Graduate Employability: Policy and Performance in Higher Education in the UK

The UK government is introducing new sets of indicators designed to measure the performance of universities. A first wave of indicators was published in December 1999. A performance indicator based on graduate employment outcomes will follow. This paper proposes a method for developing employment-related performance indicators based on the analysis of data on the first destinations of a full cohort of leavers from pre-1992 universities in the United Kingdom. We analyse the determinants of graduate first destinations and suggest a method for the construction of university performance indicators. We also discuss limitations of league tables based on university performance indicators.     

Collective bargaining and new work regimes: ‘too important to be left to bosses’

The formal negotiations process remains perhaps the least‐studied moment of collective bargaining. Drawing on ideal types of ‘distributive’ and ‘integrative’ bargaining and the ‘formal/informal’ distinction, this article reports non‐participant observation and ethnographic research into the negotiations process that enabled a change agreement in a British multinational, hereafter anonymised as FMCG. Informal bargaining relations provided the backdrop to—and emerged within—the formal negotiations process. Formal bargaining established new employment contracts based on a simplified internal labour market and generated the joint governance processes to enable and regulate the change process. Neither management nor union strategy was wholly derived from rational, interest‐based positions. The negotiations process was essential to strategy formation and to the emergence of sufficient ‘integrative’ bargaining for all parties to devise and approve new processual institutions and norms to deliver a more flexible labour process and to restore the long‐run viability for ‘distributive’ bargaining.     

Psychology, Behavioral Economics, and Public Policy

Economics has typically been the social science of choice to inform public policy and policymakers. In the current paper we contemplate the role behavioral science can play in enlightening policymakers. In particular, we provide some examples of research that has and can be used to inform policy, reflect on the kind of behavioral science that is important for policy, and approaches for convincing policy-makers to listen to behavioral scientists. We suggest that policymakers are unlikely to invest the time translating behavioral research into its policy implications, and researchers interested in influencing public policy must therefore invest substantial effort, and direct that effort differently than in standard research practices.     

The characteristics and attributes of UK firms obtaining accreditation to ISO 14001

Environmental policy in the UK has tended to reflect orthodox textbook responses, focusing upon standard setting and taxation, both impacting upon the supply side of the economy. In addition, economic agents have the option of legal recourse to settle environmental disputes. Complementing this command and control framework is a growing tendency for firms to subscribe to additional voluntary environmental standards by, for example, registering with an appropriate agency, thereby signalling to others that they have adopted a particular scheme. This growing trend has far reaching consequences for future policy decisions and for financial and environmental performance of the firms. We aim here to identify the attributes of many firms which participate in ISO 14001. We use a probit model to determine, from a vector of firm and industry characteristics at one point in time, what factors influence the probability of firms registering with ISO 14001. We then utilize survival analysis to analyse how these characteristics impact upon the ‘hazard’ of accreditation over time. If significant differences exist between 14001 firms and others, important questions arise for academics and practitioners alike. Are certain types of firm hindered by their firm characteristics? Does the scheme favour larger firms over smaller firms, or high tech firms over low tech? Why do some industries have many accreditations whilst others have none? The analysis of such issues is not only an under‐developed area of academic debate, but also of direct relevance to practitioners within the field of environmental management and policy. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Left out in the cold? New energy tariffs,low‐income households and the fuel poor

Two new gas tariffs were introduced in 2000, with contrasting effects. One abolished a fixed standing charge, while the other, specifically targeted at low‐income consumers, introduced a preset charge, independent of fuel consumption, for eligible consumers. We analyse the effect of the abolition of the standing charge on different household groups, including the fuel poor, the current focus of government and regulatory policy. We find that while low‐income groups have benefited more than others from abolition of the standing charge, the fuel poor have gained less than average. We contrast this with the other targeted preset charge scheme.     

The determinants of voluntary investment decisions

This paper analyses investments by firms into areas of corporate social responsibility, focussing on the decision by firms whether or not to invest in compliance with voluntary environmental standards. Theoretical predictions of the compliance decision are tested using discrete time survival analysis on a large dataset of UK manufacturing firms. The rate of voluntary compliance is found to have increased since the introduction of the International Standards Organization (ISO) scheme. Further, voluntary compliance is found to be negatively associated with rates of return and industry share, and positively associated with capital intensity and industry export intensity. In contrast to theoretical predictions on corporate social responsibility, there is no evidence that investment in intangible assets, either at the firm or the industry level, is positively associated with the compliance decision. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chinese professional immigrants in Australia: a gendered pattern in (re)building their careers

Few studies have investigated contemporary professional migrant women from mainland China to developed economies like Australia to understand their motives of migration and the strategy they may adopt to advance their careers. This paper fills part of this important research gap by investigating the career rebuilding experience of Chinese professional immigrants in Australia. It examines the motives of their migration, their career aspirations, the strategies they adopt to rebuild their career and the types of career they are rebuilding. It explores how the compounded effect of gender, race, immigration and family commitment may be articulated in the family and social relations, and how these factors affect women's career aspirations and outcomes. This paper concludes that whilst social capital is important for Chinese migrant women professionals who already possess a high level of human capital, to restart their post-migration career, cultural capital is crucial for their managerial career advancement.     

Concepts,contexts, and mindsets: Putting human resource management research in perspectives

Why is context important in human resource management (HRM) research? What and how contextual factors may be studied when investigating an organisational phenomenon? Against a positivist trend of decontextualisation in HRM research, this paper addresses these questions by situating them in an international context. It argues that context is important in making sense of what is happening at workplaces in order to provide relevant solutions. It also outlines three layers of context and draws on an empirical story to illustrate how the utilisation and conceptualisation of context may be underpinned by the researcher's intellectual and social upbringing and theoretical orientation. The paper calls for more qualitative studies to redress the imbalance in HRM research. It also calls for a more open‐minded, inductive, and inclusive approach to indigenous research that may present very different contexts, ways of contextualising, and knowledge paradigms from the dominant discourses prevailing in HRM research.     

“Minor crimes” against wildlife: Small offenses,lasting impact,and a proposed solution

Past research has examined why people engage in negative consumer behaviors, but research has not adequately examined what drives minor crimes against wildlife, which is important given their prevalence and impact on the welfare of wildlife. We address this need for research with two studies that examine minor crimes against wildlife in the context of wildlife jams (i.e., traffic jams caused by wildlife in and around roadways that obstruct the normal flow of traffic). Study 1 introduces a research methodology very new to the field of marketing by using participant observation and geospatial data to characterize actual behaviors of people during wildlife jam events in a national park setting. Study 2 begins with a pre-test identifying the primary reasons for participation in wildlife jams before the main study tests a message-based intervention strategy to reduce wildlife jams using five conditions (no message, standard message, attitudes-based message, norms-based message, control-based message). Results reveal that a norms-based message reduced intentions to participate in wildlife jams the most, while all messaging tactics were more effective than no message. Findings build on the theory of planned behavior, and suggestions for decreasing consumer harm to wildlife are discussed.