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Provides a response to the comments by Joni Young and Alistair Preston and by Sue Llewellyn, and seeks to clarify the authors’ use of the term “rhetoric”. Argues that both sets of commentators rely on rhetoric to express their own arguments. While the authors recognize and agree with most of the concerns raised by Llewellyn, they do not accept many of Young/Preston’s criticisms of their paper. Emphasizes that, although the authors were arguing for more scholarship, they were not seeking to dismiss the work of others.

In seeking to extend rational choice theory from “market” to “political” behaviour, economists have encountered a paradox: namely, that the act of voting itself appears to be inconsistent with the assumption of rationality. This is true not only when self‐interest is assumed, but also when altruistic behaviour (at least in its non‐Kantian form) is allowed for. This article surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on the determinants of the decision to participate in voting, and concludes that this decision is responsive to changes in the expected benefits and costs of voting; even though the expected costs of voting must normally outweigh the expected benefits. Interpretations of this behaviour include the possibility that voters act rationally, but are misinformed about the likely effectiveness of their votes; alternatively, the electorate may include more Kantians than economists have generally been willing to admit.

Public private partnership (PPP), which has been operating in China for over 20 years. In addition, an increased focus on value for money in the public sector has led to a need to improve the efficiency of the management, delivery and effectiveness of public services, especially at the local level. This paper aims to examines the PPP system and the problems yet to be overcome at a time when China is seeking to widen the use of PPP in sectors as yet not open to it.

The paper examines the current PPP system in China and identifies the constraints facing it in the context of several models of bureaucracy arguing that these are as valid in China as they have been in the West.

The paper argues that there are five key constraints present in the Chinese PPP system and that these are fundamentally associated with risks of various types.

Extending PPP in China will require significant reform of public sector administration, closer supervision, transparent regulatory systems and easier access to capital for local private sector firms.

This paper should be of interest to both academics and practitioners in the field of PPP in terms of theoretical debate, key issues and the specific prospects for PPP in China.

The shortage of young people coming into the labour market in the 1990s and the challenges this poses to employers were tackled at an Industrial Society conference in June. Investing in the Future was designed to encourage organisations to focus on the specific training and development needs of their young employees. Delegates heard a keynote speech from Alistair Graham, Director of the Society, and attended a choice of workshops. These covered aspects of recruiting and developing young people, including the use of psychometric testing, monitoring, distance learning, involving the line manager, and the development of a skills passport to record a young person's achievements at work, both as a means of giving them recognition and as a guide to potential future employers.

The purpose of the paper is to outline the development of academic research in the discipline of accounting, paying particular attention to the important contribution made by qualitative research projects.

Provision of a historical trajectory based on a review of developments in academic journals, the size and breadth of the academic community and other dimensions of the academic discipline of accounting.

The review indicates that accounting has developed into a pluralist discipline in the UK. Qualitative research features in many sub‐disciplinary areas of accounting.

The paper identifies the sibling discipline of finance as an area where qualitative research has not developed fully. It makes some suggestions and provides some indicators of how qualitative research in the areas of accounting and finance may develop in the future.

The paper provides the only attempt to date to analyse and review developments of qualitative research in accounting.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the background to the special issue and to provide an introduction to the articles on case studies included in the issue.

The paper uses a review of developments in both the qualitative tradition and case studies in management research to provide a backdrop for the articles that are included in the issue. The articles discuss: the merits of unique cases and singular forms of evidence within a single case; the comparability of case studies with tools in other areas; and methods of theorising from case studies.

The merits of case studies have often been understated. The articles in this issue highlight a broader variety of uses of case study research than is commonly recognized.

This guest editorial introduces the papers in this issue, which may be read either as individual contributions that have merits per se, or as part of a collection that this introductory paper helps to knit together.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the possibilities of autoethnography as a commitment to care and a social justice agenda (Denzin, 2014:p. x).

Autoethnography can be seen as a “methodology that allows us to examine how the private troubles of individuals are connected to public issues and to public responses to these troubles” (Mills, 1959, cited in Denzin, 2014). This resonates strongly with the field of study: political care ethics, as the main focus is on how to promote a caring society. “Care” might be conceived broadly as everything the authors do to maintain and repair the world; i.e., as a social praxis.

Care ethics can benefit from autoethnography, as there is a strong(er) emphasis on “what matters,” what people care for, about and why, rather than on what is “right.” In this paper, the authors will thus explore the promises and pitfalls of autoethnography for a caring society, by connecting insights from theories on political care ethics and qualitative inquiry with the own autoethnographic performance at the International Conference on Qualitative Inquiry in May 2015.

Care ethics can benefit from autoethnography, as there is a strong(er) emphasis on “what matters,” what people care for, about and why, rather than on what is “right.”

Beyond the widely acknowledged importance of new business, the role of young exporting high-tech business in Israel and many other small economies is seen as vital for economic growth. Israel is small and geographically isolated from the main markets, suffers from security difficulties, but fosters a culture, which promotes knowledge rich new technologies. Thus, new ventures with leading edge technologies and prospects of high growth and profitability offer a means to achieve the national goal of economical independence. Internationally however, the high-technology sector has recently suffered badly from the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the crash of the Nasdaq.

Presents three prize‐winning and five short‐listed entries in the John Smith & Sons (Glasgow) Ltd/Paisley College Library Scottish Schools Essay Competition. Offers imaginative ideas or reasoned views of what books and libraries might be like in the next century.

“It's all jargon”, I hear you say. Well, don't put up with that, get an explanation which you understand. With all the following questions, where appropriate, make sure you get your answers in writing and preferably in the contracts!