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Article
Publication date: 9 May 2016

Melanie Sauerland, Svenja Mehlkopf, Alana C Krix and Anna Sagana

– The purpose of this paper is to test how modifying one’s alibi statement interacts with exposure to deceptive interrogation techniques.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test how modifying one’s alibi statement interacts with exposure to deceptive interrogation techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

In all, 90 participants walked about a university building for 15 minutes and either stole an envelope from a staff pigeonhole (guilty condition) or put the envelope there along the way (innocent condition). Subsequently, participants were asked to provide an alibi for the past 15 minutes. Guilty and half of the innocent participants were instructed to omit that they had been in the vicinity of the pigeonholes. The rest of the innocent participants were asked to tell the truth. Several days later, participants were questioned about six statements taken from their alibis, three of which contained altered information.

Findings

As expected, participants were largely blind to our alterations, with detection rates ranging from 1 to 36 percent. Contrary to cognitive load predictions, detection rates did not vary as a function of truthfulness. Rather, guilty participants were less likely to detect alterations than innocents.

Research limitations/implications

Memory distrust and guilty suspects’ aim to keep a low profile might be possible explanations for these findings.

Practical implications

It is recommended that law enforcement officers and other legal practitioners refrain from using deceptive interrogation techniques and such techniques that can cause inconsistencies in suspects’ reports. Researcher should make it their task to educate these professional groups about the natural occurrence of memory related, non-deceptive inconsistencies in successive statements.

Originality/value

This research uses a new methodology to study the effect of deceptive interrogation techniques on both innocent and guilty suspects. The findings are relevant for legal practitioners and researchers.

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2007

Andrew Atherton and Peter Elsmore

To explore the cases for and against the use of computer‐assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) in qualitative organisation and management research.

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Abstract

Purpose

To explore the cases for and against the use of computer‐assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) in qualitative organisation and management research.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflecting the debate inherent in the questions raised about the use of CAQDAS, a dialogue between the authors is used.

Findings

There are risks associated with using CAQDAS without considering its underpinning principles and assumptions about data analysis. If these are considered explicitly as part of a research methodology, then CAQDAS may be a valuable analytical tool. If not, there is risk of distortion and bias in results from the use of CAQDAS.

Originality/value

The paper addresses a commonly posed question for qualitative researchers, in a format and structure that is likely to stimulate further debate.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 May 2020

Martin Neumann

The article examines strategies of human resource management in the absence of institutional hedging by norm-enforcing institutions such as a state monopoly of violence by using…

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Abstract

Purpose

The article examines strategies of human resource management in the absence of institutional hedging by norm-enforcing institutions such as a state monopoly of violence by using case studies of criminal organizations. This condition provides a test-bed for studying the effects of human relations management strategies on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, a case study methodology is applied. Three cases are selected to build a scale from complete plasticity of an undifferentiated network via a status differentiated gang to a hierarchical organization that provides social positions. The case studies are analysed by qualitative content analysis, network analysis and agent-based simulation.

Findings

An undifferentiated network based on informal trust lacks mechanisms for conflict resolution. This is a highly vulnerable organizational structure. While a status differentiated gang is more resilient towards internal conflicts, its activities remain dependent on individually accumulated social capital. This organizational structure is not resilient over generations of actors. A hierarchical organization provides highest degree of structural resilience up to a level of a system of self-organized criticality.

Originality/value

The study of human relations management outside the legal world provides insights into the basic mechanisms and functional effects of organizational activity.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Lídia Oliveira, Lúcia Lima Rodrigues and Russell Craig

This paper seeks to identify factors that influence the voluntary disclosure of intangibles information in annual reports of Portuguese listed companies.

1804

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to identify factors that influence the voluntary disclosure of intangibles information in annual reports of Portuguese listed companies.

Design/methodology/approach

An index of the voluntary disclosure of intangibles is constructed based on analysis of the Management Report and Chairman's Letter of all 56 companies listed on Euronext Lisbon at 31 December 2003. Several hypotheses about associations between that index and eight firm‐specific variables are tested.

Findings

The voluntary reporting of intangibles is found to be influenced significantly by size, ownership concentration, type of auditor, industry and listing status in univariate analysis; and by size, industry, type of auditor, and ownership concentration (and listing status to a lesser extent) in multivariate analyses.

Research limitations/implications

This study focuses on annual reports only, and is cross‐sectional. The use of content analysis and the subjective judgment involved in constructing the index cannot be view uncritically. The small sample size is inevitable because of the small Portuguese capital market.

Practical implications

Accounting regulators will be better able to understand the factors that explain the voluntary disclosure of intangibles by firms and use this in developing future recommendations.

Originality/value

The paper validates some previous research and also provides insights to the firm‐specific factors that explain voluntary disclosure of intangibles by companies operating in the small share market of a European country in which capital market fund raising is not regarded to be an important source of financing.

Details

Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1401-338X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 August 2021

Jan G. Langhof and Stefan Gueldenberg

The article aims at examining the ethical limits and risks of servant leadership. During the Second World War, the German army officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg is a loyal…

Abstract

Purpose

The article aims at examining the ethical limits and risks of servant leadership. During the Second World War, the German army officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg is a loyal servant to his nation and homeland. But when he learns about the Nazis’ mass murders and crimes, he begins to have doubts about whom he should serve. Being confronted with numerous moral dilemmas, he finally decides to join a resistance group. Of course, Stauffenberg's situation as colonel and leader was an extreme case. Time and again, however, managers and leaders are faced with similar dilemmas. Indeed, the current COVID-19-crisis shows that even today’s leaders are repeatedly faced with almost insoluble dilemmas. The recent literature about ethics and leadership suggests a philosophy which is almost portrayed as a panacea to any ethical issues: servant leadership (SL). This study, however, questions the commonly held view that SL is always ethical. The purpose of our historical case study is twofold. First, this study explores the ethical challenges Stauffenberg (and other officers) faced and how they dealt with them. Second, this study elaborates on what responses (if any) SL would provide to these challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

The applied method is a historical case study, in which the authors draw on a plethora of secondary literature, including books, reports, and articles.

Findings

By analyzing the historical case of “Operation Valkyrie,” this study elaborated and identified risks and limitations of SL and pointed out ways to address these risks. In particular, SL poses risks in the case of a too narrow understanding of the term “service.”

Originality/value

While other leadership styles, e.g. transformational leadership or charismatic leadership, have been extensively studied with regard to ethical risks, in the case of SL possible risks and limitations are still largely unexplored.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 October 2010

Lídia Oliveira, Lúcia Lima Rodrigues and Russell Craig

The purpose of this paper is to analyse voluntary disclosures of intellectual capital (IC) items in the sustainability reports of Portuguese companies. The paper aims to highlight…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse voluntary disclosures of intellectual capital (IC) items in the sustainability reports of Portuguese companies. The paper aims to highlight the level, pattern and determinants of IC disclosures in those sustainability reports; and the potential for sustainability reports to be a medium for IC disclosures.

Design/methodology/approach

An index of voluntary disclosure of intangibles is constructed and deployed to analyse IC disclosures in the sustainability reports for 2006 of Portuguese firms, published on the web site of the Portugal's Business Council for Sustainability Development. Four hypotheses are tested about associations between that disclosure index and firm‐specific variables.

Findings

Disclosure of information about IC is more likely in sustainability reports of firms that have a higher level of application of the Global Reporting Initiative framework, and are listed companies.

Research limitations/implications

This study is cross‐sectional. Subjective judgment is involved in constructing the disclosure index.

Practical implications

The observed level and pattern of disclosure of IC information suggests that the preparation of a sustainability report is an opportune starting point for the development of IC reporting.

Originality/value

The study highlights the determinants of IC disclosures in sustainability reports; the high incidence of such disclosures; and points to the enhancement of legitimacy and reputation as potential incentives for firms to engage in such practice.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2012

William M. Doerner and William G. Doerner

The aim of this paper is to examine whether accredited police agencies display higher clearance rates than their non‐accredited counterparts.

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine whether accredited police agencies display higher clearance rates than their non‐accredited counterparts.

Design/methodology/approach

The study group consists of all municipal police departments operating continuously in the State of Florida from 1997 through 2006. Independent variables capture organizational characteristics for nearly 260 agencies to determine whether becoming accredited improves clearance rates.

Findings

Random‐effects Tobit analysis suggests that accreditation status does not affect violent and property crime clearance rates. Clearance rates are more influenced by the number of sworn personnel and law enforcement expenditures per capita.

Research limitations/implications

Much of what is currently known about the impact of accreditation stems from anecdotal and testimonial evidence. Still, the industry manages to expand and flourish. A glaring need for sound empirical research is evident.

Practical implications

Instead of advancing the protection of local communities and bringing about meaningful organizational reform, accreditation appears to be a useful tool for bureaucrats who wish to further their own careers.

Originality/value

Advocates link accreditation status to a number of benefits, including better investigatory practices that culminate in more solved cases. Recent academic work suggests that accreditation has dubious benefits, despite claims to the contrary. This study adds to that literature by showing that accreditation also fails to elevate clearance rates.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 April 2016

Karin Loevy

This paper challenges and expands commonplace assumptions about problems of time and temporality in emergencies. In traditional emergency powers theory “emergency time” is…

Abstract

This paper challenges and expands commonplace assumptions about problems of time and temporality in emergencies. In traditional emergency powers theory “emergency time” is predominantly an “exceptional time.” The problem is that there is “no time” and the solution is limited “in time”: exceptional behavior is allowed for a special time only, until the emergency is over, or according to formal sunset clauses. But what is characteristic of many emergencies is not the problem of “no time” but the ways in which time is legally structured and framed to handle them. Using the Israeli High Court of Justice 1999 decision on the use of physical interrogation methods under conditions of necessity, this paper illustrates how legally significant emergency-time structures that lay beyond the problematic of exceptional time, gravely implicate the way that “exceptional measures” are practiced and regularized.

Details

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-076-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2010

Can Saygin and Balaji Natarajan

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) deployment at an airport baggage‐handling system (BHS).

1335

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) deployment at an airport baggage‐handling system (BHS).

Design/methodology/approach

The impact of number of RFID readers at different power levels with varying conveyor (i.e. baggage‐handling conveyors) speeds on timely delivery of baggage is studied via simulation. The layout of the BHS at the Hong Kong International Airport and data pertinent to its RFID deployment in 2005 are used to build the simulation model. The RFID read logic is based on the equations defined as a function of the number of tags and the time the tags spend in the interrogation zone for each reader in order to capture possible read‐rate issues realistically.

Findings

The identification capability of the BHS studied in this paper is a result of its combined ability to identify tags via RFID technology on straight and circulating conveyors, as well as at the manual recovery station for unidentified bags on circulating conveyors. Overall, timely delivery of bags to gates, as a performance metric, increases as the identification capability is improved. The controllable factors that affect the identification capability are the conveyor speed, which determines the time a tag stays in the interrogation zone; the reader antenna power level, which determines the size of the interrogation zone; and the number of reader antennas in the system that increases the likelihood of not missing tags. This paper shows that “the higher the number of reader antennas and the higher the power level on them, the better” approach is not correct.

Originality/value

Unlike typical simulation studies related to RFID deployment where read‐rate issues are considered to be non‐existent, this paper captures read rate in a realistic manner in the simulation model by incorporating the effect of number of RFID tags in the interrogation zone and time that RFID tags spend in the interrogation zone due to baggage conveyor speed. Such a simulation approach can be used as a system design tool in order to investigate the impact of RFID‐specific parameters on system‐level performance.

Details

Sensor Review, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0260-2288

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 76 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-2667

Keywords

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