“Want to” Versus “Have to”: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators as Predictors of Compliance Behavior Intention

“Worthless,” “money burning,” or “black holes” is how media and professionals describe compliance practices today. Practitioners are unenthusiastic about control systems, codes of conducts, and systems for compliance management that are increasing in volume but not in effectiveness. In order to help practitioners clarify what actually makes employees comply with their compliance program, this study examines intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of 119 employees from procurement and sales. We contribute to the existing motivation literature, testing the self‐determination theory in low and high hierarchical levels. Our findings show that intrinsic motivators are more strongly and positively related to compliance intention on higher hierarchical levels than the lower ones. However, employees from higher hierarchies show overall less compliance intention than employees from lower hierarchies. © 2015 The Authors. Human Resource Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Accounting students access to social media related resources and the risk of tacit social exclusion

ABSTRACT

The use of social media platforms to facilitate teaching and learning requires resources (hardware and Internet access) to enable active student participation. Limited access to these resources may impair students’ learning and, should the students consequently fail to graduate, tacitly contribute to their social exclusion. The results of a survey amongst students at a South African university, identified statistically significant differences relating to hardware and Internet access between more affluent students, and lower income students. Using social media may, therefore, be countering the objective of widening the admissions to universities in South Africa as an attempt to address past exclusionary practices. This study raises awareness with instructors and administrators globally, about the risk of tacit social exclusion, as a result of the tools selected to facilitate learning.     

Seasonal adjustment of Austrian labour force series

Zusammenfassung Seit mehr als fünfzig Jahren haben Statistiker ihre Anstrengungen darauf gerichtet, optimale Methoden der Saisonbereinigung zu entwickeln. Einige dieser Methoden verwenden wir in der vorliegenden Arbeit, um saisonale Schwankungen aus österreichischen Arbeitsmarktreihen auszuschalten. Saisonbereinigte Reihen spielen für die laufende Konjunkturbeobachtung eine große Rolle. Aber um Enttäuschungen vorzubeugen, möchten wir gleich zu Beginn eine Warnung anbringen. Viele Praktiker scheinen zu glauben, daß bei Verwendung von saisonbereinigten Reihen Veränderungen gegen den Vormonat ein eindeutiges Bild der augenblicklichen Konjunkturlage vermitteln. Dabei wird leider häufig übersehen, daß saisonbereinigte Reihen eine irreguläre Komponente enthalten. In vielen Fällen ist diese Komponente so groß, daß sie die Schwankungen der Reihe von Monat zu Monat dominiert. Es ist daher oft von Vorteil, die jüngsten Daten mit solchen zu vergleichen, die schon zwei oder drei Monate früher anfielen, anstatt sich auf einen Vergleich mit dem Vormonat zu konzentrieren. Der dabei in Kauf genommene Informationsverlust wird durch die größere Verläßlichkeit der Ergebnisse mehr als wettgemacht, und die Information ist noch immer viel früher verfügbar, als wenn man mit Vorjahresvergleichen unbereinigter Daten operiert.

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Financial support by the Jubiläumsfonds der Oesterreichischen Nationalbank under grant no. 2203 is gratefully acknowledged. We wish to thank Manfred Deistler and Wolfgang Polasak for their helpful comments and suggestions.     

Dynamic specification of consumer expenditure on non-durables and services in Austria

Zusammenfassung Jüngste Fortschritte in der ökonometrischen Theorie führten zu erneutem Interesse an einem der am häufigsten analysierten Themenkreise der quantitativen Ökonomie: dem Zusammenhang zwischen Konsumausgaben und verfügbaren Einkommen. Entsprechende Tests ergaben, daß die Konsumausgaben für nichtdauerhafte Güter und Dienstleistungen und das verfügbare Einkommen kointegriert sind. Ausgehend von dieser Tatsache wurde in mehreren Schritten eine Konsumfunktion abgeleitet, die neben zufriedenstellenden statistischen Eigenschaften eine plausible ökonomische Interpretation zuläßt und eine interessante, mit den beobachteten Daten konsistente dynamische Struktur aufweist.

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Helpful suggestions for improvement by M. Deistler, D. F. Hendry, and J. Wolters are gratefully acknowledged.     

A theory of operational cash holding,endogenous financial constraints,and credit rationing

This paper develops a theory of operational cash holding. Liquidity shocks due to delayed payments must be financed using cash or short-term debt. Debt holders provide an irrevocable credit line given a firm's expected insolvency risk, and equity holders select optimum cash holding. The model demonstrates the trade-off between cash holding and investing in fixed assets. Introducing uncertain cash flows leads to precautionary cash holding if debt holders impose financial constraints. Precautionary cash holding, in turn, reduces insolvency risk enhancing access to short-term finance. The theory shows that credit rationing can occur in the absence of market frictions. Using U.S. data from 1998 to 2012, empirical findings suggest that the decline in credit lines has contributed to the increase in cash holding in line with theoretical predictions.     

South African Career Guidance Counsellors' and Mathematics Teachers' Perception of the Accounting Profession

The shortage of accounting professionals is well-documented. To address this shortage, greater numbers of school students should be attracted and enrolled in undergraduate accounting programmes. Unfortunately, school students may have misperceptions of the accounting profession. These misperceptions may result in potential entrants to the profession being lost to other professions. Secondary school teachers play an influential role in students' perceptions of future careers. This survey assessed the perceptions of the secondary school career guidance counsellors and mathematics teachers' perceptions of the accounting profession in South Africa in comparison to the medical, engineering and legal professions. The findings suggest that the accounting profession is held in lower esteem than the engineering and medical professions, but in higher esteem than the legal profession. The findings confirm previous research conducted in the USA, Australasia and Japan. Marketing and recruitment programmes should educate secondary school teachers as to the true nature of the accounting profession.     

Is the Unequal Treatment of Debtors in Natural Person Insolvency Law Justifiable?: A South African Exposition

The South African natural person insolvency system has remained largely creditor‐orientated and excludes many honest but unfortunate debtors from its ambit. This is despite the worldwide trend to accommodate all such debtors. Although the system does provide for three different statutory natural person debt relief procedures, the cumulative effect of these measures' entry requirements results in differentiation on financial grounds. This is as all statutory measures require the debtor to have some form of disposable assets or income available – thereby drawing a distinction between those debtors with and those without assets and or income (the so‐called no income no asset debtors). The main aim of this article is to measure the South African natural person insolvency system against the right to equality in terms of both the South African Constitution and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. The article may benefit legislatures and policymakers in constitutional jurisdictions that subscribe to the equality principle and that directly or indirectly exclude some debtors from debt relief while providing others therewith. Copyright © 2016 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.