Rommel Salvador

Faith and Fair Trade: The Moderating Role of Contextual Religious Salience

Rommel O. Salvador et al. — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:42:14 PDT

Normative and historical arguments support the idea that religion potentially shapes decisions to support fair trade products. That said, the question of how religion influences organizational decision-makers to purchase fair trade products in a business-to-business context has remained largely unaddressed. This research examines the interactive effect of individual religious commitment and contextual religious salience on an individual’s willingness to pay a price premium for a fair trade product, when buying on behalf of an organization. Findings from two experimental studies (involving 75 and 87 working individuals, respectively) reveal that the effect of a decision-maker’s religious commitment on his or her willingness to pay a price premium, for the purchase of a fair trade product on behalf of an organization, is moderated by the contextual salience of religion. Specifically, when religion is highly salient in the organizational context, religious commitment is positively related to the decision-maker’s willingness to pay a premium for the fair trade product; when contextual religious salience is low, religious commitment and willingness to pay a premium are unrelated. Implications for theory and practice are presented.

Organizational apology and defense: Effects of guilt and managerial status

Rommel O. Salvador et al. — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:21:22 PST

Prior research has shown that in the aftermath of an organizational product or service failure, accommodative communication approaches, such as apologies, are not just expected by the general public, but are also more beneficial to the organization in many ways, compared to defensive communication approaches. However, much of this research has assumed that communication decisions of this nature are shaped by factors that are purely rational or strategic. In this paper, the role that guilt—a moral emotion—plays in influencing accommodative versus defensive communication responses to organizational failure is examined. The data from two experimental studies show that individuals experiencing guilt are more inclined to apologize to external stakeholders. Contrary to expectations, a second study finds that guilt seems to increase the inclinations to engage in defensive communication following an organizational failure. This defensive tendency emerges only among managers, however, as opposed to non-managers.

The first twenty years of the Strategic Management Journal

S. A. Phelan et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:57 PDT

The Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) has now entered its third decade of publication and consistently ranks among the most influential journals in management. While several authors have examined the impact of SMJ vis-à-vis other management publications, few studies have examined the internal changes in the publication over time, particularly with regard to the diversity and content of the journal. The current study finds that there has been a significant shift in the number of authors, publication lags, reference lists, and page lengths in SMJ over the past 20 years, while the diversity of authorship has stayed relatively constant. There has also been a marked rise in the proportion of empirical papers being published. The implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Relative Effectiveness of Worker Safety and Health Training Methods

M. J. Burke et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:54 PDT

Objectives. We sought to determine the relative effectiveness of different methods of worker safety and health training aimed at improving safety knowledge and performance and reducing negative outcomes (accidents, illnesses, and injuries). Methods. Ninety-five quasi-experimental studies (n=20991) were included in the analysis. Three types of intervention methods were distinguished on the basis of learners’ participation in the training process: least engaging (lecture, pamphlets, videos), moderately engaging (programmed instruction, feedback interventions), and most engaging (training in behavioral modeling, hands-on training). Results. As training methods became more engaging (i.e., requiring trainees’ active participation), workers demonstrated greater knowledge acquisition, and reductions were seen in accidents, illnesses, and injuries. All methods of training produced meaningful behavioral performance improvements. Conclusions. Training involving behavioral modeling, a substantial amount of practice, and dialogue is generally more effective than other methods of safety and health training. The present findings challenge the current emphasis on more passive computer-based and distance training methods within the public health workforce.

The Role of National Culture and Organizational Climate in Safety Training Effectiveness

M. J. Burke et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:52 PDT

Using data from 68 organizations embedded within 14 nations, we examined hypotheses concerning the moderating roles of national culture and organizational climate on the transfer of training to the work context. A dimension of national culture, uncertainty avoidance, moderated the transfer of safety training with regard to reducing accidents and injuries; and organizational safety climate moderated the transfer of safety training with respect to both engaging in safe work behaviour and reducing accidents and injuries. Along with discussing the implications of a positive safety climate, we discuss how the tendency within a culture to avoid uncertainty may paradoxically lead to greater uncertainty and negative consequences in relation to the transfer of safety training.

When and How do Differences Matter? An Exploration of Perceived Similarity in Teams

M. Zellmer-Bruhn et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:51 PDT

In this paper, we directly assess perceived similarity—the degree to which members view themselves as having few differences—because we want to understand when teams notice diversity on various member characteristics and how they interpret it. Our results indicate social category diversity was related to initial estimates of both perceived social category similarity (SCS) and perceived work style similarity (WSS). And, whereas perceived SCS did not change over time, perceived WSS decreased significantly over the period of our study. We suggest this change in perceived WSS can be explained by an information-processing/decision-making framework. We found informational diversity was positively related to conflict in teams, and in turn conflict was negatively related to subsequent estimates of perceived WSS. However, informational diversity was positively related to information sharing in teams, which in turn was positively related to subsequent estimates of perceived WSS. Finally, these updated estimates of perceived WSS affected subgroup formation and team process effectiveness. We discuss how our research explores the subjective experience of diversity by team members, provides a dynamic view of the relationship between diversity and team outcomes, and informs emerging theory about the activation of faultlines in teams.

Is Management Theory too "Self-ish?"

R. Folger et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:49 PDT

Within the realm of management and the other social sciences, many scholars have used self-interest explanations to account for individual judgment, decision making, and behavior with respect to a variety of issues in the domains of ethics and justice. In this article, the authors address the descriptive claim that all human behavior can ultimately be traced to underlying self-interest. Reviewing arguments from the philosophical literatures and evidence from management, social psychology, and behavioral economics, the authors argue that exclusively relying on self-interest explanations is a bad scientific strategy that discourages researchers from considering other determinants of how people behave.

How Low Does Ethical Leadership Flow? Test of a Trickle-Down Model.

D. M. Mayer et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:47 PDT

Business Ethics and the Brain

Rommel Salvador et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:45 PDT

Neuroethics, the study of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying ethical decision-making, is a growing field of study. In this review, we identify and discuss four themes emerging from neuroethics research. First, ethical decision-making appears to be distinct from other types of decision-making processes. Second, ethical decision-making entails more than just conscious reasoning. Third, emotion plays a critical role in ethical decision-making, at least under certain circumstances. Lastly, normative approaches to morality have distinct, underlying neural mechanisms. On the basis of these themes, we draw implications for research in business ethics and the practice of ethics training.

The Dread Factor: How Hazards and Safety Training Influence Learning and Performance

M. J. Burke et al. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:33:43 PDT

This study uses meta-analytic techniques to examine the effect of safety training and workplace hazards on the development of safety knowledge and safety performance. Analyses indicate that for safety knowledge and safety performance, highly-engaging training was more effective than less-engaging training when hazardous event/exposure severity was high. This effect was reduced when hazardous event/exposure severity was low. These findings indicate that it is especially important to consider using highly-engaging safety training when employees are likely to be exposed to hazardous events.