The Impact of Individual Ethics on Reactions to Potentially Invasive HR Practices

In recent years, the practices of work organizations have raised increasing concerns regarding individual privacy at work. It is clear that people expect and value privacy in their personal lives. However, the extent to which privacy perceptions influence individuals’ work attitudes is less clear. Research has explored the extent to which employee perceptions of privacy derive from characteristics of the programs themselves. However, there is a paucity of research that examines how the characteristics of the individual employee may influence perceptions of these programs. In this study we seek to shed light on this issue, as we examine how the individual ethical orientation of employees influences perceptions of a variety of human resource programs that have the potential to be perceived as invasive. Results indicate that ethical orientation exerts direct effects on perceived invasiveness of programs and exerts both direct and indirect effects on perceived appropriateness of programs. Implications for research and for managers adopting privacy-related programs are discussed.     

The impact of technical change on the aggregate production function

This study endeavours to look at both disembodied technical progress and embodied technical progress in the capital stock and in the labour force in the United States over the period 1947–80. The results suggest that disembodied technical progress has been about 3% per year, embodied technical progress in the capital stock is approximately 3–4% per year and educational attainment significantly enhances labour productivity. Finally, when the issue of structural stability of the underlying production relationship is addressed, the period 1971–80 gives rise to some inconsistency.     

Telecommunications in the United States and Changing Productive Efficiency

The issue explored is whether incentive regulation in the telecommunications industry in the United States has resulted in an increase in productive efficiency. After providing an overview of the nature of incentive regulation, the methodology for measuring the effects of incentive regulation on productive efficiency is reviewed. An approach is introduced that not only provides a measure of the change in productivity but also allows for a decomposition into two mutually exclusive and exhaustive components—changes in technical efficiency over time and shifts in technology over time. Using annual data on four output measures and six input measures for the period 1988–1999 for nineteen individual local exchange carriers, the results indicate that productivity increased by about 4.9% per year. This growth is due primarily to innovation rather than improvements in efficiency. Of the 19 LECs in the sample, 12 were operating efficiently throughout the entire 1988–1999 period. Of the remaining seven, three showed a slight improvement in efficiency while the efficiency of four declined. In the aggregate, however, there was virtually no change in efficiency.     

A Note on Measuring the Productivity Offset for Regulatory Purposes

Calculation of the productivity offset or the X-factor used in setting price caps has a fundamental flaw when it is based on conventional growth accounting total factor productivity analysis. The problem is discussed in the context of incentive regulation used by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States and the appropriate correction is indicated. An example of the problem and its correction, using the access charge for interstate service in telecommunications, is provided. The correction shows that the appropriate X-factor is 12 percent greater than that based on conventional growth accounting total factor productivity analysis.     

Redistributing the energy tax burden in the Philippines

This paper uses an aggregate modelling approach to assess the impacts of a redistribution of the taxes and duties that currently exist on crude oil and refined petroleum products on the Philippine economy. The approach used in the analysis consists of a general equilibrium model composed of fourteen producing sectors, fifteen consuming sectors, three household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of replacing the taxes and duties on crude oil and refined petroleum products with a more broad based tax on manufacturing and service sectors output on prices and quantities are examined. The results are revealing. For example, the consequences of redistributing the tax burden away from petroleum products to the manufacturing and service sectors of the Philippine economy will be an increase in output by all producing sectors of about 3.5 percent or about 2.4 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in the consumption of goods and services by about 6.1 percent or 1.6 hundred billion Philippine pesos, a rise in total utility by 6.9 or 1.9 hundred billion Philippine pesos, and virtually no change in tax revenue for the government. When subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution elasticities. That is, while the model's equilibrium values do vary in response to different assumptions of the values of these elasticities, the fluctuations are not so enormous to suggest that the model is unrealistically sensitive to these parameters.Notation Y _j Total production in sectorj (j=1, 2, ..., 14) - CD _j Consumer demand for productj - GE _j Government endowment of productj - UM _j Imports of productj - _LRAS_jl RAS balanced input-output intermediate demands - GD _j Government demand for productj - INV _j Investment in sectorj - UX _j Exports of productj - SL _c Supply of labor by householdc (c=1, 2, 3) - SK _c Supply of capital by householdc - SD _c Supply of land by householdc - DL _j Demand for labor in the industryj - DK _j Demand for capital in the industryj - DD _j Demand for land in industryj - GDL Government demand for labor - GDD Government demand for land - TL _j Tax on labor in industryj - TK _j Tax on capital in industryj - TD _j Tax on land in industryj - GCE _i Consumer demand for consumer producti (i=1, 2, ..., 15) - Z _ji A 14×15 transformation matrix - RCS _ic RAS balanced matrix of each household's demand for each consumer good - TC _j Excise tax on consumer goodj - TRN _c Transfer payment to householdc - PIT _c Personal income tax payment for householdc - TAU _c Marginal income tax rate for householdc - SAV _c Savings in householdc - GC _c Gross consumption of householdc - ZTA Consumption plus leisure coefficient - TE Total government endowments - EM _j Demand elasticity of export demand - FE _j Endowment/demand sector of adjusted elasticity of export demand - GSK _j Government endowment of capital in industryj - GDK _j Government demand for capital in industryj - GTL Government wage taxes on its own employees - TXO _j Government output tax on industryj - TC _c Consumption taxes on householdc - CG _c Total government consumption by householdc - SAV _c Total savings by householdc - INV _j Total investment by industryj The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies of the organizations with which they are affiliated. They would like to thank Wildrido Cruz of the World Bank and Climenta Habido of the Philippine government for help in acquiring the requisite data to calibrate the model used in the analysis. They would also like to thank an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions.     

Understanding the structure of audit workpaper error knowledge and its relationship with workpaper review performance

This study examines the veracity of two important, yet untested, premises underlying the interpretation of hierarchical variation in workpaper review performance. Prior research has argued that auditors at different hierarchical levels structure their knowledge of workpaper errors differently, and that these differences in knowledge structure give rise to hierarchical variation in the ability of auditors to identify mechanical and conceptual workpaper errors. This study directly examines the way in which audit firm managers, seniors and staff auditors structure their knowledge of audit workpaper errors and finds variation across hierarchical levels. These differences in knowledge structure were found to be associated with variation in workpaper review performance as they related to the identification of conceptual errors, but not, as proposed in prior research, mechanical workpaper errors. These results guide future research efforts aimed at improving workpaper review performance.     

Sovereign wealth funds,productivity and people: The impact of Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global investments in the United Kingdom

Sovereign wealth funds have an increasing presence in the global financial ecosystem, principally through their investments in equities, which, in turn, may influence HRM. This study examines the influence of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund‐Global (NGPF‐G), on employment in its U.K. investee firms. We find that firms with NGPF‐G investment are significantly less likely to reduce their demand for labour, more specifically in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. When a drop in the demand for labour does occur, it is less extreme when compared to similar organisations without a NGPF‐G shareholding, and this is evident even in the case of relatively small NGPF‐G investments. These findings are in line with the fund's objective of promoting corporate sustainability and Norwegian values. We draw out the key implications of our findings for HR practice.