Guest Editors’ Introduction: Is the HRM Process Important? Past,Current, and Future Challenges

Ten years ago, Bowen and Ostroff ( 2004 ) criticized the one‐sided focus on the content‐based approach, where researchers take into account the inherent virtues (or vices) associated with the content of HR practices to explain performance. They explicitly highlight the role of the psychological processes through which employees attach meaning to HRM. In this first article of the special section entitled “Is the HRM Process Important?” we present an overview of past, current, and future challenges. For past challenges, we attempt to categorize the various research streams that originated from the seminal piece. To outline current challenges, we present the results of a content analysis of the original 15 articles put forward for the special section. In addition, we provide the overview of a caucus focused on this theme that was held at the Academy of Management annual meeting in Boston in 2012. In conclusion, we discuss future challenges relating to the HRM process approach and review the contributions that have been selected—against a competitive field—for this special issue. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Financing port infrastructure

Port infrastructure is essential for the conduct of trade and tourism between countries. This paper aims at investigating the financial strategies used for port projects, project financing, and cash flow techniques used by Los Angeles Airport and Seaport and Long Beach Seaport and European airports and seaports in England, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Greece, and Turkey.Research assistance was provided by Kelly Calabio, Danny Davis, Adam Harita, Carina Lim Dancer, Mary Mulligan, James Nakamura, Evelyn Sellers, and Patty Vajda.     

Public Sector Employee Discipline: Comparing Police to Other Public Sector Employees

This study compares the disciplinary process for police vs. nonpolice public employees. A random sample of 200 cases was drawn from the 806 public sector discipline cases published in volumes 111–118 of Labor Arbitration Reports. Case characteristics, classification of conduct unbecoming, proposed discipline, arbitrator behavior, reasons for reversing management’s penalty other than conduct unbecoming, procedural outcomes and findings were analyzed. The frequency of the finding for the employer was actually higher for police than for the nonpolice cases. Managerial actions that resulted in reversing the disciplinary penalty were not as suggested by the literature. Multivariate analyses of the case characteristics led to the conclusion that police discipline may have been distinctive from nonpolice public employee discipline in the past, but is no longer so distinctive.

Predicting intention to recycle on the basis of the theory of planned behaviour

Governments worldwide have launched various schemes to promote recycling by individuals, from legislation to voluntary and mandatory policies, waste charging, kerbside collection, waste separation bins, and promotional campaigns. Much remains to be done, however, in terms of understanding the psychological relationships among consumers' attitudes, intentions, and behaviours when it comes to recycling. This study was designed to examine recycling intention through the lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Using online survey, we recruited participants (n = 827) through an online survey platform ( mturk.com ). The results show that TPB can predict consumers' intention to recycle. It was further found, however, that attitude towards recycling did not predict intention to recycle. The findings presented here have significant implications for policymakers and practitioners who are interested in inculcating recycling intention and behaviours in members of the public. This study extends the TPB in the context of recycling. There is a need to examine the theories' explanatory power in different research settings and context. Moreover, regulations and policies on recycling continue to evolve. For example, recently in 2018, Australia is banning plastic bag. Consequently, the new policy will affect people's perception towards recycling. Hence, continued research on recycling is needed.     

Arbitration of accommodation in US workplaces: employee,stakeholder and human resources characteristics

This research examines how arbitrators consider accommodations for employees with physical and mental illnesses. Unlike other recent research on the subject, the authors specifically and purposely draw their sample from recent US arbitration cases—2015 to 2018, n = 209. Additionally, using content analysis software, NVivo , the case characteristics were autocoded, and the case outcomes were manually coded. Using logistic regression, the following model was developed to predict the odds of case outcomes: disability, injury, discrimination, retaliation, absence and reinstatement. The Cox and Snell and Nagelkerke analysis indicates that our model accounts for approximately 15.6 to 21.5 per cent of the variance, with 33.3 per cent of the individual and split arbitration cases outcomes and 91.2 per cent for organisation arbitration cases correctly predicted. The model predicts 71.2 per cent of the cases.     

Risk disclosures on the second tier markets of the London Stock Exchange

The identification, management and disclosure of risks have been the subject of recent legislation, directives and reporting standards issued across a number of international jurisdictions. To inform the disclosure debate, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the risk warning disclosures of initial public offering (IPO) companies and the factors that drive such disclosures. We find that risk disclosures of IPO companies contain a greater proportion of forward‐looking information but a lower proportion of information on internal controls and risk management than the disclosures of listed companies. We find evidence that such disclosure has increased across time but that larger directors’ shareholdings are associated with a reduction in risk disclosure.     

The Employment Landscape for Accounting Graduates and Work Experience Relevance

This study outlines the results of a survey undertaken at an Australian university in 2007 and examines the factors that are associated with an undergraduate accounting student obtaining a job offer. Undertaking relevant part‐time work, academic performance and social (extra‐curricular) activities are significant factors leading to job offers prior to graduation. Our study also identifies a high level of part‐time work currently undertaken by full‐time students, confirming the trend identified in other studies. Interestingly, this high level of part‐time work was not found to negatively affect students’ academic performance.     

The effects of local labour market conditions on welfare programme participation

A fractional imputation method is applied to Iowa administrative data to deal with a problem of missing data. The effects of local labour market conditions and mobility of household heads on Family Investment Program (FIP) participation are evaluated. Results show that mobility increases the opportunity for employment and decreases the FIP participation rate for low-income families. An increase in predicted unemployment rates decreases labour force participation and increases programme participation; an increase in unpredicted unemployment rates increases labour force participation and decreases programme participation. Overall, the effects are relatively larger in rural areas than in nonrural areas in Iowa.     

Evolution of intangible asset accounting: Evidence from Australia

This study investigates how the adoption of IFRS in Australia has changed the accounting for goodwill and identifiable intangible assets (IIA). Based on unique hand‐collected data for 802 Australian firm‐years during 2000–2010, we find that expenses related to IIA are higher under IFRS, which is consistent with the view that IFRS accounting policies for IIA are stricter than those under Australian domestic accounting standards pre‐2005 (AGAAP). Our results show two effects that accompany higher IIA expenses under IFRS, which reduce a negative impact on earnings: (i) lower goodwill expenses, and (ii) a shift in recognition of IIA from those with finite useful life to IIA with indefinite useful life. Finally, our market value analyses suggest that the market does not treat mechanical goodwill amortization as a genuine expense, but does treat as genuine expenses discretionary impairment charges, and more lenient IIA amortization under AGAAP. Our results are in line with prior Australian studies claiming that imposing stricter accounting rules for intangible assets under IFRS tends to diminish the quality of investors' information set.     

Sustainable procurement: Past,present and future

Sustainable procurement is increasingly on the agenda for purchasing and supply managers seeking to demonstrate corporate social responsibility in their supply chains. In this paper, we identify trends in the literature and establish that this is a burgeoning field. We identify methodological challenges and research gaps to guide future research. We propose a sustainable procurement framework to help structure future research across supply chains. Finally, we introduce each of the papers in the special issue, and identify what makes them stand out as making a novel contribution to research in the field.