Nick Lin-Hi, Lisa Rothenhöfer and Igor Blumberg
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese factories can attract and retain blue-collar workers. While higher wages are typically considered to be an effective HR…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese factories can attract and retain blue-collar workers. While higher wages are typically considered to be an effective HR instrument in this regard, this paper argues for the relevance of ethics in the HR domain. To this end, the paper develops and tests the concept of socially responsible blue-collar human resource management (SRBC-HRM).
Design/methodology/approach
In a scenario-based experiment, 296 blue-collar employees from a Chinese garment factory responded to questionnaires measuring their job choice determinants regarding a fictitious employer. In the scenarios, pay level (average vs above average) and SRBC-HRM (good vs poor) were manipulated.
Findings
The results revealed significantly positive relationships between SRBC-HRM and Chinese blue-collar workers’ job choice determinants (employer attractiveness, employer prestige and recommendation intentions), which were moderated by workers’ perceived importance of employer prestige. However, there was no significant effect of above-average pay on the three job choice determinants. Moreover, average pay in combination with good SRBC-HRM had stronger effects on job choice determinants than above-average pay in combination with poor SRBC-HRM.
Practical implications
The study highlights the economic relevance of the ethical treatment of employees in the manufacturing sector. In addition, the findings challenge the predominant managerial view that monetary rewards are the most important factor for instilling productive employee attitudes and intentions.
Social implications
Poor labor practices are still widespread in factories in emerging countries. By indicating that SRBC-HRM improves factories’ bottom line, the study provides a powerful rationale for factory managers to improve working conditions.
Originality/value
The present paper introduces the concept of SRBC-HRM specifically tailored to the context of blue-collar workers in emerging countries, who have received little attention in the literature. In addition, the findings demonstrate the economic relevance of SRBC-HRM.
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The recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as well as a multitude of other corporate scandals repeatedly draw attention to the importance of good corporate governance…
Abstract
Purpose
The recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as well as a multitude of other corporate scandals repeatedly draw attention to the importance of good corporate governance. This paper seeks to explain the possible reasons for violations of principles of good corporate governance in corporate practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opens with a brief illustration of the Deepwater Horizon case by relating BP's corporate governance rules to its actual decision making in the context of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The insights gained through this analysis are used to identify a basic precondition for the realization of good corporate governance in corporate practice.
Findings
This paper finds a link connecting the conflicts in the relationship between short‐ and long‐term interests of corporations and good corporate governance. Occasionally, deficits in the institutional environment foster the pursuit of quick wins through violations of corporate governance rules. To resolve the tension between short‐ and long‐term objectives, good institutions are required that provide incentives for sustainable behavior without endangering corporations' short‐term competitiveness. This is the starting point for global governance efforts.
Practical implications
On the basis of the analysis in the paper, new implications for business are derived with respect to the relationship between corporate and global governance.
Originality/value
The paper derives a theoretical framework that captures the relationship between corporate governance and global governance. This framework identifies an interplay between corporate and global governance that allows corporations to bring good corporate governance to life and thereby to invest in the conditions of their sustainable success.
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This article is concerned with “internal” corporate governance i.e. corporate governance within the firm – in particular the delegation of decision‐making powers from the parent…
Abstract
This article is concerned with “internal” corporate governance i.e. corporate governance within the firm – in particular the delegation of decision‐making powers from the parent company board to the boards of divisions and subsidiaries. In fast‐moving businesses, companies must respond quickly to changes in technologies and markets and with this in mind international businesses are tending to delegate substantial discretion to the boards and management teams of subsidiaries. In researching divisionalized companies in financial services, electronics and process manufacturing the author discovered that much of the business was carried on among subsidiaries through a network of contracts and the resources which were held at the center were often made available to subsidiaries through license agreements. Such complex arrangements present parent boards with difficult issues which must be resolved if their companies are to act entrepreneurially. For example: what powers should be reserved for the parent board and what decisions should be delegated to subsidiary boards? Also should subsidiary companies have autonomous boards with independent non‐executive directors?
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The purpose of this viewpoint is to analyze and interpret the author’s career as a researcher in marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this viewpoint is to analyze and interpret the author’s career as a researcher in marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This viewpoint applies case theory (Gummesson, 2017a), in which the author is the case.
Findings
One should respect the difficulty of understanding the complex and dynamic world of marketing and not be fooled into premature generalizations and reverence to established theory.
Originality/value
The emphasis is on marketing as a revenue-generating activity through interaction in the network of complex relationships; the need for less ritualistic research methodology; and the orientation toward theory generation, decision-making, implementation and achievement of desired results.