Social stigma and executive compensation

We document that executives working at firms perceived negatively in light of social norms, such as tobacco, gambling and alcohol, earn a significant compensation premium. The premium compensates for personal costs executives bear due to their employer’s negative public perception and include: (i) a reduced likelihood these CEOs will serve as directors on other firms’ boards, which associates with lower executives’ social status, and (ii) impaired job mobility as employers shun stigmatized executives. The compensation premium is not explained by higher managerial skill required in firms we investigate, higher employment contract risk, political capital, litigation risk, or differences in corporate governance quality, and robust to endogeneity concerns. Our results highlight the significant impact job-related social stigma has on executive compensation

Developing female middle-managers in Australian universities

Universities should be developing female middle-managers for reasons of gender balance (Aitkin in The Last Boilerhouse Address, Canberra University 2001), the skills shortage, pending mass retirements (Chesterman in Not doable jobs?' Exploring senior women's attitudes to leadership roles in universities. Women's Higher Education Network Conference, Bolton, 2004) and sustainable, post-bureaucratic organizations (Kira and Forslin in J Organ Change Manage 21(1): 76-91, 2008). Investigating the learning and development of women managers is timely. Research assumes that women in academe have the qualifications, experience and skills for management. Is this the case? The paper provides the first national demographic and development profile of women middle-managers in academic and the research-neglected administrative streams in Australian universities, with a sample of 342 women (46% response rate). Age is a particularly notable demographic with the majority of academics within 5-10 years of retirement. Nearly 60% of academics experienced few current development opportunities and their discipline-based qualifications did not prepare them for management. However, a greater number of administrative managers received relevant preparatory training. Once in their current management roles women experienced markedly fewer development opportunities. If higher education institutions are learning organizations, continuous learning should be evident (Watkins in Adv Dev Hum Res 7(3): 414, 2005). Our research shows this is far from the case.Full Tex

A Quantitative Study of Unfair Labor Practice Cases

The number of charges of unfair labor practices filed with the National Labor Relations Board has grown steadily. This article analyzes the incidence of case filings since 1952 as a function of economic variables, such as the unemployment rate and changes in the price level; the number of strikes and representation petitions filed, since both tend to produce litigation; and aspects of the Board's administrative processes that tend to encourage or discourage case filings, such as the extent of delay. The study finds that, contrary to the assumptions of national labor policy, the Board's activities themselves may be an important determinant of union and employer demands for regulatory intervention. The model proves less satisfactory, however, in explaining the filing behavior of individuals, suggesting that workers have unrealistic expectations about the protection offered them by the National Labor Relations Act. </jats:p