This study investigates the ideas and conceptions underlying the religious, political and socio-economic principles governing landholding in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the system of land-tenure among the Akan people of Ghana. The Asante as a social unit is used to represent the entire Akan group as a microcosm of the world picture. The primary thrust of the thesis is that the Hebrew Bible reflects some basic conceptions of land which can be compared and contrasted with a contemporary socio-economic system of land administration for implications of land-tenure and use. The Hebrew Bible presents three main types of land ownership: 1) divine ownership of land, a basic theological assertion that land belongs to Yahweh absolutely and that all others, including Israel are God's tenants; 2) communal ownership of land based on the segmentary patrilineage system whereby the tribes and families hold land in trust for members of the community; 3) private ownership of land, an innovation developed as a result of social change. The Asante traditional belief also accepts the principle of divine ownership of land, but while it attributes creation to God, it also affirms that land basically belongs to the ancestors who pass it on to the present and future generations of the society. The other two types of land-tenure, communal and private, are represented in the Asante social system, though with some differences. Stool, lineage and family heads hold land in trust, but on fiduciary basis in the sense of holding both a proprietary and beneficiary interest in the land of which they are custodians. But the corporate matrilineage group is the basic socio-economic factor as far as traditional landholding in Asante is concerned.

No description available.

No description available.

In March 1994, the Jamaican Parliament passed the Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP) Act, to facilitate widespread employee share ownership by granting tax incentives to companies that offer shares to their employees (GOJ 1994). The primary aims of the legislation were to (a) strengthen Jamaica's economy by enabling workers to acquire an ownership stake in their employer and (b) improve the economic performance of Jamaican companies by encouraging employees to identify more closely with the goals of their employers (GOJ 1993). Former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, who introduced the ESOP legislation into Parliament, explained that organizational rather than ideological goals were the primary aims of the legislation. He explained that "in due course larger goals such as broadening the base of ownership and giving workers a wider stake in the national economy will also be achieved through ESOPs. But the first objective must be to increase productivity at the company level" (Manley 1995:17). Prior to the passage of this legislation, several employee ownership schemes had been implemented by Jamaican companies on a limited and ad hoc basis without the support of legislation (GOJ 1993). Despite the introduction of these earlier schemes, however, the concept of employee ownership is still a new one to Jamaica and little research has been conducted on how the pre-legislation employee ownership schemes were implemented or how they affected the implementing companies. Although consultants to the government examined these companies and used them as models in drafting the ESOP legislation, the consultants performed no academic studies to examine the organizational impact of the employee share schemes (Golding; Maharaj Interviews). Similarly, several academic studies have been conducted on employee ownership in the US, the UK, and a few other countries, but no formal academic studies of employee ownership have been conducted in Jamaica. These omissions are unfortunate given the interest in ESOPs expressed by the Jamaican government and the desired political, economic, and organizational effects of introducing employee ownership schemes.

This thesis investigates the monitoring effect from institutional ownership on bidder Chief Executive Officer (hereafter CEO) compensation in mergers and acquisitions (hereafter M&A) as well as the shift in compensation structure. While it is well-established in the literature that bidder CEO compensation soars significantly after conducting such transactions, the sources of the growth are left unclear. One major argument, the traditional theory, proposes that the growth derives from additional wealth created to shareholders in M&A, because according to the nature of compensation contract, CEOs’ interests are effectively aligned with shareholders’ benefits. On the other hand, scholars of managerial power theory argue that managerial power is stronger than shareholders’ oversight, so managers use M&A as a cover to expropriate wealth from shareholders. Whether the traditional theory or the managerial power theory dominates depends on the presence of optimal contract and the effectiveness of corporate governance. Institutional owners have more motivation and resources to restrict managerial behaviour than diffused owners. Thus, the change in CEO compensation following M&A and the driving factors behind the change could be different in firms with different types of ownership. After examining the 268 merger events from 266 US public non-family bidding firms from 2001 to 2005, this study finds that the magnitude of increase in CEO cash-based compensation is significantly alleviated in the presence of large institutional shareholders, and that the increase seems to be positively related to good short-term performance rather than managerial power. However, the concentrated institutional ownership does not seem to affect CEO equity-based compensation or the change in compensation structure. Besides, we do not find any significant relation between firm long-term post-acquisition performance and the market reaction to the announcement of M&A. Thus, we propose that without a reliable indication from short-term performance, large institutional shareholders could have problems in understanding the potential impact of M&A and they might adjust CEO equity-based compensation in a serial process after M&A.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2002.

It is now clear that managers, and their organisations, are under increasing pressure to respond to environmental issues (IPCC, 2007; KPMG, 2005). Research has identified the important role that individuals play in affecting organisational change (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal, 2003; Starik, 1995), yet more remains to be done. Despite past success of cognitive and behavioural perspectives in explaining proenvironmental behaviours, few researchers have explored its affective dimensions (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). While organisations and the natural environment (ONE) research does mention emotive components of proenvironmental behaviours (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal & Roth, 2000; Ramus & Steger, 2000), there are very few studies that examine emotion directly. The lack of affective research on environmental issues in organisations has meant that ONE research has not kept pace with the theoretical and empirical developments in wider management literature that clearly demonstrate that emotion is an inescapable part of work-life (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995; Fineman, 2003; Härtel, Zerbe, & Ashkanasy, 2005). As such, therefore, more research is needed to examine further the role of emotion in driving proenvironmental behaviours (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). Within this research, I aim to address this need by developing an understanding of the contribution of emotion to workplace proenvironmental behaviours. I draw on Weiss and Cropanzano’s (1996) Affective Events Theory and Pratt and Dutton’s (2000) theory of issue ownership to assimilate current understanding of the role of emotion in proenvironmental behaviour, from the fields of environmental psychology, ONE, and emotions in organisations. I also integrate Stern’s (2000) Value-Belief-Norm theory in order to account for both attitudinal and affective antecedents of proenvironmental behaviour. The relationships between environmental issues, emotions, and proenvironmental behaviour were explored in Study 1. Thematic analysis and content analysis of 31 interview transcripts revealed that managers experience positive and negative emotional responses to environmental issues. Results showed that emotions were expressed significantly more often when managers discussed environmental issues and proenvironmental behaviours at the individual level, compared to the organisational level. These findings demonstrate the importance of the organisational context in exploring the antecedents of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. In Study 2, my aim was to test a conceptual model of affective and attitudinal components of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. The sample for the study was 324 employees from five Australian organisations. I developed a web-survey to collect data from the employees and used structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the data. Results showed that aggregated positive emotions enhanced workplace proenvironmental behaviours. Contrary to expectations, however, I found that aggregated negative emotion impeded proenvironmental behaviour. Furthermore, results suggested that the direct relationships between emotion and behaviour were more important than the mediated effect of issue ownership. I conducted two experiments to test further the direct effects of emotion on workplace proenvironmental behaviour and issue ownership. In Study 3, I conducted a laboratory experiment. Five discrete emotions were manipulated using audio-visual stimuli developed for the purposes of the research. One hundred and ninety-four masters and final year undergraduate students participated in the study. Results demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour intentions and recycling behaviours. Contrary to expectations, results showed no significant effect of emotion on environmental issue ownership. Study 4 extended this work by testing the effect of the five discrete emotion manipulations in a field study. The sample for the study was 135 office-based employees. Results revealed that the emotion manipulations had a significant effect on proenvironmental behaviour, as measured by requests for information on improving environmental performance. Congruent with findings from Study 3, results of Study 4 demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Comparisons of effect sizes across Studies 3 and 4 revealed attenuation of the effect of emotion in an organisational setting. Together, these findings demonstrate the importance of emotion as an antecedent of proenvironmental behaviour. Findings demonstrated the significant role of organisational context in the relationship between emotions and workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Indeed, this research demonstrates that emotional reactions can induce proenvironmental behaviour. In a workplace context, however, results revealed that individuals also look to the organisation for cues as to the appropriateness of engaging in such behaviour. This research has implications for theory, research, and practice, and makes a contribution to the three research areas of organisations and the natural environment, environmental psychology, and emotions in organisations.

It is now clear that managers, and their organisations, are under increasing pressure to respond to environmental issues (IPCC, 2007; KPMG, 2005). Research has identified the important role that individuals play in affecting organisational change (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal, 2003; Starik, 1995), yet more remains to be done. Despite past success of cognitive and behavioural perspectives in explaining proenvironmental behaviours, few researchers have explored its affective dimensions (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). While organisations and the natural environment (ONE) research does mention emotive components of proenvironmental behaviours (Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Bansal & Roth, 2000; Ramus & Steger, 2000), there are very few studies that examine emotion directly. The lack of affective research on environmental issues in organisations has meant that ONE research has not kept pace with the theoretical and empirical developments in wider management literature that clearly demonstrate that emotion is an inescapable part of work-life (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1995; Fineman, 2003; Härtel, Zerbe, & Ashkanasy, 2005). As such, therefore, more research is needed to examine further the role of emotion in driving proenvironmental behaviours (Kals & Maes, 2002; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). Within this research, I aim to address this need by developing an understanding of the contribution of emotion to workplace proenvironmental behaviours. I draw on Weiss and Cropanzano’s (1996) Affective Events Theory and Pratt and Dutton’s (2000) theory of issue ownership to assimilate current understanding of the role of emotion in proenvironmental behaviour, from the fields of environmental psychology, ONE, and emotions in organisations. I also integrate Stern’s (2000) Value-Belief-Norm theory in order to account for both attitudinal and affective antecedents of proenvironmental behaviour. The relationships between environmental issues, emotions, and proenvironmental behaviour were explored in Study 1. Thematic analysis and content analysis of 31 interview transcripts revealed that managers experience positive and negative emotional responses to environmental issues. Results showed that emotions were expressed significantly more often when managers discussed environmental issues and proenvironmental behaviours at the individual level, compared to the organisational level. These findings demonstrate the importance of the organisational context in exploring the antecedents of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. In Study 2, my aim was to test a conceptual model of affective and attitudinal components of workplace proenvironmental behaviour. The sample for the study was 324 employees from five Australian organisations. I developed a web-survey to collect data from the employees and used structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse the data. Results showed that aggregated positive emotions enhanced workplace proenvironmental behaviours. Contrary to expectations, however, I found that aggregated negative emotion impeded proenvironmental behaviour. Furthermore, results suggested that the direct relationships between emotion and behaviour were more important than the mediated effect of issue ownership. I conducted two experiments to test further the direct effects of emotion on workplace proenvironmental behaviour and issue ownership. In Study 3, I conducted a laboratory experiment. Five discrete emotions were manipulated using audio-visual stimuli developed for the purposes of the research. One hundred and ninety-four masters and final year undergraduate students participated in the study. Results demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour intentions and recycling behaviours. Contrary to expectations, results showed no significant effect of emotion on environmental issue ownership. Study 4 extended this work by testing the effect of the five discrete emotion manipulations in a field study. The sample for the study was 135 office-based employees. Results revealed that the emotion manipulations had a significant effect on proenvironmental behaviour, as measured by requests for information on improving environmental performance. Congruent with findings from Study 3, results of Study 4 demonstrated that emotions of the same valence led to different effects on workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Comparisons of effect sizes across Studies 3 and 4 revealed attenuation of the effect of emotion in an organisational setting. Together, these findings demonstrate the importance of emotion as an antecedent of proenvironmental behaviour. Findings demonstrated the significant role of organisational context in the relationship between emotions and workplace proenvironmental behaviour. Indeed, this research demonstrates that emotional reactions can induce proenvironmental behaviour. In a workplace context, however, results revealed that individuals also look to the organisation for cues as to the appropriateness of engaging in such behaviour. This research has implications for theory, research, and practice, and makes a contribution to the three research areas of organisations and the natural environment, environmental psychology, and emotions in organisations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2007. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-206). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: A. Douglas Harris.