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This chapter addresses the criticisms that escalation of commitment research has focused only on individual (as opposed to team or group) decision-making. It has been suggested that research findings of individual-based decision on managers’ escalation behaviors may not be applicable in today’s business environment which is increasingly dominated by team or group-based decision. Specifically, this chapter examines the effects of information availability (public vs. private information) and type of responsibility (sole and joint responsibility) on managers’ project evaluation decisions. A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses developed for this study. The results indicate that, consistent with prior research, project managers exhibited a greater tendency to continue a failing project under private information than public information conditions. In addition, in the private information condition, project managers with joint responsibility for an investment project expressed a greater tendency to continue a failing project than those with sole responsibility. Implications of our results for the design of management control systems are discussed.

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of critical, journalistic documentaries on viewers. More precisely, it investigates the effects of responsibility attribution and surprise on stakeholder attitude, trust and identification.

In a quasi-experimental pre-post setting, 127 participants viewed a documentary about Austrian beverage and marketing company Red Bull. The film inquired into the deaths of six extreme athletes sponsored by the company. As a critical, investigative piece, the documentary was designed to give viewers the impression that Red Bull was, at least partially, responsible for the athletes’ deaths.

Results show that responsibility attribution, the feeling of being surprised and being in a state of negative affect, had a significant impact on viewers’ attitude and trust toward, and identification with Red Bull.

The study adds insights on surprise as a factor in viewers’ assessment of responsibility. The study is original in terms of methodology by using real-time rating to ascertain which sequences trigger changes in responsibility attribution among viewers. Furthermore, implications of the study’s findings with regard to inoculation theory are discussed.

The implementation of the policy of devolution in the government school system of Victoria, Australia, has significantly enhanced the opportunities for teachers to become involved in the decision making of schools. This article reports on a study designed to investigate the factors associated with involvement. Analysis of the data found teacher involvement in the decision making of schools to be associated with: gender; seniority and organizational responsibility; age and teaching experience; affiliation with the teachers association; the influence of the principal; the individual's sense of personal, political and professional efficacy; the individual's confidence and trust in the organization and its administration; the conflicting demands, anxiety and pressure of time; and the perceived effects of participation on curriculum and teaching practice.

The emerging role of the formal marketing organisation in financial services companies in the UK is examined here. Using new survey data, the study demonstrates the existence of several different phototypical forms of marketing organisation in the financial services field and an attempt is made to link the form of marketing organisation to the strategic direction of financial services organisations.

Contemporary global mobility and dual careers are two key features of working life today. Little is known, however, about where they intersect, where one partner travels for their career, while the other partner is left behind, caring for the family and attempting to manage their own career. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the partner’s career is impacted by the traveller’s absence, and the strategies employed to enable their continued career development.

The paper employs a qualitative methodology, drawing on semi-structured interviews with the partners of international yachtsmen.

The findings highlight the prioritisation of the traveller’s career, for reasons of finance and their passion for their career. The implications of this could be detrimental to the partner’s career. Personalised, flexible working arrangements are essential in order for the partner to achieve a sustainable career of their own.

The gendered nature of the sample provides an opportunity for further research examining the implications of the female being the traveller and the male the stay at home partner.

The paper examines a range of alternative strategies for maintaining or developing the career when also faced with additional family responsibilities.

This paper gives consideration to the career of the stay at home partner. A new dual-career strategy is identified – the entrepreneurial secondary career strategy, which has the potential to deliver the flexibility required to manage both work and family demands, and allow partners to enact their authentic career.

Building on neo-institutionalism models of the transfer of human resource management (HRM) practices within multinational companies, this paper aims to analyze the transfer of skill formation concepts using the cases of two automotive OEMs in Slovakia. The purpose of the paper is twofold. First, it aims to explain the differences between the two multinationals. Second, it builds on the empirical analysis to reconsider the neo-institutionalist theoretical framework.

The paper is based on two qualitative case studies of automotive multinationals in Slovakia. The home country locations of both companies represent different approaches to skill formation: systematic vocational education for blue-collar workers is regarded as crucial at the German manufacturer, while the Korean company relies mainly on on-the-job-training and puts much less emphasis on skilled blue-collar work.

The paper shows that the differences between the companies are related to different understandings of technology/automation. It argues that the increasing automation and the decentralization of responsibilities for the product-launch processes supported the transfer of German skill formation concepts to the plant in Slovakia, while the Korean manufacturer’s specific engineering-led automation concept and centralization of product launch responsibilities in its Korean headquarters reduced the need to invest in skill formation for blue collars abroad. The paper concludes that theories of the transfer of HRM practices within multinationals must include technological factors and must also develop more specific concepts of the centralization of multinationals.

The paper is to the knowledge the first to include technology as a core variable into the neo-institutionalist theory in the field of international business and HRM. While the relationship between technology and organization has gained huge prominence in the recent discussions about digitalization, it has been so far neglected by scholars of international business.

Explains the importance of the socialist market economy to the prosperity of China. Hand‐in‐glove with this important development is the role of internal audit in facilitating and sustaining the changes that are necessary. Audit has the dual function of serving the entity and the wider needs of the state. This involves a more sophisticated internal audit approach. Describes the more complex techniques utilized as a consequence.

From 1995 to 2011, tribal gaming has grown from $5.5B to $27.2B in revenues (NIGC website, 2012). When so much money is changing hands, a lack of adequate policies heightens the possibility of financial mismanagement. In fact, gaming violations have grown during this time period. This paper explores the relationship between financial management policies and regulatory violations among American Indian Tribal gaming activities. Through empirical testing, we conclude that deductive models of proactive and reactive policies do not accurately predict the incidence of gaming violations and these policies are ineffective. The results raise normative questions about regulatory policy parity. These findings and related implications for future financial management regulations, policies and practices are tremendous, given the amount of money involved.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a purchasing-logistics integration (PLI) conceptualization along two dimensions: mutual responsibility and integrative efforts. This conceptualization is then tested as to whether it provides any insights for supplier performance.

Information-Processing Theory is used to posit hypotheses linking the dimensions of PLI with various measures of supplier performance. Hypotheses are then tested with a dyadic data set of purchasing and logistics managers, using multiple regression methods.

Purchasing managers found mutual responsibility to positively influence supplier delivery speed, whereas logistics managers found it to positively influence supplier price performance. Generally speaking, purchasing managers perceived a stronger linkage between formal integrative efforts (liaison roles and joint reward systems) and supplier performance, whereas logistics managers perceived this linkage to be stronger for informal integrative efforts such as information exchange and collaboration.

Study results are cross-sectional in nature and consist of three major industry groupings. The dyadic data were analyzed separately to avoid significant data loss.

Supply chain managers will find the areas where purchasing and logistics managers overlap in their perceptions (as well as where they differ) useful. In addition, an understanding of how PLI influences supplier performance should help improve organizational effectiveness.

PLI is a highly important, yet understudied, internal connection. This study provides a useful framework in helping academics and practitioners better understand this crucial internal connection, and how it relates to the performance extracted from suppliers.