Search results

1 – 10 of over 57000
Article
Publication date: 14 October 2009

Peer van der Helm, Marian Klapwijk, Geert Stams and Peter van der Laan

The Dutch juvenile justice system locks up an increasing number of adolescent boys and girls at a cost of approximately €250,000 for each inmate annually (Boone & Moerings, 2007;…

Abstract

The Dutch juvenile justice system locks up an increasing number of adolescent boys and girls at a cost of approximately €250,000 for each inmate annually (Boone & Moerings, 2007; Tonry, 2005). Questions have been raised, however, about the cost‐effectiveness of treatment in closed institutions. This study, with a sample of 49 adolescents residing in a Dutch youth prison, examined the role of group climate in establishing and maintaining treatment effects. Results show that an open group climate, with group workers paying more attention to the psychological needs of the adolescents and giving them ‘space’ to experiment, led to inmates feeling that they were ‘being understood by the group workers’. This perception of being understood was associated with greater treatment motivation and higher internal locus of control. Positive prison workers in the living group turned out to be a key factor in building an open group climate and subsequently higher internal locus of control and greater treatment motivation.

Details

Journal of Children's Services, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-6660

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2017

Hao Shen, Yu Gao and Xiuyun Yang

The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational climate impacts the speed of strategic change (SSC) for firms in transitional economies and whether if the effects were…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizational climate impacts the speed of strategic change (SSC) for firms in transitional economies and whether if the effects were contingent on internal control mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model including five constructs is developed. The questionnaire survey is deployed to scale main constructs, including organizational climate, such as open communication and hierarchical bureaucracy, internal controls such as strategic and financial control, and SSC. The moderation regression method in five steps is employed to test all hypotheses using the survey data from the 120 sampled Chinese firms.

Findings

The findings show that open communication has a positive effect on SCC, whereas hierarchical bureaucracy has a negative effect on SSC. Furthermore, strategic control positively moderates the relationship between open communication and SSC but negatively moderates the relationship between hierarchical bureaucracy and SSC; meanwhile, financial control negatively moderates the relationship between open communication and SSC but positively moderates the relationship between hierarchical bureaucracy and SSC.

Originality/value

This research integrates organizational climate and internal control mechanisms into the framework of strategic change to investigate how firms achieve fast strategic change through aligning organizational climate with proper organizational control mechanisms. The findings advance the authors’ understanding of the organizational climate, internal controls, and strategic change literature, and offer valuable managerial insights for managers in situations when strategic change is of central importance in the transitional economies.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2021

Kenneth Thompson, David Strutton, Tina Christine Mims and Trond Bergestuen

Organizational climate is an essential dynamic to leverage in salesforce performance. This study aims to develop a model that explores the determinants of independent…

Abstract

Purpose

Organizational climate is an essential dynamic to leverage in salesforce performance. This study aims to develop a model that explores the determinants of independent manufacturers’ representatives’ (i.e. IMRs’) intentions to comply with their principals’ requests for additional tasking. Using agency theory, the authors explore the application of behavior and outcome-based controls upon dyadic manufacturer-IMR relationships for these additional performance/task requests.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from over 1,000 US-based IMRs were used to test two constructs; inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction within the agency-principal dyad. Compliance behaviors tested were IMRs’ intentions to engage in non-selling-related tasks and intentions to allocate additional selling time to principals’ products. The following four exogenous controls were tested: perceived goal congruence between IMRs and principals; IMRs’ perceptions of principals’ expertise; mutual communications between IMRs and principals in the supply chain dyad; resources and sales support programs provided by principals to IMRs; and IMRs’ perceptions of the adequacy and fairness of the principals’ compensation plans.

Findings

Two constructs – inter-organizational climate and perceptions of mutual satisfaction with the agency-principal dyad – mediated the effects of exogenous sales controls on two compliance behaviors. The model’s data were analyzed using Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). A marker variable was deployed to check for common method variance also supported using the Partial least squares (PLS) factor solution. Most variables demonstrated significant direct and mediated effects on each compliance behavior. Variables that emphasized behavioral-based controls dominated intentions for IMRs to engage in non-selling tasks. The principal commission structure, the only sales outcome-based control in the study, most influenced IMRs’ intentions to commit additional sales time to their principals’ products.

Research limitations/implications

This study only examined the intentions of IMRs to engage in additional selling activities and their intention to engage in non-selling tasks. Principals may desire longer-term commitments from IMRs. The model developed here can be modified to capture additional behavioral and attitudinal outcomes including, for example, the exit intentions of IMRs.

Practical implications

Principals are well-advised to foster a positive inter-organizational climate that fuels perceptions of mutually satisfying working relationships with their IMRs. These mutually satisfying working relationships can, by themselves, positively influence IMRs to acquiesce to reasonable requests made by principals. This advice appears to be particularly crucial when asking IMRs to engage in additional non-selling tasks. The total pattern of path estimates points to the conclusion that capable sales control plays an important role in fostering positive inter-organizational climates. The inter-organizational climate – mutual satisfaction link proved crucial as a mediator of the impact of sales controls on IMRs’ behavioral compliance intentions.

Originality/value

Knowing the impact of sales controls on IMR’s affords businesses the ability to use these controls for behavioral compliance intentions on non-selling tasks.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2017

Maria Karanika-Murray, George Michaelides and Stephen J. Wood

Research into job design and employee outcomes has tended to examine job design in isolation of the wider organizational context, leading to calls to attend to the context in…

1694

Abstract

Purpose

Research into job design and employee outcomes has tended to examine job design in isolation of the wider organizational context, leading to calls to attend to the context in which work is embedded. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the interaction between job design and psychological climate on job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Cognitive dissonance theory was used to explore the nature of this relationship and its effect on job satisfaction. The authors hypothesized that psychological climate (autonomy, competence, relatedness dimensions) augments favorable perceptions of job demands and control when there is consistency between them (augmentation effect) and compensates for unfavorable perceptions when they are inconsistent (compensation effect).

Findings

Analysis of data from 3,587 individuals partially supported the hypotheses. Compensation effects were observed for job demands under a high autonomy and competence climate and for job control under a low competence climate. Augmentation effects were observed for job demands under a high relatedness climate.

Practical implications

When designing jobs managers should take into account the effects of psychological climate on employee outcomes.

Originality/value

This study has offered a way to bridge the job design and psychological climate fields and demonstrated that the call for more attention to the context in which jobs are embedded is worth heeding.

Details

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2051-6614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2022

Paul Kojo Ametepe, Adeleke Oladapo Banwo and Mustapha Sina Arilesere

Combating and detecting fraud is a daunting task, especially in the Nigerian banking sector, because it necessitates a thorough understanding of the nature of fraud, as well as…

Abstract

Purpose

Combating and detecting fraud is a daunting task, especially in the Nigerian banking sector, because it necessitates a thorough understanding of the nature of fraud, as well as how it can be performed and concealed by fraudsters. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationship and the predictive ability between amoral behavior, control climate and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intentions among bank employees in Lagos Metropolis.

Design/methodology/approach

Descriptive and cross-sectional designs were used to select employees from 12 banks using predetermined scales. In total, 1,080 questionnaires were distributed, but 950 were retrieved and analyzed. The study used multistage sampling by applying cluster, purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the data.

Findings

A significant positive relationship and predictive abilities were established between employee’s amoral behavior and fraudulent intentions on the one hand, and employee’s job insecurity and fraudulent intention on the other, going by the additional variance identified when each variable was added in each step, implying that employees who exhibit amoral behavior are likely to engage in fraudulent intentions. In the same manner, employees who feel insecure are likely to engage in fraudulent acts because they would want to secure their future. However, there was a significant negative relationship and predictive ability between control climate and fraudulent intention; implying that inculcating a strict control climate minimizes or totally eradicates employees’ intentions to commit fraud.

Research limitations/implications

This paper is limited to amoral behavior, control climate, perceived job insecurity and fraudulent intentions; it is limited to employees in the banking sector, with a special focus on emerging economies, Nigeria, West Africa. The implication of this is that the result may not be generalized to other sectors and other countries.

Practical implications

The practical implication of the study is that managers should be aware that employees who are in danger of losing their jobs are more likely to engage in the fraudulent act, and this should be looked into. Training and retraining, workshops, conferences and seminars on employee morale behaviors as well as strict adherence to ethical codes of conduct are vital to enlighten the employees on the dangers of perpetrating fraud and the impact on themselves and the economy at large. Control climate is a very vital tool in curtailing the incidences of fraud in the organization.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the knowledge by filling the gaps left by a lack of empirical examination into the combined influence of amoral behavior, control climate and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intentions, especially among bankers in Lagos Metropolis. It provides management with guides on how to drastically reduce the menace of fraudulent intentions in the banking sector and by extension in other non-banking organizations.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2002

Dana Yagil

The study examined three models that suggested direct, mediated, and moderated relationships among personality and situational variables relating to the service provider and…

4391

Abstract

The study examined three models that suggested direct, mediated, and moderated relationships among personality and situational variables relating to the service provider and customer satisfaction. Questionnaires were administered to 151 service provider‐customer dyads. The results support the model describing a mediation by job‐related control of the relationship between organizational variables relating to the service provider, on the one hand, and customer satisfaction, on the other. The service provider’s trait control was found to contribute to the prediction of job‐related control over and above the contribution of the organizational variables. Trait control moderates the relationship between empowering leadership and job‐related control, such that the relationship is significant only when trait control is low.

Details

International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0956-4233

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Mehdi Shiva, Hassan Molana and Andrzej Kwiatkowski

While climatic conditions are believed to have some influence on triggering conflicts, the existing empirical results on the nature and statistical significance of their…

Abstract

While climatic conditions are believed to have some influence on triggering conflicts, the existing empirical results on the nature and statistical significance of their explanatory role are not conclusive. We construct a dataset for a sample of 139 countries which records the occurrence of an armed conflict, the annual average temperature and precipitation levels, as well as the relevant socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic measures over the 1961–2011 period. Using this dataset and controlling for the effect of relevant nonclimate variables, our comprehensive econometric analyses support the influencing role of climatic factors. Our results are robust and consistent with the hypothesis that climate warming is instrumental in raising the probability of onset of internal armed conflicts and suggests that, along with regulating population size and promoting political stability, controlling climate change is an effective factor for inducing peace by way of curtailing the onset of armed conflicts.

Details

Race and Space
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-725-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 November 2018

Julia Margarete Puaschunder

Climate control needs have reached momentum. While scientists call for stabilizing climate and regulators structure climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts around the…

Abstract

Climate control needs have reached momentum. While scientists call for stabilizing climate and regulators structure climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts around the globe, economists are concerned with finding proper and fair financing mechanisms. In an overlapping-generations framework, Sachs (2014) solves the climate change predicament that seems to pit today’s against future generations. Sachs (2014) proposes that the current generation mitigates climate change financed through bonds to remain financially as well-off as without mitigation while improving environmental well-being of future generations through ensured climate stability. This intergenerational tax-and-transfer policy turns climate change mitigation into a Pareto improving strategy. Sachs’ (2014) discrete model is integrated in contemporary growth and resource theories. The following article analyzes how climate bonds can be phased-in, in a model for a socially optimal solution and a laissez-faire economy. Optimal trajectories are derived partially analytically (e.g., by using the Pontryagin maximum principle to define the optimal equilibrium), partially data driven (e.g., by the use of modern big market data), and partially by using novel cutting-edge methods – for example, nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), which solves complex dynamic optimization problems with different nonlinearities for infinite and finite decision horizons. NMPC will be programed with terminal condition in order to determine appropriate numeric solutions converging to some optimal equilibria. The analysis tests if the climate change debt adjusted growth model stays within the bounds of a sustainable fiscal policy by employing NMPC, which solves complex dynamic systems with different nonlinearities.

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2003

S. Maekawa and F. Toledo

To preserve both cultural collections and historical buildings that house them, a technologically simple yet robust climate control system was installed in the Historic Archive of…

1031

Abstract

To preserve both cultural collections and historical buildings that house them, a technologically simple yet robust climate control system was installed in the Historic Archive of the Canary Islands. The archive is located in a municipal building, a late nineteenth century massive masonry building in the city of La Laguna, on Tenerife Island, Spain. The system was designed to maintain the RH level necessary for preventing microbial activities on collections in cultural institutions, by operating residential‐type ventilators and a convective heater under a humidistatic control. We have confirmed that the system not only successfully eliminated events of high relative humidity but also stabilized the climate. The annual temperature variation was significantly reduced, although daily variations increased. The room's moisture content was reduced to less than that of the outside, and microbial activities were reduced in the environment. The system was simple to install and inexpensive to operate.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1984

BARBARA COHEN and E. BARRINGTON THOMAS

This paper is a report of a study which examined patterns of misbehaviour and punishment in 52 secondary schools within the South Central region of the Education Department of…

Abstract

This paper is a report of a study which examined patterns of misbehaviour and punishment in 52 secondary schools within the South Central region of the Education Department of Victoria, Australia, and considered their significance as indicators of the implicit values endorsed by the school and as measures of one aspect of school climate. The results of a factor analysis revealed the existence of four factors, reflecting differing values emphases within schools. A further statistical analysis led to the determination of four categories of climate, designated as “controlled”, “conflictual”, “libertarian” and “autonomous”. The characteristics of each school system were then considered in relation to these groupings.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

1 – 10 of over 57000