NONPROFIT EMPLOYEES' MACHIAVELLIAN PROPENSITIES

Nonprofit organizations are held to high ethical standards due to their charitable missions serving the common good. Incidents of fiscal mismanagement within the nonprofit sector make it relevant to assay the ethical principles of employees. This study examines the level of Machiavellian propensities of US nonprofit employees. Results indicate Machiavellian propensities do exist in certain nonprofit employees and these employees agree with questionable behavior. Policy makers and oversight agencies may find these results useful in developing corporate governance and accountability measures for nonprofit organizations. Furthermore, board of director members may use these results to monitor employee actions and address management training.     

企业文化对员工心理契约的影响机制研究——以某高科技上市公司为例

本文的基本观点是,企业文化是通过影响员工心理契约的形成而发挥作用的。本研究发现,企业文化是员工心理契约形成的更一般性的基础,企业文化的特征将决定员工心理契约的性质。我们认为,员工心理契约是一个平衡结构,员工责任和组织责任在内容和强度上都需要平衡。     

政府业绩计量和报告：一个受托责任观点

受托责任要求政府对公民负责，说明公共资金的筹集和使用。这要求政府对外披露业绩信息以评价其受托责任，对内提供业绩信息以改进决策。本文探讨了受托责任的内涵及其与业绩报告的关系，分析如何计量和报告业绩，并根据我国的实际情况提出了改进我国政府业绩计量和报告的建议。     

Doing the right thing in the workplace: Responsibility in the face of accountability

Changing trends and the nature of the work force dictate increased personal responsibility by employees and expanded use of self-management practices. Nevertheless, organizations also feel the need to maintain external control. We propose a progressive view of accountability theory which can resolve the dilemma of how internal and external control can effectively coexist. Success of accountability forces is determined primarily by the relationship between the principal (party to whom one is accountable) and the agent (employee). The agent’s felt responsibility is enhanced to the extent that accountability leads to the structuring of expectations, the agent’s perceptions of the task or activity as significant, and the agent’s perception of control over the situation. Propositions that may be used to guide future research are offered throughout the article.     

企业可持续发展的战略选择：社会责任管理

在经济全球化的背景下 ,社会责任管理是任何一个企业都不能回避的问题 ,它关系到企业的生存和发展。企业应该把社会责任管理作为可持续发展的战略选择 ,并努力构建有效的社会责任管理模式。     

社会责任管理体系（SA8000）对中国出口企业的影响

SA8000标准是全球第一个可用于第三方认证的社会责任国际标准,旨在通过有道德的采购活动改善全球工人的工作条件,最终达到公平而体面的工作条件。主要内容包括童工、强迫劳工、安全卫生、结社自由和集体谈判权、歧视、惩罚性措施、工作时间、工资报酬及管理体系等9个要素。在某种程度上,SA8000是新出现的贸易壁垒,但是,对中国企业提高竞争力以及企业的长期稳定的发展以及提高中国产品的整体声誉有很大的积极作用。企业应该积极采取措施落实相关要求以提高企业的竞争力,政府也应该出面参与相关标准制定的国际谈判。     

Do accountabilities change when public organisations transform to service systems: A new conceptual approach

In this conceptual paper, we discuss from the service systems perspective how accountabilities differ from a hierarchic and organisational perspective within the domain of New Public Management, looking to shed new light upon accountability as a research topic. The concept of service systems and their accountabilities are scrutinised and the role of integrated social and health care services is discussed in particular. The main argument in the text is the changing nature of accountabilities as the public organisations are being transformed into service systems. To date, the understanding of accountability has remained structural by nature – such is the case also for productivity measurement – but the shift from organisations towards services systems means that accountability ought to be considered as processual by nature. By processual it is meant that accountability should be considered as flows within systems – that is: flows between agents the content of which we argue includes not only knowledge on the outputs of public services, but also values, empathy and thus multi‐layered understanding of accountability. The paper concludes with practical insights for managerial purposes on the basis for this accountability shift.     

Extinction accounting and accountability: Empirical evidence from the west European tissue industry

Recently, human activities are more and more invasive with respect to biodiversity. Several studies highlighted the key role played by accountants in contributing to the development of tools able to support company in assessing, reporting, and disseminating, as well as accomplishing, the preservation of natural species and ecosystems (King and Atkins, 2016). Corporate reporting of environmental information might increase the credibility of forest certifications, given that some scholars argued that certified forests are not often run, in a sustainable way. Moreover, certifications sometimes cover harmful forest practices (Elad, 2014) and do not ensure a good quality of environmental reporting and performance. The research question therefore intends to explore how extinction accounting and accountability (EAA) is able to reflect ex post the company's business strategy and, at the same time, influence ex ante its formulation by easing the prevention of deforestation risk and addressing the issue of credibility through specific actions. In more detail, the “Emancipatory Framework for Extinction Accounting and Accountability” (EFEAA) (Atkins and Maroun, 2018) was tested using content and interpretative analyses based on the reports inherent to top four companies working in West Europe in the tissue industry, where the preservation of forest heritage is a “compulsory route” for assuring the business sustainability, in terms of both raw material renewal and brand reputation. The findings highlighted the first attempt to carry out a qualitative research over the management of forest issues. In our study, companies tend to report advantages arising from the use of forest, but this kind of disclosure is too generic without providing evidence over the ecosystem services forests produce. Moreover, firm size affects the quantity and the quality of disclosure. At last, managerial implications and future research avenues are outlined and discussed.     

Demand for,and impediments to,the disclosure of information about climate change-related corporate governance practices

Based on a survey of climate change experts in different stakeholder groups and interviews with corporate climate change managers, this study provides insights into the gap between what information stakeholders expect, and what Australian corporations disclose. This paper focuses on annual reports and sustainability reports with specific reference to the disclosure of climate change-related corporate governance practices. The findings culminate in the refinement of a best practice index for the disclosure of climate change-related corporate governance practises. Interview results indicate that the low levels of disclosures made by Australian companies may be due to a number of factors. A lack of proactive stakeholder engagement and an apparent preoccupation with financial performance and advancing shareholders interest, coupled with a failure by managers to accept accountability, seems to go a long way to explaining low levels of disclosure.     

Indigenous Peoples’ Health Care: New approaches to contracting and accountability at the public administration frontier

Abstract

This article analyses reforms to contracting and accountability for indigenous primary health care organizations in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The reforms are presented as comparative case studies, the common reform features identified and their implications analysed.

The reforms share important characteristics. Each proceeds from implicit recognition that indigenous organizations are ‘co-principals’ rather than simply agents in their relationship with government funders and regulators. There is a common tendency towards more relational forms of contracting; and tentative attempts to reconceptualize accountability. These ‘frontier’ cases have broad implications for social service contracting.