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Long term care facilities are finding it increasingly difficult to deliver quality, personalized care to their clients. This is related to: the integration of frail, elderly residents with cognitive impairment and/or behavioural disorders; ethical dilemmas; settings that are not conducive to providing a stimulating and supportive atmosphere which would enhance care delivery; admission of residents with increasingly complex care needs without adequate funding and/or support services, and staff training needs. This paper defines how one organisation intends to facilitate the changes required to improve the delivery of quality, personalised care.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether preparing an integrated report and/or whether cross-listing is associated with more intellectual capital (IC) disclosure.

The paper compares the content of IC disclosures of matched samples of companies.

The findings show that companies preparing an integrated report disclose more IC information, and that companies exposed to international capital market pressures through cross-listing do not disclose more IC information.

The findings imply that integrated reporting (IR) is likely to increase IC disclosures and also that future IC disclosure research may have to take into account whether companies prepare an integrated report.

The results will be of interest to the proponents of IC and of IR, including the developers of the IR framework, regulators and companies considering IR.

This is one of the first studies to assess the influence of preparing an integrated report on the level of IC disclosure.

This paper surveys corporate officers responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting and assurance to determine the attributes that influence their choice between an accounting and a non-accounting GHG assurance provider. Differences in the relative importance of these attributes between those selecting accounting and non-accounting assurers are also explored.

A survey questionnaire was completed by 25 corporate officers responsible for reporting and voluntarily assurance of GHG emissions in Australia. The questionnaire asked the respondents to indicate the relative importance of 41 company and assurer attributes in influencing their assurance provider choice.

Results indicate that attributes related to the assurance provider, such as team and team leader assurance knowledge, reputation, objectivity and independence, are more influential than attributes related to the nature of the company or the nature of the GHG emissions. Attributes such as geographical dispersion of operations were found to be differently important to this decision between companies purchasing assurance from accounting and non-accounting firms.

The study’s main limitation is the small number of participants. Future research may extend this study by exploring the conditions under which companies voluntarily assure GHG emissions as well the motivations of responsible officers in their assurer choice.

This paper provides valuable insights to GHG assurers to assist their understanding of the attributes that are important to potential GHG assurance clients.

The study makes unique contributions to the assurer choice literature by not only addressing this issue in the context of the dichotomous GHG assurance market but also by addressing it from the perspective of the assurance purchaser.

This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.

Examines the context of the voluntary sector and its impact on organisational processes. Provides a selective overview of traditional literature on change management and assesses its relevance for the voluntary sector. Investigates alternative models that could facilitate understanding of change processes in the voluntary sector. Discusses the results from an empirical study into the change management experiences of a voluntary sector umbrella body. Concludes with key HRM lessons for the wider voluntary sector at this time of significant change, as well as highlighting the impact of contextual factors on the application of generic models of change.

Introduction: Traditional recruitment system relied heavily on the applicants’ curriculum vitae (CV). This system, besides becoming redundant, has proved to be a futile exercise leading to the hiring of candidates that eventually turn out to be ‘misfits’. CVs were the only source of candidates’ data available for the recruiters a few years back. Face-to-face interviews was considered to be the ultimate solution for hiring suitable candidates. However, evidence suggests that interview scores and job performances do not complement each other. Advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced several techniques in the recruitment process.

Purpose: This chapter underscores the drawbacks of the traditional recruitment process. Evidence suggests that the traditional recruitment process is prone to subjectivity and is time-consuming. Surprisingly, despite the disadvantages, the integration of AI into the recruitment process is still slow. This chapter highlights the need to harness AI and the advantage technology could bring to the recruitment process. Some of the techniques that are garnering attention and widely used by organisations, such as chatbots, gamification, virtual employment interviews, and resume screening are described to enable the readers to understand with less effort. Chatbots and gamification techniques are described through process flow charts. We also describe the various types of interviews that could be conducted through virtual platforms and the modality by which the resume screening technique operates. Today, we are at a juncture wherein it is pertinent to acknowledge the superiority of technology-driven processes over traditional ones. This chapter will help the readers to understand the modus operandi to implement chatbots, gamification, virtual interviews and online resume screening techniques besides their advantages.

Scope: Although chatbots, resume screening, virtual interviews, and gamification are used in other areas, too, such as training and development, marketing, etc., in this chapter, we restrict solely to employee recruitment processes.

Methodology: Scoping review is used to examine the existing literature from various databases such as Google Scholar, IEEE, Proquest, Emerald, Elsevier, and JSTOR databases are used for extracting relevant articles.

Findings: Automation and analytics in recruitment and selection remove bias which is otherwise increasingly found in manual hiring processes. Also, previous studies have observed that candidates engage in impression management tactics in traditional face-to-face interviews. However, through automated recruitment processes, the influence of these tactics can be eliminated. AI-based virtual interviews reduce human bias. It also helps recruiters to hire talents across the globe. Gamification improves the candidate’s perception of the work and work environments. Through gamified techniques, the recruiters can understand whether a candidate possesses the required job skills. Chatbots are an interactive technique that can respond to interviewees’ queries. Resume screening techniques can save the recruiter’s time by screening and selecting the most appropriate candidates from a large pool. Hence, the chosen candidates alone can be referred to the next stage of the recruitment cycle. AI improves the efficiency of the recruitment process. It reduces mundane tasks. It saves time for the human resources (HR) team.

The distribution literature provides support for examining product returns from a customer-based perspective. Based on this need, the purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying causes of product returns based on a survey of 308 Wal-Mart and Target customers who engaged in product returns.

Structural equation modelling was used to verify and test the relationships examined.

It was found that dissatisfaction with a product results in an emotional dissonance that is positively related to product returns. Two primary reasons for return were examined, the expectation of the customer not being met and the customer finding a better product or price. Both reasons for return were found to influence the frequency of returns. It is also reported that gender, but not store brand moderated these relationships. Males had higher levels of product dissatisfaction and subsequent emotional dissonance than females. Males however did not have higher rates of return than females.

The research provides new knowledge in the management of retail returns by identifying their underlying causes as well as specific reasons for returns. This knowledge can assist managers in identifying the behavioural influences on product returns and in developing methods to minimize those returns.

The paper aims to explore the extent to which the legal experience of minority shareholder actions in Hong Kong supports the sociological model of the Chinese family firm as developed by Wong Siu‐lun and reports some preliminary findings for the period 1980‐1995.

This paper is based upon the analysis of 275 minority shareholder petitions in the High Court of Hong Kong between the years 1980 and 1995 inclusive. It also draws upon material from a questionnaire sent to law firms involved in those petitions and interviews with members of the Hong Kong judiciary with experience of hearing minority shareholder cases, members of the legal profession and accounting and company secretarial professions directly or indirectly involved in the administration of companies in Hong Kong and regulators.

The findings indicate that the problematic early, emergent stage of the model as described by Wong Siu‐lun is quite accurate. Whilst there is considerable support for some aspects of the model of the Chinese family firm, the experience indicates a number of complex dynamics at play, some of which the model does not take into account. However, the findings, at least by implication, do point to the cohesive strength of the Chinese family firm with occasional fault lines resulting in some “disputes” of earthquake proportions which may rumble on in some cases for years.

The findings demonstrate the usefulness of lifecycle modeling of the family and other type of corporate firm. It also demonstrates some of the complex subtleties at play. The findings also have implications for the law matters thesis of La Porta et al.

This is one of the first studies to actually examine the legal experience of minority shareholder protection in a particular jurisdiction (Hong Kong) by examining the petitions and writs actually filed and relating them to a sociological model of the Chinese Family firm.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how consumers in three countries (Mexico, South Korea, and Japan) perceive a US global brand versus domestic brands and their marketing efforts. There has been an increasing number of global brands and corresponding competition among global retailers. At the same time, markets in the world are becoming complex, and consumers in many markets demand localized marketing and branding strategies.

The hypotheses are developed based on the brand analysis framework that consists of brand‐specific associations (emotional value, perceived quality), general brand impressions (brand awareness, brand image), and brand commitment (brand loyalty, purchase intention).

The results revealed significant main effects of country and brand type (global v. domestic) on brand‐specific associations, general brand impressions, and brand commitment. Interactive effects also existed on brand‐specific associations, general brand impressions, and brand commitment (only brand loyalty).

While almost all of the hypotheses are supported, future research should test other global brands to generalized findings of the study. Sample can be extended to consumers in many other countries to provide more comprehensive insights into consumer perceptions and brand behaviors towards global brands.

The findings demonstrate that clear‐cut and unique brand analysis patterns exist among consumers in three different countries for both a US global brand and domestic brands. Based on this, potential strategies for both US global brands and domestic brands are suggested for each country.

This study discovered the effects of country (i.e. Mexico v. South Korea v. Japan) and brand type (i.e. US global v. domestic) on consumer responses to three brand analysis components: brand‐specific associations, general brand impressions, and brand commitment. The results provide significant insights into what global and domestic companies must emphasize to be successful in capturing and sustaining consumers' desire to buy and use their brand.