Pub Date : 2009-02-23DOI: 10.1108/14013380910948081
M. Edenius, A. Styhre
Purpose – The management and the control of knowledge‐intensive organizations have recently been subject to empirical studies. Much of the literature suggests that management control, defined and operationalized in a variety of ways and examined within different traditions, in essence affects co‐workers negatively. On the other hand, proponents of management control practices such as consultants stress the positive and productive aspects of such practices. Contrary to these skeptical and overtly rosy views, this paper seeks to contribute with a different perspective on the uses of total quality management (TQM) in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a study of the Swedish insurance company Agria employing a number of TQM methods and tools to monitor, control and evaluate the performance of the activities from a social embeddedness perspective.Findings – Seeking to encourage accounts within such an affirmative view, the paper calls for more research into the knowledge workers' p...
{"title":"The social embedding of management control in knowledge‐intensive firms","authors":"M. Edenius, A. Styhre","doi":"10.1108/14013380910948081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380910948081","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The management and the control of knowledge‐intensive organizations have recently been subject to empirical studies. Much of the literature suggests that management control, defined and operationalized in a variety of ways and examined within different traditions, in essence affects co‐workers negatively. On the other hand, proponents of management control practices such as consultants stress the positive and productive aspects of such practices. Contrary to these skeptical and overtly rosy views, this paper seeks to contribute with a different perspective on the uses of total quality management (TQM) in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a study of the Swedish insurance company Agria employing a number of TQM methods and tools to monitor, control and evaluate the performance of the activities from a social embeddedness perspective.Findings – Seeking to encourage accounts within such an affirmative view, the paper calls for more research into the knowledge workers' p...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132399415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-02-23DOI: 10.1108/14013380910948063
Philip Law, Jen-Wei Hung
Purpose – Entrepreneurship plays a key role in society and is important for economic growth. Despite prior studies of entrepreneurial behavior, no research has been conducted to examine the influence of monetary and personality factors on the entrepreneurial start up of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms in Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is to investigate into factors influencing Hong Kong CPAs in becoming entrepreneurial public practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected through a questionnaire survey and analyzed by binomial logistic regression. A total of 212 CPAs of Chinese origin are randomly selected in Hong Kong. Social capital theory derived from the sociology literature is employed for analysing the findings.Findings – Results indicate that “profit motivation” and “education level” variables have no significant influence on the entrepreneurial start up, and contradict findings in prior literature. Results further reveal that “social networking” and “internal locus of...
{"title":"Factors influencing Hong Kong CPAs' entrepreneurship in the accounting profession","authors":"Philip Law, Jen-Wei Hung","doi":"10.1108/14013380910948063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380910948063","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – Entrepreneurship plays a key role in society and is important for economic growth. Despite prior studies of entrepreneurial behavior, no research has been conducted to examine the influence of monetary and personality factors on the entrepreneurial start up of Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms in Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is to investigate into factors influencing Hong Kong CPAs in becoming entrepreneurial public practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected through a questionnaire survey and analyzed by binomial logistic regression. A total of 212 CPAs of Chinese origin are randomly selected in Hong Kong. Social capital theory derived from the sociology literature is employed for analysing the findings.Findings – Results indicate that “profit motivation” and “education level” variables have no significant influence on the entrepreneurial start up, and contradict findings in prior literature. Results further reveal that “social networking” and “internal locus of...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121755237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2009-02-23DOI: 10.1108/14013380910948072
R. Almqvist, J. Henningsson
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how capital market actors deal with information on personnel and work environment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a qualitative research approach involving interviews with 14 fund managers and two bankers in Stockholm. The empirical analysis is influenced by a combination of system and network theories where social networks are imposed on capital market actors, when they observe corporate information vis‐a‐vis personnel and work environment.Findings – Capital market actors are influenced by social forces when they reduce the complexity of information on corporate personnel and work environment. Four themes emerged in this study concerning emergent paradoxes which results from such a reduction. First, capital market actors seem to regard personnel in a variety of ways: sometimes as a resource, and sometimes as a risk or a non‐flexible cost problem. Second, they tend to reduce the complexity of information by depending on having the right manage...
{"title":"When capital market actors reduce the complexity of corporate personnel and work environment information","authors":"R. Almqvist, J. Henningsson","doi":"10.1108/14013380910948072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380910948072","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how capital market actors deal with information on personnel and work environment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a qualitative research approach involving interviews with 14 fund managers and two bankers in Stockholm. The empirical analysis is influenced by a combination of system and network theories where social networks are imposed on capital market actors, when they observe corporate information vis‐a‐vis personnel and work environment.Findings – Capital market actors are influenced by social forces when they reduce the complexity of information on corporate personnel and work environment. Four themes emerged in this study concerning emergent paradoxes which results from such a reduction. First, capital market actors seem to regard personnel in a variety of ways: sometimes as a resource, and sometimes as a risk or a non‐flexible cost problem. Second, they tend to reduce the complexity of information by depending on having the right manage...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"266 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116397365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-09-26DOI: 10.1108/14013380810919859
B. Kamath
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the extent of voluntary intellectual capital disclosers in India's emerging information, communication and technology sector and the relationship between the size of the firm and the extent of disclosures.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis of the 30 technology, entertainment, communication and other knowledge (TecK) companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange is carried out. A list of intellectual capital (IC)‐related terms is searched for its presence or absence within the annual reports of these forms for the financial year 2005‐2006. The list of terms is determined based on the extensive survey of literature on content analysis and IC.Findings – The results find significantly small extent of IC disclosures in Indian firms. Information technology industries disclosures are more than any other sectors disclosures, closely followed by the telecommunication industry. Entertainment industry shows the minimal disclosures. There was no significant ...
{"title":"Intellectual capital disclosure in India: content analysis of “TecK” firms","authors":"B. Kamath","doi":"10.1108/14013380810919859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810919859","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the extent of voluntary intellectual capital disclosers in India's emerging information, communication and technology sector and the relationship between the size of the firm and the extent of disclosures.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis of the 30 technology, entertainment, communication and other knowledge (TecK) companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange is carried out. A list of intellectual capital (IC)‐related terms is searched for its presence or absence within the annual reports of these forms for the financial year 2005‐2006. The list of terms is determined based on the extensive survey of literature on content analysis and IC.Findings – The results find significantly small extent of IC disclosures in Indian firms. Information technology industries disclosures are more than any other sectors disclosures, closely followed by the telecommunication industry. Entertainment industry shows the minimal disclosures. There was no significant ...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115411659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-09-26DOI: 10.1108/JHRCA.2009.31613AAA.001
R. Roslender
{"title":"The foundations of successfully accounting for people","authors":"R. Roslender","doi":"10.1108/JHRCA.2009.31613AAA.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/JHRCA.2009.31613AAA.001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121285594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-09-26DOI: 10.1108/14013380810919868
Abigail Marks, T. Huzzard
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the notion of attractive workplaces in the specific context of creative professional employment.Design/methodology/approach – Based on observations and interview data at knowledge‐based firms in the UK, the paper looks at the extent to which employees are “rewarded” with the offer of creative work and the degree to which this offer really involves greater benefits for employees in terms of professional prestige and the confirmation of their identities as professional workers in the creative industries.Findings – The paper finds that creative needs remain important components of the attractive workplace, but increasingly also of importance are the extrinsic rewards of an acceptable work‐life balance as the age profile of the technology worker changes and technology stagnates.Research limitations/implications – This research focused on one group of workers within one specific country. Whilst it was found that work in the software sector is becoming less ...
{"title":"Creativity and workplace attractiveness in professional employment","authors":"Abigail Marks, T. Huzzard","doi":"10.1108/14013380810919868","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810919868","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the notion of attractive workplaces in the specific context of creative professional employment.Design/methodology/approach – Based on observations and interview data at knowledge‐based firms in the UK, the paper looks at the extent to which employees are “rewarded” with the offer of creative work and the degree to which this offer really involves greater benefits for employees in terms of professional prestige and the confirmation of their identities as professional workers in the creative industries.Findings – The paper finds that creative needs remain important components of the attractive workplace, but increasingly also of importance are the extrinsic rewards of an acceptable work‐life balance as the age profile of the technology worker changes and technology stagnates.Research limitations/implications – This research focused on one group of workers within one specific country. Whilst it was found that work in the software sector is becoming less ...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117163704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-09-26DOI: 10.1108/14013380810919840
J. V. D. Zahn, Harjinder Singh, Inderpal Singh
Purpose – The primary objective of this paper is to examine the association between the seven human‐resource features (spanning three major themes: qualifications and credentials; business and initial public offering (IPO) launch experience; and diversity) of independent audit committee members and the level of underpricing.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 410 Singapore IPOs listing on the stock exchange of Singapore from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2006 was used.Findings – Empirical results overall suggest no overwhelming association between the human‐resource features of IPO audit committees and underpricing. Rather, the findings suggest only some specific human‐resource features (e.g. presence of an independent audit committee member with accounting qualifications and credentials) are of significance. Others (e.g. gender diversity of independent audit committee members) have little or no association. Also, results do not suggest a major category of human‐resource features (i.e. qualificati...
{"title":"Association between independent audit committee members' human‐resource features and underpricing: The case of Singapore IPOs from 1997‐2006","authors":"J. V. D. Zahn, Harjinder Singh, Inderpal Singh","doi":"10.1108/14013380810919840","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810919840","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The primary objective of this paper is to examine the association between the seven human‐resource features (spanning three major themes: qualifications and credentials; business and initial public offering (IPO) launch experience; and diversity) of independent audit committee members and the level of underpricing.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 410 Singapore IPOs listing on the stock exchange of Singapore from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2006 was used.Findings – Empirical results overall suggest no overwhelming association between the human‐resource features of IPO audit committees and underpricing. Rather, the findings suggest only some specific human‐resource features (e.g. presence of an independent audit committee member with accounting qualifications and credentials) are of significance. Others (e.g. gender diversity of independent audit committee members) have little or no association. Also, results do not suggest a major category of human‐resource features (i.e. qualificati...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"362 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115944132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-09-26DOI: 10.1108/14013380810919831
P. N. Bukh, I. Jensen
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how three similar utility companies have adopted intellectual capital statements as a management technology, incorporated it into existing practices, developed and adapted it.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on ethnomethodology using accounts where the data collection was mainly through semi‐structured interviews with practitioners. The analysis is based on the actor network theory where the idea of an intellectual capital statement is enacted and materialised.Findings – The paper finds that the local context and the local actors have a decisive influence on the network creation taking place around the intellectual capital statement as an object, where the objects create room for different actions. It is concluded that the intellectual capital statement in the companies functions as a conceptual framework where existing initiatives can be integrated into a whole. Further, it is concluded that an actor with a strong position is necessary in ord...
{"title":"Intellectual capital statements in the Danish utility sector: materialisation and enactment","authors":"P. N. Bukh, I. Jensen","doi":"10.1108/14013380810919831","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810919831","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how three similar utility companies have adopted intellectual capital statements as a management technology, incorporated it into existing practices, developed and adapted it.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on ethnomethodology using accounts where the data collection was mainly through semi‐structured interviews with practitioners. The analysis is based on the actor network theory where the idea of an intellectual capital statement is enacted and materialised.Findings – The paper finds that the local context and the local actors have a decisive influence on the network creation taking place around the intellectual capital statement as an object, where the objects create room for different actions. It is concluded that the intellectual capital statement in the companies functions as a conceptual framework where existing initiatives can be integrated into a whole. Further, it is concluded that an actor with a strong position is necessary in ord...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132979974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-06-27DOI: 10.1108/14013380810889538
Suresh Cuganesan, H. Khan
Purpose – Companies are increasing the amount of their voluntary disclosures to inform stakeholders about organisational performance. Despite criticism that these are simply “public relations” exercises, there has been little formal evaluation of stakeholder reporting, especially in Australia. In addition, the important aspect of stakeholder reciprocity, where not only stakeholder satisfaction but also their contribution to the organisation is evaluated and reported, has not been examined. This study aims to examine both of these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted using the non‐financial performance indicators of Australia's top five banks, as available in both annual reports and web sites, to examine the nature of stakeholder reporting and the extent to which stakeholder reciprocity is disclosed.Findings – The results of the study indicate that there is neither consistency in the reporting of key performance indicators, nor is there consistency in reporting across both stakehold...
{"title":"Assessing the reporting of stakeholder reciprocity in the Australian banking industry","authors":"Suresh Cuganesan, H. Khan","doi":"10.1108/14013380810889538","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810889538","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – Companies are increasing the amount of their voluntary disclosures to inform stakeholders about organisational performance. Despite criticism that these are simply “public relations” exercises, there has been little formal evaluation of stakeholder reporting, especially in Australia. In addition, the important aspect of stakeholder reciprocity, where not only stakeholder satisfaction but also their contribution to the organisation is evaluated and reported, has not been examined. This study aims to examine both of these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted using the non‐financial performance indicators of Australia's top five banks, as available in both annual reports and web sites, to examine the nature of stakeholder reporting and the extent to which stakeholder reciprocity is disclosed.Findings – The results of the study indicate that there is neither consistency in the reporting of key performance indicators, nor is there consistency in reporting across both stakehold...","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115586888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2008-06-27DOI: 10.1108/14013380810889547
Shraddha Verma, P. Dewe
Despite Government and academic interest in valuing human resources, there has been relatively little progress in reflecting the value of human resources in UK organisations. This research uses a survey questionnaire to identify perceptions and practices in the area of valuing human resources in three types of UK organizations; traditional companies, knowledge intensive companies and local authorities. The survey focuses on the importance of valuing human resources, current measurement practices, key barriers to the valuation of human resources and the progress expected in this field over five years in UK organisations. Although the majority of respondents identified that the measurement/valuation of human resources was important to their organization, only little or moderate progress in recognizing the worth of human resources in financial statements was expected. The main reasons for this were identified to be lack of understanding and support of the area by others in the organization, particularly senior management, lack of resources, uncertainty as to what information should be reported and lack of precision and reliability in current human resource measures. The research identified that there is more interest in the area from human resource professionals than accounting professionals and that valuation of human resources should be included in internal reports rather than reported externally. More research is now needed, both on conceptual models for valuing human resources within organizations and empirical research focusing on issues such as gaining commitment to valuing of human resources by senior management, the development of systems of valuing human resources, how systems to value employees, when developed, are implemented in organisations and the consequences, both intended and unintended of how the systems operate in practice.
{"title":"Valuing human resources: perceptions and practices in UK organisations","authors":"Shraddha Verma, P. Dewe","doi":"10.1108/14013380810889547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/14013380810889547","url":null,"abstract":"Despite Government and academic interest in valuing human resources, there has been relatively little progress in reflecting the value of human resources in UK organisations. This research uses a survey questionnaire to identify perceptions and practices in the area of valuing human resources in three types of UK organizations; traditional companies, knowledge intensive companies and local authorities. The survey focuses on the importance of valuing human resources, current measurement practices, key barriers to the valuation of human resources and the progress expected in this field over five years in UK organisations. Although the majority of respondents identified that the measurement/valuation of human resources was important to their organization, only little or moderate progress in recognizing the worth of human resources in financial statements was expected. The main reasons for this were identified to be lack of understanding and support of the area by others in the organization, particularly senior management, lack of resources, uncertainty as to what information should be reported and lack of precision and reliability in current human resource measures. The research identified that there is more interest in the area from human resource professionals than accounting professionals and that valuation of human resources should be included in internal reports rather than reported externally. More research is now needed, both on conceptual models for valuing human resources within organizations and empirical research focusing on issues such as gaining commitment to valuing of human resources by senior management, the development of systems of valuing human resources, how systems to value employees, when developed, are implemented in organisations and the consequences, both intended and unintended of how the systems operate in practice.","PeriodicalId":119134,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116878693","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}