Nordic welfare financiers made global portfolio investors : institutional change in pension fund governance in Sweden and Finland

Pension funds have lately emerged as an essential field of study in various disciplines within social sciences. Political economists, economic geographers and some social policy researchers have studied the role of pension funds very broadly for instance in context of labour market relations, economic development and financial systems. Yet comparative studies in social and public policy have for long studied pension funding mostly in respect to its role in pension systems and reforms, and to the effects of investment returns to the development of retirement income benefits. Whereas the comparative studies have mostly focused on the savings and ‘liability side’ (e.g. pension benefits) of pension funds, in this paper, we conduct a comparative analysis on the politics of ‘the asset side’. It is argued that the economic and social consequences of the usage of pension capital need to be understood as intrinsic parts of pension regimes that cannot be left outside classification of these regimes in social sciences. Our comparative analysis studies the historical regulative institutional development paths of pension fund investment governance in Finnish (TEL/TyEL) and Swedish (ATP/AP, PPM) first pillar, second tier pension systems. The time period of the analysis is from the establishment of these systems in late 1950s and early 1960s to the recent reforms of last few years. Both systems have developed so that the role of financier of national economy has decreased and the role of more global portfolio investor increased over time. We argue, however, that there have been very significant differences between the institutional development paths leading to the new investor roles. The Swedish model has included more paradigmatic qualitative changes in the whole pension regime whereas the changes in Finnish pension fund governance have been rather parametric and quantitative. The financial crisis of 2007–08 has also illustrated some essential differences between the current systems

Evidence synthesis on the occurrence, causes, consequences, prevention and management of bullying and harassment behaviours to inform decision making in the NHS

Background Workplace bullying is a persistent problem in the NHS with negative implications for individuals, teams, and organisations. Bullying is a complex phenomenon and there is a lack of evidence on the best approaches to manage the problem. Aims Research questions What is known about the occurrence, causes, consequences and management of bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace? Objectives Summarise the reported prevalence of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Summarise the empirical evidence on the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Describe any theoretical explanations of the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Synthesise evidence on the preventative and management interventions that address workplace bullying interventions and inappropriate behaviour. Methods To fulfil a realist synthesis approach the study was designed across four interrelated component parts: Part 1: A narrative review of the prevalence, causes and consequences of workplace bullying Part 2: A systematic literature search and realist review of workplace bullying interventions Part 3: Consultation with international bullying experts and practitioners Part 4: Identification of case studies and examples of good practic

What Shapes Information System Misuse Intention? The Role of Leadership Style and Perceived Organizational Justice

We introduce a model that examines the relationships between organizational justice, leadership style, organizational citizenry behavior, and misuse intention. We hypothesize that ethical and charismatic leadership will increase organizational citizenry behavior and subsequently reduce misuse intention, while perceived organizational injustice will increase misuse intentions. We suggest that the existence of sanctions will moderate the relationships between perceived leadership and misuse. The relationship between perceived organizational injustice and misuse intentions are moderated by organizational security awareness and the Security Education, Training and Awareness program

Corporate governance

Governance is largely about the decision-making process in a complex organization Shareholders (owners) delegate authority to professionals who have the managerial skills to increase shareholders’ wealth. As a consequence the contributors of a firm's capital base are usually different from the contributors of its management base. This separation of ownership from control has led to organizations establishing a system of corporate governance controls designed to discourage managers from pursuing objectives that fail to maximize shareholder wealth. These controls constitute the firm's corporate governance framework. Corporate governance controls are designed to monitor managers behavior or align the goals of management with the goals of shareholders. In this chapter, a corporate governance framework is developed that outlines the roles and responsibilities of participants involved in governing the organization and portraying information to the capital market

The Islamic Ethical Leadership and Employees’ Ethical Behavior: The Moderating Role of Ethical Sensitivity

Previous literatures have described the influence of ethical leadership on employees’ outcomes. However, many researchers have not yet revealed the mechanism of this effect. Previous research has found that cultural and social factors influence leader-ship styles; therefore, studying ethical leadership styles in different cultural and social environments is important in order to uncover the effectiveness of ethical leadership styles. The purpose of this study was to examine how the mechanism of Islamic ethical leadership influences the behavior of professional nurses who work at the Islamic Hos-pital. There were 212 professional nurses used as the respondents in this study. The data were collected using questionnaires and processed quantitatively using Struc-tural Equation Model (SEM) - WarpPLS 5.0. The results showed that all the hypoth-eses proposed were accepted. Islamic ethical leadership is proven to have a significant influence on ethical behavior of nurses. Besides, ethical sensitivity is proven to have a significant positive effect on ethical behavior. This study also proves that ethical sensitivity moderates the influence of Islamic ethical leadership on nurses' ethical be-havior. It can be implied that ethical sensitivity is an important factor for developing employees’ ethical behavior in the workplace

A Focused Evaluation of Sales Employees\u27 Ethics Training and Its Effect on the Diffusion of Ethics in a Financial Organization

Ethical scandals have continued to batter corporate America into the twenty-first century. Companies such as Enron and MCI WorldCom became household names overnight because of ethical issues that shuttered the organizations’ operations and stunned shareholders. Training has served as a primary mechanism for companies to impart ethical values in employees and leadership teams. However, despite the ongoing focus and resources dedicated to education and associate development in this area, historically there appears to be no diffusion of ethical standards within organizations. There is a lack of consensus in current research regarding the effectiveness of organizational ethics training and its ability to diffuse ethical standards to employees to influence their behaviors. This mixed-methods study utilized Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory as a framework to investigate how ethics training impacts the diffusion of ethical standards throughout a financial organization and its frontline sales force. It examined the theory’s five innovation characteristics of relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and complexity. The study also incorporated the work of Moore and Benbasat, utilizing their validated diffusion survey instrument as a primary avenue for data collection and examining three additional diffusion attributes that accompanied their research—image, result demonstrability, and voluntariness. This paper serves as a new starting point for diffusion studies because the current body of research is silent in how diffusion of innovations theory informs the effectiveness of ethics training. It provides recommendations for future research in the fields of diffusion and human resources and workforce development education. It also offers a unique perspective and opportunity to identify a root cause of America’s ethic scandal epidemic

Malaysian Domestic Firms’ Contribution Towards Community Based Csr

This study examines the level of community based CSR disclosure among Malaysian domestic firms. Kajian ini mengkaji tentang tahap pendedahan amalan-amalan berkaitan tanggungjwab sosial korporat di kalangan firma tempatan di Malaysia

The Influence of Ethical Leadership and Ethical Culture on Faculty Engagement

In this non-experimental correlational study, the researcher examined the combined influence of ethic leadership behavior and organizational ethical culture on employee engagement, where ethical behaviors acts as a mediating variable. The investigator extended the applicability of prior studies by examining a well-educated, professional working population, the faculty of colleges and universities in North and South Carolina. The study employed a survey methodology utilizing reliable and valid instruments developed by others in previous research. The findings demonstrate that ethical leadership behavior in managers acts to mediate the influence of organizational culture within the study population without regard to age, gender, or employment status (full or part-time). Although other factors, not part of the study, may influence employee engagement, the findings suggest that organizations can leverage the development of ethical leadership as a behavioral model (Yigit & Bozkurt, 2017). The study confirms that even among college and university faculty, managers who enact and uphold ethical values may have a greater likelihood to cultivate higher levels of job engagement and a greater employee connection and commitment to the organization

Personal Data Collection via the Internet: The Role of Privacy Sensitivity and Technology Trust

Policy makers and researchers from a wide range of perspectives have expressed concern about the interplay between privacy rights and information exchanges via the Internet. Of particular interest has been the challenge of protecting sensitive personal information. In this paper, we assert that user willingness to share sensitive data is an area of critical concern and requires additional investigation. In an effort to enrich the dialogue on the question of voluntary sharing of sensitive personal data via the Internet, we present a model showcasing the relationship between personal data sharing, privacy sensitivity, and technology trust and discuss how organizations can apply these insights

Competition, consumerism, and the "Other". A philosophical investigation into the ethics of economic competition

This paper presents a philosophical discussion of the ethical foundations of economic competition, based in large part on Emmanuel Levinas's theory of exteriority and of responsibility for the "Other". The claim is that competition, notwithstanding its positive effects in terms of efficiency and innovativeness, ontologically neglects the "other-ness" of individuals. The fundamental factor in the neglect is the "consumerist" orientation of competitive capitalism through which even small price differences can cause large shifts in demand, so that many firms are choicelessly dependant on competitors' behavior. This analysis based on Levinas significantly deepens Frank Knight's seventy year-old ethical critique of competition.Competition; Consumer economics; Ethics; Philosophy of economics