An Empirical Analysis of the Ethical Reasoning of Tax Practitioners

How tax practitioners approach ethical dilemmas remains generally unexplored in academic literature. We use here Rest’s original Defining Issues Test (Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1979; Moral development. Advances in research and theory. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1986), combined with a tax context-specific test and in conjunction with a control group of non-tax specialists, to examine tax practitioners’ moral reasoning in a social and tax context. We investigate: (i) the effect of a tax context on issues raised (finding that practitioners generally reason at lower levels than in social scenarios); (ii) whether the profession attracts people who reason at certain levels (finding that it does not); and (iii) whether practitioners are affected by training/socialization in their professional context (finding that that they are).     

‘From a mother to another’: creative experiences of sharing used children’s clothing

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how consumers deliberate and incorporate concerns for sustainability in their consumption behaviours, through the lens of children’s clothing provisioning. Frustrated by the limited acknowledgement for sustainable issues within the UK mass market fashion retail sector, the participants reveal engaging with social innovation exchange initiatives, including networks of used children’s clothing. The research is informed by 28 professionally working mothers who navigate between meeting the social needs of themselves and their family with their growing knowledge for sustainability. The networks are symbolic of shared social values and building supportive communities that provided emotional and practical pathways for family provisioning. The research illustrates how societal discourse around sustainability is growing and how alternative market structures provide routes that appeal to consumers practically, socially and ideologically. Moreover, the research contributes to understanding opportunities that advance the sustainability agenda, for marketing, social innovation initiatives and progressing sustainable businesses.     

Context‐bound configurations of corporate HR functions in multinational corporations

Considerable attention has focused on how multinational corporations (MNCs) deal with the simultaneous pressures of globalization and localization when it comes to human resource management (HRM). HR function activities in this process, however, have received less focus. The study presented here identifies configurations of the corporate HR function based on international HRM (IHRM) structures, exploring how issues of interdependency shape corporate HR roles. The study is based on 248 interviews in 16 MNCs based in 19 countries. The findings are applied to develop a contextually based framework outlining the main corporate HR function configurations in MNCs, including new insights into methods of IHRM practice design. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The HR department's role in organisational performance

Research into how HR contributes to organisational performance is plentiful yet plagued by challenges. Alongside the ‘black box’ issue between HRM and performance, the time‐lag effect and the range of performance indicators applied, the role of the HR department in this relationship is critical although often ignored. A longitudinal case study is presented here that focuses particularly on this issue, and shows a complex picture of improving HR department importance alongside high‐level financial performance, but declining employee commitment and morale. The article suggests that the tensions between the rhetoric of HRM strategy, the grim reality of the employee experience and a lack of focus on human capital meant the outstanding financial performance was not sustainable in the longer term. The inherent conflict in serving both management and employees in process‐and peopleorientated roles is highlighted.     

Uncovering competitive and institutional drivers of HRM practices in multinational corporations

Current international human resource management (IHRM) literature focusing on multinational corporations (MNCs) presents evidence of both similarities and differences in the HR practices adopted in different global locations. However, the drivers behind this duality require more detailed investigation. This article focuses on exploring why MNCs position themselves within global markets as they do, exploring how extant theory can help explain the drivers behind both global and national HR practices. Based on a worldwide sample of in‐depth interview‐based case studies of well‐known MNCs, we explore the ways in which different firms react to both institutional and competitive pressures in selecting their approach to HRM. The findings uncover a differentiation between external global competitive isomorphic pressures, external national institutional isomorphic pressures, and internal processes of strategic choice and competitive differentiation. It is suggested that MNCs face all three drivers of HRM simultaneously, leading to different patterns of practice adoption, adaptation and innovation.     

Odd man out: the proposal-making model

The proposal-making model is applied to the class of three-player/three-cake problems. The set of subgame perfect equilibria (SPEs) and the limit set of SPE payoffs as the risk of breakdown vanishes is characterized. The necessary and sufficient condition for uniqueness is derived. The results for the alternating offer model play an important role. The model always admits one stationary SPE and this equilibrium is related to a multilateral Nash solution. The stationary SPE is the coalition-proof SPE and the limit result differs from the result known for the model without risk of breakdown.     

The GDR’s foreign trade policy

Before the German Democratic Republic (GDR) achieved worldwide political recognition in 1972 and 1973 many Western observers were of the opinion that the GDR’s trade with Western industrialised countries was still not very developed. A closer look at this field of activity shows, however, a different picture.     

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE1

Corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’) is often associated with hopes for improved corporate governance. As understood conventionally, however, CSR is conceptually incoherent, practically unworkable, and wholly unjustified. To be compatible with corporate governance, ‘CSR’ needs to be understood not as Counterproductive Stakeholder Regimentation, but as Conscientious Stakeholder Responsibility.     

Reasons for lapse: the case of face‐to‐face donors

Face‐to‐face fundraising is attracting increasingly hostile media coverage in the United Kingdom in the run up to the publication of the Charities Act in 2004. Despite the antipathy comparatively little is known about how donors view this technique and why they might elect to terminate their support having been recruited by this medium. This paper reports the results of a survey of 4,800 face‐to‐face recruits, comparing the attitudes and profiles of both active and lapsed supporters. The results suggest that donors exhibit high levels of satisfaction with the recruitment process and lapse primarily because of a change in their financial circumstances rather than feelings of having being pressurised to offer their support. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications