Lawrence Haar, Ali Elharidy and Andros Gregoriou
International Accounting Standards Rule 37 (IAS 37) for Contingent Liabilities and Assets were designed to make analysis of exposures facing a corporate entity easier to…
Abstract
Purpose
International Accounting Standards Rule 37 (IAS 37) for Contingent Liabilities and Assets were designed to make analysis of exposures facing a corporate entity easier to understand, but the rules may be insufficiently prescriptive making provisions inadequate predictors of potential outlays. The purpose of this research is to redress this problem. We apply financial option theory to objectively mark-to-market the appropriateness of provisions replacing subjective inputs with market derived calculations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies financial option theory to determine whether provisions are appropriate according to market data. This research supports inferences regarding the probability of a provision being used while evidencing scope for earnings management.
Findings
In addition to showing how IAS 37 provisions may be calibrated against market data, from the large sample of UK-listed companies, the proposition that over-provisioning is common and related to share price volatility, is supported, supporting the view that IAS 37 rules may facilitate earnings management.
Practical implications
The financial and reporting community have struggled in interpreting the appropriateness of IAS 37 provisions. Are they too large or too small? What is the probability they will be used? Using option theory and market data, various subjective judgements may now be validated. This research should have tangible value to analysts, auditors, investors and other stakeholders concerned in the accurate valuation of potential liabilities.
Originality/value
Replacing subjective judgement and insufficiently prescriptive guidance, this study shows that financial option theory and share price data may be used to objectively calibrate the size of IAS 37 provisions.
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Joanie Caron, Hugo Asselin, Jean-Michel Beaudoin and Doïna Muresanu
While companies in developed countries are increasingly turning to indigenous employees, integration measures have met with mixed results. Low integration can lead to breach of…
Abstract
Purpose
While companies in developed countries are increasingly turning to indigenous employees, integration measures have met with mixed results. Low integration can lead to breach of the psychological contract, i.e. perceived mutual obligations between employee and employer. The purpose of this paper is to identify how leadership and organizational integration measures can be implemented to promote the perceived insider status (PIS) of indigenous employees, thereby fostering fulfillment of the psychological contract.
Design/methodology/approach
A search for relevant literature yielded 128 texts used to identify integration measures at the level of employee–supervisor relationships (leader-member exchanges, inclusive leadership) and at the level of employee–organization relationships (perceived organizational support, pro-diversity practices).
Findings
Measures related to leadership included recruiting qualified leaders, understanding cultural particularities, integrating diverse contributions and welcoming questions and challenges. Organizational measures included reaching a critical mass of indigenous employees, promoting equity and participation, developing skills, assigning meaningful tasks, maintaining good work relationships, facilitating work-life balance, providing employment security, fostering support from communities and monitoring practices.
Originality/value
While PIS has been studied in western and culturally diverse contexts, it has received less attention in indigenous contexts. Yet, some indigenous cultural values are incompatible with the basic assumptions of mainstream theories. Furthermore, colonial policies and capitalist development have severely impacted traditional indigenous economic systems. Consequently, indigenous people are facing many barriers to employment in ways that often differ from the experiences of other minority groups.
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Marjolein Lips-Wiersma, Jarrod Haar and Helena D. Cooper–Thomas
Using conservation of resources as a theoretical lens, the paper aims to investigate distinct objective meaningful work (OMW) and subjective meaningful work (SMW) domains as…
Abstract
Purpose
Using conservation of resources as a theoretical lens, the paper aims to investigate distinct objective meaningful work (OMW) and subjective meaningful work (SMW) domains as resources that contribute to wellbeing.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional questionnaire was conducted with 879 employees, measuring OMW resources (job security and autonomy), SMW using the well-validated multidimensional Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS) focusing on five dimensions (integrity with self, expressing full potential, unity with others, service to others and balancing tensions), and three wellbeing outcomes (positive affect, negative affect and job stress). The authors conducted structural equation modeling, mediation analysis with PROCESS macro including bootstrapping, and dominance analysis, to identify the core relationships between OMW and SMW dimensions and three wellbeing constructs.
Findings
OMW resources are largely beneficially related to SMW dimensions; both OMW and SMW resources are mostly beneficially related to wellbeing outcomes; and the overall associations of OMW with the three wellbeing constructs are partially mediated by SMW. The dominance analyses of SMW with wellbeing shows expressing full potential is the most important predictor of positive affect, and integrity with self is the most important (negatively related) predictor of negative affect and job stress.
Practical implications
Our research, in pulling apart the different dimensions of MW, shows that to enhance wellbeing, HR professionals should not just pay attention to practices that support self-transcendent MW but also those that support the self. When not balanced, MW can lead to a loss of wellbeing.
Originality/value
The findings highlight that (1) while the current MW literature places a lot of emphasis on SMW, OMW remains an important consideration, and (2) while the MW literature often focuses on self-transcendent meanings, such as making a difference, the self-oriented dimensions of SMW are more dominant toward wellbeing. This is valuable to employees, managers, and HR professionals considering how to improve MW and wellbeing.
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Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our…
Abstract
Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our profession precisely because its roots and implications extend far beyond the confines of just one service discipline. Its reflection is mirrored in national debates about the proper spheres of the public and private sectors—in matters of information generation and distribution, certainly, but in a host of other social ramifications as well, amounting virtually to a debate about the most basic values which we have long assumed to constitute the very framework of our democratic and humanistic society.
This paper aims to discuss the role of accounting, accountants and the cash management processes of indigenous Māori and Pacific (collectively referred as Polynesian…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the role of accounting, accountants and the cash management processes of indigenous Māori and Pacific (collectively referred as Polynesian) entrepreneurs in New Zealand.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research methodology was used; 43 in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with Polynesian entrepreneurs, key informants, business experts and accountants to align with the oral Polynesian traditions and protocols.
Findings
The paper highlights the influence of cultural values on Polynesians’ accounting decision-making processes. It also provides some unique insights into the interrelationships of the cultural, economic and social dynamics that sculpt Polynesians’ decisions towards accounting, cash management and their accountants.
Research limitations/implications
Purposive sampling of a small sample was drawn from Auckland, New Zealand. Though statistical generalisability is not possible, in-depth interview data provided rich and contextual evidence which are often missing from a quantitative research approach.
Practical implications
It highlights the need for contextualised accounting services to Polynesian entrepreneurs by the accounting profession. It also calls for more cultural sensitivity when servicing and regulating Polynesian entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
This study identifies some unique insights into the interrelationships of culture, economic and social dynamics in Polynesian entrepreneurs. In particular, the cultural values of communality, reciprocity and “gift-giving” and respect for authority are important factors in shaping the Polynesians’ approach to accounting disposition and business cash management. It also identifies the power differentials between Polynesian entrepreneurs and their accountants, in which the former takes on a subordinate role to the latter.
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Jie Pei, Linsey Griffin, Susan P. Ashdown and Jintu Fan
The purpose of this study is to investigate the shape change of breast during movement to inform product development of bras and other female wearable products.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the shape change of breast during movement to inform product development of bras and other female wearable products.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the latest 4D body scanning technology, the authors monitored the change of seven non-circumferential breast measurements, including four linear measurements (widths, depth, etc.) and three angular measurements, across nine dynamic scans of a complete gait cycle during running. A series of statistical analysis were conducted to thoroughly investigate the measurement values in dynamic states compared with values extracted from static 3D scans.
Findings
Major findings are as follows: (1) For width-underbust, chest-depth, vertical-acromion and angle ABD, more than half of the dynamic frames presents a significant difference with the static frame. (2) Width-underbust and chest-depth measured in static can underestimate the actual values under motion. (3) vertical-acromion presents a W-shaped general trend for the nine dynamic frames with peaks observed at the keyframes (i.e. when a participant's right or left knee bends the most and rises to its highest level) and lows at the intermediate frames. (4) Angle ABD and angle BAD both present an M-shaped general trend, the exact opposite of a W-shaped trend.
Originality/value
While 3D body scanning and motion capture systems have both contributed significantly to the study of breast, 4D body scanning incorporates the advantages of both technologies and captures the 3D surface of the body during movement at each instant moment. This is one of the first studies that adopt the new technology for apparel applications.
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Jarrod M. Haar and Chester S. Spell
The paper seeks to understand the adoption rates of total quality management (TQM) by New Zealand firms, and the role that organisational size plays in determining adoption rates.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to understand the adoption rates of total quality management (TQM) by New Zealand firms, and the role that organisational size plays in determining adoption rates.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 997 random New Zealand firms of all sizes yielded 228 responses. Factors tested to predict TQM adoption were organisational size, workplace autonomy, performance standards, use of teams and group problem solving. In addition, organisational size was tested as a potential moderating variable on the other factors.
Findings
Overall, 33 per cent of firms in New Zealand used TQM, with an addition 5 per cent no longer using TQM, indicating strong adoption rates by international standards. All the direct effects and moderating effects were supported. Consequently, firms with higher level of workplace autonomy, use of performance standards, use of teams, and use of group problem solving were more likely to have adopted TQM, and this was more likely for larger firms than smaller firms. As a result, strong support was found for the interacting effect of organisational size.
Research limitations/implications
The implications are that TQM adoption rates are much higher in New Zealand than suggested in the international literature. A highlight of the present study is the focus on firms of all sizes, rather than being limited to only larger sized firms.
Originality/value
This paper provides much needed information on the state of TQM in New Zealand and provides a unique approach by testing the moderating effects of organisational size on predictor factors on New Zealand firms.
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Mattia Martini, Egidio Riva and Elisabetta Marafioti
The present study connects the literature on sustainable HRM with that on employability to investigate the relationship between sustainability-oriented human resource actions and…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study connects the literature on sustainable HRM with that on employability to investigate the relationship between sustainability-oriented human resource actions and organizational outcomes. More specifically, this study explores how training for employability affects the employer–employee relationship and employee retention. Furthermore, this study considers competitive intensity as a potential moderator in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The analyses draw on the fourth European Company Survey (ECS 2019) with a sample of 21?869 firms with more than ten employees. Two separate logistic regression models were used to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The results show that training for employability contributes to improving the employer–employee relationship and that competitive intensity positively shapes this relationship. Contextually, training for employability reduces the overall employee retention of the firm.
Originality/value
Although this study supports the potential win–win nature of employability support, especially for companies that operate in competitive markets and an uncertain environment, it also highlights the existence of paradoxical sustainability tensions that should be managed by employers.
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Rahman Ullah, Yasir Mansoor Kundi and Subhan Shahid
Based on affective event theory (AET), this study aims to unpack the association between team relationship conflict and employees’ subjective career success by examining the…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on affective event theory (AET), this study aims to unpack the association between team relationship conflict and employees’ subjective career success by examining the mediating role of negative emotions and the moderating role of emotional intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Mplus 8.1, the study analyzes multi-level, multi-wave data collected from 288 employees in 51 teams across Pakistan.
Findings
The results indicate that team relationship conflict is negatively associated with employees’ subjective career success, both in terms of career satisfaction and job satisfaction. While employees’ negative emotions partially mediate this negative relationship, emotional intelligence moderates the association between team relationship conflict and negative emotions, such that individuals with higher emotional intelligence experience less negative emotions.
Originality/value
This study advances career research by demonstrating how and when team relationship conflict is related to employees’ subjective career success. It also extends current understanding of the mediating and moderating mechanisms behind the association between team relationship conflict and employees’ subjective career success.
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Mengyan Dai, Xiaochen Hu, Lindsey Thomas and Robert Kenter
This study examines the short- and long-term changes in officers' attitudes toward four elements of procedural justice (i.e. trustworthiness, respect, neutrality and voice) after…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the short- and long-term changes in officers' attitudes toward four elements of procedural justice (i.e. trustworthiness, respect, neutrality and voice) after a department-wide procedural justice training program.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized the pretest–posttest, single-group design to evaluate the training with two waves of officer surveys and conducted multivariate analyses to assess the factors that could have an impact on the training effects.
Findings
The training was effective in increasing officers' support for all four elements of procedural justice immediately, and the effects remained significant over 18 months. In addition, the analyses found that there were racial differences in officers' attitudes before and after the training, and the immediate supervisors' priority played an important role in the training effects.
Originality/value
There has been limited systematic research on police training. This study contributes to the understanding of how procedural justice training can help improve police-community relations and reduce the attitudinal differences between White officers and minority officers.