To Thine Own Self Be True? Employees’ Judgments of the Authenticity of Their Organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program

Despite recognizing the importance of developing authentic corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, noticeably absent from the literature is consideration for how employees distinguish between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs. This is somewhat surprising given that employees are essentially the face of their organization and are largely expected to act as ambassadors for the organization’s CSR program (Collier and Esteban in Bus Ethics 16:19–33, 2007). The current research, by conducting depth interviews with employees, builds a better understanding of how employees differentiate between authentic and inauthentic CSR programs, and how these judgments influence their perceptions of the organization. We find that employees rely on two different referent standards to form authenticity judgments—the extent to which the image put forth in the CSR program aligns with the organization’s true identity and the extent to which the CSR program itself is developmental. To assess the former, employees draw on cues about resource commitment, alignment between elements of the organization’s CSR program, emotional engagement, justice, and embeddedness. The latter assessments are based on the extent to which the organization adopts a leadership role with regards to its CSR initiatives. We also find that perceived authenticity can lead to positive outcomes such as organizational identification and employee connections. This study contributes to the broad literatures on both CSR and authenticity, as well as more specifically adding to the conversation on authenticity as a potentially valuable lens for enriching business ethics theorizing.     

A Comparison of Neural Network, Statistical Methods, and Variable Choice for Life Insurers' Financial Distress Prediction

This study examines the effect of the statistical/mathematical model selected and the variable set considered on the ability to identify financially troubled life insurers. Models considered are two artificial neural network methods (back‐propagation and learning vector quantization (LVQ)) and two more standard statistical methods (multiple discriminant analysis and logistic regression analysis). The variable sets considered are the insurance regulatory information system (IRIS) variables, the financial analysis solvency tracking (FAST) variables, and Texas early warning information system (EWIS) variables, and a data set consisting of twenty‐two variables selected by us in conjunction with the research staff at TDI and a review of the insolvency prediction literature. The results show that the back‐propagation (BP) and LVQ outperform the traditional statistical approaches for all four variable sets with a consistent superiority across the two different evaluation criteria (total misclassification cost and resubstitution risk criteria), and that the twenty‐two variables and the Texas EWIS variable sets are more efficient than the IRIS and the FAST variable sets for identification of financially troubled life insurers in most comparisons.     

Determinants of Equity Style

This paper provides a unifying empirical treatment of propositions explaining equity style cycles with a four-factor model that combines risk factors central to style theory. Tests on style autocorrelations and performance over the period January 1979–December 2004 generally affirm theoretical expectations. We employ cointegration methodology to analyze the stationarity of style covariances and dissect the diversification contributions of styles. We document style diversification gains but discover an asymmetry: value gains are derived from small company stocks while growth benefits come from large stocks. The asymmetry implies portfolios comprised of independent large growth and small value styles since the twin small growth and large value styles are cointegrated and redundant diversifiers. Performance tests show superior performance by the independent styles over the sample period, two equal intertemporal periods, and an extended 5-year period that directly contradicts a risk based explanation. The influence of institutional traders on style trends is also documented. Our findings affirm the predictions of behavioral models and provide more empirical evidence of superior performance unrelated to risk or fundamentals.

Changing levels of intellectual property rights protection for global firms: A synopsis of recent U.S. and EU trade enforcement strategies

According to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC), approximately $350 billion in counterfeit goods is traded annually in the world economy. Additionally, the European Commission of Taxation and Customs Union reported that 100 million fake items were seized in 2004, a 900% increase over a 4-year period. Recent trade initiatives, such as the U.S. Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) and the EU Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, target both organized pirates and consumers in effort to bolster the protection of intellectual property rights. Understanding these innovative trade initiatives will assist managers to better deal with anti-counterfeiting tactics.     

A Brief History of Long Work Time and the Contemporary Sources of Overwork

What are some of the key historical trends in hours of work per worker in US? What economic, social-psychological, organizational and institutional forces determine the length of individuals’ working hours? How much of the trend toward longer working hours among so many workers may be attributable to workers’ preferences, workplace incentives or employers’ constraints? When can work become overwork or workaholism – an unforced addiction to incessant work activity which risk harm to workers, families or even economies? The first part of this article traces the history of the length of working hours and its recent polarization. The second part develops a multi-disciplinary model to identify motivations behind working longer hours. Individuals' desired work hours will stem from the weighted contribution of five sources: (1) current real wage rates; (2) forward-looking, wage trajectories; (3) relative status associated with hours of labor; (4) intrinsic rewards, process benefits or amenities acquired through work; (5) hours demanded by the employer and other structural constraints, to which workers may adapt. Employers and their established conditions of work have influenced the course of long run trends labor supply and in work time structures. The final section suggests policies that might address the persistence of long hours.     

An investigation of how incorrect examples can enhance tax rule comprehension

Based on Popper's (1962) falsification theory, this study tests whether tax students perform better when examples that fail to satisfy technical requirements are presented rather than examples that do satisfy the requirements. Rule application problems were given to the students immediately after instruction, a few days later, and at the end of the semester. To test for potential intervening effects, GPA and overall course performance were statistically controlled. The results indicate that presenting examples which do not satisfy certain tax rules generally leads to better test performance than presenting correctly applied examples. Moreover, this tended to be true for all students, regardless of their overall course performance.     

Managerial ability,forecasting quality,and open-market repurchase program completion

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We examine how the US and EU antidumping (AD) cases against Chinese firms affected their stock prices and long-term financial performance during...     

Revitalizing social dialogue in the workplace: the impact of a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable HR practices on reducing employee harm

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to unravel the relationship between current forms and realities of social dialogue in the workplace, the industrial relations climate, HRM, and employee harm. We tested a model specifying associations between (1) indicators of revitalized social dialogue, (2) perceived cooperation within the industrial relations climate, (3) perceived sustainability in HR practices, and (4) management perceptions regarding employee harm. The test was based on a survey conducted among 356 (HR-)managers and CEOs in Belgium. The results support the idea that a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable HR practices can reduce employee harm. More specifically, efficiency in social dialogue fully mediated the relationship between cooperative industrial climate and employee harm. In turn, industrial relations climate partially mediated the relationship between sustainable HR practices and employee harm. Finally, sustainable HR practices correlated positively with a cooperative industrial relations climate, suggesting that HR and employee relations reinforce rather than weaken each other.