Telling more than the truth: Implicature,speech acts,and ethics in professional communication

Ethicists have long observed that unethical communication may result from texts that contain no overt falsehoods but are nevertheless misleading. Less clear, however, has been the way that context and text work together to create misleading communication. Concepts from linguistics can be used to explain implicature and indirect speech acts, two patterns which, though in themselves not unethical, may allow misinterpretations and, therefore, create potentially unethical communication. Additionally, sociolinguistic theory provides insights into why writers in business and other professions are prone to use these patterns. An analysis of five cases shows that implicature and indirectness are sometimes used intentionally to deceive readers. However, their use may also reflect other motives such as the desire to mitigate negative information or to show deference to an unfamiliar or powerful reader. Although implicature and indirectness are not intended to deceive in these cases, they can lead to a loss of clarity and to subsequent ethical problems when readers misinterpret texts.Kathryn Riley is an Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where she teaches Advanced Business Writing and various courses in the Linguistics Program. She has published a number of articles on linguistics and writing, and is co-author ofExercises in Linguistics (1990).     

It Goes without Saying: The Effects of Intrinsic Motivational Orientation,Leadership Emphasis of Intrinsic Goals,and Audit Issue Ambiguity on Speaking Up

Regulation requires auditors to raise significant audit issues and concerns to the attention of audit engagement leadership and requires leadership to encourage such communication. This research demonstrates, using an experiment and a survey, that audit team members' willingness to speak up about such issues is associated with their intrinsic motivational orientation. Based on this result, we test whether audit leadership can leverage this relationship to increase speaking up, particularly when audit issues are more ambiguous, by emphasizing intrinsic goals. Results across three additional experiments indicate that auditors whose leaders emphasize intrinsic goals, whether directly or through tone at the top and firm culture, are more likely to speak up than are other auditors. We also find that auditors are more likely to speak up when an audit issue is less versus more ambiguous. We conclude that leadership can fulfill their obligation to encourage upward communication by emphasizing intrinsic versus extrinsic goals, regardless of the level of ambiguity surrounding the audit issue.     

Human capital in the internationalization of family firms

Research concerning the influence of human capital (HC) on internationalization strategies typically highlights skills displayed by business executives. This article is one of the few studies that examines the values, attitudes, and capabilities related to the HC of international companies. Our study attempts to understand the role that HC plays in the international commitment (IC) achieved by family and nonfamily firms and whether the HC of family firms (FFs) can be considered a source of competitive advantage in pursuing an international strategy. Partial Least Squares method is used for analyzing data collected from 270 Spanish firms. Results show HC differs between family and non‐FFs and plays a crucial role in the international strategy of FFs. Specifically, professional experience, training, and educational level, the degree of market and industry knowledge, specific skills to work in international markets, and concern for employees are superior in FFs, resulting in the achievement of higher levels of IC when compared to non‐FFs. The results should encourage managers and/or owners of these companies to exploit and effectively govern specific human resource strengths when they enter and experience growth in other markets.     

The Determinants of Educational Attainment: Modeling and Estimating the Human Capital Model and Education Production Functions

This paper develops and estimates a theoretical model of an individual's high school graduation choice. The model incorporates the idea of a utility-maximizing youth responding to the economic incentives associated with incremental education, as posited by the human capital literature. However, it also allows for family, neighborhood, and school characteristics to affect the process of being educated, as posited by the education production function literature. Estimation of the model, using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) supplemented with neighborhood and school data, indicates that indeed students respond to economic incentives in making education choices; however, most of the effects of background characteristics are working through the education process rather than affecting returns to schooling.     

Challenges Facing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Kyrgyz Republic, 1996-7

Based on high quality household survey data from 1996 and 1997, this paper analyzes the challenges facing non-farm household businesses in the Kyrgyz Republic. The non-farm businesses are small, concentrated in service activities, and rely on family labour. They are new enterprises established after the transition from central planning began, rather than state enterprises formed during the planning era and subsequently privatized. High taxes, low product demand, and high input prices are the three most cited challenges, while the problems facing small businesses do not include credit availability, capacity concerns, input availability, or labour costs. Frequent mention of licence difficulties and extortion, in addition to high taxes, indicates that the grabbing hand of the government is a major obstacle to private businesses. The government is also failing to maintain law and order; in 1996 a quarter of the businesses report violence among their three main challenges.     

The Dollar Exposure of Japanese Companies

The bulk of Japanese exports and imports are denominated in U.S. dollars rather than Japan's local currency, the yen. The consequences of dollar invoicing depend importantly on the extent to which Japanese companies hedge their dollar exposures. If they fully hedge their dollar exposures, then the choice of invoicing currency will not influence the yen profits of Japanese companies. This paper examines the degree to which Japanese companies hedge by estimating their exposure to movements in the dollar. Using Japanese stock market data and an international version of the CAPM model I estimate the extent to which Japanese company returns are correlated with changes in the yen–dollar exchange rate. The results suggest many Japanese companies are indeed exposed to yen–dollar movements and that dollar appreciations generally are positively correlated with firm returns. Since over the period 1984 to 1995, the dollar depreciated by 36% relative to the yen, it follows that the values of Japanese companies fell as a consequence of their dollar exposure.J. Japan. Int. Econ.Dec. 1998,12(4), pp. 388–405. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1220.Copyright 1998 Academic Press.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers F31, G12, F23.     

Informal conflict intervention: Advice and dissent

A disparity appears to exist between how managers are advised to handle conflict and the intervention methods that they utilize in actual practice. Normative advice tends to agree that managers should adopt a facilitative, mediatorlike role (e.g., Walton, 1987; Tjosvold, 1990), while the empirical research suggests that managers are much more controlling, often deciding how to resolve the problem on their own (e.g., Kolb, 1986; Sheppard, 1983). The present study focuses on two potential reasons as to why managers utilize the methods they do: (1) They treat choices instrumentally to achieve key goals and (2) they interpret or frame conflicts in a form that suggests directive action. One hundred and eighty managers were interviewed about a recent effort to intervene in a dispute at work. The results confirm that managers are very controlling when intervening in disputes and relates this to both interpretive frame and, to a lesser extent, managerial goals. A canonical analysis appears to emphasize the pivotal role that frame plays in influencing whether or not managers choose the solution. Implications of these results for managerial action are discussed.     

An analysis of website evolution in the pensions sector

Considerable commentary exists on the potential of the internet for transforming the financial services industry but there is limited longitudinal research into changing website configuration. Studies have investigated online banking ignoring more complex financial services such as pensions. This paper proposes a model of financial services website evolution and applies it to a longitudinal content analysis of 30 pension provider websites, spanning eight years of web development from 1996 to 2003. The study finds that pension websites have evolved over time with apparent links between phases of development and external drivers. The findings indicate that websites support new business transactions rather than existing account management and provide more information on company strength and market position than detail on product and services. Marketing opportunities are present for improved online information provision, business-to-business communication and customer servicing.     

Social support and turnover among entry-level service employees: Differentiating type,source, and basis of attachment

Previous research on social support and turnover has yielded mixed results. To advance research in a more comprehensive manner, the present study examined how turnover is influenced by type of support (emotional or instrumental), source of support (coworker or supervisor), and basis of attachment (affective commitment and constituent attachment as mediators). In the context of entry-level service employees, these relationships were examined with a sample of restaurant servers company-wide from a casual dining restaurant chain in the USA. Coworker emotional support was directly and negatively related to turnover, and coworker instrumental support was directly and positively related to turnover. Furthermore, supervisor emotional support and instrumental support were indirectly related to turnover through affective commitment. When the mediators were considered independently, coworker and supervisor emotional support were both indirectly related to turnover through constituent attachment.     

Insiders’ perspectives of the effects of recent regulation on corporate taxation

Recent legislation and standard interpretations promulgated by governmental bodies and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) have attempted to address several issues related to corporate taxation. These issues include the lack of transparency regarding specific tax transactions, the difficulty in reconciling the corporate tax return with the corporate income statement, the relative lack of disclosure of tax contingencies in the financial statements, and the impact of internal control on the reliability of the corporate tax return. While the stated objectives of several recent regulations have included improvements in the areas of corporate tax compliance and transparency of financial statements, it is unclear whether these regulations have resulted in the desired effects. This study analyzes the perceptions of 223 corporate tax executives regarding the effects of Internal Revenue Announcement 2002-63, Schedule M-3 of IRS Form 1120, FASB Interpretation Number 48 (FIN 48), and Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The findings indicate that the respondents perceive an overall increase in tax return transparency and corporate tax compliance as a result of Schedule M-3 and FIN 48; yet the ability of corporations to engage in tax planning has decreased as a result of FIN 48. The respondents also perceive that both FIN 48 and Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have increased their reliance on outside sources for tax compliance work.