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Can we model politics as exclusively based on self-interest, leaving virtue aside? How much romance is there in the study of politics? We show that James Buchanan, a founder of public choice and constitutional political economy, reintroduces a modicum of romance into politics, despite claiming that his work is the study of “politics without romance”: Buchanan’s model needs an ethical attitude to defend rules against rent-seeking.

We claim that Adam Smith, more than David Hume, should be considered one of the primary intellectual influences on Buchanan’s public choice and constitutional political economy. It is commonly believed that Hume assumes in politics every man ought to be considered a knave, making him an influence on Buchanan’s idea of politics without romance. Yet, it is Smith who, like Buchanan, describes rent-seeking and suggests that public virtues may be the remedy through which good rules maintaining liberty and prosperity can be generated and enforced. Smith, like Buchanan, rejects sole reliance on economic incentives: the study of politics needs some romance.

David Abel Smith faced a tricky management problem when he joined the Astonia Division of Delta Metal as Chairman. How to organise several small units into efficient profit making companies. Ken Gooding reports.

The Scottish Enlightenment, which gave birth to classical liberal thought and political economy, developed out of a strong theological tradition and was marked by significant theological conflict. Most people understand the Scottish Enlightenment through the works of David Hume, Adam Smith, and their intellectual circle of Moderate clergy and literati. Though this group represents the dominant strain of thinking in the Scottish Enlightenment, one should not neglect other important contributions made by more orthodox clergy and literati. Comparing the ideas of less well-known, but leading figures of the Moderate and the orthodox literati, Hugh Blair and John Witherspoon, reveals different views on doctrines related to salvation, human nature, and God’s providence, as well as on the nature of moral judgment and education. These differences provide important context for understanding the ideas and arguments of more influential philosophers like Smith and Hume.

The purpose of this paper is to identify leadership behaviours that appear to be salient in life science firms and to explain them as Darwinian adaptations to the particular characteristics of that industry.

This work used a pragmatist, inductive, mode 2 research methodology. The method used semi-structured, laddered, qualitative interviews with 23 individuals from 22 firms in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors.

The work found four aspects of the industry’s external environment that, collectively, distinguish it from other sectors. Further, it found four leadership behaviours that appear to be strongly characteristic of the industry. Further analysis revealed critical antecedents of these behaviours in the form of micro-foundations. Finally, these behaviours and their antecedents appeared to be a Darwinian adaptation to selection pressures created by the external environment.

The findings of this work are limited to the life sciences sector and do not support generalization beyond this sector. The work has three implications. Firstly, that leadership behaviours can be seen as at least partly sector-specific. Secondly, that the specificity of leadership behaviours appears related to identifiable characteristics of the industry environment. Thirdly, that the principles of generalized Darwinism provide a useful lens for understanding leadership behaviour in this sector.

This work implies that leadership training and development should recognize the specific industry context of the leader and not assume that leadership behaviour is a general, non-specific set of behaviours. Further, the work implies that appropriate leadership can be more readily enabled by paying attention to certain micro-foundations.

This work is original in two ways. Firstly, it addresses the leadership behaviours of the life sciences sector specifically. No previous work has done this. Secondly, it applies generalized Darwinism to the topic of leadership, which has not been attempted previously.

The purpose of this paper is to provide useful insights underlying the popularity of search engine technologies within a social media-intensive environment.

The degree of social interaction for social media platforms that integrate search engine technologies as part of the homepage and related experience is very mixed on part of its users. Through Barnard’ theory of authority acceptance, social media and its popularity may be examined by the ability of its users to create effective messages that can be broadcasted to many, yet controlled by individual. The hypotheses tested the interaction of social media and search engine with gender and technological ease-of-use factors.

The statistical evidence suggested that significant technological and ease-of-use aspects of search engines are not meaningful, based on gender alone. Males may slightly be prone to take advantage of such technologies, but their search and use patterns are not much varied from their female counterparts. Social media, generally more fully captured authority in individual search patterns, and a number of interactions among gender status, search engine characteristics, and social media were found to be significant and profound. The testing of these hypotheses directly reflect the complexities of unique needs among users of search engines within a social media environment.

Search engine technologies with a social media context has allowed for the development of a modern, user-driven internet experience that has been powered by users’ imagination and is designed to at least partially satisfy users’ need for self-directed engagement. Organizations are well advised to provide a mindful, less controlled, and more interactive presence of potential users, especially through an increasingly mobile presence.

Individuals as well as organizations are rapidly discovering that it is becoming easier to share and distribute their content, especially for more creative and innovative content, among all of its users. As businesses continue to focus on the quality of one’s own content, individuals are increasingly taking advantage of some tools to exert more control over their experiences and what they are willing to share, resulting in more user-based partnerships will formulate. As the transition of traditional forms of marketing to newer forms of integrated marketing, the future for search engines as marketing tools by social media users appears to be very promising in adding contextual content within users’ homepage.

The researcher wanted to study the effect of HRM practices on turnover in a South Korean context. Previous studies have focused on Western contexts.

The author collected data from 310 white-collar and knowledge workers from Seoul. A set of five hypotheses were tested

The results showed that offering excellent compensation and job security made employees much less likely to leave. However, the indirect effect of job autonomy was not found to be significant.

The study has theoretical implications for workplaces. First, the findings show compensation satisfaction is of crucial importance and HR retention strategies should focus on how employees perceive their pay, benefits and pay policies. Second, the results show that HR managers and top-level executives should make job security a primary concern. For example, they should provide accurate and honest information” about the causes and actions.

The authors were motivated to carry out their study by the increasing popularity of social media as a recruitment tool. They focused on the recruitment managers as previous studies have concentrated on the experiences of the candidates.

The authors wanted to test two hypotheses. The first one was split into two parts – Hypothesis 1A was that: “Recruiters intentions to adopt SMR are significantly related to pre-hire ROs.” And Hypothesis 1B was that: “Recruiters intentions to adopt SMR are significantly related to post-hire ROs.” Their second hypothesis was that: “CS (credibility and satisfaction) will mediate the relationship between SMR intention and ROs”. They surveyed 240 recruitment managers in the manufacturing and services sector, in Gujarat, India.

The results confirmed both of the hypotheses. Firstly, the responses showed that recruiters intended to use social media as it provides pre-hire benefits. Similarly, results showed SMR is more compatible, less complex and ensures better trialability and observability. Secondly, the research showed SMR intentions are significantly related to post-hire ROs. The study proved that SMR was “cost-effective, attracts better talents and retains them”.

The study suggested social media sites like Facebook could maximize the number of applicants and be more effective than traditional advertising in targeting passive job seekers. Second, it showed managers could optimize their SM post-hire outcomes to improve talent retention. Third, the results suggested that SMR could attract dream candidates by providing credible information. Finally, HR departments needed to understand social media complements rather than replaces traditional recruitment methods.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

A study of the training programs offered to managers who coach employees has revealed how organizations could offer them far more support to develop their skills. The findings of the research indicated that although 58.7 per cent of the managers interviewed had received some support from their organizations, it was often short-lived, and less than a quarter (22.9 per cent) felt they did not need any further support. There was strong demand for longer, more in-depth training that took place on an ongoing basis. Some managers (about 5 per cent) even suggested they wanted formal qualifications in how to coach the staff.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper proposes that the UKs exit from the EU is unlikely to impact heavily on the lived reality of Roma, given its negligible impact prior to Brexit. The paper sets out a critique of existing EU approaches to anti-Gypsyism that are based in discourses of racism and anti-nomadism and are typified in the EU hate crime agenda. The paper argues for recognition of the systemic social harms caused by discrimination against Roma in the EU and the commonality of their experience with other socially excluded groups that do not conform to the requirements of contemporary neoliberal capitalism. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper comprises an opinion piece that sets out a critical examination of existing literature on policy and research in Romani studies and utilises theoretical work within criminology and social policy.

The paper explains the inability of existing EU approaches to tackle social harms experienced by Roma throughout the EU. In doing so it suggests that the UKs exit from the EU may not have a significant impact on Roma in the UK.

The paper challenges extant discourses and proposes new ways of thinking about anti-Gypsyism.