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During the interwar period, the Netherlands experienced a phase of rapid industrialization and mechanization and saw the introduction of many new labor-saving techniques on the shop floor. This process, which went under the name “rationalization of production,” caused great concern in the labor movement and sparked an intensive debate over the existence and extent of technological (or permanent) unemployment. Although the problem of technological unemployment was denied by the mainstream economists of the day, the problem was addressed by left-wing, mathematically trained economists such as Theo van der Waerden and Jan Tinbergen. They sought for rigorous “scientific” arguments that would convince policymakers, colleagues, and the public of socialist employment policies.

This chapter shows that van der Waerden and Tinbergen used ever-increasing formal methods to face the issue of rationalization, which became politically relevant and controversial in the specific context of the interwar period. Their new scientific tools gave them esteem and influence. In their role as advisers to the government, they gained influence and were able to recommend policies that were in accordance with their political beliefs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer perceptions of personal risk and benefits of digital piracy behavior as determinants of one's justification for such behavior and the consequent future piracy intention. Temporal effects of rationalization in shaping future piracy intent are also addressed.

A conceptual model was developed using counterfeiting and piracy literature. Data were gathered via mail and online survey of adults in five European Union countries. The model was tested on pooled sample using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Rationalization mediates the relationship between perceived benefits and piracy intention, but not between perceived risk and intention. Both perceived risk and benefits affect piracy intent, with risk reducing it and benefits increasing it. Rationalization of past behavior increases future digital piracy intent.

Risk measure was limited to technical problems, thus future studies should examine a wider scope of risk dimensions. The cross‐sectional design of the study also creates some limitations. A longitudinal methodology could provide a better insight into sequencing of rationalization.

Marketing communications should increase public awareness of risks and reduce perceived piracy benefits to reduce future piracy intent. Public persuasion activities should counter the arguments consumers use to rationalize their piracy behavior.

This research fills in a void in knowledge on how expected consequences drive rationalization techniques, particularly with respect to future piracy intent. A realistic data set drawn from adult population in five countries is used, enhancing external validity.

Although managers have struggled with SKU proliferation for decades, research has provided inconsistent guidance, and the cross-functional and cross-firm aspects of the problem were not considered. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that favor successful and sustainable SKU rationalization.

A single case study was used to investigate the implementation of an SKU rationalization project by a national restaurant chain in collaboration with its food distributor. Qualitative data analysis techniques were used to understand managers’ perceptions about the SKU rationalization problem and the financial results that were achieved.

The findings include seven propositions that begin to formalize theory for SKU rationalization. Cross-functional involvement was both a challenge and a critical success factor, and the supplier was an important resource for managing product variety and complexity.

Seven propositions are provided that increase the likelihood of successfully dealing with SKU proliferation.

SKU proliferation increases supply chain complexity and leads to higher costs. The research reports on an SKU rationalization project that saved a company and its supplier $6.7m.

A previously unexplored theoretical perspective on SKU rationalization was employed that emphasizes cross-functional alignment, buyer–supplier relationships and the impact on financial performance of a firm.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of vendor rationalization strategy for streamlining the supplies and manufacturing cycle time reduction in an Indian engineer-to-order (ETO) company. ETO firms are known for a large number of vendors, co-ordination hassles, rework problems and its impact on cycle time and operational excellence.

The research demonstrates the case-based application of Kraljic’s matrix for supply and leverages items, on-the-job observations, field visits, discussions and analysis of supplies reports.

The study guides on the rationalization of supplies and the necessary strategic alignments that can significantly reduce supply risk, costs, manufacturing and delivery cycle time along with co-ordination hassles. The study depicts the challenges of ETO environment with respect to supplies, and demonstrates the effectiveness of vendor rationalization application for the case company and weaknesses of commonly practiced vendor management approaches.

To be competitive, companies should rationalize supply items and vendors based on the nature of items and their subsequent usage by applying Kraljic’s matrix-based classification. The immediate implication of vendor rationalization is misunderstood as reducing supply base, but it does much more and includes review of supplies, nature of items and strategic alignments, leading to win-win situation for company and suppliers.

For the rationalization of supplies, while procuring and dealing with vendors, executives should envisage engineering nature of components, considering cross-functional requirements and integration of components in context to ETO products/projects environments. There is a dearth of studies focusing on vendor rationalization aspects in ETO setups in fast-developing country context.

The literature states that rationalization strategies contribute to a spread of corruption in organizations. They are supposed to serve not only as post hoc justifications but also as ex ante determinants of corrupt behavior. This empirical study aims at challenging this theoretical assumption.

The authors gained empirical data in a business simulation game where participants had the opportunity to act corruptly. The sample included both university and high school students.

The results show that post hoc rationalizations primarily highlight the “positive” intention behind corrupt action. As relationships with important person‐based determinants of corruption are lacking, it is questionable whether rationalization strategies possess potential as ex ante determinants of corrupt behavior.

The design of the study only assesses rationalization strategies post hoc. Therefore it does not allow for examining causal effects, only the investigation of relationships. Future research should aim at addressing this issue, including both ex ante and post hoc assessment of rationalization strategies.

The paper is a first attempt to examine empirically the function of rationalization strategies in the context of corruption in organizations.

One of the dominant features of the age of globalization is the rampant expansion of organization. In particular, formal, standardized, rationalized, and empowered forms of organization expand in many domains and locales. We discuss these features of organization, showing that hyper-rationalization and actorhood are main themes of organization across presumably distinct social sectors and national societies. We explain the ubiquity of such organizational forms in institutional terms, seeing the global culture of universalism, rationality, and empowered actorhood as supporting the diffusion of managerial roles and perspectives.

This study aims to examine the role of face consciousness, materialism and risk of embarrassment in determining consumer purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury brand. In addition, the authors explore boundary conditions of these relationships.

Study 1, a survey research (N = 321), examines the mediating role of risk of embarrassment between face consciousness on the purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits. Study 2 (N = 345), an experimental study, examines the moderating role of brand prominence of counterfeit (i.e. whether it contains prominent brand signals). Study 3 (N = 315) explores how the above-mentioned relationships are moderated by consumers’ moral rationalization (i.e. whether consumers seek rationalization when behaving unethically).

First, this research shows that risk of embarrassment mediates the negative relationship between face consciousness and Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits, whereas this relationship was not found between materialism and counterfeit purchase intentions. Second, this negative mediating effect holds only when the counterfeit brand is highly prominent. Third, the mediating effect depends on consumers’ moral rationalization, with a positive impact on the purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits, regardless of brand prominence.

This study represents a preliminary inquiry into the dynamics between face consciousness and materialism in influencing Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury products. Unlike their Western counterparts, whose materialistic views of possessions predict their counterfeit luxury consumption (Davidson et al., 2019), Chinese consumers are more likely to be driven by the social implications of counterfeit luxury to communicate a prestigious social image to others on account of genuine luxuries’ high social recognition.

While Chinese consumers are one of the most potent global luxury buyers, they are immersed in the world’s biggest counterfeit luxury market. By digging into the core value of Chinese consumers (i.e. face consciousness), this research provides a number of managerial implications for luxury goods companies to engage in international efforts to educate consumers against counterfeit luxury.

This study makes at least three contributions to the counterfeit consumption literature. First, this study represents a preliminary inquiry into the dynamics between face consciousness and materialism in influencing Chinese consumers’ purchase intention toward counterfeit luxury products. Second, this research identified the complex mechanism of face consciousness as an independent variable on consumers’ purchase intention toward luxury counterfeits. Finally, the authors examined the boundary conditions of brand prominence and consumers’ moral rationalization. The findings may help luxury brand managers identify strategies to discourage counterfeit consumption.

This study aims to examine the effects of fraud triangle (pressure, opportunity and rationalization) on individual fraudulent behavior in Indonesian public procurement. Empirical research in this area is relatively sparse.

Data were collected using laboratory experiments.

The results revealed that fraudulent behavior is higher when an individual has high pressure and high opportunity. These factors play an important role in determining individual rationalization. Most of participants used “displacing responsibility” to rationalize their actions. This study also demonstrated that negative affect mediates the relationship between fraudulent behavior and rationalization.

First, fraudulent behavior research cannot be separated from social desirability bias. Second, the experiments only involved individual decision-making, not in groups. Finally, this study did not examine the effectiveness of rationalization in reducing negative affect.

Over the years, the government has only focused on the identification of pressure and reduction of opportunities, but ignored individual psychological reasons. Considering that procurement fraud is always increasing, the government must more focus on individual reasons to design an effective prevention and detection system.

There are various conflicts of interest in public procurement budgeting. These conflicts can distort resource allocation and causes budget leakage. As a result, the government is incapacitated to achieve social and economic goals of the community.

There is limited research about fraud in public procurement budgeting, especially in developing countries. In addition, the fraud triangle research, which focuses on rationalization is still limited.

This study aims to explore methods that external auditors can use to assess the rationalization of fraud in fraud risk assessment in auditing.

An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 150 Big 4 auditors.

The results reveal a total of 18 methods that auditors can use to assess the rationalization of fraud. However, some methods were recommended more than others by the auditors in this study. These methods include incorporating the assessment of rationalization into the assessment of motives for fraud and integrity, understanding the client’s business and regulatory environment, inquiring management and the board of directors about past fraud cases and observing management responses and reactions during auditors’ inquiry about fraud-related matters.

The guidance provided by this study could help enhance auditors’ skills in assessing fraud risks, which, in turn, may increase the likelihood of detecting fraud. The guide could also be helpful for audit firms in their fraud training programs.

This study is the first to explore methods for assessing the rationalization of fraud by drawing on the experience and insights of Big 4 auditors.