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The purpose of this paper is to study the relationships among environmental performance (EP), environmental disclosure (ED), and financial performance (FP) (three corporate constructs) using data from Newsweek’s green rankings.

Previous studies document mixed results about the relations among the three constructs. A firm’s overall management strategy may affect the three constructs simultaneously; therefore, the interrelationships among EP, ED, and FP were jointly examined. A simultaneous equations approach was used to test the hypothesis.

The three-stage least square (3SLS) estimation results show a negative relationship between EP and FP and a positive relationship between EP and ED, suggesting that financially successful firms are less likely good environmental performers but green firms are more likely to disclose their EP.

Since the sample firms examined in this study are US large-size companies, the results found in this paper may not apply to small- and/or medium-size firms or to companies in other countries.

Three corporate constructs are jointly correlated with each one. A firm’s overall strategic plan on environmental engagement is likely reflected in how it engages in each of the constructs that affect costs and benefits. Sustainable efforts, in short term, may put firms at risk. Companies may need to take a long-term perspective when cutting costs is curtailed.

The research contributes to the ED and EP literature by using a 3SLS simultaneous equation method and analyzing a more recent and comprehensive multi-industry data. By controlling industry effect, the research investigates the interrelationships among three corporate constructs and finds interesting results. An interpretation and discussion are provided.

The theoretical contribution provided by the transitional theories has fundamentally helped develop a better understanding of the migration process, by showing how migration is interacting with other processes of development. They show that along with development, emigration is following an upside down ‘U’ shaped pattern, being overreached by immigration, while the region changes its migration profile from emigration to immigration. This was the case for the southern European states, which followed a rapid migration transition during the second half of the twentieth century. After large emigration to Western and Northern Europe, these managed to attract large immigration flows from the less developed countries in Africa and Latin America, but also from Eastern Europe after the fall of communist regimes. This chapter aims to test whether Eastern Europe is heading to the same migration transition pattern as the South and change their current status of net migration provider. Thus, the impact of the migration transition drivers in explaining net migration balance is analysed using a panel data for the 2000–2013 period. As a country can encompass both emigration and immigration regions, the current analysis is carried out at European Union (EU) regional level data (NUTS II), while controlling for the regional specifics and unobserved time effects. Overall, most of the factors which led to the migration shift, from emigration to immigration, in Southern Europe were proven to be fundamental at EU regional level as well. Migration flows were shown to be more sensitive to unemployment, urbanisation, segmentation of the labour market and active population share in the eastern as compared to the southern European regions. Nevertheless, accessing the transition drivers evolution during 2011–2013 period, eastern regions are still highly unattractive and their chances for becoming destination regions are currently at low levels.

Drawing findings from the river erosion-prone district Bhola in Bangladesh, this study presents the nature and causes of human displacement and the types of resilience livelihood options for reducing risks caused by river erosion. The study used a quantitative research approach, in which a survey was employed. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 371 heads of households from three unions of three Upazilas (sub-divisions) in the Bhola District. Results showed that 95% of the households were displaced by river erosion, 54% of them were displaced two to four times in the last five years, 30% of the households were displaced to embankments, and 22% were displaced to their relatives’ houses. Nearly 70% of the households reported river erosion as a main cause and 42% referred other disasters. Regarding livelihood options, 47% of the households desired to engage in fishing labour, 44% in day labour, and 33% in independent fishing. During river erosion, 93% of the household members had to engage in income-generating activities, and one-half of them had to change their livelihood options. Finding new livelihood options and resilience strategies to reduce displacement would be an important guideline for disaster managers, policy-makers, and development practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of information and knowledge exchange and sharing between managers and non-executive directors is important in assessing the dynamic processes of accountability in boardrooms. By analysing information/knowledge at multiple levels, invoking the literature on implicit/tacit and explicit information/knowledge, the authors show that information asymmetry is a necessary condition for effective boards. The authors introduce a conceptual model of manager-non-executive director information asymmetry as an outcome of the interpretation of information/knowledge-sharing processes amongst board members. The model provides a more nuanced agenda of the management-board information asymmetry problem to enable a better understanding of the role of different types of information in practice.

The analysis of information/knowledge exchange, sharing and creation and the resultant conceptual model are based on the following elements: manager-non-executive director information/knowledge, management-board information/knowledge and board dynamics and reciprocal processes converting implicit/tacit into explicit information/knowledge.

The paper provides new insights into the dynamics of information/knowledge exchange, sharing and creation between managers and non-executive directors (individual level)/between management and boards (group level). The authors characterise this as a two-way process, back-and-forth between managers/executive directors and non-executive directors. The importance of relative/experienced “ignorance” of non-executive directors is revealed, which the authors term the “information asymmetry paradox”.

The authors set out key opportunities for developing a research agenda from the model based on prior research of knowledge conversion processes and how these may be applied in a boardroom setting.

The model may assist directors in better understanding their roles and the division of labour between managers and non-executive directors from an information/knowledge perspective.

The authors apply Ikujiro Nonaka’s knowledge conversion framework to consider the transitioning from individual implicit personal to explicit shared information/knowledge, to understand the subtle processes at play in boardrooms influencing information/knowledge exchange, sharing and creation between managers and non-executive directors.

Three decades of academic and professional discourse on HR technologies (HRTs) have produced continued disagreement over construct definitions and research streams that are highly fragmented. These realities suggest that greater consistency in meanings is sorely needed if we are to integrate and upgrade knowledge in this area. This chapter draws on the findings of a systematic research review to properly define the content domains of human resource information systems (HRIS), virtual human resources (virtual HR), electronic human resource management (e-HRM), and business-to-employee (B2E) systems. An integrative synthesis was performed on 242 system-level writings that appeared in the literature from 1983 to 2017. The weight of the evidence strongly supports treating HRIS, virtual HR, e-HRM, and B2E systems as independent, complimentary constructs. While the first three comprise a firm’s HRT system, the fourth construct is more appropriately positioned in the business-collaborative system. The sample was further evaluated with an analytic framework to detect patterns of practice in research designs. This revealed that much more attention has been focused on system actions and outcomes than on attitudes and system characteristics. Different units of analysis were well represented aside from trans-organizational studies. Finally, a case is made for better contextualizing HRT research by recognizing differences in assimilation stage, functional penetration, and collective proficiency. These factors are rarely mentioned, let alone studied, raising additional concerns about measurement error. Detailed suggestions are offered on ways to incorporate them. Together, these materials should promote more sophisticated and generalizable assessments of technology, improving our ability to understand its impacts.

The purpose of this paper is to use an inter-disciplinary approach to examine the relevance of F.W. Taylor’s principles to modern shop-floor practices in the context of a manufacturing organization.

Standard time study guidelines laid out by the ILO were adopted and random observations made between two operators independently performing an identical operation in the shop-floor premises of a particular factory.

It was evident from the study that modern management has developed the science for each element of the operator’s manual work, as postulated and proposed by F.W. Taylor. It was also evident that completion of the operation on time was necessary for the operators but not as important as the total number of jobs performed during the duration of the shift. These empirical findings highlighted the high relevance of F.W. Taylor’s principles to modern shop-floor practices.

The authors adopted time study observation as the single method to collect real data from real practices but this could be considered as a biased approach. Since the time study observation is a slow, time consuming, and expensive process of obtaining data, the authors restricted the study to only two operators. Further, the study was carried out in a real setting under several assumptions that may limit its wider applications and practical implications. The study findings suggest that measuring the operator’s performance in terms of time consumption and resource utilization is necessary but not sufficient to evaluate and improve his/her productivity because operators evaluate their performance in terms of the total number of jobs completed during the duration of the shift. Therefore, it is suggested that the managers on the modern shop-floor measure the output at the aggregate level for the given input, while developing new work methods as well as devising performance management and reward systems.

The study has contributed to the body of knowledge by conducting a complete assessment of F.W. Taylor’s first principle from its origin to its application in modern shop-floor practices. Also, the authors empirically examined the relevance of Taylor’s principles to modern shop-floor practices in the context of a manufacturing organization. The study supports the descriptive work of Freeman (1996), who envisaged the relevance of Taylor’s ideas to modern management practices; also, it gives a few directions to test behavioral operations theory in terms of using real operational data to examine an established organization theory (Gino and Pisano, 2008).

Offsets are contracts that require the seller to provide extra benefits to the purchasing government's economy as a condition for the sale of goods and services. The federal government of the United States does not have an offset policy for procurement. Nor does it intervene in private markets where U.S. firms often face steep offset obligations. Although there have been calls for unilateral government intervention, the U.S. is currently engaged in multilateral discussions with other industrialized nations aimed at reducing or limiting offset bids. The reality in most of the relevant markets is that buyers command significant bargaining power and multilateral talks are likely to fail. This paper offers another approach for firms (in any country) facing offset requirements and presents a case study from the state of Maryland (USA) that demonstrates how cooperation between local firms and the state government can reduce the offset burden at a surprisingly small marginal cost. The case study provides micro-level data and follows several transactions from the initial negotiation stage through offset fulfillment. The analysis details the costs and benefits of this strategy, and the requirements for such a program to be successfully implemented.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of Texas female police officers toward their colleagues. Further, the study measures respondents’ perceptions regarding work‐related stress. An independent sample t‐test analysis was conducted while controlling for the percentage of female officers working at participating Texas law enforcement agencies. Overall, the findings suggest that the percentage of female officers employed in a particular law enforcement agency did not produce a statistically significant impact on respondents’ perceptions of their male/female counterparts or stress‐related issues.