Ethical Awareness, Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study aims to examine the ethical decision-making (EDM) model proposed by Schwartz (J Bus Ethics, doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2886-8,2016), where we consider the factors of non-rationality and aspects that affect ethical judgments of auditors to make the decision to blow the whistle. In this paper, we argue that the intention of whistleblowing depends on ethical awareness (EAW) and ethical judgment (EJW) as well as there is a mediation–moderation due to emotion (EMT) and perceived moral intensity (PMI) of auditors. Data were collected using an online surveywith 162 external auditors who worked on audit firms in Indonesia as well as 173 internal auditors working in the manufacturing and financial services. The result of multigroup analysis shows that emotion (EMT) can mediate the relationship between EAW and EJW. The nature of this relationship is more complex and then tested by adding moderating variables using consistent partial least squares approach. We found that EMT and PMI can improve the relationship between ethical judgments and whistleblowing intentions. These findings indicate that internal auditors are more likely to blow the whistle than external auditors; and reporting wrongdoing internally and anonymously are the preferred way of professional accountants to blow the whistle in Indonesia

Multidisciplinary decision-making in mitral valve disease:the mitral valve heart team

BackgroundAlthough decision-making using the heart-team approach is apparently intuitive and has aclassI recommendation in most recent guidelines, supportive data is still lacking. The current study aims to demonstrate the individualised clinical pathway for mitral valve disease patients and to evaluate the outcome of all patients referred to the dedicated mitral valve heart team.MethodsAll patients who were evaluated for mitral valve pathology with or without concomitant cardiac disease between 1January 2016 and 31December 2016 were prospectively followed and included. Patients were evaluated, and atreatment strategy was determined by the dedicated mitral valve heart team.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-eight patients were included; 67patients were treated surgically (isolated and concomitant surgery), 20 by transcatheter interventions and 71conservatively. Surgically treated patients had ahigher 30-day mortality rate (4.4%), which decreased when specified to adedicated surgeon (1.7%) and in primary, elective cases (0%). This was also observed for major adverse events within 30days. Residual mitral regurgitation >grade2 was more frequent in the catheter-based intervention group (23.5%) compared to the surgical group (4.8%).ConclusionIn conclusion, the implementation of amultidisciplinary heart team for mitral valve disease is avaluable approach for the selection of patients for different treatment modalities. Our research group will focus on afuture comparative study using historical cohorts to prove the potential superiority of the dedicated multidisciplinary heart-team approach

Identifying effective management factors across human errors – A case in elevator installation

Human errors are recognized as the main factor in causing construction accidents. Previous studies mainly focused on justifying theories associated with human errors and hardly quantifying the causal relations between external stimuli and human errors. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop comprehensive management measurements for addressing human errors in construction projects. Deductive reasoning was used to describe the methodological process. Firstly, we constructed a theoretical model of human errors based on Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) and knowledge-combined structure learning algorithm. Then, Bootstrap method was adopted to verify the reliability of network topology, while the similarity-flooding algorithm was used to analyze similarity of factors across various causal models for their commonalities. Subsequently, Bayesian parameter estimation was to analyze the sensitivity of the nodes. The results show that inadequate quality control, design failure and inattention are the most fundamental causes of human errors in promoting safety management. This research has proposed an analytical approach that consolidated the influential mechanics to reflect the overall influence of a root cause in the human error. Ultimately, the research lays an analytical foundation for safety management research in the future

The Passive Shopping Stage: Keeping in Mind Brand Encounters

In marketing practice, brand managers have to split their budgets between brand advertising efforts and sales promotions. This is a tough decision and is based on several factors including the type of product and the preferences of the target consumer. In this study, the consumer purchase decision making process is conceptualized as a continuum from a passive shopping stage to an active one. Advertising messages work during the passive stage while promotion messages work during the active one. Utilizing panel data obtained from respondents in five European countries, multiple product categories were examined to identify whether pre-purchase brand attitudes determine consumer purchase decision reliance on either passive or active stage brand messages. The author investigated whether patterns hold across countries and product categories. The study also examined to what extent reliance on passive stage messages in a product category is affected by either the aggregate satisfaction or loyalty with the brands available on the market in that category