Market microstructure: A review from down under

The early automation of the Australian and New Zealand financial markets provided researchers with access to high‐frequency data to undertake extensive empirical market microstructure research. We use this anniversary edition of Accounting and Finance to review some of this research and to discuss the development of the Australian and New Zealand markets since their automation. We identify issues currently facing the markets and highlight potential areas for future research. The paper also provides a review of market microstructure theory on inventory control models and asymmetric information models.     

A comparative analysis of patients’ rights: an international perspective

Consumer rights are used as a framework comparing the patients’ rights of selected countries. Patients’ right documents of geographically dispersed countries, regional coalitions and international organizations were selected for analysis and comparison reflecting health and consumer policy. The content of patients’ rights policies, including populations addressed, basic consumer rights, dignity and privacy or confidentiality were analysed. The inclusion of consumer responsibilities and enforcement of patients’ rights was evaluated. Countries used comprehensive laws and charters to address patients’ rights. The consumer rights most often noted in the patients’ rights analysed were the rights to information, choice and redress. Five countries lacked inclusion of consumer responsibilities and the responsibility for enforcement. Suggestions for action on the part of family and consumer educators and scientists were offered.     

Structural Change in the Probability of Part-Time Participation by Married Women

Results from an ordered probit model are provided at two points in time for the probability of participation. The findings indicate a structural change between 1976 and 1986 in the determinants of whether married women choose non-participation, full-time or part-time participation. In 1976 more education and experience shifted women out of non-participation and into full-time and part-time participation. By 1986 more education and experience shifted women out of non-participation and part-time work into full-time work.     

An Examination of the Factors Associated with Bank Switching in the U.K. Small Firm Sector

Previous research has consistently shown that a large number of firms are sufficiently dissatisfied with their bank relationship to have considered switching to an alternative bank. In practice, however, the number of firms which actually switch banks is relatively low. This paper examines empirical evidence from a postal survey of small firms in order to investigate this paradox. Binomial and multinomial logistic regression is used to identify the characteristics which discriminate between a group of firms considering switching banks and two other groups, namely those which had switched banks in the previous three years and those which had not switched banks and were not considering doing so. The paper tests the hypothesis that some small firms may be "informationally captured", in that they are tied into their current bank relationship due to difficulties in conveying accurate information about their performance. The results provide some evidence in support of the hypothesis in that rapidly changing information, particularly changing technology, was a characteristic associated with firms which were considering switching but had not switched. However, there was no significant evidence to support the hypothesis that superior performing firms are more likely to be "informationally captured"; growth and perceived business success were both associated with firms which switched banks. There was strong evidence that the main drivers of the decision to switch or consider switching banks were difficulties obtaining finance and dissatisfaction with the service provided. The results also showed that firms which were considering switching banks tended to use more alternative (non-banking) sources of finance. It is concluded that some firms will resolve difficulties obtaining finance by switching banks, whereas others will use alternative sources of finance depending on the balance between the benefits of switching, such as increased finance, and switching costs including information provision.     

The Role of Ethical Ideology in Workplace Deviance

Ethical ideology is predicted to play a role in the occurrence of workplace deviance. Forsyths (1980) Ethics Position Questionnaire measures two dimensions of ethical ideology: idealism and relativism. It is hypothesized that idealism will be negatively correlated with employee deviance while relativism will be positively related. Further, it is predicted that idealism and relativism will interact in such a way that there will only be a relationship between idealism and deviance when relativism is higher. Results supported the hypothesized correlations and idealism and relativism interacted to predict organizational deviance. Idealism was a significant predictor of interpersonal deviance, but no interaction was found.Christine (Chris) A. Henle, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of Management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research interests include counterproductive employee behaviors, employment law, and organizational justice. Her current research focuses on cyberloafing at work, religious discrimination in employment, and the role of supervisor and coworker norms in predicting counterproductive work behaviors. She has provided consulting services in the areas of job analysis, recruiting, selection, and performance management.Robert A. Giacalone, Ph.D. (State Univeristy of New York-Albany) is Professor of Human Resource Management at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Giacalone is coeditor of five books, co-author of two books and has authored over 90 articles on ethics, employee sabotage, impression management and exit interviewing, appearing in journals such as Human Relations, Business and Society Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of the Organizational Behavior, and the Journal of Social Psychology. His current research focuses on the impact of materialism/postmaterialism and workplace spirituality on business ethics.Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Ph.D. is the John W. Dupuy Endowed Professor and the Womens Hospital Distinguished Professor of Healthcare Ethics at Louisiana State University. Her publications include a wide array of scholarly articles, books, and the general press. She maintains an active consulting practice in the areas of organizational psychology, ethics, and leadership.     

Informational externalities with lump-sum sampling

Abstract .  We consider a game of strategic experimentation where agents are restricted to an all-or-nothing sampling strategy. The strategic interaction between agents due to informational externalities is affected by the sizes of the experimentation samples and the sensitivity of information to changes in sample sizes. There is experimentation only if the overall sample is large enough. Equilibrium may involve optimal, insufficient or excessive experimentation relative to a second-best welfare benchmark. This unusual over-experimentation result is associated not necessarily with large samples but with a low elasticity of the value of information with respect to the sample size.     

Consumers' Valuation of Functional Properties of Foods: Results from a Canada-wide Survey

Very few economic analyses have been done about functional foods and nutraceuticals. The current paper seeks to characterize Canadian consumers' attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and willingness‐to‐pay for functional foods. In the spring of 2001, a telephone survey of 1008 Canadian household food shoppers was conducted. The questionnaire included stated‐choice experiments to derive distributions of price‐functional property trade‐offs. The majority of respondents appeared willing to purchase and to pay a price premium for functional foods, particularly if the functional property were added to foods derived from plants. Consumers were less receptive to a functional property incorporated in a meat product. A large proportion of respondents negatively perceived genetically modified (GM) and organic foods relative to conventional foods, after controlling for price and the health property. This suggests that there could be a niche market for organic functional foods and that GM functional foods would have to be discounted to attract a wide range of consumers. Peu d'études ont été réalisées sur les aliments fonctionnels et les nutraceutiques. Notre papier a pour but de caractériser les attitudes, les croyances, les connaissances et la volonté des consommateurs canadiens de payer plus cher pour des aliments fonctionnels. Un sondage téléphonique fut administré auprès de 1008 répondants à trovers le Canada. Des expériences amenant les répondants àénoncer leur préférences en faisant des choix de produits ont été réalisées pour générer les distributions des compromis entre les prix et les propriétés fonctionnelles. La majorité des répondants sontprêt á payer des suppléments pour des propriétés fonctionnelles, surtout si celles‐ci sont ajoutées a des produits dérivés des plantes. Les répondants semblent mains réceptifs aux propriétés ajoutées à de la viande. Une proportion élevée de répondants entretiennent des perceptions négatives des aliments GM et organiques, relativement aux produits conventionnels après avoir contrôlé pour les prix et les propriétés fonctionnelles. Ceci suggère qu'il y aurait un marché niche pour les aliments fonctionnels organiques et que les aliments fonctionnels GM devraient être réduits en prix pour attirer une vaste clientele.     

Misperceptions By Managers and Their Bosses of Each Other's Preferences Regarding the Managers’ Careers: A Case of the Blind Leading the Blind?

Peter Herriot, Carole Pemberton and Robert Pinder report on and consider the policy implications of a study of the career attitudes of managers. Managers and their bosses believed that their attitudes about the managers’ careers were similar. In fact, there was little relationship between them, and furthermore, their perceptions of each other's preferences were largely unrelated to the preferences themselves. Three factors, ‘reputation’, ‘promotion’ and ‘competences’, explained approximately half the variance. Length of service with the organisation was the main predictor of the managers’ career attitudes. Managers believed themselves to be more likely to be promoted than did their bosses, and considered promotion more probable the more frequently they had moved jobs. Peter Herriot is Director of Research and Carole Pemberton is Research Consultant at Sundridge Park Management Centre. Robert Pinder is Director of Integra Associates.     

The Ethical Aftermath of a Values Revolution: Theoretical Bases of Change, Recalibration, and Principalization

Profound and wide-ranging values shifts among industrialized nations, first noted following World War II and measured on an ongoing basis since, have affected individual decision making in political, social, and institutional settings across the globe. Consequently, the adoption of this set of expansive values is having pronounced and measurable effects on organizational missions, standards, and activities. This change is particularly notable in terms of accountability practices, moral responsibility, and the distinction between ethical and unethical decision making. This article documents this change, the need for a recalibration of ethical standards, and the principalization of a new organizational values order. Future research on the implications of adopting expansive values in organizations is delineated.