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The purpose of this study is to identify a psychological profile for public accounting firm partners who are likely to place the partnership and client shareholder at risk. Proprietary data from an executive counseling firm provided a unique opportunity to compare two groups of partners: those identified by their senior partners as placing the firm at risk (n=31) and those not so identified (n=64). The groups were compared using psychological measures, lifestyle measures, personal measures, and work history variables. Results found no significant measurable difference between the audit partners who were identified as posing a risk and those not so identified. This suggests that specific factors cannot lead a partner to engage in risky behaviors, but rather several, in combination, may be necessary. Implications for research include learning more about concepts such as resistance to temptation, motivation, and rationalization. Implications for practice are to focus on structuring business practices to provide early warning signs and minimize opportunities to engage in risky behavior. Continued and increased diligence in the client screening and client continuation and review process remain essential for best practices.

Conceptual paper purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine a new conceptual model of addiction and interpret the results from delay discounting studies in light of this new perspective.

Methodology/approach – To accomplish this we (1) introduce this new conceptual model, (2) briefly review executive function, including evidence for executive dysfunction among the addicted, (3) describe the unique relationship of temporal discounting to the new model and executive dysfunction, and (4) reinterpret the discounting literature in light of this new conceptual model.

Findings – Addicted individuals discount the future more than controls. This is consistent with greater relative activation of the impulsive system and decreased relative activation of the executive system. It also supports the new conceptual model of addiction.

Research implications – The new model provides a model for understanding the observations from the broader area of research in temporal discounting.

Originality/value of chapter – Given the view of executive function as important for the cross-temporal organization of behavior, we think that temporal discounting, the valuing of future commodities, qualifies this process to be included as an executive function.

Inhibitory control (IC) is a central executive function that shows significant development throughout the preschool years. IC is known as a factor that underlies the ability to self-regulate in daily situations. This ability is challenged when a child faces negative emotions; a challenge that is seen in children’s IC performance and brain activity. This chapter elaborates on the effects that negative emotional experiences have on children’s IC functioning. Moreover, previous studies regarding the way emotional experiences are reflected in brain activity are included. Additionally, this chapter will offer a comprehensive review of the factors affecting individual differences in IC, including the role of children’s temperamental effortful control and negative affectivity. Further, the role of parenting behaviors will be discussed, focusing on the way in which maternal self-regulation influences child inhibitory control, including related educational implications.

The primary objective of this chapter is to synthesize and organize prevailing theoretical perspectives on metacognition into a framework that can enhance understanding of metacognitive phenomena, with the aim of stimulating future research in the field of organizational behavior and human resources management (OBHRM). The author starts with a review of the history of metacognition research, distinguishing it from related theoretical constructs such as cognition, executive function, and self-regulation. Following this, the author outlines five constituent elements of metacognition – metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experiences, metacognitive monitoring, a dynamic mental model, and metacognitive control – with discussions on their interrelationships and respective functions. Two approaches to metacognition, a process approach and an individual-difference approach, are then presented, summarizing key questions and findings from each. Finally, three broad directions for future research in OBHRM are proposed: examining metacognitive processes, considering mechanisms beyond learning to explain the effects of metacognition, and exploring both domain-specific and general metacognitive knowledge and skills. The implications of these research directions for personnel and human resources management practices are discussed.

Executives exert a pervasive influence on the organizations they lead. As such, scholars have long considered how to calibrate the risks inherent in executive decision making, often relying on incentives and compensation to calibrate executive risk behavior. However, there are shortcomings that reduce the efficacy of this approach, largely because incentives and compensation do not alter the work environment itself, which play a significant role influencing executive risk behavior. Consequently, in this chapter, we propose a conceptualization that integrates executive risk-taking with work design, framing three central features of the strategic leader job and work environment that may be manipulated to channel and shape executive risk-taking. Specifically, accountability, discretion, and relationships are proposed as the key higher-order characteristics of the executive work context, and they are examined with respect to optimal calibration in order to maximize both executive performance and well-being, as well as organizational coordination and control. Implications of this conceptualization and directions for future research are discussed.

Departing from a so-called “modern civil service” as an ideal type, this chapter evaluates the status of public personnel management in Latin America. Such an ideal model is considered a mix between the organizational principles of the traditional civil service and those of the new public management perspective. First, the chapter presents the different phases that public management practices have undergone in some developed countries. Secondly, following several studies and data provided by the IADB, the level of development of several civil service systems in Latin America is analyzed and several of their construction–destruction–reconstruction patterns are presented. Lastly, the cases that most approach a modern civil service are discussed and some recommendations offered to reformers in this region.