Carolyn Stringer

Motivation, pay satisfaction, and job satisfaction of front‐line employees

Purpose - This paper aims to explore the complex relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, pay satisfaction and job satisfaction at the retailer that uses a pay-for-performance plan for front-line employees. Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws on a single organization case study across seven stores, and uses a survey, archival documents, open-ended questions and researcher interaction with employees and managers. Findings - The results provide some support for the complementary nature of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation was positively associated with pay and job satisfactions, whereas extrinsic motivation was negatively associated with job satisfaction, and not associated with pay satisfaction. The qualitative insights indicate that pay fairness is important, and those who perceived pay was not fair generally made comparisons with others or felt that pay did not reflect their effort. It is also found that the majority of employees perceived that goals were clear. Research limitations/implications - The dominance of extrinsic motivation without including behavioural, social, and psychological factors in agency theory research is questioned. The research finds no support for “crowding out”, but rather finds some evidence of “crowding in” where intrinsic motivation is enhanced, to the detriment of extrinsic motivation. Practical implications - The findings highlight that managers should enhance both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and pay employees well to increase job satisfaction. Originality/value - Few studies examine incentives for front-line employees, and there is evidence that minimum wage employees can have high intrinsic motivation. Perceptions of pay fairness can vary across motivation levels, age, and gender.

Empirical performance management research: observations from AOS and MAR

Purpose – This paper seeks to respond to Otleys calls for future research to take an integrated and longitudinal approach to examining the operation of performance management in real organizations. The paper reviews 120 field studies published in Accounting, Organizations and Society and Management Accounting Research over the past 15 years.Design/methodology/approach – The Otleys performance management framework is used to classify the field studies in terms of five central issues that relate to objectives, strategies, target setting, reward systems, and information flows.Findings – The key findings are that only nine field studies examine the integrated performance management framework in any depth, and the research to date is fragmentary with regard to, for example, the performance management issues studied and theories used.Research limitations/implications – Implications from this research include the need to examine the operation of the integrated performance management framework together with in‐...

United Nations Decade on Biodiversity: A study of the reporting practices of the Australian mining industry

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the biodiversity reporting practices and trends of the top 50 Australian mining companies before and after the United Nations (UN) declared the period 2011-2020 as the “Decade on Biodiversity”. Design/methodology/approach - Using content analysis and interviews, this study compares the extent and type of biodiversity disclosures made by the Australian Stock Exchange’s top 50 metals and mining companies both before and after the UN’s “Decade on Biodiversity” declaration in 2010. Findings - A significant increase in the amount of biodiversity reporting is observed between the 2010 fiscal year preceding the UN’s declaration and the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years following the declaration. The findings reveal, however, that the extent of biodiversity reporting is quite variable, with some companies showing substantial increases in their biodiversity reporting and others showing modest or no increases. In particular, the larger companies in the sample showed a statistically significant increase in their disclosures on biodiversity in 2013 compared with 2010, while the increase in biodiversity disclosures by smaller companies was not significant. While interviewees spoke about their companies being more open and transparent, the biodiversity information that is being reported would not enable external parties to assess the company’s biodiversity performance. Research limitations/implications - To minimise an organisation’s use of biodiversity reporting as an impression management tool, it is suggested that biodiversity reporting should be more impact based and organisations should provide a report of their activities and their direct and tangible impacts on short-term and long-term biodiversity in and around their operating sites. A possible limitation of the present study pertains to its focus on companies’ voluntary disclosures made in their annual reports and sustainability reports, as opposed to other possible formal or even informal disclosure mediums. Social implications - Australia is one of 17 mega-diverse wildlife countries in the world. Finding ways to support the country’s biodiversity framework and strategy are crucial to this continued status. Due to the mining industry’s significant impact on Australia’s biodiversity, a strong need exists for biodiversity reporting by this industry. Furthermore, this reporting should be provided on a site-by-site basis. At present, the reporting aggregation typically conducted by mining companies produces obscure information that is neither useful for stakeholders who are impacted by the mining companies’ activities nor for policymakers who are vested with responsibility for protecting and sustaining the world’s biodiversity. Originality/value - This study examines the biodiversity reporting and discourse practices of mining companies in Australia and develops a 50-item biodiversity reporting index to measure the biodiversity reporting practices.

Service integration and coordination in a complex world

That our world is complex is no surprise. It takes many forms, of which the global reach of business is a part, likewise the rate of technological change and the everyday human response to social, financial, and economic changes. However, there is also an overarching systemic complexity at work, which manifests as a recognition that every business activity is interconnected with events at other times and places, in ways that are often invisible to the eye. In short, complex, dynamic systems have emerged, where both beneficial and catastrophic consequences are possible. The financial meltdown of 2008 is a case in point. Conventional analytical research methods at the level of the firm are not suited to capture this networked complexity, except in the short term. Perhaps, due to methodological constraints, it is likely to go unnoticed. Many marketing scholars say that a paradigmatic shift is currently needed, but we have the sense that it is already in progress, across and within disciplines and practices. In our view, the greatest prompt for an extensive rethink of the marketing discipline for 20 years is Service-Dominant (S-D) logic (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). S-D logic sees service as a process of doing something for another party. Service is in effect exchanged for service. As Vargo and Lusch (2008) put it, ‘The locus of value creation then moves from the “producer” to a collaborative process of co-creation between parties’. This thinking has found its way to other business disciplines, in association with an ever-broader community of researchers and practitioners, known as Service Science. As a consequence, in these changing and challenging times, we are pleased to present for this special issue articles on service integration and coordination in and for a complex world. The genesis of these articles was a gathering of scholars at Otago Forum 3, held at the University of Otago in New Zealand in December 2011. Many were marketing scholars invited from around the world, but there were other disciplines represented too, from supply-chain management, accounting, industrial marketing, and information science. Following a tradition established at our two prior Otago Forums, each presenter had one hour to introduce his or her research, and to generate dialogue among the group as a basis for new learning. Papers were revised later and the best selected for this special issue. In addition, we invited Professor Bob Lusch, one of the world’s leading academic contributors to the introduction and development of S-D logic, and Dr Jim Spohrer, a leading industry proponent of Service Science and Director of IBM University programs, and both participants in the Forum, to provide a commentary to set the scene for this Issue. In the commentary, Lusch and Spohrer present a macro view of complexity and systems thinking, and suggest that new mind-sets and more innovative approaches to ‘wicked’ problems might be developed. In particular,

Setting Performance Targets

Targets are an important part of our work life, whether we are setting them or meeting them. Target setting forms part of the budgeting process and the performance management of business units and individuals. Unfortunately the behavioral impacts of target setting on performance are not well understood, and this can lead to serious consequences such as game playing. Target setting is an under-researched area. Our aim in writing this book is to help fill the gap in target setting for performance. The pivotal issue in target setting is that it is an art as well as a science. Managers must strike a balance between understanding and working with the psychologies of the people undertaking the organizational initiatives and the science of estimating probabilities, preparing budget forecasts, conducting sensitivity analysis, and so forth. We do not tie down the reader with the narrow view of target setting but take a more holistic and richer perspective. A feature of this book is that we draw on ideas and research across disciplines, which is rarely done in this fi eld. Target setting is an underresearched area, as most of the research is on measurement and incentive compensation. This book fills the gap by drawing insights on target setting from a wide range of sources and across disciplines. Our book introduces the reader to some of the important methods, such as forecasting, sensitivity analysis, and probability analysis. We use practical examples to show how these techniques can be applied in target setting. Our focus is on highlighting how interrelated the various parts of organizational activities are and how they impact on each other. Therefore, target setting must include an understanding of the organizational context (e.g., people, competitive environment, structure, strategy), as well as the impact of incentive compensation and information flows. From this broad background, this book examines key issues such as which targets to choose, how many targets, and the level of difficulty. This book is ideally suited for managers and executives. It showcases the critical choices involved in the target-setting process and offers advice on how best to manage and execute it. Budgets are the most well-known organizational target- setting process, so we use lessons learned from budgeting to provide insights for developing other performance targets for financial and nonfinancial measures.

The Anatomy of a Complex Performance-Dependent Incentive System

This paper reports the findings of an archival and field study that explores the details of the design and functioning of a complex performance evaluation and incentive system, one that bases incentive payouts on both organizational and individual performance ratings. The archival data include the annual performance ratings of over 700 high- and mid-level managers and professionals over a two-year period. We find a small correlation between the organizational and individual performance ratings, which suggests no performance evaluation halo effect. There is a tendency toward leniency in both rating elements, but the leniency is greater in the organizational portion of the plan because the individual rating is constrained by a prescribed SBU-level maximum. Because the key financial performance measure is EVA, there is no reluctance to setting performance targets below zero. There is some evidence of biases related to employee roles and ranks. And the field study portion of our study revealed great within-company variation in practice and some of the reasons for it.

The valuation and pricing of information assets

Purpose The valuation and pricing of information assets often presents managers with substantial challenges. Information assets are usually highly unique, lack objective price benchmarks, have a high potential for piracy, can be simultaneously accessed and enjoyed by multiple users and generally feature significant information asymmetry between sellers and buyers. This paper aims to discuss five methods that can be used to value/price information assets. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that draws and builds upon the multidisciplinary pricing literature. Findings A tree diagram, one that matches particular combinations of information asset features with each of the five methods, is presented to assist practitioners with their choice of valuation/pricing method. Originality/value The pricing of information assets is a challenging and even daunting task. The linkages specified by the paper’s model, and in particular its matching of information asset characteristics with specific valuation/pricing methods, offers a decision tool that does not currently exist. This tool is capable of supporting practitioner decision-making and highlights avenues for future scholarly research.