Unternehmerisches Denken und Handeln bedingt auch das Wissen um die Verantwortung für die sozialen und ökologischen Belange einer Volkswirtschaft. Die Übernahme von Ehrenämtern durch engagierte Personen ist dabei eine Möglichkeit der Umsetzung dieser Verantwortung. Dass ein solches Engagement zu einem festen Bestandteil des universitären Lebens gehört,
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This paper uses cognitive dissonance theory as a foundation for developing hypotheses about how past experience as a layoff agent influences respondents' perceptions of organizational downsizing. Consistent with many theoretical frameworks in organization studies, cognitive dissonance is conceptualized as an unmeasured construct that mediates between layoff agency and perceptions of organizational downsizing. Perceptions of organizational downsizing are operationalized along four different dimensions. The hypotheses about the effects of layoff agency on perceptions of organizational downsizing are tested with survey data, using controls for the respondent's past experience as a layoff victim and the respondent's ideological beliefs about business. The results show partial support for the hypotheses, indicating that layoff agents see downsizing as more inevitable and less of a breach of the implied contract between employer and employee than respondents without layoff agency experience. The results also reveal persistent effects of respondents' layoff victim experience and their ideological beliefs on their perceptions of downsizing.
This article presents a conceptual model of entrepreneurial opportunity production from a constructivist perspective. The model assumes that opportunity production proceeds through several stages, including conceptualization of an opportunity idea by an entrepreneur, objectification of that idea, and enactment of the opportunity into a new venture. However, not all opportunity ideas survive this full process. Between the conceptualization stage and the objectification stage, some ideas are abandoned due to inadequate objectification. Also, between the objectification stage and the enactment stage, some objectified opportunities are abandoned due to insufficient resource support. We identify variables that influence the likelihood that opportunity ideas will be objectified and other variables that influence the likelihood that objectified opportunities will be enacted, and these variables are incorporated into empirically testable propositions. In the discussion section, we describe several boundary conditions for our theory, contrast the theory with objectivist (discovery) theory, and derive implications for future research.
Purpose - To discuss the factors which make companies resist US accounting standards proposed by the FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board).
Design/methodology/approach - Explains the FASB's standard setting process and reviews previous relevant research to develop 12 research propositions on the variables relating to the standards, the corporations and their industries which stimulate companies to resist FASB standards. Suggests how these might be tested.
Findings - Believes corporations are more likely to resist standards which increase uncertainty, have high information processing demands, require deviation from accepted practice and/or threaten the company's ability to acquire resources. Resistance is more likely from companies dependent on external stakeholders who oppose a standard, those with power over stakeholders which the FASB depends on, large companies and those with a history of opposition. Companies which are in concentrated industries, likely to suffer a negative impact on performance criteria valued by stakeholders, less regulated and/or rapidly growing are also more likely to resist standards seen as detrimental.
Research limitations/implications - Calls for empirical research to test this theoretical framework and offers guidelines for conducting it.
Practical implications - Identifies situations in which regulators might meet resistance and suggests some ways to reduce it.
Originality/value - Puts forward a wide range of variables which can affect corporate resistance to FASB standards.
Downsizing is one of the most frequently used business strategies for reducing costs, returning firms to profit or for restructuring businesses following takeovers, mergers and acquisitions. Downsizing measures are also set to become much more prevalent in the public sector as governments seek to restrict levels of public spending. This book is one of the first to provide a thorough study of downsizing from a global perspective. It examines the phenomenon in its entirety, exploring how it is initiated and what the process of downsizing looks like. It also looks at the effects of downsizing at a number of different levels, from the individual (e.g., motivational effects, effects on health and stress levels) to the organizational (e.g., financial outcomes, reputational and productivity outcomes). Written by an international team of experts, the book provides a comprehensive overview of downsizing that examines both the strategic and human implications of this process.
The financial crisis has fueled a heated debate about the responsibility of financialeconomists. Critics such as Paul Krugman, Robert Shiller, and David Colander arguethat financial economists have developed useless or even harmful theories. This isan important debate, but it suffers from the fact that the role of financial theoriesremains unclear. In this chapter we enter the field of philosophy of science to clarifythis issue. In particular, we emphasize the research interests and the various philosophicalassumptions of three alternative views on financial theories. We analyzethe widespread positivistic conception of financial theories and contrast it with apostmodern perspective. We conclude that both positions have limitations. As analternative, we outline a constructivist conception of financial theories. In the finalsection, we use these insights from philosophy of science to clarify the responsibilityof financial economists. Financial economists have to critically reflect the problemsin practice that need to be addressed and to keep their theories closely tied to theseoriginal problems. We show how, in the case of the efficient market hypothesis, themisunderstanding of the role of financial theories led financial economists to neglectthis responsibility.
