Jomo Sankara, Dennis M. Patten and Deborah L. Lindberg
This paper investigates the market response to the poor quality of reporting on the first mandated set of conflict minerals disclosures in the US setting. The authors examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the market response to the poor quality of reporting on the first mandated set of conflict minerals disclosures in the US setting. The authors examine the reaction for both filing firms at their filing date and non-filing companies at the filing deadline.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use standard market model methods to capture investor response and test for differences across reactions using comparisons of means and regression models. The authors also code reports for a sub-sample of firms and test for the relation between disclosure and market reactions.
Findings
The authors document a significant negative reaction for both filing and non-filing firms, with the latter group suffering a more negative reaction than the filers. The authors also find more extensive disclosure is associated with less negative market reactions. Finally, the authors provide evidence supporting the argument that the more pronounced reaction for the non-filers is due to concerns with incremental implementation costs for these firms.
Research limitations/implications
The results extend prior research into investor perceptions of exposures to social and political costs. The findings suggest that investors view both poor quality disclosure and lack of response to mandated requirements as increasing such exposures.
Practical implications
The negative market response could be expected to exert additional pressures on companies to better assess and report on conflict mineral exposures in their supply chains.
Social implications
The findings suggest investors pay attention to the corporate response to mandated social disclosure requirements, an important finding as mandates for similar types of disclosure appear to be in the offing.
Originality/value
This study is the first to extend the social and political cost exposure literature to analysis of mandated social disclosures.
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Steven A. Taylor, Gary L. Hunter and Deborah L. Lindberg
The purpose of this study is to advance marketers' understanding of customer‐based brand equity (CBBE) within the context of a B2B financial service marketing setting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to advance marketers' understanding of customer‐based brand equity (CBBE) within the context of a B2B financial service marketing setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Two nation‐wide studies were used to investigate whether brands are in fact differentiated in the minds of the target audience; test two competing explanations of the formation of CBBE using structural equation analyses; and reconcile satisfaction and CBBE theories within a single theoretical model.
Findings
The results suggest that these customers do differentiate brands, and that Netemeyer et al.'s model of CBBE is generally supported. In addition, the extended model of CBBE proposed herein explains more variance in loyalty intentions, while simultaneously demonstrating the importance of customer satisfaction in CBBE models, and incorporates customer attitudes into conceptualization of CBBE.
Research limitations/implications
First, the current research focuses specifically on CBBE. Second, the reported MDS results are exploratory in nature and must be interpreted with caution.
Practical implications
The results will help financial service marketers measure CBBE as well as relate brand power to customer satisfaction and customer attitude measurement through implementing the proposed framework in their own competitive setting.
Originality/value
The two nation‐wide studies reported herein enhance our understanding of CBBE and its relationship to customer attitudes and satisfaction research within a single theoretical model, as well as identifying the influential roles of both hedonic and utilitarian forms of brand attitudes in the formation of CBBE.
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This chapter presents an approach for teaching divergent and evolving auditing standards in an introductory auditing course. The existence of divergent and continually evolving…
Abstract
This chapter presents an approach for teaching divergent and evolving auditing standards in an introductory auditing course. The existence of divergent and continually evolving auditing standards can be challenging for students and for auditing educators. In addition to two separate sets of standards in the United States for the audits of public companies (issuers) and nonpublic companies (nonissuers), auditors also need to be aware of the growing prominence of international standards. In addition to providing background information on standard-setting bodies and divergent auditing standards, and suggestions for simplifying the process of guiding students to an understanding of these standards, this chapter provides figures that can be used for demonstration in class, along with a series of brief internet-based research exercises. The exercises and examples provided may help auditing educators to facilitate students’ understanding and mastery of the fundamental elements of the domestic and international auditing standard-setting forces and activities that impact, directly or indirectly, auditing practice in the United States and abroad.
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Henri Schildt, Farah Kodeih and Hani Tarabichi
The authors contribute to practice-driven institutionalism by examining how the introduction of new field-level evaluation practices may facilitate encroachment of highly…
Abstract
The authors contribute to practice-driven institutionalism by examining how the introduction of new field-level evaluation practices may facilitate encroachment of highly institutionalized organizational fields by new institutional logics. The authors conducted an inductive study of a trial of social impact bonds in the field of social integration services in Finland. Our analysis elaborates how new field-level evaluation practices created an experimental space that induced organizational practice experimentation, reconfigured relationships among field members, and lowered the barriers to entry for new organizations. The authors theorize how evaluation practices may create experimental spaces by suspending the carriers of established logics and legitimizing institutional innovations. The authors further elaborate how such spaces can bring about a parallel “shadow field” by inducing bottom-up experimentation aligned with a new institutional logic.
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– The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the role that mindfulness meditation can play in supporting people with dementia to live well.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on the role that mindfulness meditation can play in supporting people with dementia to live well.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the literature in a structured way, focussing first on the general effectiveness on mindfulness and then going on to assess its role in attention, emotion regulation, cognitive decline, physical changes in the brain, prevention, and quality of life.
Findings
Spirituality has been defined as a process of personal transformation which in many cases can involve a blend of humanistic psychology and esoteric traditions. Meditation, even if practised in a secular fashion can be said to fit within this definition of spirituality. The paper reviews the evidence for the relevance of mindfulness meditation in supporting people to live well with dementia.
Research limitations/implications
The evidence is not yet conclusive; however, there is nevertheless a growing body of evidence which suggests that this is a fruitful area for further research.
Practical implications
There are numerous implications for practice: if sufficient self-reported benefit from the application of mindfulness to people with dementia to warrant this being offered more generally. If further research substantiates the quality of life benefits then this could be an important development to accompany early diagnosis of dementia. If mindfulness were found to have a preventative effect then that would be of huge practical importance.
Social implications
Mindfulness gives people more control of their emotional and thought processes and therefore this could be a significant development for empowering people with dementia and their carers.
Originality/value
This is one of the first times that the literature regarding mindfulness and dementia has been reviewed in a systematic way.
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Francis Lau, Sandra Doze, Doug Vincent, Deborah Wilson, Tom Noseworthy, Robert Hayward and Andrew Penn
This paper describes our experiences from a two‐year research study to introduce evidence‐based practice (EBP) through a set of electronic information tools into two Canadian…
Abstract
This paper describes our experiences from a two‐year research study to introduce evidence‐based practice (EBP) through a set of electronic information tools into two Canadian health regions. The improvisational model of technological change by Orlikowski and Hofman (1997) is used to provide the conceptual foundations for understanding the pattern of evolution associated with the tools observed in these two settings over time. Key areas to consider when changing practice identified from this study are time availability, intended use, adequate training, clinical champions, work practice fit, system refinement, around‐the‐clock support and environment influence. Health organizations should also distinguish anticipated, emergent and opportunistic changes and improvise accordingly when introducing EBP information tools in a setting that is characteristically complex, dynamic and unpredictable.
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This register of current research in social economics has been compiled by the International Institute of Social Economics. The register does not claim to be comprehensive but is…
Abstract
This register of current research in social economics has been compiled by the International Institute of Social Economics. The register does not claim to be comprehensive but is merely an aid for research workers and institutions interested in social economics. The register will be updated and made more comprehensive in the future but this is largely dependent on the inflow of information from researchers in social economics. In order to facilitate this process a standardised form is to be found on the last page of this register. Completed forms, with attached sheets as necessary, should be returned to the compiler: Dr Barrie O. Pettman, Director, International Institute of Social Economics, Enholmes Hall, Patrington, Hull, N. Humberside, England, HU12 OPR. Any other comments on the register will also be welcome.
This article contributes the following: First, it argues along previous works that rites of passage include continuous testing, which needs to be passed in order to gain a certain…
Abstract
Purpose
This article contributes the following: First, it argues along previous works that rites of passage include continuous testing, which needs to be passed in order to gain a certain level of acceptance within the research field. Here besides the emotional effort, researchers have to position themselves and are confronted with questions of trust. Second, it is argued that the collected and analysed data on the rites of passage enable us to make sense of street-level bureaucrats' work and functioning of state institutions, especially in a police context. Reflections on research negotiations drew the author's attention to how mistrust towards the “other”, here defined as migrant other, prevails the migration regime. This mistrust is later transferred onto the researcher, whose stay is deemed questionable and eventually intrusive.
Design/methodology/approach
The collected data include semi-structured interviews, as well as several months of participant observation with street-level officers and superordinate staff, deepening previous discussions on research access and entrance. It further allows understanding street-level narratives, especially when it comes to the culture of suspicion embedded in police work, connecting the experienced tests with the everyday knowledge of police officers and case workers.
Findings
The analysis of rites of passage enable us to make sense of street-level bureaucrats' work, especially in a police context, since we find a specific way of suspicion directed towards the researcher. It is based on a general mistrust towards the “other”, here defined as migrant other, whose stay is deemed illegal and thus intruding. In this context, the positionality of the researcher becomes crucial and needs strategical planning.
Research limitations/implications
Accessing and being able to enter the “field” is of crucial relevance to researchers, interested in studying, e.g. sense-making and decision-making of the respective interlocutors. Yet, ethnographic accounts often disclose only partially, which hurdles, limiting or contesting their aspirations to conduct fieldwork, were encountered.
Originality/value
The personal role of researchers, their background and emotions are often neglected when describing ethnographic research. Struggles and what these can say about the studied field are thus left behind, although they contribute to a richer understanding of the functioning of the chosen fields. This work will examine how passing the test and going through rituals of “becoming a member” can tell us more about the functioning of a government agency, here a Swedish border police unit.