bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perceptions of Independence—Do They Change Over Time?
Authors: Gorman F. Barry , Ansong Granville
Published: September 2003

This paper seeks to determine Canadian professional accountants' attitudes to similar independence threatening situations, and whether these attitudes remain constant or change over time, thus adding an important longitudinal dimension to prior research. Questionnaires administered in 1986 and 1993 to 300 randomly selected Canadian chartered accountants contained 19 hypothetical situations designed to ascertain the potential existence of differing attitudes related to these situations. The situations are grouped into six categories, and the responses on a 7‐point scale are compared by situation and group of situations. A gradual slide along the ‘total impairment’—‘no impairment’ continuum is noted, indicating wide variability within each situation and group of situations, and a change in attitudes from 1986 to 1993. Attitude shifts tend to move towards both the ‘no impairment’ and ‘total impairment’ ends of the scale. It is suggested that increased litigation may be the explanation for the response shifts. The paper concludes with several practical applications for the results of this research.
UK Auditor Liability: An Insurable Risk?
Authors: Moizer Peter , Hansford‐Smith Lisa
Published: September 2003

To answer the question, two approaches have been adopted: a series of interviews with insurance brokers and a Big Six audit partner, and an economic analysis of the factors limiting insurability as it applies to the audit services market. The results of the interviews suggest that there is a two‐tier market, with the larger audit firms receiving only partial insurance cover for particular bands of risk and a second tier for which the audit firms can receive effectively full insurance. There are four main problems for insurers dealing with auditor liability: (i) constructing probabilities for particular levels of damages, because of the relative infrequency of occurrence of major payouts for auditor liability; (ii) the impact of uncontrollable moral hazard, in particular effort discouragement and distribution distortion hazards; (iii) unverifiable adverse selection; and (iv) assessing the size of the damages that might be awarded, because of unpredictable changes within the legal framework.
Perceptions of Auditor Responsibility: Views of the Judiciary and the Profession
Authors: Anderson Brenda , Maletta Mario , Wright Arnold
Published: September 2003

A vital concern to the international auditing community is the litigation risk created by the ‘expectations gap’, the existence of potential differences between societal views of the scope of auditor responsibility and those of audit professionals. The focus of this study is to investigate the role that factors identified as important in professional audit standards and in the international press play in attributions of auditor responsibility in two important audit contexts: fraud and going concern. With respect to fraud detectability, the factors investigated were collusion and materiality, while those factors related to going concern predictability were evidence reliability and timing of unpredicted events. US auditors and practicing judges participated in the study. Consistent with expectations, the results indicate that auditors' attributions of responsibility were significantly affected by the detectability and predictability variables examined. The effect of the factors on judges' attributions of auditor responsibility was moderated by their general attitudes toward the auditing profession. Specifically, in the absence of mitigating factors, judges with unfavorable attitudes made greater responsibility assessments than those with favorable attitudes. However, in the presence of mitigating factors such as collusion or when the time period between the audit opinion date and bankruptcy was long, judges with unfavorable attitudes made significantly lower responsibility assessments. Lastly, while evidence reliability and materiality significantly affected auditors' attributions, they did not play a role in the attributions of the judges.
Audit Automation in the UK and the US: A Comparative Study
Authors: Manson Stuart , McCartney Sean , Sherer Michael , Wallace Wanda A.
Published: September 2003

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature and extent of the use of audit automation by audit firms in the UK and the US. In particular, the paper seeks to identify the significant differences between practices in the two countries. The authors argue in the paper that there are two main forces that might account for these differences. On the one hand, globalization tends to promote similar audit automation practices in the two countries. On the other hand, cultural factors mitigate homogeneity in audit automation practices. The research consisted of a survey of current audit automation practice in large and medium sized audit firms in the UK and the US. The principal conclusions from the research are: (1) that there are differences in the practice of audit automation in the UK and the US; (2) that these differences persist even amongst Big 6 firms. These two conclusions would suggest that cultural differences are not dominated by the forces of globalization. The authors also conclude that (3) the most important benefit of audit automation in both countries is perceived to be improvements in audit quality; and (4) the most important costs across all types of audit firm are training and staff learning time.
A Qualitative Analysis of the Audit Expectations Gap in the Public Sector of Bangladesh
Authors: Chowdhury Riazur , Innes John
Published: September 2003

This interview‐based research is exploratory in nature and seeks to determine whether or not an audit expectations gap exists in the public sector of Bangladesh. Various audit concepts are employed to test whether the perceptions of the auditors in the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) are the same as the perceptions of the audit report users. The interviewees' responses revealed important differences between the CAG auditors and the audit report users in such important areas as auditor accountability, auditor independence, auditor competence, truth and fairness of the reported information and the role of the performance audit. A comparison is undertaken of the possible causes of the audit expectations gaps in both the private and public sectors. A number of these causes are common for both the private and public sectors but some are relevant only to the public sector audit expectations gap.
A Framework for Assessing the Value of Management Inquiry
Authors: Krishnamoorthy Ganesh , Wright Arnold
Published: September 2003

Using a Bayesian Cascaded Inference approach, this study provides a framework to allow an auditor to simultaneously consider important criteria identified in the literature in evaluating the credibility of evidence obtained from management inquiry. Specifically, the importance of management reliability attributes (competence and objectivity) and the role of misstatement risk are examined. Additionally, fraud risk scenarios are considered.

Sensitivity analyses suggest three important propositions that have implications for practice and research. First, reliable management inquiries have the highest potential value when misstatement risks are greatest. Second, in a situation of suspected financial reporting fraud, inquiries from high level management are of little value due to concerns for objectivity. Third, in a suspected defalcation scenario the reliability of higher level management inquiries is contingent upon their competence in identifying suspected fraud, a type of competence that auditors have not traditionally assessed.
Audit Review Effectiveness in an Analytical Review Task
Authors: Ismail Zubaidah , Trotman Ken T.
Published: September 2003

Ismail and Trotman (1995) examined the before and after review performance of auditors in generating hypotheses in an analytical review task. This study extends the earlier study using two additional measures of performance, namely, the inclusion of the correct‐seeded error in the hypothesis set and the selection of the correct‐seeded error as the most likely hypothesis. The study manipulates the existence of discussion between the reviewer and the reviewee (discussion/no discussion) and measures the rank of the reviewer (manager/senior). The results showed a general trend for the review process to improve performance on both measures used. While no significant discussion effects were found, there was evidence that the improvements from manager‐reviewed groups were greater than those for senior‐reviewed groups.
Does the Provision of Non‐Audit Services Impair Auditor Independence?
Authors: Craswell Allen T.
Published: September 2003

The provision of management advisory and other services by auditors to their audit clients has long been regarded, by regulators in Australia and overseas, as a threat to auditor independence. Evidence of the impact of non‐audit services on auditors' independence has been derived using case studies and questionnaires and has focused on perceptions of independence. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the provision of non‐audit services impairs auditor independence by testing for an association between the provision of non‐audit services and auditors' reporting opinions. Based on publicly available information for Australian listed companies for several years, the evidence suggests that auditors' decisions to qualify their opinions are not affected by the provision of non‐audit services.
The Auditor's Going Concern Opinion Decision: A Pilot Study
Authors: Vanstraelen Ann
Published: September 2003

This research attempts to find empirical evidence of ex ante factors relating to the economic trade‐offs that an auditor faces when deciding whether or not to disclose going concern uncertainties in an audit report in a non‐litigious continental European setting, Belgium. The research methodology consists of univariate and logistic regression analysis. The results of the study confirm the belief that the auditor's going concern opinion decision is not only a question of competence but also of independence. A significant moderating factor appears to be recent client loss on the part of the auditor. The legal obligation for Belgian auditors to refer to the report of the Board of Directors in their own audit report seems to significantly influence their reporting behaviour. The disclosure by the Board of Directors of ‘bad news’ regarding the state of affairs of a company diminishes any conflict of interest that may exist between the Board and the auditor. However, no evidence was found to justify the fear for a ‘self‐fulfilling prophecy’ effect.
Does an Auditor's Skill Matter? Responses To and Preferences Amongst Auditing Standards
Authors: Frantz Pascal
Published: September 2003

The last decades have seen a dramatic increase in litigation against auditors. This paper introduces a model, in which auditors differ in their levels of skill, where differences in levels of skill may or may not be observable and reflect differences in knowledge or audit technology. This model is designed to capture the interplay amongst auditing standards, auditors' liability, and auditors' levels of skill, which determines auditors' responses to and attitudes towards auditing standards.

The paper first derives an auditor's employment prospects and the quality of audit supplied if employed as a function of his level of skill in the absence of any imperfection, in the assessment of negligence or uncertainty in the quality of audit prescribed by the prevailing auditing standards. It then analyses the effect of either an imperfection in the assessment of negligence or uncertainty in the quality of audit prescribed by the prevailing auditing standards on the equilibrium schedule of audit quality. It then derives auditors' preferences amongst auditing standards. Finally, auditors' incentives to invest in skill are considered.
Policy‐Induced Technology Adoption: Evidence from the U.S. Lead Phasedown
Authors: Kerr Suzi , Newell Richard G.
Published: September 2003

Theory suggests that economic instruments, such as pollution taxes or tradable permits, can provide more efficient technology adoption incentives than conventional regulatory standards. We explore this issue for an important industry undergoing dramatic decreases in allowed pollution – the U.S. petroleum industry's phasedown of lead in gasoline. Using a duration model applied to a panel of refineries from 1971–1995, we find that the pattern of technology adoption is consistent with an economic response to market incentives, plant characteristics, and alternative policies. Importantly, evidence suggests that the tradable permit system used during the phasedown provided incentives for more efficient technology adoption decisions.
The Dual Imperative in Refugee Research: Some Methodological and Ethical Considerations in Social Science Research on Forced Migration
Authors: Jacobsen Karen , Landau Loren B.
Published: September 2003

Social scientists doing fieldwork in humanitarian situations often face a dual imperative: research should be both academically sound and policy relevant. We argue that much of the current research on forced migration is based on unsound methodology, and that the data and subsequent policy conclusions are often flawed or ethically suspect. This paper identifies some key methodological and ethical problems confronting social scientists studying forced migrants or their hosts. These problems include non‐representativeness and bias, issues arising from working in unfamiliar contexts including translation and the use of local researchers, and ethical dilemmas including security and confidentiality issues and whether researchers are doing enough to ‘do no harm’. The second part of the paper reviews the authors' own efforts to conduct research on urban refugees in Johannesburg. It concludes that while there is no single ‘best practice’ for refugee research, refugee studies would advance its academic and policy relevance by more seriously considering methodological and ethical concerns.
Early Socio‐political and Environmental Consequences of the Prestige Oil Spill in Galicia
Authors: Pérez J.D. García
Published: September 2003

The controversial form in which the oil industry is run has once more caused a huge disaster — this one affecting the Galician coastal environment and economy. Oil‐spill clean‐up operations have been managed in Europe with some success but with considerable economic, environmental and social costs. The oil industry often avoids fully or even partially compensating those affected. The lack of both political will and political power has let the culprit (the oil industry) off the hook. This paper considers the spill of the Prestige to assess whether the balance of power between affected people and the oil industry can be changed. The paper examines the growing awareness of environmental issues among ordinary people in Spain, through the massive involvement of volunteers concerned with the damage done to the environment and to the livelihoods of fishing communities in Galicia. To understand these growing public concerns and the strength of opinion, the paper examines the details of the decisions taken by the central Spanish and local governments and the way these have informed the clean‐up operations, the character of the oil companies involved and the feeling of impotence in the face of such disasters. The conclusion here is that the operations of the oil industry should be tightly regulated through EU legislation, and that this can come about as a result of organised political pressure from those affected by the oil spill, from the mass of volunteers, as well as from public opinion at large.
Constructing Vulnerability: The Historical, Natural and Social Generation of Flooding in Metropolitan Manila
Authors: Bankoff Greg
Published: September 2003

Flooding is not a recent hazard in the Philippines but one that has occurred throughout the recorded history of the archipelago. On the one hand, it is related to a wider global ecological crisis to do with climatic change and rising sea levels but on the other hand, it is also the effect of more localised human activities. A whole range of socio‐economic factors such as land use practices, living standards and policy responses are increasingly influencing the frequency of natural hazards such as floods and the corresponding occurrence of disasters. In particular, the reason why flooding has come to pose such a pervasive risk to the residents of metropolitan Manila has its basis in a complex mix of inter‐relating factors that emphasise how the nature of vulnerability is constructed through the lack of mutuality between environment and human activity over time. This paper examines three aspects of this flooding: first, the importance of an historical approach in understanding how hazards are generated; second, the degree of interplay between environment and society in creating risk; and third, the manner in which vulnerability is a complex construction.
The Afghan Experiment: The Afghan Support Group, Principled Common Programming and the Strategic Framework
Authors: Kreczko Alan
Published: September 2003

From 1997 to 2001, the international community put in place unique mechanisms to address the challenges to providing humanitarian assistance in Taliban‐run Afghanistan. The Afghan Support Group (ASG), Principled Common Programming (PCP) and the Strategic Framework (SF) constituted a precedent‐setting experiment that consumed thousands of hours in implementation in donor capitals and in the field. This article, written from the perspective of the leading donor of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, assesses the extent to which this Afghan experiment succeeded in increasing coherence on assistance policy issues, improving efficiency in assistance programmes and added synergy between assistance and peace efforts; identifies factors that limited further achievements; suggests how the mechanisms could have been improved; and analyses whether the overall effort politicised humanitarian assistance. The article concludes that the record of achievement was sufficiently promising that the ASG/PCP/SF experiment should be considered for application in other complex humanitarian emergencies.
Humanitarian Daily Rations: The Need for Evaluation and Guidelines
Authors: Sklaver Ben
Published: September 2003

Over 13 million Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) have been distributed by NGOs, international organisations and the US military since 1993. In that time, not a single technical end‐user study of HDRs has been published. Nor have practical guidelines been established for HDR distribution or use. This paper seeks to establish a baseline of knowledge concerning HDRs, surveying their history, composition and distribution. Criticisms of the ration are reviewed. A comprehensive evaluation is required to understand and improve HDR distribution, end‐use, perceptions, design and nutritional contents. HDRs must also be added to technical guidelines on planning nutritionally adequate rations.
Building Grounded Theories of Management Action
Authors: Partington David
Published: September 2003

This paper presents a structured approach to grounded theory‐building. It is aimed at ‘mode 2’ (Gibbons et al., 1994) management researchers, in particular those who analyse recollections of past events, often recorded in interview data, to develop explanations of management action. Two characteristics of mode 2 enquiry ‐ transdisciplinarity and an emphasis on tacit knowledge ‐ make grounded theory potentially attractive to mode 2 researchers. However, the approach offered here differs in two important ways from the much‐cited universal grounded theory model originated by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and later proceduralized by Strauss and Corbin (1990). First, it acknowledges that the form of theories of management action which will satisfy the contemporary demands of mode 2 research is different from the form of integrated sociological theory for which the original grounded theory approach was developed. Second, it takes account of differences between the ontological assumptions underlying the use of retrospective data for analysing management action, and those associated with participant observation, the pivotal strategy of grounded theory's symbolic interactionist roots. The result is a simplified, more direct approach which works for the specific purpose of generating useful, consensually valid theory.
Learning and Organization in the Knowledge‐Based Information Economy: Initial Findings from a Participatory Action Research Case Study
Authors: Harrison Richard T. , Leitch Claire M.
Published: September 2003

This paper reports on an ongoing, multiphase, project‐based action learning and research project. In particular, it summarizes some aspects of the learning climate and outcomes for a case‐study company in the software industry. Using a participatory action research approach, the learning company framework developed by Pedler et al. (1997) is used to initiate critical reflection in the company at three levels: managing director, senior management team and technical and professional staff. As such, this is one of the first systematic attempts to apply this framework to the entire organization and to a company in the knowledge‐based learning economy. Two sets of issues are of general concern to the company: internal issues surrounding the company's reward and recognition policies and practices and the provision of accounting and control information in a business‐relevant way to all levels of staff; and external issues concerning the extent to which the company and its members actively learn from other companies and effectively capture, disseminate and use information accessed by staff in boundary‐spanning roles. The paper concludes with some illustrations of changes being introduced by the company as a result of the feedback on and discussion of these issues.
Culture Formation in a New Television Station: A Multi‐perspective Analysis
Authors: Daymon Christine
Published: September 2003

Research which focuses on organizational culture formation is usually conducted within the context of change from an established culture to a transformed one. This longitudinal case study aims to trace culture formation from its genesis. It applies a multi‐perspective analytical framework to explore organization members' experiences as they adjusted to, and strove to shape, working life in the first three years of a new television station. The article presents three separate views of culture formation by applying divergent lenses to analyse the data. It then offers a dialogue between the competing perspectives in order to show the interrelatedness of contrasting evidence. Results of the study indicate that culture forms through a continuous sequence of integration, differentiation and fragmentation. This suggests that the cultural patterns of cohesion which emerge in organizational life are, at the same time, fluid, diverse and paradoxical. The article contributes to the current debate on multi‐perspective enquiry by providing empirical evidence to support the notion that reliance on a single analytical lens is insufficient to explain the complex realities of life in new, evolving organizations.
Horse Races, Governance and the Chance to Fight: On the Formation of Organizational Agendas
Authors: Pitt Martyn , McAulay Laurie , Dowds Nichola , Sims David
Published: August 2003

We consider the formation of issues on the organizational agenda of a manufacturing firm. We find that the patterns of issue formation vary markedly and we develop an analytic framework to examine a number of emerging, potentially ambiguous issues. We emphasize the importance to the organization of perceptions of collective freedom to construct an issue, the role of issue labelling and perceptions of emerging consensus over the construction of an issue. Jointly, these considerations affect whether an issue gains salience on the agenda and whether it is resolved constructively.
Efficiency and Power: Organizational Economics Meets Organization Theory
Authors: Rowlinson Michael , Procter Stephen
Published: August 2003

The disputes between sociologically informed organization theory and organizational economics revolve around the relative importance of efficiency and power. The concepts of efficiency and power are clarified in this paper, with distinctions being made between subjectivist and essentialist versions of efficiency, and between institutional and processual perspectives on power. Economists have largely ignored sociologists' discussions of power. It is argued that if path dependency is allowed for then organizational economics may well be compatible with an institutional view of power. The main theme of the paper is that efficiency is no less of an ‘essentially contested concept’ than power.
Connection/Disconnection: Theory and Practice in Organization Control
Authors: Munro Rolland
Published: August 2003

This paper suggests that the literature on organization control could benefit from more attention to ‘disconnections’, particularly those that take the form of extrusions and effacements from organization processes. Pointing out that current organization researchers depend almost exclusively on ‘connections’ for their theorizing on control, the paper illustrates the importance of disconnections in the form of gaps, breaks and absences in three field studies. The argument of the paper is that control is an effect that is enacted in practice by a distribution of connections alongside disconnections.
Information Technology in Public Services: Towards the Contractual Organization?
Authors: Willcocks Leslie P. , Currie Wendy L.
Published: August 2003

The growing trend towards information technology (IT) outsourcing is analysed within the UK public sector. The paper first details the research findings on factors influencing the degree of success experienced in a range of IT outsourcing deals. These factors are then utilized as a framework for analysing and discussing two case histories—of selective and large‐scale IT outsourcing—drawn from different parts of the public sector. Both demonstrate how distinctive public‐sector contexts influence the direction and degree of outsourcing. At the same time they highlight a range of managerial and organizational issues raised by moves towards contractual, core competence forms of organizing. Selective outsourcing is revealed as effective provided key decisions and actions are taken. The large‐scale outsourcing case raises a number of critical issues not just for how it can be conducted in public‐sector contexts, but also about the efficacy of such arrangements in terms of cost savings, possible over‐dependence on a few suppliers, and ability to respond flexibly to changing political requirements and legislation.
The Service Brand as Relationships Builder
Authors: Dall’Olmo Riley Francesca , De Chernatony Leslie
Published: September 2003

This article examines the appropriateness of the notion and application of relationship marketing in various contexts. Theoretical and conceptual similarities between the broad notions of ‘the brand’ and of relationship marketing as risk reducers, simplifiers of choice and guarantee of quality are uncovered. We put forward a notion of relationship marketing as a further step in the branding process, whereby whenever perceived risk and consumer involvement are high, relationship marketing acts as a supplementary tool enabling consumers to maintain cognitive consistency and psychological comfort. Experts' opinions regarding branding in a service context expanded on these concepts. Especially for more intangible offerings, such as financial services, the experts stressed the use of corporate brand identity as the basis of relationship building both inside and outside the organization and as a means to achieve differentiation and provide the focus for homogeneous and consistent service delivery. Finally, we suggest the concept of the service brand as a holistic process beginning with the relationship between the firm and its staff and coming alive during the interactions between staff and customers.
Validation of a Multi‐Dimensional Measure of Strategy Development Processes
Authors: Bailey Andy , Johnson Gerry , Daniels Kevin
Published: September 2003

In this paper, we present evidence on the measurement properties of an instrument that assesses six dimensions of organizational strategy development. These dimensions are labelled planning, incrementalism, cultural, political, command and enforced choice. Using data from 5332 managers, results indicate the instrument has acceptable reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis confirms its underlying structure. Generally, the sub‐scales have acceptable internal reliability and inter‐rater reliability at the organizational level (n = 770 organizations). Further, using data aggregated at the organizational level, the sub‐scales are judged to have acceptable validity from the pattern of correlations amongst the six dimensions and with other variables.
Assessing the Construct Validity of Strategic and SIC‐Based Measures of Corporate Diversification
Authors: Sambharya Rakesh B.
Published: September 2003

Several new methods of measuring corporate diversification have been developed since Rumelt's (1974) seminal work. These methods use varying criteria but they have not been backed up by construct validity. The present study investigates the content, convergent, discriminant, unidimensionality, and predictive validity by comparing 54 Fortune 500 companies on Rumelt's classification (self‐reported and calculated), entropy, Berry‐ Herfindahl index, and broad and mean narrow spectrum diversification measures. Results indicate only mild support for convergence, discriminant and predictive validity, and no evidence of unidimensionality amongst these measures. This raises problems in the measurement of diversification and subsequent relationships to performance linkages.
Validity of the Cognitive Style Index: Replication and Extension
Authors: Sadler‐Smith Eugene , Spicer David P. , Tsang Florence
Published: September 2003

Allinson and Hayes (1996) in the reporting of a new measure, theCognitive Style Index , made a plea for replication and extension of their work. Using a sample of over one thousand subjects the present study investigated the CSIÃÂÃÂs construct and concurrent validity. A maximum likelihood factor analysis obtained broadly similar results to those of Allinson and Hayes. No relationship was observed between the CSI and an alternative measure of style (the Cognitive Styles Analysis). It is argued that cognitive style is independent of gender but that style is related to job level (lower scores were associated with increased seniority). Some evidence was presented which suggests there may be differences in cognitive style between Hong Kong and UK small business owner managers
Ethical and economic evaluations of consumption in contemporary China
Authors: Zhongzhi Zhou
Published: August 2003

Consumption is one of the important components in the social reproduction circle, which also includes production, distribution, and exchange. Consumer activities should be examined in the social context as well as in the context of the production process. Especially important are impacts of social ethics and individual morality on consumer activities. This paper describes a dialectical relation between ethical and economic evaluations of consumption, presents evidence on Chinese attitudes to borrowing, and proposes a reasonable proportionality between consumption and frugality as a general guideline for consumer activities in contemporary China.
An ethical discussion on the network economy
Authors: Zonghao Bao
Published: August 2003

The digital revolution has become the driver of world development. However, it has given rise to a number of concerns of an ethical nature. These include challenges to privacy, the protection of copyright, problems of cultural imperialism, effects on social and family life, the monopolisation of information, the pollution of information, informational cheating and the vulnerability to viruses and hackers. The article suggests that ethicists must think seriously about ways by which ethical consciousness can be raised and ethical behaviours encouraged in the network economy.
Benchmarking the moral decision‐making strength of European biotech companies: a European research project
Authors: Kleinfeld Annette
Published: August 2003

Biotechnology companies have been forced to take account of the social and ethical pressures which increasingly surround their activities. A research project was undertaken with the aims (a) of identifying the practices and procedures which companies put in place as a response to these pressures, and (b) of advising the European Commission on ways by which interaction between these companies and their stakeholders might be improved. Two questionnaires were administered, and although the response rate was not high a reasonably balanced sample was achieved. The results indicated that although there was a high degree of ethical awareness and a willingness to pursue an ‘integrity approach’ to decision‐making as opposed to a ‘compliance approach’, companies on the whole lacked the institutional tools (codes of ethics, ethics training, and others) which would enable them to operationalise an integrity approach to corporate decision‐making.
The power struggle between accountants and marketers and its consequences for business ethics in the U.K.
Authors: O'Leary Barbara
Published: August 2003

The dominant managerial discipline in U.K. companies is finance. Accountants are often viewed as being concerned with what is measurable, definite and controllable. The emphasis is on professional conduct, independence, objectivity, technical competence and confidentiality. This paper explores the concept that the growth of professionalism has created an environment in which functional specialists have different ethical perspectives. The pre‐eminence of accountants is now being challenged by the marketers, a profession that takes a much wider view of business ethics. This development is bound to have implications for corporate perspectives on business ethics. The paper gives the views of a focus group of managers from other disciplines on the relations between accountants and marketers, and analyses the potential for better understanding between the two groups and the implications of this for business ethics.
How Much Does a Shared Name Make Things Similar? Linguistic Labels, Similarity, and the Development of Inductive Inference
Authors: Sloutsky Vladimir M. , Lo Ya‐Fen , Fisher Anna V.
Published: August 2003

This article examines the development of inductive generalization, and presents a model of young children's induction and two experiments testing the model. The model specifies contribution of linguistic labels and perceptual similarity to young children's induction and predicts a correspondence between similarity judgment and induction of young children. In Experiment 1, 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds, 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds, and 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds were presented with triads of schematic faces (a Target and two Test stimuli), which varied in perceptual similarity, with one of the Test stimuli sharing a linguistic label with the Target, and another having a different label. Participants were taught an unobservable biological property about the Target and asked to generalize the property to one of the Test stimuli. Although 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds’ proportions of label‐based inductive generalizations varied with the degree of perceptual similarity among the compared stimuli, 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds relied exclusively on labels, and 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds appeared to be a transitional group. In Experiment 2 these findings were replicated using naturalistic stimuli (i.e., photographs of animals), with perceptual similarity manipulated by “morphing” naturalistic pictures into each other in a fixed number of steps. Overall results support predictions of the model and point to a developmental shift from treating linguistic labels as an attribute contributing to similarity to treating them as markers of a common category—a shift that appears to occur between 8 and 11 years of age.
The Development of Multiple Domains of Child and Adolescent Self‐Concept: A Cohort Sequential Longitudinal Design
Authors: Cole David A. , Maxwell Scott E. , Martin Joan M. , Peeke Lachlan G. , Seroczynski A. D. , Tram Jane M. , Hoffman Kit B. , Ruiz Mark D. , Jacquez Farrah , Maschman Tracy
Published: August 2003

The development of child and adolescent self‐concept was examined as a function of the self‐concept domain, social/developmental/educational transitions, and gender. In two overlapping age cohorts of public school students (Ns = 936 and 984), five dimensions of self‐concept were evaluated every 6 months in a manner that spanned grades 3 through 11 (representing the elementary, middle, and high school years). Domains of self‐concept included academic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, social acceptance, and sports competence. Structural equation modeling addressed questions about the stability of individual differences over time. Multilevel modeling addressed questions about mean‐level changes in self‐concept over time. Significant effects emerged with regard to gender, age, dimension of self‐concept, and educational transition.
The Relations of Regulation and Negative Emotionality to Indonesian Children's Social Functioning
Authors: Eisenberg Nancy , Pidada Sri , Liew Jeffrey
Published: August 2003

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of individual differences in regulation and negative emotionality to 127 third‐grade Indonesian children's social skills/low externalizing problem behavior, sociometric status, and shyness. Parents and multiple teachers provided information on children's regulation, negative emotionality, and social functioning; peer sociometric information on liking and social behavior was obtained; and children reported on their self‐regulation. In general, children's low socially appropriate behavior/high problem behavior and rejected peer status were related to low dispositional regulation and high negative emotionality (intense emotions and anger), and regulation and negative emotionality (especially teacher rated) sometimes accounted for unique (additive) variance in children's social functioning. Adult‐reported shyness was related to low peer nominations of disliked/fights (although shy children were not especially liked), low adult‐reported regulation, and (to a lesser degree) low teacher‐rated negative emotionality. Findings are compared with work on regulation, negative emotionality, social competence, and shyness in other countries.
Ethnic Differences in the Effect of Parenting on Gang Involvement and Gang Delinquency: A Longitudinal, Hierarchical Linear Modeling Perspective
Authors: Walker‐Barnes Chanequa J. , Mason Craig A.
Published: August 2003

This study examined the relative influence of peer and parenting behavior on changes in adolescent gang involvement and gang‐related delinquency. An ethnically diverse sample of 300 ninth‐grade students was recruited and assessed on eight occasions during the school year. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that, in general, adolescents decreased their level of gang involvement over the course of the school year, whereas the average level of gang delinquency remained constant over time. As predicted, adolescent gang involvement and gang‐related delinquency were most strongly predicted by peer gang involvement and peer gang delinquency, respectively. Nevertheless, parenting behavior continued to significantly predict change in both gang involvement and gang delinquency, even after controlling for peer behavior. A significant interaction between parenting and ethnic and cultural heritage found the effect of parenting to be particularly salient for Black students, for whom higher levels of behavioral control and lower levels of lax parental control were related to better behavioral outcomes over time, whereas higher levels of psychological control predicted worse behavioral outcomes.
Child Development and Public Policy: Toward a Dynamic Systems Perspective
Authors: Yoshikawa Hirokazu , Hsueh JoAnn
Published: August 2003

Little theoretical work exists that proposes general mechanisms for how public policies may influence child development. This article argues that dynamic systems theories may be useful in illuminating such processes, as well as highlighting gaps in current research at the intersection of public policy analysis and developmental science. A brief review of dynamic systems theories as they are currently utilized in other areas of developmental science is provided, as well as a statement of why they may help advance research in public policy and child development. Five principles of dynamic systems theories are presented and discussed using examples from research that address the question, “How do current antipoverty and welfare reform policies affect children?” Also presented are examples of hypotheses and research questions that each principle may generate for future work. The concluding section presents challenges that each principle poses for research methodology, and potential uses of the dynamic systems approach for developing and integrating policy and program initiatives.
The Danish Corporate Governance System: from stakeholder orientation towards shareholder value
Authors: Rose Caspar , Mejer Carsten
Published: September 2003

This article presents a description of the Danish corporate governance system. It is similar to other continental European corporate governance systems, having concentrated ownership and no well‐functioning market for corporate control. However, contrary to other European corporate governance systems, foundation ownership plays a vital and significant role in Denmark. Traditionally, the Danish corporate governance system has been oriented towards protecting the rights of various stakeholders and not only shareholders. In recent years, more pressure has been put on Danish firms for promoting shareholder value. As a consequence, Danish managers have begun to receive stock‐related incentive contracts, although the Danish institutional framework still facilitates the protection of a broader range of stakeholders.
Asymmetric output‐gap effects in Phillips Curve and mark‐up pricing models: Evidence for the US and the UK
Authors: Clements Michael P. , Sensier Marianne
Published: September 2003

A number of studies have found an asymmetric response of consumer price index inflation to the output gap in the US in simple Phillips curve models. We consider whether there are similar asymmetries in mark‐up pricing models, that is, whether the mark‐up over producers' costs also depends upon the sign of the (adjusted) output gap. The robustness of our findings to the price series is assessed, and also whether price‐output responses in the UK are asymmetric.
Inflation and Investment
Authors: Madsen Jakob B.
Published: September 2003

This paper argues that inflation curbs investment because depreciations for tax purposes are at historical costs and because it renders firms liquidity constrained by lowering accounting profits of levered firms. Using panel data for the OECD countries, the empirical estimates show that investment in non‐residential buildings and structures and in machinery and equipment is strongly negatively related to inflation, which suggests that the low inflation environment in the 1990s has been an important contributor to the high investment activity over the past decade in the OECD countries.
Endogenous Money: An Analytical Approach
Authors: Fontana Giuseppe , Venturino Ezio
Published: September 2003

The paper proposes a constructive interpretation of the Post Keynesian debate between horizontalists and structuralists. Both approaches defend an endogenous money theory, but they discriminate between different analyses of the credit market and the reserve market. A more general model encompassing both approaches is presented here and some of its implications are discussed.
R&D, Imperfect Competition and Growth with Human Capital Accumulation
Authors: Bucci Alberto
Published: September 2003

This paper studies the long‐run consequences of imperfect competition on growth and the sectoral distribution of skills within an R&D‐based growth model with human capital accumulation. We find that steady‐state growth is driven only by incentives to accumulate skills. In the model imperfect competition has a positive growth effect, while influencing the allocation of human capital to the different economic activities employing this factor input. Contrary to general wisdom, the share of resources invested in R&D turns out not to be monotonically increasing in the product market power and its correlation with the equilibrium output growth rate is not unambiguous.
What goes up sometimes stays up: shocks and institutions as determinants of unemployment persistence
Authors: Amisano Gianni , Serati Massimiliano
Published: September 2003

We analyse the determinants of unemployment persistence in four OECD countries by estimating a structural Bayesian VAR with an informative prior based on an insiders/outsiders model. We explicitly insert unemployment benefits and labour taxes so that our identification is not affected by the Faust and Leeper (1997) critique. We find widespread hysteresis: demand shocks play a dominant role in explaining unemployment also in the medium‐run. Moreover real wages have low sensitivity to cyclical fluctuations and to labour market disequilibria. Our results emphasise the real power of the unions and their interactions with structural shocks and other institutions as crucial determinants of hysteresis.
Works Councils and Collective Bargaining in Germany: The Impact on Productivity and Wages
Authors: Hübler Olaf , Jirjahn Uwe
Published: September 2003

This paper investigates the interaction between establishment‐level codetermination and industry‐level collective bargaining in Germany. Based on a bargaining model, we derive our main hypothesis: In establishments covered by collective bargaining agreements, works councils are more likely to be engaged in productivity‐enhancing activities and less engaged in rent‐seeking activities than their counterparts in uncovered establishments. Our empirical analysis confirms this hypothesis. The presence of works councils exerts a positive impact on productivity within the covered industrial relations regime but not within the uncovered regime. The presence of works councils has a positive effect on wages within the uncovered regime but not to the same degree within the covered regime.
Earnings, Education, and Fixed‐Term Contracts
Authors: Brown Sarah , Sessions John G.
Published: September 2003

We explore the relationship between earnings, education, and fixed‐term contracts using data from the 1997 British Social Attitudes Survey. We find that the log hourly wage of workers employed under such contracts is approximately 13% lower than that of their ‘permanent’ counterparts, even after controlling for a plethora of personal and job characteristics. Standard decompositions indicate that the vast majority of this differential (more than 70%) is attributable to price effects, which may reflect discrimination on the part of the employer. Such findings may, therefore, suggest that employment protection is appropriate for individuals employed under fixed‐term contracts.