Empirically testing ES success factors in business process reengineering

Previously proposed success factors for Expert Systems implementation are field tested in the context of business process reengineering (BPR) projects. Due to its nature mimicking human expert behavior, ES technology applications in BPR provide a unique opportunity to study major organization changes within a relatively short time. Using Pearson correlations and multivariate regression analysis, eight ES implementation success factors proposed in the literature were empirically tested in this study in terms of their importance to the BPR benefits derived from the application. Sixty-two ES applications within E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company dealing with business process changes significant enough to be called BPR were used. Despite the relatively small sample size, six of the eight success factors were corroborated: user satisfaction with the ES, the importance and difficulty of the business problem addressed, user attitudes toward ES technology and the particular ES project, the degree of user involvement in the ES implementation process, and the ES developer(s) skills.     

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES: AN INTEGRATED CAUSAL MODEL AND PATH ANALYSIS*

Research on employee-owned organizations to date has utilized alternative theoretical perspectives and has examined varying attitudinal outcomes. This study reviews previous research and attempts to integrate the findings into a causal model that combines the results of prior studies. the resulting causal model was tested empirically with a sample (N= 181) of employees from a firm that adopted an employee ownership programme. Financial value of the ESOP was positively related to satisfaction with the ESOP plan, but was not related to other attitudinal variables. Perceived influence from ownership was positively related to ESOP satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. ESOP satisfaction, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment were negatively related to turnover intention. ESOP satisfaction and turnover intention were related to actual employee turnover behaviour over an extended time period.     

Abuse and Exploitation of Doctoral Students: A Conceptual Model for Traversing a Long and Winding Road to Academia

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper develops a conceptual model of PhD supervisors’ abuse and exploitation of their students and the outcomes of that abuse. Based on the literature about...     

Owner-occupancy fraud and mortgage performance

We identify occupancy fraud—borrowers who misrepresent their occupancy status as owner-occupants rather than investors—in residential mortgage originations. Unlike previous work, we show that fraud was prevalent in originations not just during the housing bubble but also persists through more recent times. We also demonstrate that fraud is broad-based and appears in government-sponsored enterprise and bank portfolio loans, not just in private securitization; these fraudulent borrowers make up one third of the effective investor population. Occupancy frauds obtain credit at lower interest rates, suggesting a motivation for undertaking fraud. These fraudulent borrowers perform substantially worse than similar declared investors, defaulting at a 75% higher rate. We also provide evidence consistent with fraudulent borrowers’ defaults being more “strategic,” suggesting that this population poses a risk in the face of declining house prices.     

Corporate tax avoidance and the timeliness of annual earnings announcements

Consistent with an agency theory of tax avoidance, this study investigates the extent to which tax avoidance results in a less timely annual earnings announcement. Using 16,340 firm-years spanning the period 1993–2010, evidence is presented suggesting tax avoidance that manifests through greater temporary and permanent book-tax differences results in a less timely annual earnings announcement. This result is robust to including several controls previously documented to affect reporting delay, including the magnitude of the earnings surprise, size, profitability, auditor-related influences, shareholder composition, capital intensity, financial reporting aggressiveness and financial condition. Evidence is also presented suggesting that tax avoidance impacts the value-relevance of earnings to investors at the announcement date, evaluated by the earnings response coefficient.     

Volatility in productivity and the impact on unemployment

Volatility, and the uncertainty it creates, has long been recognized as a factor in economic decision making. Since hiring occurs before shocks to productivity are realized, firms’ investment in new labour is inherently risky. How large a role uncertainty in productivity has on aggregate unemployment is an empirical question that we attempt to answer. In this paper we measure the impact of higher volatility in labour productivity on the unemployment rate in the U.S. economy using a SVAR-GARCH-M model. Using the conditional standard deviation of productivity innovations from a multivariate GARCH model to measure uncertainty, we provide compelling evidence that unemployment increases with volatility. This estimated relative effect is actually larger for positive productivity shocks leading to unemployment declines only 60% as large as would have occurred using models that exclude uncertainty.     

The Relationship between Individualism,Collectivism, the Perception of Justice,Demographic Characteristics and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour

This study examines the relationship between individualism, collectivism, the perception of justice, and demographic variables and organisational citizenship behaviour. The research design is based on survey data acquired from questionnaires distributed to 241 certified nurses and their superiors in 20 units of one of the hospitals in northern Israel. The findings showed that collectivist employees tended to display OCB more frequently than individualistic employees. Positive relationships were found between justice variables and OCB. Of the demographic variables, married employees tended to display OCB more than unmarried workers. In addition, more experienced employees exhibited fewer organisational citizenship behaviours than did their less experienced colleagues. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Social Criticism of Advertising: On the Role of Literary Theory and the Use of Data

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of literary theory for the social criticism of advertising. In particular, it examines what types of claims can be made simply by analyzing an ad itself and what types of social criticism require extrinsic data about how other readers understand the ad or the historical context of its creation. The author advocates a “doubly integrated” approach to social criticism that combines literary analysis with use of extrinsic empirical data and also integrates the system by which ads are produced with the way they are comprehended. This approach provides a holistic view of the advertising process and a strong basis for critique. Discussion of a demonstration study shows how qualitative data collected from readers can be used to complement traditional literary interpretations of advertisements.