Hank C. Alewine and Dan N. Stone
The increasing use of complex, nonfinancial environmental performance measures in managerial decisions motivates consideration of contextual influences that potentially impact…
Abstract
The increasing use of complex, nonfinancial environmental performance measures in managerial decisions motivates consideration of contextual influences that potentially impact managerial judgments in environmental settings. This study extends general evaluability theory (GET: Hsee & Zhang, 2010) to environmental accounting by investigating the combined effects of evaluation mode and incomplete supplemental evaluability information (SEI; e.g., benchmark data) on management decisions. To elaborate, evaluation mode is the display format in which the accounting information system (AIS) provides available information for analysis; e.g., a manager’s or business unit’s performance is assessed either comparatively (i.e., in joint mode) or individually (i.e., in separate mode). GET suggests more decision weight on measures containing SEI in separate mode because that evaluation mode contains less context in which to analyze information. On the other hand, more decision weight should result for measures that do not contain SEI in joint mode because that mode already contains more context for analysis (e.g., comparing multiple performances with each other). To test these predictions, experimental participants (n = 53) evaluated environmental measures for factories with similar environmental performances. To operationalize the information available in many environmental AIS, some, but not all, performance measures contained benchmark data (incomplete SEI); factories were evaluated either jointly or separately. Participants evidenced decision intransitivity; i.e., in separate evaluation mode, factories rated higher when a favorable measure contained SEI, while in joint evaluation mode, factories rated higher when a favorable measure lacked SEI. The results extend previous AIS and management accounting research by investigating contextual influences, and potential systems design elements, in judgments using environmental AIS.
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PHILIP O'REGAN, DAVID O'DONNELL, TOM KENNEDY, NICK BONTIS and PETER CLEARY
Recent market volatility has provided a fundamental challenge to those arguing for the central role of intellectual capital as a source of organisation value. Using perceptual…
Abstract
Recent market volatility has provided a fundamental challenge to those arguing for the central role of intellectual capital as a source of organisation value. Using perceptual data relevant to the importance of intellectual capital as a source of enterprise value gathered in two studies conducted before and after the recent market ‘downturn’ respectively, this paper provides empirical evidence in support of the continuing and central importance of intellectual capital. The findings from these two studies also demonstrate consistency in the composition of the human, internal and external components of intellectual capital. The Irish software/telecom sector provides an ideal research frame work for any such investigation. In recent years Ireland has established itself as the largest software exporter in the world and this sector has been one of the primary engines of growth in an economy that has experienced real growth of over 40% in 6 years, a rate unparalleled in the developed world.
David O'Donnell, Philip O'Regan, Brian Coates, Tom Kennedy, Brian Keary and Gerry Berkery
In this theoretical, empirical and occasionally speculative paper we argue that human interaction is the critical source of intangible value in the intellectual age. This argument…
Abstract
In this theoretical, empirical and occasionally speculative paper we argue that human interaction is the critical source of intangible value in the intellectual age. This argument is supported with some perceptual evidence on the dimensions of intellectual capital (IC) from the Irish ICT sector. Key findings are that almost two thirds of organizational value is perceived to be intellectual and that half of this IC value is perceived to stem directly from the people dimension. Drawing on the system/lifeworld distinction in Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action we claim that the dominant tenets of market and hierarchy are changing in both nature and scope in an increasingly knowing‐intensive economy. We argue strongly that these tenets must be complemented with ideas of community and lifeworld that place human interaction at the center of a more enlightened economic and social equation.
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David O'Donnell, Mairead Tracey, Lars Bo Henriksen, Nick Bontis, Peter Cleary, Tom Kennedy and Philip O'Regan
Following Marx and Engels' identification of the “essential condition of capital”, the purpose of this paper is to begin an initial critical exploration of the essential condition…
Abstract
Purpose
Following Marx and Engels' identification of the “essential condition of capital”, the purpose of this paper is to begin an initial critical exploration of the essential condition of intellectual capital, particularly the ownership rights of labour.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a critically modernist stance on unitarist HR and OB discourse, and contextualised within a background on the stock option phenomenon and recent accounting regulation, the paper argues that the fundamental nature of the capital‐labour relation continues resiliently into the IC labour (intellectual capital‐labour) relation.
Findings
There is strong evidence that broad‐based employee stock options (ESOPs) have become institutionalised in certain firms and sectors – but the future of such schemes is very uncertain (post 2005 accounting regulation). Overly unitarist HR/OB arguments are challenged here with empirical evidence on capital's more latently strategic purposes such as conserving cash, reducing reported accounting expense in order to boost reported earnings, deferring taxes, and attracting, retaining and exploiting key elements of labour.
Research limitations/implications
Research supports the positive benefits of broad‐based employee stock ownership schemes. Further research on the benefits of such schemes and the reasons why they are or are not implemented is now required.
Practical implications
From the perspective of labour, nothing appears to have really changed (yet) in terms of the essential condition of intellectual capital.
Originality/value
This paper explicitly raises the issue of the ownership rights of labour to intellectual capital.
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David O’Donnell, Gayle Porter, David McGuire, Thomas N. Garavan, Margaret Heffernan and Peter Cleary
John Seely Brown notes that context must be added to data and information to produce meaning. To move forward, Brown suggests, we must not merely look ahead but we must also learn…
Abstract
John Seely Brown notes that context must be added to data and information to produce meaning. To move forward, Brown suggests, we must not merely look ahead but we must also learn to “look around” because learning occurs when members of a community of practice (CoP) socially construct and share their understanding of some text, issue or event. We draw explicitly here on the structural components of a Habermasian lifeworld in order to identify some dynamic processes through which a specific intellectual capital creating context, CoP, may be theoretically positioned. Rejecting the individualistic “Cogito, ergo sum” of the Cartesians, we move in line with Brown’s “we participate, therefore we are” to arrive within a Habermasian community of practice: we communicate, ergo, we create.
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Philip O’Regan, David O’Donnell and Margaret Heffernan
Intangible intellectual resources, arising from changes in the nature of economic forces, have now joined the more traditional tangible triad of land, labour and capital. One of…
Abstract
Intangible intellectual resources, arising from changes in the nature of economic forces, have now joined the more traditional tangible triad of land, labour and capital. One of the keys to commercial success, therefore, will be the capacity of a firm to identify, manage, foster and invest in these intellectual resources, and, in particular, in the people which underpin them. This article makes two contributions to the emerging literature on intellectual capital. First, based on empirical data, it offers some preliminary results of a study of the drivers and generators of intellectual capital. This enables the tentative identification of some key relationships and knowledge drivers within this sector and of the consequent challenges for disciplines such as accounting and management. Second, it posits a theoretical/methodological approach to intellectual capital based upon Habermas’ concept of communicative action.
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David O'Donnell, Lars Bo Henriksen and Sven C. Voelpel
The purpose of this brief introductory editorial is to introduce the background and rationale to the special issue, “Intellectual capital: becoming critical”. This is based on a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this brief introductory editorial is to introduce the background and rationale to the special issue, “Intellectual capital: becoming critical”. This is based on a selection of papers presented at the 1st Intellectual Capital (IC) Stream at the 4th International Critical Management Studies Conference at Cambridge University, UK, in July 2005.
Design/methodology/approach
Critical management studies (CMS) is not just about theory but demands action; its purpose is to make a difference for the better. Following an introduction to the idea of what “critical management studies” (CMS) entails the main ideas of the seven papers selected are then presented. Each paper is accompanied by a commentary from leading authors in the IC and knowledge management (KM) fields.
Findings
Key themes emergent in this “critical” issue include a decisive turn to language, uncertainty and risk, not‐knowing, ambiguity and complexity, scepticism towards simplistic mechanistic models, ownership rights, and the dynamics of situated IC practice. The conclusion reached is that there is much that further work from a CMS perspective can contribute to the IC field.
Originality/value
This special issue is one of the first applications of critical management thinking to the intellectual capital field.
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David McGuire, David O’Donnell, Thomas N. Garavan, Sudhir K. Saha and Joe Murphy
Argues that cultural influences may not only affect a professional’s implicit concept of what constitutes effective practice, but may also affect researchers’ explicit theories…
Abstract
Argues that cultural influences may not only affect a professional’s implicit concept of what constitutes effective practice, but may also affect researchers’ explicit theories. Suggests that this means that many HRD practices, processes, procedures and language are specific to cultures. Explores some of the reasons underlying the increasing importance placed on cultural issues by multinational companies, touching on a number of theoretical and epistemological debates. Draws no firm conclusions but attempts to locate various positions and boundaries on the universalism‐relativism continuum.
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Tony O’Donnell, David Lewis and Vincent Wade
As Pervasive Computing environments become more richly populated with sensors and computing power it may be possible for the environment to observe and interpret user actions and…
Abstract
As Pervasive Computing environments become more richly populated with sensors and computing power it may be possible for the environment to observe and interpret user actions and pre‐emptively provide accurate support for those actions. This requires accurate inference of user intent. Though individual user acts may be inferable from environmental context sensing, the inference of intent for which appropriate support might be offered is more challenging. Numerous researchers have used probabilistic techniques such as Bayesian Analysis techniques to attempt such inference. Unlike a desktop environment, however, pervasive computing environments are extremely heterogeneous, so any heuristics used must be tailored to the physical environment and the users in question. Thus these techniques are only likely to be accurate if configured with accurate knowledge of routine user behavior. Many existing approaches attempt to learn such knowledge from operational data, but this often requires user involvement in training and expert configuration of probabilistic processing structure. In this paper we examine a complimentary approach where users are presented with an intuitive interface to support the direct configuration of probabilistic structure by users with appropriate knowledge. By treating an intent inference system for a particular pervasive computng environment as an autonomic system, we approach the problem as the design of an intuitive governance interface for this system. We then present the design and usability evaluation of this governance interface.