bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A “cross‐cultural RELQUAL‐scale” in supplier‐distributor relationships of Sweden and the USA
Authors: Payan Janice M. , Svensson Göran , Awuah Gabriel , Andersson Svante , Hair Joe
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a cross‐cultural RELQUAL‐scale in supplier‐distributor relationships in Sweden and the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

The Swedish and US sampling frames consisted each of a random sample of 600 owners and managers of distribution firms of specialty tools and fasteners. A total of 161 usable surveys were returned from the US‐survey, for a response rate of 27 percent, while 121 usable surveys were returned from the Swedish survey, for a response rate of 20 percent. An overall response rate of 24 percent was achieved across both countries.

Findings

The paper provides support for the dimensional distinctiveness of cooperation, coordination, specific assets, satisfaction, trust, and commitment. Four of the dimensions are reflective of relationship quality or the “cross‐cultural RELQUAL‐scale” (cooperation, coordination, trust, and commitment) and relationship quality was found to be associated with relationship‐satisfaction with suppliers. A test of metric invariance confirmed the RELQUAL‐scale is appropriate for cross‐cultural research.

Research limitations/implications

Examining the tested in other industrial and cultural contexts and countries in other inter‐organizational settings could help establish the generality of findings beyond Sweden and the USA and that beyond the context of the distributor‐supplier relationship of fasteners and specialty tools.

Practical implications

The “cross‐cultural RELQUAL‐scale” is of interest to business practice as it provides a structure of dimensions to be considered in the organizational effort of maintaining satisfactory levels of relationship quality with suppliers.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on two different cultural contexts, which is an approach rarely seen in inter‐organizational research. The focal constructs are frequently included in inter‐organizational research, but have previously not been included in the same empirical study of RELQUAL.
Consumer responses to East‐West writing system differences
Authors: Hernandez Monica D. , Minor Michael S.
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it aims to review East‐West writing system (cross‐script) differences and summarize previous work examining the cross‐script effect on consumer responses. Second, it aims to describe the implications for international marketing and cross‐cultural studies. Third, it seeks to propose specific questions for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the paper presents a critical literature review of studies investigating cross‐script differences influencing consumer attitudes, memory, and information processing. Based on the provided integrative analysis, future directions are indicated for areas relying heavily on written communication, such as international marketing communications, internet marketing, international branding, and cross‐cultural consumer research.

Findings

Despite the pervasive nature and importance of written language, scant research has addressed differences between East/West consumer responses attributable to native script processing.

Originality/value

The paper is among the first to point out the insufficiency of scholarly studies on written language effects on consumer responses. The findings raise international marketers' awareness of differences in East‐West written language processing in order to effectively target consumers.
Dynamics of narcissistic leadership in organizations
Authors: Ouimet Gérard
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish a critical synthesis of the dynamics of narcissistic leadership in organizations. Moreover, this paper offers suggestions for research aimed at providing greater insight into this form of leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper comprises a review of the latest scientific research in the field of narcissistic leadership. In strictly methodological terms, this synthesis can thus be classified as a literature review.

Findings

The paper presents details of four factors that can trigger manifestations of narcissistic leadership: idiosyncratic, cultural, environmental and structural factors.

Research limitations/implications

Based on a comprehensive review of the literature, this paper proposes an analysis of the dominant characteristics and dynamics of narcissistic leadership, essentially from the point of view of a pathological narcissism of the overt (grandiose) type. It would be interesting to extend the exploration to another form of narcissistic leadership – namely, covert (vulnerable) leadership.

Practical implications

Through its exploration of the nature and limits of narcissistic leadership, this paper proposes avenues of research that could have interesting managerial applications.

Originality/value

To the author's knowledge, this is the first synthesis to propose an integrated research model that incorporates the antecedents, components and consequences of narcissistic leadership in organizations.
Workplace bullying partially mediates the climate‐health relationship
Authors: Giorgi Gabriele
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The paper seeks to validate a structural model wherein workplace bullying is depicted as related to health by way of mediating the relationship between organizational climate with health.

Design/methodology/approach

Over 700 Japanese employees completed a shorter version of the Majer D'Amato organizational questionnaire 10, the Negative Acts Questionnaire Revised and the Center for Epidemiologic Study for Depression. Lifestyle variables (alcohol consumption and sleeping hours) were also collected from participants. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesis.

Findings

A model of bullying at work was developed which incorporated relationships among organizational and health factors. Workplace bullying partially mediated the climate‐health relationship.

Originality/value

The model developed within this paper integrates prior theoretical work on workplace bullying and helps researchers and organizations understand the process through organizational risk factors that might have a negative association with employees' health. Further, this paper contributes an understanding of workplace bullying in a non‐Western context.
A prosocial self‐concept approach to understanding organizational citizenship behavior
Authors: Mayfield Clifton O. , Taber Thomas D.
Published: September 2010

Purpose

Individual characteristics have been weaker correlates of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) than have attitudinal and contextual variables; however, few individual characteristics have been examined. This paper seeks to broaden the search for possible antecedents to include individuals' prosocial self‐concept.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey (n=226) was conducted to examine the relationship between university students' prosocial self‐concept and their intentions to engage in campus‐related service and citizenship activities. Prosocial self‐concept was assessed with Crandall's 24‐item Social Interest Scale.

Findings

Prosocial self‐concept correlated modestly, but significantly, with OCB intentions toward fellow students (r=0.16,p<0.05), and OCB intentions toward society (r=0.18,p<0.05), but not with OCB intentions toward the university (r=0.12). Identification with the university correlated significantly with OCB intentions toward the university (r=0.29,p<0.001), but not with OCB intentions toward fellow students (r=0.13) or society (r=0.11). No significant interaction effects on OCBs were found between prosocial self‐concept and organizational identification.

Research limitations/implications

Observed correlations among prosocial self‐concept, university identification and the OCBs are very likely underestimated due to probable restrictions in the variance of the OCBs.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that prosocial self‐concept may be a unique correlate of OCB, contributing variance not accounted for by other variables.

Originality/value

Few empirical studies have examined the relationship between self‐concept and OCB.
Time use in Spain: is polychronicity a cultural phenomenon?
Authors: Adams Simon J.M. , van Eerde Wendelien
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure polychronicity in Spain, traditionally typified as having a polychronic culture, characterized by a multifocused working environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 134 executives from 19 organizations in Madrid completed a questionnaire on polychronicity (working on more than one task at a time), time tangibility (precision in time use and performance), context (direct or indirect communication) and attention to people (whether people are dealt with spontaneously or in a more scheduled manner).

Findings

Contrary to what was expected in light of the traditional image of Spain, results indicate a tendency towards monochronicity. Gender and age did not show a relation with polychronicity. Time tangibility and context were also unrelated to polychronicity. A previously unmeasured variable, implied in Hall's original work, the spontaneous attention to people in establishing and maintaining good work relations, was positively related to polychronicity. Having worked for a multinational was also positively related to polychronicity.

Research limitations/implications

The study was undertaken in Madrid only and focused on differences within a Spanish sample and no cross‐cultural comparison was made.

Originality/value

As far as the authors are aware, this is the first study of polychronicity in Spain. Social interaction, coined previously as an explanation for polychronic behavior, was added in this paper.
The missing link between emotional demands and exhaustion
Authors: Peng Kelly Z. , Wong Chi‐Sum , Che Hong‐Sheng
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to preliminary explain the possibly complicated moderating effects of job resources. The paper specifies the missing link between job demand and burnout by focusing on the coping strategy argument.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper preliminary supports the mediated moderation model of the missing link by a large sample cross‐sectional survey.

Findings

The two coping strategies as mediators for the relationship between emotional demands and exhaustion are supported. Strong supports for the moderation effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between emotional demands and the two coping strategies are found. Some support for the moderation of supervisor support on the relationship between deep acting and exhaustion are found.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to the job demands‐control‐support and job demands‐resources models, as the proposed model helps to explain the inconsistent results for the buffering effect of job resources found in the literature. It also contributes to the literature of emotional intelligence, as it provides clear evidence of its importance in handling emotional demands.

Practical implications

Deep acting is important. An organization may take more efforts in training employees to equip them with it. Emotional intelligence is also a vital resource and so organizations may benefit if they engage in relevant selection and training practices.

Originality/value

Emotional intelligence, an individual ability, is empirically demonstrated to be an important type of job resources that can buffer the negative effect of job demands on employee well‐being.
Critical Realism … or Critical Idealism?
Authors: Callahan Gene
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the school of thought known as Critical Realism and the thinkers involved in the current revival of interest in British Idealism would benefit from interacting with each other.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proceeds by critically examining central tenets in the thought of each school, and exhibit their affinities and differences.

Findings

It is found that there are central themes and concerns shared by each school of thought, and that the recognition of such commonalities might prove mutually beneficial to the relevant parties in their goal of positively transforming social reality. Furthermore, the Critical Realist worry about Idealisms “irreality” is shown to be unfounded.

Originality/value

The close relationship of the ideas of these two “lines of thought” has not, to our knowledge, previously been highlighted. Having done so in the paper, a useful dialogue may ensue.
Which classroom service encounters make students happy or unhappy?
Authors: Voss Roediger , Gruber Thorsten , Reppel Alexander
Published: September 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to explore satisfactory and dissatisfactory student‐professor encounters in higher education from a student's perspective. The critical incident technique (CIT) is used to categorise positive and negative student‐professor interactions and to reveal quality dimensions of professors.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory study using an online application of the well‐established CIT method was conducted. The study took place at a large European university. A total of 96 students took part in the study on a voluntary basis and reported 164 incidents. Respondents were aged between 19 and 24 years (x=23.2) and slightly more female students (52 per cent) filled in the online CIT questionnaire than male students (48 per cent). On average, every student provided 1.7 incidents.

Findings

The results of the critical incident sorting process support previous classification systems that used three major groups to thoroughly represent the domain of (un)satisfactory student‐professor encounters. The results of the CIT study also revealed ten quality dimensions of professors, corroborating previous research in this area.

Research limitations/implications

Owing to the exploratory nature of the study and the scope and size of its student sample, the results outlined are tentative in nature. The research study also only investigates the experiences of one stakeholder group.

Practical implications

Gaining knowledge of students' classroom experiences should be beneficial for professors to design their teaching programmes. Based on the results, universities might consider the introduction of student contracts or student satisfaction guarantees to manage student expectations effectively.

Originality/value

The paper was the first to successfully apply an online version of the CIT techniques to the issue of higher education services. This paper shows that the CIT method is a useful tool for exploring student‐professor encounters in higher education. The paper has hopefully opened up an area of research and methodology that could reap considerable further benefits for researchers interested in this area.
Academic dishonesty and perceptions of Pakistani students
Authors: Sajid Nazir Mian , Shakeel Aslam Muhammad
Published: September 2010

Purpose

Academic dishonesty has been a matter of great concern in higher education for last few decades. The dishonest behavior of students at graduate and undergraduate level has become a severe issue for education and business sectors, especially when the students exercise same dishonest practices at their jobs. The present research aims to address this matter by investigating the perceptions of students towards academic dishonesty and exploring the security and penalties for dishonest acts of students.

Design/methodology/approach

A well‐structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from 958 respondents studying at graduate and undergraduate levels in different Pakistani universities.

Findings

It has been found that students involve in academic dishonest acts more frequently about which they believe to be less severe. Moreover, they also suggested lower or no penalties for the same dishonest acts which are perceived as less severe.

Practical implications

The results provide a strong implication for academicians to develop the moralities and ethics in students so that institutions may provide ethically cultivated professionals to the business community.

Originality/value

The research paper is pioneer in its nature to explore the academic dishonest acts of students and their perceptions regarding some of the dimensions of academic dishonest and integrity in Pakistani university students.
Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend?
Authors: Burritt Roger L. , Schaltegger Stefan
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The paper aims to discuss the current development of sustainability accounting research, the identification of critical and managerial paths, and to assess of the future of sustainability accounting and reporting.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is a review of recent literature in sustainability accounting.

Findings

Assessment of recent literature leads to the conclusion that both management decision making, through problem solving and scorekeeping, and a critical approach, through awareness raising, contribute to the development of sustainability accounting and reporting; however, the development of sustainability accounting and reporting should be orientated more towards improving management decision making.

Originality/value

The paper is a systematic review of recent research developments in sustainability accounting.
The “equator principles”: a success for voluntary codes?
Authors: Macve Richard , Chen Xiaoli
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The equator principles constitute an international voluntary code developed by banks to encourage consideration of environmental and social issues in project financing. Such codes can flexibly bridge the gap between individual companies' sustainability initiatives and mandatory, legal regulation. However, concerns continue to be expressed that the equator principles reporting of banks is not fully satisfactory, so the aim of this paper is to investigate both the nature of the success and the shortcomings of equator principles reporting.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on academic literature on motivations for corporate social responsibility and various publications by non‐government organisations and professional accounting and legal organisations, together with analysis of the disclosures made by Barclays and HSBC. In addition, access was gained for semi‐structured interviews with some senior executives/consultants.

Findings

While the voluntary equator principles initiative has been remarkably successful in matching banks' strategic motivation, the environmental benefit may primarily be a by‐product of the risk management processes of banks, consistent with enlightened shareholder theory. This does not mean the environmental benefits may not be real but, without more detailed project‐level disclosure and a standardised performance evaluation system, it is difficult to measure the extent to which the equator principles have had a positive effect on the environment.

Research limitations/implications

Further research is needed to gauge how the equator principles impact front‐line decision making. There could usefully be further standardisation of equator principles reporting formats, with more detail about project‐level implementation. With respect to reports of external assurers, it remains an open question as to whether these should be made compulsory, subject to further specification of the independence and competence standards.

Originality/value

The study helps to illuminate the effectiveness of a voluntary code such as the equator principles in the social construction of how enlightened shareholder theory is to be interpreted and implemented. It makes an initial response to recent calls by Bebbingtonet al.and Adams for further empirical corporate social responsibility research and more direct engagement with organisations.
Effects of multiple BGA rework on strength of solder joints
Authors: Dariavach N. , Liang J. , Barr G. , Shangguan D.
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of the multiple rework of ball grid array (BGA) components on mechanical strength of BGA balls, as well as any possible intermetallic (IMC) embrittlement, and obtain data correlated with possible estimation on the maximum permitted limits of BGA rework.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, mechanical strength of BGA components assemblies with multiple numbers of rework operations was evaluated. Mechanical evaluation was conducted using BGA ball shear tests and four‐point bending tests of BGA assemblies. Test samples were prepared under the following conditions: virgin, one, two, three and five BGA reworks. Failure mechanism was evaluated using cross‐section and SEM analysis.

Findings

The results show that both ball shearing tests and four‐point bending tests indicates that strength of BGA solder ball itself was not reduced significantly after repair/rework operation from one to five cycles. The IMC structure layer after rework is a mixture of IMC, Sn‐rich and Pb‐rich phases. This mixture layers with thickness even more than 10 μm in thickness does not show reduction of strength of BGA solder balls and do not cause premature embrittlement. However, the bonding strength of the copper pads to the laminates is reduced with rework/repair operation, with the great reduction coming from the first and second rework operation.

Practical implications

In general, the industry recommends two rework cycles for BGA components on the same spot. This study indicates that further rework (up to five) causes little degradation, therefore there is room to increase the total rework cycle limit beyond recommended two for plastic BGA components.

Originality/value

Presented test results shows that in most cases industry overestimates risks associated with increased embritlement of the BGA solder joints due to the intermetallics growth after multiple BGA rework operations. Strength reduction of BGA assemblies is mostly associated with reduction of bonding strength of the copper pads to the laminates is reduced with rework/repair operation and number of reworks could be increased in most cases.
Arab women principals' empowerment and leadership in Israel
Authors: Shapira Tamar , Arar Khalid , Azaiza Faisal
Published: September 2010

Purpose

This paper's purpose is to tell the life‐stories of four women who succeeded in forging paths to senior positions as principals in Arab schools in Israel and to describe the personal, professional and sociopolitical contexts of their principalship.

Design/methodology/approach

This is part of a larger research effort that explored the issue of Arab women managers. Open interviews were conducted with four women principals, employing a narrative approach to study career development and managerial style.

Findings

The stories indicate that these women act as progressive models for Arab society that has not yet recognized women leaders as a social norm. The source of these women's empowerment can be found in their personal backgrounds. These women have created a new style of leadership in Arab schools. An outstanding feature of the principals' stories is the significant importance that they attribute to their relationships with teachers, students and parents.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to document the development of Arab women principals in Israel in their biographical, professional and sociological contexts. The paper provides insight into the educational and social contributions of women in senior positions in Israel's Arab educational system.
Modeling cultural context for aspiring women educational leaders
Authors: Sperandio Jill
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to discuss and examine the development of frameworks and models to guide future research into studies of women's paths to educational leadership worldwide.

Design/methodology/approach

A grounded theory approach to the development of a model of the factors and their interaction that determine the path to educational leadership for women is adopted, drawing on existing research for world‐wide studies.

Findings

Past studies in this field have focused on identifying barriers and opportunities that are gender sensitive. With an increasing interest in developing educational preparation programs that are context and gender specific, there is a need to provide research frameworks to allow for meaningful comparisons between contexts to identify commonalities and differences, and for models to predict the likely outcomes of interventions in current procedures for drawing women into educational leadership. The model presented in the paper allows for the identification of those factors in any given context that influence the success of women aspiring to leadership.

Social implications

Understanding the culturally determined interaction of social and institutional factors that create unique contexts for career building is a prerequisite of developing leadership preparation for women designed to increase their successful entry into, and practice of, school leadership and to rectify their under‐representation in this field worldwide.

Originality/value

Conceptualizing educational leadership for women at an international level is a newly emerging theme that this paper hopes to advance.
Unwritten: young women faculty in educational leadership
Authors: Sherman Whitney H. , Beaty Danna M. , Crum Karen S. , Peters April
Published: September 2010

Purpose

As women professors of educational leadership who are involved with feminist research and the preparation of k‐12 women leaders, the authors came to the realization that while they have dedicated their professional lives to advancing women leaders in the k‐12 environment, they have neglected women like themselves, particularly young women, in the academy.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors utilized biographical narrative inquiry to allow readers a window into their lives as young women faculty in departments of educational leadership and extended this to advocate for changes in university climates for women.

Findings

The authors analyzed their narrative data to develop strategies for young women faculty in educational leadership that include: action‐oriented mentoring; the valuing of home and person; living within gender, age, and skin; and celebration of youth and womanhood.

Originality/value

This paper is an emergent approach to understanding and facilitating social justice and diversity in higher education based on four young women professors' attempt to find a creative and feminist outlet for the expression of their experiences in the academy. Little to no research exists outside of informal personal reports on young women's experiences in the academy and, thus, is the impetus for the paper.
Lessons in spiritual leadership from Kenyan women
Authors: Wambura Ngunjiri Faith
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explicate spiritual leadership lessons of beneficence, courage, hope and ubuntu/humanness that are derived from the experiences of women leaders in Kenya. The paper seeks to connect African data with existing literature on spiritual leadership, to demonstrate where African spiritual leadership is similar to, or different from, western conceptualizations of spiritual leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The study from which this paper is derived employed qualitative methods, specifically interviews with supplemental archival data and observations. Four major themes are explored: beneficence, courage, hope/forbearance and ubuntu/humanness as emerging from the women's leadership stories. These four themes are compared and contrasted against existing literature on spiritual leadership.

Findings

It is found that beneficence, courage, and hope are comparable to existing western conceptualizations, whereas ubuntu is unique to the African context.

Research limitations/implications

The paper and the larger study were derived from interviews with 16 participants; as such, generalization was not a goal. The paper provides a deeper understanding of spiritual leadership as enacted by African women, with implications for the need for increased research on non‐western, non‐white perspectives on the phenomenon.

Practical implications

Readers may relate to the women's stories and be both informed and inspired towards their own social justice leadership.

Originality/value

Whereas the paper is derived from field research conducted in 2005 and published variously in other sources as cited, this paper takes an original perspective in comparing and contrasting African and western understandings of spiritual leadership, and expanding the understanding of the same in a novel way not done in previous publications.
Thermal and fluid dynamic behaviors in symmetrical heated channel‐chimney systems
Authors: Andreozzi Assunta , Buonomo Bernardo , Manca Oronzio
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the thermal and fluid dynamic behaviors of natural convection in a vertical channel‐chimney system heated symmetrically at uniform heat flux in order to detect the different fluid motion structures inside the chimney, such as the cold inflow from the outlet section of the chimney and the reattachment due to the hot jet from the channel, for different extension and expansion ratios of the adiabatic extensions.

Design/methodology/approach

The model is constituted by two‐dimensional steady‐state fully elliptic conservation equations which are solved numerically in a composite three‐part computational domain by means of the finite‐volume method.

Findings

Stream function and temperature fields in the system are presented in order to detect the different fluid motion structures inside the chimney, for different extension and expansion ratios of the adiabatic extensions. The analysis allows to evaluate the effect of the channel aspect ratio on the thermal and fluid dynamic behaviors on a channel‐chimney system and thermal and geometrical conditions corresponding to a complete downflow. Guidelines to estimate critical conditions related to the beginning of flow separation and complete downflow are given in terms of order of magnitude of Rayleigh and Froude numbers.

Research limitations/implications

The hypotheses on which the present analysis is based are: two‐dimensional, laminar and steady‐state flow, constant thermophysical properties with the Boussinesq approximation. The investigation is carried out in the following ranges: from 100 to 100,000 for the Rayleigh number, from 5.0 to 20 for the aspect ratio, from 1.0 to 4.0 for the expansion ratio and from 1.5 to 4 for the extension ratio.

Practical implications

Thermal design of heating systems in different technical fields, such as in electronic cooling and in building ventilation and houses solar components, evaluation of heat convective coefficients and guidelines to estimate critical conditions related to the beginning of flow separation and complete downflow.

Originality/value

The paper is useful to thermal designers because of its evaluation of the thermal and velocity fields, correlation for the Nusselt number and guidelines criteria in terms of Rayleigh and Froude numbers to evaluate conditions of flow separation and complete downflow in natural convection in air for vertical channels‐chimney systems.
IFRIC 13: accounting for “customer loyalty programmes”
Authors: Chapple Sandra , Moerman Lee , Rudkin Kathy
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the views and challenges from a range of accounting professionals, regulators and preparers with the introduction of a standardised approach to accounting for customer loyalty programmes (CLPs). It aims to highlight the ambiguities of the classification of commercial transactions, particularly the nature and timing of revenue recognition.

Design/methodology/approach

Comment letters in response to the exposure draft D20 CLPs are analysed together with an exposition of the effect of International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) 13 on an early adopter, Qantas airlines.

Findings

Despite limited support for the consensus view advocated in D20, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has upheld the deferred revenue approach consistent with the anticipated outcome of the IASB and Financial Accounting Standards Board revenue recognition project.

Research limitations/implications

The paper analyses the characteristics and views of lobbyists using the IFRIC process. The use of other discourse methodologies may present issues of power within this process.

Practical implications

The paper highlights how the implementation of IFRIC interpretations has the potential to alter reported financial results.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the lobbying process and interpretation process at an international level. It also illustrates how companies can engage accounting interpretations to manage earnings, particularly in times of economic challenges.
A green drought: the challenge of mentoring for Australian accounting academics
Authors: Irvine Helen , Moerman Lee , Rudkin Kathy
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to expose the impact of the shortage of senior academics, particularly professors, in Australian accounting schools, to relate the way one school addressed this shortage through a mentoring scheme, and to challenge existing institutional arrangements.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a contextualised qualitative case study of a mentoring scheme conducted in an Australian accounting school. Data collected from semi‐structured interviews, personal reflections and from Australian university web sites are interpreted theoretically using the metaphor of a “green drought”.

Findings

The mentoring scheme achieved some notable successes, but raised many issues and challenges. Mentoring is a multifaceted investment in vocational endeavour and intellectual infrastructure, which will not occur unless creative means are developed over the long term to overcome current and future shortages of academic mentors.

Research limitations/implications

This is a qualitative case study, which, therefore, limits its generalisability. However, its contextualisation enables insights to be applied to the wider academic environment.

Practical implications

In the Australian and global academic environment, as accounting professors retire in greater numbers, new and creative ways of mentoring will need to be devised. The challenge will be to address longer term issues of academic sustainability, and not just to focus on short‐term academic outcomes.

Originality/value

A mentoring scheme based on a collegial networking model of mentoring is presented as a means of enhancing academic endeavour through a creative short‐term solution to a shortage of accounting professors. The paper exemplifies the theorising power of metaphor in a qualitative study.
Value relevance of alternative accounting performance measures: Australian evidence
Authors: Habib Ahsan
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The paper aims to examine the value relevance of alternative accounting performance measures in Australia. It also documents the relative and incremental value relevance of revenue vis‐à‐vis earnings and the longitudinal changes in such value relevance. Finally, the impact of certain firm characteristics including firm life cycle on the value relevance of revenue and earnings information is investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilises data on Australian listed companies from 1992 to 2005 on the level of and changes in seven alternative accounting performance measures. Standard ordinary least square regression is conducted.

Findings

Results reveal that: the coefficient estimates on all the performance measures are much higher for large firms compared to their small firm counterpart; the explanatory power of incremental revenue in explaining stock returns has declined significantly over the sample period; and life cycle analysis shows that the combined coefficients for both revenue and earnings are significant in the growth and maturity stages of the firm life cycle.

Practical implications

When making equity valuation decisions investors consider firms' fundamentals as reflected in financial statements. However, which line item is more important for equity valuation is an important consideration. From a regulatory perspective, this stream of research is quite relevant because standard setters will have evidence from an investor viewpoint about whether certain line items, subtotals, and totals should be defined in standards and required to be displayed in financial statements.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the existing capital market research in Australia by documenting differential persistence of alternative performance measures.
Calculating non‐controlling interest in the presence of goodwill impairment
Authors: Samkin Grant , Deegan Craig
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The primary aim of this paper is to illustrate how goodwill impairment loss should be accounted for when measuring non‐controlling interest in subsidiaries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses two scenarios to illustrate how non‐controlling interest in subsidiaries should be measured in the presence of goodwill impairment loss.

Findings

The way the management of a reporting entity values the non‐controlling interest in a subsidiary will result in different amounts being disclosed in financial statements for non‐controlling interest in earnings, non‐controlling interest, retained earnings and total equity.

Research limitations/implications

The paper uses two scenarios to illustrate a simple consolidation with a parent entity, a subsidiary and a sub‐subsidiary.

Practical implications

Practical guidance on how goodwill impairment losses under International Accounting Standard 36 Impairment of Assets when measuring non‐controlling interest under International Financial Reporting Standard 3 Business Combination, is provided.

Originality/value

The paper corrects any misunderstanding that may exist on the impact goodwill impairment losses have on closing equity when non‐controlling interest is calculated under the different methods of valuing non‐controlling interest.
FRS36 and post‐transition compliance quality among Singapore firms
Authors: Carlin Tyrone M. , Finch Nigel , Faizal Khairi Khairil
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contemplate the degree to which Singaporean firms comply with the highly technical disclosure requirements required under International Accounting Standards (IAS) IAS 36 specific to goodwill impairment testing.

Design/methodology/approach

The adoption of IAS in Singapore from 1 July 2004 introduced a highly technical standard (financial reporting standards – FRS 36) which has challenged many preparers. While it is generally accepted that accounting compliance may be suboptimal in transition periods as preparers accommodate change, it is assumed compliance quality improves with the passage of time. This study examines compliance of the largest 168 Singaporean goodwill‐intensive firms over a three year period, 2005‐2007, to interrogate compliance quality post‐transition.

Findings

The paper reports distinctly poor compliance systemically over the three years across many facets of goodwill impairment testing disclosures including cash‐generating unit (CGU) definition and goodwill allocation, and key input variables used in estimating CGU recoverable amounts.

Practical implications

The results raise questions about the quality of accounting information among goodwill‐intensive firms in Singapore and the robustness of regulatory oversight institutions operating within Singapore.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates a novel approach to examining the issue of accounting quality under IFRS by examining compliance quality through large sample time‐series analysis focusing on note‐form disclosures.
Development of an occupational embeddedness measure
Authors: Adams Gary A. , Webster Jennica R. , Buyarski Danelle M.
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a measure of occupational embeddedness.

Design/methodology/approach

The construct of occupational embeddedness was defined in terms of the forces that bind people to their occupation. Then a four‐part study was conducted to develop a measure of it.

Findings

In Part 1, items were developed and judgmental evidence for their content validity was generated. In Part 2 the initial psychometric characteristics were examined. The results supported the internal consistency reliability and factor structure of the measure. In Part 3, Part 2 was replicated and showed that occupational embeddedness had a negative relationship to occupational withdrawal intentions. In Part 4 a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to demonstrate that occupational embeddedness was distinguishable from occupational commitment. The paper also found that occupational embeddedness was correlated with occupational commitment but not social desirability. In addition, the paper found that it accounted for incremental variance in occupational withdrawal intentions beyond occupational commitment.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include the fact that occupational withdrawal intentions rather than actual behaviors were measured. Overall, the results suggest that the new measure has sound psychometric qualities, and adequate discriminant, convergent and predictive validity. The paper concludes that use of the measure may contribute to the prediction/understanding of career withdrawal.

Originality/value

A new measure of a construct that may be used to complement existing research and measures of work‐role attachment was developed.
Antecedents of older workers' motives for continuing to work
Authors: Templer Andrew , Armstrong‐Stassen Marjorie , Cattaneo Julian
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify demographic and work‐related antecedents of the motives that influence the decision of older workers to remain in the workforce.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross‐sectional study was conducted with three groups of respondents aged 50‐70 years: those in their career job (n=395); those employed in a bridge job (n=195); and those who were self‐employed (n=174).

Findings

In general, the demographic variables (age, gender, marital status) predicted the financial motive for continuing to work whereas the work‐related variables (work centrality, career satisfaction, and perceived contribution/perceived reward of owning one's own business) predicted the work fulfillment and generativity motives. However, the pattern of relationships differed across the three groups of older workers.

Research limitations/implications

The three groups could not be directly compared because of differences in some of the measures. Only one variable, work centrality, was a significant predictor across all three groups, suggesting that instead of seeking to identify universal antecedents, the focus of future research should be on identifying antecedents specific to different groups of older workers.

Practical implications

To promote the retention of older workers, policies, practices and programs should be customized to the different needs of career, bridge and self‐employed individuals.

Originality/value

Little research exists on the antecedents of older workers' motives for continuing to work. Prior research has either not differentiated among older workers or focused solely on one specific group of older workers.
Managing knowledge for spacecraft operations at ESOC
Authors: Mugellesi Dow Roberta , Pallaschke Siegmar
Published: September 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current knowledge management activities at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), specifically in knowledge capture, sharing and preservation and focusing on the developed and adopted methods and on the results obtained related to the process of knowledge capture using video‐recording of experts.

Design/methodology/approach

The knowledge management activities undertaken at ESOC during the past years have been organized into four phases: preliminary study and investigation on knowledge management systems including a review of already existing initiatives; a pilot project within the Flight Dynamics area (a key technical domain within ESOC taking care of the orbit and attitude aspects for the satellite operations) with respect to the questions of knowledge transfer and its barriers; the definition of the ESOC knowledge management system; and the introduction of knowledge capture procedures.

Findings

The inventory of the knowledge assets and the analysis of the knowledge coverage and criticality were essential to be able to identify the existing knowledge in specific areas and to perform a gap analysis. Through this analysis, it is now possible to identify those areas requiring improvement and to allow management to make reliable decisions for which areas the knowledge level should be increased.

Research limitations/implications

With regard to the firm strategic behaviours, it seems particularly crucial to exploit all three dimensions of proximity, in order to guarantee openness and sustain innovativeness and competitiveness. Concerning policy implications, the local governments should address their actions to help and promote the openness of technology districts and the formation of technology clusters. With this aim, actions should be devoted also to sustain single local firms that are part of a technology cluster but not of a technology district. These, in fact, by increasing their competitive position, may generate positive externalities in the local area, fostering the diffusion and sharing of knowledge in the area and then, acting as knowledge gatekeepers for the whole area.

Originality/value

The paper describes the implementation strategy of the knowledge management within ESOC. Based on this practical experience, guidelines can be derived for the implementation of a more general knowledge management system in the aerospace industry.
Knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs: designing epistemic landscapes for development
Authors: Evers Hans‐Dieter , Gerke Solvay , Menkhoff Thomas
Published: September 2010

Purpose

With globalization and knowledge‐based production, firms may cooperate on a global scale, outsource parts of their administrative or productive units and negate location altogether. The extremely low transaction costs of data, information and knowledge seem to invalidate the theory of agglomeration and the spatial clustering of firms, going back to the classical work by Alfred Weber and Alfred Marshall, who emphasized the microeconomic benefits of industrial collocation. This paper aims to argue against this view and show why the growth of knowledge societies will rather increase than decrease the relevance of location by creating knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs, due to sharing of tacit knowledge and research and development outputs. Designing epistemic landscapes of knowledge clusters and hubs is, therefore, proposed as a viable development policy.

Design/methodology/approach

Secondary data from cluster research as well as the authors' own survey data, mainly on Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, are used to show and measure clustering of knowledge‐producing organizations.

Findings

The paper shows that sharing of tacit knowledge is a crucial variable to explain why clustering of knowledge‐intensive industries takes place despite the development of information technology. The importance of knowledge management for development is highlighted.

Practical implications

Designing epistemic landscapes of knowledge clusters and hubs is, therefore, proposed as a viable development policy.

Originality/value

The paper argues against the mainstream of industrial clustering theory and proposes a KM‐based research strategy. The discussion of the difference between knowledge clusters and knowledge hubs enables the use of a new and consistent evaluation of a K4D (knowledge for development) strategy.