Business Ethics without Philosophers? Evidence for and Implications of the Shift From Applied Philosophers to Business Scholars on the Editorial Boards of Business Ethics Journals

This article considers the relationship between business ethics and philosophy, specifically in relation to the field and persons working in it. The starting point is a grammatical one: business ethics by the rules of grammar belongs to ethics. In terms of academic disciplines, it belongs to applied ethics, which belongs to ethics, which belongs to practical philosophy, which belongs to philosophy. However, in the field of business ethics today one will seldom meet colleagues from philosophy; instead, they will come from business, applying business studies perspectives, approaches, and increasingly quantitative methods. This article provides empirical evidence that today the three top journals with “business ethics” in their titles (and “awarded” a high impact factor) are mostly run (in terms of their editorial boards) by business scholars with PhDs in business. The article compares the three journals today with their inaugural issues and finds that at their inception all three were run by a majority of philosophers. The article discusses six possible explanations for this shift and provides suggestions for how to bring business ethics back to philosophers (and vice versa).     

Examining the role of positive and negative metacognitive beliefs in depression

Many psychological models have been developed to explain the development and maintenance of depression. The most widely evaluated model is the cognitive model of depression, and it is against this model that emerging models should be compared. Accordingly, this cross‐sectional study examined whether metacognitive beliefs, as specified in the metacognitive model of depression, would explain additional variance in depressive symptoms over dysfunctional attitudes; the core feature of the cognitive model. Moreover, mediational relationships between metacognitive beliefs, rumination, and depressive symptoms, predicted by the metacognitive model were also explored, whilst controlling for dysfunctional attitudes. A sample of 715 students completed self‐report questionnaires measuring depressive symptoms, rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, and metacognitive beliefs. Regression analyses showed that metacognitive beliefs made a significant statistical contribution to depressive symptoms, after controlling for age, gender, rumination and dysfunctional attitudes. Furthermore, as predicted by the metacognitive model, the relationship between positive metacognitive beliefs and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by rumination, whilst the relationship between negative metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability and danger and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by rumination. The results provide further empirical support for the metacognitive model of depression and indicate that positive and negative metacognitive beliefs play an integral role in the maintenance of depressive symptoms.     

Effects of Video Modeling and Feedback on Mothers' Implementation of Peer‐to‐Peer Manding

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in appropriate requesting such as manding to peers. Experiment 1 used feedback and modeling to train three mothers to increase manding between three children with ASD and their typical siblings or peers. Video modeling and feedback increased the mother's correct implementation of the treatment but a causal relation was not established over the children's manding. Experiment 2 aimed to address the lack of functional control observed in the children's data using a partial component analysis. For one of the children there was a functional relation between the materials' location, which appeared to act as a motivating operation. When Sam's mother positioned the materials correctly his manding increased. These data indicated that a simple training protocol could be used to train caregivers to implement a complex social skill such as peer‐to‐peer interaction. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Health inequality and careers

Structural explanations of career choice and development are well established. Socioeconomic inequality represents a powerful factor shaping career trajectories and economic outcomes achieved by individuals. However, a robust and growing body of evidence demonstrates a strong link between socioeconomic inequality and health outcomes. Work is a key factor explaining differences in income and lifestyle. It seems unavoidable that inequality in careers has profound consequences for health and well-being, but this relationship is largely ignored by career scholars. Some implications of health inequality for career guidance interventions are suggested.     

Neutralizations in Retail Banking: A Qualitative Analysis

This study seeks to examine neutralization theory’s generalizability to other white collar crime contexts and also seeks to address the question of whether certain techniques of neutralization are more likely with certain kinds of white collar crime or offenders. These objectives are achieved through a case study of active members of the retail banking industry. Results indicate that neutralization theory does generalize to the retail banking context. Results also show that neutralization techniques identified in this sample relate more to corporate rather than occupational crime. Findings have implications for theoretical development and also for methods to combat white collar deviance.     

Leading to Stimulate Employees' Ideas: A Quantitative Review of Leader–Member Exchange,Employee Voice,Creativity, and Innovative Behavior

Through social exchange, leaders can offer relational support or resources to facilitate employees' proactive attempts to bring positive change (voice) or novel ideas (creativity) and behaviors (innovative behavior) to their work. We consider these three outcomes under the same nomological network as they all represent employees' idea contribution to the organisation. The present paper thus meta‐analytically reviews the findings of research relating leader–member exchange (LMX) to voice (37 samples), creativity (53 samples), and innovative behavior (29 samples). Results show that LMX positively predicts voice, creativity, and innovative behavior. Moreover, LMX is more strongly related with creativity than with voice or innovative behavior, a significant difference maintained even after controlling for study characteristics that may act as confounding variables. Implications of our findings and directions for future research are also discussed.     

What Happens in Therapy? Adolescents’ Expectations and Perceptions of Psychotherapy

A measure of adolescent pre-treatment expectations/perceptions of psychotherapy was developed, evaluated, and used to examine adolescent expectancies of psychotherapy. The development of the Psychotherapy Expectations and Perceptions Inventory (PEPI) is described and initial psychometric properties reported. Utilizing a sample of adolescents (N = 546), expectancies of psychotherapy were assessed using the PEPI. Results indicate adequate internal consistency and a 3 factor structure. Specifically, factors identified were labeled (1) measuring negative expectancies, (2) process/outcome expectancies, and (3) expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Boys reported greater negative expectancies, but also greater expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Girls reported greater therapy process/outcome expectancies. Prior contact with mental illness was not related to any studied factors. Clinicians may benefit from assessing adolescent expectancies to facilitate rapport and engagement in the therapy to foster more therapeutic change. Future research that examines the relationships between specific demographic characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, etc.) and service utilization variables among adolescents is warranted.