The Influence of Business Ethics Education on Moral Efficacy,Moral Meaningfulness,and Moral Courage: A Quasi-experimental Study

The research described here contributes to the extant empirical research on business ethics education by examining outcomes drawn from the literature on positive organizational scholarship (POS). The general research question explored is whether a course on ethical decision-making in business could positively influence students’ confidence in their abilities to handle ethical problems at work (i.e., moral efficacy), boost the relative importance of ethics in their work lives (i.e., moral meaningfulness), and encourage them to be more courageous in raising ethical problems at work even if it is unpopular (i.e., moral courage). Specifically, the study used a rigorous quasi-experimental pretest–posttest research design with a treatment (N = 30) and control group (N = 30) to investigate whether a graduate-level course in business ethics could influence students’ levels of moral efficacy, meaningfulness, and courage. Findings revealed that participants in the business ethics treatment course experienced significant positive increases in each of the three outcome variables as compared to the control group. The largest increase was in moral efficacy, followed by moral courage, and finally, moral meaningfulness. These findings are discussed in the context of the current research on business ethics education and POS. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Transition to more cooperative and consensual pattern of labour-management relations: Singapore and Hong Kong compared

In recent years, labour-management relations in Hong Kong and Singapore appear to have been shifting away from confrontation towards cooperation. This paper examines the relative contributions of thelaissez-faire and the State approaches to this development, and proposes that a collaborative industrial partnership might take different forms in the two societies.The authors thank the anonymous reviewers of the APJM for their comments and for recommending several additional references.     

A comparative assessment of the employment consequences of UK and West German aid

This paper applies standard input-output methodology to estimate the employment affects of aid flows for the UK and the FRG. The conclusion is at variance with what some other economists have claimed earlier in that it shows that aid flows to developing countries do not generate a lot of jobs at home. Indeed, it is estimated that they generate fewer jobs than alternative uses of money at home, hence this paper contends that the argument of ‘self-interest’ for channelling aid to developing countries does not hold water. It is concluded that overseas development aid as a tool of alleviating domestic problems (unemployment, regional problems etc.) is pretty ineffective and aid allocation priorities should be based on grounds other than those of domestic economic considerations.     

Integrating effective writing skills in the accounting curriculum

The J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the University of Georgia has developed a program for its accounting curriculum which integrates the teaching of effective writing skills with the regular accounting courses. Students in a three-course sequence write a total of eight papers — technical, memos, or reports. The assignments resemble on-the-job technical writing tasks actually encountered by professional accountants. A full-time writing consultant on the School's staff provides occasional lectures and handouts for students on effective writing skills; she also provides help to individual students who may need it. Papers are evaluated for both accounting content and effective writing     

The virtues and vices of the elderly

Perhaps with full-span lives the norm, people may have to learn how to be aged as they once had to learn to be adult. It may soon be necessary and legitimate to criticize the long years of vapidity in which a healthy elderly person does little more than eat and play bingo, or who consumes excessive amounts of drugs, or who expects a self-indulgent stupidity to go unchecked. Just as the old should be convinced that whatever happens during senescence, they will never suffer exclusion, so they should understand that age does not exempt them from being despicable. One of the most dreadful sights…is that of the long rows of women playing the Las Vegas slot machines. Had Dante heard of it he would have cleared a space for it in hell.     

The sisyphus factor or a learning approach to the future

If, as is normally assumed, the future has yet to happen and is dependent upon preceding events and choices it remains uncertain and alternative futures possible. This appears to make the future plural and different from the past and present, which are usually considered to be singular. The role of Futures Research, in an uncertain future, is not to predict but to assist in making informed choices about issues of significance to the future in the changing present. Effective management of change requires the adoption of a learning approach to the future, some of the characteristics of which are explored.     

Consumer online privacy concerns and responses: a power–responsibility equilibrium perspective

We use the Power–Responsibility Equilibrium (PRE) framework and advance that consumers balance perceived deficits in privacy protection by power holders (businesses and regulators) with defensive actions. In our model, consumer privacy concern is the endogenous mediating entity linking business policy and regulatory perceptions to negative online user responses. The model was empirically tested and confirmed in an experimental setting. In a second study, we added the nature of consumer information involved into a sub-model. Here, we investigated the moderating role of information sensitivity and congruency on the business policy–concern relationship across three industry contexts. Both hypothesized two-way interactions were confirmed, suggesting that a strong business policy is effective in reducing concern when low sensitivity data are gathered, but insufficient in reducing concern for highly sensitive data. Furthermore, concern increased dramatically when sensitive data were collected that were incongruent with the business context.     

Strategic value of RFID in supply chain management

At present, a gap exists between the actual and potential values of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in industry. In recent years, academic researchers have recognised the importance of closing this gap, but the existing studies have not yet explicitly dealt with competitiveness as the value of RFID. This paper provides insight into the strategic value of RFID by building a theory on how RFID used in supply chain management may create and sustain a competitive advantage. Four propositions are developed based on a theory of organisational learning and the theory of first-mover advantages.     

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

This article considers the transfer of cost‐reducing technology in the context of contributions to climate protection. We analyze a two‐period public goods model where later contributions can be based on better information, but delaying the mitigation effort is costly because of irreversible damages. Investments in technology affect the countries' timing of contributing. We show that countries have an incentive to provide cost‐reducing technology as this can lead to an earlier contribution of other countries and can therefore reduce a country's burden of contributing to the public good. Our results provide a rationale for the support of technology sharing initiatives.