Job Satisfaction: Are Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives Beneficial And Do Different Governance Structures Matter?

The non-financial benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives remain an understudied controversy in the literature.  We draw on elements of stakeholder theory to investigate the effect of multiple CSR initiatives on job satisfaction for a widespread set of medium-sized Canadian companies.  We explore this relationship further by focusing on the moderating effects of governance control structures.  Data on these variables is captured through the lens of CFO/controller perceptions because of their intimate governance gatekeeping over firms’ control structure/systems.  In this respect, we assume that CFOs are among the instrumental drivers in advancing an organization’s unfolding social consciousness.  Research findings in this study reveal the criticality of examining this linkage within the context of the performance-based versus conformance-based dimensions of an organization’s corporate governance control structure – two governance dimensions championed by the International Federation of Accountants (2009).  Results for low/high levels of performance-based control structures manifest different interaction configurations of statistically significant CSR variables that heighten job satisfaction.  However, significant interaction effects under low/high levels featuring compliance-based control structures are not forthcoming, despite the presence of significant main effects in the CSR/job satisfaction relationship.  These findings offer firms a more comprehensive practical understanding of benefits associated with investments in particular CSR strategies while grooming specific control structures, as well as offering researchers new control variables to model in the CSR domain.&nbsp

Determinants of Ethical Climate in the Firm:The Role of Governance Systems and Environmental Uncertainty

Corporate governance mechanisms essentially reside in the control structure/systems of most organizations and provide, theoretically at least, a conduit to support a better organizational ethical climate.  This linkage, however, has seldom been portrayed this way in the literature and, correspondingly, there are virtually no empirical studies to offer increased understanding, especially with respect to the professional accountant in practice.  Accordingly, this paper empirically assesses the governance mechanisms sanctioned by the International Federation of Accountants (2009) as determinants of an organization’s ethical climate based on evidence from a Canadian sample of CFOs/controllers.  The ethics/leadership literature relating to ethical climate provides the theoretical underpinnings while organizational contingency theory supports examining the moderating effects of perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU).   Increases in corporate governance control mechanisms are found to positively influence ethical climate.  A significant relationship persists under both low and high levels of PEU but, as expected, it is much stronger when the level of PEU is low – which raises concerns about how to embrace a stronger ethical climate when uncertainty is high.  This paper contributes to the governance and ethics literature by providing empirical evidence that normative directives on evaluating and improving governance in organizations from global accounting authorities, such as the IFAC, are effective in shaping firms’ ethical climates in practice

Does More Corporate Governance Enhance Managerial Performance: CFO Perceptions and the Role of Mindfulness

The results of studies into the effects of enhanced governance structures have been equivocal and there is virtually no literature on the performance effects of individual managers, such as the professional accountant in practice.  This paper reports the results of an empirical study designed to assess the relationship of governance structures, specifically the conformance and performance dimensions defined by the International Federation of Accountants (2009), to mindfulness and managerial performance among CFOs in Canadian firms.  Organizational theory describing high reliability organizations provides the theoretical framework for specifying and appraising capacity for mindfulness.  As predicted, there is no significant direct relationship between governance and managerial performance for the conformance dimension; instead, this relationship is explained by the path through capacity for mindfulness and on to managerial performance, both of which are positively significant.  Likewise, there is no significant relationship between governance and managerial performance for the conformance dimension; however, although there is a significant path between the performance dimension and capacity for mindfulness, the path from the latter to managerial performance is insignificant.  Implicating the powerful role of the controllability principle in accounting may explain this unexpected finding

The Influence of Ethical Leadership on Managerial Performance: Mediating Effects of Mindfulness and Corporate Social Responsibility

In a continuing world of corporate misdeeds and unscrupulous decision making, much of the management and academic literatures points to the incomplete knowledge of the consequences of ethics leadership.  One of the bastions of ethics gatekeeping in the firm is the CFO but remarkably scant information can be found on their perceptions concerning ethics leadership.  This study addresses this void by examining mindfulness and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives as new mediating linkages in comprehending the influence of ethics leadership on managerial performance.  Findings reveal that ethical leadership is positively associated with CSR initiatives which, in turn, operate to enhance managerial performance.  Simultaneously, ethical leadership manifests a significant positive relationship with mindfulness but, surprisingly, there is no corresponding relationship with managerial performance.  Instead, mindfulness indirectly influences managerial performance through the intervening effects on CSR initiatives.  These findings suggest that firms can acquire better managerial performance by focusing efforts on CSR strategies, bringing cognitive processes of mindfulness to bear on these actions, and grooming ethics leadership.  In addition, the results offer researchers new relationships to model in the leadership domain.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children and Adolescents: Progress Through Effective Collaboration, Current Knowledge, and Challenges Ahead

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the fourth most common malignancy in children, has an even higher incidence in adolescents, and is primarily represented by only a few histologic subtypes. Dramatic progress has been achieved, with survival rates exceeding 80%, in large part because of a better understanding of the biology of the different subtypes and national and international collaborations. Most patients with Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma are cured with short intensive pulse chemotherapy containing cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, and high-dose methotrexate. The benefit of the addition of rituximab has not been established except in the case of primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Lymphoblastic lymphoma is treated with intensive, semi-continuous, longer leukemia-derived protocols. Relapses in B-cell and lymphoblastic lymphomas are rare and infrequently curable, even with intensive approaches. Event-free survival rates of approximately 75% have been achieved in anaplastic large-cell lymphomas with various regimens that generally include a short intensive B-like regimen. Immunity seems to play an important role in prognosis and needs further exploration to determine its therapeutic application. ALK inhibitor therapeutic approaches are currently under investigation. For all pediatric lymphomas, the intensity of induction/consolidation therapy correlates with acute toxicities, but because of low cumulative doses of anthracyclines and alkylating agents, minimal or no long-term toxicity is expected. Challenges that remain include defining the value of prognostic factors, such as early response on positron emission tomography/computed tomography and minimal disseminated and residual disease, using new biologic technologies to improve risk stratification, and developing innovative therapies, both in the first-line setting and for relapse

MEKK2 mediates aberrant ERK activation in neurofibromatosis type I

Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) is characterized by prominent skeletal manifestations caused by NF1 loss. While inhibitors of the ERK activating kinases MEK1/2 are promising as a means to treat NF1, the broad blockade of the ERK pathway produced by this strategy is potentially associated with therapy limiting toxicities. Here, we have sought targets offering a more narrow inhibition of ERK activation downstream of NF1 loss in the skeleton, finding that MEKK2 is a novel component of a noncanonical ERK pathway in osteoblasts that mediates aberrant ERK activation after NF1 loss. Accordingly, despite mice with conditional deletion of Nf1 in mature osteoblasts (Nf1(fl/fl);Dmp1-Cre) and Mekk2(-/-) each displaying skeletal defects, Nf1(fl/fl);Mekk2(-/-);Dmp1-Cre mice show an amelioration of NF1-associated phenotypes. We also provide proof-of-principle that FDA-approved inhibitors with activity against MEKK2 can ameliorate NF1 skeletal pathology. Thus, MEKK2 functions as a MAP3K in the ERK pathway in osteoblasts, offering a potential new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of NF1

Development of a Protocol for Obtaining Biological Samples for Genetic Testing from Remote Individuals

Pharmacogenomic sequencing allows individuals to learn more about how they will respond to certain medications but requires shipping of a biological sample. One complication of sending biological samples to remote laboratories is stability. Blood generally yields sufficient quantities of high-quality DNA but requires a clinic visit. Saliva and buccal swabs are routinely used for DNA extractions, but the DNA quality is notoriously low due to the presence of bacteria in the mouth. Additionally, elderly individuals have difficulty producing enough saliva for testing, and the tubes contain several milliliters of liquid and shipping requires special considerations. Dried blood spot cards, which serve as an alternative to saliva and buccal swabs, yield high-quality DNA and ship easily, but may produce a lower yield. This project aims to determine which biological sample methods can reasonably be obtained from remote individuals

Efficiency and safety of varying the frequency of whole blood donation (INTERVAL): a randomised trial of 45 000 donors

Background: Limits on the frequency of whole blood donation exist primarily to safeguard donor health. However, there is substantial variation across blood services in the maximum frequency of donations allowed. We compared standard practice in the UK with shorter inter-donation intervals used in other countries. Methods: In this parallel group, pragmatic, randomised trial, we recruited whole blood donors aged 18 years or older from 25 centres across England, UK. By use of a computer-based algorithm, men were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 12-week (standard) versus 10-week versus 8-week inter-donation intervals, and women were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 16-week (standard) versus 14-week versus 12-week intervals. Participants were not masked to their allocated intervention group. The primary outcome was the number of donations over 2 years. Secondary outcomes related to safety were quality of life, symptoms potentially related to donation, physical activity, cognitive function, haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and deferrals because of low haemoglobin. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN24760606, and is ongoing but no longer recruiting participants. Findings: 45 263 whole blood donors (22 466 men, 22 797 women) were recruited between June 11, 2012, and June 15, 2014. Data were analysed for 45 042 (99·5%) participants. Men were randomly assigned to the 12-week (n=7452) versus 10-week (n=7449) versus 8-week (n=7456) groups; and women to the 16-week (n=7550) versus 14-week (n=7567) versus 12-week (n=7568) groups. In men, compared with the 12-week group, the mean amount of blood collected per donor over 2 years increased by 1·69 units (95% CI 1·59–1·80; approximately 795 mL) in the 8-week group and by 0·79 units (0·69–0·88; approximately 370 mL) in the 10-week group (p<0·0001 for both). In women, compared with the 16-week group, it increased by 0·84 units (95% CI 0·76–0·91; approximately 395 mL) in the 12-week group and by 0·46 units (0·39–0·53; approximately 215 mL) in the 14-week group (p<0·0001 for both). No significant differences were observed in quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function across randomised groups. However, more frequent donation resulted in more donation-related symptoms (eg, tiredness, breathlessness, feeling faint, dizziness, and restless legs, especially among men [for all listed symptoms]), lower mean haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and more deferrals for low haemoglobin (p<0·0001 for each) than those observed in the standard frequency groups. Interpretation: Over 2 years, more frequent donation than is standard practice in the UK collected substantially more blood without having a major effect on donors' quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function, but resulted in more donation-related symptoms, deferrals, and iron deficiency. Funding: NHS Blood and Transplant, National Institute for Health Research, UK Medical Research Council, and British Heart Foundation