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An increasingly important division of today's American book publishing industry is the “religious book” market. The Association of American Publishers defines this division's scope as “primarily Bibles and prayer books, but also other works of specific religious content, such as theological treatises….” The more prevalent notion of a religious book, however, rests on a much broader interpretation; a religious book is loosely defined as any “inspirational work or one emanating from a religious publisher.” Even such titles as The Total Woman tend to fall under the “religious book” umbrella when it comes to statistic‐gathering by such groups as the Christian Book‐sellers Association. But regardless of how one chooses to define the scope of this market, there is no denying that it is expanding, and doing so at an impressive rate. Publishers (both secular and religious), bookstore owners, and librarians in public and academic libraries are noting a dramatic increase in the general public's interest in religious books.

The third International Conference on Data Bases in the Humanities and Social Sciences was held on June 10–12, 1983, at Rutgers University, sponsored by the Rutgers University Libraries, with financial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Rutgers University.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have spread rapidly across every aspect of business and social activity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how this rapidly growing field of analytics might be put to use in the area of reputation risk management.

The approach taken was to examine in detail the primary and emerging applications of artificial intelligence to determine how they could be applied to preventing and mitigating reputation risk by using machine learning to identify early signs of behaviors that could lead to reputation damage.

This review confirmed that there were at least two areas in which artificial intelligence could be applied to reputation risk management – the use of machine learning to analyze employee emails in real time to detect early signs of aberrant behavior and the use of algorithmic game theory to stress test business decisions to determine whether they contained perverse incentives leading to potential fraud.

Because of the fact that this viewpoint is by its nature a thought experiment, the authors have not yet tested the practicality or feasibility of the uses of artificial intelligence it describes.

Should the concepts described be viable in real-world application, they would create extraordinarily powerful tools for companies to identify risky behaviors in development long before they had run far enough to create major reputation risk.

By identifying risky behaviors at an early stage and preventing them from turning into reputation risks, the methods described could help restore and maintain trust in the relationship between companies and their stakeholders.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, artificial intelligence has never been described as a potential tool in reputation risk management.

This paper aims to explore how in Irish small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), problem-based learning (PBL) could possibly provide a paradigm which addresses two key research objectives: What are the learning needs and challenges faced by Irish SMEs? and How could PBL satisfy these needs through integrating formal and informal learning?

An action research methodology was adopted using Lewin’s (1994) action research cycle. In the reconnaissance stage, surveys and focus groups were conducted with a purposive research sample of Irish SMEs regarding their learning needs and challenges. Based on these results, a plan was formulated to adapt the traditional PBL model into a workplace PBL model (wPBL). Lastly, the wPBL model was implemented and evaluated in 42 SMEs.

The research identified several specific learning needs for SMEs, namely, learning that is cost-effective, tailored to the company and its challenges, immediately applied, demonstrates a tangible outcome (is measurable), organically fostering a learning culture, addresses knowledge gaps, continuous, develops communication, team work, problem-solving and technical skills. The traditional PBL model was adapted into a wPBL model to meet the above learning needs of SMEs. It was found that the wPBL model had the potential to address long-standing company problems (making it cost-effective), facilitate continuous learning and develop horizontal and transversal skills such as problem-solving and communication.

Much of the learning that takes place in SMEs is incidental or informal, and often does not contribute to the long-term sustainability of the organisation. This paper aims to propose a practical framework using wPBL to structure incidental and informal learning in SMEs so that it provides an immediate benefit to the company. To date, there has been little research into the application of PBL outside higher education, and the paper proposes a framework to assist the transition of PBL to a workplace environment.

The primary goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of meso ethics from a corporate governance perspective, and the strategic process of integration between corporate and individual ethics for the creation of an ethical culture. A secondary aim is to identify the organizational behavior variables that are affected by the ethical congruence between employee ethics and the prevailing corporate ethical climate.

By first situating organizational ethics within the broader phenomenon of business ethics, the authors then more aptly examine corporate ethics at the upper and lower permeable meso boundaries where a shared ethic is negotiated. This conceptual paper tries to capture through a phenomenological approach how strategic governance level (macro) and individual ethics (micro) interact in a complex and dynamic way at the organizational level (meso).

Normative literature suggests that organizations require more than ethical safeguards to ensure ethical conduct. For example, ethics training programs are demanded and perceived as effective by employees. Recent empirical studies on “ethical fit” have converged and support the assertion that it is in an organization's best interest to continually look for ethical congruence between their workforce and the ethical climate that they intentionally foster. Furthermore, these studies show that perceived ethical congruence positively affects an individual's affective commitment to an organization, and reduces turnover intent.

There is a general lack of consensus, cohesion and empiricism in the current literature. Few studies deal with meso ethics, which have wide‐ranging implications for current and future research.

Demand for business ethics is on the rise as is its corporate response commonly defined as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Standard responsive measures taken by executives are shown to generally be unsubstantiated or insufficient for ethical conduct to truly take root in an organization.

The scope of the paper, with its phenomenological approach, identifies the complexities of corporate ethics for academics and managers alike, where traditionally fragmented organizational levels are herein understood to be permeable and dynamic. The meso perspective of this study provides a new foundation for the study of corporate ethics. Its phenomenological approach provides a conceptual common ground and facilitates convergence in the field. Moreover, the conceptual framework of this paper can enable practitioners to formulate the appropriate strategic intent and governance strategy for their organization.

Michael S. Ridout, Managing Director of Uxbridge‐based Auto Diesels Braby Limited, has been appointed a Director of Braby Leslie Limited, the parent company of Auto Diesels. Braby Leslie Limited are a publicly quoted company and have ten principal operating companies—including Auto Diesels—throughout the UK in the Mechanical and Civil Engineering Fields.

Significant attention has been devoted to agency theory in the financial literature. Dating back to the seminal contribution of Jensen and Meckling (1976), financial economists have examined agency relationships mainly in the context of shareholders versus managers, and shareholders versus creditors. The purpose of this essay is to document the existence of additional agency problems created as a result of the adoption of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978. An introduction to the bankruptcy environment and the main features of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 (hereafter referred to as the Act) are followed by description of the agency problems arising out of the 1978 Act.

Faith-based organisations (FBOs) and secular NGOs provide important services to victims of trafficking, exploitation, and those involved in sex work, yet comparative analysis of their approaches to care has lacked attention in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine these two types of organisations, exploring the extent to which faith influences the ways FBOs work with their clients.

In total, 41 interviews were conducted with leaders of 13 Christian FBOs and 12 secular NGOs in Cambodia, and organisational mission statements were reviewed. An input-output conceptual model was used as a framework to gather and analyse data.

While all FBOs maintained a high regard for their clients’ spiritual needs and operated with a faith-related approach to care, secular NGOs also, at times, included culturally embedded religious elements into their programming. The nature of FBOs’ faith-related programming, however, clearly distinguished these organisations from their secular counterparts. Despite such distinctions, similarities were maintained among both types of organisations in the behavioural or recovery outcomes they sought in their clients.

Limitations include the study’s focus on organisations that serve a specific clientele in one development context. Research implications include the study pointing to the necessity of acknowledging the development context as critical to the ways in which religion may or may not influence the approaches to care of both FBOs and secular NGOs. The paper also contributes insight into the relationship between the non-resource input of faith, and services provided by FBOs.

Given that both types of organisations sought change in their clients, practitioners should ensure that their organisational approaches to care are conducive to the outcomes they seek. Though organisational policy may stipulate that clients are free to choose whether or not to participate in faith-related programming, FBOs should always ensure a care environment in which clients feel free not to participate in such programming.

Though FBOs and secular NGOs sought many similar behavioural or recovery outcomes from their clients, the development context in which these organisations worked – unlike some other contexts – and the role of faith “infusing” FBOs, led to clear, observable differences in their approaches to care. The study highlights the importance of taking into account these factors when seeking to decipher differences that may or may not exist between faith-based and secular non-state social policy actors.