A research paper co-authored byDr Chris Lo, Associate Professor of ITC, andDr Di Fan, ITC alumni and senior lecturer at the Research School of Management of the Australian National University College of Business and Economics has been recently selected as a feature article inJournal of Operations Management (JOM). The findings of this study have been covered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) morning news, as well as British and Australian newspapers includingThe Guardian,The Sydney Morning Heraldand theBrisbane Times. This highly acclaimed paper is titled "Deviations from aspirational target levels and environmental and safety performance: Implications for operations managers acting irresponsibly", and explores whether the relative aspirational financial performance of a firm impacts its likelihood of acting irresponsibly. That is, the study explores whether operational slack in the form of capacity, productivity, and inventory attenuates the likelihood of a firm to act irresponsibly when its actual financial performance deviates from its aspirational level (i.e., the industry norm). The findings contradict the popular view that only poor performing firms tend to violate environmental regulations and neglect health and safety factors. Thus, the relationship between performance and breaching is not linear. High-performing firms act just as irresponsibly as poor performing firms because their past successes have rendered them arrogant or they cut corners to maintain performance. The likelihood of irresponsible action in fact depends on the deviation from aspirational performance.
The JOM is one of the leading journals in business and operations management. It is ranked number 1 in theOperations Research and Management Sciencecategory and number 6 in theManagementcategory in the Web of Science according to Thomson ISI Journal Citation Reports 2018.
Full citation of the paper: Wiengarten, F., Fan, D., Pagell, M., & Lo, Chris K.Y. (2019).Deviations from aspirational target levels and environmental and safety performance: Implications for operations managers acting irresponsibly. Journal of Operations Management. 65(6): 490-516.
| Research Units | School of Fashion and Textiles |
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