐matching framework where both voluntary and involuntary unemployment are endogenous and Nash bargaining determines wages. Individuals decide whether to participate as job seekers and if so, how much search effort to exert. Unemployment insurance trades off insurance versus search and participation incentives. We also allow for different productivity types so there is a redistributive role for the income tax and show that a piecewise linear wage tax internalizes the macro effects arising from endogenous wages. Type‐specific lump‐sum taxes and transfers can then redistribute between individuals of differing skills and employment states. Our analysis embeds optimal unemployment insurance into an extensive‐margin optimal redistribution framework where transfers to the involuntarily and voluntarily unemployed can differ, and nests several standard models in the literature.     

‘The Navigator Network’: a New Zealand futurewatch case study

New Zealand's ‘Navigator Network’ is a national scanning network of scientists and policy analysts providing ‘early alert’ advice about emerging areas of science and technology. It was established by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) to enhance the government's readiness to respond to the opportunities and risks around new technologies, particularly in biotechnology and nanotechnology. The Navigator Network has been tailored to the New Zealand context, which is characterised by a small, well-connected government sector and a strong focus on agricultural biotechnology and food. The network builds on these features, and is ‘people-centric’ rather than ‘information-centric’, using dialogic approaches to generate new knowledge between diverse stakeholder groups. It also focuses on building futures capability in the government and science sectors. Representatives from government agencies are integrated into the process as scanners to facilitate uptake. It also has an adaptive development process via an action learning component.     

Coopetition as a Potential Strategy for Corporate Sustainability

The paper is among the first to consider coopetition strategy in the context of corporate level sustainability. Through examination of literature and an example of an actual coopetitive agreement in wine industry logistics, consideration is given to the potential benefits of and problems with sustainability‐based coopetition strategies. The research, based on publicly available information, leads to suggestions for future study into specific theoretical, methodological and pragmatic aspects of sustainability‐related coopetition strategies. At a theoretical level, research into the dynamics of coopetition strategies and relationships between win–win and trade‐offs within economic, environmental and social performance settings is suggested. As the field of study continues to emerge, a broader set of exploratory case studies involving collaborative engagement and participation of practitioners is needed. Attention is also drawn to a broad range of settings available for further research into the design and implementation of sustainability‐related coopetitive strategies exploring advantages for corporations and society. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment