MaryAnne Hyland

Examining gender on corporate boards: a regional study

The representation of women in organizations has become an increasingly important topic for academics and practitioners. Despite the growing presence of women in the workforce, representation of women in corporate governance is relatively low. The present study examined the gender composition of corporate boards as a function of organization size and industry. Data from government filings were collected for the top 100 public companies in a suburban region of the USA. Results indicated a positive relationship between organization size and women on boards. Partial support was found for hypotheses related to industry. Practical implications and areas for future study are discussed.

Who Do Firms Imitate? A Multilevel Approach to Examining Sources of Imitation in the Choice of Mergers and Acquisitions

This article takes a multilevel perspective to explore various sources of imitation. Three levels of imitation sources include firms’ own experience (firm level), actions of firms within the same product market (market level), and firms in different product markets but within the same industry (industry level). Hypothesis tests on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that occurred from 1981 to 2000 in the financial service industry show that three levels of imitation occur independently and simultaneously and have significant impact on the choice of M&As. M&As by firms entering the focal product market, however, are not significantly associated with the likelihood of an unrelated M&A.

Evidence for increasing the focus on strategic risk in HRM audits

Purpose – To communicate the development and results of strategic human resource management (HRM) research to the audit research community in order to stimulate audit research specific to HRM audits.Design/methodology/approach – Prior research that served as impetus for this paper is discussed. The findings of other studies are presented to make a case for the business impact of strategic human resource management practices.Findings – Studies on the competitive environment of firms, theoretical development in HRM, empirical work on the link between HRM practice and firm performance, and emerging models based on intellectual capital, suggest that there are compelling reasons for internal audit to devote substantial resources to the evaluation of strategic risk in HRM audits.Research limitations/implications – The literature is still developing. The literature presented here is not an exhaustive list and does not include all findings, but rather what we perceive to be the most important findings.Practical i...

Re‐examining mimetic isomorphism

Purpose – In this study the aim is to analyze multiple decisions in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) strategy to verify whether isomorphism appears in these decisions when a firm imitates others and to determine under what conditions the link between imitation and the degree of similarity in M&As is weakened.Design/methodology/approach – With a sample of 4,881 completed M&As in the financial service industry, the authors adopt the generalized multivariate regression model to test the hypothesized effects of the independent variables on the degree of similarity in M&As.Findings – Support is found for the mimetic isomorphism argument. Furthermore, firm experience and local market segmentation weaken the positive relationship between imitation and the degree of similarity in M&As.Originality/value – This study enhances the understanding of mimetic isomorphism by not only verifying the relationship between imitation and isomorphism, but also integrating the role of organizational active agency (firm experience...

Developing a strategic internal audit‐human resource management relationship: a model and survey

Presents a model for analyzing the potential for value creation of the internal audit (IA) function, the human resource management (HRM) function, and the IA‐HRM pairing. A survey of 161 chief audit executives indicated that virtually all IA functions are risk managing in their audit approaches, while a great majority of HRM clients are also moderately or strongly strategic in their outlook. Findings included that a productive working relationship was strongest when a risk m anaging IA function is paired with a strategic HRM function. Also, the IA planning process was found to be more strategic in the presence of the same pairing. Analysis of written examples of strategic findings related to HRM supplied by the respondents suggested that there may be a significant gap between auditors’ knowledge of strategic HRM practices as developed in the literature and their self‐reported examples. Future research should use both HRM and IA responses to reduce bias. Additonally, there is a need for case studies of the IA‐HRM partnership.

Is High Involvement at Work and Home So Bad? Contrasting Scarcity and Expansionist Perspectives

Using the scarcity and enhancement paradigms, this study examined whether high involvement in both work and home roles would be related to negative or positive outcomes for individuals. Data were collected from 356 working adults through an online survey. Work involvement and home involvement and their interaction were hypothesized to be related to time-, strain-, and behavior-based work-to-home and home-to-work conflict and positive affective and instrumental work-to-home and home-to-work spillover. Both work and home involvement had statistically significant positive relationships with positive spillovers. The interaction terms between work and home involvement were unrelated to the dependent variables. Overall, the results were supportive of a more positive enhancement view of involvement in multiple domains.

A stakeholder approach to student learning assessment

Stakeholder theory has focused on the stakeholders of the organisation. That approach to stakeholder analysis may not address important processes in the organisation. This paper develops and discusses a two-level model of stakeholder analysis. This model determines the stakeholders and their salience for both the organisation and a process within the organisation. These two are then compared to ensure that stakeholder interests are addressed within important organisational processes. Student learning assessment is an important process in higher education; as such it is examined here from the perspective of the two-level model.

Looking at spillover from both sides: an examination of work and home flexibility and permeability

ABSTRACT This study examined how flexibility and permeability in the boundaries surrounding the work and home domains affect the spillover from work to home and home to work. We looked at both flexibility and permeability in each of the two domains using directional and dichotomous measures of both negative and positive spillovers. Multivariate analyses and hierarchical regression showed that for 362 survey respondents, boundary flexibility reduced time- and strain-based spillover from work to home and home to work. Flexibility also was positively related to positive spillover from home to work. Permeability, on the other hand, was positively related to time-based spillover from work to home and from home to work. The results also showed support for the notion of asymmetric permeability, such that the relationships between work boundary permeability and the W→H spillovers were stronger than those between home boundary permeability and the H→W spillovers.