Individual characteristics and the arousal of mixed emotions: consequences for the effectiveness of charity fundraising advertisements

• Charities that deal with emotionally upsetting issues (severe physical disfigurement, cruelty to animals, etc.) frequently include in their fundraising materials images and messages with the potential to cause substantial psychological distress to some members of the public. Often, the materials presented arouse mixed positive and negative emotions within viewers. This study examined the influences of a number of potential antecedents of the stimulation of mixed emotions among individuals confronted with highly emotional charity fundraising advertisements. The research sought to identify the type of person most likely to experience mixed emotions when observing an emotional charity advertisement, the specific kinds of emotion felt most deeply by individuals with various characteristics, and the consequences of mixed emotions for a person's attitude towards the advertisement and for the individual's behavioural intention vis‐à‐vis future donations. Three made‐up charity advertisements were presented to a sample of 771 respondents. A model was constructed to predict the participants' emotional reactions to the advertisements and was estimated, the results suggesting that mixed emotions represented an important determinant of both attitude towards the advertisement and the sample members' behavioural intention.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transparent Practices: Primary and Secondary Data in Business Ethics Dissertations

We explore the availability and use of data (primary and secondary) in the field of business ethics research. Specifically, we examine an international sample of doctoral dissertations since 1998, categorizing research topics, data collection, and availability of data. Findings suggest that use of only primary data pervades the discipline, despite strong methodological reasons to augment business ethics research with secondary data.     

Alternative goods allocation schemes under repressed inflation

We incorporate endogenous production into Sah's analysis of alternative schemes for distributing a deficit good. The model is interpreted as applying to a socialist economy suffering from repressed inflation. Sah's results are robust to this generalisation provided production is linear. Also, amending Sah's assumptions, we suppose all individuals own equal shares in the means of production. If production is linear, a low-wage worker (particularly defined) prefers goods to be sold at a free-market price to the alternatives of (equal) nonconvertible rationing or a queuing system. Without linearity, the results are less clear-cut.I am grateful to Ben Lockwood and Lynn Mainwaring for helpful discussions, and to anonymous referees for constructive comments.     

Using Genetic Algorithms to Optimize the Selection of Cost Drivers in Activity-based Costing

In this paper, we address a cost-drivers optimization (CDO) problem in which two separate but interrelated decisions (i.e. the number of cost drivers needed and which cost drivers to use) are considered. It is desirable to have (1) an optimal selection of cost drivers in order to provide better indication of product costs and (2) an optimal number of cost drivers in order to avoid excessive control costs and to minimize information costs associated with data collection, storage and processing. The objective of the CDO problem is to balance savings in information costs with loss of accuracy. We propose an heuristic procedure based on genetic algorithms as an alternative with the potential to address more generalized objective functions. Genetic algorithms represent an innovative and promising heuristic approach which does produce results superior to published alternatives. The development and implementation of the algorithm is supported with the literature review and comparative analysis. We also comment on the complexity and experimental design issues for addressing large and practical problems.     

Inside the mediation room - efficiency,voice and equity in workplace mediation

Existing research into workplace mediation in the UK has tended to focus on managerial perceptions. Consequently, there has been a unitarist emphasis on the business case for mediation, revolving around its alleged superior efficiency properties compared to conventional rights-based procedures. This paper develops the research agenda in two respects: first, it foregrounds the experiences of participants in mediation through 25 interviews with individuals drawn from a variety of contexts. Second, it extends the analysis beyond the efficiency of mediation to consider issues of voice and equity. In doing so it explores the role played by mediation within the negotiation and re-negotiation of workplace relations and also the way in which it shapes, and is shaped by, power and control. In the cases examined in the paper, mediation not only facilitated employee voice, but allowed subordinates to challenge the authority of supervisors and line managers. However, the influence of mediation on the balance of workplace power relations outside the mediation room was much more limited.     

An examination of factors associated with the integration of human resource management and strategic decision making

Conceptually, a central aspect of “strategic HRM” is the integration of the HR function with strategic decision making. Little is known, however, about the factors that influence integration or its subsequent effects. Using data from 148 diverse organizations, it was found that strategic type and whether or not top management views employees as strategic resources were associated with integration, but that labor market munificence and organizational growth were not. The results concerning the relationship between integration and performance were surprising; integration was associated with a lower evaluation of the HRM function by top management. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.