On the tacit side of organizational identity: Narrative unconscious and figured practice

It is a paradox of research on organizational identity formation that it cannot take place without reliance upon the expressive acts people use, yet the experience of identity cannot be reduced to such expressions. People are more than they can tell. Drawing from a study of a communication agency and building on notions of self in pragmatism, anthropology, and narrative philosophy, I identify two chief dimensions of tacit organizational identity: (1) the narrative unconscious in the stories that people live by and (2) the related figuring of formative organizational practice, in particular regarding choice of and framing of projects. In the case of organization, an episode revolving around the presentation of the ‘New Bohemian Laws’ provides a window to explore both these dimensions. Implications include a refined methodological approach to identity research. It involves acknowledging ‘feelings of identity’, attending to poetics, tuning-in to refrains and styles, and pursuing a relational subjectivity.     

Relationship between Online Retailers’ Reputation and Product Returns

Customer product returns are key cost drivers that eat into online retailers’ profits. However, management research has neglected to examine ways of reducing return rates without causing a concomitant decrease in sales. Drawing from signalling and dissonance theories, we investigate the relationship between online retailers’ reputation and product return rates. Two experiments designed to produce causal conclusions show that reputation reduces return rates (Studies 1 and 2) and that return motivation is a boundary condition for that relationship (Study 2). A field study based on an online consumer panel demonstrates the robustness of the negative impact of online retailer reputation on product returns in a setting that emphasizes external validity (Study 3), in comparison with Studies 1 and 2, which maximize internal validity. Study 3 also examines managerially important contingencies of the causal relationship by considering three variables: purchase frequency; retailer type; and customer gender. Overall findings indicate that an online retailer's reputation is a powerful means of reducing product return rates. The findings also show that the strength of the relationship between reputation and product returns is influenced by return motivation and the three variables investigated in the field study.     

A causal approach to the measurement of job statisfaction

Differences in indicators used to measure job satisfaction raise the question of their comparability. Four commonly used measures of job satisfaction are thus compared with respect to their relationship to three independent variables—education, occupational status, and income (i.e., wages)—in the context of a causal model that incorporates considerations of measurement error in both independent and dependent variables. It is found that in some cases, different indicators imply different conclusions regarding the influence of education and occupational status on job satisfaction. The utility of a causal modeling approach to these problems is also demonstrated.     

Unions and the structure of earnings inequality: Cross-national patterns

We examine differences in the structure of earnings inequality for men in four advanced western industrialized nations that differ in the nature and extent of unionism: the United States, Canada, Norway, and Sweden. We argue that the economic effects of unionism depend on whether (1) the bargaining structures of labor markets are centralized or fragmented; and (2) the political organization can be characterized as a corporatist or a pressure-group system. We find some support for our principal hypotheses that cross-national differences in systems of collective bargaining and political institutions affect the size of the earnings gap between male union and nonunion members, as well as the extent of wage dispersion among unionized workers.     

Prevalence of gambling problems among adolescents in the Nordic countries: an overview of national gambling surveys 1997–2009

Kristiansen S, Jensen SM. Prevalence of gambling problems among adolescents in the Nordic countries: an overview of national gambling surveys 1997–2009 Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 75–86 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The study presents an overview of prevalence studies focusing on problem and pathological gambling among adolescent populations in the Nordic countries. Past‐year prevalence of problem gambling among adolescents in the Nordic countries ranges from 0.4 per cent (Denmark) to 4.2 per cent (Sweden). Past‐year prevalence of pathological gambling ranges from 0.1 per cent (Denmark) to 1.76 per cent (Norway). Results from the Nordic countries also show that boys gamble more than girls, older adolescents gamble more than younger adolescents and that, as shown in adult prevalence surveys, problem gambling is more widespread among adolescents than among adults. It is concluded that investigations of gambling problems among adolescents in the Nordic countries differ regarding age groups, sampling procedures, response rates, nomenclature and screening instruments, all of which complicates valid comparisons. More collaboration between researchers from different countries is urged in order to improve comparability between national studies.     

Exploring the contributions of human and social capital to productivity

In this article we investigate how human and social capital contribute to individual productivity. We study three firms that complete all their tasks as projects. The employees in all firms initiate and organise their projects. We collected archival data from the firms on performance, human capital, tenure, gender and their project activities. Social network data are generated from interviews and a survey. We find that social capital is the most important factor to determine productivity. We found mixed effects from human capital; only in one firm did human capital have a noticeable effect on productivity; tenure has no effects on productivity.     

Black People under the Black Flag: Piracy and the Slave Trade on the West Coast of Africa, 1718–1723

Based on a wide range of primary sources, this article investigates the relationship of pirates with free and enslaved Africans as well as the impact of piracy on the slave trade. In 1719, the peak year of pirate depredations, as many as 30 per cent of the vessels that arrived on the west coast of Africa fell victim to pirate attacks. To pirates, slaves were worthless cargo, and they treated captured Africans accordingly. Contacts with free Africans were restricted to trading relationships, which sometimes led to violent excesses. Many black people were mistreated or killed by pirates.     

Event frequency,excitement and desire to gamble,among pathological gamblers

In this study we compared gambling behaviour of 15 pathological gamblers (PG) and 15 non-problem gamblers (NPG) on two conditions of a commercially available slot machine. One condition used a commercially available two-second event frequency (games per minute), while the other condition used an experimental three-second event frequency. The payback percentage (wins relative to losses) and reward frequency (wins over number of games played) varied randomly across conditions. The results showed that PG had significantly higher measures than NPG on time spent gambling, excitement level and desire to play again in the two-second condition. In the three-second condition there were no differences in excitement level and desire to play again. The number of PG playing the maximum time (60 minutes) was reduced in the three-second version, and reward frequency contributed to reduction in time spent gambling. The results may have implications for understanding behavioural mechanisms of pathological gambling among slot machine players.