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This paper aims to quantify the relative importance of reasons used to explain consumers’ selection and rejection of ethical products, accounting for differences in ethical orientations across consumers.

Reviewing previous literature and drawing on in-depth interviews, a taxonomy of reasons for and against ethical purchasing is developed. An online survey incorporating best–worst scaling (BWS) determines which reasons feature more in shaping ethical consumerism. Cluster analysis and multinomial regression are used to identify and profile segments.

Positively orientated consumers (42 per cent of respondents) purchase ethical products more so because of reasons relating to impact, health, personal relevance, and quality. Negatively orientated consumers (34 per cent of respondents) reject ethical alternatives based on reasons relating to indifference, expense, confusion and scepticism. A third segment is ambivalent in their behaviour and reasoning; they perceive ethical purchasing to be effective and relevant, but are confused and sceptical under what conditions this can occur.

Preferences were elicited using an online survey rather than using real market data. Though the task instructions and methods used attempted to minimise social-desirability bias, the experiment might still be subject to its effects.

Competitive positioning strategies can be better designed knowing which barriers to ethical purchasing are more relevant. The paper challenges the benefits in altruistic-based positioning and outlines shortcomings in communication about ethical products, including those relating to product labelling.

Through their purchase behaviours across a number of categories, ethical consumers aim to minimise the harm and exploitation of humans, animals and the natural environment. This research provides insights into the potential reasons why the uptake of ethical products is not being achieved and how it can be addressed to make improvements in making this movement more mainstream.

This research examines an extensive list of reasons for and against ethical purchasing used by a general population of consumers. By forcing respondents to make trade-offs, this is the first study quantifying the relative importance of reasons utilised by consumers. It also highlights the value in using cluster analysis on best–worst scores to identify underlying segments.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

The encyclical Centesimus Annus was published by Pope John Paul II in commemoration of Rerum Novarum, written 100 years ago by Leo XIII. That encyclical initiated a century of Catholic social teaching consisting, by now, of six encyclicals. Together, they are intended to represent a unified system of thought, the Church′s social vision. Its basic themes all centre on the God‐ordained dignity of man. The Pope calls for a modified, “corrected” capitalism, a “Society of free work, of enterprise and of participation”. The economic activities of man are to be reoriented towards the common good, with the ultimate goal of eradicating poverty, exploitation, and alienation. Rejects the economic proposals of the Pope as lacking of substance and internal consistency. Its assumption that man can enjoy all the advantages of free markets while also correcting for their less‐desirable effects at will reveals that, despite some modifications, Catholic social thought is still inspired by what has been termed the “unconstrained” vision.

This study examined the relationship of female and male psychologists perceptions of organizational values supportive of work‐personal life balance and their work experiences, work and non‐work satisfactions, and psychological well‐being. Data were collected from 458 Australian psychologists using anonymous questionnaires. Psychologists reporting organizational values more supportive of work‐personal life balance also reported greater job and career satisfaction, less work stress, less intention to quit, greater family satisfaction, fewer psychosomatic symptoms, and more positive emotional well‐being. Interestingly, perceptions of organizational values supportive of work‐personal life balance were unrelated to hours and extra‐hours worked and job involvement.

The last ten years has demonstrated increased attention to women in management research (Davidson & Burke, 1994; Fagenson, 1993; Sekaran & Leong, 1992). We have a good understanding of the barriers women face as they pursue careers in medium and large organizations (Morrison, 1992; Auster, 1993). An increasing number of organizations have realized that the full utilization and development of the talents of all employees has become a business imperative (Schwartz, 1992). Supporting the career aspirations of women is not just the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do if organizations are to remain productive and competitive in an increasingly demanding market place (Totta & Burke, 1995).

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

Provides a review of the position of women in management in a number of countries. Describes how in almost all countries, management positions are dominated by men. Concludes that, although many similarities were found in women’s work experience across cultures, cultural factors accounted for the unique experiences of women in a given country.

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

This article explores how strategy formulation affects firm performance to determine whether rational/analytical strategy formulation is more effective than emergent/reflexive strategy formulation. Additionally, the article assesses if such superiority holds for different cultural contexts.

Meta-analysis was performed using the Raju, Burke, Norman, and Landis (RBNL) procedure applied to a dataset of 43 empirical studies reporting 54 effect sizes on strategy–performance relationships.

Implementing a formal strategy formulation process positively relates to firm performance. Rational/analytical formulation approaches are more effective than emergent/reflexive approaches in enhancing firm performance, especially for cultures with low future orientation, high uncertainty avoidance, and high power distance.

The reduced number of published empirical studies limited the scope and generalizability of the results across countries, industries, or firms. This limitation might be especially true for Latin American firms given the absence of relevant studies in this region. Another potential limitation is related to the distinction between strategy formulation and strategy implementation. Given the empirical nature of the studies meta-analyzed, strategic tools are used as a proxy to determine the formulation approach.

Firms that operate in short-term oriented, uncertainty-avoiding, and elitist cultures should favor implementing rational/analytical strategy formulation techniques rather than emergent/reflexive approaches. Although prescriptive recommendations are limited by the lack of studies in Latin America, firms in this region would seem to be better off using rational/analytical strategy formulation approaches.

These findings provide a partial explanation for the varying results yielded by strategy formulation and suggest cultural contexts in which rational/analytical strategy formulation should be more effective than emergent/reflexive approaches.

Este artículo explora cómo la formulación de la estrategia afecta el desempeño de la empresa y busca determinar si la formulación de la estrategia racional / analítica es más efectiva que la formulación de la estrategia emergente / reflexiva. Además, el artículo evalúa si dicha superioridad es válida para diferentes contextos culturales.

El metaanálisis se realizó aplicando el procedimiento de Raju, Burke, Norman y Landis (RBNL) a un conjunto de datos de 43 estudios empíricos que reportaron un total de 54 tamaños de efecto sobre las relaciones estrategia-rendimiento.

La implementación de un proceso formal de formulación de estrategias se relaciona positivamente con el desempeño de la empresa. Los enfoques de formulación racional / analítica son más efectivos que los enfoques emergentes / reflexivos para mejorar el rendimiento de la empresa, especialmente para culturas con baja orientación al largo plazo, alta evitación de incertidumbre y alta distancia al poder.

El reducido número de estudios empíricos publicados limitó el alcance y la generalización de los resultados entre países, industrias o empresas. Esta limitación podría afectar especialmente a las empresas latinoamericanas dada la ausencia de estudios relevantes en esta región. Otra limitación potencial está relacionada con la distinción entre la formulación y la implementación de la estrategia. Dada la naturaleza empírica de los estudios meta analizados, las herramientas estratégicas se utilizan como proxy para determinar el enfoque de formulación.

las empresas que operan en culturas orientadas al corto plazo, que evitan la incertidumbre y que muestran alta distancia al poder deberían favorecer la implementación de técnicas de formulación de estrategias racionales / analíticas en lugar de enfoques emergentes / reflexivos. Aunque las recomendaciones prescriptivas están limitadas por la falta de estudios en América Latina, las empresas en esta región parecen estar mejor utilizando enfoques de formulación de estrategias racionales / analíticas.

estos resultados proporcionan una explicación parcial de los resultados variados producidos por la formulación de la estrategia y sugieren contextos culturales en los que la formulación de la estrategia racional / analítica debería ser más efectiva que los enfoques emergentes / reflexivos.

Examines the relationship of work experiences hypothesized to be related to women’s career satisfaction as well as their psychological well being. Looks at data collected by questionnaires from managerial and professional women in Bulgaria, Canada, Norway, the Philippines and Singapore. Showed that all measures were generally found to have acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability in each country. Describes similar patterns of relationship among the measures, despite country differences in history, culture and economic circumstances. Highlights the critical whole played by particular work experiences in the career success of the sample.