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The purpose of this paper is to counter the misunderstanding by Paul Craig Roberts of empirical measures of economic freedom.

The objective is achieved by citing Roberts' criticisms of the Fraser and Cato studies of economic freedom and demonstrating the fallacies in his analysis.

The result of the present analysis is that Roberts misunderstands and misconstrues empirical measure of economic freedom. He conflates economic freedom with other desiderata, such as political freedom, personal liberties.

To the extent the widely publicized Roberts findings are believed by scholars, there will be less research conducted in this vitally important arena. To the extent that his errors are exposed, as, for example, by the present essay, there will be more research conducted in this vitally important arena.

The practical implication of this research initiative is to improve economic freedom around the world. If citizens are not even aware that there is such a thing as economic freedom, this will lessen the chances of it being implemented. Roberts' creation of red herrings and muddying of the waters around this topic, thus, unintentionally, diminishes economic freedom. One of the implications of the present article is to counter Roberts' influence in this matter.

What is new in the paper is that the fallacies in Roberts' critiques of empirical measures of economics are dissected.

Looking to the future of green marketing, examines the dynamic nature of ecologically conscious consumer behavior. The study also provides a method of profiling and segmenting college students based upon ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Findings indicate that, despite a significant amount of past research attention, demographic criteria are not as useful a profiling method as psychographic criteria. Consistent with past findings, the study indicates that perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) provides the greatest insight into ecologically conscious consumer behavior. Further, the inclusion of altruism to the profile appears to add significantly to past efforts. Additional constructs examined suggest that environmental segmentation alternatives are more stable than past profiles that have relied primarily on demographic criteria.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the accountability practices of the directors in New Zealand and Australian dairy co-operatives. An interpretation of their practices, which focus on the relationship between directors and their farmer-shareholders, is informed by Roberts’ (2001a) understandings of a socializing accountability.

The fieldwork consists of interviews with 23 directors, including all chief executive officers and chairmen, of six dairy co-operatives together with observations and document analysis. These co-operatives together comprise a significant portion of the regional dairy industry. The methodology draws from Eisenhardt’s (1989) qualitative approach to theory formation.

The authors find that these directors engage in a discourse-based, community-grounded and egalitarian form of socializing accountability. As such, their practices adhere generally to Roberts (2001a) hopes for a more considerate and humble relationship between an accountor and an accountee.

Findings add to the small pool of research on the lived experiences of co-operative boards and to a parsimonious literature in socializing accountability practices. The contributions of the study are in advancing real understandings of alternative forms of accountability, in evaluating the conditions in which these alternatives may be likely to arise and in anticipating the challenges and opportunities that arise therefrom.

The originality of the project arises from accessing the views of these industry leaders and, through their frank expressions, coming to understand how they achieve a form of a socializing accountability in their relationships with farmer-shareholders.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the expectations and requirements contained within the corporate governance code have an impact on how accountability is perceived, understood and practiced by company board members in an emerging economy (Mauritius).

The paper relies on 24 semi‐structured interviews of board members in listed and non‐listed companies and also analyses the accountability implications present in the local code of corporate governance and relevant reports. The analysis is informed by the typologies of board accountability and process developed by Roberts in 2001 (socialising, individualising, sovereign and complementary) and is complemented by Pettigrew and McNulty's 1995 notions of minimalist and maximalist boards.

From a state which can largely be associated to the notion of sovereign governance and a minimalist board, the findings reveal a substantive change in the type of board accountability but it is one which privileges an individualising form of board interactions. A move to a more empowered “maximalist” board is also noted. Notwithstanding, the paper uncovers specific issues with the INED as an accountability mechanism in that there is much fuzziness on his/her role and motivations and whether INEDs can conceivably contribute to a socialising form of board accountability.

The paper responds to calls for more qualitative research on how boards actually operate in emerging economies, at a time when an increasing number of countries have adopted corporate governance requirements drawn primarily from the Anglo‐American model. This paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on corporate board processes and dynamics in non‐Western contexts.

The purpose of the paper is to argue that an enriched understanding of texts would enable more informed and responsible management practice. The authors present an approach to the analysis of management texts that enjoys, rather than contests, multivocality with the aim of making our approach to defamiliarising texts an accessible change management tool.

Working with a reader‐response methodology we provide comment on, and analysis of, a popular management book, Kevin Roberts' Lovemarks. The authors context a response to this text in a discussion of commodity fetishism and deconstructed management theory texts. The interpretation of the subject text highlights its rhetorical suasion and pulls buried meaning into view.

The authors demonstrate that rhetorical analysis and satirical play, a mode of defamiliarisation that is employed in their own reading and incorporated into their classroom praxis, enables managers to better understand and control their own sense‐making. The authors argue that where their enriched understandings challenge embedded assumptions, changed management practices are enabled.

The authors offer their own construction of a Lovemark text, a satirical echo of the Roberts original, as an example of the distancing effect of humorous textual play.

This paper aims to provide an overview of Keller’s ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction) model of motivational design and explores how three instruction librarians at different institutions have integrated the model into their teaching practices to improve student motivation during information literacy (IL) sessions.

Case studies describe how instruction librarians began to incorporate the ARCS model into library instruction. Three librarians used self-reflective practice and a range of assessment techniques to evaluate and improve teaching practice.

ARCS is valuable for improving student engagement during IL instruction. The authors suggest best practices for learning about and integrating the model and propose instructional strategies that align with it.

This paper fills a gap in literature on practical applications of motivational design in library instruction and suggests best practices for teaching and assessment using the ARCS model.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between audit characteristics (ACs) and audit fees on classification shifting (CS) among German-listed non-financial firms.

Using a sample of 130 German-listed (Deutscher Aktienindex, Mid Cap dax and Small caps Index) firms from 2010 until 2019, this study investigated the impact of audit committee size, audit committee meetings, audit committee financial expertise and audit fees on CS.

This study found the evidence of CS, meaning that managers misclassify recurring expenses in the income statement into non-recurring expenses to inflate core earnings. This study also found that the audit fee ratio, audit committee financial expertise and frequency of audit meetings are negatively associated with CS among German-listed firms. However, the audit committee size does not influence CS.

This study will help the board improve its internal auditing practices and provide essential information to investors to assess how ACs affect the quality of financial reporting.

This study focused on a bank-oriented economy, i.e. Germany, with lower investor protection and low transparency. This paper documents new evidence on how ACs and audit fees impact CS among German firms, as most of the previous studies on CS mainly focused on market-oriented economies such as the UK and the USA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate money attitudes and credit card usage, between compulsive and non‐compulsive buyers, of young Australians. It also serves to validate the money attitude scale (MAS) using an Australian sample.

Data were collected using a mall intercept method in a major shopping complex in Perth, Western Australia. A self‐administered questionnaire was distributed and recorded a response rate of 18 per cent.

Compulsive buyers are more likely to perceive money as a source of power and prestige. They are also more frequent users of credit cards and are more likely to bargain hunt. There are no differences between compulsive and non‐compulsive buyers for the dimensions of time retention, distrust, and anxiety of the MAS.

The study has only captured young adult Australians and should not be generalized across other demographics and national consumers. Studies on compulsive behaviour of online shopping and a comparison between fashion and non‐fashion related variables could also be explored.

Firms should consider using advertising campaigns that portray images of status and prestige in order to appeal to young adults. They could utilize aggressive in‐store promotion and selling techniques and highlight the discount or best buy slogans. For the credit card companies and banks, word‐of‐mouth through family and friends are better promotional tools to attract users. Marketers and policy makers are recommended to incorporate consumer education programs for young adults to build skills to counter financial problems.

This is the first Australian study that examined money attitudes, credit card usage and compulsive behaviour. Further the MAS scale is validated with the addition of the “bargain hunting” variable.

Accounting researchers have performed many studies related to public sector budgeting and financial management. Public sector accounting research seeks to explain the role of accounting and auditing in the public sector. For example, researchers examine issues such as (1) the use of accounting information by elected officials, (2) the demand for auditing, and (3) the determination of bond ratings. This review of the public sector accounting literature describes some of the theoretical foundations utilized in public sector accounting research and reviews a sample of selected empirical studies.

This paper aims to provide a case study of how engineering skills gaps are being addressed by Murray & Roberts in South Africa.

The paper focuses on skills challenges in South Africa from a reflective practitioner perspective, exploring a case example from an industry leader.

The paper explores how Murray & Roberts, within the context of the broader construction industry in South Africa, has addressed skills shortages with an integrated, multi‐faceted approach with more general application.

The integrated approach to labour mobilization and development proposed has been successful in addressing major infrastructure construction projects. Further research will be needed to establish its broader application.

The paper pragmatically addresses live skills challenges, exploring creative solutions to the scarcity of skilled construction labour experience.