Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine how audit partner rotation impacts the negotiation strategies client management intends to use to resolve a financial reporting issue.

An experiment that manipulates between participants on whether the audit partner rotates from the prior fiscal year (rotation versus non-rotation) is conducted to test the theoretical implications of rapport. Participants with a high level of business and managerial experience indicate their intended use of 25 reliable negotiation tactics that client management may use to resolve a financial reporting issue with the external auditor. These tactics underlie three distributive (contending, compromising, conceding) and two integrative (problem solving, expanding the agenda) negotiation strategies.

The results of the study indicate that client management is less contentious and more concessionary (i.e. accommodating) to a newly rotated audit partner, as compared to an audit partner that has established rapport with client management. Further, client management is more willing to intend using integrative and compromising (i.e. co-operative) negotiation strategies when negotiating with an audit partner with established rapport in contrast to a newly rotated audit partner.

These findings underscore the merits and costs of audit partner rotation in auditor-client management (ACM) negotiations and document that partner rotation affects not only auditor behaviour, but also the behaviour of client management.

This paper is the first that considers how developing and maintaining rapport impacts ACM negotiations. The study provides empirical evidence to further inform debates over auditor rotation.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are seldom the focus of corporate communication research. However, they are the heart of the European economy and, as such, of utmost importance for communication science and practice. This chapter contributes to the body of knowledge by investigating how corporate communication is practised and by understanding how communication prevails in small and medium firms in Germany. The chapter starts with a clarification of current definitions of such organisations, which are very heterogeneous. Special features of SMEs – like the strong position of founder and their proximity to the company – have to be taken into account when analysing communication structures and activities. Empirical insights based on a survey of 572 respondents show that most SMEs understand corporate communication as dialogue and their governance structure for communication is oriented towards the top management. The most important communication instruments used by SMEs are websites, media relations, personal communication and events/trade fairs. Findings are presented and linked to an overarching perspective of strategic communication.

Despite increasingly persuasive women-focused marketing of gambling products, there has only been limited investigation around women sports betting. Men remain the focus of much of the conversation about sports betting as they have generally been found to be the most active sports bettors and the most at risk of experiencing harms associated with their behaviour. This chapter aims to fill this gap by exploring the characteristics of young women sports bettors in the United Kingdom and the relationship between sports betting and the experience of gambling harms. To do this, we created two models of analysis. Our analysis is based on data from the first wave (2019) of the Emerging Adults Gambling Survey (EAGS) dataset (n = 3,549). The EAGS is a non-probability longitudinal survey that includes individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 who were residents in Britain at the time of data collection. Firstly, we examined the associations between women sports bettors and several factors identified as important predictors of sports betting. Secondly, we sought to understand the relationship between women's sports betting and the harms associated with this activity. From these models, we found that women's sports betting was most reliably predicted according to fandom and peer influence. We also found that women sports bettors were more at risk of experiencing harms associated with difficulties with family and friends than women gamblers using other products.

Besides applying knowledge in own products and services, firms increasingly exploit their knowledge assets externally, e.g. by means of licensing out technology. The aim of this paper is to help firms achieve strategic fit in the keep‐or‐sell issue, which results from potential external knowledge exploitation.

The keep‐or‐sell decision refers to the issue whether to commercialize knowledge assets externally in addition to exploiting them inside the organization. Because of the high opportunities and risks of externally leveraging knowledge, the keep‐or‐sell decision constitutes a major area of conflict between strategies at different levels, particularly knowledge vs product strategies, corporate vs business unit strategies and R&D vs marketing strategies. After detailing the keep‐or‐sell decision, the paper conceptually explores how firms may respond to potential conflicts in the keep‐or‐sell decision by achieving strategic fit.

The paper identifies, in particular, three major characteristics of a firm's strategic approach, i.e. coordination, centralization, and collaboration, which may help firms achieve strategic fit in the keep‐or‐sell issue.

The keep‐or‐sell decision is a unique arena for studying hierarchical strategies and strategic fit. As a result, this paper has major implications for research into strategic fit, hierarchical strategies, knowledge management and open innovation. Achieving fit across a firm's different strategies in the keep‐or‐sell issue is essential for firm performance in a knowledge‐based economy.

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

To demonstrate how applied projects integrated within master’s level graduate programs in the organizational sciences provide students with experiences that facilitate the translation of classroom concepts into practices that positively impact individual, organizational, and societal level outcomes.

We discuss how the scientist-practitioner model guides our thinking regarding the development of cocurriculum options for master’s level students. To give context, we provide thumbnail sketches of two applied programs — a master’s of science degree program in industrial-organizational psychology and a master’s of business administration (MBA) program — that serve as exemplars for linking practice with science.

We demonstrated, with specific examples, how practicum courses can bridge curricular and cocurricular offerings in stand-alone master’s programs, thus offering a glimpse into the range of activities completed by master’s students with little to over 20 years of work experience: job analysis, interview protocol development, program evaluation, talent acquisition, performance management, coaching, as well as training strategy ideation and delivery. We conclude the chapter with final reflections on the use of practicum classes in master’s level training.

The practicum courses detailed serve as unique exemplars of how to apply theory and research to organizational problems, thus bridging science and practice in the organizational sciences.