Kenneth E. Clow, Robert E. Stevens, C. William McConkey and David L. Loudon
The purpose of this study is to examine the attitude of accountants towards advertising and to investigate changes in attitude that may have occurred between 1993 and 2004.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the attitude of accountants towards advertising and to investigate changes in attitude that may have occurred between 1993 and 2004.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from accountants using a mail survey approach in 1993 and using an e‐mail survey approach in 2004. Questions on the two surveys were identical and a random sample of accountants was selected for each study. Statistical tests were used to compare responses from 1993 with responses in 2004.
Findings
Analysis of the results revealed significant positive shifts in the attitudes accountants have toward advertising of accounting services. Negative attitudes toward various aspects of advertising shifted to either a neutral or a positive position. This dramatic, positive shift in advertising attitudes by accountants occurred while skepticism towards advertising remained relatively high, overall, among the general public. Between the two time periods, changes in the use of various marketing tools (such as web sites to attract new clients) were also found to have occurred. In addition, the use of marketing professionals by accounting service providers increased substantially over the 11‐year time period of the longitudinal study.
Research limitations/implications
Sample selection and size create some concern about generalizability of the study. With any random sample selection process, the view of the non‐respondents is not known nor whether those who responded tended to have a higher level of acceptance of advertising.
Originality/value
For marketing professionals, this shift to a more positive attitude by accountants provides opportunities to offer greater marketing and advertising services. This shift also signals an increasing awareness on the part of accountants to market their services.
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Anett Wins and Bernhard Zwergel
This paper aims to provide an overview of the literature to point out similarities and differences among private ethical investors across countries and time. Over the past three…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an overview of the literature to point out similarities and differences among private ethical investors across countries and time. Over the past three decades, many surveys have been conducted to advance the understanding of the demographic characteristics, motivation and morals of private ethical investors across countries and time. To date, the survey-based evidence on private investors into ethical funds is geographically rather segmented, and the research questions are fairly diverse. This permits only very temporally or regionally selective conclusions. Thereby, the authors identify interesting topics for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
To identify the relevant literature for our review, the authors carried out a structured Boolean keyword search using major library services and databases.
Findings
When questions about negative screening criteria are presented in a direct investment context, the consensus of private ethical investors “worldwide” (on average) is that social screening issues are most important, followed by ecological and moral topics. The percentage of ethical funds in the fund portfolio of the average private ethical investor in Europe seems to increase when the investor exhibits high degrees of pro-social attitudes and perceived consumer effectiveness. European private ethical investors are of the opinion that ethical funds perform worse but are less risky than conventional funds.
Practical implications
The authors make suggestions on how investment companies should design their funds so that they can attract more socially responsible investors.
Originality/value
The paper is of particular value because it focuses on private investors in the fast growing retail market of socially responsible investment funds.
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Barrie O. Pettman and Richard Dobbins
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
Abstract
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
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The influence of certain factors under the direct control ofmanagement and affecting the level of job satisfaction in theheadquarters of a major local government in Western…
Abstract
The influence of certain factors under the direct control of management and affecting the level of job satisfaction in the headquarters of a major local government in Western Australia are examined. It is concluded that those factors leading to conflict, whether internal (to the person) or external (between people) will lead to reduced job satisfaction. A management by objectives scheme is proposed to improve the situation.
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To examine the degree of homogeneity of police officers' evaluations of seriousness of police misconduct across various countries.
Abstract
Purpose
To examine the degree of homogeneity of police officers' evaluations of seriousness of police misconduct across various countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed police officers from Croatia (N=1,649), Finland (N=378), and the USA (3,235). Respondents evaluated ten scenarios describing police corruption and one scenario describing the use of excessive force by indicating how seriously they evaluated each described behavior.
Findings
Line officers' and supervisors' evaluations of seriousness of the 11 scenarios differ substantially across the three countries. The extent of disagreement varies across cases: opinions are the most heterogeneous for the least serious cases and most homogeneous for the most serious ones. By contrast, relative evaluations of seriousness – rankings of cases in each country – are quite similar across the three countries.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could analyze how perceptions of seriousness vary across police agencies' characteristics (e.g. type, geographic location, and size) and respondents' characteristics (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, age, or education), as well as forms of police misconduct (e.g. perjury, and racial profiling).
Practical implications
Heterogeneity of evaluations of seriousness across the three countries suggests that country‐ and/or agency‐wide environments play a key role in the police officers' views about seriousness of misconduct. Consequently, by controlling agency‐related factors, police administrators may influence the level of seriousness with which police officers view police corruption.
Originality/value
This paper shows that a larger environment plays a crucial role in forming police officers' perceptions of seriousness of police misconduct. The findings also imply that there is shared hierarchy of seriousness of various cases of police misconduct across police officers from three diverse countries.
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Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, Kasturi Das and Ritika Mahajan
The paper makes an endeavour to explore the efficacy of service learning (SL) pedagogy in inculcating the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with a focus on management…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper makes an endeavour to explore the efficacy of service learning (SL) pedagogy in inculcating the value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) with a focus on management education in India.
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology comprises a systematic survey of select relevant literature on SL and applying a novel approach to bring out certain key traits of SL initiatives. The paper also tries to decipher how the identified key traits could be regarded as contributing to the ethos of DEI among the learners. Based on insights from the systematic literature review and identified research gaps, an in-depth study of three SL initiatives in India, have been undertaken to demonstrate how implementation of the SL pedagogy in management education creates an impact on the attributes of DEI and inculcates an inclusive mindset.
Findings
Although the design, process and learning outcomes of SL pedagogy varies depending on the context, there is commonality in the core attributes that emerges from the literature review which has a potential impact on inculcation of the values of inclusion and appreciation of diversity. The select case studies successfully expand on the list of these identified relevant attributes. The findings have also been corroborated by participants' reflection.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is, however, limited in its scope of assessing the impact in creating an inclusive mindset. To gauge whether such impact is pervasive and persists in the long run, one needs to examine if these values are carried forward by the participants in their professional and daily life. It would, therefore, be more meaningful to carry out a primary survey of the participants, who took part in such SL initiatives, to understand whether the values have really been assimilated in the real life. This is outside the scope of this paper but does open the scope for further research.
Practical implications
The paper would be highly relevant for the accreditation agencies who are increasingly prescribing the role that business schools can and should play towards inculcating the ethos of diversity and inclusion among future business leaders and managers. For the administrators of business schools and other higher education institutions who may be considering how to incorporate the ethos of diversity and inclusion in the curriculum and pedagogy, the paper will provide some direction through the SL route. The detailed exposition of the three SL initiatives will enlighten the administrators or the faculty responsible for designing and delivering any SL programme in other business schools or higher educational institutions as to how to go about developing and delivering such an initiative. To the extent such SL initiatives succeed in leaving a lasting impact on the participants regarding ethos of inclusion and diversity, the business implications in the long run could be immense.
Social implications
The purpose of the paper by itself establishes its social relevance. The very fact that the paper is focused on SL initiatives that involve social problem-solving approaches through hands-on working on social projects and working with communities the social implications are rather obvious.
Originality/value
Given the paucity of information and analysis on potential fit of SL for fostering DEI especially in developing countries, the present paper contributes to the existing body of literature and aptly fills the void. It builds a theoretical construct relating SL with the traits of DEI and then bridges theory and practice by demonstrating the efficacy of three SL programmes in Indian context to internalise the elements of DEI.
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Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich and Aleksandr Khechumyan
The purpose of this paper is to study the extent and nature of police integrity in Armenia. It analyses police officer views about misconduct seriousness, appropriate and expected…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the extent and nature of police integrity in Armenia. It analyses police officer views about misconduct seriousness, appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report misconduct.
Design/methodology/approach
The respondents surveyed in this study are 468 Armenian police officers assigned to work in two large police departments, Yerevan and Lori. The overall response rate is 84 per cent. The respondents evaluated 11 hypothetical scenarios describing cases of police misconduct.
Findings
Although the majority of the respondents recognized and labelled the behaviour described in the scenarios as rule violating, a large proportion, in some cases even above 40 per cent, did not do so. The respondents’ evaluations of misconduct seriousness varied greatly across the scenarios. In only two scenarios, describing the acceptance of a bribe from a speeding motorist and the theft of a watch from a crime scene, the respondents thought that both the appropriate and expected discipline should and would be severe; in all of the other scenarios, the respondents expected and approved of either no discipline at all or quite lenient discipline. The code of silence appears to be strong among our respondents, protecting almost all behaviours described in the questionnaire. Unique to Armenia is the finding that the respondents estimated that they would subscribe to the code of silence to a larger extent than their fellow officers would.
Research limitations/implications
Police officers included in the survey come from two police departments.
Practical implications
Police administrators interested in controlling the code of silence could apply the methodology used in this research to ascertain the extent and nature of the code beforehand. They could use the methodology to assess and compare the police officer perceptions of the discipline the agency is expected to mete out with the discipline meted out in actual cases and, if necessary, work on addressing the discrepancy between the perceptions and reality.
Originality/value
Although Armenia has been one of the former Soviet republics that purged the communist government even before the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the transition toward democracy has been troublesome and riddled with widespread accusations of various types of failures in police integrity. The methodology used in this research enables measurement of the nature and extent of police integrity at the present time and also, subsequently, monitoring and detection of the changes in police integrity, which is particularly relevant for a police agency in transition.
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Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich and Adri Sauerman
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contours of the code of silence, as a critical component of the ability to control misconduct and enhance integrity within any police…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contours of the code of silence, as a critical component of the ability to control misconduct and enhance integrity within any police agency, among officers (both line officers and supervisors) of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Design/methodology/approach
In 2005, the authors surveyed police supervisors from seven South African provinces and autonomous provinces. The questionnaire distributed to police supervisors contains 11 vignettes describing various forms of police corruption and one vignette describing the use of excessive force. The sample consists of 379 police supervisors.
Findings
Results of the study indicate the existence of a strong code of silence among the SAPS supervisors. The authors report that the code of silence does not protect all misconduct equally; yet, a substantial minority of SAPS supervisors in the sample would protect many forms of police corruption from exposure. It was found that, with the exception of the three most serious scenarios of police corruption, no significant relation exists between the code of silence and the perceptions of disciplinary fairness. The code of silence is strong and it only weakens for the three or four most serious scenarios.
Research limitations/implications
The respondents in the study were police supervisors who were attending training at the SAPS training centers.
Practical implications
South African police administrators interested in controlling police corruption and curtailing the code of silence should start with their subordinate supervisors first. The strong code of silence among the supervisors prevents them from playing their critical role in the control of police misconduct and the curtailing of the code of silence among the line officers.
Originality/value
Empirical studies of police officers in South Africa are rare. Despite the extensive efforts at reforming the SAPS, the SAPS seem to continue to be integrity‐challenged. This empirical research focuses on the code of silence, a key element of police integrity, and includes opinions of a nation‐wide sample of the SAPS supervisors about the code of silence. In addition, the research explores the relation between the code of silence and perceptions of disciplinary fairness.