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DEA and Monte Carlo simulation approach towards green car selection
|
[
"Data envelopment analysis",
"Energy efficiency",
"Monte Carlo simulation",
"Sustainable production",
"Auto industry",
"Green cars"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, automakers have started offering car buyers a greater selection and availability of green cars than in past years (Hidrue et al., 2011; Nunes and Bennett, 2010). Green cars are the vehicles that are designed to burn environmentally friendly and sustainable fuel than conventional gasoline or diesel powered vehicles in order to reduce the harmful by-products known as emissions of burning that fuel, and decrease the harm they do to people and the environment. These green cars are often powered by alternative fuels. Such vehicles are classified as follows: hybrid-electric, electric, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquid petroleum gas (LPG), clean diesel, hydrogen fuel cell, solar, biodiesel or an ethanol blend (flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs)). Hybrid electric vehicles usually run on a combination of gasoline and electricity. CNG vehicles employ methane stored at high pressure as fuel in place of gasoline, diesel fuel and propane, popularly known as \"autogas,\" which is used in LPG vehicles. Clean diesel vehicles run on low-sulphur diesel fuel. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles run on electricity produced by hydrogen reacting with oxygen in an onboard fuel cell. Solar vehicles are basically electric vehicles using photovoltaic cells contained in solar panels powered completely or significantly by direct solar energy. Besides, there are FFVs running on a gasoline-ethanol blend or on biodiesel.\n2. Review of literature: Green car selection\n3. Proposed methodology: This study builds upon the BCC-DEA algorithm to be integrated with application of Monte Carlo simulation for distribution fit with highly efficient DMUs. This integrated methodology helps to decide appropriate range of attributes for calibration-oriented decision making (see Figure 1). The sequence of steps for the integrated methodology is specified as follows.\n4. An example: We intend to evaluate the efficiencies of green cars as DMUs, which are variants of available green cars in order to decide some highly efficient green cars. This study builds upon the DEA algorithm integrated with Monte Carlo simulations.\n5. Some significant observations: The best fit distributions have to be used as means for calibration of green cars in determining the admissible range attributes for fulfilling legislative standards as well as refining the character of the green car in meeting automakers expectations for best drive-ability and comfort. Moreover, motorists can be benefited with DEA efficient listing of green cars alone. Some significant observations relating to the best fit distribution for the benefit of automakers for calibration are listed as follows:\n6. Conclusion: This paper has applied DEA and Monte Carlo simulation in an integrated manner for use in an industry setting by industrial engineers explaining simplicity of the method for choosing an efficient green car. The goal for applying Monte Carlo simulation is not to discuss how to do engineering but rather how to apply Monte Carlo, say, in calibration of green car, which is an important implication for automakers. These green cars have been realized as good for saving the planet with associated environmental, health, and energy security benefits. These green cars can also be rational for saving money with better MPG when equipped with competing powertrains characterized by torque of conventional cars, which is an important implication for motorists.\n",
"role": "user"
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{
"content": "Purpose: Automakers are engaged in manufacturing both efficient and inefficient green cars. The purpose of this paper is to categorize efficient green cars and inefficient green cars followed by improving efficiencies of identified inefficient green cars for distribution fitting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have used 2014 edition of secondary data published by the Automotive Research Centre of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The paper provides the methodology of applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) consisting of 50 decision-making units (DMUs) of green cars with six input indices (emission, braking, ride quality, acceleration, turning circle, and luggage capacity) and two output indices (miles per gallon and torque) integrated with Monte Carlo simulation for drawing significant statistical inferences graphically.\nFindings: The findings of this study showed that there are 27 efficient and 23 inefficient DMUs along with improvement matrix. Additionally, the study highlighted the best distribution fitting of improved efficient green cars for respective indices.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study suffers from limitations associated with 2014 edition of secondary data used in this research.\nPractical implications: This study may be useful for motorists with efficient listing of green cars, whereas automakers can be benefitted with distribution fitting of improved efficient green cars using Monte Carlo simulation for calibration.\nOriginality/value: The paper uses DEA to empirically examine classification of green cars and applies Monte Carlo simulation for distribution fitting to improved efficient green cars to decide appropriate range of their attributes for calibration.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Converging early contractor involvement (ECI) and lean construction practices for productivity enhancement: Some preliminary findings from Singapore
|
[
"Singapore",
"Productivity",
"Early contractor involvement",
"Lean construction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Construction productivity has always been in the spotlight in Singapore. It has been constantly measured against different sectors, not only domestically, but also in different countries. One of the reasons behind this attention is that construction productivity has an impact on the sector output, and therefore on the GDP, given that construction in Singapore, as in many other countries, is a main pillar of the economy. For example, in Australia, a mere 1 per cent rise in construction productivity would add $1.25 billion to the nation's GDP (PwC, 2013). In countries like Singapore that face an enduring labour shortage, improving construction productivity remains a priority on the government's agenda. Since the 1980s, the Singapore government has been aware of the fact that construction productivity has lagged far behind that of other developed countries, such as Finland and Japan (Construction Industry Development Board, 1992). Numerous reasons have been cited for this phenomenon, chief among them being the heavy reliance on cheap foreign labour, the reluctance to adopt labour-saving measures, and the lack of knowledge regarding buildable designs (Building and Construction Authority, 2011; Lim and Alum, 1995). With this backdrop, the Singapore government has pledged to raise productivity levels, such that Singapore's Housing and Development Board is aiming to raise construction productivity by as much as 25 per cent by 2020 (Chin, 2013). At the company level, contractors are encouraged to invest in new technology and new skills, aiming for a 2-3 per cent productivity rise in the construction sector (Yong, 2013).\nLiterature review: ECI\nThe lean philosophy in construction: The lean philosophy originated in Japan in the 1950s, known as the Toyota Production System. It advocates the elimination of waste through focused production, reduced set-up times, mechanization, supplier collaboration, and other techniques (Ohno, 1988; Shingo, 1988; Monden, 1983). A key driver in the successful implementation of lean involves a close strategic relationship between supplier and the customer. The concept is not dissimilar to ECI. Witnessing the success of lean in the manufacturing sector, Koskela (1992) was one of the pioneers who addressed the application of lean production techniques to the construction industry. Despite varying interpretations of the lean philosophy and its application, its primary purpose remained the same. Koskela (2000) defined it as: delivering the product; maximizing value; and minimizing waste. To achieve these objectives, Koskela (2000) proposed the application of 11 lean principles that focused on flow process design and improvement, which are tabulated and linked with ECI in Table II.\nResearch methods: Research design\nFindings: Background of respondents and awareness of ECI\nDiscussion: Awareness of ECI\nConclusion: As ECI is not currently used in Singapore, much of the literature research was conducted based upon work conducted globally. This study has presented various advantage of ECI through the adoption of lean principles. The survey results suggest that, when employing lean construction principles as a yardstick, ECI does stand out in aiding some of those principles - in particular, for reducing variability, reducing cycle time, minimizing steps, and increasing output flexibility. Through the survey and interviews, it is seen that at this time, ECI as a contract form appears to be unfamiliar to the construction industry in Singapore. None of the surveys returned claimed familiarity with this form. Moreover, the research hypothesis set out to determine if a genuine relationship existed between ECI and lean construction principles, and hence lending credibility to the statement that ECI can indeed make construction projects in Singapore more productive. A high bar was set to test the impact of each proposed benefit, and only about half of those proved to be statistically significant. As a preliminary foray into this new contract method of ECI, the varied responses to the different proposed relationships came as no surprise. Most respondents having no prior contact with or knowledge of ECI would be wary to put too much stake into an unfamiliar and untested contract form. To conclude, this study was performed to firstly bring to light ECI to the Singapore construction industry, with a focus on its potential benefits. It is known that the Building Construction Authority is performing its own research on ECI application in Singapore at the time this study is being conducted. By demonstrating some of the productivity benefits of ECI through the measure of lean construction, it is hoped that industry stakeholders would feel less apprehensive of adopting this new practice.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: As with many other procurement management concepts, the early contractor involvement (ECI) strategy provides an opportunity to tap on contractors' specialist knowledge in the design stage, in order to address and forestall problems before moving onto the construction stage. Such practices have been shown to be quite successful, and are also advocated in the lean construction practice. Following this benefit, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the operations of ECI and the principles of lean construction for productivity enhancement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the literature review of 11 principles of lean construction and ECI, various relationships were proposed seeking to integrate the two domains. A questionnaire survey was conducted with different stakeholders in Singapore's construction industry to measure the strength of the relationships. Interviews were also conducted to gain an understanding of the constraints, reluctance, and possible methods for implementing ECI in Singapore with a convergence with lean construction principles.\nFindings: The results revealed that, when employing lean construction principles as a yardstick, ECI does contribute to elevating the productivity outcomes of some lean construction principles - in particular, for reducing variability, reducing cycle time, minimizing steps, and increasing output flexibility.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is promising to marry ECI with lean construction, and that the former does appear indeed able to aid in the productivity improvements of a construction project by embracing the latter. However, it requires the building professionals to raise their awareness of both lean and ECI, so that the implementation of ECI can be carried out in a more effective manner.\nOriginality/value: In the context of the Singapore construction industry's push for improvements in productivity, this study posits that productivity benefits in particular can be realized through establishing the linkage between ECI and lean construction principles. The lessons from this study can likewise be adopted by other countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How fair-trade claims and emotional empathy affect the consumer's propensity to buy fair chocolate?
|
[
"Willingness to pay",
"Empathy",
"Purchase intention",
"Ethical product",
"Fair-trade",
"Pro-social campaigns"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The growing importance that the consumer recognises to environmental sustainability and respect for human rights, together with the greater attention paid to the quality of food, explain the increasingly important role played by communication about the place of origin, the production method adopted and the content of the product. Among the product attributes increasingly communicated to consumers, organic production and fair-trade stand out for their importance (Poelman et al., 2008). Both are defined as attributes of credibility: the consumer cannot experience them directly through the consumption of the product (Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995). This is why companies must pay close attention to the communication of these attributes, as regards both the content of the message and the way in which it is conveyed.\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: Over the years, a majority of consumers have realized that their purchasing behaviour could have a direct ethical impact. The feeling of responsibility towards society has led them to express concerns about the ethical engagement of companies and to develop an ethical buying and consumption behaviour (Chinnici et al., 2002; De Pelsmacker et al., 2005; Fotopouls and Krystallis, 2002; Shaw and Shiu, 2002; Wier and Calverly, 2002).\n3. Method: Two types of print advertising were created. The chocolate brand and image, accompanied with a textual information, were represented in both ads. In the conventional campaign, the textual information was about the product characteristics and qualities. In the pro-social campaign, the ethical nature of the product (fair-trade, free from child labour) is described.\n4. Results: The first two ANOVAs tested the effects of brand and type of advertising on purchase intention and willingness to pay. The cell means and standard deviations of purchase intention and willingness to pay are shown in Table I. The main effect of type of advertising (conventional and pro-social) on willingness to pay (F(1,195) = 4.320, p < 0.05) and purchase intention (F(1,195) = 4.273, p < 0.05) was significant (Table II), thus supporting H1 and H2: consumers exposed to pro-social marketing campaigns will show a greater purchase intention (M = 22.68) and willingness to pay (M = 3.49) for chocolate as opposed to those exposed to conventional campaigns (M = 20.43 for purchase intention; M = 2.92 for willingness to pay). On the contrary, results indicate the absence of a main effect of the brand (for purchase intention: F(1,195) = 0.681, p = 0.410; for willingness to pay: F(1,195) = 0.014, p = 0.906) and of an interaction effect between brand and advertising (for purchase intention: F(1,195) = 0.892, p = 0.901; for willingness to pay: F(1,195) = 1.113, p = 0.293), excluding the aforementioned potential familiarity bias. Main and interaction effects were reported in Table II.\n5. Discussion and implication: In the past several decades, firms have been increasingly attentive to their social responsibilities and consumers have shown a growing concern about the ethical impact of their everyday purchases (Lee, 2016). These high levels of consideration for the ethical issues across the population and the growing penetration of socially compatible products in the marketplace point to the need for more research on the ethically conscious consumer.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Concerns related to the ethical issues are evident in the increasingly socially conscious marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of fair-trade communication activities in the buying decision-making process of chocolate. The role of emotional empathy in influencing the willingness to pay and the purchase intention was also explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A mail survey with a sample of 199 Italian chocolate consumers was conducted. Respondents were equally and randomly distributed among the four print advertising stimuli: conventional brand with conventional campaign; conventional brand with pro-social campaign; pro-social brand with conventional campaign; and pro-social brand with pro-social campaign. A between-subjects factorial design was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: Results showed the effectiveness of pro-social marketing campaigns in increasing consumers' willingness to pay and purchase intention for fair-trade chocolate. Contextually, consumers with a high level of emotional empathy showed a greater purchase intention as opposed to those with a low level.\nResearch limitations/implications: As the ethical nature of the product should be communicated in several ways, the effect of different types of textual information on the dependent variables should be considered.\nOriginality/value: The study enriches the literature on ethical consumption and provides some guidance to manufacturers and product managers for understanding the role of pro-social marketing communication in influencing consumer behaviour.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Testing moderating effects on the relationships among on-board cruise environment, satisfaction, perceived value and behavioral intentions
|
[
"On-board environment",
"Cruise perceived value",
"Overall satisfaction",
"Behavioural intentions",
"PLS-PM",
"Moderating effects"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, the cruise industry has grown rapidly, from a market of 20.9 million passengers in 2012 to a market of 27.2 million passengers in 2018, with more than 30 million expected in 2020 (Cruise Lines International Association, 2018). From 2016 to 2018 alone, 27 new ships were introduced to the cruise market (MedCruise, 2018). One current trend is to invest in giant ships that can accommodate over 6,000 passengers to improve the attractiveness and profitability of each cruise brand (Cruise Lines International Association, 2018). Another trend is to invest in ships customized for specific target markets. For example, recently two new cruise ships have been designed specifically for the Chinese market, with wider internal common spaces and a reduction of external spaces, and a \"no frills\" ship design has been introduced specifically for veteran cruisers. Common to both trends is greater investment in intangible, atmospheric elements of the on-board cruise experience (e.g. lights, music and odors) in recognition of consumer experience as a top commercial priority. As the ship is a container of passenger experience and provides a series of services (e.g. food and entertainment) (Walls et al., 2011; Yim et al., 2019), managerial decisions regarding investments in particular aspects of a vessel internal design and on-board services become crucial toward offering tourists an optimal cruise experience.\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: 2.1 The on-board cruise environment\n3. Research method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: The global criterion of goodness of fit - i.e. the goodness of fit index (GFI) (Tenenhaus et al., 2005) - was equal to 0.551. As a rule of thumb, a GFI value equal to or higher than 0.36 (Wetzels et al., 2009) indicates the PLS model to be valid. The measurement model involved four constructs: on-board environment, perceived value, overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. To assess the model, convergent validity and discriminant validity needed to be established. Convergent validity was assessed in two ways: first, by examining the indicator loadings; second, by examining the average variance extracted (AVE).\n5. Discussion and conclusions: The framework proposed novel constructs that influence behavioral intentions in the cruise industry and the study analyzed the impact of the on-board environment on passengers' behavioral intentions via perceived value and satisfaction. Moreover, important segmentation variables were tested in the multi-group analysis, namely, gender, employment status, group composition and propensity to stay on board. The findings have practical implications for cruise line companies.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate both the relationships among the on-board environment, overall satisfaction, perceived value and behavioral intentions and the moderating effects of gender, employment status, group composition and the propensity to stay on board in the context of cruise experience.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Relationships among constructs were tested on the basis of 417 surveys collected and analyzed with the structural equation modeling approach of partial least squares path modeling. A multi-group analysis was used to test the moderating effects.\nFindings: The research findings suggest that on-board environment is a good predictor of behavioral intentions, but that the relationship is strongly mediated by satisfaction and perceived value. Moreover, the multi-group analysis of moderating effects indicated various differences that offer interesting insights for segmenting passengers; these insights have substantial implications for future studies and cruise line companies alike.\nPractical implications: This study offers useful insights for managers who want to differentiate their value proposition with ship-centered elements.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical framework and empirical evidence for analyzing the role of the perceived on-board environment in passenger experience. From a managerial perspective, the moderating effects offer new insights for targeting and customizing the cruise experience value proposition.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Knowledge accumulation, development potential and efficiency evaluation: an example using the Hainan free trade zone
|
[
"Performance measurement"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The global economy suffered greatly as a result of the financial crisis in 2008, and the process of globalization was severely hindered. The trade protectionism and re-industrialization in developed countries caused large quantities of capital to flow out of China, which further hampered China's economic development. In contrast, regional economic integration has been on the rise and represents a new round of development. With the continuous deepening of international trade, instances of economic contact among developing countries have become increasingly frequent. Free trade zones (FTZs) exist against this backdrop and develop quickly. As a \"national test field\" that takes institution as the core, FTZ has become a platform and measure for every country in the world in strengthening foreign economic cooperation, expanding international trade, attracting foreign investment and reducing trade conflicts.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Summary of influences of internal factors on enterprise development potential\n3. Theory and hypotheses: Enterprises are aggregates of production factors and contractual relationships. From the contractual perspective, enterprises are a group of contract sets and carriers of different stakeholders. From the production perspective, enterprises are economic organizations formed by a series of heterogeneous resource combinations. According to the endogenous growth theory, a firm's heterogeneous resources and capabilities are key factors explaining their different growth performance. The resource-based view holds that resource heterogeneity and utilization efficiency are the bases for a firm's development potential, and the stock and structure of knowledge capital determines the market competitiveness of the enterprise (Wernerfelt, 1984; Winter, 1988; Prusak, 1997; Singh, 2009). Capitalizing on knowledge is an important activity that promotes economic growth and enterprise development potential. Following these theories, the enterprise knowledge theory emerged over time. According to this theory, a firm's knowledge stock and structure will lead to different resource allocation modes and efficiencies and further affect their production cost and profit. The enterprise ability theory proposes that the existence of knowledge and other heterogeneous resources only provides a resource base to develop the firm's potential, while the ability to develop, integrate and use enterprise knowledge; that is, the ability to command their own knowledge, is the key to developing the firm's potential (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Gaur et al., 2011). This theory even points out that the essence of enterprise development potential is the accumulation of enterprise knowledge (Penorse, 1959). As a strategic asset that is difficult to replicate and imitate, scarce and unique, knowledge accumulation is a decisive factor in gaining excess profit and a competitive advantage (Gaur et al., 2011; Gaur et al., 2014). Knowledge integration, flow and capitalization brings knowledge capital into production and management, thereby reducing production costs, improving production efficiency, changing production potential and building heterogeneous monopoly barriers in market competition to form a unique competitive advantage and long-term development ability. Based on this analysis, the following hypothesis is proposed:\n4. Analysis of the internal factors that influence enterprise development potential: 4.1 Modeling and index selection\n5. Analysis of the external factors that influence enterprise development potential: 5.1 Modeling and index selection\n6. Conclusion: This study examined the relationship between knowledge accumulation, enterprise development potential, and production efficiency, based on financial data of A-stock listed environmental protection enterprises from 2009 to 2016. The study finds that knowledge accumulation has a dual influence on enterprise development potential: it has an indirect influence on enterprise growth through the stimulation of technological transformation and a direct influence through the promotion of enterprise development. Additionally, we analyze the external factors that influence the development potential of enterprises by selecting the local economic level, environmental protection expenditure, technological innovation and profit and education level as indices and adopting a BP neural network algorithm to simulate an external environment for enterprise production. The conclusions in this paper support the contributions of relevant scholars. Not only are the positive functions of knowledge accumulation on capitalization efficiency of enterprise technology supported (Fores and Camison, 2016; Chandra and Dong, 2018) and positive effects of knowledge on enterprise performance proved (West and Iansiti, 2003; Kalkan et al., 2014; Inkinen, 2016) but also the influences of external environmental factors are observed (Martinez-Conesa et al., 2017; Hamdoun et al., 2018; Soto-Acosta et al., 2018). However, different from previous studies that focused more on the influences of management, integration and transfer of existing knowledge on enterprise technology innovation quality and organization performance (Kalkan et al., 2014; Inkinen, 2016; Mardani et al., 2018), this paper pays more attention to the dual function of enterprise knowledge accumulation on enterprise development potential. On the one hand, this paper analyzes the influences of knowledge accumulation on enterprise technology innovation efficiency and effects, and studies the paths of knowledge accumulation promoting enterprise development through the improvement of technology capitalization level. On the other hand, from the perspective of the resource-based view, this paper verifies the direct action of accumulation of knowledge as a unique resource that is rare, hard to duplicate and has competitive advantages on enterprise development potential. Besides, different from previous studies on dynamic influences of the environment, this paper selects the Hainan FTZ as a sample to systematically and completely discuss the influences of the external environment from the perspectives of economic development, environmental protection, technological strategy, and management and educational levels.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The establishment of free trade zones (FTZs) is an important experiment as part of the reform and opening up policy. This paper aims to focus on the issue of production efficiency of environmental protection enterprises in FTZs. Changes in the external and internal environments of enterprises can easily lead to changes in the production efficiencies of enterprises. The establishment of FTZs can change the external environment of enterprises. Knowledge accumulation changes the internal environment of enterprises. However, traditional efficiency analysis has usually ignored the internal and external heterogeneity of decision-making units, resulting in the distortion of the evaluation results.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper examines the relationship between knowledge accumulation and development potential based on financial data of environmental protection enterprises that were listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A stocks, from 2009 to 2016. Then, through data envelopment analysis cross-efficiency analysis of the listed environmental protection enterprises from external heterogeneity, BP neural network model is set up.\nFindings: The results show that the model set up in this paper is stable and reliable. The paper makes policy suggestions such as stimulating trade inside industry, quickening technological progress and enhancing environmental protection.\nOriginality/value: This paper analyzes the economy, environmental protection, science and technology and education to simulate the external environment of enterprises. Based on the experience data from the completion of Shanghai FTZ, this paper predicts the future development potential of Hainan FTZ enterprises.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The witching time: diurnal patterns in adverse events of clinical management
|
[
"Patient care",
"Statistics",
"Risk management",
"Clinical governance",
"Austraila"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The delivery of public health services is associated with adverse patient events (Brennan, 1991). These adverse events are estimated to account for 8 per cent of hospital bed days and cost the Australian healthcare system $4.7 billion a year (Wilson et al., 1995) bedsides being a huge personal cost to affected patients and staff (Vincent, 1997). To ensure healthcare quality all public Area Health Services in the state of New South Wales, Australia, have a statutory responsibility for the quality and safety of the services provided. Each area health services must establish a Clinical Governance Units to assist in this role. The clinical governance unit must ensure a system for the management of clinical incidents exists and that risk mitigations strategies are implemented to prevent recurrence.Greater Southern Area Health Service is a statutory health care provider in a rural area of south-eastern Australia. The service provides 63 healthcare facilities ranging from large non-metropolitan hospitals to small community health facilities and aged care. The facilities are spread over an area of 166,000 square kilometres with a population of 468,000 persons. During the clinical governance unit's planning and monitoring of quality and safety a paucity of literature modelling the timing of adverse events was observed. Knowledge of the existence of diurnal patterns would greatly assist in targeting adverse event intervention strategies to particular times of the day when these events are more likely.Diurnal patterns have been observed in many aspects of human behaviour. The literature provides equivocal observations for time of day effects on the rate of adverse outcomes. For example, increases in the rate of adverse events have been associated with tiredness at night (Landrigan et al., 2004; Dorrian et al., 2006; Aya et al., 1999; Uusora et al., 2003; Parks et al., 2000), during the late afternoon (Wright et al., 2006), evening (Kelz et al., 2008) and no effect (Hixson et al., 2005; Luyt et al., 2007; Numa et al., 2008; Wunsch et al., 2004). Despite the wealth of literature on the effect of time of day on risks to patients there was an absence of statistical models for examining the diurnal patterns of adverse clinical management incidents. A validated theoretical would assist in all aspects of planning, management and research of clinical management incidents. For example differences in the pattern of events between institutions could prompt examination of shift timing or staff rotations.This study utilises a methodology that has been widely used in various fields to examine diurnal patterns in accidents and for the first time applies it to the occurrence of adverse hospital events.\nMethodology: To investigate the potential existence of a diurnal pattern in adverse clinical management events the time of day all the events voluntarily reported to an Incident Information Management System (IIMS) in the Greater Southern Area Health Service between January 2006 and December 2007 were examined. A total of 2,463 adverse events were available for analysis.Clinical management incidents are adverse events related to the clinical management of the patient. For example; unintended injury during a medical or surgical procedure, procedure on wrong body part or side, or a delay in the diagnosis of patient's condition. It excludes error in the documentation process. From the time plots there appeared to be diurnal pattern.A widely used methodology for the analysis of diurnal patterns is cosinor models (Nelson et al., 1979). The cosinor model is three parameter function (equation 1): Equation 1 in which:t =time of dayThe modelled number of adverse events at a particular time of the day (t) is a function of three parameters:1. Mesor;2. Amplitude; and3. Acrophase.The Acrophase is the peak location in the time scale. In this case it is the time of day in hours. The amplitude is one half of the peak-to-trough difference and the Mesor is the cycle adjusted mean. The least squared method was used to estimate the parameters in the non linear regression in SPSS 11.5. A cyclical variation is validated when its amplitude differs from zero with p < 0.05. The residuals were tested for normality with the Shapiro Wilk test.A number of cosinor models were created. The first examined all the observed events. To investigate the effect of type of service two models were created for events defined as either \"medical\" or \"surgical\". To examine the effect of acuity two models were created. First, a model was fitted to the data of the area health services two large high acuity regional base hospitals. These hospitals treat between ten and twenty five thousand acute case mix separations per annum. The second model was fitted to the events observed in the remaining facilities. These remaining facilities include district acute hospitals to residential aged care and mental health facilities.\nResults: Cosinor analysis identified a statistically significant diurnal pattern (p=0.000) in the occurrence of clinical management incidents. Adverse events were more common in the mid afternoon (Figure 1). The acrophase or the peak frequency of events occurred at 14:29 hours (95%CI 13:25 to 15:34 h). The observed events were well modelled by the cosinor function (r2=0.72).The model residuals were tested for normality using the Shapiro Wilk test. The null hypothesis that the residuals were normally distributed could not be rejected (n=24, W=0.98, P=0.85) (see Table I).There ware no significant differences in time of day when the peak number of errors occurred in facilities of differing acuity or between medical or surgical services.\nDiscussion: This study provides evidence of systematic diurnal pattern in the number of adverse clinical management incidents (Figure 1). This pattern was consistent across facilities of varying acuity and between medical and surgical services. The number of adverse events peaks in the mid afternoon. The acrophase or peak of the diurnal cycle of adverse events occurred at 14:29 h (95%CI 13:25 and 15:34 h).Much of the literature on vocational errors has attributed time of day effects to fatigue (Kelz et al., 2008) although there is also a suggestion that diurnal patterns also exist in technical skills (Kuller, 2002; Lenne et al., 1997). The observed increase in errors during the mid-afternoon would not classically be associated with high levels of fatigue. It is likely the observed increase reflects diurnal changes in technical skill, increases in procedural volume or managerial effects.The literature demonstrates that the time of day effect can vary between specialties. However, few studies have compared the effect of specialty within a single health care provider. Observed differences are likely to be confounded by management structures such as staffing levels, handover times and the length of shift. In the Greater Southern Area Health Service a similar diurnal pattern was observed for adverse clinical management in both the surgical and medical services (Figure 2). The peak of the adverse events occurred slightly earlier in the day for surgical events (14:02 h, 95%CI 13:55 to 16:56) compared to medicine events (15:26 hrs, 95%CI 12:32 to 15:32). This difference was not statistically significant. The fundamental managerial structures influencing the diurnal pattern appear to be exerting a greater effect than difference between services.Whilst a similar statistically significant diurnal pattern was observed across service types and facility acuity (Table II) there was no significant difference in the timing of the acrophase. The peak time of day or acrophase was not significantly different when the area's two large high acuity hospitals were compared to the remaining facilities. The presence of consistent diurnal pattern suggests a common intervention should be appropriate across the full range of service and facility types provided by the health service.The increased number of adverse events observed in mid afternoon concurs with Wright et al. (2006). They observed a significant and sizeable increase in the number and probability of adverse events in anaesthetics that started at 14:00 hrs and 15:00 hrs. They offered valuable hypothesises for the increase at the end of the day, suggesting: end of day fatigue, afternoon circadian lows, care transitions, change in the makeup of the team, change in case load and physiological changes in the patient.The factors associated with fatigue, circadian lows, changes in the makeup of the team and care transitions can potentially be addressed with work force planning.There is some evidence on different models of staffing (Landrigan et al., 2004; Arora et al., 2006). However, little is known about the value of staffing models using different mixes of physician assistants, nurse practitioners, residents, fellows and attending physicians, different call and coverage schedules or different work hour regulation. This limits the confidence with which we confidently design a system that provides better patient safety without information on the relative cost-effectiveness of different staffing models (Volpp, 2008).Avoiding the peak risk period may potentially reduce the number of events. This is unlikely to be feasible as most facilities are at full capacity or have capacity constraints. It has however been demonstrated that surgery and anaesthetics have a higher risk later in the day (Wright et al., 2006; Kelz et al., 2008). Improving the timeliness of starts in theatre rosters may reduce the number of late start procedures and the number of adverse events. Re-design of operating procedures has been demonstrated to improve the timeliness of surgery starts (Overdyk et al., 1998) and this will now be examined in Greater Southern Area Health Service.Within Greater Southern Area Health Services the peak of the observed acrophase corresponds with the nurses' hand over to the next shift. A large number of studies have investigated various aspects of clinical handover. These studies confirm clinical handover is a high risk scenario for patient safety with dangers of discontinuity of care, adverse events and legal claims of malpractice (Wong et al., 2008). As medical officers generally do not change at this time, errors that result from the hand over are more likely to be associated with changes in the nursing staff. The findings of this study will be presented to nursing management and opportunities to improve the process will be sought.A potential limitation of this study is that it models the number of events rather than the actual rate. Even if the rate of adverse events is greater at night the mere volume of activity during the day means that the number of events is greater during the day. The number of events integrates the rate and the volume of activity and hence provides a more direct measure of the cost of adverse events. Hence quality and safety interventions will produce the greatest cost savings when they target periods with the greatest number of events. The diurnal pattern describes the period of most importance for clinical governance. The challenge for the health service is now to design and test a system to reduce the number of adverse events.\nConclusion: The statistical modelling has demonstrated that clinical management incidents follow a distinct diurnal pattern. The existence of such a pattern is unsurprising given that circadian rhythms have been demonstrated in most facets of human behaviour. The identified high risk period in the mid afternoon will now be used to target quality and safety interventions to reduce the number of adverse events associated with clinical management. The methodology described is relatively simple, available in most statistical software packages and is offered as a tool for examining diurnal patterns prior to planning quality interventions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The objective of this study is to investigate the existence of a diurnal pattern in the occurrence of adverse clinical management events.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The approach takes the form of a retrospective record review of adverse clinical management events occurring in the 63 facilities of a statutory public health provider in rural south-eastern Australia. Between January 2006 and December 2007, 2,463 clinical management incidents were reported by clinical staff to a specially designed database.\nFindings: - Adverse clinical management incidents exhibit a marked diurnal pattern. This pattern was evident in both medicine and surgery as well as across facilities of differing acuity. The acrophase or peak of the daily cycle occurs at 14:30 hrs (95%CI 13:25 and 15:34 hrs). Although surgical events peaked earlier in the day (14.02hrs: 95%CI 12:32-15:32) compared with medicine events (15:26hrs: 95%CI 13:07-15:32), this difference was not statistically significant.\nResearch limitations/implications: - As the activity rate in the hospital is unknown, this finding study reports the time of the day when most adverse events occur and not their rate as a function of procedural volume.\nPractical implications: - The existence of a diurnal pattern provides valuable information for strategies aimed at improving patient safety and health care quality. Interventions can now be more accurately targeted.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is the first to move beyond descriptive data of the timing of adverse events and offers a model using chronobiological methods. The demonstration of the existence of diurnal patterns should improve programmes to reduce adverse events.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Factors contributing to institutions achieving environmental sustainability
|
[
"United States of America",
"Colleges",
"Universities",
"Higher education",
"Environmental sustainability",
"Sustainable design"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Higher education institutions can make a significant impact in promoting a sustainable future. Leal Filho et al. (1996) contended that post secondary institutions are well suited to take on leadership responsibilities for society's environmental protection. Higher education has the unique academic freedom and the sheer exposure to critical thinking to comment on society and its challenges, and to engage in bold experimentation in environmental sustainability (Cortese, 2003). Even with the importance of sustainability measures that colleges and universities have recognized, many institutions have yet to take the responsibility to engage in change or be leaders in green efforts. McIntosh et al. (2001) acknowledged that despite efforts by many university individuals within higher education organizations, education for a fair and sustainable world is not a high priority. Shriberg (2002b, p. 1), noted that although faculty and students have been pioneers in discovering environmental concerns and promoting the environmental agenda through activism, there is still reluctance on the part of many higher education institutions \"[...] to make environmental and interrelated social and economic issues a priority in curricula, research, service and operations\". Furthermore, Dahle and Neumayer (2001) noted that although higher education institutions have begun to understand and implement sustainable environmental measures into their policies and day-to-day operations, the general trend within the USA and Europe is that few organizations are vigorously pursuing green initiatives. Shriberg (2002b) added that higher education institutions must go beyond adding classes on environmental issues and move toward a fundamental reorganization of how these institutions educate students, conduct research, interact with local communities and ecosystems, operate their campuses, and provide an ideal for other social establishments. Higher education institutions not only need to green their own operations on the physical campus, but as Cortese (1999, p. 8) stated:If we are to achieve a sustainable future, institutions of higher education must provide the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values that equip individuals to pursue life goals in a manner that enhances and sustains human and non-human well-being.There are a number of individual case studies describing \"what\" certain institutions have done, little research has been conducted using a comparison case study method to examine \"how\" the institutions achieved their green success. Herremans and Allwright (2000, p. 169) affirmed:Even though the literature provides some excellent case studies of environmental initiatives that have been implemented throughout the world, most of the information available is in the form of examples of \"this is what we did on our campus.The purpose of this study was to use a qualitative case study approach to determine how three universities achieved environmental sustainability on their campuses.\n2. Critical campus sustainability: Emerging from a literature review were six factors that contributed to environmental sustainability: green campus operation measures; campus administration, organization, and leadership; teaching, research, and service; campus wide actions and activities; institutional assessment of campus sustainability measures; and established methods for overcoming barriers. These six factors serve as the conceptual framework in examining how three universities achieved environmental sustainability on their campuses.2.1 Green campus physical operations\n3. Mode of inquiry: A case study methodology was used to reveal how each factor contributed to the institutions' sustainability. Yin (2003, p. 1) suggested the case studies are the favored approach \"when 'how' and 'why' questions are being posed and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context\". Corcoran et al. (2004, p. 18) advocated for the use of a multiple case study approach for research on sustainability in higher education \"in order to look for trends, patterns and heuristics that are shared and emerge in different contexts\". A case study approach methodology was determined to be the most appropriate for this study to reveal \"how\" each university achieved environmental sustainability.The criterion used to select the three institutions was their national recognition as an environmental sustainability institution, as noted by National Wildlife Federation's 2008 national sustainability report card which is one of the most respected rating systems (\"It's Not Easy Being Green,\" 2008), and the regional location to the researchers. The institutional characteristics of three institutions are described in Table II.Carleton College has received sustainability recognition because of practices that include purchasing food from local farmers, composting, single-stream recycling, serving organic beef, owning and operating its own 1.65 megawatt wind turbine, and organizing student groups such as the Students Organized for the Protection of the Environment (Kaplan, 2008). St Olaf College was recognized for its food and recycling, student involvement, transportation, and investment priorities (St Olaf College - Green Report Card, 2009). St Olaf College has undertaken campus land restoration projects, has approximately one-third of its electricity self-generated by a wind turbine, and composts all of its food waste (Barker, 2008). The University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) is a \"Green Power Partner\" with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a result of the institution's buying and producing green power, which helps support the development of renewable energy capacity while protecting the environment (United States Environmental Protection Agency, n.d.). UMM was also the first US public university to install a large-scale wind research turbine, which supplies energy to nearly all of UMM's buildings. UMM has its own dedicated on campus biomass reactor, which produces electricity from green steam to meet 80 percent of the campus's heating and cooling needs (Goodnough, 2008).Site visits, fieldwork, document reviews, and interviews with administration, faculty, staff, and students from the study participant institutions were used as primary data collection strategies. A \"rich and thick\" description was developed based on:* six factors related to campus sustainability; and* the analysis of interviews, observations, and documents (Merriam, 1998).A combination of two or more methods of data collection were used to triangulate as well as share the findings with the appropriate interview subjects for a thorough evaluation and confirmation that their statements and insights were accurately interpreted (Yin, 2003).From this thick description, which is organized by the six prominent issues related to campus sustainability efforts being studied for each campus, the researcher underscored the common characteristics of the three institutions. Using these characteristics the researcher developed an understanding of \"how\" higher education institutions have, and can in the future; evolve into progressive institutions regarding campus sustainability.\n4. Results: These institutions share more similarities than differences regarding how they have achieved environmental sustainability. Therefore, the similarities will be highlighted in this section.4.1 Facilities-driven\n5. Discussion: The six factors that were identified in the literature as contributing to environment sustainability were present at all three institutions. These institutions achieved sustainability success by having a balanced, facilities-driven outlook. Part of a balanced approach includes establishing a master plan that promotes sustainability issues and values green construction standards for new campus construction. Shriberg (2002b, p. 54) suggested, \"[...] A sustainable college or university's operations do not negatively affect ecosystems or human communities, and are models for other institutions\".These institutions achieved sustainability success because they had a highly progressive, persistent, and environmentally knowledgeable facilities staff leader. Lastly, these institutions were able pursue sustainable facilities progress because they are willing to use an open and collaborative approach in seeking external expertise in engineering and design. At each institution, shared governance and a collaborative sense of community fostered ownership of the campus and its green efforts for everyone. All three institutions used administration, faculty, students, and staff as partnering change agents in creating sustainable campuses.The three institutions in the study fostered a campus culture that supported the incorporation of sustainability topics in teaching, research, and services, but did not demand it to avoid alienating faculty and students on campus with other interests. Although the entire campus community does not have to be consumed by a sustainability focus, each institution needs a core group of faculty and students engaged in teaching, research, and service dedicated to environmental sustainability.The institutions in this study used activism that, in turn, provided educational programming to promote environmental sustainability. Dahle and Neumayer (2001) noted that a number of activism efforts at higher education institutions, such as seminars, open lectures, dedicated sustainability web sites, newsletters, print material, student organizations, and guidance booklets, are effective means of raising sustainability awareness. All three participant institutions had some form of sustainability task force committee which provided a structured means of collaboration for all campus community members. These committees and this governance structure also give autonomy to the campus community and ownership of the campus and its sustainability initiatives to a neighborhood.Campuses that have achieved sustainability success used proficient mechanisms to monitor campus sustainability progress, and especially campus energy consumption and carbon production. Shriberg (2004) noted that campuses need methods of assessing their own efforts and then comparing their efforts to those of other institutions to know they are moving in the right direction. Institutions hoping to achieve environmental sustainability should have proficient mechanisms in place to monitor campus sustainability progress, and especially campus energy and water consumption and carbon production.Institutions that have achieved sustainability success overcame financial barriers by making sustainability initiatives an internal budget priority, and those institutions also pursued alternative funding mechanisms outside the operational budget for significant green investments. Some financial constraints did exist at each institution, but as Dahle and Neumayer (2001) suggest it was an awareness of the financial environment and persistence that helped overcome this barrier. Many administrators environmental sustainability is expensive. Carleton, St Olaf, and UMM dispelled this myth. Making an internal commitment to alter budget decisions to reflect campus sustainability as a priority will not cover all the associated costs that sustainability initiatives can produce. In order to achieve implementation of costly campus sustainability ideas, institutions must use alternative funding mechanisms to support campus green initiatives. Monastersky (2007) noted that a number of higher education institutions were able to overcome financial barriers using techniques such as grants, some of which are from the US DOE; energy trust funds; local utility rebates; tax incentives; and energy service company performance contracts.This study was delimited to three case studies, using a case study method. A limited number of cases were chosen to accommodate a feasible and achievable research and data collection process. The participant institutions utilized all shared similar scope of size relating to operations; campus acreage and maintenance; and administration, faculty, student, and staff numbers. A similar case study might include at least one significantly larger university to see if successful measures of campus sustainability occur by the same means with just a difference in scale, or are they noticeably different. The study was further delimited to the six factors that were identified in the literature as contributing to environment sustainability. Further research should explore other factors that may have an impact on campus sustainability efforts.\n6. Conclusions: In conclusion, the following factors were determined to contribute to institutions achieving environmental sustainability within the limitation and delimitation of this study. Institutions need a balanced, facilities driven strategy where institutions view their campus facilities as a living and learning laboratory. In order to implement this strategy, institutions need to have a highly progressive, persistent, and environmentally knowledgeable facilities staff leader. Institutions may best achieve sustainability success by utilizing both a top-down and bottom-up approach in instigating sustainability changes. Institutions can achieve sustainability success by fostering a campus culture that is supportive of teaching, research, and services directed at sustainability topics. Institutions should use proficient mechanisms to monitor campus sustainability progress, and especially campus energy consumption and carbon production. Institutions achieving sustainability success may overcome the financial barriers facing higher education institutions by making sustainability initiatives an internal budget priority. Second, campuses must pursue alternative funding mechanisms outside the operational budget to pursue significant green investments.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to determine what factors contributed to three universities achieving environmental sustainability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case study methodology was used to determine how each factor contributed to the institutions' sustainability. Site visits, fieldwork, document reviews, and interviews with administration, faculty, staff, and students from the participating institutions were employed as primary data collection strategies.\nFindings: - The six factors identified in the literature as contributing to environmental sustainability were present at all three institutions: green campus operation measures; campus administration, organization, and leadership; teaching, research, and service; campus-wide actions and activities; institutional assessment of campus sustainability measures; and established methods for overcoming barriers.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study was delimited to the six factors that were identified in the literature and the three institutions that participated in this study. The research will add to the literature on creating sustainable campuses and will also provide a foundation for further study on the progress and impact of campus sustainability efforts.\nOriginality/value: - A number of individual case studies have described what certain institutions have done. A smaller number of case studies have identified what factors have contributed to certain institutions' achieved environmental sustainability.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Gender inequality in multidimensional welfare deprivation in West Africa: The case of Burkina Faso and Togo
|
[
"Education",
"Employment",
"Gender inequality",
"Housing",
"Access to credit",
"Multidimensional poverty",
"Basic utilities",
"Assets"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to the World Bank (2011a), gender inequality matters for two main reasons. First, the ability to make your own choices for a better life and to be free of absolute deprivation is a basic human right. In this respect, everyone should be equal, especially between genders. The second reason is that gender equality promotes economic efficiency and is helpful to achieving other development outcomes. The promotion of gender equality is also included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in Objectives 1, 2, 3 and 5. Aware that gender equality is crucial to achieving the MDGs, the World Bank Group launched in 2007 a Gender Action Plan whose purpose is to improve women's economic empowerment in order to promote shared growth and to accelerate the achievement of the third MDG (World Bank, 2006).\n2. Choosing deprivation dimensions: 2.1. Housing\n3. Methodology and data: The approach adopted in this paper is a mixture of the inertia approach and the counting method developed by Alkire and Foster (2007, 2011). The first is useful for aggregating indicators within each dimension when necessary. In fact, some dimensions such as housing, basic utilities and assets include several indicators. The use of the inertia method makes it possible to convert each group of indicators into an index of deprivation. Moreover, an advantage of this method is assigning weights to various goods and services directly from the data themselves. The second approach is then used to estimate multidimensional deprivation by counting individual deprivations.\n4. Results: 4.1. Deprivation and poverty rates\n5. Conclusion: Gender inequality should be tackled not only for reasons of equity, but also with a view to promoting economic efficiency for the better achievement of development outcomes. Like several studies based on the monetary measurement of poverty, this study, which is more focussed on multidimensional deprivation, shows that gender inequalities in poverty exist in Burkina Faso and Togo. Furthermore, the analysis confirms that the extent of inequality could differ from one country to another. Regional disparities are also noted in both countries. Moreover, it is clear from these analyses that the sources of inequality are different. In fact, inequalities in education and employment largely explain gender inequality in Burkina Faso, while those in assets, access to credit and employment are the main sources in Togo.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The importance of gender equality is reflected not only in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also in the World Bank's Gender Action Plan launched in 2007 as well as in other treaties and actions undertaken at regional and international levels. Unlike other gender poverty works, which are mostly based on monetary measurement, the purpose of this paper is to adopt a non-monetary approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The present study makes use of a counting approach to examine gender issues in Burkina Faso and Togo using household surveys, namely Enquete Integrale surles Conditions de Vie des Menages (2009/2010) and Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (2011), respectively. It focusses on six dimensions (housing, basic utilities, assets, education, employment and access to credit) largely recognized as MDG targets.\nFindings: Main findings indicate that overall individuals are the most deprived in education in Burkina Faso, while the reverse situation is true in Togo. Gender inequality is observed in all dimensions since women always seem to be more deprived than men. The situation is also marked by regional disparities. Moreover, the assessment of dimensional contributions shows different patterns for each country. While employment proves to be the main contributor of gender inequality in Burkina Faso, three dimensions (assets, access to credit and employment) account together for most of the total contribution to gender inequality in Togo.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution of the paper is to use a multidimensional method (counting approach) to assess gender deprivation, with countries comparison. It also proposes an interesting combination of the decomposition by dimension with the subgroup's decomposition in order to determine the largest contributor to gender inequality.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The web-internet compound as the infrastructure of digital government
|
[
"Worldwide web",
"Internet",
"Digital communication systems",
"Telecommunications",
"Societal organization"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Electronic commerce has been defined broadly as the sharing of business information, maintaining of business relationships, and conducting of business transactions by means of telecommunications networks (Zwass, 1996). This definition encompasses the activities of e-government as those of conducting the affairs of state on various levels and with the greatest rational involvement of citizenry. At the same time, a consideration of the broader role of government in human affairs requires us to look more closely at the diverse aspects of the internet-web compound, the underlying technological driver and vehicle of e-commerce. It is our objective here to unpack the aspects of the internet-web and analyze their relevance to the digital government.\nElectronic commerce and digital government: Digital government, that is, government facilitated by the internet-web and allied information and telecommunication technologies, encompasses two principal domains. The first of these, generally termed e-government, addresses the needs of all levels of government as providers of services. Efficiency in administration, and providing broad access to information and transactional services to the citizenry are recognized as the primary concerns in this domain. An assessment survey of e-government readiness has been developed by a United Nations body (e-Government, 2003). However, the domain also includes properly the electronic means of ensuring security and safety of citizens, and those aspects of the citizens' well-being that are allocated to the government in a given society (as is, for example, healthcare is in some countries). The more problematic second aspect of digital government is e-democracy: the support for the process of broad participation of citizens, and of those of them who represent others, in the debate, political discourse, surfacing and elaboration of societal issues, emergence of representation, polling, and voting. The two domains of digital government do, of course, overlap. Informed citizenry has been long recognized as the bedrock of democracy, yet the citizenry becomes informed not only by the processes specific to e-democracy. The voting technology has been known to impinge on the perceived probity of the democratic process. Also, the interest taken by certain country governments in e-government may not equal their interest in e-democracy.Here, we wish to consider the essence of both digital government domains as they are - and can be - supported by the appropriate aspects of the internet-web, using the salient aspects of the aspects-and-opportunities framework of Zwass (2003). The principal areas of activity in the deployment of the internet-web compound range from computation and connectivity to collaboration and commerce. The Protean nature of the compound offers multiple sources of change and innovation in the domain of government, as in other organizational domains. However, as Castells (1996, p. 15) points out, \"[i]nstitutions of society are built to enforce power relationships existing in each historical period.\" Technology plays a complex role of offering new- and sometimes compelling- options in the evolution of these relationships, without directly causing such an evolution.\nMarket and hierarchy: Let us consider first the higher-level aspects of the internet-web compound. The web serves as the marketplace, which is at this time almost entirely dominated by business-to-business commerce, accounting for about 95 percent of the total monetary volume of e-commerce (E-commerce and Development Report, 2002). The web acts as a virtual space where the buyers and sellers congregate, the matching of product, seller, and price is effected, and the transaction is facilitated (including the delivery of digital products and of payments). The web-internet compound also serves as the universal supply-chain linkage, as business processes become more widely supported with web-enabled information systems. The beneficial balance between the internal production by a firm (hierarchy) and the acquisition in the market is defined to a large degree by the relationship between the agency costs of management and the costs of transacting in the marketplace (Williamson, 1975; Malone et al., 1987).The presence of the potentially universal marketplace and supply-chain linkage changes the points of this beneficial balance - for the governments as well. Therefore, governments at all levels are in a position to review which functions should be retained and which should be privatized (some states in the US have been privatizing the motor-vehicles licensing functions, for example). Considering the broader mission of the government, such a review should be conducted with full consideration of risks of non-performance and security, which are not an explicit consideration in transaction-cost economics. Yet, subjecting more of the traditionally governmental functions to the Schumpeterian \"creative destruction\" in the marketplace can bring innovation and efficiency where they had not been seen before. For example, packages of services can be offered seamlessly to a citizen considered a client who is undergoing a life-cycle transition or requires complex assistance in a real-estate acquisition. Such reallocation of certain government functions to the marketplace can be done in full recognition of what Miller (2002) calls \"the necessity of countermarket institutions\" of the state and the civil society.\nDigital democracy: As an interactive medium, the internet-web is unique in its accessibility in both active and passive (informational) modes. The very presence of this medium changes the force field in the political process. The medium tends to empower (or, rather, lend louder voice to) an individual in relation to organizations, including those of governments. Political campaigning and fund-raising, as well as individual activism, are on the rise, with the internet-based e-mail and web-based blogs as notable tools (Cummings, 2003). The web has provided the forum for virtual communities, relatively durable social networks of relationships whose participants interact within a framework of explicit and tacit policies (Andrews et al., 2002). Politically oriented virtual communities can deploy the web to self-organize, debate political issues, set agendas, hone policies, engage politicians in a debate from a position of enhanced power, and influence the political process nationally or, even, internationally as non-governmental organizations. Egregious behavior stemming from political power may be curtailed by the very expectation of a reaction in web communities, which are potent social amplifiers. The effectiveness of self-organization for political purposes becomes more pronounced with the advent of the tools of m-commerce, enabling \"smart mobs\" to emerge rapidly and add physical presence to the virtual community (Rheingold, 2002).There is no other forum that can be so easily joined, that is embedded in so much easily accessible information, and can be enacted asynchronously (if desired), without a limiting time horizon. This novel forum is also a part of a global space offering visibility and a source of new participants. If we apply the perspective of Habermas (1991), the availability of such a forum expands the public sphere, where the deliberative processes of discourse and debate can lead to informed public opinion - and have an impact that also lends legitimacy to subsequent political action.The medium of the web is capable of enabling teledemocracy that would go beyond participatory democracy to afford citizens direct legislative rights through electronic town hall meetings and referenda at all levels of government (Becker, 2001). However, the disintermediation of the elected actors of representative democracies is no more likely to be enacted in toto than that of the business intermediaries of e-commerce. In both cases, the intermediaries have significant and abiding roles to play, as different as these roles are.\nThe infrastructure of society: The internet-web compound is becoming the delivery vehicle for the services of the government and for digital tokens (such as votes), the universal telecommunications network including the anytime-anywhere connectivity of mobile communication, and the common development platform from which new information-based initiatives are launched. Thus, it is increasingly becoming an essential infrastructure of our government, our supply webs, our marketplaces, our utilities, indeed of our lives. The web will unavoidably become the infrastructure of our democratic processes, as we move to e-elections and similar technologically-based means of eliciting democratic representation. The advent of the internet and the web, the non-proprietary software standards, the common protocols, the emerging uniform patterns of use, all enable societal and business integration on a variety of levels. Grids of our civilization are increasingly based on integrated information technologies. This is, of course, an immense benefit. It is also an immense vulnerability - on many levels and to many and various threats. The reduction and containment of these vulnerabilities are of the essence. Fundamental approaches are necessary to make software-driven networks of transactions, services, and relationships fostered by digital government more reliable, more secure, and more resilient.\nDiscussion and conclusion: As we have seen, several principal aspects of the internet-web compound can enable fundamental changes encompassed in the idea of digital government. Yet, potentialities are not mandates. Through a careful consideration of the specific aspects of this now decade-old meld of technologies progress can be achieved. Self-organization is a crucial aspect of e-democracy. Yet, as Brown and Duguid (2002) point out, self-organization and formal organizations are neither alternatives nor complimentary entities: they coexist in a state of mutual tension. Technological actions need to be undertaken in full recognition of this coexistence, lest they court failure. To support a given mode of technology appropriation, a whole system of values and norms needs to emerge at the level of the society; this system goes beyond the compass of legal institutions (Mylonopoulos and Doukidis, 2003).The success of information systems is contingent on a great variety and complexity of antecedents (Larsen, 2003). The span of this variety is particularly operative in the case of systems that can affect our lives as the digital government systems can. Organizational change in the dialectic mode has been characterized as a \"pluralistic world of colliding events, forces, or contradictory values that compete with each other for domination or control\" (Van de Ven and Poole, 1995, p. 517). This is probably the most apt description of the continuing appropriation of the various aspects of the internet-web compound for the purposes of digital government.What is at issue is not simply the instrumentation of government and of democratic processes with information technologies. Government roles and operations themselves require change in the presence of these transformational technologies. \"For the most part, governments have not yet reorganized to meet the challenges of the digital world,\" says Simon (2000, p. 51). Digital government is best understood as a continuing process of convergence between the emergence, structuring, and functioning of governmental institutions and their leadership on the one hand, and the information technologies that enable these institutions on the other. To be effective, information-systems researchers and practitioners need to gain further understanding of this process and of the opportunities, the diverse aspects of the internet-web compound can play in it.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To provide the framework for digital government in its e-government and e-democracy aspects.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using the aspects-and-opportunities framework of the internet-web compound, the nodal aspects of the continuing and potential technologically-based change known as digital government are discussed. Reallocation of certain government functions to the market becomes newly attractive economically in the presence of the web as marketplace. The web as a broadly accessible medium and a forum offers new opportunities in digital democracy. The utilitarian aspects of the internet-web, those of the universal telecommunications network, delivery vehicle, and a common development platform, render the compound a new societal infrastructure, with the consequent benefits and exposures. The opportunities, as well as vulnerabilities, need to be the focus of information specialists as technologists and as citizens.\nFindings: - Opportunities are surfaced to reallocate the functions of e-government from the hierarchy to the market using e-commerce methods and tools.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Vulnerabilities of the web-internet combine in the application to e-government are not investigated here.\nPractical implications: - Move from the bureaucratic to market-oriented structures is implied.\nOriginality/value: - A broad application of e-commerce facilities to digital government is presented within a disciplined framework.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
International students' decision-making process
|
[
"Decision making",
"Higher education",
"International business",
"Overseas students"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In order to be successful in the present global environment, students must develop some key global cultural skills (Cant, 2004). This need has increased international students' search for higher education around the world (Enders, 2004; Teichler, 2004).The growing number of international students in search of higher education and the inclusion of new countries as destinations for this purpose have increased the need for understanding the behaviour of consumers from a cross-national perspective.Global trends within the field of higher education have brought new competitors (Ivy, 2001), involved in an increasing and intense struggle to attract new students (Nicholls et al., 1995; Soutar and Turner, 2002). In this context, educational institutions must maintain their competitive advantage by developing a distinctive image (Ivy, 2001; Valimaa, 2004) and positioning.Competence for attracting international students has expanded to regional and national Governments. The UK Government has sponsored several initiatives to attract more international students with the purpose of becoming the world's leading nation in international education (Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003).Likewise, the USA and Australia have been applying aggressive international marketing strategies for education (Michael, 1990; Mazzarol and Hosie, 1996). Recently, due to the increasing number of Latin American students, the Regional Government of the Community of Madrid (Spain) has studied the possibility of opening a specific office for the management of this international demand from Latin countries and to increase the capacity of existing facilities.This reality makes international students' preferences a very interesting subject to study, focusing not only on higher education institutions involved in internationalization strategies, but also on national, regional and local governments interested in promoting their territories as education destinations.Thus, it is very important for marketers to know the factors influencing the purchase intention of prospective students and to understand the nature of the relationship among those factors. Due to the increasing demand for educational services, marketers need to be more aware of the underlying factors considered by consumers when evaluating services (Ahmed et al., 2002) if they want to survive in this competitive environment (Vaira, 2004).The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model integrating the different factors that influence the purchase decision process of international students. Thus, this work analyses the different dimensions of the decision-making process and tries to explain those factors determining the students' choice and the relationships underlying the process at the moment of selecting their destination country. With this objective in mind, the present work reviews available literature regarding the students' selection process of higher education services published over the last 25 years, and proposes an integrated purchasing or selection model.\nConceptual framework: Relatively little has been written on the marketing of education within international markets (Mazzarol, 1998). There is scarce literature analysing the decision-making process of prospective international students in general.Existing literature tends to focus on the study of those factors related to the institution in itself, disregarding the influence of the country choice. Thus, from an international perspective, dimensions in the decision process are not considered. Nevertheless, there are some interesting theoretical (Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002) and empirical (Mazzarol and Hosie, 1996; Peng et al., 2000; Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003) studies on this subject.The decision to study overseas is one of the most significant and expensive initiatives that students may ever undertake (Mazzarol, 1998). Therefore, the high costs of studying abroad make it a complex decision. Most complex and expensive decisions are more likely to involve deeper buyer deliberation (Assael, 1981, cited in Nicholls et al., 1995).In this way, the decision to study abroad increases the complexity of the selection process. Thus, when the prospective student chooses a country in which to study, he is not only buying the education service but he is also acquiring an important pack of services jointly provided with the core service.The nature of educational services\nThe theoretical model: The international education is not a frequent purchase and demands a high level of involvement from customers (Nicholls et al., 1995). In order to determine their preferences, prospective students consider what is important for them, and then make a conscious/unconscious trade-off among the attributes (Soutar and Turner, 2002).The model presented in this work aims to explain the factors influencing the purchase intention of international students. The purchase intention is used as a predictor for the preferential choices of consumers, and is defined as the intention of the student regarding the destination country as provider of the education service (Peng et al., 2000; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002).The theoretical model comprises the purchase intention, as a dependent and not observable variable, and four factors with a total of 19 independent variables identified in existing literature. The factors identified are personal reasons (Krampf and Heinlein, 1981; Dawidow and Uttal, 1989; Oosterbeck et al., 1992; Gronroos, 1994; Kotler and Fox, 1995; Qureshi, 1995; Mazzarol and Hosie, 1996; Lin, 1997; Turner, 1998; Bourke, 2000; Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003), country image (Hooley and Lynch, 1981; Lawley, 1998; Bourke, 2000; Peng et al., 2000; MORI, 2001; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002; Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003), institution image (Krampf and Heinlein, 1981; Peters, 1992; Hall, 1993; Sullivan, 1993; Qureshi, 1995; Mazzarol and Hosie, 1996; Lin, 1997; Mazzarol, 1998; Turner, 1998; Ford et al., 1999; Ivy, 2001; Soutar and Turner, 2002; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002; Gutman and Miaoulis, 2003; Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003; Price et al., 2003), and programme evaluation (Hooley and Lynch, 1981; Krampf and Heinlein, 1981; Qureshi, 1995; Bourke, 2000; Peng et al., 2000; Srikatanyoo and Gnoth, 2002; Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003). The model is presented in Figure 1.Personal reasons\nConclusions: Until now, research on the choice of higher education has centred on partial aspects of the process. Existing literature has concentrated on identifying those elements which play a part in the decision of the prospective student and establishing priorities within.These studies analyse the influence of the elements related to either the image of the institution, the evaluation of the programmes, personal reasons or, to a lesser degree, the image of the country. Thus, there are few studies which try to tackle the decision making process of the prospective international student from an integrated point of view.This paper aims to contribute to bridging that gap. In order to do this, a theoretical model is presented which tries to integrate different groups of factors, identified by existing literature, which influence in the decision of the international student.The model presented here shows the purchase intention as an independent variable dependent on five factors: personal reasons; the effect of country image, influenced by city image; institution image; and the evaluation of the programme of study. The consideration, whether conscious or unconscious on the part of the prospective student, of the different elements making up the factors included in this study will determine the final choice made by that student.The limitations of this study stem from the nature of the study itself. As a theoretical model, it aims to integrate the factors identified in the existing literature. Thus, future research must try to examine the existing relationships among the aforementioned factors. In particular, it must analyse the weight of each factor on the purchase intention, and the relative importance of each element for the factor it belongs to. Therefore, determining the relative importance of each element and factor would constitute an important source of information for future work in international marketing.On the other hand, there should be more in-depth study on the effect that country image has on the decision making process of the prospective student. In particular, studies should analyse in which situations country image can contribute to choosing the country as an educational destination. In the same line, future work should analyse to what degree cultural distances and ethnocentrism influence the choice of country as a destination (Hofstede, 1983).Another interesting area would be a comparative analysis between prospective students (purchase intention) and international students (purchase decision). This would establish whether there are significant differences between purchase intention and actual purchase.Further analysis of consumer behaviour and determining factors in the decision making process of the international student would allow educational institutions, as well as national, regional and local governments interested in attracting international students, to strengthen their image, try to eliminate weaknesses and thus increase their possibilities of being chosen as a destination for consumption of higher education services.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model that integrates the different groups of factors which influence the decision-making process of international students, analysing different dimensions of this process and explaining those factors which determine students' choice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A hypothetical model is presented which shows the purchase intention as an independent variable dependent on five factors: personal reasons; the effect of country image, influenced by city image; institution image; and the evaluation of the programme of study. The consideration, whether conscious or unconscious on the part of the prospective student, of the different elements making up the factors included in this study will determine the final choice made by that student.\nFindings: - The limitations of this study stem from the nature of the study itself. As a theoretical model, it aims to integrate the factors identified in the existing literature. Thus, future research must try to examine the existing relationships among the aforementioned factors. In particular, it must analyse the weight of each factor on the purchase intention, and the relative importance of each element for the factor it belongs to. Therefore, determining the relative importance of each element and factor would constitute an important source of information for future work in international marketing.\nOriginality/value: - There are few studies which try to tackle the decision-making process of the prospective international student from an integrated point of view. This paper contributes to bridging that gap.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Impact of psychological contract fulfillment on organizational citizenship behavior: Mediating role of perceived organizational support
|
[
"Organizational citizenship behaviour",
"Perceived organizational support",
"Organizational support theory",
"Psychological contract fulfillment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The recent economic and political turbulences, the fluctuations in oil prices and the 2008 financial crises have resulted in large-scale redundancies in the firms across the world, which is consequently transforming the employee-employer relationship. As a result, the importance of psychological contracts has increased manifold to delineate this relationship (Turnley et al., 2003). Defined as an unwritten understanding between the employee and employer, psychological contract has originated from the social exchange theory (SET; Blau, 1964). Compared to the written agreement between an employee and an employer, the psychological contract captures key unwritten expectations such as fair compensation, good working conditions and career advancement opportunities, etc., in exchange of good performance (Rousseau, 1995).\nLiterature review: OST, PCF and POS\nMethodology: Data were collected via a questionnaire by adopting a quantitative methodology from an employee-employer dyad. Various five- and four-star hotels in Pakistan were targeted for data collection through a convenient sampling technique. The reasons of selecting these five- and four-star hotels are that these hotels hire employees on a permanent basis in Pakistan, providing well-defined career development paths. They also invest on these employees in the form of their training and development, coaching and mentoring, etc. Furthermore, latest business and HR models are applied in these big hotels. Smaller hotels, on the other hand, rely mostly on temporary workers, invest relatively less time and money on their careers and adopt a more ad hoc system of management. As mentioned earlier, the service sector is facing high environmental and economic uncertainties (Wahab and Cooper, 2001), particularly, the widespread pandemic of terrorism around the world, which has further added to these already turbulent times. Hence, the hospitality industry is emphasizing on employees' capabilities to bring about creative solutions to the challenges (Chang and Lee, 2015; Javed et al., 2017). Thus, it raises the importance of psychological contracts and extra-role behaviors of employees at work.\nResults: Descriptive statistics and correlations\nDiscussion and conclusions: Conclusions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF; independent) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; dependent) with perceived organizational support (POS) playing a partial mediating role.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Quantitative methodology has been adopted to achieve the aim of this study, and data were collected via a questionnaire through an employee-supervisor/colleague dyad. Various five- and four-star hotel staff members in Pakistan were the target population, eliciting a recorded sample of 418 employees and 105 supervisors/colleagues.\nFindings: The study revealed that PCF has a positive impact on POS and OCB. The partial mediating role of POS between the dependent and independent variables was also confirmed.\nResearch limitations/implications: Among the implications, a novel theoretical underpinning of organizational support theory (OST) was established in psychological contract literature in addition to the social exchange theory (SET). Similarly, the mediating mechanism of POS was also validated, thereby offering an additional extension in psychological contract literature. Among the limitations, the cross-sectional nature of data and testing of a single mediating path between independent and dependent variables can be noted.\nOriginality/value: Alternative theoretical underpinning, that is, the usage of OST, the partial mediating role of POS and the study settings, i.e. evidence from the hotel industry from a developing country, are novel contributions of this study.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Simulation of workflow balancing in assembly shopfloor operations
|
[
"Work flow",
"Balancing",
"Production scheduling",
"Assembly",
"Simulation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Machine scheduling involves the allocation of jobs to machines based on some objective function. Different algorithms have been developed by researchers to estimate the performance of scheduling. The assembly planning of the textile machine considered in this study is a repetitive type manufacturing system, which involves allocation of assembly operations to be executed in parallel by operators. The operators are cross-trained to perform all kinds of operations required for a complete assembly. The product of the assembly has the same geometry and assembly operational sequences. There are n operations to be executed by m operators in parallel to complete the assembly. There are some precedence operations to be allocated first among the all operations. This is modeled as a classical parallel machine scheduling problem with precedence constraints. In parallel machine scheduling with precedence constraints, there are n jobs to be scheduled on m machines satisfying the given precedence constraints. An operation cannot be started until all its precedence operations are completed. In this research work, the workflow balancing approach is used to allocate the operations to the operators in the assembly section. Workflow refers to the workloads of operators, which are represented by the sum of all assembly-processing times assigned to them. The assembly operations are scheduled to the operators in such a way that their workloads need to be balanced. The selection of operations for the assignment is based on three different scheduling strategies:1. Random (RANDOM).2. Shortest processing time (SPT).3. Longest processing time (LPT).All the preceding operations are scheduled first and succeeding operations are scheduled subsequently. Both the preceding and succeeding operations are selected individually according to the above three assembly scheduling strategies. A computer simulation model has been developed to replicate the actual situation and its output obtained for analysis. The computational experiments were conducted on the simulation model by varying number of operations and operators. The authors used the relative percentage of imbalance (RPI) in workloads of operators to estimate the performance of the heuristics.\nLiterature review: In parallel machine scheduling problem, there are m machines on which n jobs are to be scheduled. Each job has to be scheduled on any one of the machines during the fixed processing time. The aim is to find out the schedule that optimizes a certain performance measure (Mokotoff, 2001). The parallel machine scheduling problem of minimizing the make span on a fixed number of machines has been studied intensively and a number of approximation algorithms have been proposed and analyzed (Herrmann and Lee, 1994). List scheduling algorithms proposed by Graham (1966) are the commonly used approximation methods to derive the solutions in parallel machine scheduling. His findings show that a simple list scheduling algorithm is the best approximation algorithm for parallel machine scheduling problems with precedence constraints for the objective of minimization of a manufacturing span. The list scheduling is a two-approximation algorithm for parallel machine scheduling with precedence constraints, which are non-polynomial (NP) for more than two machines.A p-approximation algorithm is an algorithm that runs in polynomial time and delivers a solution of value at most p times the optimum (Karger et al., 1999). Chudak and Shmoys (1999) presented a new approximation algorithm for the problem of scheduling precedence-constrained jobs on parallel machines that are uniformly related for the objectives of completion time and weighted completion time. The first approximation algorithm was derived for parallel machine scheduling problems with precedence constraints for jobs whose processing times are controlled by the probability distributions (Skutella and Lutz, 2001). The jobs are partitioned into groups and are individually scheduled according to the list scheduling algorithms, and are joined together to get the final schedule (Hall et al., 1997). Job shop scheduling problems can be solved by three approaches:1. Priority rules.2. Combinatorial optimization.3. Constraints analysis (Dubois et al., 1995).General job shop scheduling problems are NP complete, where finding the optimal solution is difficult. Heuristic algorithms can be used, as accuracy may not be essential in the practical situation (French, 1982). Priority rules which have functions related to the processing time and due date are also used for scheduling (Hunag, 1984).Priority rule based scheduling methods are easy to apply and fast in terms of computational effort (Brucker et al., 1999). Many heuristic strategies have been used to generate good assembly plans in assembly decision support systems (Ye and Urzi, 1996). The workload definition of Bertrand covers the processing time of all jobs on the shop floor which still have to be processed at the workstation concerned (Land and Gaalman, 1996). Workload balancing implies that operations are assigned to machines such that sufficient workload is allocated to machines to avoid idle time (Farkas et al., 1999). Assignments of jobs to machines may be based on production rates, operation precedence, machine availability and workload balancing (Araujo et al., 1995).An imbalance measure is some function of workload differences among machines or machine groups (Kumar and Shankar, 2001). Job ordering plays an important role in the operation/machine allocation decision of loading problems of FMS (Vidyarthi and Tiwari, 2001). Gung and Steudel (1999) proposed a workload balancing model based on the theory of constraints to balance the flow line and limit the workload at each workstation.Various performance measures of the job shop have been examined using different loading rules (Muhlemann et al., 1982). An unbalanced line tends to have underutilized operators and workstations along with high work in process (WIP) (Chow, 1988). In both conventional and flexible manufacturing systems, workload balancing attempts to equalize the workload of the operations assigned to each machine (Farkas et al., 1999). A machine is an entity which performs work of any kind. Machines may be processing machines, automated guided vehicles, workers, sales people, microprocessors or phone operators (Roser et al., 2001). A simulation study was carried out to solve the load balancing problems for the photolithography area of wafer fabrication in a semiconductor fabrication facility (Monch et al., 2001). The jobs were allocated initially in the first phase and then tuned to a balanced machine allocation in the next phase (Hayrinen et al., 1998).Guerrero et al. (1999) presented a mixed integer linear program for a machine loading problem where the objective was to balance machine workloads. However, the MIP model becomes computationally intractable even for small to medium-sized problems (Kumar and Shankar, 2001). Therefore, it is solved mostly by heuristics.\nProblem definition: The textile machinery-manufacturing unit considered in this study produces machines, namely carding, draw and speed frames. These machines are used to produce yarn from raw cotton. Assembly planning of a speed frame is considered in this case. The length of the speed frame is 25 meters. The required components of the complete assembly are brought to the assembly shop floor since it has a fixed position layout (see Figure 1).The mainframe of the speed frame is erected at one place on the shop floor and other components and sub assemblies are fixed on it along its entire length at various locations. Some components are fixed first because of precedence relationship to accommodate other fitting components. The fitting of sub assemblies and other components can be executed simultaneously at different places along the entire length of the mainframe. The aim of this study is to determine suitable scheduling strategies in allocating assembly operations to the operators so that their workloads are well balanced. Balanced workloads reduce idle time and ensure the earliest completion of assembly. This problem of workflow balancing for the assembly of a speed frame is modeled as a parallel machine scheduling problem using the analogy of operations for jobs and operators for machines with the precedence constraints.The assembly scheduling problem consists of n operations Ji, i=1, 2, 3, ... , n and m operators Mj, j=1, 2, 3, ... , m. The operation Ji requires a processing time pj, and can be processed by any one of the operators. There are some precedence operations which must be completed before starting new operations. The operations are allocated such that the workloads of the operators are evenly distributed. An operation may be allocated only after ensuring that all precedence operations have been allocated.Let S represent the list of assembly operations to be assigned to the operators. This list is constructed with operations numbers and their processing times:Equation 1where pi indicates the processing time of the ith operation. Let S1 be the list of preceding operations that must be assigned before succeeding operations, and let S2 be another list containing succeeding operations. Both S1 and S2 are extracted from the main list S:Equation 2where p is the number of preceding operations, and:Equation 3where q is the number of succeeding operations.The assembly operations must be assigned such that workloads of operators are well balanced to achieve maximum efficiency on the shop floor. Scheduling strategies play a vital role in producing good schedules with balanced workloads. Workload balancing is useful in achieving maximum system utilization. This problem belongs to NP complete, and hence is solved using heuristic algorithms. Workload balancing can be achieved by adopting different strategies (i.e. RANDOM, SPT and LPT) to both preceding and succeeding operations separately.The case study consists of 62 assembly operations to be scheduled to six cross-trained operators. Both preceding and succeeding assembly operations are executed in parallel.Assumptions\nWorkflow balancing in assembly scheduling: Shop floor control provides clear visibility over the manufacturing activities carried out on the shop floor. The resources must be properly used to achieve maximum productivity on the shop floor. Manufacturing activities must be properly scheduled for efficient use of available resources. Resources are costlier in the present day scenario, and so should be fully utilized. The workflow must be distributed uniformly on the shop floor to avoid bottlenecks. The presence of bottlenecks leads to the under-utilization of resources. The case study in this paper involves the allocation of assembly operations to operators so that they are well utilized. An operator becomes a bottleneck if he or she is overloaded with too much processing time. \"Bottleneck\" refers to the maximum time that will be consumed by an operator in finishing all the operations assigned to him or her. This bottleneck affects the work of other operators so that productivity is lost on the shop floor. Sometimes, the planning of assembly operations in parallel leads to more than one bottleneck. Hence, workflow balancing is adopted to avoid such bottlenecks. Workflow refers to the workloads of the operators. Idle time is not considered in calculating the workload. Operators must be assigned with suitable workloads so that each operator has a balanced workload on the shop floor. The idea of workflow balancing is to minimize imbalances in workloads present among operators.Methodology\nExperimental results for the case study: The assembly scheduling of a speed frame has 62 operations to be assigned to six cross-trained operators. A simulation experiment was conducted to identify the suitable scheduling strategies so that workflow balancing was achieved among the operators. The simulation model was used to test real data collected from the shop floor. The lists of operations times and the precedence operations were fed into the computer model through an input file. Both preceding and succeeding operations were arranged according to the nine heuristics described above. The output shows the work allotment schedules in terms of processing times to the operators based on heuristics. The RPI values were calculated and graphs were drawn using Excel.Figure 7 shows the random selection of succeeding operations, whereas precedence operations are selected according to the three strategies. The RPI values for RR, SR and LR are between 0 and 7.18 percent. SR produces a balanced schedule as compared to the other two heuristics. The imbalances are distributed in the range 0 to 6.57 per cent. Operator 3 has the maximum workload. LR does not produce as balanced workloads as SR and RR (see Table VII).Figure 8 shows more RPI values plotted by selecting unscheduled succeeding operations using the SPT strategy. Preceding operations were selected using the three strategies. The RPI values lie between 0 and 21.83 percent. Of the three heuristics (i.e. RS, SS and LS), RS produces a balanced workload schedule. SS has the maximum RPI value at 21.83 percent, and LS has 21.72 percent. Operator 3 has no imbalance using RS, while operator 4 has no imbalance using SS and operator 5 has no imbalance using LS. This group of heuristics does not produce a balanced workload schedule.Succeeding operations were selected as per the LPT strategy and preceding operations were selected according to the three strategies, as shown in Figure 9. This group of heuristics (i.e. RL, SL and LL) produce a balanced workload schedule.As discussed previously, LL shows a good result among the heuristics. Operators 4 and 5 have maximum workloads for SL and RL. Other operators have RPI values ranging from 0.18 to 2.2 percent for LL and maximum workloads for operators 2 and 3. RL shows a maximum workload for operator 5 and the remaining operators have workloads in the range 0.24-2.59 percent. This shows that there is still some scope to improve the results. Operator 4 has a maximum workload and the other operators have an imbalance of workload in the range 0.88-2.36 for SL.\nConclusion: A computer simulation model has been used to balance the workflow of assembly operations of a repetitive type manufacturing system. This simulation has evolved based on the allocation of assembly operations of textile machinery assembly. The workflow balancing strategies RANDOM, SPT and LPT were applied to two lists of assembly operations (i.e. preceding and succeeding operations) generated from a main list. The strategies were combined to generate nine heuristics. The operator with the lowest workload was assigned new operations. First, the precedence list was considered in allocation. After exhausting that list, operations from the succeeding list were selected for the allocation of operations to operators. Computational experiments were conducted on a computer simulation model. The performance measure of relative percentage of imbalance (RPI) in workloads was used to evaluate the heuristics. The heuristics RL, SL and LL are found to produce well balanced workloads among the operators. The experiments on simulated and real data clearly indicate that the order of succeeding operations determines the balanced workflows in the assembly of operations among the operators. Non-traditional approaches like genetic algorithms can be applied to determine the robustness of the results obtained by this research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To provide a new model to solve the assembly-planning problem of a textile machine in a shopfloor which can help researchers and practitioners.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The assembly planning of a textile machine (repetitive manufacturing system) involves the allocation of operations to cross-trained operators. Workflow is defined as the workloads assigned to the operators. Operators with smaller workloads are selected to be assigned new operations from the list of unscheduled operations. Three different scheduling strategies - random, shortest processing time, and longest processing time - are adopted for the selection of operations to be assigned to operators. Different combinations of these strategies are considered for the selection of both preceding and succeeding operations. A computer simulation program has been coded on an IBM/PC-compatible system in the C++ language to study the performance of real data from the shopfloor.\nFindings: - The relative percentage of imbalance is adopted for evaluating the performance of these heuristics. The RL, SL and LL produced well balanced workload schedules with lesser RPI values for all operators other than heuristics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Non-traditional approaches like genetic algorithms can be applied to determine the robustness of the results obtained by this research.\nPractical implications: - The experiments on simulated and real data clearly indicate that the order of succeeding operations determines the balanced workflows to the assembly of operations among the operators.\nOriginality/value: - The allocation of assembly operations to the operators is modeled into a parallel machine-scheduling problem with precedence constraints using the objective of minimizing the workflow among the operators.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Doing well when doing good: the fit between corporate sponsorship and brand concept
|
[
"Brand image",
"Consumer response"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate sponsorship has always been regarded as an effective marketing tool. A recent report demonstrated that firms around the world invested more than 60 billion dollars in sponsorship in 2016, and the number was predicted to grow continually in the coming years (Jensen, 2017). However, evidence indicates that \"doing good\" does not always result in \"good results\". Recently, Kang et al. (2016) conducted a meta-analysis of extant empirical research on corporate sponsorship and found that approximately 50 per cent of the studies did not find a positive relationship between corporate sponsorship activities and corporate performance. Therefore, the effectiveness of corporate sponsorship remains to be challenged and requires more investigation. Further, extant literature contributes evidence that to achieve anticipated brand performance, managers should ensure that sponsorship fits well with the company. But how does fit occur, more specifically, what features of the sponsorship should fit with what features of the brand, remains a research question with limited empirical studies.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Corporate sponsorship and the importance of fit\n3. Theoretical framework and hypotheses: The theoretical framework of this study is based on cognitive consistency theory. This theory explains the mechanism by which individuals fulfill their internal desire for consistency in their cognition (Simonin and Ruth, 1998). With sponsorship, a firm forms a linkage with the recipient. Corporate sponsorship influences consumers in two ways. First, the choice of philanthropic or commercial sponsorship influences consumer perception of the brand image. Second, the extent of fit between brand image and established brand concept influences consumer response to the brand. Brand concept defines the internal pursued value of the brand, while brand image is consumer perception of the brand based on its sponsorship. According to cognition consistency theory, they should match with each other. Thus, brand concept would be a moderator of the relationship between brand image perception and consumer response to the brand. Figure 1 depicts the research framework.\n4. Study 1: effects of sponsorship on brand image perceptions and consumer responses: 4.1 Design and procedure\n5. Study 2: moderating effects of brand concepts: For firms to benefit from sponsorship, consumer perceptions of brand image derived from corporate sponsorship should be consistent with the native brand concept. Study 2 takes a further step to discuss the moderating role of brand concept. In addition, this study checks the reliability of the results of Study 1 using different manipulations. In this study, the Spring Festival Gala of CCTV in China was selected as the subject of commercial sponsorship and poor families were selected as the subject of philanthropic sponsorship. Moreover, unlike Study 1, Study 2 used an electronic products company to improve the reliability of the results.\n6. Discussion: Corporate sponsorship has drawn wide attention from academics and entrepreneurs. Regarding the effectiveness of social sponsorship, the findings of prior literature are contradictory and far from consistent up to date. Two related reasons explain these inconsistent findings. The first reason is that most empirical studies make no differentiation between commercial sponsorship and philanthropic sponsorship, leaving their differential effects on consumer perception of brand image unexplored. The second reason is that many empirical studies make no distinction between consumer attitude and consumer purchase intention. This study aims to address the above question by taking these two factors into consideration when examining its effects. This research divides corporate sponsorship into commercial sponsorship and philanthropic sponsorship and investigates their differential effects on brand attitude and purchase intention. Moreover, we also examine the interaction effects of brand image perceptions and brand concept on consumer attitude and purchase intention.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Firms are now investing heavily in sponsorship, yet much of this sponsorship fails to deliver the expected positive outcomes to firms. This paper aims to address this problem by taking into consideration the nature of corporate sponsorship and the fit between brand image developed by corporate sponsorship and established brand concept.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two separate studies were conducted. Study 1 aimed to test the main effect of two types of corporate sponsorship on consumer responses to the brand and the mediating role of brand image perception. Study 2 used a different design to test the moderating effect of brand concept. Data collected from two distinct samples were analyzed using MANCOVA and regression analysis.\nFindings: The results from two studies indicated that two types of corporate sponsorship commercial and philanthropic influenced consumer response through varied mechanisms. Specifically, commercial sponsorship increased the competence perception of sponsors and thereby enhances purchase intention, while philanthropic sponsorship promoted brand attitude through strengthening the warmth perception of sponsors. Moreover, the fit between established brand concept and brand image perceptions is critical for consumer responses. That is, warmth perception was more congruent with the self-transcendence brand concept, while competence perception fitted better with the self-enhancement brand concept in increasing consumer responses.\nOriginality/value: This paper divides corporate sponsorship into commercial and philanthropic sponsorship and investigates the process of achieving fit when conducting corporate sponsorship. More important, this paper adds to the literature by investigating the interaction between brand image produced by corporate sponsorship and original brand concept, which helps to reveal how fit occurs when conducting sponsorship.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Is it disqualifying? Practitioner responses to criminal offenses in hiring decisions
|
[
"Employment",
"Criminal history",
"Personnel selection",
"Industrial psychology",
"Background checks"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Criminal history checks are widely used in the hiring process, yet we know little about how past transgressions are evaluated by employers. Sociologists, criminologists and economists have conducted a number of audit studies demonstrating that the stigma of a felony conviction harms employment prospects, often manipulating the race of the tester applicant (e.g. Agan and Starr, 2017; Decker et al., 2015; Pager et al., 2009), as well as examining macro-level effects of geographic location or industry sector (Agan and Starr, 2017; Bushway, 2004). Less examined is the role of the individual managers and human resource practitioners tasked with reviewing applicants' criminal histories, who are expected to take a number of factors into consideration with few bright-line rules. In general, researchers in human resource management (HRM) and organizational psychology have paid relatively little attention to background checks as a selection test (Kuhn, 2013; Young and Powell, 2015).\nThe practice and impact of criminal history checks in personnel selection: Improvements in electronic databases have fueled the rise of inexpensive commercial background checking services, and the use of criminal records in hiring decisions has grown dramatically since the 1990s (Rodriguez and Emsellem, 2011). An estimated two-thirds of US firms conduct criminal background checks for all positions before hire (Society for Human Resource Management, 2012b), and nine out of ten employers check criminal records as part of the hiring process for at least some candidates. Given employers' liability for negligent hiring and their need for dependable workers, criminal record checks are considered desirable for most jobs, and are legally required for many positions (Levashina and Campion, 2009).\nStudy 1: People with experience in hiring, representing a variety of industry sectors and backgrounds, are asked to report how various criminal offenses would affect their likelihood of hiring someone to be a call center representative. This was chosen as a familiar job for which background checks would be common but not legally mandated. This study tests the effects of criminal offense type (H1) with a within-subject design, and recency (H2) is manipulated between-subjects for each offense, although all participants see a mix of both recent and less recent offenses. Associations between responses and participant characteristics are also explored.\nStudy 2: Past studies on stigma and perceptions of employability have considered only one type of stigma, such as criminal record or disability status (e.g. Decker et al., 2015; Vornholt et al., 2013). But to know whether individual differences shape responses to a particular form of stigma, it is useful to test whether any associations are specific to that stigma, and not simply reflections of a more general response set bias. Some people may be generally more inclined to state that they would accept (or reject) job candidates.\nGeneral discussion: The use of criminal histories to make selection decisions is increasingly contentious, with many critics citing the potential for report errors or information gaps (Duane et al., 2017). The results presented here indicate that their reliability may also be questionable in terms of the consistency across practitioners who evaluate applicant histories. The situation presented in this research favored uniformity because the criminal offenses were abstracted from any connection to a particular applicant, a single job context was used, and all participants had experience in making hiring decisions. Yet participants did not show high levels of agreement about whether a specific offense should be disqualifying. For example, in the first study almost one out five participants said they would reject any call center applicant with a misdemeanor conviction for driving with a suspended license from five months previous, while almost one-third said that same history would not influence their evaluation at all.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore variation in the responses of human resource practitioners and managers to criminal offenses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper considers background checks as a personnel selection test. In the first study, 280 professionals with hiring experience indicate how various criminal offenses, described as having occurred either within the past year or several years ago, would affect their evaluation of an applicant for a call center position. In the second study, a separate sample of 109 practitioners evaluates criminal as well as non-criminal transgressions that might appear on a background report.\nFindings: In Study 1, both the apparent seriousness of an offense and its recency influence modal responses. Even non-violent misdemeanors from several years ago, however, are judged as automatically disqualifying by some participants. Study 2 shows that a practitioner's attitude toward criminal offenses is distinct from their attitude to related forms of stigma. Results from both studies find associations between demographic variables and general willingness to accept applicants with criminal records.\nOriginality/value: This work provides quantitative data on practitioner reactions to several specific criminal offenses for a specific job context. By considering differences among offenses and among gatekeepers, rather than among applicants, it identifies challenges to fair implementation of background checks during the hiring process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The interplay between key marketing and supply chain management capabilities: the role of integrative mechanisms
|
[
"Innovativeness",
"Relational capability",
"Supply chain agility",
"Integrative mechanisms",
"Market learning capability",
"Marketing and supply chain management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The interface between marketing and supply chain management (SCM) has received increased attention from scholars (Juttner et al., 2007; Mentzer and Gundlach, 2009). These two functions are inextricably intertwined (Mentzer and Gundlach, 2009) and are viewed as fundamental for firms' performance (Porter, 1998). They are also essential for understanding and creating customer value in complex and unfamiliar settings (Flint, 2004). In a similar vein, the important conundrum of allocating and bundling resources and capabilities between organizational functions (Prasnikar et al., 2008) makes understanding both the interaction between marketing and SCM-related capabilities and the organizational underpinnings of those relationships imperative to understand.\n2. Theoretical foundations: 2.1 Marketing and supply chain management capabilities\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research approach\n4. Findings: 4.1 Key marketing and supply chain management capabilities revealed\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Theoretical contributions\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to identify key marketing and supply chain management-related (supply chain management - SCM) capabilities and explore the nature of the linkages between these specific capabilities as shaped by the integrative mechanisms adopted by firms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on the findings from dyadic interviews with 26 marketing and SCM executives from business-to-business firms, the authors develop an empirically grounded conceptual framework.\nFindings: The authors identify innovativeness and market learning capability as key marketing capabilities and supply chain agility and relational capability as key SCM capabilities. The authors find that relationships between these strategic marketing and SCM capabilities follow a specific pattern. The authors also find that the application of unique integrative mechanisms can cultivate the potential tandem between marketing and SCM capabilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study informs theory with regard to two key areas: relationships among key marketing and SCM capabilities and integrative mechanisms that shape the underlying mechanisms of capability relationships.\nPractical implications: Application of organizational dynamics to key marketing and SCM provides a more nuanced understanding of the linkages among such capabilities. A better understanding and application of integrative mechanisms may help managers to develop better tools and means to bundle their key marketing and SCM capabilities effectively.\nOriginality/value: The qualitative and exploratory nature of the paper will be of significant interest to managers who would like to achieve greater synergy between marketing and SCM capabilities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Analysis of the projected image of tourism accommodations: a methodological proposal
|
[
"Photographs",
"Content analysis",
"Visual elements",
"Tour operators",
"Pictures",
"Projected image index"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In an industry as competitive as the lodging industry, companies need to find ways to create a good first impression and build a distinctive image of their products in consumer minds in order to stand out above the rest (Hunter, 2016; Nadiri and Hussain, 2005). Marketing communications are the most commonly used tools in attempting to create a good first impression and a distinctive image. Thus, hospitality companies allocate a significant amount of their operating budgets to promote their facilities and services in order to differentiate their offerings by generating a positive image that attracts potential travellers to their lodging facilities (Molina and Esteban, 2006; Singh and Formica, 2007; Sirakaya and Sonmez, 2000). However, in many cases, they fail to maximise their marketing effort utility due to the lack of coherence in the image projected.\n2. Literature: 2.1 Image of lodging facilities\n3. Methodology: Data for this study were gathered from brochures published by two main European tour operators \"TUI and Thomas Cook\" because of the influence tour operators have on the formation of induced image (Alegre and Sard, 2015; Frias et al., 2008; Jalil and Abd, 2009) and the credibility associated with their promotional materials (Sirakaya and Sonmez, 2000). The German market was specifically chosen as the target market for the study since Germany is one of the main source markets for international tourism and there is a strong presence of and importance associated with tourism industry intermediaries in the country, which have the best performance in Europe (Batman and Soybali, 1999; Novelli and Hellwig, 2011).\n4. Results and discussions: Results for the three main indices (subjects depicted, type of activities being undertaken, and contextualisation) suggested in previous studies for a comparative evaluation of lodging properties image projected through photographs used in marketing materials are presented below.\n5. Conclusions: Image projected by lodging properties plays a fundamental role in the success of those properties because it can enable them to establish a differentiated positioning in the marketplace. Photographs used in marketing materials are some of the most important mediums in creating a positive and differentiated image due to the fact that visual communication materials influence consumers' decision-making process significantly more than any other forms of communication materials including textual communication (Picazo and Moreno-Gil, 2017). Images included in photographs facilitate an easier decision-making process by enabling easier comparisons of attributes and amenities offered through incorporation of more hedonic and functional elements (Pan et al., 2013). Even though studies argue that photographs used in marketing materials have completely revolutionised how consumer view the hospitality industry by transforming it into hyperreal simulation (Hunter, 2016), examination of impacts of photographs on image and positioning have not received much attention from hospitality scholars. To fill this gap in the literature, this study proposed a methodology based on dynamic indices to perform a systematic comparative evaluation of the image projected through photographs that are used in marketing materials of lodging properties located at a number of competing destinations. The analysis covered a sample of 17,187 photographs belonging to 5,820 lodging properties located in 15 different destinations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Examination of the image projected through photographs used in marketing materials can enable managers to identify opportunities for creating differentiated positioning in the marketplace. However, the impact of image projected through photographs has not received much attention in academic literature. This paper aims to establish a methodology using dynamic indices that allow a systematic comparative evaluation of the image projected through photographs used in marketing materials of lodging properties located in competing destinations. It also provides an empirical examination of the type of image projected through photographs of lodging properties in those destinations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Analysis was conducted using a content analysis methodology. A total of 17,187 photographs of 5,820 lodging properties located in 15 different tourism destinations over a period of eight years were examined.\nFindings: Results revealed that the proposed methodology based on dynamic comparative indices is appropriate for determining the projected image of lodging properties. The dynamic indices, which categorise photographs in three main categories: subject (people), activities (actions carried out) and contextualisation (location), allowed a systematic evaluation of the image projected of lodging properties in competing destinations. Results of the empirical analysis indicated important differences in the image projected through photographs among lodging properties located in 15 destinations.\nPractical implications: This study provides the industry and destination marketing organisations (DMOs) with a useful and simple tool for comparatively evaluating the image projected by tourism accommodations. The methodology proposed enables managers to identify the current image and the changes in the image of their lodging properties, their destinations and those of their main competitors over the years, thus providing opportunities for development of more effective differentiation and positioning strategies in their respective target markets.\nOriginality/value: The proposed tool provides a methodology that can be used to categorise and evaluate the image represented on the photographs used in marketing materials to ensure the projection of the intended image. Furthermore, the proposed methodological tool enables managers to monitor the image projected through photographs used in competitors' marketing materials and identify changes in their image projected over time.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Alignment or independence? Multinational subsidiaries and parent relations
|
[
"MNC subsidiary",
"Initiative",
"Alignment",
"Combinative capabilities",
"Strategic alignment",
"Multinational companies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Western subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNC) regularly face the threat of closure and transfer of operations to lower cost economies. But both practitioner and academic journals have explored how some subsidiaries avoid closure and achieve growth by acting on local opportunities to develop strategic initiatives. The MNC's headquarters (HQ) can then exploit these initiatives across the organization to achieve competitive advantage and the initiating subsidiary achieves at least temporary protection from closure and the potential to further develop the initiative. For example, the Scottish subsidiary of NCR enjoyed significant growth following its development of the automatic teller machine (Ambos et al., 2010). However, we show how recent developments within the MNC make it increasingly difficult for subsidiaries to generate independent initiatives. We then demonstrate how the alternative approach of greater alignment with HQ strategy and activities may provide greater survival and growth opportunities. While we studied subsidiaries of MNCs, the implications are relevant to divisions and departments of all large organizations which face similar relocation threats.\nNew challenges to subsidiary capacity to generate initiatives: Since the mid-1990s (Birkinshaw, 1996, 1997; Birkinshaw et al., 1998) the international business literature has acknowledged that subsidiary units contribute to MNC competitive advantage through knowledge-sharing and opportunity identification. Strategically independent subsidiaries combine their access to local knowledge and opportunities with their local resources and competencies to generate initiatives (Andersson et al., 2001; Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1988). Initiative generation requires the subsidiary to develop a product, process or business in response to a local opportunity, often in isolation, and without explicit approval from HQ. Then when the project has demonstrable value to the MNC, the idea can be \"sold\" to the parent. For example, one subsidiary director described how utilization of slack resources enabled the plant general manager \"to grow the capability and kept it under the radar until such a time as he could go to HQ and it was just something that they couldn't say no to\". The knowledge and initiatives created can then be leveraged across the MNC, with recognition from HQ leading to position protection for the subsidiary and competitive advantage for the organization.The dominance of this view in the literature reflects its appeal to the subsidiary manager, who can utilize its key tenets to sell the value of strategically independent subsidiary units to HQ. However, in addition to the general threats reducing the ability of subsidiary units to act independently previously captured by the cycle of subsidiary decline, we identify four additional challenges to subsidiary capacity to generate initiatives:1. Increased competition within the MNC. Outsourcing provides HQ with increased options for scoping and locating in-house operations. As the MNC becomes less reliant on the skills and capabilities of specific units, the emphasis shifts from internal collaboration to internal competition. Units wishing to protect their current position become proprietorial about their specialist knowledge. The consequent restriction on knowledge transfer erodes one of the critical benefits of the MNC organizational structure (Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1988).2. Increased competition with external suppliers. As more decisions on the location of MNC activities are made by HQ on primarily a cost basis, subsidiaries must effectively compete not just against sister subsidiaries but also against external competitors. This has significant long term implications from both the MNC and the subsidiary perspective. Engaging in outsourcing will encourage HQ to compare the costs of future investments in subsidiary capabilities with the benefits of simply outsourcing the activity. Allowing another firm to bear the knowledge development burden may be an attractive option for the MNC in the short term, particularly given the current economic crisis and shortage of investment funding, but the longer term implications of loss of subsidiary capabilities and access to local knowledge may be overlooked.3. Limited value of disaggregated knowledge. The disaggregation of value chains allows HQ to divide activities into unrelated packages from potentially different value chains and assign these packages across the organization. Each subsidiary increasingly becomes a coral of unrelated nuggets of knowledge which fail to provide the combinative competencies the subsidiary requires to generate initiatives. Just as Gestalt theorists emphasize the importance of integration, the ability to connect a combined package of activities is more valuable than the knowledge of a sole component as \"the whole is greater than the sum of the parts\".4. Sustainability of subsidiary activities. The emergence of \"centres of excellence\" or \"subsidiary specific capabilities\" (Birkinshaw et al., 1998; Holm and Pedersen, 2000; Rugman and Verbeke, 2001) has been generally lauded, which potentially overlooks the negative implications for subsidiary sustainability. A specialist narrow focus may force the subsidiary to become marginalized over time, and its specific capabilities, once upheld as a collective source of value can become a burden or rigidity. As a subsidiary's activities become less related to the evolving core capabilities of the MNC, its potential for inclusion in the next round of MNC strategic development becomes more remote. It can simply become more appealing, from a HQ perspective, to assign future MNC mandates to lower cost countries than to reconfigure existing subsidiary resources in current locations. Over time, as subsidiary units become increasingly more marginal - and terminable, to the core business, the cycle of decline gains momentum and their ability to contribute to initiatives deteriorates.The direct implications of these challenges are presented here as distinct and separately identifiable for clarity, but in reality these outcomes collectively reinforce the emerging threats and drive further changes. From integrating the responses of our interviews we identify that these emerging complexities place additional challenges on strategically independent subsidiary's attempts to generate initiatives. Based on our ongoing research across several levels of subsidiary and HQ management, we are convinced of the need for subsidiaries to search for alternative strategies and suggest that alignment with HQ strategy and operations is critical to subsidiary long term survival and growth (see Box 1, \"How the research was conducted\").\nBuilding an alignment strategy through vertical embeddedness: Adopting an alignment strategy requires a subsidiary to direct its efforts at establishing \"closeness\" in its relationship with the parent. This requires the subsidiary to direct its efforts, including its knowledge searching, accumulation and initiative generation, at opportunities which are aligned with HQ strategy. We are not suggesting that the subsidiary ignores local opportunities, but that opportunities are viewed through a compliance lens and developed in line with existing HQ strategy. Embeddedness at this vertical level facilitates greater contact and interaction with HQ providing the subsidiary with insight into what is really foremost for the MNC and the strategic direction of the organization. This may be realized in an incremental manner and through the conscious efforts of subsidiary management as and when the extent and intensity of information exchange between the subsidiary and HQ grows (Andersson et al., 2001). The closeness of embedded subsidiaries to HQ then provides an invaluable platform for the presentation and selling of ideas, which in turn means HQ is likely to be more receptive to subsidiary initiatives which are aligned to its strategy.Vertical embeddedness or deep and strong ties with the parent unit allow the subsidiary to gather the critical intelligence required to anticipate and align with HQ strategy. Intelligence regarding emerging investment and resource allocation decisions enables the subsidiary to act consistent with HQ strategy and adhere to HQ objectives. This allows the subsidiary to show compliance today whilst simultaneously positioning itself to be part of tomorrow's strategy. This approach contrasts with the strategy of initiatives and requires a shift in subsidiary focus from local embeddedness to vertical embeddedness with their parent operation.Through integrating the Setanta case with our larger studies we deduced that vertical embeddedness is built on three pillars - strategic, knowledge and relational embeddedness (see Box 2).\nStrategic embeddedness: Becoming strategically embedded with HQ enhances the unit's ability to anticipate the organization's strategy and reinforces the subsidiary's potential to become an integral part of future operations. Greater communication facilitated by integration and engagement with HQ also enables access to critical strategic intelligence. As Ciabuschi et al. (2011) point out, headquarters involvement can be viewed as a type of resource allocation in itself, one that helps subsidiaries create value. This intelligence enables the subsidiary to further align with HQ's strategy and position for future opportunities. Just as an acting manager is more likely to be approved when a role becomes permanent, a subsidiary which is more embedded within HQ activities is more likely to be involved in future endeavors.Integration rather than autonomy\nKnowledge embeddedness: The way knowledge is created, integrated and assimilated within an organization impacts not only the position that a subsidiary can occupy within its network but also its potential to evolve and modify that position (Gupta and Govindarajan, 1991; Mudambi and Navarra, 2004). Subsidiary mandates are ultimately transitory in nature (Birkinshaw, 1996) as knowledge becomes outdated and less relevant. The valued position of a subsidiary can decline as knowledge which was once a source of high value can quickly become redundant. Our research shows that to remain relevant and aligned with HQ strategy, subsidiaries must constantly relinquish outdated knowledge repertoires and continually renew their knowledge base. Knowledge developed through bilateral engagement between subsidiary and parent ensures that HQ recognizes subsidiary contribution and ensures that the subsidiary is developing a knowledge base that is consistent with HQ strategy.Learning together: coalescent knowledge creation\nRelational embeddedness: A subsidiary's credibility within the wider corporate network influences how it is perceived by HQ and is often based on historical performance. A proven capacity to add value will enhance subsidiary standing with HQ as it demonstrates an ability to get the task done. We use the term relational embeddedness to look beyond the structural attributes of a parent-subsidiary relationship and to emphasize the quality of that relationship (Moran, 2005). Emerging from the Setanta case we identified two interrelated critical components of relational embeddedness: trust and consistency of delivery. In Setanta, the HQ-subsidiary integration arising from the daily handover of client services and consistency in the subsidiary's delivery led to increased trust and reliance.Trust\nConclusion: Subsidiary managers are critically aware of how changing MNC structures affect their strategic independence and ability to generate initiatives. We identify how increasing competition within the MNC, the disaggregation of knowledge and increasing specialization add to those challenges of initiative generation presented in our earlier paper (Scott and Gibbon, 2011). We argue that rather than chasing short term benefits through initiatives it is more sustainable in the long term for subsidiaries to be directly aligned with HQ strategy.We identify how building vertical embeddedness with HQ can be developed through combining strategic, knowledge and relational embeddedness to facilitate subsidiary alignment with headquarters strategy. Greater embeddedness ensures not just an integrated role but an integral one. The need for formal monitoring and controlling is also reduced as operations are highly interwoven and transparent curbing the rent-seeking concerns associated with the \"maverick\" subsidiary initiator role. This will further enhance trust and confidence in the subsidiary's ability to deliver. The creation of knowledge together, in a unified process, does not mean that the subsidiary should become a duplicate of the parent. Instead, a mutually interdependent relationship is enabled which facilitates incremental subsidiary growth. Just as the Yuan was pegged to the dollar to ensure stability in a volatile environment, we suggest that for the subsidiary operation it may be better to piggy-back HQ than to go it alone.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Subsidiary units must respond to emerging threats including disaggregation of value chains and increased headquarters monitoring and control which have led to a cycle of subsidiary decline. The authors recognize the value of subsidiary initiatives as a short-term response but argue that subsidiary long-term survival and growth will depend on the unit's ability to align with its parent strategic activities and knowledge base through developing vertical embeddedness.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research is part of an ongoing quantitative and qualitative study programme of Irish subsidiary operations of foreign MNCs. This paper integrates the authors' broader research to date including both in-depth interviews within a focal case combined with a comprehensive review of the literature relating to MNC and subsidiary management in identifying how subsidiaries can respond to current challenges.\nFindings: - In contrast to the dominant view in the literature, this research found that subsidiaries can respond to emerging threats by integrating their activities and deepening their alignment with their parent operation. The authors identify three pillars in developing a strategy of alignment - strategic embeddedness or ensuring development of subsidiary strategy in line with headquarters stated objectives, relational embeddedness determined by trust relationships and a history of consistent subsidiary delivery and finally knowledge embeddedness facilitated through coalescent knowledge creation and collaborative effort in line with headquarters strategy and direction.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Results from the survey are subject to the standard limitations and a larger pool of interviewees may have reinforced the qualitative findings.\nPractical implications: - Subsidiary managers need to be aware of how closer integration of unit activities with headquarters and the management of knowledge outflows can reduce the risk of relocation and better position subsidiaries for survival and growth. To date the emphasis on subsidiary initiative has overshadowed the benefits of aligning with headquarters strategy, a more feasible alternative for many subsidiaries which do not enjoy strategic independence.\nOriginality/value: - By demonstrating the benefits of alignment with headquarters, this paper identifies a valuable alternative perspective to the predominant view in the literature that subsidiary survival is dependent on subsidiary initiative. Interesting insights into how alignment can be achieved are also provided. Capturing both the subsidiary and parent perspectives provides valuable insights.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The study on the architecture of crowd system supporting platform
|
[
"Crowd system",
"Underlying support platform",
"Service internet",
"Architecture"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Crowd science and engineering is a new interdisciplinary direction to study the principles, laws, methods, techniques and related engineering applications of the ternary fusion system about information, physics and society in a large-scale interconnected online environment (Prpic and Shukla, 2017). By making full use of the wisdom of human individuals and groups, it can effectively solve the complex problems that computers or humans cannot solve alone (Franzoni and Sauermann, 2014).\n2. Research status: Most research focus of traditional service computing is to conduct research from the perspective of a single service provider or a third-party service platform, and to optimize the quality of service provision and service quality (Mora et al., 2017). However, these traditional methods fail to aggregate services at the service ecosystem level and satisfy customer needs. And they also have the disadvantages of high cost of constructing service systems, low construction efficiency, and difficulty in ensuring system performance. Compared with the traditional service system, the service internet needs to solve the problems of service ecological integration, cross-domain aggregation, value perception, precise matching of demand and service resources, and intelligent interaction of services.\n3. framework and thoughts of service internet research: According to the research status of the above-mentioned service internet, in the current complex business and service environment, it is important to conduct research in the service internet architecture, the aggregation model, the service internet business integration model for multilateral resource integration, and the service-value-based service value chain collaborative optimization theory system. At the same time, it is necessary to give the architecture and formation mechanism of such complex service systems at the basic theory and method level.\n4. Key technologies and solutions for service internet research: This section mainly discusses the key technologies and solutions for the service internet's form and architecture, the aggregation ecological model and the dynamic evolution mechanism.\n5. Conclusion: As one of the hottest professional and research fields, crowd science and engineering has attracted more and more academic and industrial people to continuously research and develop it. This paper expounds the indispensable underlying support platform in the research and design of crowd system, its relationship with the crowd system, development and research status. This paper introduces the research on the architecture, form, norms and nature of the service internet to better support the construction and development of the crowd system and the crowd science.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to better understand and study the architecture and system characteristics of the underlying support platform for crowd system, by recognizing the characteristics of service internet is similar to the coordination characteristics between the massive units in the underlying platform of crowd system and studying the form, nature and guidelines of the service internet.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper points out the connection between the underlying support platform of crowd system and service internet, describes the framework and ideas for researching service internet and then proposes key technologies and solutions for service internet architecture and system characteristics.\nFindings: The research unit in the underlying support platform of crowd system can be regarded as a service unit. Therefore, the platform can also be regarded as service internet to some extent. The ideas and technical approaches for the study of service internet's form, criteria and characteristics are also provided.\nOriginality/value: According to this paper, relevant staff can be guided to better build the underlying support platform of crowd system. And it can provide a highly robust and sustainable platform for research studies of crowd science and engineering in the future.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
"Empathy machine": how virtual reality affects human rights attitudes
|
[
"Virtual reality",
"360-degree video",
"Immersive journalism",
"Human rights",
"Attitude change",
"Being-there"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It has been proposed that inducing empathy towards those who are temporally or geographically distant is best achieved by stepping into their shoes (Coke et al., 1978; Harris and Foreman-Peck, 2004; Tosh, 2015). In particular, it is difficult to empathize with people whose actions and experiences have little relation to our own (Gutsell and Inzlicht, 2012; Kunstman and Plant, 2008). Therefore, we may be less likely to care about the human rights of people whose hurdles are culturally, temporally and/or geospatially distant, despite the fact that equal human rights for all would be one of the building blocks for a stable and functioning society.Immersive computer technologies are increasingly being explored as a potential means to increase the empathy of humankind (Kors et al., 2016). Virtual reality (VR) technologies in particular have been popularly proposed as the \"ultimate empathy machines\" (Constine, 2015; Milk, 2015) - primarily because of the technological characteristics that strengthen the users' feeling of \"being there\" (Cummings and Bailenson, 2016). At the same time, the availability and low cost of mobile VR headsets have popularized consuming 360-degree videos in VR sourced from the internet, such as immersive journalism (Jones, 2017).Similarly, in the VR documentary Clouds Over Sidra viewers are immersed into the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, containing tens of thousands of Syrians displaced by civil war. The experience builds upon the concept of perspective-taking - the ability to adopt another person's point of view (Coke et al., 1978), which has been suggested as encouraging prosocial behaviour when used in VR (e.g. van Loon et al., 2018). In 2017, a special Oscar was awarded for Carne y Arena, an immersive VR experience that engages users in a dramatic illegal border crossing between Mexico and the United States. Although the work is currently only available at specific exhibition sites, and therefore, inaccessible to a wider audience, the award suggests that we should expect more similar experiences in the future.The relevance of stepping into another's shoes is not restricted to artistic audiences or public education, it is particularly important for politicians responsible for ratifying foreign policies. Undoubtedly, the human rights attitudes of both the politicians and citizens will have an effect on globalization and policies regarding foreign outreach. Moreover, the relevance of human rights is not limited to foreign policy but is, instead, a prominent part of any human interaction.However, computer sciences research has focused predominantly on the relationship of information technology use and rights of an individual, such as information access (e.g. Lazar and Stein, 2017), rights to privacy and other similar ethical issues (Lazar et al., 2017; Tavani, 2003), rather than on how attitudes to human rights could be influenced by new technologies. Indeed, immersive experiences, akin to those outlined above, could help reframe this issue from the more abstract level of institutions to the personal one in order to make it more accessible and tangible. It is yet unclear how different immersive media technologies can affect a population's attitudes and behaviour using the same source content. Considering the rising popularity and relevance of these technologies in the public discourse, as well as the recent refugee crisis and ambiguous reactions to it (Hangartner et al., 2019), this study investigates how immersive technologies, utilised via immersive journalism, can affect consumers' human rights attitudes, and whether the effects differ when compared to written articles.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses development: Human rights attitudes\nThe empirical study: A between-subjects pretest-posttest laboratory experimental study was designed and conducted in order to test the hypotheses. A between-subjects design was applied to participants' assignment to conditions to avoid multiple exposures to the stimuli, which are the hypothesized sources of the measured outcome. The pretest-posttest factor refers to administering the measurement instrument on attitudes before and after the exposure to the stimulus in order to obtain a baseline and be able to track changes in scores.The sample size of approximately 30 per experimental group was pre-planned in accordance with a controlled laboratory environment, planned analyses, and the context and aim of the study. A higher number of participants would provide for higher granularity in the collected data sample and reduce the possibility of not finding existing small effects (i.e. false negative, Type II error). However, due to the context of this study being immersive journalism and its possible influence on the attitudes of the public, the objective was not to look for any minimal effects that might be detectable through statistical inference tests. Instead, the aim was to test for effects that potentially might have practical implications. For detecting even small effects as Cohen's d of 0.4 (Cohen, 2013) using a one-tailed paired t-test with the statistical power of 80% and alpha set to 0.05, the recommended minimum total sample size in the compared groups is 41 participants, as calculated in G*Power v. 2.1.9.4. As such, the total number of participants comfortably exceeds the minimum threshold.Participants\nResults: The analyses were conducted in several phases. All results were obtained using IBM SPSS version 25.First, the mean scores for overall human rights attitudes before and after the treatments were compared using paired t-tests for each of the treatments.Second, changes in individual dimensions were tested to gain further insight into the data. So as not to run unnecessary analyses across three dimensions and three conditions, a repeated-measures ANOVA was used to find in which dimensions there was a detectable change in attitudes. Next, paired t-tests were used for those dimensions where significant results in the ANOVA were obtained to identify in which of the conditions the changes occurred.Third, ANOVA and a contrast test were used to examine if there is a difference in the effects on HRA between conditions.Finally, the reported involvement in the three conditions and its effects on the attitudinal change was analysed using ANOVA and a generalized linear model (GLM) with an interaction contrast test.Changes in overall HRA\nDiscussion: This work investigated if, and to what extent, the platform on which media content is consumed affects attitudes toward human rights. Despite the increasing availability and popularity of mobile VR and 360-degree videos, distributed through YouTube and online news media outlets, it remains unclear how it affects users' attitudes pertaining to the content topic. Results of this study suggest that viewing an immersive journalism 360-degree video via mobile VR, or on a computer screen, can have a positive effect on users' human rights attitudes. Immersive conditions (2D and VR) elicited a positive change in users' HRA, although the change is slightly more prominent in the VR condition. On the other hand, the Article condition, which is closer to traditional journalism, had no effect on individuals' HRA. Furthermore, involvement was shown to have no overall mediation effect, although a statistically significant interaction contrast suggested high involvement led to a more prominent positive change in the HRA in the immersive conditions.Overall, the results from the sample collected in this study indicate that even the most simplistic immersive journalism content, such as an animated 360-degree video, can bring about a positive shift in users' human rights attitudes, and that VR is statistically somewhat more efficient at this than 2D. In contrast, comparable content in the format of an article elicited no attitudinal change in participants.General discussion\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This study aims to investigate how media content consumed through immersive technology may evoke changes in human rights attitudes. It has been proposed that our inability to empathize with others could be overcome by stepping into another's shoes. \"Immersive journalism\" has been postulated as being able to place us into the shoes of those whose feelings and experiences are distant to us. While virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree news videos have become widely available, it remains unclear how the consumption of content through immersive journalism affects users' attitudes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Utilizing a between-subject laboratory-controlled experiment (N = 87) this study examined participant scores on the Human Rights Questionnaire before and after consuming 360-degree video immersive journalism content via VR (n = 31), 2D (n = 29), and Article (n = 27) formats. Collected data were analysed using statistical inference.\nFindings: Results indicate that immersive journalism can elicit a positive attitudinal change in users, unlike an Article, with mobile VR having a more prominent effect than a 2D screen. Furthermore, this change is more strongly affected by users' higher Involvement in the content.\nOriginality/value: These findings are relevant for grasping the distinct effects novel and recently popularized technologies and media have on attitudinal change, as well as inform the current debate on the value of VR as \"empathy machines\".\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Social marketing's role in improving water quality on the Great Barrier Reef
|
[
"Social marketing",
"Theory of planned behaviour",
"Environmental degradation",
"Great Barrier Reef",
"Agricultural land management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is both a Marine Park and a World Heritage site (Foxwell-Norton and Lester, 2017; Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2017). It is the world's largest coral reef system, extending for more than 2,300 km along the Queensland (north-eastern) coast of Australia (Teakle et al., 2015). It supports between 64,000 and 69,000 direct and indirect full-time equivalent jobs (Deloitte Access Economics, 2017; Butler et al., 2013; Kroon et al., 2016; Piggott-McKellar and McNamara, 2016). An estimated $AU56bn asset (economic, social, traditional owners and brand) value for the GBR was calculated in 2017. The direct economic contribution was estimated at $AU6.4bn, of which tourism contributed $AU2.4bn within the GBR region alone and $AU3.4bnto the overall Queensland economy (Deloitte Access Economics, 2017). The Deloitte estimates do not include the significant contribution to the Queensland economy by agricultural industries within the GBR water catchment areas. Sugar production is estimated to be worth $1.3-$1.5bn per annum (Queensland Cane Growers Association, 2010; Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2012), with meat (predominantly beef, which is classed as an export priority (Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, 2014) production contributing a further $US3.4bn per annum (Queensland Government, 2016). Space constraints prevent a detailed discussion of the impact of other significant industries such as mining on the GBR, for a discussion of this sector's impact see Grech et al. (2016).\n2. Background and Literature: 2.1 Impact of agricultural runoff on GBR water quality\n3. Research methodology: Surveys of land managers (n=302) were undertaken in partnership with two (reported as Region 1 (n=248) and Region 2 (n=54)) of the six NRM organizations operating in areas adjacent to the GBR identified as having a very high risk of natural and anthropogenic runoff (Brodie, 2013). NRM organizations, of which there are 56 in Australia, acting under delegated authority from the federal government to coordinate environmental management within their regions. The study, funded by the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program had two primary objectives: identify behavioral influences on land managers and assess land managers' perceptions of current communication strategies together with, barriers to behavior change. The sample population was obtained from a membership database within the two regions. Participants include land managers from both regions who engaged in sugar cane production (Region 1 and Region 2, included in this paper) and cattle production (Region 2, to be reported later). Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed including open-ended responses.\n4. Findings: 4.1 NSMC Benchmark 1- Behavior\n5. Discussion: There is an implicit assumption that a general attitude about an issue such as GBR water quality will lead to behavior change among those who may be able to take individual or collective action, which is incorrect (Ham, 2009). Behavior change will not occur \"unless a specific behavior is explicitly targeted and communication is designed to address attitudes relevant to that behavior\" (Stern and Powell, 2013). A gap between reported attitudes toward environmental issues and actual behaviors is well documented in the literature (Ockwell et al., 2009).\n6. Limitations and future research: There were many competing and sometimes conflicting activities in both regions including eight other research projects, potentially resulting in respondent research fatigue and increased media activity regarding the health of the GBR in 2017 (Eagle et al., 2018). These confounding factors make it impossible to identify the impact of individual projects. Future research needs to be based around an integrated evaluation program of existing and future research.\n7. Conclusion: The GBR plays an important role in protecting the coastline from wave action and tropical storms, it provides habitats and shelter for marine animals and it assists in carbon fixing (the process of converting inorganic carbon (carbon dioxide) to organic compounds used by living organisms). The GBR also provides community benefits, for example, well-being through the value of its natural beauty, cultural connections to sea country and employment opportunities. Therefore, it is important that strategies be developed to protect the GBR (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, 2018; Bauer, 2009).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the implications of claimed detrimental impacts for the agricultural activity of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) ecosystem health in Queensland, Australia. The authors discuss the complex interaction of factors that have contributed to the decline in reef ecosystems and the challenges presented by multiple industries operating within the GBR catchment area. The authors then discuss measures employed to address agricultural run-off, claimed to be a significant factor in declining reef water quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Surveys of land managers were undertaken in partnership with two of the six natural resource management (NRM) organizations operating in areas adjacent to the GBR identified as having very high risk of natural and anthropogenic runoff. The sample population was obtained from a membership database within the two regions. Participants include land managers from the both regions who engaged in sugar cane production (Region 1 and Region 2, included in this paper) and cattle production (Region 2, to be reported later). Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed including open-ended responses.\nFindings: A large-scale study of land managers reveals several reasons for the lack of success at reducing agricultural run-off. The authors discuss the rationale for a move to a theory-grounded social marketing approach to encouraging land manager behavior change, highlighting barriers, and potential enablers of sustained behavior change.\nOriginality/value: This study is first of its kind that discusses the behavior of land managers in the GBR catchment area and highlights facilitators and impediments of land managers' behavior change toward GBR protection actions.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Analyzing the corporate social responsibility disclosures of selected companies in India
|
[
"Stakeholders",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Content analysis",
"Disclosures",
"Annual reports",
"Indian companies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained a lot of attention and popularity as a new concept among all the stakeholders (Kilic et al., 2015). Recently in an interview, Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, asserted that in this world of increasing inequalities, poverty and climate change, a strong and successful business can no longer sustain; therefore, it is the responsibility of business to serve the society first (Harvard Business Review, 2017). Several previous studies have realized the importance of communication of CSR philosophy by the companies to their stakeholders (Slapnicar, 2006; Yongvanich and Guthrie, 2006; Mathis, 2007; Camara et al., 2009; Carnevale et al., 2012). CSR reporting, as corporate communication and a marketing instrument, is used by companies to make their stakeholders judge them as legitimate (Nielsen and Thomsen, 2007; Podnar and Golob, 2007). Hence, the extent of CSR disclosures by firms can be assumed to convey their intentions to engage in CSR initiatives toward the society (Lone et al., 2016).\n2. Prior literature: Though the concept of CSR is quite popular, there is no single definition appropriate enough to explain it (Dahlsrud, 2008; Braendle and Rahdari, 2016). Over the years, several theories have evolved to develop a better understanding of CSR (Arthur et al., 2017). Several prior studies rely on agency theory, stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory to explain the motivation behind social responsibility reporting by companies (Hamid and Atan, 2011). According to the agency theory, companies make CSR disclosures in their annual reports to reduce future agency costs which may arise in the form of regulation (Trotman and Bradley, 1981; Belkaoui and Karpik, 1989). Subsequently, stakeholder theory states that business has a responsibility to create as much value as possible for all its stakeholders which include shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, financial institutions, community, government, political parties, etc. by managing their individual interests (Freeman, 1984). By making CSR disclosures companies show their sensitivity to the needs of society (Kansal and Singh, 2012). Hence, companies shall make disclosures on different CSR indicators to meet the requirements of all their stakeholders (Patten, 1991; Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Mitchell et al., 1997; Deegan et al., 2000; Idowu and Papasolomou, 2007). Furthermore, legitimacy theory supports the perspective that companies by disclosing this information in their annual reports signal their legitimacy to the society (Suchman, 1995; Deegan et al., 2002; Campbell et al., 2003). However, both legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory share overlapping viewpoints, which are neither separate nor competing with each other (Gray et al., 1995, 2001). Also, stakeholder theory is the most popular theory for CSR studies and has served as the basis for several research studies in the past (Roberts, 1992; Clarkson, 1995; Waddock and Graves, 1997; Barnett, 2005; Saleh et al., 2010). Hence, this study by using the stakeholder theory as its basis analyzes the CSR disclosures made by Indian companies.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Results and discussion: Table I presents the descriptive statistics for the number of CSR activities disclosed by selected 137 companies over ten years from 2008 to 2017, in their annual reports. The results show that out of total 178 CSR activities included in the research instrument, in 2008, minimum activities disclosed were only 17 (9.5 percent), which gradually increased to 51 (28.6 percent) in 2017. The maximum number of CSR activities reported in 2008 were 114 (64 percent), which increased to 160 (89.9 percent) by 2017. The average number of activities disclosed by the selected companies were 71 (39.9 percent) in 2008, which increased to 124 (69.7 percent) in 2017.\n5. Conclusion and implications: This study examines the extent, quality and quantity of CSR disclosures made by Indian companies in their annual reports. The study highlights that there is a continuous increase in the number of CSR activities disclosed by Indian companies over the selected time period, indicating an increasing interest within them toward their social responsibilities. The results reveal that the extent of CSR disclosures among Indian companies is quite high with each company in the sample making CSR disclosures in its annual reports. It was found that among the selected themes, most disclosed CSR activities were from \"customer theme\" and \"community development theme.\" Findings on the quality of CSR disclosures reveal that \"qualitative disclosures with specific information\" are most preferred by the companies within India. Also, it was observed that the proportion of \"quantitative disclosures\" has increased continuously while that of \"qualitative disclosures with no information\" has decreased over the selected time period. Within selected themes, maximum percentage of \"quantitative disclosures\" were observed to be from \"energy theme\" (41.9 percent), maximum \"qualitative disclosures with no special information\" were from \"emission of carbon and harmful gases theme\" (72.5 percent) and maximum \"qualitative disclosures with specific information\" were from \"customers theme\" (53.7 percent).\n6. Limitations and future research suggestions: Though the present study provides useful implications for both theory and practice, but, several limitations exist in terms of the generalizability and interpretation of the results. First, the study focused only on annual reports, which presents an incomplete picture of CSR practices by the companies. There are several other sources of information on CSR like sustainability reports, websites, newspapers and magazines which have been ignored in the study. Future studies may include these additional resources for a better understanding of the disclosure practices being followed in India. Second, there may have been some errors in analyzing the content of annual reports manually, although steps were taken to minimize the possible errors. Third, though the activities included in the index were selected on the basis of an extensive review of the existing literature, still there is a possibility that some important items might have been left out. Fourth, the universe for the present study was CNX 500, which includes major companies in terms of market capitalization. As no small company has been included in the sample, it may have affected the generalizability of results. Hence, future studies may consider taking a larger sample size by including medium-sized and small companies for analysis.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent, quantity and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures made by the top Indian companies in their annual reports.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study analyzes the annual reports of the top 137 companies from CNX-500, over ten years, from 2008 to 2017. The technique of content analysis has been employed manually to examine the number of CSR activities disclosed, quantity and quality of CSR disclosures made by the selected companies in their annual reports. Also mean, percentages, trend analysis and analysis of variance have been employed to analyze the disclosures.\nFindings: This study highlights that there is a continuous increase in the quantity of disclosures and the number of CSR activities disclosed by Indian companies over the selected period. It also observed that among the selected themes, most disclosed CSR activities are from \"customer theme\" and \"community development theme.\" Findings regarding the quality of CSR disclosures revealed that the \"qualitative disclosures with specific information\" are preferred most by the companies within India. Also, there is a significant variation in the quantity of CSR disclosures across the selected eight themes.\nOriginality/value: As most of the prior literature on CSR disclosures focused on developed countries in comparison to developing ones, this study contributes to the existing literature by carrying out an extensive investigation of this concept among the Indian companies. Moreover, there are very few studies addressing such a scientific inquiry in the Indian context, especially after the introduction of amendments in the Companies Act, 2013. Furthermore, this study utilizes a comprehensive research instrument consisting of a total of 178 CSR activities, divided across eight themes for collecting data on disclosures from the annual reports. This instrument can be used in the future studies on CSR disclosures in other developing countries as well.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The Big Bazaar: an examination of Indian shopping mall behaviour and demographic differences
|
[
"Emerging markets",
"Indian retail sector",
"Demographic differences",
"Indian shopping malls",
"Mall visiting behaviour",
"Shopping mall behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and background: India is experiencing an astonishing growth in the retail industry. The Indian retail sector accounts for more than 10 per cent of the Country's GDP and is expected to grow from US$600 million in 2015 to about US$1 trillion in 2020 (Indiainbusiness.nic.in, 2016). The recent ATKearney (2015) ranked India 2nd among the top 30 developing countries on the Global Retail Development Index with approx. 9 per cent compound annual growth rate. Within the retail sector, organised retailing, which includes shopping malls, hypermarkets and so on, has witnessed tremendous growth. Singhi et al. (2016) indicated that currently the organised retail market is estimated to be of 8-10 per cent of India's retail market and is growing at the rate of approx. 20 per cent annually.\nLiterature review: Demographic variables\nData and methodology: Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect study data through mall intercept collection method. In total, a sample of 400 Indian mall shoppers was collected from four major chain malls located in Mumbai: Phoenix (n=106), InOrbit (n=103), Oberoi (n=98) and Infiniti (n=93). These are among the biggest malls in western India with footfall ranging from 25,000 people to 60,000 people during the weekdays and twice as much during the weekends. The respondents were asked at first to answer demographic questions and then answer questions related to their visiting and actual shopping behaviour. Questions on visiting behaviour included frequency of shoppers' visits, time spent per visit and the number of shops they visit per trip, while actual purchase behaviour included average money spent per trip, number of shops shoppers purchased from and number of items purchased per trip. These variables were derived from previous studies on mall behaviour (Kuruvilla et al., 2009; Kuruvilla and Joshi, 2010).\nResults and discussion: Summary of descriptive statistics in relation to demographic variables\nConclusion and managerial recommendations: It is evident that the Indian retail sector has witnessed phenomenal growth and will continue to grow. In addition to economic factors such as increase in purchasing power, favourable FDI policies, change in consumption patterns, rise in working population, social factors such as changing gender roles, change in demographic profiles, and change in household structures (i.e. more nuclear families) have played a significant role in the growth of this sector. This combination of importance of the Indian retail sector as well as changing trends in Indian shoppers with respect to demographic structures have been the motivation for this research.\nLimitations and future research: It is worth acknowledging that the data comes from one major city (i.e. Mumbai) of India. Although it is a city that represents different populations from diverse parts of the country, it is a metropolitan representation, which limits the generalizability of the results. Future studies should include multiple geographic locations across the country for generalised results. In addition, the study does not examine information regarding product category and brand purchase. Including information regarding product category and brands will further assist in understanding the variations in shopping behaviour. Future studies should consider these variables. Finally, the classification of shopping mall behaviour between visiting and shopping behaviour can be further extended by using these two groups as behavioural segments and examine their responses towards mall managers' marketing and promotional activities.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Indian consumers of different demographic groups vary in terms of shopping mall visits (frequency of visit, hours spent in the mall, and number of shops visited) and purchase behaviour (total money spent, number of shops purchased from and number of items purchased).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a self-administered survey of 400 Indian mall shoppers to examine Indian shoppers' behaviour with respect to visiting and buying behaviour. Descriptive analyses and kh2 tests were conducted to identify patterns and capture the significant relationships in shopping behaviour across different demographic segments.\nFindings: The results show that shoppers of different age cohorts and from different household sizes behave differently from one another in a significant manner. In terms of gender, however, men and women tend to behave in a similar manner in terms of visit frequency, time and money spent per visit. The study also provides insight into where the differences occur and between which specific groups.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data comes from one major city of India which limits the generalizability of the results.\nPractical implications: For mall managers and retailers, the study findings indicate that the stores that serve recreational needs should focus more on younger segments, where men and women share similar buying patterns. Findings from this study could also be used for segmentation exercises and to build strategies to convert footfall into actual purchase, especially within the rapidly growing Indian mall market.\nOriginality/value: The study adds value to the body of retail literature and provides empirical evidence from the rapidly developing Indian market. The study also provides insight into where differences occur and between which specific groups. By highlighting the differences in greater detail, the study benefits retailers in general and specifically, mall managers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Consumer emotional brand attachment with social media brands and social media brand equity
|
[
"Emotional brand attachment",
"Consumer satisfaction",
"Brand credibility",
"Consumer-based brand equity",
"Social media brands"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The proliferation of social media in society has been unprecedented. Monthly active users of LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are in the vicinity of 100 million, 320 million, 400 million and 1.6 billion, respectively (Adweek, 2016). Altogether, these figures highlight that users are engaging with social media brands at a higher rate than ever before. Social media brands enable their consumers to pursue a wide variety of interests, ranging from seeking entertainment to inter-personal networking to self-expression, thereby addressing consumers' psychological and social needs (Heinonen, 2011; Quan-Haase and Young, 2010). Today, social media brands are generating favorable experiences for consumers in a technology-mediated environment that were not possible in a time without social media.\nConceptual foundations: Attachment theory\nHypotheses development: Emotional brand attachment and brand credibility\nResearch design: We collected cross-sectional data using a self-administered web survey of 340 Australian social media users. A commercial research firm was hired to supply data from consumers who enrolled voluntarily on their panel. The respondents were asked to nominate one social media brand that they used the most and were presented with a listing of 15 social media brands such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr as well as an \"Other\" option. The nominated brand was then auto-populated in the survey. The survey used multiple data-validation checks to ensure valid data. First, the respondents were prevented from taking the survey twice. Second, the respondents who entered nonsense data in the \"Other\" option when nominating brands were eliminated. Third, those respondents who selected exactly the same rating point on a pre-specified set of statements were eliminated (such respondents were treated as not paying adequate attention to the content of the statements). Fourth, respondents were eliminated if they incorrectly addressed the item \"Please select Slightly Disagree if you read this question\", as this signaled that such respondents were not paying adequate attention. All eliminated cases were duly substituted with valid cases by the research firm.\nAnalysis and results: In all, 64 cases were eliminated based on the respondent-attention check, and 37 cases were eliminated based on the respondents' second attempts at the survey. In all, we received 340 complete and valid questionnaires. Our sample comprised 60 per cent female consumers (detailed sample demographics are reported in Table I). This gender representation is not unusual, as female users normally dominate social media usage as compared to men (Sensis, 2017). Age-groups were broadly represented in the sample; the youngest age-group comprised around 7 per cent of the sample, whereas the oldest age-group attained a 13 per cent representation. Regarding education, around 33 per cent of the respondents had attained a College Certificate/Diploma or a Trade Qualification, and approximately 40 per cent of the respondents had attained an Undergraduate or Postgraduate degree. Income-wise, around 40 per cent of the respondents earned between A$40K to A$100K; other income-groups were reasonably represented in the sample.\nDiscussion: The surge in popularity of social media platforms and associated emotional attachments that users develop towards these necessitate an enquiry into the inherent dynamics of emotional attachments, as well as the consequences for other user perceptions. Adopting a \"brand\" perspective on social media platforms, we set out to examine the relationships between consumers' emotional brand attachment (EBA) with social media brands and how that shapes consumer brand knowledge which is normally conceived of as CBBE. Our first contribution is that we explicate a process by which EBA shapes social media CBBE. Using two relationship-based pathways, we demonstrate that EBA impacts social media CBBE via consumer perceptions of brand credibility and consumer satisfaction. These results support the notion of brands as (anthropomorphic) relational partners of consumers (Fournier, 1998). We also observed that the effects are fully mediated, presenting an interesting result. The first path is a credibility-based pathway; we note that EBA exerts a positive impact on social media equity via brand credibility. A theoretical implication of this finding is that consumer emotional connections with brands translate into CBBE via a conceptual mechanism or a chain-of-effects. That is, EBA affects brand credibility via selective processing and attention towards a preferred brand vis-a-vis competing alternatives (Park et al., 2006), which in turn affects CBBE. Our process unifies explanatory influences that have been previously observed independently - the effect of consumers' emotional connections on perceptions of brand trust (Loureiro et al., 2012) and company credibility (Kim and Villegas, 2009), as well as reported relationships between brand credibility and facets of CBBE (Baek et al., 2010; Erdem and Swait, 1998).\nLimitations and future research: We acknowledge some limitations of our study that potentially highlight avenues for future research. First, we adopted a cross-sectional perspective on EBA with social media brands. Consumer attachment with social media brands may evolve overtime with the progression of a consumer-brand relationship. That is, the dimensionality of EBA may evolve, such that the first-order factor loadings of the construct are expected to change with the evolving consumer-brand relationship. Second, we focused on examining consumer-to-brand relationships within a social media setting. Future research may consider investigating how consumer-to-consumer interactions enhance consumer attachment with social media brands. Another potentially interesting avenue of research is how emotional contagion effects in social media may shape EBA. Emotional contagion refers to the flow of emotions from one person to another with a receiver \"catching\" the emotions that a sender displays (Schoenewolf, 1990). There is emerging support that emotional contagion effects may exist in social networks (Kramer et al., 2014); modelling such effects will add an additional layer of understanding to emotional attachment with social media brands. Third, we did not measure users' emotional attachments with the content of social media. Users may develop emotional attachments with the inherent content of social media, and it would be useful to segregate users' content-based attachment and platform-based attachment to obtain a clearer picture of the phenomenon. Similarly, others factors such as social media usage and perceived value of a platform may help translate the effects of emotional attachment on social media CBBE, and these relationships can examined in future research. Finally, our findings are predominantly relevant to social media brands. Given the emergent state of research into EBA, future research may consider replicating our model across other contexts in order to enhance external validity. A related avenue could be to explore whether the hypothesized relationships vary across research contexts. For example, Belaid and Behi (2011) did not observe a relationship between EBA and consumer satisfaction, whereas we do. Such results could be potentially attributed to the product category context. Belaid and Behi (2011) examine the relationship in the context of utilitarian products (i.e. car batteries), whereas we examine experiential services (i.e. online social media). Overall, emotional brand attachment represents a promising research area allowing immense opportunities to further our understanding of how consumers' emotional attachments shape brand behavior.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The ever-growing popularity of social media platforms is evidence of consumers engaging emotionally with these brands. Given the prominence of social media in society, the purpose of this paper is to understand social media platforms from a \"brand\" perspective through examining the effect of consumers' emotional attachment on social media consumer-based brand equity (CBBE).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper develops a model that outlines how emotional brand attachment with social media explains social media CBBE via shaping consumer perceptions of brand credibility and consumer satisfaction. An online survey of 340 Australian social media consumers provided data for empirical testing. The inclusion of multiple context-relevant covariates and use of a method-variance-adjusted data matrix, as well as an examination of an alternative model, adds robustness to the results.\nFindings: The findings of this paper support the conceptual model, and the authors identify strong relationships between the focal variables. A phantom model analysis explicates specific indirect effects of emotional brand attachment on CBBE. The authors also find support for a fully mediated effect of emotional brand attachment on social media brand equity. Further, they broaden the nomological network of emotional brand attachment, outlining key outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper offers a conceptual mechanism (a chain-of-effects) of how consumer emotional brand attachment with social media brands translates into social media CBBE. It also finds that a brand's credibility as well as its ability to perform against consumer expectations (i.e. satisfaction) are equally effective in translating emotional brand attachment into social media CBBE.\nPractical implications: Social media brands are constantly challenged by rapid change and ongoing criticism over such issues as data privacy. The implications from this paper suggest that managers should make investments in creating (reinforcing) emotional connections with social media consumers, as this will favorably impact CBBE by way of a relational mechanism, that is, via enhancing credibility and consumer satisfaction.\nSocial implications: Lately, social media in general has suffered from a crisis of trust in society. The enhanced credibility of social media brands resulting from consumers' emotional attachments will potentially serve to enhance its acceptance as a credible form of media in society.\nOriginality/value: Social media platforms are often examined as brand-building platforms. This paper adopts a different perspective, examining social media platforms as brands per se and the effects of emotional attachments that consumers develop towards these. This paper offers valuable insights into how consumers' emotional attachments drive vital brand judgments such as credibility and satisfaction, ultimately culminating into social media CBBE.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Productivity, wages and profits among Belgian firms: do fixed-term contracts matter?
|
[
"Wages",
"Profits",
"Productivity",
"Fixed-term contracts",
"Linked panel data"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In order to facilitate employment adjustment by firms and to reduce the unemployment rate (Bentolila and Bertola, 1990; Mahy, 2005), the legislation on temporary employment has been relaxed in Belgium (as in most European Countries) over the last 20 years. Accordingly, the share of temporary jobs as a percentage of total employment in Belgium has increased from 5.3 to 8.9 per cent between 1990 and 2011 (Eurostat, 2012).\n2. Theoretical and empirical background: Human capital and working conditions\n3. Methodology: The empirical results presented in Section 5 are based on the separate estimation of a value-added function and a wage (i.e. labour cost) equation at the firm level. It provides parameter estimates for the impact of temporary contracts on average productivity and wages, respectively. Given that both equations are estimated on the same samples with identical control variables, we can compare the parameters for marginal products and wages and draw conclusions on how the benefits or losses due to temporary contracts are shared between workers and firms. This technique was pioneered by Hellerstein and Neumark (1995) and refined by Hellerstein et al. (1999), Hellerstein and Neumark (2004), Aubert and Crepon (2003), and van Ours and Stoeldraijer (2011). It is now standard in the literature on the productivity and wage effects of labour heterogeneity (see, e.g. Garnero et al., 2014; Gobel and Zwick, 2012; Vandenberghe, 2013).\n4. Data and descriptive statistics: We base our empirical analysis on a combination of two large data sets covering the years 1999-2006. The first, carried out by Statistics Belgium, is the \"SES\" It covers all firms operating in Belgium that employ at least ten workers and have economic activities within sections C to K of the NACE Rev.1 nomenclature[9]. The survey contains a wealth of information, provided by the management of firms, both on the characteristics of these firms (e.g. sector of activity, number of workers) and on the individuals working there (e.g. age, education, sex, tenure, gross earnings, paid hours, occupation)[10]. The SES provides no financial information. Therefore, it has been merged with a firm-level survey, the \"Structure of Business Survey\" (SBS). The SBS, also conducted by Statistics Belgium, provides information on financial variables such as firm-level material inputs, investments, labour costs, value added, and gross operating surplus. The coverage of the SBS differs from that of the SES in that it does not cover the whole financial sector (NACE J) but only Other Financial Intermediation (NACE 652) and Activities Auxiliary to Financial Intermediation (NACE 67). The SES and SBS data sets were merged by Statistics Belgium using the firms' social security numbers. These surveys are conducted each year, so our data cover all years from 1999 to 2006.\n5. Results: Table II presents our results from static Equations (1) to (3) estimated by pooled OLS. Note that we also control for heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation of residuals.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: The legislation on temporary employment has been relaxed in Belgium (as in most European Countries) over the last 20 years. In light of this evolution, an accurate understanding of the different repercussions of temporary employment contracts has emerged as an increasingly salient problem in labour and industrial economics.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of fixed-term contracts (FTCs) on labour productivity, wages (i.e. labour cost), and productivity-wage gaps (i.e. profits).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors apply dynamic panel data techniques to detailed Belgian linked employer-employee panel data covering the period 1999-2006.\nFindings: Results indicate that FTCs exert stronger positive effects on productivity than on wages and (accordingly) that the use of FTCs increases firms' profitability.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the first to examine the FTC-productivity-wage nexus while addressing three important methodological issues related to the state dependency of the three explained variables, to firm time-invariant heterogeneity, and to the endogeneity of FTCs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Crop switching as an adaptation strategy to climate change: the case of Semien Shewa Zone of Ethiopia
|
[
"Crop switching",
"Climate change",
"Adaptation",
"Determinant",
"Logit",
"Ethiopia"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Major shift is projected in the suitable climate space of many crops across the globe due to climate change (Seo and Mendelsohn, 2008; Wang et al., 2010; Rippke et al., 2016). This phenomenon is similar to the range-shift of plant species pole wards, or upwards for elevation-induced climate zones. Many species have recently shifted their ranges toward higher elevations and latitudes at a median rate of 11.0 m and 16.9 km per decade, respectively (Chen et al., 2011). Similarly, the geographical range of agricultural crops is expected to shift. In sub-Saharan Africa, the area suitable for maize and beans, two of the nine major crops in the region, is predicted to shrink by about 30 and 60 per cent, respectively, by the end of the twenty-first century (Rippke et al., 2016). These shifts entail transformational adaptations such as substituting maize with more drought-resistant crops such as sorghum and millet (Rippke et al., 2016).\n2. Method: 2.1 Study area\n3. Results: 3.1 Household characteristics and cropping pattern\n4. Discussion: The study revealed that considering crop switching as an adaptation strategy without narrowly defining it could be misleading. For our case study, only crop abandoning is associated to climate change, while the adoption of new crops is primarily motivated by price changes. This is a new finding which challenges the results of most previous studies that considered crop switching at aggregate level or under a general heading of crop switching without separately considering the different types of switching decisions (Maddison, 2007; Bryan et al., 2009; Gbetibouo, 2009; Deressa et al., 2009). The particular relevance of abandoning crops to climate change also suggests that farmers initially take more risk-averting measures to adapt to climate change.\n5. Conclusions: The main objective of the study is to disentangle specific group of switching decisions that are primarily motivated by climate change and the socio-economic and environmental factors that influence them. The study shows that farmers in relatively drier and hotter AEZs are currently abandoning existing crops such as maize and fava bean as a response to climate change, and the adoption of new crops is primarily induced by price changes. The crop abandonment trend is in line with the predictions of ecological studies and crop-distribution modeling, which further validates the findings. The fact that abandonment rather than adoption is associated to climate change may also indicate the risk-averting behavior of smallholder farmers. Most farmers who abandoned existing crops because of climate change adopted a cash crop (mung bean) primarily due to price increases for the crop because of new linkage to export market. The adoption of the cash crop is secondarily motivated by climate change, as it is evident in its agronomic qualities, and farmers' subjective assessment. The most important determinants of crop switching are land size and agroecological factors.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The geographical range of agricultural crops is shifting because of climate change. Reducing the potential negative impact of this shift requires efficient crop switching at farm level. Yet there are scant studies that examine how crop switching is currently taking place and what factors facilitate the process. Even these few existing studies often based their analysis on inadequately established causal link between climate change and switching decisions. This study aims to identify the specific switching decisions that are primarily motivated by climate change, and their determinants.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study used a household survey on 190 households in Semien Shewa Zone in Ethiopia. Subjective rating of farmers was used to identify the relative importance of climate change in motivating the different types of switching decisions. A logit model is used to identify determinants of crop switching decisions primarily motivated by climate change.\nFindings: Farmers in the study area are currently abandoning certain crops as a response to climate change. The adoption of new crops is, however, mainly attributed to price changes. Most farmers who abandoned at least one crop adopted mung bean mainly due to its price advantages. As expected, crop switching as an adaptation strategy is more prevalent particularly in drier and hotter agroecologies. The logit model showed that crop switching is strongly correlated with land size and agroecology.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an in-depth examination of crop switching as an adaptation strategy to climate change. Crop switching is an adaptation strategy that is expected to substantially reduce the damage from climate change in agriculture. The findings are particularly relevant for adaptation planning in the context of smallholder agriculture.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Polarizing the middle: internet exposure and public opinion
|
[
"Social exclusion",
"Public opinions",
"Internet politics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Evidence from the 2016 US presidential campaign suggests that alienated voters played a crucial role in President Trump's victory. His campaign used social media to target (Malone, 2016) and mobilize (Kennedy et al., 2018) marginalized voters, especially those with less education (Morgan and Lee, 2018), by popularizing extremist views, including racism and anti-immigrant sentiment (Hooghe and Dassonneville, 2018). Trump also carried Independents (CNN, 2016), who normally \"stand out for their low level of interest in politics\" (Pew Research Center, 2019b, p. 3). Moreover, divisive (wedge) issues have long been used to energize apathetic voters. Republican strategists put measure banning gay marriage on 13 state ballots during the 2004 presidential election to increase turnout among their base (Campbell and Monson, 2008), and Democrats used women's rights as a wedge in 2012 to increase turnout among single women and produce the widest gender gap in presidential vote choice to date (Hansen, 2016).\nBackground: The essential middle and the excluded middle\nMethods: Data\nAnalysis: Assumption: each group is moderate, overall\nConclusion: Contrary to a long history of polarization research showing that liberals and conservatives, party identifiers, educated respondents and those interested in politics are the main sources of US political polarization, this study shows that their counterparts are not all staunch moderates. While each group was moderate, on the whole, they were easily polarized when incorporated into the political sphere through access to online information, supporting the research hypothesis. This suggests the powerful influence of our changing media environment on a potential erosion of the political middle, even as it increases political inclusion. From a methodological standpoint, then, this study is important because face-to-face opinion polls may no longer reproduce the context of political engagement. Voters need not attend to campaign issues months before an election and may not be prepared to address them when pollsters come calling. We can do that research on election day (Hamza Saad, 2016).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Research on opinion polarization in the USA repeatedly finds more divergence among politically privileged groups: respondents who are college educated, politically interested, party identified or have a liberal/conservative orientation. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether their excluded counterparts can be polarized by exposure to political information on the internet.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Quantile regression and visual analysis of raw data from the online and face-to-face samples in the 2012 and 2016 American National Election Studies (n=9,563) assessed the impact of online political information on opinion polarization among ideological moderates, political Independents, respondents without a college degree, and those with low interest in politics.\nFindings: Exposure to online political information during the survey was associated with significant polarizing shifts toward more consistent ideological positions in all four groups.\nPractical implications: Engaging the middle is a social justice issue as much as a matter of political conflict, and evidence suggests that politically excluded groups use the internet to translate their own views into the language of policy opinions and popular (polarized) politics. Recommended policy interventions include information literacy programs. Further research should use experimental models and browser histories.\nOriginality/value: Current research on political polarization leaves open the question of whether larger portions of the electorate are available to join the fray. This study shows that excluded publics can be polarized via exposure to online information.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The 3P model for creating sustainable educational reform: an epilogue to the special issue
|
[
"Inclusion",
"Exclusion",
"Educational policy",
"Medical model",
"Universal design for learning"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In his seminal article on the pernicious effects of ableism on educational policy and practice, Hehir (2002) states that \"progress toward equity is dependent first and foremost on the acknowledgement that ableism exists in schools\" (p. 22). Hehir continues to place the inclusion movement squarely within the larger diversity movement, an approach supported by other inclusion theorists (Artiles et al., 2008; Kozleski et al., 2013) who see educational inclusion as another aspect of the realignment and more equitable distribution of power structures in educational systems. For this epilogue of the special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration, we wish to shift the discussion from its most common foci of praxis. We review and present a summary of conceptual models of mainstreaming vis-a-vis inclusive models as we examine the metamorphosis of inclusionary praxis. We review the other papers in this special issue as we present our 3P model of philosophy (Cornett and Knackstedt, this special issue; Kozleski and Stepaniuk, this special issue), policy (DeMatthews et al., this special issue; Oskarsdottir et al., this special issue) and praxis (Boscardin and Shepherd, this special issue) while summarizing conceptual models and inclusive definitions, conceptualizing frameworks for describing inclusive policy and providing a critical discussion of procedures and practices focusing on applications to educational administration, while specifically relating to each of the papers in this special issue of the journal.\nFirst P (philosophy): conceptual models and inclusive definitions from segregation to inclusion: Comparisons of international policies in the field of inclusive education provide policy makers with tools, perspectives and resources to design effective and appropriate local policies. The aim of these studies is to highlight current solutions to each country's specific barriers and problems by presenting a general picture of local inclusionary practices along with regulations and appropriate legislation (D'alessio and Watkins, 2009; Meijer et al., 1994). However, comparative studies are problematic since terminology is not unified and is often contradictory.This is particularly true in the context of policies regarding integration/mainstreaming and inclusion. For instance, in our own work within an Israeli context, we find that these terms are often used synonymously. We see them as diametrically opposed. For the purposes of this article, integration/mainstreaming refers to helping the children with disabilities to adapt to the general education setting for various parts of the school day. Inclusionary practice, on the other hand, focuses on the modification and preparation of the school system to accommodate children with special needs. In a nutshell, we ask, \"Who adapts to whom?\" In an integrated system, the child adapts to the school requirements. In an inclusionary system, the educational system adapts to the child.Current policies often regard integration as equal to inclusion. Almost 40 years of research unequivocally shows that mainstreaming does not ensure pedagogical and social immersion of students with disabilities in everyday school activities (Gresham, 1982; Gresham and Reschly, 1987; Hossain, 2012). Mainstreaming cannot be regarded as an inclusive policy. Confusion between inclusion and integration practices persists (Pijl et al., 1997), which leads to significantly different academic, social and emotional outcomes of students (Jackson et al., 2008). As stated by Dyson (1999):...special education serves the interests of advantaged members of society by maintaining and rationalizing the further marginalization of those whom it claims to help. The establishment of special education creates an alternative location for the education of problematic children whose needs and demands might otherwise challenge the established order of regular schooling... It legitimizes the treatment of children (and hence adults) with disabilities as deviant... and thus contributes to their 'oppression'. (p. 40)Each country's definitions and specifications of disability vary widely, causing both policy and eligibility requirements to be unclear and often incomparable (D'alessio and Watkins, 2009). Additionally, some educational authorities state ideas or policies of inclusive education within their rules and regulations, but offer opposing solutions, unclear funding options and vague assessment procedures (Higgins et al., 2006; Lipsky, 2010). Adding to the complexity, when conducting international policy analyses and comparisons, published policies in English (as opposed to the nation's spoken language) are often vague and contradictory. They also tend to ignore the fact that current policies are but the latest step in an ongoing evolutionary process of discussions and negotiations between competing constituencies and stakeholders, parliamentary bodies and the executive and judicial branches of government. While policy differences may be the result of different political, historical, institutional and bureaucratic trends (Armstrong et al., 2016; Gumpel and Awartani, 2003; Meijer, 1999; Meijer et al., 2003; Vlachou, 2004), it may often be true that certain policies have been intact for such a long time and that dismantling or restructuring them is logistically and fiscally too complex.What, exactly, are we talking about?\nSecond P (policy): conceptual frameworks for describing inclusive policy: Any organizational model for inclusive policy is better than no organization model at all. It is essential to place inclusionary policy praxis within a larger theoretical framework. Several of the papers in this special issue attempt to do just this (DeMatthews et al., this special issue; Oskarsdottir et al., this special issue) and provide the reader with conceptual models to understand policy, albeit from different perspectives.DeMatthews and colleagues (this special issue) describe the Hitt and Tucker theoretical framework (2016). DeMatthews et al. describe five components: the need to establish vision, facilitating learning experiences for all students, the development of professional capacity, creating supportive organizations and connecting with external partners. The authors describe effective policy and school leadership within these five factors. The use of this conceptual framework allows for the transfer of knowledge from one system to another (Hitt and Tucker, 2016). In their analysis, DeMatthews et al. describe US legislation, policy and procedures as a \"never-ending process of finding better ways of responding to diversity.\" Like their European counterparts (Oskarsdottir et al., this special issue), they frame inclusionary policy as a process of dealing with marginalized children who are underserved by the school system (Artiles et al., 2011); however, unlike their European Union colleagues, they provide examples only from special education policy and practice in the United States.Hitt and Tucker (2016) suggest a horizontal theoretical framework where change agents act within four theoretical facets: creating and articulating the vision, setting goals and standards, communicating the vision and using data. Oskarsdottir, Donnelly, Turner-Cmuchal and Florian (this special issue) propose an alternative, vertical theoretical framework adopted by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. The authors describe a system including: national level (Macro), municipal/community (Exo), local/school (Meso) and school/classroom (Micro), reminiscent of Bronfenbrenner's ecological system model (1976), minus the focus on the chrono-system.Two papers in this special issue specifically address policy and its organization. DeMatthews et al. (this special issue) analyze policy in terms of its application to principal leadership. While this paper focuses entirely on the United States, the reliance on Hitt and Tucker's model (2016) for understanding policy has international relevance. Oskarsdottir et al. (this special issue) present two conceptual models. One model refers to the organizational structure of key roles and responsibilities, while another describes a model of distributed leadership. Both articles describe schools or systems where administrators work with staff to create sustainably inclusive schools. An extension of these two papers would address the serious conundrum of working with schools and principals who are reluctant to adopt mandated inclusive policies. Following Lipsky (2010) in his description of the move from agency to street-level implementers of policy, we turn to a discussion of these street-level bureaucrats in our discussion of the third P of Praxis.\nThird P (praxis): procedures and praxis: Having established a philosophical and conceptual model of inclusive education, we now turn to a discussion of what is to be done in order to achieve inclusive schools and inclusive educational authorities. In their book, Hehir and Katzman (2012) describe meso and micro levels of change (Oskarsdottir et al., this special issue) and describe three primary aspects of creating inclusive schools: collaborative problem-solving, relationships, school culture and accountability, and universally designed schools. In our own work studying inclusive practices of Israeli educators, we often come across statements such as \"I would love to teach a child with disabilities; however, how can I do that in a fully populated classroom and without any training in special education?\" What we are hearing in these statements is a reflection of an ableist conceptualization of the school based on a medical model. These teachers are correctly describing their dilemma within a traditionally structured school, where learning is seen as a binary issue, where uniform standards of mastery dictate that students are either \"capable\" or \"incapable.\" In our own focus groups of general education teachers, respondents reported that they had insignificant training in special education and that they would not recommend integration of children with disabilities in the general education framework if they thought that the receiving school was ill prepared. Despite teachers' statements of support for inclusive practices, they demonstrated little actual knowledge about what inclusion is.Returning to Skitric's work (1995), schools are bureaucracies structured around concepts of efficiency and productivity and where a baseline, quantifiable and standardized education is packaged and efficiently transmitted to a large group of children with supposed maximum efficiency. Such organizations are obligated to endorse \"standardized programs\" (Hehir and Katzman, 2012) as well as homogeneity of clientele. In this environment, inclusionary practices are nigh impossible. As all authors in this special issue point out, envisioning an inclusive school means changing the basic structure of the school and focusing on macro to the micro levels of the organization. Skitric (1995) and Hehir and Katzman (2012) emphasize the need for the development of adhocratic problem-solving schools (Mcleskey et al., 2012), a view supported by DeMatthews et al. (this special issue). To create such inclusive schools, praxis must take into account three essential components: the ability of teachers to collectively problem-solve in order to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all learners, a thorough understanding of curricular modification based on principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL, Rose and Meyer, 2002) and the development of teacher capacity and individual and collective beliefs in their self-efficacy (DeMatthews et al., this special issue; Tschannen Moran and Hoy, 2001), specifically for reluctant teachers, administrators and educational authorities to include a diverse and heterogeneous group of students in their classroom. In our own work with inclusive teachers, we have repeatedly found that issues of teacher self-efficacy are strong predictors of willingness to attempt inclusive practices.Collective problem-solvers\nSummary: How can our 3P model guide policy and praxis? What does the comparative literature tell us about inclusion for the school administrator? In this epilogue, we have described our 3P model of school change, while associating each paper in this special issue with each level of analysis. We differentiate between different types of administrator challenges. Some schools and local educational authorities have already made decisions to create inclusive systems, to foster equity, to distance themselves from a deficit model of disability and to create schools, which promote a pedagogy of equity. In these schools, the administrator must develop and provide procedures to effectively and efficiently use the human resources already in the school.However, as we have found, these are the minority of school systems. Many schools and local educational authorities remain resistant to change. Part of this resistance is due to organizational issues and a general reluctance to change, while part of this difficulty is attributed to stakeholder beliefs that the current system of integration or mainstreaming best serves children with special educational needs. The professional literature is replete with descriptions regarding the need to develop inclusive schools, but we can find scant empirical literature regarding mechanisms to foster educational reform in noninclusive settings.We return to our 3P model of change: philosophy, policy and praxis. There can be no policy without a firm foundation in equity-based educational philosophy and ideology. Likewise, there can be no practice without clear, concise and transparent policy. Sufficiently grounding policy and praxis in a clear philosophical and ideological move from a deficit-based ableistic model to a support-based inclusive model must precede any policy development or implementation. In our own Israeli context, despite years of attempted educational reform, the Ministry of Education displays a lack of clarity and is ambivalent regarding the clear incentivization of policy and disincentivation of retaining the status quo (Gumpel, 2020; Gumpel and Sharoni, 2007). We have found that a poorly implemented policy sends toxic ripples throughout the macro to micro systems. It also adversely affects future reforms by damaging organizational health (Hoy et al., 1991) and practitioners' willingness to take risks.On a macro implementation level, systems must move beyond the deficit-based medical model to a pedagogic needs model. Such a change is challenging on a macro policy level. National funding mechanisms must change, along with teacher and diagnostician training. Funding mechanisms must retool to accommodate a money-follows-child model (Thomas et al., 2005), a gargantuan and often elusive task.On the micro level, we see three main challenges for the educational administrator. Teachers must learn to work together to collectively problem-solve and make their lessons accessible to all students. PLCs (Hairon et al., 2017; Hipp et al., 2008; Stoll et al., 2006) are vital for efficiently using the vast amount of institutional knowledge, which otherwise is simply discarded when teachers work alone. Teachers much be able to implement UDL in their classrooms, just as principals and other administrators must implement UDL as an integral part of their pedagogic and administrative leadership.Administrators, teachers and schools must adapt to meet the increasing complexity of heterogeneous students embedded in increasingly heterogeneous societies. In our work with teachers and administrators around the world, we repeatedly see that most teachers teach as they and their parents were taught. We doubt that this antiquated method of teaching was ever appropriate for heterogeneous student populations, but we are certain that they are inappropriate at present.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This article presents a conceptual synthesis of the international literature on inclusive education while expanding upon, and incorporating, the articles in this special issue. The authors present their 3P model (philosophy, policy and praxis) and relate each paper in this special issue to different aspects of their model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article serves as an epilogue to this special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration as well as a discussion of historical and conceptual distinctions between mainstreaming and inclusion while examining global trends in understanding the move toward inclusive education.\nFindings: The authors examined the detrimental effects of ableism and a medical model of disability and their effects on the educational system. They conducted an analysis based on examining the philosophy, policy and practice of the inclusive movement, specifically by examining conceptual models and inclusive decisions, conceptual frameworks for describing inclusive policy and a focus of the application to educational administration. The authors examined the global movement from segregation/exclusion to integration and then to inclusionary praxis.\nResearch limitations/implications: The authors maintain that the inclusion literature lacks a sound positivistic empirical base, and so they present throughout the article possible avenues for such research as well as future directions for comparative research.\nPractical implications: Understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the inclusive movement is central to developing viable inclusive educational settings. The authors distinguish between inclusive schools and local educational authorities where stakeholders have moved toward an inclusionary system (the minority) versus locales who are reluctant to move systems to actual change.\nOriginality/value: This article takes a wider view of inclusionary practices, from one focusing on children with disabilities to one focusing on historical and traditional exclusionary practices. By widening the scope of the inclusion discussion, to one of exclusion, the authors present a viably wider lens to educational administration.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Use of quality tools and techniques and their integration into ISO 9001: A wind power supply chain case
|
[
"ISO 9001",
"Quality management",
"Wind power",
"Process approach",
"Hypothesis development",
"Quality tools and techniques"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The importance of total quality management (TQM), on both a practical and theoretical level, has increased considerably in recent decades. Miller (1996) provided a seminal and global definition that has been consistently referred to for the last decades. Accordingly, TQM is, \"An ongoing process whereby top management takes whatever steps necessary to enable anyone in the organization in the course of performing all duties to establish and achieve standards which meet or exceed the needs and expectations of the customers, both internal and external\". A number of studies have been carried out to develop a set of key practices for implementing TQM (Aquilani et al., 2017), although these often vary from company to company or from one author to another. Various studies have been carried out to identify such practices and, according to the literature (Evans and Lindsay, 1999; Tari and Sabater, 2004; Tari, 2005; Vouzas and Psyhogios, 2007; Fotopoulos and Psomas, 2009a; Psomas et al., 2014; Modgil and Sharma, 2017), TQM elements can be grouped into two dimensions: first, management or \"soft\" elements (leadership, strategic quality planning, employee management and involvement, supplier management, customer focus, process management, continuous improvement, information and analysis, knowledge and education), and second, technical or \"hard\" elements (quality tools and techniques).\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: This section is divided into two subsections. In the first, we review the literature on QT&T use in different sectors and time periods. In the second, we analyse the relationship between QT&Ts and the ISO 9001 management standard process approach and develop the respective research questions.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Questionnaire\n4. Results: We have divided this section into four subsections: a descriptive analysis of the use of quality tools and techniques, an EFA and a CFA of quality tools and techniques use in the WP sector, a descriptive analysis of the impact QT&Ts have on the main processes in ISO 9001 and, finally, a correlation matrix between the main processes in ISO 9001:2008 and the QT&T \"groups\" detected in the factor analysis.\n5. Discussion and findings: 5.1 Quality tools and techniques descriptive analysis\n6. Conclusions: Quality tools and techniques help organizations and companies to analyse and solve problems by providing the methodology required to detect a problem, determine its root causes, plan and develop any corrective and preventive action, validate the efficiency of the solutions, and finally, monitor the proposed solutions. Thus, the use of QT&Ts improves communication between managers, engineers and operators, and also helps them to understand the processes and distinguish possible causes of process variation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of quality management tools and techniques and their integration into the ISO 9001:2008 standard in a wind power (WP) sector supply chain (SC).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research project was carried out in 119 WP sector SC companies (i.e. component suppliers, wind turbine assemblers and wind farm operation and maintenance services) using the questionnaire method. The companies selected employ quality management systems (QMSs) which conform to the ISO 9001:2008 standard.\nFindings: The survey findings reveal that the degree to which quality tools and techniques are used in the WP companies can be characterised as \"high\". The results show that internal audits, flowchart diagrams and cost of poor quality are the most-commonly applied tools and techniques, although they also indicate some areas for further improvement, for instance, when using advanced and complex quality techniques such as design of experiments, quality function deployment or business process management. In addition to this, the findings reveal that ISO 9001:2008 establishes a favourable environment for the use of quality tools and techniques.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was based on the perceptions of quality managers, quality engineers and company managers (subjective data) and did not examine the reasons for either not implementing and/or the difficulties encountered while implementing quality tools and techniques.\nPractical implications: The specific findings indicate that employing quality tools and techniques is useful for managers, not only when implementing a QMS, but also when suggesting recommendations for improvement.\nOriginality/value: A change of developing a framework integrating the main QT&T procedures into the main ISO 9001 processes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Benchmarking model for management education in India: A total interpretive structural modeling approach
|
[
"Branding",
"Management education",
"College ranking",
"Private sector colleges",
"Public sector colleges",
"Total interpretive structural model"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Colleges and educational institutions across the globe use a branding tool to attract students and create a brand image for themselves in the education sector with their unique selling points (USPs) (Gunasekaran, 2002). Management institutions in India have grown in popularity in recent times. The trend of enrollment of students and the rate of increase of aspirants indicate that management institutions in India have grown in popularity amongst career-minded students (Arbaugh, 2014; Dyllick, 2015).\n2. Review of literature: The literature review explores and examines previous studies in a similar field. This segment discusses the theories of branding and placement of a brand. The study also builds on the foundation developed by Clark et al. (2008) to study the diverse and intricate aspects of the literature review. The study focuses on exploring the factors responsible for branding of higher education with special reference to management education in India. An important aspect has been exploring the variables using a systematic literature review.\n3. Research design: This section overviews the research objectives and research methodology incorporated for the current study.\n4. Discussion and results: This section showcases the results of the data collected and discusses the outcomes in detail. The results derived from ISM followed by MICMAC Analysis are also discussed in detail. The segment gives a brief of TISM and elaborates the reasons for extending the framework of ISM to TISM.\n5. Conclusion: This section presents conclusions, recommendations, limitations and further scope of the study. By employing the research methods discussed elaborately in Section 3, the study attempted to develop a theoretical framework for branding of private and public colleges offering MBA in India. Based on TISM, an attempt has been made to identify strategies to achieve the outcome of each driver of branding based on expert opinions. The finding indicates that Quality of Faculty plays a significant role in quality research output which impacts accreditation and ranking outcome under a set of mediating factors.\n6. Limitations of the study: Though the present study is important for policy implementation in India, which is witnessing transition and gearing itself for the next level in management education, it has the following limitations. The current study has adopted alternative research methods. However, the alternative methods, as argued by Eisenhardt (1989), suggest that in case of emerging fields, case research or action research can be powerful methods to generate comprehensive theories. It is limited to branding of management education institutes in India without considering other important disciplines for generalizing the framework. The study is based on a literature review followed by interpretive modeling while other approaches such as ethnographic research methods and appreciative inquiry could have been adopted. The current study has used binary digits which have their own limitations as argued by some researchers (see Dubey and Ali, 2014).\n7. Future research directions: Though the present study is insightful and enlightening, there is pressing need for empirical validation. The current framework can be tested using large data gathered by employing structured questionnaires. Currently we have tested the content validity and face validity. However, the construct validity needs to be assessed using large data. Second, there is a strong need for longitudinal research. A longitudinal analysis of companies over time would provide data to address at least two research questions:\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Management education has assumed phenomenal prominence in India in recent years, with branding being a prime factor used as a yardstick, rather a benchmark or point of reference, for one institution having an edge over the other. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors leading to branding of management education in India. It proposes two frameworks using Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM) for public and private sector management colleges. For this purpose, variables are extracted using systematic literature review, which play a crucial role in changing the dynamics of college rankings. The inquiry distinctly examines the nature of relationship between them for public and private colleges offering higher education. The study further proposes strategies for improvement of rankings by discussing the hierarchy and interrelationship among the enablers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) to ascertain the linkages between the variables, and employs TISM to validate the reasons of association. The model was fabricated by consulting the experts from various spheres closely allied to branding and higher education, including the private agencies and decision makers in the selected colleges. The variables were furthermore structured for classification using Matrice d'Impacts Croises-Multiplication Applique an Classment Analysis.\nFindings: It was observed that the variables behave differently when studied from the perspective of private sector colleges and public sector colleges; the former have seven levels of arrangement while it is only four for the latter. Quality of Faculty and Research were the key areas of concern for private sector colleges while infrastructure featured as a focal point for those in public sector. It was also evident that the placement of variables and their flow were different. Rankings should thus be premeditated differently for both the sectors and different weights should be assigned to rank the colleges.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is confined to branding of management education institutes in India, without considering other important disciplines for generalizing the framework. It is based on literature review followed by ISM, while other approaches such as ethnographic research methods and appreciative inquiry could have been possible alternatives as well.\nPractical implications: The paper helps in developing different frameworks for private and public sector institutes, which would assist them to have a homogenous completion within their respective sectors. The study can be used to measure the performance of colleges on various parameters and gives them linking variables to enhance their productivity.\nOriginality/value: The paper discusses the need for developing a different barometer to measure the performance of private sector and public sector colleges offering higher education.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Improving entrepreneurship education in primary schools: a pioneer project
|
[
"Entrepreneurship education",
"Co-production",
"Co-creation",
"Collaborative governance",
"Primary education"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: \"Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship\" refers to an individual's ability to shape ideas into actions through creativity, innovation and risk taking; plan for and manage projects; set objectives and implement action to achieve them; seize opportunities; and act with the awareness of ethical values (European Commission, 2006). It is one of the eight key competencies of life-long learning strategies that must be promoted at all levels of education (Bacigalupo et al., 2016; Bakotic and Kruzic, 2010; Bosma and Levie, 2009).\nTheoretical background: Entrepreneurship education in primary school\nResearch design, data and analysis: Earlier studies show that early EE can produce positive and long-term results in public value creation (Hassi, 2016; Huber et al., 2014; Moberg, 2014; Junior Achievement Young Enterprise, 2006; Obschonka et al., 2010, 2011). However, EE has no clear definition for primary schools. Therefore, analysis of specific cases presents prospects to frame practices and develop useful ideas, contextualising the phenomena in a real research context.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The project, as underlined in the previous section, has produced several outcomes in terms of both conceiving and filling specific descriptors as well as spreading positive effects on curricular activities. Therefore, the project generated positive results on entrepreneurial learners' skills, which emerged from the interviews carried out with parents, teachers and members of the school council.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: As one of the eight key competencies of life-long learning strategies identified by the European Union and the difficulties in enhancing the \"sense of initiative and entrepreneurship\", the purpose of this paper is to propose a co-production approach to overcome several concerns.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory approach is used to analyse a single case study based on the EntreComp progression model and on a pedagogical approach consistent with the philosophy of learning through creating value for others.\nFindings: The study introduces best novel practices that help enhance entrepreneurial education in primary school by engaging multiple local stakeholders in co-producing education. The case mainly shows that a co-production approach is appropriate to overcome challenges and assists policymakers to identify specific actions and make investments in entrepreneurship education (EE) at the primary level.\nResearch limitations/implications: Theoretically, the study contributes to literature on entrepreneurial education and co-production studies. The main drawback of the study is its explorative analysis of a single case.\nPractical implications: For practitioners, the research proposes stakeholder involvement as key to co-producing EE in primary schools, implying that policymakers should identify resources for projects and other similar initiatives.\nOriginality/value: The study elucidates the relevance of co-production approach to ensure early EE in school.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
How schedule issues affect drug logistics operations: an empirical study in hospitals in China
|
[
"China",
"Collective efficacy",
"Drug logistics",
"Public hospitals",
"Supply chain partners"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations are constantly confronting challenges in regard to changes in production or service logistics. With fierce competition in the healthcare market, quality service, operational efficiency and cost control have become hot topics and strategic goals for hospitals. The benefits of the integration of supply chain operations are widely acknowledged today, as the involvement of supply chain partners has been shown to contribute to the overall performance of the supply chain operation. Good co-ordination and relations with suppliers and customers are important in acquiring external resources in a timely fashion and in reducing uncertainties in the business operation. As a result, extensive research has been done on understanding how the various factors in the supply chain contribute to operational performance. Optimal logistics management contributes not only to lower operational cost, but also improves performance efficiency, medical service and as well patients' satisfaction.\nLiterature review: Factors affecting logistics operations\nTheoretical model and hypothesis development: Theoretical model\nResearch methodology: Measures of the constructs were obtained via a questionnaire administered to the practitioners in the drug logistics operating units in public hospitals in China.\nSummary of findings: Table V shows the inter-correlations of the variables and Table VI presents a summary of the mean scores obtained from the study and of the key measures respectively. It is shown that schedule nervousness and internal operation are the highest values. This can be interpreted as practitioners perceiving they are experiencing high level of nervousness regarding scheduling operations, while their catering operations are managed well. It is also noted that the \"partnership with suppliers\" scored the lowest.\nDiscussion: Internal operation\nConclusions: In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the challenges faced by the drug logistics teams in hospitals, in particular the impact of logistics issues on the collective efficacy. Drug logistics teams aim to be more agile, considering the nature of the demand for services. A research framework highlighting the partnerships with supply chain partners, internal operation and individuals (perceived efficacy) has been developed. This framework has been validated with the help of empirical data collected from public hospitals in China.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The drug logistics play a crucial role in the hospital service performance. It has been proved that modern logistics concept is a valid access to competitiveness. In order to enhance the comprehensive capability and core competence of hospitals, including the internal support system, there is a great need to have an in-depth and systematic study on the drug logistics system in hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current situation of the drug logistics and the drug centres operations in public hospitals in China; specifically how the organizational partnerships with the supply chain partners can affect the operational performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In this study, the possibility of correlations between schedule instability, partnerships with supply chain partners, and internal drug logistics operation is investigated by modelling, with reference to the previous work of Law et al. (2009), in which collective efficacy of the performance is incorporated into the model.\nFindings: The findings of this study show that the drug logistics working teams in public hospitals in China have a high level of efficacy and self-confidence, while they perceive they provide good operations even at a low level of schedule nervousness. The study also reinforces the significant correlation between internal operation and partnership with customers. This is definitely useful for the development of an appropriate framework for drug logistics operation improvement in the long run.\nOriginality/value: The study thus offers a good reference for the administrators and practitioners who are keen on improving the service operations in the healthcare sector in the region.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
A new mixed repetitive group sampling plan based on the process capability index for product acceptance
|
[
"Quality control",
"Mixed sampling plan",
"Non-linear programming",
"Process capability index"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, the quality of the products has become inevitable for manufacturers or companies and also quality is one of the major aspects that differentiate different commodities in a global market. So, the quality is nowadays becoming a differentiation tool between competitive companies and enterprises. The concept of statistical quality control plays a vital role in ensuring the quality of the products. In order to ensure the quality, two major techniques are available in the statistical quality control literature. They are called as statistical process control and statistical product control. Control chart techniques play a vital role in the statistical process control and the sampling procedures, specifically acceptance sampling plans are the important tools in statistical product control. Inspection of raw materials or finished products using acceptance sampling is one aspect of quality assurance. It is well known that the acceptance sampling plans are used to reduce the cost of inspection. The acceptance sampling is also useful in situations where testing is destructive, the cost of 100 percent inspection is extremely high, the time taken would be too long, the inspection error is too high and the product liability risks are serious.\n2. Process capability indices (PCIs): The concept of PCIs is a convenient and powerful tool for measuring the process potential and process performance from different perspectives. These indices establish the relationship between the actual performance and specification limits, and convey critical information regarding whether a process is capable of reproducing products satisfying the consumer's requirements. The PCIs have been the focus of recent research in quality assurance and capability analysis. These PCIs quantifying process potential and process performance are essential to any successful quality improvement activities and quality program implementation. PCIs are considered as a practical tool by many advocates of the statistical process control industry. They are used to determine whether a manufacturing process is capable of producing units within a specified tolerance range. In the literature of PCIs, several PCIs have been available, among which the basic indices are Cp, Cpk and Cpm (see Kane, 1986; Chan et al., 1988). A detailed review and bibliography of the PCIs can be obtained from Kotz and Johnson (2002), Spiring et al. (2003) and Yum and Kim (2011). Suppose that USL and LSL refer to the upper and lower specification limits, respectively. Then the PCIs Cp and Cpk are defined as follows:(1)\n3. Mixed acceptance sampling plans: The concept of mixed acceptance sampling plans was first introduced by Schilling and Dodge (1969). The mixed sampling scheme comprises of both attribute and variables inspections. When the inspection is based on both attribute and measurable quality characteristics, the mixed sampling plans will be useful. So mixed sampling plans play an important alternative role when the inspection is done based on both attribute and variables quality characteristics. The mixed sampling plans have been discussed by Bowker and Goode (1952), Gregory and Resnikoff (1955) and Savage (1955), among others, and are provided for in MIL-STD-414 (1957). There are two types of mixed sampling plans available in the literature and they are called as independent mixed sampling plans and dependent mixed sampling plans. The mixed sampling plans have been investigated by many authors under various situations (see, e.g. Li et al., 2011; Aslam et al., 2012). Some of the authors have also developed mixed sampling plans based on the process capability index Cpk (see, e.g. Aslam, Azam and Jun, 2013; Aslam, Balamurali and Jun, 2015; Aslam, Balamurali, Azam, and Srinivasa Rao, 2015; Balamurali, Azam, and Aslam, 2016; Balamurali, Azam, and Aslam, 2016).\n4. Performance measures of the proposed mixed RGS plan: 4.1 OC function\n5. Designing of mixed RGS plan based on Cpk: A common approach to the design of an acceptance sampling plan is to require that the OC curve pass through two designated points. For the protection of product quality, both the producer and the consumer would focus on these two points on the OC curve to reflect their benchmarking risk. In a purchasing contract, both producer and consumer will set their requirements with the risks they could suffer. The producer usually desires to focus on a specific level of product quality, called the acceptable quality level (AQL) and denoted by p1, which would yield a high probability for accepting a lot. The consumer would desire to focus on another specific level of product quality, called the limiting quality level (LQL) and denoted by p2, which would give a low probability for accepting a lot. The probability of rejecting a lot at the quality-level AQL is denoted by a, which is also called as the producer's risk and the probability of accepting a lot at the quality-level LQL is denoted by b, which is called as the consumer's risk. Accordingly, a well-designed sampling plan must satisfy both the producer and consumer risks. That is, the sampling plan should pass through the two points on the OC curve namely (p1, 1-a) and (p2, b). So in order to find a optimal sampling plan, we have used these two conditions as the constraints. Obviously, a sampling plan or sampling system having smaller ASN always would be more desirable. So, our ultimate aim is to find the optimal parameters of the proposed sampling which should minimize the ASN at the same time satisfying both the producer and consumer risks. Based on this, the optimal parameters of the proposed mixed sampling can be determined by solving a non-linear optimization problem. In order to design the plan parameters, we have considered two different cases, namely when the fraction non-conforming is symmetric and when the fraction non-conforming is asymmetric. Designing methodology of the proposed mixed RGS plan under these two cases is explained below.\n6. Illustrative examples: In this section, we explain how the optimal parameters of the proposed mixed sampling plan can be selected for specified requirements. For this purpose, we provide two examples.\n7. Industrial application of the proposed mixed RGS plan: In order to illustrate the application of the proposed mixed RGS plan, we consider a real-time case study example of liquid crystal display (LCD) application given in Wu and Pearn (2008) for variables inspection. The company manufactures various type of the LCD. For a particular model of the super twisted nematic (STN) LCD, the target value is set to T=0.70 mm, and the tolerance thickness is 0.07 mm, that is the USL of a glass substrate's thickness is 0.77 mm, the LSL of a glass substrate's thickness is 0.63 mm. If the product characteristic does not fall within the tolerance limits (LSL, USL), then the STN-LCD product will be considered as non-conforming. For the AQL and LQL requirements given in Example 6.2, the optimal plan parameters are n1=79, n2=73, c=0, ka=1.05999 and kr=1.04999. This mixed RGS plan will be operated as follows.\n8. Comparison of the proposed plan: In this section, we compare the proposed mixed RGS plan with attributes SSP, attributes double sampling plan (DSP), attributes RGS plan, mixed RGS plan based on Cpk and mixed SSP based on PCI Cpk. As already pointed out, in order to reduce the inspection cost and sampling errors, the sampling plans which have smaller sample size or smaller ASN would always be more preferable. Hence we compare the ASN of the proposed mixed RGS plan with the ASN of above-mentioned sampling plans. For the purpose of ASN comparison, we have presented Table IV, which shows the ASN(p2) of the above-mentioned attribute sampling plans and ASN(p2) of the proposed mixed RGS plan based on Cpk for the case of symmetric fraction non-conforming. This table clearly shows that the proposed mixed RGS plan involves minimum ASN compared to all other attributes sampling plans shown therein. Just for an example, if p1=0.001 and p2=0.002, then Table IV gives the ASN of attributes SSP as 12,376, the ASN of the attributes DSP is 12,081.09, the ASN of attributes RGS plan as 8,719.27 and the ASN of the proposed mixed RGS plan as 821.886 in the case of symmetric fraction non-conforming. From this table, we can easily understand that the proposed mixed sampling plan has minimum ASN compared to other existing sampling plans.\n9. Conclusions: In this paper, we have proposed a mixed RGS plan for the application of inspection of quality characteristics involving double specification limits based on the PCI Cpk for product acceptance determination. Since the PCIs are becoming standard tools for obtaining and maintaining the quality of the products, developing sampling plans based on the PCI is essential in order to maintain the quality of the products. The proposed mixed sampling plan can be used when the quality characteristic of interest is normally distributed with unknown mean and unknown standard deviation. The OC function and the ASN function have also been developed for the proposed mixed RGS plan. Procedures and methodologies of determining the optimal parameters of the proposed plan have also been developed. We have constructed tables for both the symmetric and the asymmetric fraction non-conforming cases for the unknown sigma-mixed RGS plan based on the PCI Cpk. The sample size required for inspection and the corresponding acceptance and rejection criteria are determined by minimizing ASN with two critical constraints, which provide the desired protection to both producer and consumers. The implementation of the proposed plan has also been explained with real-time industrial examples. The efficiency of the proposed mixed RGS plan has also been compared with other existing sampling plans in terms of the sample size or ASN required for inspection. The study proves that the proposed mixed RGS plan requires less sampling for lot sentencing when the inspection is based on both attribute and variables quality characteristics.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a new mixed repetitive group sampling (RGS) plan based on the process capability index, Cpk, where the quality characteristics of interest follow the normal distribution with unknown mean and unknown variance. Tables are constructed to determine the optimal parameters for practical applications for both symmetric and asymmetric fraction non-conforming cases. The advantages of this proposed mixed sampling plan are also discussed. The proposed sampling plan is also compared with other existing sampling plans.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In order to determine the optimal parameters of the proposed mixed RGS plan based on Cpk, the authors constructed tables for various combinations of acceptable and limiting quality levels (LQLs). For constructing tables, the authors followed the approach of two points on the operating characteristic (OC) curve. The optimal problem is formulated as a non-linear programming where the objective function to be minimized is the average sample number (ASN) and the constraints are related to lot acceptance probabilities at acceptable quality level and LQL under the OC curve.\nFindings: The proposed mixed RGS plan will be a new addition to the literature of acceptance sampling. It is shown that the proposed mixed plan involves minimum ASN with desired protection to both producers and consumers compared to other existing sampling plans. The practical application of the proposed mixed sampling plan is also explained with an illustrative real-time example.\nOriginality/value: In this paper, the authors propose a new mixed RGS plan based on the process capability index Cpk, where the quality characteristic of interest follows the normal distribution with unknown mean and unknown variance. Tables are constructed to determine the optimal parameters for practical applications. The proposed mixed sampling plan can be used in all production industries. This kind of mixed RGS plan is not available in the literature.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Inciting consumers to buy fairly-traded products: a field experiment
|
[
"Fair trade",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Purchasing",
"Ethics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\nBackground: Although studies have reported that consumers are sympathetic to companies and organizations that use socially responsible practices, such as marketing ecologically-produced products and promoting fairly-traded products (e.g., Billock, 2004; Dawkins, 2004) and that consumers are willing to pay a price premium to buy ethical products (Blend and van Ravenswaay, 1999; De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a; Loureiro et al., 2002; Maietta, 2003), the overall market share of ethical products and brands remains fairly low (less than 2 percent) (Doane, 2001; Transfair USA, 2005). Many reasons have been put forward to explain this \"attitude-behavior gap\" (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004). Thus, some authors have pointed out that social responsibility is not the sole criterion that consumers may use in making their purchase decisions (e.g., Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). Others have noted that real or perceived product availability is probably an issue (Shaw and Clarke, 1999; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004). It has also been argued that, although attitudes toward ethical consumption may be positive, consumers may doubt that their personal actions will make a difference (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005b). Finally, there is also the possibility that consumers' reported attitudes toward ethical consumption reflect some social desirability bias (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004).Until now, studies aimed at understanding the factors that explain consumers' purchasing behavior with respect to ethical products have adopted a cognitive approach. Within this framework, consumers are seen as being the objects of various informational influences (e.g., advertising, peers). Consumers are assumed to process the information to which they are exposed and the result of this information processing is thought to impact on their beliefs, attitudes, and eventually intentions and behaviors (e.g., Chan, 2002; Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004). Fishbein and Ajzen (1975, p. 508) have nicely synthesized the cognitive approach in the following sentence: \"... man is basically a rational information processor whose beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors are influenced by the information available to him\" (see also Ajzen and Fishbein, 2005).One premise of the cognitive approach is that persuasive power is founded on the quality of the arguments that are deployed to change consumers' beliefs. There is, however, an alternative perspective to persuasion that is based on a different approach, an approach where the probability of influence does not depend on the quality of the arguments that are used to change people's beliefs, but rather on various elements which, although being part of the influence situation, are not central to the communicated message. For instance, the attractiveness of a person who sells fairly-traded coffee in a stand located in a shopping center may play a significant role in inciting consumers to buy, although a person's attractiveness by itself has little to do with what buying fairly-traded products means.There may be some advantages in adopting a non-cognitive approach to examine how consumers may be persuaded to buy ethical products. The empirical evidence indicates that changing consumers' attitudes toward ethical products may not be sufficient to motivate them to buy these products. Although consumers seem to understand and to have integrated the social and personal benefits associated with buying ethical products, these positive attitudes do not appear to make a significant difference in their individual buying behavior (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a). Perhaps it is time to take a different look at the situation, to examine other means by which consumers may be persuaded to engage in ethical consumption behavior. It might be relevant from a research point of view to focus on the ultimate stage of the consumer ethical buying process, i.e. behavior itself. For many years, behavior modification researchers have argued that many marketing objectives can be accomplished without making reference to internal processes and states such as needs, motives, attitudes, and so on (see, e.g. Nord and Peter, 1980). By studying the different environmental factors that directly influence consumer behavior, it may be possible to identify efficient strategies that will lead to ethical purchase behavior.The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of different influence strategies aimed at inciting consumers to buy ethical products. More precisely, the study focuses on fairly-traded products such as coffee, hot chocolate, chocolate bars, rice, and sugar offered in a commercial stand in a public area. Three influence strategies are considered: the use of concrete information (as opposed to abstract information), social validation, and the provision of feedback. These influence strategies are discussed in the following section.\nStrategies of influence: The rationale behind this research is that changing attitudes toward ethical products using a cognitive approach may not be the most efficient means to incite them to buy. It might be more interesting to expose them to information that will attract their attention and be more memorable, to inform them that relevant others engage in ethical purchase behavior, and to give them concrete feedback on the consequences of their ethical actions.Concrete information\nMethod: A field experiment was designed to test the effectiveness of concrete information, social validation, and feedback in inciting consumers to buy fairly-traded products. The experiment took place at a commercial stand within a French-Canadian university where these products were sold. The participants in the experiment were the people (mostly students and university employees) who stopped at the stand during the six-day period in which the study was conducted. The experiment was operationalized as a 2 (concrete versus abstract information)x2 (social validation versus no social validation)x2 (feedback versus no feedback) factorial design.Manipulations\nResults: Sample characteristics\nDiscussion: The results of this study are generally not consistent with the theoretical predictions that were put forward. first, for all dependent variables with the exception of one (amount of money spent), information concreteness did not have an effect. Moreover, the only statistically significant effect that was observed was in the opposite direction, i.e. on average abstract information led to a larger amount of money spent than concrete information. Some reasons can be offered to explain these surprising results. It is possible that information concreteness does not impact on people's judgment as it is often presumed or that its effects are moderated by other variables. For instance, Frey and Eagly (1993) have shown that under some circumstances, pallid information may in fact be more persuasive than vivid information. In that study, the effect of information concreteness was moderated by the attention given to the information. When attention was high, there was no difference between pallid and vivid information as regards people's attitudes. However, when the information provided was incidental, pallid information was more persuasive. According to the authors, vividness may reduce people's reception of the message arguments and, consequently, lead to less favorable attitudes. In the present study, people did not spontaneously pay attention to the information poster and had to be invited to read it. Perhaps, they were not motivated enough to comply with the experimenter's request and acted as if they were carefully reading it.Taylor and Thompson (1982) have reviewed the literature that concerns the information vividness effect on people's judgments and have concluded that the results are equivocal. It appears that vividness effects may be moderated by such variables as the likableness and trustworthiness of the source and, as discussed above, by the attention that people give to the information. In addition, what researchers mean by concrete information is not always clear, as the manipulations may center on different aspects of the message, such as the source, the medium, or the content of the message (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993).It must be noted, however, that the concrete poster led to a better recall of the information than the abstract poster. In addition to confirming the effectiveness of the manipulation, this result is not inconsistent with the idea that the effects of concrete information may take place after some period of time. Because consumers who were exposed to the concrete poster had a better memory for the information promoting fairly-traded products, the likelihood that this information be activated in future situations involving this type of product is higher and this could have a positive impact on purchase. It would be interesting to test this possibility in future research given that in this study the dependent variables were measured immediately after the implementation of the manipulations.Finally, concerning the lack of support for the predictions associated with the concrete/abstract information factor, it must be reminded that the participants in the experiment were not randomized across the two experimental conditions defining this factor. The possibility that some events systematically associated with the daily change of the poster took place and led to the observed effects cannot therefore be excluded.The theoretical predictions that concerned the impact of social validation on consumers' reactions toward fairly-traded products were generally not supported either. The only dependent variable that was significantly affected by this variable is the amount of money spent; and the effect was moderated by the presence of feedback, i.e. social validation led to a higher amount of money spent on average only when consumers were not offered the possibility of receiving feedback from a small producer from the South. It is not clear why social validation interacted with feedback in this study. One explanation may be that the participants were somewhat overwhelmed by the quantity of information that they were given and that this created some frustration. Recall that in the social validation/feedback conditions they were first invited to read the poster. Then, they were shown the data confirming the great popularity of fairly-traded products among students of the home university. Finally, they were asked if they wanted to receive an e-mail from a small producer and, upon saying yes, they had to take the time to write down their e-mail address. Obviously, these manipulations took a great deal of time and it is possible that consumers who stopped at the stand with, say, the objective of simply buying a chocolate bar may have been annoyed by the whole process. This may have had a negative effect on their purchase behavior.In this study, feedback did not have the effects that were expected since none of the five dependent variables was affected by the experimental manipulation. As mentioned before, a true manipulation of feedback would have required that people buy the fairly-traded products first. In that case, feedback would presumably increase repeat-purchase. Offering consumers the possibility of receiving feedback before making a purchase decision may therefore not have the same effect than actually receiving feedback. Another reason for the lack of effect of feedback in this study may be that the feedback offer lacked focus. Because the experimenter did not know which type of fairly-traded product the visitors were interested in, the content of the feedback offer had to be fairly general (i.e. you will receive an e-mail from a small producer from the South) rather than specific (e.g., you will receive an e-mail from Carlos, the small coffee producer who has prepared this package that you just bought). Perhaps this had the consequence of reducing significantly the relevance of the feedback offer.\nManagerial implications: The results presented in this article indicate that it is important to make sure that consumers are attentive to a concrete message concerning fairly-traded products for this message to have any impact on purchase behavior. Although in this study concrete information did not have the predicted effects on the quantity of products purchased and the amount of money spent, its impact on memory was demonstrated, which suggests that concrete information may have some impact over the long run. Therefore, managers involved in the marketing of fairly-traded products are advised to communicate with potential buyers through messages containing concrete information. If the medium chosen to communicate with consumers is a poster - which in all likelihood would be located in some busy site - the message should be short, catchy, and highly vivid. This should increase the probability that consumers will pay attention to it. In the case of other media like brochures, e-mails, or leaflets where consumers have all the time they need to read and integrate the content of the message, concrete information should have the expected effects.The results of this field experiment suggest that the strategy which consists in informing consumers that other people with whom they are associated buy fairly-traded products is effective. On average, consumers who were told that their peers had some interest in these products spent more money than consumers who were not. Therefore, communication strategies aimed at convincing consumers to buy fairly-traded products should put some emphasis on this type of information in stores, on product packages, in advertisements, or in information brochures. The effectiveness of this strategy should improve if the message is adapted to the target market.\nConclusion: Obviously, a field experiment does not offer the same degree of control over nuisance variables as a laboratory experiment (see Kerlinger and Lee (2002) for a general discussion) and this may have a negative impact on the results. In this study, many difficulties had to be overcome during data collection. For instance, it was difficult to apply the experimental manipulations to the regular buyers of fairly-traded products because they often rushed directly to the products that they wanted. Consequently, the manipulations that they were subjected to might have been of lesser quality than those applied to browsers who had plenty of time to spend at the stand. Managing the manipulations and the randomization of participants was generally quite challenging in this experiment as groups of people would sometimes come at the stand at the same time. In addition, some consumers came back one or two days after their visit in order to buy products. Because the observation grid and the questionnaire were anonymous, it was not possible to associate these sales to the appropriate participant/experimental condition. Finally, during the last two days of the experiment some highly popular fairly-traded products were out-of-stock. The consequences were a lower traffic at the stand, less interest in the products, and lower sales.The fact that the behavior modification techniques explored in this study did not bring about the expected results should not be interpreted as a demonstration that these techniques are inadequate in inciting consumers to buy fairly-traded products. As mentioned above, a field experiment might not be the best research method to test the value of the behavior modification approach in this particular context. Additional research should therefore be conducted to examine further the persuasive power of these tools. For instance, it would be interesting to study the possibility of shaping the behavior of consumers with respect to the purchase of ethical products. Rothschild and Gaidis (1981) have nicely illustrated the use of behavior shaping when promoting a new product. Consumers are first offered a sample of the new product accompanied with a discount coupon applicable to their first purchase. When they make their purchase they receive another coupon with a lesser price reduction applicable to the next purchase. And so on until the purchase behavior has been learned and the coupon is no longer necessary. This successive approximation approach to bring consumers to buy a new product has not yet been applied to ethical consumption situations.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Research on fairly-traded products has shown that changing consumers' attitudes may not be the best strategy to bring consumers to purchase these products. The objective of this study is to examine a different, non-cognitive approach based on the utilization of behavioral influence strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A field experiment was conducted involving 168 consumers. The experiment took place in the context of a commercial stand in which fairly-traded products such as coffee, sugar, chocolate, and so on, were sold. Three factors were manipulated: the concreteness of the information provided to visitors; the provision of information about the popularity of fairly-traded products among relevant others; and the possibility of receiving concrete feedback from a producer.\nFindings: - The paper finds that, contrary to what was expected, abstract information led to a greater amount of money spent on average by visitors. In addition, knowing that fairly-traded products were popular among relevant others had a significant impact on money spent only when feedback was not offered to the participants.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A field experiment does not offer a high degree of control over nuisance variables. The application of the manipulations and the randomization of participants in this study were therefore not optimal.\nPractical implications: - Managers involved in the marketing of fairly-traded products who communicate with potential buyers using concrete messages should make sure that consumers are attentive to their messages. These messages should inform consumers that fairly-traded products are purchased by relevant others.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful information on how to influence consumers' attitudes to purchasing fairly-traded products.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
International market selection: measuring actions instead of intentions
|
[
"International marketing",
"Econometrics",
"Strategic choices",
"Services marketing"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.\nIntroduction: Market selection\nMethodology: The data used in this paper relate to 17 West European countries that have experienced inward or outward international retailing activity. The data for the number of retailers operating out of or within markets at any one point in time specifically related to the period 2002/2003. Data were drawn from existing databases of European retail activity built up over more than a decade, including three previous surveys of this type, as well as using industry sources which included national and international trade associations, ongoing daily retail company news gathering, government departments, trade magazines, as well as contacting individual companies directly.Observations on the number of retail operations in west European markets were pooled in each case. Given a sample of 15 home countries and 17 hosts this gave a total of 240 observations. Although panel data sets are most commonly composed of time series and cross sectional observations most estimators are suitable for panels where both dimensions refer to observations on cross sections (here being home and host countries respectively). However, because a number of explanatory variables were invariant with respect to either home or host country, fixed effect estimators could not be estimated. Random effects (error components) models may however be estimated and this was done. Ordinary Least Squares estimates were therefore tested against both one and two way random effects estimates, with the preferred models reported here.It is important to note the method used for the interpretation of estimated coefficients. For example, the results report the regression of a dependent variable (the number of host country retail operations) on variables including the host country retail sales per capita (Stretspc). The estimated coefficient on Stretspc was negative, as anticipated and indicates that for a EUR1,000 increase in host country retail sales per capita the number of retail operations would be expected to fall by 1.2 units. This effect is statistically significant with the null hypothesis of no effect rejected with a 95 per cent level of confidence.\nTheory testing: Building on the literature reviewed above, three hypotheses were tested:H1. International retailers will expand into less advanced markets.H2. The size of the home market will encourage the development of large retail operations capable of international activity.H3. Retailers will expand into psychically proximate markets.In order to test these hypotheses a number of variables were used. These variables are commonly used to describe retail environments and conditions. These data variables are:* host country GDP per capita,* host country consumer expenditure per capita,* host country retail sales per capita,* host country retail businesses per capita* host country retail employment per capita* home country population* home country GDP* home country GDP per capita* home country retail businesses* home country retail businesses per capita* host country Euro membership,* home country Euro membership,* distance between markets* distance between languagesThe following variables were rejected following concerns about multicollinearity:* host country population;* host country GDP;* host country consumer expenditure;* host country retail sales;* host country retail businesses;* host retail employees.The data concerning the retail and economic environment has been drawn from verifiable sources such as Mintel or other research bodies. The measures for Euro membership were given a numeric description as was the variable for distance between languages. The latter measurement was based on linguistic root relationships. Thus, where countries shared languages as in the case of Germany and Austria, linguistic distance was taken to be zero. Where countries did not share a close linguistic affinity, as in the case of Spain and Finland, distance was considered to be at its greatest. Countries such as Spain and Italy where languages had a close affinity were assigned a distance between the two extremes. Therefore, a family of languages such as the Latin root languages were considered to stand at a common distance one from the other. No attempt was made to compare the proximity of languages within one family as this was considered unimportant in the context of a measurement that was used to represent general cultural affinity that is in itself perpetuated and represented by language.Data was collected for all the variables noted above. However, the correlation matrix showed that a number of variables were closely correlated. As a result of these concerns about multicollinearity and to provide a more parsimonious model some variables were rejected as indicated above.The estimated model therefore takes the form: Equation 1 Where the variables are as described in Table I, eij is an error term. The model refers to operations. That is a retail chain operating internationally.\nResults: Results may be found in Table I. As per the preceding equation the dependent variable is the number of retail operations in the host country, j, sourced from the home country, i. Tests indicated that neither one nor two way random effects models performed better than Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and so OLS results are reported here.All three hypotheses were supported by the results:H1. International retailers will expand into less advanced markets.For the variable that measured retail spend per capita in the host market there was a negative relationship. That is, the higher the retail spend per capita the less likely the market is to attract international activity. The estimated coefficient proved to be statistically significant at a 95 per cent level.The higher the Gross Domestic Product the more likely the host market is to attract international activity. Thus the Gross Domestic Product of the host market also had the anticipated effect on the number of cross border retail outlets, but this proved to be statistically insignificant in estimation.The more fragmented and structurally immature the market the more attractive it is to potential entrants. This is measured by the number of retail businesses in the host market. Although the coefficient is of the anticipated sign it was not found to be statistically significant in estimation:H2. The size of the home market will encourage the development of large retail operations capable of international activity.There was an anticipated positive relationship between the population in international retailers' home market and the number of retail operations in the host country. That is, the larger the home population the greater the likelihood that that market would produce international retailers operating in markets elsewhere in Western Europe. As a guide to the interpretation of this result, a 10 million increase in the home country population would, ceteris paribus, increase host country operations by about 3. This finding was significant at a 99 per cent level.The lower the number of retail businesses in the home market the more likely the home market is to support businesses engaging in international activity. That is, the more consolidated and structurally mature the retail sector, the more likely retailers from that market would have operations in other parts of Western Europe. Although the estimated coefficient on this variable was not found to be significant at a 95 per cent level it was again of the anticipated sign:H3. Retailers will expand into psychically proximate markets.The larger the host and home language distance the lower the likelihood that retailers based in the home market would have operations in the host market. The estimated negative coefficient on Lang1 is therefore of the expected sign and strongly significant, rejecting the null hypothesis of no effect at a 99 per cent level.The larger the host and home geographic distance the lower the likelihood that retailers based in the home market would have operations in the host market. The variable describing the geographical distance between the home and the host market (Dist) had the anticipated negative estimated coefficient. This variable was also found to be strongly significant, with the hypothesis of no effect rejected with 99 per cent level of certainty. Again as a guide to interpretation if the two country capitals were a further 100 km apart we would expect around 3.5 fewer operations in the host country.If both markets had adopted the Euro as their national currency there is a greater likelihood that retailers based in the home market would have operations in the host market. A moderate level of statistical significance was recorded for the variable Eurom describing the usage of the Euro as the national currency in the home and the host market, although again the coefficient was of the expected sign.\nDiscussion: The results presented here show that there are key determinants of international expansion. These determinants are recognized in the general, services and retailing literature. However, these results are particularly valuable because they show the relative importance of these factors, the size of their effect and consequently their influence on and role in the market selection process.Less developed markets of destination\nConclusion: The results presented here clearly show that the direction of international growth of retail enterprises based in western European markets when moving to other markets in the same region conform to those patterns identified within the literature. That is retailers expand into psychically proximate markets, markets that are less developed than the home market and they do so from large home markets.However, it is clear from these results that some factors are particularly influential when it comes to determining the direction of international retail growth. The size of the home market emerged as a fundamentally important factor. While, it has been recognized that large markets are often the market of origin for many global retailers, previously the impact of this factor has not been emphasized to the extent that the results presented here suggest that it should be emphasized. Also, while language has been recognized as influential, the scale of the influence has often been submerged in the overall factor of culture and psychic distance.Implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to consider factors that determine the direction of international market selection. It does this with specific reference to service companies operating in the retail sector.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper draws on general, services and retail specific literature and considers the debate surrounding market selection issue. Hypotheses are formulated and econometrically tested using an extensive database of retailers' international activity within Western European markets.\nFindings: - The results show that previously identified determinants of market selection are valid. However, the results clearly indicate that some factors are more important than the literature has suggested and that the selection of markets is determined in great part by relatively few but crucially important factors.\nOriginality/value: - The paper shows that language and hence, by implication, culture plays a fundamental role in determining direction of expansion. This has important implications for the way psychic distance is understood and service company response to psychic distance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Developing CSR in professional football clubs: drivers and phases
|
[
"Football clubs",
"Corporate governance",
"CSR",
"Stakeholders",
"Sports",
"Organizational change"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has expanded beyond its initial bolt-on character into a topic of strategic importance for modern corporations. In pursuit of commercial and social success, more and more businesses develop and attempt to integrate CSR initiatives into their business strategies (Margolis and Walsh, 2003; Margolis et al., 2007).\n2. Research context: A case study research design was adopted, drawing on primary and secondary data collected across professional football clubs from the same national context (Scotland). Scotland has been a multiracial national context in which cooperative business structures, consumer activism and CSR has been flourishing (Sustainable Summit Report (SBC), 2010). Given the country's historical, political and social structure and its philosophical underpinnings, which Paterson (2002) describes as social democratic communitarianism, the concept of CSR has developed across multiple sectors of the national economy.\n3. CSR activity in the SPL clubs: According to the Web, annual and CSR report disclosure, CSR is supported in a number of key areas. Tables IV and V summarize the areas of CSR development from a holistic and a club-specific point of view. Detailed data of this form were collected for all SPL clubs as the core basis for analysis. A review of the disclosure analysis reveals that CSR practice and its communication is active in all SPL clubs examined, with certain clubs communicating detailed information (i.e. Celtic, Rangers) and others reporting CSR intermittently. Consistent with Hamil and Morrow (2011), this paper reveals that CSR receives little attention in annual reporting, and when it does, it tends to be in a rather legalistic manner.\n4. Implications and conclusion: This paper has adopted a developmental organizational perspective in analyzing organizational aspects of CSR in professional football. Figure 2 proposes a schema that can be used to define how CSR has evolved and developed across professional football clubs from the same national context. Six phases that SPL clubs are going through when developing more sophisticated CSR initiatives are identified and proposed, namely volunteerism, regulation, socialization, corporatization, separation and integration.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) develops within professional football clubs, along with its organizational implications, phases, drivers and barriers for corporate governance, given that professional football organizations have become particularly strong socio-political business institutions, often home to numerous social and business relationships. Additionally it aims to consider CSR development generally drawing specifically on examples from Scottish professional football while answering two key research questions: what kind of drivers do clubs identify as reasons to develop CSR? and Can developmental phases be identified during this process?\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper builds on a qualitative case study methodology that draws on primary and secondary data collected across 12 Scottish Premier League (SPL) football clubs. Three stages of data collection were set out including interviews, Web content analysis and annual/CSR reports analysis.\nFindings: This research highlights internal and external drivers of change in Scottish football clubs along with institutional barriers and organizational (developmental) phases of CSR and corporate governance.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research is limited on the CSR development across the 12 SPL clubs.\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first to consider CSR in professional football clubs from a developmental point of view. Six phases of CSR development are identified and defined - volunteering, regulation, socialization, corporatization, separation and integration - and implications for football and general corporate governance are presented.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Exploring the interrelationship among patterns of service strategy changes and organizational design elements
|
[
"Manufacturing industries",
"Organizational design",
"Strategic management",
"Services",
"Change management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Manufacturers of capital goods rely on services for much of their corporate profits and revenues. This fact applies for well-known firms such as International Business Machines (IBM) and General Electric (GE) as well as small- and medium-sized companies such as Burkhardt Compression. This medium-sized company has manufactured compressors for the last three decades and until the mid-1990s, the value contribution of services was limited to a share of services' revenue and a profit of less than 10 percent. Recently, services generate about 24 percent of corporate revenue and account for 45 percent of corporate profit.The increase in value contribution through services is related to changes in the service strategy. Burkhardt Compression changed from augmenting the product offering through customer service to offering services such as spare parts, maintenance and repair for its installed base of compressors. IBM implemented several changes in its service strategy, leading to business consulting offered by IBM Global Services. Interestingly, according to IBM's income statement, the fraction of pretax income attributed to services has dropped from 41 to 37 percent between 2003 and 2007 despite the changes in service strategies. In contrast, GE changed its service strategy from providing services for its air engines, selling the jet engines and selling maintenance services, to selling jet-engine usage. With this new service strategy, GE has grown by 50 percent between 2004 and 2007. Since jet engine and maintenance services are bundled into selling jet-engine usage, the total revenue cannot be attributed to the products or services.Despite the increasing number of research contributions to service strategies in the manufacturing context, important knowledge gaps remain. First, researchers focus on the static term of service strategy, but there seems to be a steady change in the strategic role of services (Bowen et al., 1989; Neu and Brown, 2008). Davies' (2004) description of service strategies (system integration, operational services, and business consulting) and Gebauer's (2008) service strategies (after-sales service provider, customer-support service provider, outsourcing partner, and development partner), for example, reflect a content view of service strategy and are rather static. They do not fully capture dynamic, process-oriented perspectives on changing from one service strategy to another. It remains unclear whether companies change their service strategy from system integration to business consulting or from operational services to system integration.Second, Oliva and Kallenberg (2003) present a dynamic perspective on the transition from products to services. It remains unclear, however, whether their four phases of consolidating the service offering, entering the service market for the installed base, moving into process- as well as relationship-oriented services, and taking over the customers' operational processes) correspond with distinct service strategies or with a single service strategy that is translated situationally into different service offerings.Third, research neglects how service strategy changes are interrelated with necessary modifications in organizational design elements. Despite the contribution describing organizational design elements in the context of service strategies, the frequency of the changes to the organizational structures indicates an absence of robust descriptions about how patterns of service strategy changes are interrelated with modifications in organizational design elements (Davies, 2003; Davies et al., 2007). The missing alignment can cause the \"service paradox,\" where substantial investment in extending the service business leads to higher costs but does not generate the expected higher returns (Gebauer et al., 2005; Neu and Brown, 2008). It remains unclear what modifications are necessary if companies move from providing system integration services to operational services or from operational services to business consulting. The typical modifications suggested in the literature such as separating the service organization from the product, increasing service orientation in corporate culture or implementing service development processes (Gebauer et al., 2005; Martin and Horne, 1992; Neu and Brown, 2005, 2008; Oliva and Kallenberg, 2003) are not linked to changes in service strategies.This study combines the dynamic (process) perspective on changes among service strategies with the content perspective on the conceptualization of service strategies and service offerings. By combining both perspectives, we identify if and how companies move from one service strategy to another in order to find the prevalent patterns of strategic change during the transition process. Furthermore, assuming these patterns depend on contingency factors (Gebauer, 2008; Neu and Brown, 2005, 2008), this study links changes in the service strategy with modifications in organizational design elements. Consequently, this paper attempts to answer the following research question:RQ. What are the interrelationships between patterns of service strategy changes and organizational design elements during manufacturing companies' transition to services?The answer to this RQ contributes to service research in two different ways. First, we integrate the loosely linked content and dynamic perspectives of service strategies prevalent in the literature and explore patterns of strategic changes among service strategies in manufacturing companies. Second, we link patterns of service strategy changes to modifications in organizational design elements.This paper draws on a longitudinal study of 97 capital goods manufacturing companies and 15 case studies from a business-to-business context. Data were obtained in 1997, 2001, and 2004. The paper proceeds with a literature review. The research methodology is presented in third and fourth sections describe the results. The paper concludes with a discussion on the research contributions and managerial implications, as well as suggestions for further research.\nLiterature review: Content perspective (static perspective) on service strategies\nResearch methodology: Given the research objective of analyzing the interrelationship between patterns of service strategy changes and modifications in organizational design elements, a longitudinal study using survey data and case studies was deemed appropriate.Empirical quantitative research approach\nResults: Results of the empirical quantitative study\nDiscussion: Theory replication and extension\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the patterns of service strategy changes in manufacturing firms and indicates how each pattern is interrelated with modifications in organizational design elements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper draws on a longitudinal study using a survey of 97 manufacturers of capital goods. In addition, 15 case studies have been conducted. Survey and qualitative data are obtained in 1997, 2001, and 2004.\nFindings: - The findings highlight four patterns of service strategy changes: from customer service strategy to after-sales service provider, from after-sales service provider to customer-support service provider, from customer-support service provider to development partner, and from customer-support service provider to the outsourcing partner. Evidence of specific alignment between service strategy and organizational design elements is provided.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The main limitation of this paper is the purposive sample.\nPractical implications: - Managers should follow the patterns of service strategy changes by extending the service offerings and modifying the organizational design elements.\nOriginality/value: - Previous studies investigate service strategies and organizational design elements only at a specific time, which leads to a static perspective. This paper offers insights into interrelations among service strategy changes and organizational design elements.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A new way to diagnose the new product development process based on recurring current reality trees
|
[
"New product development",
"Current reality tree"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Companies aim to improve their business processes in order to increase the customer satisfaction and the quality in which the process is managed and executed (Delgado et al., 2014). Business process management (BPM) is a structured approach that helps companies to manage, control and improve their fundamental processes (Delgado et al., 2014; Dumas et al., 2013; Trkman, 2010). The managerial practices, which guide organizations in their BPM efforts, have been systematized in BPM life cycles by means of interactive phases (Morais et al., 2014; Dumas et al., 2013). An important phase presented in the most relevant BPM life cycles is the diagnosis of an existent situation that should be carried out before an organizational change (Padua et al., 2014).\n2. Theoretical background and research issues: 2.1 Process improvement\n3. Research steps: The analysis of the results of previous NPD diagnoses applying the traditional CRT methods revealed a pattern of recurrence in UEs. The analysis of this recurrence is presented and discussed in Costa et al. (2013). Based on this finding, a new diagnostic method was deduced and formulated, and a set of computer-aided tools was developed to support the proposed method. Thus, the research hypothesis was stated as:\n4. Diagile: Diagile is a method that uses a recurrent pattern of UEs to establish a diagnosis of an NPD process documented in a CRT and that supports the identification of NPD process improvement opportunities. As Figure 3 illustrates, the method is composed of a DAT, a graph visualization system (yED), an ODB and an IPS spreadsheet. A manual that describes the phases of Diagile is available for the diagnosis team.\n5. Controlled experiment: The experiment was carried out at a large multinational manufacturer of office supplies situated in Brazil, dubbed Company A. The experiment was conducted with the voluntary participation of a group of experienced research assistants from the doctoral program in Industrial Engineering Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo. These research assistants had extensive training in NPD theory (120 hours), during which they studied the main NPD authors, methodologies and best practices. The target audience for this training was future NPD consultants and people who would work on NPD in companies. This course gave the researchers a solid theoretical and empirical background knowledge about NPD. In addition, 50 percent of the researchers were people working on NPD processes at other companies.\n6. Discussion: Having confirmed the usefulness of Diagile through the above described experiment, it is believed that the proposed tool contributes to diminish the gap in the literature due to the absence of NPD process diagnostic methods. The main differences between the proposed diagnostic method and the traditional way of building the CRT are illustrated in Table II. As can be seen, Diagile can be considered a more encompassing method than CRT, since it incorporates activities of project management and the identification of improvement opportunities. One of the expected contributions of Diagile is to increase the diagnostic quality through the suggested an additional phase involving the creation of a scripted interview. The purpose of developing and using this script is to ensure that the team investigates the process holistically, i.e. the team should ensure in advance that all the interfaces and areas of the process that affect its efficiency and effectiveness are analyzed. It should be noted that the standard scripted interview or the automated diagnostic tool (ADT), which contains the automated scripted interview, can be used for the NPD process.\n7. Final remarks: To support the execution of the phases, i.e. prepare the interview checklist, hold interviews, formulate UEs, associate UEs, identify improvement opportunities and prioritize improvement projects by the Diagile method, the following were developed: a DAT, an ODB and an IPS chart.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and describe a method that uses recurrent problems to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the diagnosis of new product development (NPD) processes and supports the identification of improvement opportunities. The proposed method, called Diagile, is based on recurrent current reality trees (CRTs) and is a new way of building CRTs that includes best project management practices, and the identification and prioritization of improvement opportunities. To support the execution of the method, recurrent problems were identified and a computational tool to aid the diagnosis, a database of improvement opportunities and an automated spreadsheet to prioritize improvement projects were developed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The proposed method was evaluated through a controlled experiment at a multinational manufacturer of office supplies.\nFindings: The results achieved confirm that the use of the Diagile method increases the diagnostic efficiency and effectiveness when compared to diagnoses performed by the traditional CRT method.\nResearch limitations/implications: The validity of the method must be tested on a larger scale, since this work involved only one controlled experiment for this purpose. The experiment involved the participation of postgraduate research assistants, who cannot be considered specialists in the diagnosis of NPD. One could question whether the method will be as helpful for proficient users as well. The authors did not have proficient users available to run the experiment. However, the authors believe that such a specialist would save time in carrying out a diagnosis with Diagile, and also be more effective in validating the diagnosis. However, this assumption could not be tested here and can therefore be considered a limiting factor of the experiment. Nevertheless, the positive results of the evaluations of the companies and users of the two case studies corroborate the statement that the objective of this work was attained.\nPractical implications: The greater efficiency and effectiveness provided by the proposed Diagile method was also evident in the identification and prioritization of improvement opportunities. The experimental group drew up a more relevant and coherent list of improvement projects than the control group, and provided documentation for these projects in the form of project charts. The authors believe these results can be of a great impact if implemented by practitioners.\nOriginality/value: This paper proposes a new way to perform diagnostic of NPD process. In particular, this process is well known to be highly strategic, nevertheless, normally excluded out of improvement initiatives because of its complexity. The diagnostic method proposed is a powerful tool to assist practitioners finding systemic improvement opportunities, expanding the assessment to all dimensions of a business process, e.g. people, technology and process activities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Anti-persistence and long-memory behaviour of SAREITs
|
[
"Long memory",
"ARFIMA",
"Anti-persistence",
"JSE",
"SAREITs",
"Short memory"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the proposition of the theory of random walk by Kendall and Hill (1953) and the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) championed by Fama (1965, 1970), many researchers have applied it to model the behaviour of asset prices and their returns. Simply put, the random walk hypothesis (RWH hereafter) suggests that stock prices are independent of each other and their distributions remain unchanged over long lags. As depicted by Kendall and Hill (1953), stock prices have seemed so unpredictable (Brealey et al., 2014). The validity of this claim supposes that the EMH is valid. However, contemporary research has documented some evidence of long memory (or low frequency) in stock returns albeit with mixed conclusions.\n2. Modelling long memory in returns series: In this section, we present a brief overview of the typical measure of persistence employed in the literature. Typically, persistence may be defined as the tendency of stock prices to revert slowly to its long-run/equilibrium level following a shock. Usually, in order to get an estimate of the speed with which they converges to the long-run level after a shock, i.e. the persistence, an econometric model is often specified and estimated. Over the last three decades, there has been a marked advancement in attempts to model hyperbolically decaying autocorrelations and impulse response weights. To this end, the use of long-memory, fractionally integrated (FI) methods has gained prominence. Pioneering work on FI models is provided by Granger and Joyeux (1980), Granger (1980), and Hosking (1981), and some more recent theoretical justification, in terms of duration of shocks (using an error-duration model), has been provided (see Parke, 1999). Baillie and Bollerslev (1994), Gil-Alana and Robinson (1997), and Baum et al. (1999) also provide some relevant empirical applications of fractional models. For completeness, we provide a brief description below.\n3. Data: Our data set consists of 29 daily returns of REIT equities listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Daily closing prices of the individual stocks are taken from DataStream/Bloomberg. In order to allow for comparisons, most studies employ balanced series. Our study deviates from this practice and makes use of different dates for the various series depending on the availability of observations. Most of the equities have 260 observations (starting from 4 June 2011 to 21 May 2016). The series with the least number of observations starts from 9 November 2013, giving 133 observations. All series are analysed in the form of daily returns. The daily returns for the individual stocks are computed using the closing prices of the stocks for the day. The continuously compounded daily returns are derived as the first differences of the log of prices, that is ri,t=ln(pi,t/pi,t-1) or ri,t=lnpi,t-lnpi,t-1, where pi,t represents the value of index i at time t.\n4. Empirical results: Plots of the returns series have been shown in Figure 1. A cursory look at the plots indicates significant volatilities and volatility clustering in the returns of the equities.\n5. Conclusion and policy implications/recommendations: We make a contribution to this body of knowledge on the behaviour of stock returns by employing advanced time series techniques to explore the long-memory properties of returns of SAREITs. We analysed daily closing prices of 29 SAREIT equities listed on the JSE covering different periods up to 21 May 2016. Preliminary evidence from unit root and stationarity tests indicated that the returns series are mean reverting. Moreover, it was established that the equities exhibit long-range dependence or autocorrelations. This implies that past price dynamics play significant role in building current and future pricing mechanisms. It further suggests that since the data generation process of the returns are dependent over time, remote past realisations can be relied on to predict future movements.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the long-memory behaviour of South African real estate investment trusts (SAREITs).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employs a battery of advanced techniques to examine the behaviour of returns of 29 SAREIT equities listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The authors analysed daily closing prices covering different periods up to 21 May 2016. The results provide support for long memory in majority of SAREIT returns.\nFindings: The finding of negative fractional integration parameters provides evidence of anti-persistence in SAREIT returns.\nPractical implications: It is recommended that the regulatory authorities adopt technologies that allow a more effective, faster means to disseminate information, and improve the electronic trading mechanism that facilitates quicker price adjustment to news entering the market.\nOriginality/value: The paper determines the fractional differencing (long-memory) parameter for SAREITs and adds value to the existing body of knowledge.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Stakeholders' approaches to disaster risk reduction in built environment
|
[
"Disaster risk reduction",
"Socio-economic",
"Built environment",
"Disaster approach",
"Disaster theories",
"Stakeholder attributes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Stakeholders' approaches towards disasters refer to activities such as mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, which are planned and conducted before, during and after disasters (Peek and Mileti, 2002; Altay and Green, 2006; Moe and Pathranarakul, 2006). They represent stakeholders' proactive and reactive intent to manage disasters by employing decision-making mechanisms involving a combination of stakeholders' institutional attributes, socio-economic and the built environment exposures. Scholars have dedicated considerable attention to the study of disaster impacts on socio-economic and the built environment conditions (e.g. Alexander, 1997; Bosher, 2008; Hunt and Watkiss, 2010). However, there are two issues that suggest further conceptual development is needed in this research domain. First, there is a lack of stakeholders' awareness before, during and after disasters (Perry and Lindel, 1978; Pearce, 2003; Bosher et al., 2007). Despite the detrimental impacts of disasters, Bosher et al. (2009) noted that there is still insufficient evidence that key stakeholders are playing a proactive role in mitigating disasters in the built environment and hazard awareness is absent from their decision-making process. However, far too little attention has been paid to systematic theorising in managing stakeholders' approaches against disasters. Second, many researchers have focused on similar underlying theories and heuristics in the context of disaster management (DM) (McEntire, 2004; Sementelli, 2007). For example, crisis and chaos theory has become an increasingly fundamental underpinning theory for scholars to support their research on DM context (Pauchant and Douville, 1993; Pearson and Mitroff, 1993; Shrivastava, 1993; Pearson and Clair, 1998; Ritchie, 2004). Furthermore, the research to date has tended to fall into the realm of decision rules, procedures and policies applying similar theories rather than integrating other administrative theories to address stakeholders' approaches and decisions before, during and after disasters.\nConceptual underpinnings of disasters: Overview of disaster theories and their applications\nTheoretical framework: The context for this study is the stakeholders' approaches to DRR in the built environment. Figure 1 depicts a proposed framework of proactive and/or reactive approaches by stakeholders for DRR in the built environment. The following discussion provides the theoretical justification for the conceptualisation.\nIntegration of theories into the conceptual framework: Stakeholder theory and attributes\nConclusion: This paper proposes a theoretical framework to examine stakeholders' proactive and/or reactive approaches to DRR in the built environment, by synthesising two theories - stakeholder theory and decision-making theory. Central to the framework is disaster that affects socio-economic and the built environment conditions. Power and legitimacy of stakeholders result in a proactive approach if stakeholders consider value maximisation paradigms in their decision-making process. However, powerful and legitimate stakeholders are not always able to take a proactive approach because they may make a wrong decision based on the intuitive reasoning paradigm. Urgency is another stakeholders' attribute that plays like a double-edged sword in DRR. This attribute can mislead stakeholders to shift from a proactive approach to reactive behaviour by including intuitive reasoning in their decisions. On the other side of the coin, urgency can pave the way for less proactive stakeholders to migrate from response and recovery activities to mitigation and preparedness activities by considering value maximisation paradigms in their built environment DRR strategies. Finally, stakeholder prioritisation based on the stakeholders' attributes and classification can be used as a planning and evaluation tool for: first, a direct comparison of different stakeholders' approaches against disasters; second, high-level DRR planning decisions; and third, the development of proactive stakeholder DRR procedures.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: In disaster risk reduction (DRR), it is important to realise stakeholders' approaches against disasters in the built environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore why stakeholders take proactive and/or reactive approaches in DRR.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a review of existent literature, this work scrutinises disaster theories and their applications in the built environment to develop a theoretical framework for perceiving stakeholders' proactive and/or reactive approaches in DRR.\nFindings: Stakeholders' organisational attributes - power, legitimacy and urgency - and decision-making paradigms - value maximisation and intuitive reasoning - are fundamental factors affecting stakeholders' approaches against disasters. Power and legitimacy of stakeholders result in a proactive approach if stakeholders consider value maximisation paradigm in their decision-making process. Powerful and legitimate stakeholders may take reactive approaches because of intuitive reasoning paradigm. Stakeholders may shift from a reactive to proactive approach and vice versa based on the combination of urgency attribute and decision-making paradigms.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is essential to consider the classification of respective stakeholders in applying the idea of this paper. Furthermore, this paper does not attempt to validate the proposed theoretical framework empirically, but it combines stakeholder and decision-making theories by which this could be undertaken.\nOriginality/value: Little attention has been paid to systematic theorising in managing stakeholders' approaches against disasters. Furthermore, many researchers have focused on similar underlying theories and heuristics in the context of DRR. Thus, this paper introduces a theoretical framework to examine stakeholders' proactive and/or reactive approaches in the built environment, by synthesising stakeholder and decision-making theories.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
From recipients to partners: children in malaria education in Uganda
|
[
"Health education",
"Uganda",
"Health promoting schools",
"Children",
"School health promotion",
"Evaluation of interventions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Malaria is a major cause of ill-health and death among children in developing countries, and for this reason global efforts in pursuit of its control predominantly focus on children as a strategy to reduce this disease and promote child survival (Brooker et al., 2008; Cropley, 2004). Health education that integrates community participation remains at the core of these efforts (Kendrick and Mutonyi, 2007; Panter-Brick et al., 2006). As applied to health, community participation offers several advantages, including ensuring that health education programs respond to the needs of affected people and empower them to improve their capacity to promote their health and well-being. Although not entirely new, the subject of children's participation continues to draw considerable interest especially because of the long-standing debate regarding the role it can play in promoting health (Pridmore and Stephens, 2000; Woznica, 2014). The movement toward children's participation in health education was inspired by the development of the child-to-child approaches to engage children in issues that affect them. Arguing from a developmental perspective, Pridmore and Stephens (2000) assert that child-to-child approaches were first developed in 1978 by an international network of professionals in order to promote children's participation in education, health and development matters.\nContext and background: Malaria is ranked by the World Health Organisation (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2013), as one of the leading causes of child mortality in the world. The disease accounts for 7 percent of all under-five childhood deaths, 89 percent of which occur in Africa, where the disease kills one in every six children (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, 2011). In Uganda, up to 100,000 under-five child deaths are malaria-related (Ministry of Health, 2006). Besides death, this disease causes horrendous child suffering including anaemia and stunted growth. Up to 5 percent of all young children infected with malaria early in life have residual neurological sequelae (Snow et al., 1999). The burden of malaria is unequaled among school children, given that the disease causes retarded learning, impaired cognition and school absenteeism (Bundy et al., 2000; Holding and Snow, 2001; Nankabirwa et al., 2014). In Kenya, for example, primary school children miss 11 percent of the annual school days due to malaria (Brooker et al., 2000). It has been observed that health education that helps children, families and the community develop and adopt prevention practices, skills and behaviors is essential in malaria control efforts (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2007).\nTheoretical considerations and evidence on school health education: The health promoting school framework\nMethodology: Research context\nFindings: This section presents the findings of this process evaluation and is structured around three themes as derived from the objectives of this study:\nDiscussion: The findings presented in this paper support the view that children can be active partners in promoting health within school and outside communities. The findings suggest that children can act as health messengers, thereby re-affirming findings in earlier studies (Ayi et al., 2010; Okabayashi et al., 2006; Nonaka et al., 2008; Onyango-Ouma et al., 2005). However, acting as health messengers is not the only role that children can play in school malaria programs. In implementing school malaria educational programs, children can be relied upon to play other roles, particularly offering peer support and caring for the environment, which are also critical for malaria control.\nImplications: Practically, the paper suggests that children can be active partners in malaria control programs. Therefore, future malaria programs should be sufficiently structured to facilitate children's participation. Mainstreaming malaria programs into school routines will generally provide more opportunity for this to happen than when implementation is incidental. At the same time, it must be recognized that children's participation may be hindered by a number of barriers, although these may vary according to situation, time and place. For the future, it may be important for program designers to consult with various stakeholders, including school and outside community, so that the spirit of shared ownership is established for the success of school malaria education. In addition to encouraging the involvement of children in health education, another practical implication should be for practitioners to be conscious of the applicability of the health promoting school approach to malaria control. This has also been recommended elsewhere (Ayi et al., 2010; WHO, 2007). Practitioners need to recognize children's ability to contribute to health education and the potential this holds for health education in particular and health in general.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Health education that integrates community participation is essential for malaria control. However, children's participation is not generally as active as that of adults, thus turning children into recipients, as opposed to partners in malaria control. The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how children can transform from mere recipients to active partners in malaria control efforts, by exploring the implementation of a school health education program in Uganda.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative multi-case study involving six schools where the health education program was implemented was undertaken, using six focus group discussions with 72 school children and respondent interviews with 14 teachers and district health promotion staff.\nFindings: Children acted as health messengers, offered peer support and engaged in environmental management to minimize mosquito breeding. The benefits of the school malaria program included increasing access to malaria information, boosting malaria knowledge, improving children's self-esteem and their skill as health educators. However, implementation was undermined by hostility from adults, inadequate time and tight school schedules, which should be addressed in future malaria programs.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that children can play an important role in malaria programs. Therefore, programs should be sufficiently structured to facilitate children's participation. Practitioners should be encouraged to be conscious of the applicability of the health promoting school approach to malaria control.\nOriginality/value: This research facilitated a more comprehensive understanding of the role children can play in malaria control, thus providing a basis for their involvement in malaria programs. It also adds to a relatively scarce area of literature on the school health-malaria control nexus.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The development and initial performance analysis of REITs in Ireland
|
[
"Ireland",
"REITs",
"Risk-adjusted returns",
"Portfolio diversification",
"NAMA",
"Asset allocation",
"Commercial property"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last 55 years, REITs have been introduced across 37 countries globally, comprising 794 active property investment vehicles corresponding to $1.5 trillion in total market capitalisation (EPRA, 2019a). This includes REITs in various European markets, notably the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.\nSignificance of commercial property in Ireland: Being the 14th most competitive economy in Europe (No. 23 globally) (WEF, 2018), the Irish economy is observed to be performing strongly. Although it was one of the most impacted countries in the GFC, its economy has experienced substantial shifts and surged to become Europe's fastest growing economy in 2018 (GDP growth: 8.2 per cent) (CSO, 2019a). This dramatic rate of improvement in the economy, now in its sixth consecutive year, sees Ireland's $373bn economy (IMF, 2018) as Europe's 14th largest in US dollar terms and tightly integrated in the European Union (EU) common monetary and economic policies. Ireland's public institutions are also highly regarded, ranked 18th out of 180 countries on the corruption perception ranking compiled by Transparency International (2018). The following list profiles the social, economic and property attributes of Ireland: 2018 (CIA, 2018; IMF, 2018; EPRA, 2019a; JLL, 2018; TI, 2018; World Bank, 2018; WEF, 2018; WFE, 2019):\nDevelopment of REITs in IRELAND: The REIT framework in Ireland was a successful attempt to satisfy the requirements of both the financial players and investors for a solution that could improve the investability and accessibility to Ireland's significant $134bn commercial property investment space. The challenge was to design an effective listed property investment vehicle by allowing the decoupling of the management function from investors to investment managers, concurrently allowing for tax-exempted flow-through investment returns. The first iteration of the REIT framework in Ireland, introduced initially in 2013, provided legislation to facilitate the development of a special purpose vehicle for effective commercial property exposure. Aside from the strengthening macro-economic fundamentals, Ireland was also a strong candidate for the introduction of the REIT regime due to its open and highly transparent property market, availability of high-quality assets, with the broad performance improvement in the domestic commercial property market since the depth of the two major economic crises. Its robust regulatory environment for setting up tax efficient investment vehicles was also one of its strong features, with the establishment of the Irish REIT regime allowing financial players to tap into the potential of the Ireland property market. An expansion in the size of the Irish REIT market has ensued since 2013 due to these contributing factors.\nMethodology: Data sources\nIrish REIT performance analysis: Risk-adjusted returns\nConclusions on property investment implications of Irish REITs: The inception of Irish REITs in 2013 presented an additional property investment opportunity for commercial property investment in Ireland. The most striking features of Irish REITs are the enhanced liquidity, transparency and governance, giving investors enhanced opportunities in Ireland's commercial property investment space. While REITs are not meant to replace the private investment routes (direct property and non-listed property funds) used by many institutional investors, their ability to blend liquidity and efficiency sees Irish REITs as highly desirable as an additional route to commercial property investment exposure in Ireland. Moreover, Irish REITs fulfilled the purpose for which they were originally designed; they are an important example of the successful use of the financialisation regime to support the economic recovery of a country. Their main role as an \"exit mechanism\" for NAMA to liquidate some of its property holdings has brought the much-needed liquidity and stability to Ireland's commercial property market in the post-GFC period.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The inception of REITs in Ireland in 2013 presented an additional property investment opportunity to Ireland's commercial property investment landscape. Importantly, the Irish REIT market is an institutional apparatus with an objective to rejuvenate Ireland's commercial property market. The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical validation of the performance of Irish REITs over the period March 2015 to February 2019 across several investment measures such as risk-adjusted returns and diversification benefits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using monthly total returns in local currency, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification attributes of Irish REITs are assessed. The mean-variance framework is utilised to assess the potential added-value benefits of Irish REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio.\nFindings: Irish REITs delivered the strongest average annual return performance, lower relative volatility vs the stock market and competitive overall risk-adjusted performance. The results affirm the characteristic of Irish REITs as a total return-focussed income-driven property investment asset class. The optimal asset allocation analysis shows that Irish REITs are an important ingredient in a mixed-asset investment framework, as their allocation could be scaled effectively across the portfolio risk-return spectrum.\nPractical implications: Irish REITs are an emerging investment opportunity for investors seeking exposure in the strongly performing property market in Ireland in the post-Global Financial Crisis period. They are also regarded as an effective alternative conduit to private investment routes (i.e. direct property and non-listed property funds), with the added advantage of being more liquid and versatile than their private property investment counterparts. Importantly, Irish REITs fulfilled the purpose for which they were originally designed. The promising initial performance observed in this paper gives a useful context to what the future might hold for Irish REITs, given the strong interest for commercial property assets in Ireland from both local and cross-border property investors.\nOriginality/value: This paper is the first empirical research aimed at providing an initial empirical performance validation of Irish REITs as an effective route to commercial property exposure in Ireland. This research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical property investment decision making regarding the strategic role of Irish REITs in a portfolio.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Supplier development and public procurement: allies, coaches and bedfellows
|
[
"Ireland",
"Mentoring",
"Public procurement",
"Supplier development"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Supplier development is a broad concept that consists of any activity that a buying firm uses to develop suppliers (Burt et al., 2003). Development activities in the private sector vary from asset-specific investment to routine evaluation and feedback (Krause, 1997, 1999). In public procurement there is some evidence of supplier development (e.g. Murray, 2000) and anecdotal evidence of indirect development, i.e. through third parties. Scholarship of supplier development in public procurement may be hampered by a perceived lack of relevance. First, a strategic perspective of procurement is a necessary condition for supplier development in the private sector (Burt et al., 2003). Yet public procurement has been slow to develop, primarily due to public procurement accountability, deficient commercial incentives and a lack of skills (Van Weele, 2009). Second, public buyers are less focused on relationship building and more on how to obtain the lowest price possible (Arlbjorn and Freytag, 2012). Third, Public buyers are generally risk averse (Quayle and Quayle, 2000; Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, 2009) and relational competence varies markedly even within the same organisation (McKevitt et al., 2012). Finally, regulation imposes constraints upon how and when public buyers interact with suppliers.\n2. Supplier development: Parallels are drawn between supplier development, social capital theory and the relational view of the firm (Krause et al., 2007). To date, supplier development is classified by range (narrow vs broad) and depth (direct vs indirect). We next discuss the relevance of these characteristics for public and private procurement (Figure 1).\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample\n4. Results: Key objectives of the research were to explore what mentoring support buyers give to suppliers and to better understand the influence of contextual factors on this support. Data were subjected to PCA using SPSS v. 21. All measures were tested for internal consistency and all Cronbach a's exceeded the 0.70 level recommended by Nunnally (1978). The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin value was 0.90, exceeding the recommended value of 0.6 (Kaiser, 1970, 1974) and the Bartlett's test of sphericity (Bartlett, 1954) reached statistical significance, supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix. Factors were determined using a combination of decision rules: theoretical rationale, eigenvalues >1, the scree plot, and high loadings with the absence of cross-loadings (Ford et al., 1986). A scree test was performed and this also supported a four-factor solution.\n5. Discussion and findings: To date research on supplier development is limited to examining formal developmental activities and, in many cases, in the context of private sector buyer-supplier relationships. Our review of the literature categorises supplier development initiatives by range and depth. The public sectors reliance upon formal bid procedures is likely to produce a high frequency of direct but narrow development via formal evaluation and feedback. Due to frequent use of formal tendering in public procurement, buyer-supplier relationships are often assumed to be formal. Suppliers can also avail of government funded training in public procurement albeit provided by private sector consultants. Taken together existing supports to suppliers are formal and narrow in depth.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Using the lens of mentoring theory the authors test the extent to which public buyers informally support suppliers and the influence of organisational context on mentoring support. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Principal component analysis was used to analyse questionnaire responses from over 300 public buyers in Ireland. Cluster analysis produced three mentor profiles.\nFindings: The findings show a positive relationship between organisations that take a strategic approach to suppliers and buyers who offer career and psychosocial support to suppliers. However, those organisations that lack a strategic perspective of suppliers saw buyers offer political support and coaching.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implications are that coaching and political support may compensate for deficits in organisational support for suppliers generally. The findings contribute to a growing literature on informal interaction opportunities in public procurement.\nOriginality/value: To date research of supplier development is limited to formal developmental activities and in the context of private sector buyer-supplier relationships.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Efficacy of purchasing activities and strategic involvement: an international comparison
|
[
"Global operations management",
"Purchasing",
"Supply chain",
"National difference",
"GMRG",
"National culture",
"Supply chain management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Over the last two decades, the role of the purchasing function has been well recognized as a central component of the operations strategy of a company (Das and Narasimhan, 2000; Krause et al., 2001; Narasimhan and Das, 2001; Prahinski and Benton, 2004; Rozemeijer et al., 2003; Talluri and Sarkis, 2002). What is missing from the literature, however, is a thorough understanding of effects that national influence may have on purchasing activities (PA) and how this affects manufacturing performance. Despite cautions from many studies, the extant operations management (OM) literature often assumes that theories developed based on USA or European data are universal and, though with no empirical support, applicable to other countries (Flynn and Saladin, 2006; Meyer, 2007; Pagell et al., 2005; Kristal et al., 2011; Niehoff et al., 2011; Qing et al., 2011). From the perspectives of both research and industry practice, ignorance of national differences can be misleading. For instance, Hofstede (2007) found that many applications of management theory have failed even with the most experienced international companies due to cultural misunderstanding. In support of this, using Chinese samples, Zhao et al. (2006) found that a manufacturing strategy theory developed using North American data may not be applicable to Chinese firms.The effects of national differences on PA are noted but not properly studied or validated (Krause et al., 2001; Quintens et al., 2006; Riedel and Mueller, 2009; Kristal et al., 2011). Often, purchasing studies have examined the issue of national differences using very limited data that were collected from a single country or two countries for comparison (Belyea, 2008; Pagell et al., 2005). Moreover, national difference is often treated as a control variable, while its explanatory influence on PA is not well understood. Yet it is vital that managers responsible for global operations understand how resident managers, based in different countries, make different decisions affecting PA (Belyea, 2008; Riedel and Mueller, 2009). The overarching objectives of this study are, therefore, to validate previous findings showing cultural differences in PA and to further the understanding of how national differences influence the efficacy of PA on manufacturing performance.The particular research question we intend to address is whether purchasing theories, though well grounded in the literature, are, in fact, universal and applicable to countries with distinct cultures. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between PA (including the implementation of PA and strategic involvement (SI) of purchasing functions) and manufacturing competitiveness (MC) performance across two culturally distinct country groups, Western Europe/USA and Asia. The following section reviews relevant literature pertaining to several frequently cited PA and strategic purchasing involvement and their importance to manufacturing performance. Research hypotheses are developed, followed by the presentation of research methodology, including samples and measurements. The statistical results and discussion in relation to national differences are presented. Finally, managerial implications and suggestions for future research are provided.\n2 Literature review and theoretical development: Based on the purchasing literature (Carter et al., 2000; Das and Narasimhan, 2000; Krause et al., 2000; Narasimhan and Das, 2001; Ellram et al., 2002; Petersen et al., 2005) and suggestions from a group of experts (Whybark et al., 2009), this section selects and reviews several PA that are frequently discussed and implemented in the industry. This list of PA encompasses various practices related to procurement, supplier development and supplier involvement. For each PA, we review its impacts on various aspects of manufacturing performance, including cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility. We also review the effect of purchasing SI as suggested by previous studies (Lawson et al., 2009; Narasimhan and Das, 2001; Tan, 2002).2.1 Purchasing activities\n3 Research method: 3.1 Data\n4 Statistical analysis: For the purposes of this study, two statistical methods were applied. First, multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to test the postulated research hypotheses and the model in Figure 1. Next, we applied regression analysis to examine whether the two country groups differ in their choice and efficacy of PA and SI.4.1 SEM analysis\n5 Discussion: 5.1 Culture and efficacy of PA and SI\n6 Conclusions: Having an understanding of the international cultures involved in PA is vital to successful operations, but many purchasing managers do not have the necessary understanding of national differences (Belyea, 2008; Riedel and Mueller, 2009). In the past, OM literature often treated national culture as a control variable (Pagell et al., 2005), ignoring the possibility of using culture as a variable to explain and predict differences in PA across nations. Responding to the call for better understanding of national differences, this study aims at addressing the research question:RQ1. Do purchasing theories built on samples from mainly Western companies apply in other cultural contexts?Based on the data collected from ten countries or two distinct cultural groups, we tested a purchasing model that is well-grounded in the literature. Our results suggest that the intensity and efficacy of PA and SI vary between the two country groups, Asia and Western Europe/USA. The Western Europe/USA samples adequately fit the purchasing model in Figure 1, but the Asian samples do not. At the item level, we find a common set of PA contributing to MC regardless of national differences. Yet we also find substantial evidence of culturally specific selections of activities. MC is achieved by implementing different bundles of PA adopted by manufacturing plants from different cultures. In short, the findings suggest that national differences matter in implementing PA. Previously built purchasing theories and models may not be universal and more studies must be done to examine their applicability. While globalization becomes more widespread, the differences between national cultures must be part of research and theory development regarding supply chains.This study represents a first attempt at using national culture to explain differences in PA and SI. To successfully manage an international supply chain, it takes more than knowing that PA are implemented differently in different countries. While our results clearly suggest the influence of a particular cultural dimension, LTO, companies must realize what makes purchasing management different in various countries. Specifically, future studies should continue to investigate what dimensions of national culture influence operations decisions and to what extent as well as how that influence occurs. In particular, OM research needs to move beyond macro-level theory that focuses on whether culture matters to the more micro-level question focusing on how culture matters (Pagell et al., 2005). Such an understanding will better prepare multi-national companies to more effectively manage the global supply chain.This study adopted Hofstede's culture scale to examine the effects of national culture on PA and decisions. We were able to connect LTO scores with the emphasis firms in different countries place on their PA and SI. Nonetheless, Hofstede's culture score failed to predict the efficacy of PA and SI. Future OM research should examine and compare alternative culture scales (e.g. the GLOBE study) regarding their pros and cons for assessing various aspects of purchasing and supply chain decisions. A reliable scale that could accurately capture various cultural dimensions would be beneficial to multinational firms. Other cultural dimensions such as uncertainty avoidance and assertiveness should also be investigated for their relevance to PA between countries. Finally, we examined a list of PA that were carefully selected based on the literature and suggestions from renowned scholars who are familiar with the industry practice. It is still possible that some important PA may have been overlooked.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of purchasing activities and the purchasing function's involvement with corporate strategy on manufacturing competitiveness as it is affected by national differences. In particular, the authors are interested in the research question: do purchasing theories built on samples from mainly North American and Western European countries apply in other countries with different cultural contexts?\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on the 511 samples collected from ten countries or two distinct cultural groups (Group 1: Asia; Group 2: Western Europe/USA), the authors tested a purchasing model that is well-grounded in the literature. Two statistical methods were applied. First, multiple-group structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was performed to test the model. The authors then applied regression analysis to examine whether the two country groups differ in their choice and efficacy of purchasing activities and strategic involvement.\nFindings: - The results suggest that the intensity and efficacy of purchasing activities and strategic involvement vary between the two country groups, Asia and Western Europe/USA. The Western Europe/USA samples adequately fit the purchasing model, but the Asian samples do not. At the item level, the study finds a common set of purchasing activities contributing to manufacturing competitiveness regardless of national differences. The findings suggest that national differences matter in implementing purchasing activities.\nOriginality/value: - This study represents a first attempt at using national culture to explain differences in purchasing activities and strategic involvement.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evaluating quantity surveying firms' performance: An application of balanced scorecard technique
|
[
"Performance",
"Construction projects",
"Balanced scorecard",
"Quantity surveying firms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Quantity surveying (QS) is the profession saddled with the responsibility of carrying out cost planning and commercial management of construction projects (Shafiei and Said, 2008). It is the profession, in built environment, concerned with the judicious allocation of construction resources, with the overriding aim of ensuring value for money. Consequently, firms engaged in the aforementioned services are known as QSFs. QSFs can be likened to commercial organisations whose aim is to satisfy their customer through the delivery of quality services and thereby maximise profit. However, the recent study by Ogunsina et al. (2018) gave the reminiscent of the prominent view and observation that QS profession is the least popular (Ajanlekoko, 2004) and the least valued and recognised within the Nigerian construction industry.\n2. Theoretical background: Organisations have increased their use of performance indicators as a tool for monitoring, managing and measuring performance (Gomes and Liddle, 2009). This has been achieved through the application of several different business management tools and frameworks such as key performance indicators, Six Sigma, planning and budgeting, business excellence model, BSC and benchmarking (McAdam et al., 2005). Lee (2006) added another sets of performance management frameworks as: performance pyramid, results and determinants matrix, consistent performance measurement system, and the integrated performance measurement system. Among these various tools, the BSC technique was found to be very popular. The BSC is a strategic planning tool developed by Kaplan and Norton (1992) in response to the assumption that organisations only exist to satisfy stockholders. It was also designed to retain financial metrics as the ultimate outcome measures for company success, but supplements these with metrics from three additional perspectives - customer, internal process, and learning and growth (Gomes and Liddle, 2009; Hopf et al., 2012). The roots of management planning and control systems are seeing to encompassing both financial and non-financial measurement. However, the primary management system for most companies, until the 1990s, used financial information almost exclusively and relied heavily on budgets to maintain focus on short-term performance (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). It was therefore proposed that companies should develop their objectives in line with the interrelated perspectives of BSC. Theoretically, the introduction of BSC is expected to improve the measurable performance of a firm by improving its ability to manage its assets and reduce costs (Perkins et al., 2014). According to Gomes and Liddle (2009), the BSC is based on the rationale that skilled employees will improve process quality and cycle time, which therefore leads to on-time delivery and customer loyalty. At the end of the chain of improvements, the organisation is very likely to achieve higher returns on investments and, consequently, shareholders' satisfaction. The dimensions of BSC and associated objectives had been illustrated diagrammatically as in Figure 1.\n3. QSFs' performance measurement: Hollmann and Elliott (2006) defined performance evaluation as a process of appraising how well organisations are managed and the value delivered to customers and stakeholders. Neely et al. (1995) defined performance measurement as the set of metrics used to quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of actions. Effectiveness - in the sense of the extent to which customer requirements are met; and efficiency - in the sense of how economically an organisation's resources are utilised when meeting the requirements. In this regard, performance measurement can be viewed as how organisations achieve their goals by satisfying their customers with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Gambo et al. (2016) underpinned this on financial, technical and managerial in relation to a small local contracting firm. Olanipekun et al. (2013) asserted that financial measure can be used as a means of improving organisation culture of QSFs and opined that the performance of a firm is embedded in its organisation culture. However, Kaplan and Norton (1993) established the need for managers/firms not to solely rely on financial measures of their organisations, as it only measures a short-term goal without giving a bright description of what the company's future holds. A recent study by Aghimien et al. (2018) found organisation and workforce management-related strategies; strategies relating to organisation's innovation, diversification, financial management and organisation's networking as survival strategies of organisations within the built environment. This suggests that a holistic performance evaluation should include other non-financial measures. In this regard, Ibrahim (2015) viewed innovation and learning as an ideal working situation that can be used to enhance the company's performance. The authors, thus, encouraged QSFs to develop an ideal working situation by creating a learning climate for firm's development. In the same vein, Adegbemgbo et al. (2015) acknowledged the importance of knowledge management in QSFs as a knowledge-intensive organisation. Olanipekun et al. (2014) also alluded to the fact that innovativeness has a significant correlation with both differentiation and growth strategies of QSFs. Therefore, in order to improve the performance of QSFs, in Nigeria, there is a need to focus on learning and knowledge acquisition aside the financial measure.\n4. An overview of the basic concept of BSC: BSC is a management system that provides feedback on internal business processes and external outcomes to continually improve organisational performance and results. The application of the concept to improve the operational systems of many fields, such as the banking sector (Chen et al., 2008), the higher education institution system (Reda, 2017) and facilities management in workplace networks (Rasila et al., 2010), had been demonstrated. As highlighted earlier, Robert Kaplan and David Norton developed the BSC approach in the early 1990s. The BSC approach affords organisations to calculate the balanced score by themselves, by assigning appropriate importance to their activities as they deem fit (Punniyamoorthy and Murali, 2008). Accordingly, it serves as a tailor-made benchmarking information system created by an organisation for itself. Ab initio, most traditional management systems focus on the financial performance of an organisation. According to those who support the BSC principle, the financial approach is unbalanced and has major limitations. The BSC technique ensures that firms are able to view their performance by providing solution to some key technical questions of: how do they look to their shareholder (financial perspective)? How do customers see them (customer perspective)? What must they excel at (internal process perspective)? And how can they continue to improve and create value (innovation and learning perspective)?\n5. Research method: Quantitative research method was adopted for this study. This involved the use of primary (questionnaire) and secondary (archival) data as the main source for eliciting information from the target respondents. The respondents are: principal partner and quantity surveyor employee, in QSFs; architects, builders, structural engineers and clients, who usually have a business relationship with QSFs. The structured questionnaire was designed to address the performance of QSFs using the identified four perspectives (finance, customer, internal business process, and innovation and learning) of the BSC was used for data collection. The survey involved 37 (one-third) QSFs randomly selected from the total 111 registered firms in the study area. One quantity surveyor employee and one principal partner were each selected from the chosen 37 QSFs. Using a probability sampling technique, a total of 89 architects were systematically selected from the 268 architectural firms in the study area. Similarly, 76 builders selected from the 229 building construction firms and 6 structural engineers selected from the 18 structural engineering firms. For the client organisation, one respondent, nominated each from the selected QSFs, was used. Thus, a sample size of 282 respondents was used for the survey. Secondary data were obtained from the archives of the selected principal partner of QSFs to address the finance perspective. Archival data, such as annual turnovers and profit margins, over a then year period (2006-2015), were sourced. On the issues of internal business process and innovation and learning perspectives, the selected quantity surveyor employee and principal partner of QSFs supplied the required data. On the issue of customer perspective, necessary data were elicited from the selected allied construction professionals including architect, builders and structural engineers, and clients. The variables used for the study were synthesised from two sources. The first source was from the various extant sub-themes on the four perspectives of BSC collated from previous studies (largely from Hopf et al., 2012). The second source was from the prior pilot study where the functions and operations of QSFs were categorised along the four perspectives of BSC. Respondents were asked to score on a Likert scale 1-5, their level of agreement with each variable, using 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for neutral, 4 for agree and 5 for strongly agree. The elicited data were analysed using trend analysis, mean and standard deviation. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used to detect the difference in the opinion of the groups of respondents.\n6. Data analysis and results: 6.1 Reliability test\n7. Discussion of findings: The result of the study shows that Nigeria QSFs are not doing well in terms of financial performance. The decrease in the annual mean turnovers and the associated profit margins indicate that the period between 2006 and 2015 have not been eventful and also stressful for QSFs. Some of the highly profitable assets have turned loss. Costs have gone up, while the revenues have shrunk. To an extent, this could be due to external factors beyond the control of the management, and also due to the firms' strategies. Whatever the case may be, the findings provide a fundamental signal to the managers of QSFs to think out of the box on how to generate more turnover and increase profit on all commissions. The situation also calls for a spirited effort in changing the current state for the survival and sustainability of QSFs in the Nigerian market environment. Moreover, the information could assist QSFs managers to see to better management of their resources.\n8. Conclusions and recommendations: The issue of performance measurement has become increasingly consequential in any business enterprise. An understanding of the new measurement frameworks which are emerging can be extremely useful. In this study, the performance of QSFs was examined using the four perspectives concept (finance, customer, internal business process and learning and growth) of the BSC technique. Elements under each perspective where used to represent the processes and business operation of the firms. On financial perspective, the results of the trend analysis over the ten-year period, 2006-2015, show a decline in both the mean annual turnover and profit margin. This implies that the Nigerian QSFs firms are not doing very well in terms of finance. However, their performance is satisfactory from the customers' perspective. This implies that the client, architects, builders and structural engineers, who usually have a business relationship with QSFs, were satisfied with the service delivery. Furthermore, the internal business process as well as the innovation and learning were very strong in the firms. It does imply that the firms are doing very well in non-financial measures. These four identified perspectives were found to be interrelated. This likely indicates that other factors other than those of the four perspectives concept (finance, customer, internal business process and learning and growth) of the BSC technique influences QSFs performance in the study area. However, this study did not account for those factors. Hence, a further study may be required. The first thing the paper observed is investment in employee training leads to improvement in SERVQUAL; better SERVQUAL leads to higher customer satisfaction; higher customer satisfaction leads to increased customer loyalty; and increased customer loyalty generates increased revenues and profit margin. Thus, there is a need for QSFs to focus on all the elements of operation of the firm that can contribute to the growth of their business. This then calls for spirited effort in continuous improvement in the strong areas of operation a concerted effort in stepping up in the weak areas. Specifically, the firms should concentrate on knowledge application (e.g. training of employee and improved learning condition) because it has a significant effect on customer, internal business process and learning and innovations perspective. In addition, the forms should focus on continuous customer-firm relationship, in order to gain the clients and allied construction professionals' loyalty and trust and thus boosting the overall business performance of the firm. Also, it is believed that the findings provide an important platform for future QSFs' performance research in Nigeria and other countries in the sub-region. Exploring the above analyses across the sub-region is vital for understanding of QSFs' services and the application of specific concept or techniques in measuring their business performance.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of quantity surveying firms (QSFs) using the balanced scorecard (BSC) technique.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a survey of 37 QSFs in Lagos State, Nigeria, the paper empirically assessed the performance of QSFs using the BSC technique. The targeted respondents were principal partners and quantity surveyor employees in the selected QSFs and relevant construction stakeholders, including clients, architects, builders and structural engineers, who usually have business relation with QSFs.\nFindings: The findings of this paper revealed high levels of performance in non-financial measures of the BSC dimensions while low level performance is recorded in financial measure.\nPractical implications: The exemplified performance measures allow QSFs' managers to set their own priorities and to seek out improvements along the BSC dimensions of performance measure. The high performance recorded in non-financial perspectives needs to be sustained while a lot of efforts need to be put in place in order to improve the financial performance, thereby sustaining their viability.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes methodologically through the application of a balance and all-encompassing principles in assessing performance. The use of this measure enables QSFs to structure a balance assessment of their operation, to identify their strengths and weakness, and to target areas for improvement in order to reach their desired business goals.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Doing the right things or doing things right? Paradoxes and Swedish communication professionals' roles and challenges
|
[
"Professionals",
"Organizational theory",
"Communication management",
"Corporate communications"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Communication practitioners in general contend with a low occupation status and debate how to prove the organizational value of communication efforts. As one of many responses to this, the international association The Global Alliance launched the concept The Communicative Organization in 2010 at the 6th World Public Relations Forum (Stockholm Accords 2010: www.stockholmaccords.org). The concept has gained increasing attention during the last couple of years, but there is no common definition. A frequent understanding is that \"organizations that communicate well with their environment, including their internal environments, will enjoy a sustained competitive advantage\" (Nothhaft and Von Platen, 2015, p. 1). Another perspective of The Communicative Organization, grounded in organizational communication research, is that it implies an overall knowledge and awareness of the importance of communication for continuous organizing processes that enact and reproduce an organization. Thus, communication is not reduced to a tool for the transmission of messages from senders to receivers, but the transformative aspect of communication is emphasized (Dewey, 1916/2004). Communication is consequently perceived as a prerequisite for the constitution of organizations (Weick, 1969; Taylor and Van Every, 2000; Putnam and Nicotera, 2010). The fundamental aspect of communication for the organization has quite recently been given more attention from the CCO-school - the communicative constitution of organizations. This school is based on a social constructionist ontology and is influenced by such scholars as Weick (1995) and Luhmann (1995). Altogether, The Communicative Organization as a concept originates from both developments in research and in industry. From an industry approach the concept is an attempt to frame an ideal organization-state-of mind, or rationality, for communication professionals.\nTheoretical framework: organizational rationality, reflexivity and paradoxes: There is a strong tendency in the management and organization studies literature to primarily focus on the rational side of organizational life and how organizations can become more efficient and effective (see Stohl and Cheney, 2001; Heide and Simonsson, 2015). There is an equivalent emphasis on rationality in organizations, where linear models and rational problem solving guide decision makers. This is somewhat remarkable since it has been known for decades that people cannot and are not rational decision makers that always choose the most optimal alternative; people can only live up to a bounded rationality (Simon, 1947). Furthermore, it is difficult and challenging, in practice, for organizational members to make rational decisions since reality is complex and changes are rapid and unpredictable. Hence, organizational life is complicated. Lewis (2000, p. 769) explains that: \"the more complex, diverse, and dynamic organizations become, the more traditional either/or thinking oversimplifies management practices and demands.\" This way of thinking and acting is awkward and detrimental for the organization and can be interpreted as a way of escaping from the problematic (Lewis, 2000). The tendency among managers to rely on traditional, linear decision models is further nourished by the usual wish among managers to control and predict an organization and its surroundings, which, in turn, often tends to evolve into \"stupidity management\" and \"functional stupidity,\" according to Alvesson and Spicer (2012, p. 1196).\nMethods and empirical material: This paper is primarily based on qualitative interviews with nine Swedish communication managers, but we have also used survey results from the ECM Zerfass et al. (2014a). By using empirical material from two different studies, we aim to achieve a richer and more nuanced knowledge of the perceptions of communication professionals. The interviews help us to gain a deeper understanding of the broad picture given by the ECM survey (see Bryman, 2012).\nFindings and discussion: Below we will present findings from both the ECM survey and the qualitative interviews. We will not present all the results from the ECM survey but instead focus on the same areas as we have done in the interviews, i.e. challenges, goals and roles of communication professionals.\nTransition in roles: The roles of communication professionals are a topic that has been widely discussed among both scholars and practitioners. Interestingly enough, one reaction from some interviewees was that less energy should be spent on this kind of navel-gazing and more focus should instead be placed on delivering actual results. However, roles say something about the expectations organizations have of their employees (Tindall and Holtzhausen, 2011), and they are linked to a differentiation of work tasks and expected patterns of actions (Heide and Simonsson, 2014a). In this respect, roles are closely related to the possibilities of doing the right things rather than just doing things right.\nConclusions: The main aim of corporate communication is to contribute to the core drivers of success, preparing for an uncertain future, in contrast to communication efforts that support daily business (Zerfass and Huck, 2007). In this paper, we have focussed on this primary aim, i.e. the ambitions of communication professionals to do the right things rather than just doing things right. In reality, this is not really a dichotomy since communication professionals must deal with both strategic and tactical or operative work. Communicators just doing the right things (e.g. facilitating strategy work), without the ability to do things right (e.g. producing convincing texts) might be viewed as fluffy strategists.\nLimitations and future implications: This paper is based on a large survey and a small empirical interview material. The results point out important tendencies, but more research is needed. Interviews produce rich empirical material and interviewees can contribute with many interesting ideas and perspectives on different issues. However, the interview material has limitations. Alvesson and Sveningsson (2011, p. 358f) emphasize that \"[...] the strong norm of being knowledgeable penetrates a lot of talk and action. We think we know, or we want to give the impression that we know. But often we do not.\" Interviews must be combined with observations of practice. The results of the initial interview study indicate that we need to focus more on close observations and shadowing of communication professionals to understand how they materialize strategic communication (see Zerfass et al., 2014b). Further, the study shows that there is a great need to understand more of what constitutes professionalism for communication professionals. Which logic constitutes communication professionalism? Which is the core competence of communication professionals? Nowadays competence in dialog is pointed out as a central part of the competence that communication professional should have in order to fulfill the role as internal communication consultants (Heide and Simonsson, 2011). At the same time, researchers such as Taylor and Kent (2014) claim that many communication professionals lack training in dialog even if it is as important as media relations and strategic management. Finally, this study denotes a need of more research on value creation and corporate communication. If communication professionals shall be perceived as important key actors in the organization, they need to know how they can prove and declare the value of communication, such as engaged co-workers that daily realize strategic communication in their meeting with customers and other stakeholders, and hopefully establish and improve the reputation of the organization. This is in line with the latest research in strategy, where researchers pinpoint that we need to focus on the realization of strategy by co-workers in the organization to get more knowledge of this phenomenon (Balogun et al., 2015). Up to now, researchers have mainly been interested in the formulation process of a strategy by managers, but that does not give us any information of how strategy is carried out in practice.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine and analyze the prevailing form of rationality that governs the challenges, goals and roles of communication professionals. The authors will also explore alternative forms of rationality and discuss what these would imply.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is based on survey results from The European Communication Monitor (ECM) and qualitative interviews with communication managers in Sweden. First, the authors present the ECM data and the Swedish interview material, i.e. the authors depict the practitioners' perceptions of what they understand as important work tasks and roles. The interviews focus on the actual practices of linking communication goals to business goals. Second, the results are challenged from a reflexive perspective, using theories from the paradox turn and questioning the \"taken-for-granted thinking\" in corporate communications.\nFindings: The ECM data show that the main challenge in practice is \"linking business strategy and communication.\" The Swedish respondents stand out when it comes to \"building and maintaining trust\" since this is considered to be almost as important. The qualitative interview study strengthens the results in the ECM. The interviewees seem to do their work according to the traditional management agenda - i.e. they break down overall business goals and translate these to measurable communication goals. The results are reflected upon using paradox theory. Two paradoxes are discussed: between managerialism and professionalism, and strategic generalists and operational specialists.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is based on survey data that have been collected through a convenience sample, and the interview study is a pilot study.\nPractical implications: The paper focuses conflicts between normative practitioner ideals and reality, and helps practitioners to reflect upon mainstream thinking.\nOriginality/value: Based on the empirical findings in the ECM, the interviews and the theoretical framework, the authors conclude that if the idea of The Communicative Organization is to be fruitfully realized, it is necessary to depart from a multi-dimensional rationality and question ideas that are taken for granted. The use of paradox theory and concepts such as functional stupidity is rather original in corporate communication research. Additional research could further explore paradoxes in order to spark dialogue, which may undermine one-dimensional thinking and functional stupidity.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Industry 4.0 technologies in the purchasing process
|
[
"Industry 4.0 technologies",
"Internet of Things",
"Big data/business intelligence",
"Purchasing process",
"Premium automotive manufacturers",
"Transaction cost economics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 is taking place (Lin et al., 2018), pushed by customer expectations of technological developments like digitalization (Nazir and Shavarebi, 2019; Lin et al., 2018; Foerstl et al., 2017). Industry 4.0 implies benefits based on automation and increased amounts of accessible data (Weyer et al., 2015). Real-time information sharing (Glas and Kleemann, 2016) and enhanced data processing further enable more flexible planning (Weyer et al., 2015; Zhou et al., 2015). Industry 4.0 consists of a number of vaguely defined and partly overlapping technologies (Lin et al., 2018; Glas and Kleemann, 2016), such as cyber-physical systems, big data/business intelligence, Internet of Things, and smart factories. One content analysis by Oesterreich and Teuteberg (2016) within Industry 4.0 publications, and another broad overview provided by Pfohl et al. (2015), signaled the need to limit and focus on certain technologies. Therefore, this study focuses on two central technologies: big data/business intelligence or BD/BI (Popovic et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2016; Kagermann, 2015) and Internet of Things or IoT (Lin et al., 2018; Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018; Smit et al., 2016).The importance of purchasing continues to increase (Bals et al., 2019: Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018; GEP, 2018). By leveraging purchasing potentials, companies strive to achieve low cost, high quality, and low risk while realizing synergies for increasingly individualized products (Feng and Zhang, 2017; Foerstl et al., 2017). Few studies examine the impact of new technologies on purchasing (Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018; Glas and Kleemann, 2016). One exception is a recent study identifying future competency demands on purchasing professionals. Reflected by the latest development in Industry 4.0, digitalization, including, for example, automation, and big data were identified as important future competencies (Bals et al., 2019). Consultancy reports further confirm the practical challenges that come with Industry 4.0. Pellengahr et al. (2016) showed that 37 percent of German companies have implemented some Industry 4.0 technologies, but only one-third of them have made purchasing adjustments. GEP (2018) claims that the use of real-time data in purchasing will accelerate. How this development will impact purchasing can be explored through the purchasing process, where concrete changes on sub-process level can be seen. A focus on increased digitalization of the purchasing process for companies to stay competitive was encouraged by Bals et al. (2019), Zafari and Teuteberg (2018), and Yu et al. (2017). Purchasing processes differ due to various industry specifics (Wynstra et al., 2018; Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018).Studies of how, for instance, IoT impacts purchasing processes generally were encouraged by Bals et al. (2019), and particularly in high-technology industries (Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018) such as the automotive industry (Goyal et al., 2018), with outsourcing levels of up to 80 percent and renowned for its pioneer and innovative role (Manello and Calabrese, 2019; Stock and Seliger, 2016; Kagermann, 2015; Zhou et al., 2015). No identified study described the purchasing process of automotive manufacturers under new technologies. It would be practically relevant to make such a description in line with Lin et al. (2018), to support companies for successful implementation. The automotive industry is complex. A distinction can be made between high volume and premium brands; this study focuses on premium automotive manufacturers producing sophisticated and highly appointed cars (Hertenstein and Williamson, 2018), as this segment is increasing in importance and volume (Manello and Calabrese, 2019). Combining the partial knowledge in Industry 4.0, purchasing process, and premium automotive manufacturing into a coherent study, formulating:RQ1. How can BD/BI and IoT practically impact the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers?To root new, exploratory research in consolidated theoretical frameworks in purchasing research was encouraged by Foerstl et al. (2017) and Spina et al. (2016). Transaction cost economics (TCE) has its focus on costs for buyer and sellers to complete a transaction (Williamson, 1981). TCE is applied to evaluate the potential theoretical impact on the purchasing process, caused by BD/BI and IoT technologies.RQ2. How can BD/BI and IoT in the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers theoretically impact TCE?The purpose is to explore the possible practical impact of BD/BI and IoT on the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers, and to evaluate its theoretical impact with a TCE approach.\n2. Literature review: For RQ1, the literature review deals in 2.1 with the focused Industry 4.0 technologies, in 2.2 with the purchasing process under these technologies, and in 2.3 with automotive manufacturing characteristics. For RQ2, 2.4 contains TCE theory, and 2.5 provides the research model. 2.1 Big data/business intelligence and Internet of Things\n3. Methodology: As existing knowledge is not sufficiently rich, this study is exploratory, and a case study methodology is selected. This also conforms to \"how\" research questions. A clear purpose as well as exploration criteria was developed prior to data collection in accordance with Yin (2014). The topic requires an in-depth approach, as well as considering respondents interacting within and between companies. In order to create representativeness in different settings within premium automotive, the study considers multiple cases. As the OEMs enabled to also study their suppliers, this possibility, encouraged by Goyal et al. (2018) and Hertenstein and Williamson (2018), was utilized. A non-probability sampling technique was thus chosen (Saunders et al., 2016). Sampling criteria were defined beforehand, restricting the population to known Industry 4.0-knowledgeable premium automotive manufacturers of different types (cars, construction equipment) for increased representativeness, and their suggested suppliers for direct material who were willing to participate in the study and, for convenience, located in Europe. This resulted in three cases, characterized by collaborative practices and dependency of the supplier toward the manufacturer. Nevertheless, the cases can be differentiated in the importance of the automotive industry: in cases A and B, the suppliers are 100 percent selling to the automotive industry, while the sales of supplier C to the automotive industry account for 30 percent. Additionally, five industry experts were selected based on current publications online and within trade magazines.Each case comprised of management and purchasing respondents among manufacturers, and sales-related respondents at suppliers (see Table I). All respondents were selected based on a mature experience in automotive purchasing and knowledge of the Industry 4.0 concept. In order to validate cross-case synthesis, experts were included. All respondents required and were granted confidentiality, so no further details of the involved companies and respondents can be shared. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interview guide was based upon the literature review, except for TCE theory that was used for analysis. In order to ensure proper understanding, it was pre-tested on one potential respondent; this led to adjustments in wording and structure. Respondents were provided with the interview guide beforehand. The interviews were conducted in person (10) or via phone (12), and varied between 30 and 105 minutes. The sample encompassed 20 hours of interviews.The unit of analysis (Yin, 2014) is the purchasing-sales interface between manufacturers and suppliers. Qualitative content analysis/QCA (Mayring, 2014) was utilized for analysis, focusing on conceptualizing the process of assigning categories to text passages, following content-analytical rules. A combination of deductive category assignment, based upon the literature review, and inductive category formation, by repetitively scanning the transcripts, was carried out. In order to create more robust findings, a cross-case synthesis was carried out (Yin, 2014). Through the early creation of uniform categories, cross-case conclusions were drawn under consideration of contrasting settings in cars and construction equipment. All evidence were considered, plausible rival interpretations were addressed, and focus was set on the most significant aspects, to secure internal validity. Following Yin (2014), construct validity was created through clear concept definitions. Multiple sources of evidence (cases plus experts) were considered, and a chain of evidence was provided through iterative reasoning and respondents' reviews. External validity was achieved through early development of research questions to deduct appropriate theory and create a research model, using a replication logic through a cross-case synthesis. For reliability and in accordance with Yin (2014), the study strictly documented the procedures through QCA, case study protocols, and databases. As the analysis was carried out jointly by the researchers, a formal operationalization of research steps was inevitable to create inter-coder reliability (Mayring, 2014). This approach allows for replication of the study. The literature is reliable due to the authority and reputation of sources (Saunders et al., 2016). Research ethics, designed to regulate confidentiality, was ensured via a consent form.\n4. RQ1 - practical impact on the purchasing process: Split up by impact on all strategic and operative sub-processes, each section starts by presenting a table with condensed empirical, case-by-case data on how BD/BI and IoT practically can impact the purchasing process. The themes under each sub-process are then analyzed and synthesized in a detailed, cross-case manner, adding experts' views and literature. In the last section, a possible purchasing 4.0 process is shown. 4.1 Practical impact on all sub-processes\n5. RQ2 - theoretical impact on TCE: Transaction cost economics dictates that the alternative with the lowest transaction cost related to three attributes--uncertainty, asset specificity and transaction frequency--should be selected (e.g. Spina et al., 2016; Halldorsson et al., 2007; Ketchen and Hult, 2007; Williamson, 1981). 5.1 Impact on TCE attributes\n6. Conclusion: Companies are encouraged to digitalize purchasing processes to stay competitive (Bals et al., 2019; Zafari and Teuteberg, 2018; Yu et al., 2017). Therefore, this study explored the practical impact of BD/BI and IoT on the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers. Collaborative platforms and strategic purchaser role were found to impact the entire process. The strategic purchasing 4.0 process contained many changes, such as co-creation of specifications and parameter-based negotiations, including an added sub-process (change management). Fewer changes are expected in the operative purchasing 4.0 process, such as interactive call-offs and proactive trouble shooting. A TCE approach enabled to root explorative research in existing frameworks. Transaction costs in both strategic and operative purchasing process are expected to decrease by reduced uncertainty and supplier specificity, and by lowered information search, negotiation, and monitoring cost.This study's main contribution to literature is the potential purchasing of 4.0 process model for premium automotive manufacturers. It deepens and specifies some previous studies on Industry 4.0 in the automotive industry (Lin et al., 2018; Wei and Chen, 2008) with the purchasing focus. The clearest contribution to literature is of van Weele (2014), expanded in two ways. First, the purchasing process model is influenced by Industry 4.0 technologies. Second, it is adapted to this particular industry. Outside that, this study's contribution is that it connects literature on the purchasing process with some selected Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g. Popovic et al., 2019; Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018) and automotive manufacturing (e.g. Manello and Calabrese, 2019; Hertenstein and Williamson, 2018), together into a coherent whole. The differences found among cases within the premium automotive manufacturers imply that the findings are industry-specific, and should not be generalized into automotive until such a study is conducted.The practical contribution and implications are inspiration; premium automotive manufacturers can develop strategies required to push purchasing standards (in line with Osmonbekov and Johnston, 2018); suppliers can deduct scenarios to allow future compliance at the purchasing-sales interface. The study of one manufacturer/supplier interface can possibly be extended to see the implications for the premium automotive supply chain, consisting of many such interfaces. Experts can draw conclusions that may merit new consulting concepts. To practically implement the expected purchasing process, challenges were identified during the interviews, such as top management commitment, access to skilled employees, supplier collaboration willingness, the need for investments, changes in IT-infrastructures, and handling of data security (similar to Zafari and Teuteberg, 2018 and Glas and Kleemann, 2016). Practices differ between companies, and several respondents called for the involvement of independent associations in order to create standardization.Societal implications were the important consideration of new technologies' effects on the workforce. Companies are advised to offer trainings that would allow less-educated employees to work within a digitalized setting. Promising solutions for supply chain transparency, as suggested by Foerstl et al. (2017), and the reduced need for offshoring, were offered, contributing to improved sustainability. A limitation of the study is that it reflects the respondents' world view. The fact that those responses are mirrored toward five experts' views and to literature, reduces this bias.The study offers a number of interesting opportunities for future research. The potential purchasing process can be validated in a broader study among premium automotive manufacturers, or even in the general automotive industry. Manello and Calabrese (2019) distinguished between high-volume and premium brands; also high-volume manufacturers could be studied. Comparative studies in different industries could shed additional light on purchasing 4.0 processes. Further in-depth analyses could include larger quantitative data collection. This would include quantifications of transaction costs and the associated purchasing costs for obtaining the new technologies. It would also be highly relevant to study how big data/business intelligence and Internet of Things affect logistical or financial performance of the system. Findings as request for innovation proposals and parameter-based costing also require additional research. Also, other Industry 4.0 technologies, such as Cyber-Physical systems or Smart Factories, could be added and their impact on the purchasing process could be studied.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore the possible practical impact of big data/business intelligence and Internet of Things on the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers, and to evaluate its theoretical impact with a transaction cost economics approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory multiple-case study was carried out, using qualitative content analysis and cross-case synthesis.\nFindings: Collaborative platforms and a new purchaser role were found to impact the entire process. In the strategic purchasing 4.0 process, co-creation of specifications, automated prequalification, and parameter-based negotiations are some expected changes. The operative purchasing 4.0 process is shaped by, for example, interactive call-offs. Transaction cost is expected to decrease by reduced uncertainty and supplier specificity, as well as by lowered information search, negotiation, and monitoring costs.\nResearch limitations/implications: The description of a potential purchasing 4.0 process for premium automotive manufacturers is given.\nPractical implications: Premium automotive manufacturers can develop strategies to push the existing standards of purchasing. Suppliers can create scenarios to allow for future compliance at the purchasing-sales interface.\nSocial implications: New technologies' effects on the workforce are considered.\nOriginality/value: No identified study focused on the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on the purchasing process of premium automotive manufacturers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Implementing service recovery through customer relationship management: identifying the antecedents
|
[
"Customer relations",
"Service failures",
"Empowerment",
"Job satisfaction"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article.\n1. Introduction: This study tests a model of the role of front-line service employees in the successful implementation of service recovery strategies. This model combines research in service failure recovery with components of the customer relationship management (CRM) process. The model hypothesizes relationships among several well-established constructs in the literature: employee empowerment, job-satisfaction, self-efficacy, adaptability and their effects on employee perceptions of service recovery effectiveness. The results of the study are intended to contribute to the extant services literature, test theory at the employee level that was initially developed from a management or customer perspective, and address the challenges in increasing service recovery success, and in turn, customer satisfaction and retention. A major limitation to previous academic research in this area is that most studies have focused on only one organization or industry and its managers or customers. This study, by using a large sample of front-line service employees from a broad array of service companies, expands on previous research in order to make a significant contribution to the field.1.1 Service recovery\n2. The front-line employee service recovery model: Our study builds on two previous streams of research: service failure recovery strategies, and the components of the CRM process. We incorporate elements of these two areas in order to demonstrate the positive impact that can be achieved by service providers.Hartline and Ferrell (1996) have developed a model of service employee management that incorporates measures of management control (management commitment to service quality, employee empowerment and behavior-based evaluation) with employee ratings of job satisfaction, self-efficacy and adaptability to predict customers' perceived service quality. The model was tested with data gathered from managers, employees and customers at three hotel chains. Results showed that higher employee self-efficacy and higher employee job satisfaction were both linked to higher service quality as perceived by customers. Higher employee adaptability was not found to lead to higher perceived service quality, nor was higher self-efficacy related to higher job satisfaction or adaptability. Moreover, hotel managers' reported use of empowerment was not related to employee ratings of job satisfaction, or adaptability, but was related positively to employee ratings of self-efficacy.The front-line employee service recovery model proposes that a more consistent relationship between empowerment and measures of job satisfaction, self-efficacy and adaptability will be found when front-line service workers themselves evaluate all of the variables. This model proposes that employee self-efficacy, adaptability and job satisfaction are all positively related to employee ratings of the service firm's service failure recovery practices and service technology usage as measured by components of the SERV*OR service orientation scale developed by Lytle et al. (1998). The service failure recovery scale is a measure of the interaction quality achieved by the firm, while the service technology scale represents the knowledge dissemination capability of the organization according to the CRM process model of Zablah et al. (2004).We believe this model (see Figure 2) will address a significant gap in the current literature by linking the well-established constructs of employee empowerment, job-satisfaction, self-efficacy and adaptability with measures of service failure recovery and service technology usage. Our model also adds to the knowledge base by focusing on front-line service employees, who have so far not been included in this body of research.2.1 Hypotheses\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Analysis: 4.1 Structural model estimation\n5. Managerial implications: It is inevitable that as service providers strive to implement effective marketing strategies service failures will occur. In most industries, the delivery of services provides the opportunity for the organization and the front-line service worker to make a positive impact on the customer. However, management cannot take for granted that all personnel are equipped to handle these situations in the best manner. In this study, we examined the role of employee empowerment, adaptability, and job satisfaction in the use of technology in service failure recovery strategies. This is pertinent in today's business environment where firms are spending considerable amounts of capital to implement their customer relationship strategies.Organizations that value customers must recognize that timely resolution of service recovery is a necessary condition for customer retention. In order for service recovery strategies to be well timed, employees must be empowered with the flexibility to make appropriate decisions in real time. Employee empowerment plays both a direct and indirect role in many important individual variables. Discretionary actions are indispensable in customer interactions where customers expect immediate results. When employees believe that they have the power to react without management intervention, this leads to them having positive feelings toward their jobs. Therefore, it is critical that the structure be put in place that facilitates this action. Managers should encourage employees to use their own judgment in solving problems and then trust those employees to exercise that judgment. In addition, this structure provides other benefits that are derived from employee empowerment. As employees continue to implement service recovery strategies successfully though their own discretionary practices, they develop more self-assurance in their job performance abilities. This reinforcing process will lead to higher levels of organizational success.Management should realize that employee self-confidence is an essential catalyst for linking empowerment strategies and the employees' ability to adapt their behaviors during service encounters. There is a direct and positive effect between employee job satisfaction and the above-mentioned employee self-confidence. Therefore, management will receive enhanced value for implementing policies that allow for the growth in employee empowerment and self-efficacy. Though the relationship is not direct between self-efficacy and the employees' perception of the organization's use of technology in service recovery strategies, it is present. The effect manifests itself via employee job satisfaction and employee adaptability. In terms of self-efficacy, recruitment practices should facilitate better fit between employee abilities and job requirements.Employees must possess levels of job satisfaction that would motivate them to use available customer relationship technologies in service recovery. Effective training will help employees recognize that each customer may require a different approach. Firms that have the informational technology infrastructure that would aid in employee performance lay the foundation for higher levels of technology use in service recovery strategies. This information technology is key to employees having the knowledge necessary to modify their behavior in order to keep customers satisfied. The adaptability of employees is linked to their service encounter performance. The more employees are able and willing to respond to the interpersonal demands of customers, the greater the level of customer satisfaction, customer retention, and ultimately customer profits.\n6. Limitations and future research: Limitations that we hope to address in future research studies include the following. Our survey was conducted online using employee self-reporting. As such, there was no independent corroboration from management. Since the data are based on the view from the employee, we cannot determine the actual level of CRM implementation and the degree to which the company has improved customer service. It will be worthwhile to conduct additional research with customers. Without separate confirmation from customers, we cannot determine whether or not they would support the employees' perceptions.Another limitation is that the research is from one point in time rather than a longitudinal perspective. Thus, it would be beneficial to take additional measures over an extended period of time to detect any changes that might be made in CRM strategies and capture the impact on customer satisfaction. In addition, future investigations focusing on the possible differences among various industries may lead to further findings.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to combine components of service failure recovery and customer relationship management. It aims to develop a model of the antecedents of successful service recovery that proposes relationships between employee empowerment, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, employee ratings of the service firm's service recovery practices, and service technology usage.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An online survey tool was used to collect data. The hypothesized model was tested utilizing structural equation modeling.\nFindings: - Results support the hypothesized relationships between the empowerment of employees and their job satisfaction and perceived self-efficacy, as well as the relationships between job satisfaction and self-efficacy and service recovery.\nPractical implications: - Managers may improve the implementation of service technology and service recovery strategies by increasing employee empowerment.\nOriginality/value: - The paper addresses a significant gap in the current literature by linking the well-established constructs of employee empowerment, job-satisfaction, self-efficacy and adaptability with measures of service failure recovery and service technology usage.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
E-learning takes flight at Bluebird Care: New system enhances recruitment and service delivery
|
[
"Organizational performance",
"Recruitment",
"Care workers",
"Computer-based learning",
"Inductions"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A provider of care in the home has adopted e-learning to deliver effective training to its rapidly growing workforce, improve the recruitment process and staff retention and maintain high levels of customer care.\nMaintaining standards amidst business growth: A key challenge was to make the recruitment process more efficient. In particular, Leisa McKenzie needed to reduce the time taken between a new care worker accepting a job offer and starting induction training. This had been a cause of a high number of drop-outs and increased spending on recruitment advertising.\nEmbracing e-learning: She decided to incorporate e-learning into the backbone of her recruitment and training process. This involved putting online-learning provider Skillsoft's care e-learning platform up-front, as an integral part of new care-worker inductions and training.\nImproved processes and staff retention: Where recruitment had been taking more than a month from interview to induction training, the new process now takes as little as 10 days. Drop-out rates have fallen dramatically and this has significantly reduced the amount spent on advertising. The introduction of the e-learning process was also fast and effective.\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Explains the advantages brought by e-learning to Bluebird Care, a provider of care in the home.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Explores the reasons for the adoption of e-learning and describes the way in which it has been implemented.\nFindings: Reveals that e-learning courses were implemented for new recruits as part of the induction process, to ensure key skills are gained before staff go into the home. The solution was rolled out to all care workers as an integral part of ongoing career development.\nPractical implications: Charts improvements in the recruitment process and staff retention to maintain high levels of customer care. Time from interview to induction training fell from over one month to one and a half weeks, following the introduction of e-learning courses for new starters. Overall training costs have fallen and staff retention has increased through improved access to information and a clear career-development program.\nOriginality/value: Gives the inside story of the introduction of e-learning at a major provider of care in the home.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Pre-service teachers' experience of and attitudes to teaching SPHE in Ireland
|
[
"SPHE",
"Social personal and health education",
"Pre‐service education",
"Teachers",
"Teacher education",
"Teacher training",
"Ireland"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Schools have a pivotal role to play in addressing society's health problems (St Leger, 2004). Education has the power to positively impact on, not only economic prosperity, but also on a nation's health outcomes (St Leger et al., 2007). The primary focus of the school relates to academic achievement; its core business is teaching and learning. Schools are not a panacea for societal health issues; yet schools can play a key role in the promotion of health and particularly when there is partnership between health and education. Recognition of the potential of synergies between health and education has been recognised with Lee et al. (2003) advocating that the success of education depends on good health, and vice versa. In Ireland, this recognition is evident in the partnership established between the education and health ministries to implement the Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum. Indeed, commitment to health promotion in schools continues to gain a strong foothold globally because it is recognised that a whole school approach to health promotion contributes to improved learning outcomes and reduces health risk behaviours (International Union for Health Promotion and Education, IUHPE, 2008; Kann et al., 2007). Focus on student wellbeing, personal development and health related issues can support the school in meeting its core aims of academic achievement because the promotion of health in schools is believed to enhance both the health resources and the academic progress of students (Stewart-Brown, 2006; St Leger and Young, 2009). Schools that recognise the synergy between education and health can provide a supportive context for the implementation of subjects like SPHE.SPHE curriculum\nMethods: Context\nEthical considerations: Ethical approval was sought from and granted by the University of Limerick Research and Ethics Committee (ULREC). The researchers were careful to ensure anonymity and therefore no IP address data were collected during the process to safeguard this anonymity. The researchers prioritised respect for persons, beneficence, non-maleficence as advocated by Lo Biondo Wood and Haber (2010).\nResults: General data\nStudents' perceived relevance and effectiveness of SPHE: Participants' perceptions regarding the relevance and effectiveness of SPHE in schools, as well as their interest in the subject proved to be strongly correlated as shown in Table IV. Perceived effectiveness of SPHE proved to have the highest correlation with relevance, interest and in particular with how much students felt they learnt from the subject, demonstrating a significant positive correlation between the two variables, r=0.723, p < 0.0005. These results suggest a strong connection between students' perception of the effectiveness of the teaching of SPHE and how much they felt they learned from studying the subject. Furthermore, low levels of perceived effectiveness were also associated with lower levels of interest in, and relevance of, the subject with correlation coefficients of .650 and .623 respectively (p < 0.0005).Further analysis was conducted to determine whether or not notable gender differences were present in participants' responses regarding the perceived relevance and effectiveness of SPHE, as well as their interest in future teaching of SPHE. A Mann-Whitney U test revealed significant difference between the perceived level of effectiveness of SPHE for males (Md =2, n=148) and females (Md =3, n=127) students, U=7120, z=-3.67, p < .0005, r=0.221. Similar gender differences were witnessed between male and female students' interest in SPHE and in the perceived relevance of the subject, with female participants presenting elevated levels of interest and perceived relevance (see Table V).This is consistent with higher intentionality to teach the subject within the female cohort as previously reported with 30.6 per cent of females indicating that they plan to teach SPHE on graduating compared to 19.5 per cent of male participants.\nDiscussion: Teachers attitude and teacher knowledge are key factors in their intention to teach health related content (Lin and Wilson, 1998). Therefore, this study sought to examine the experiences and attitudes of undergraduate teacher education students towards the teaching of SPHE. It is of note that the response rate is modest at 44.7 per cent and the potential of a narrow self-selecting sample of respondents exists. Only 57.3 per cent of respondents had been provided with SPHE classes while in school which suggests that inconsistent implementation of SPHE in post primary schools continues to occur. This is a particular challenge for schools that are under significant pressure with overcrowded timetables and the pressure to deliver on student academic achievement, often at the expense of student development of transferable knowledge (Pilot and Bulte, 2006). The challenge is further compounded if in higher education the same pressures of curriculum overload preclude the provision of health promotion education to pre-service teachers. None of the respondents had exposure to SPHE or even more general health education during their university studies.Low numbers of respondents intending to teach SPHE\nConclusion: The current national offering of 40 hours teacher in-service is not enough to support or encourage all teachers to perceive that they have a role in SPHE or in the promotion of healthy schools in Ireland. Offering SPHE professional development once teachers are in-service rather than promoting it during pre-service education is possibly too late. Currently SPHE has little or no place on the pre-service teacher education curriculum. Perhaps a way forward might be to place health education on the initial teacher education curriculum for all teachers. Teacher education can play a role in encouraging a whole school approach towards healthy schools within the subject and cross curricular model adopted by the Department of Education and Science by paying close attention to deconstructing insular conceptions of subject expertise. It can promote a different conceptualisation of the teacher role that places less emphasis on teacher subject identification in favour of a more balanced conceptualisation of the teacher as educator of the whole person as well as subject expert. The authors do not suggest that this will mean that all will become teachers of SPHE but rather that it might raise their awareness of SPHE and of the link between student well being and academic achievement thus potentially creating more openness to broader involvement in healthy schools. Universities have a key role to play in building teacher capacity in this field and there is urgent need for teacher educators to reconceptualise their role as a key stakeholder in this field by making space in their own crowded curriculum to ensure that their graduates understand their teaching role more broadly than a subject specialty but as an educator of the whole person.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - National policy in Ireland states that all teachers are teachers of Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE). However national evaluations identify that all teachers do not subscribe to this view. This research aimed to examine the experiences and attitudes of undergraduate students towards teaching SPHE.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An on-line questionnaire including closed and open questions was distributed to all undergraduate post primary teacher education students (N=1105) in the University of Limerick which is the largest provider of teacher education in Ireland. None of the respondents had exposure to third level education in SPHE or more generally in health education.\nFindings: - A response rate of 44.7 per cent was achieved (N=494). Only 24.5 per cent indicated that they plan to teach SPHE on graduation. There were significant gender differences in relation to students' intention to teach SPHE on graduation. Incentives to teach were less altruistic for males (money and job security) than females (personal interest in the subject).\nResearch limitations/implications: - The convenience sampling approach was useful in illuminating the attitudes of the undergraduate students sampled, however replication across teacher education programmes nationally is warranted. Inclusion of teacher educators' perspectives would also be valuable.\nPractical implications: - There is a clear need for health promotion to be placed on the pre-service teacher education curriculum. In addition, it is necessary to take into account pre-service teacher attitude towards SPHE and gender differences in the design of the post primary teacher education curriculum.\nOriginality/value: - This paper offers insight into how pre-service teachers perceive their role in SPHE. It illuminates some challenges facing teacher educators in this field.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Reducing costs through improved returns processing
|
[
"Distribution centres",
"Customer service management",
"Product liability",
"Clothing",
"Product catalogues"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The returns process incurs a hidden cost that one industry analyst estimates can be as high as 30-35 percent of potential profits (Rosen et al., 2001). Since the costs of handling product returns are estimated at $35-$42 billion per year in the US, it is important to improve the returns decision process (Norek, 2003; Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 2001; Meyer, 1999). Distribution experts recently pointed out that \"Managing returns wisely means thinking about returned goods not as costly mistakes but as products waiting to be sold profitably - an opportunity to be exploited\" (Stock et al., 2002). In a recent survey, distributors indicated only moderate success in recovering assets and reducing inventory investment in their reverse logistics programs (Autry et al., 2001).In the apparel industry, product return rates as a percentage of catalog sales are reported to range from 10 to 20 percent for casual apparel and as high as 35-40 percent for high fashion (Dowling, 1999; Catalog Age, 2002). Return rates are high for catalog apparel shoppers since they cannot see or feel the apparel or try it on prior to ordering (Wood, 2001). Industry experts relate that the top reasons for apparel returns are size, color, and fabric (Barry, 2000; Catalog Age, 2002; Trebilcock, 2001). For an apparel company that uses catalogs or the internet as primary correspondence with its customer base, a significant level of product returns is inherent to the business. Thus, a catalog distribution center manager asks the question, how can we reduce the inventory and material handling costs associated with returns. In this paper, we show how the returns process can be re-designed to not only reduce inventory and material handling costs, but also improve order fulfillment.Typically, catalog distribution center functions are divided into separate order fulfillment and returns processing functions. The returns process involves crediting the customer, evaluating the returned product condition, and directing the returned product to one of the five options shown in Figure 1: immediate resale, restock, sale to third party retailer, donation, or disposal. A four-class product condition and demand based code system is shown in Figure 1. Class A products are in saleable condition and will appear in future catalogs. Although class B items are in saleable condition, they are obsolete. Class C and D items are non-saleable condition items directed to charity and disposal, respectively.In our collaboration with a large catalog distributor of fashion goods, we studied more than 300 workers processing returns. The time from returns arrival to disposition decision completion ranged from two to three days while material handling and processing costs averaged more than $1 per item. The centralized distribution and returns center studied considers product condition, back-order status and obsolescence as illustrated in the disposition algorithm in Figure 2. Product condition is either acceptable, refurbishable, or non-refurbishable (Meyer, 1999). Back-order status reflects insufficient inventory to fill demand. Obsolescence is defined as exclusion from future catalogs.Despite this catalog distributor's diligence in processing returns faster than 58 percent of the companies surveyed in Rogers and Tibben-Lembke (2001), we show that the return disposition completion time to fill back-orders can be further improved at a lower cost. Next, we discuss past literature in reverse logistics and returns. Then we define our apparel returns disposition problem and offer a more comprehensive solution. We test our algorithm with disguised data from an industrial collaborator and analyze its performance. We conclude with recommendations for catalog and internet distributors.\nLiterature review: Carter and Ellram (1998), Blumberg (1999) and Guiltinan and Nwokoye (1975) review the drivers, regulations, businesses, and customers, for reverse logistic systems. They explain that constraints include lack of data, coordination, and incentive systems. Andel (1997) and Rogers and Tibben-Lembke (1999) point out the potential to coordinate information in centralized reverse logistics systems. Stock (1998) explains that reverse logistics activities should be coordinated with functions within the firm such as production, marketing, information systems, and forward logistics. Tibben-Lembke (2004) explores the importance of secondary markets. In research focused on the retail sector, supply chain procurement and returns coordination improvements have been identified for more profitable inventory management by the manufacturer and retailer (Eppen and Iyer, 1997; Lee, 2001; Taylor, 2001; Miner, 2001). Similar research is needed for the catalog distributor sales and consumer returns scenario.Van-Hoek (1999) recommends extending reverse logistics to the systems perspective of extended green supply chains. Tibben-Lembke (2002) discusses the impact of the product life cycle on return rates and disposition decisions in extended supply chains. For long-life cycle products such as aircraft engines, a disposal option helps control inventory in an extended supply chain with procurement, production, and remanufacturing of returns (van der Laan et al., 1996a, b). Guide and Wassenhove (2002) mention the need to make disposition decisions as early as possible in the returns process.Much of the research in apparel procurement, supply chain coordination, and remanufacturing emphasized a cost objective. In our interactions with catalog apparel distributors, we learned that service objectives sometimes supercede cost objectives in order to maintain long-term customer loyalty. Retaining customer business is supported by good returns operations (Tan et al., 2003). An important area of research is how a distributor of catalog sales should handle the returns received from mail-order customers in order to increase service level while managing costs. In our problem, we seek to improve customer service and reduce costs by identifying product and system characteristics in addition to those included in the returns center disposition algorithm shown in Figure 2.\nImproving the returns process: The current returns disposition decision is based on a sequential consideration of product condition, obsolescence, and back-order status as shown in detail in Figure 2. The problem with this approach is that obsolete items defined based on future catalog inclusion may still be on back-order. Thus, the current algorithm fails to fill back-orders for items that are not appearing in the next catalogs. To improve the link between order fulfillment and returns processing, while managing inventory levels, we propose to re-design the returns decision logic to consider back-orders earlier in the process and to additionally consider inventory level, net return value, back-order lead-time, and marketing pattern. Inventory level represents the product stored in the catalog distributor's warehouse. Inventory level and marketing pattern are considered to better determine whether to store returns or sell them to third party discount outlets. Net return value is defined by the value of the item minus the processing, refurbishing and holding costs. Back-order lead-time is evaluated to compare the time to refurbish and repackage versus the time to receive a new item from the manufacturer. Marketing pattern refers to the frequency an item is included in future catalogs. The catalog apparel industry defines three marketing patterns: core, seasonal, and trendy by item appearance in three consecutive, two consecutive and one catalog per year, respectively. For example, Figure 3 shows the demand and return rates for a core marketing item. Core marketing items may have fluctuating demand patterns. For example, white short-sleeved shirt sales increase as summer approaches, and fleece coat sales rise as temperatures drop in the fall. The weather factor in Figure 3 is significant; temperature and sales of the core item rise and fall similarly. Figure 3 shows that the returns of the same item follow a pattern similar to the demand at a lower magnitude and a two to three-week lag.The logic for the proposed algorithm is shown in Figure 4. By reallocating tasks to fewer workstations, the number of different types of workstations is reduced from seven in the current algorithm in Figure 2 to four workstations in the proposed algorithm in Figure 4. By reviewing back-order status at workstation 1 rather than workstation 4, earlier identification of a back-ordered return item directs the item to repackaging and shipping more quickly to improve service level.To test our algorithm under random demand and random product return conditions, we developed a discrete-event simulation model (Law and Kelton, 1991). To create a distribution for random demand, monthly data provided by an industrial collaborator was analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit test in Arena 6.00.02(r) Input Analyser by Rockwell Software Inc. (2002). Table I shows the distributions with their parameters for three products with the three different marketing patterns.We disaggregated the monthly demand data by applying the discrete distributions to weekly and daily demand given in Table II. The weekly demand distribution represents demand correlation with monthly and bi-weekly pay days while the daily demand distribution reflects the peak customer orders over weekends. Daily demand patterns represent a potential area for further research.The decision handling and task times for both the current and proposed algorithms are given in Table III. Table III shows that the proposed algorithm eliminates one action, consolidates two actions, consolidates eight evaluations, and adds two evaluations at workstation one. As a result the total workstations in the proposed algorithm are four compared to seven in the current algorithm.Our assumptions for refurbishment, back-order lead-times, return rate conditions, item worth per class, and minimum order quantities are given in Table IV. Inventory space is assumed to be unconstrained.For a core marketing item, a continuous review (Q, r) inventory model is used to determine the discount price, replenishment quantity, Q, and re-order point, r. When the quantity discount of the core item studied in the computational study is $0.25 per item for every 2,500 items, the discounted distributor price is as shown in Table V.The replenishment quantity, Q, is calculated using the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) in equation (1): Equation 1 where A is the ordering cost; D, the anticipated demand level shown in Table II and h is the holding cost (Russell and Taylor, 2000). We assume that A is 2.5 percent of the total item cost where the total item cost equals the product of the order quantity and the discounted distributor purchase price. The holding cost is calculated in equation (2): Equation 2 where S is the cost to store one unit of product; C, the product opportunity cost and I is the product inventory level. The opportunity cost is calculated as the product of the interest rate and the distributor purchase price. Using the data in Tables V-VIII and expressions (1) and (2), the replenishment quantity for the core item studied in our computational study is 3,699 and its discount price is $49.75 (Table V).Since trendy and seasonal items do not need constant replenishment throughout the year, the order quantity, Qj for product j is set to either the minimum order quantity or 80 percent of the anticipated demand, whichever is greater. The re-order point, rj, for trendy and seasonal items, is calculated with equation (3): Equation 3 where Lj is the back-order lead-time of product j (Hopp and Spearman, 2000).Based on the random demand, random returns, deterministic processing times, and cost assumptions discussed, a simulation model was developed in Automod(tm) Student Version 10.0 (Brook Automation, 1999) and run on a Dell Optiplex GX240 desktop computer. Both the current and proposed algorithms were run for 336 days for core, trendy, and seasonal items. To achieve a standard error of 5 percent, we ran 75 replications (Banks et al., 1995). The 95 percent confidence intervals (CI) for total demand and returns are shown in Table VI for both the current and proposed algorithms. Next we summarize the results.\nResults and conclusions: The proposed algorithm improves the number of back-orders filled and reduces the processing costs. Table III shows that the new algorithm reduces the return processing time and cost by 22 percent. By aggregating tasks, the repetitive material handling tasks are eliminated and fewer workstations are required. The workstation reductions translate into reduced costs for labor, workstation equipment, and material handling equipment. Our discrete event simulation model results indicate cost savings too. For the core item studied, the proposed algorithm directs damaged returns to a third party when inventory is high as indicated in Tables VII and VIII. This reduces dry cleaning cost by 24 percent. Since the CI for the quantity restocked are distinct in Tables VII and VIII, we conclude that the restocking of trendy returns is lower for the proposed algorithm than for the current algorithm. This reduces inventory holding costs. Combining these cost savings, the total returns processing costs are compared for both algorithms in Figure 5 for the three catalog products for one year. The proposed algorithm boasts a greater than 22 percent improvement in returns processing costs.Tables VII and VIII summarize the number of returned items that fill back-orders and new orders for the current and proposed algorithm, respectively. Tables VII and VIII also demonstrate that the proposed algorithm maintains inventory to fill back-orders while reducing the number of items restocked. The current algorithm evaluates back-order status at work station four in the process flow, while the proposed algorithm evaluates back-order status at station one. As a result, the proposed algorithm improves customer service by increasing the number of back orders filled. The sensitivity of the returns process for each catalog marketing pattern is shown in Figure 6. The proposed algorithm dramatically increases the number of back-orders filled for trendy and seasonal items.\nRecommendations for catalog distributions: Since catalog return operations may handle a significant number of products, some of which may be on back-order, and the costs of handling product returns exceed billions of dollars per year, it is important to design a process and decision algorithm that effectively improves customer service (Meyer, 1999). We demonstrate that evaluating back-order status early in the returns process improves customer service. Furthermore, we recommend that catalog distributors consider current inventory level, the returns processing lead-time versus the manufacturer lead-time, the expected timing of resale of the returned item, and the economical value of items in addition to product condition and obsolescence. Catalog distributors should examine their returns process for opportunities to reduce returns processing time and costs by consolidating and eliminating tasks. The proposed algorithm shown in Figure 4 may easily be integrated into the information technology system at a catalog distribution center.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - To provide fashion catalog distributors with an approach to reduce costs from returns processing by considering an array of characteristics related to demand, lead-time, and inventory level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Apparel return rates from catalog sales are frequently 10-30 percent of shipped orders. Despite the magnitude of returns processing, return operations are characterized by high backlogs, inefficiency, and excess material handling. Typical catalog clothing returns processing considers the condition of the returned item, fashion obsolescence, and back-order status to make disposition decisions. In the proposed algorithm, added considerations to select a disposition option for a return include inventory level, demand pattern, cost and lead-time factors.\nFindings: - The current and proposed algorithms are tested using disguised data from a fashion catalog sales company. It is shown that the proposed algorithm fills back-orders more quickly, while reducing the returns-processing cost and time by over 20 percent.\nResearch limitations/implications: - By combining the tasks, open packaging, credit customer, and evaluate item characteristics including backorder status at the first workstation, the training for staff at the first workstation is increased.\nPractical implications: - Fashion catalog distributors should examine their returns-processing system for opportunities to reduce returns-processing time and costs by consolidating and eliminating tasks and by considering inventory level, demand pattern, cost, and lead-time when selecting a disposition option for a return. The proposed algorithm can be integrated into the information technology system at the fashion catalog distributor.\nOriginality/value: - This paper addresses how to reduce inefficiency and excess material handling in returns processing at a fashion catalog distributor.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Dynamic acquisition pricing policy under uncertain remanufactured-product demand
|
[
"Closed-loop supply chain",
"Multi-period pricing",
"Supply uncertainty",
"Used-product returns"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"Era of high-cost\" has come since the 1990s, as the environment and resources have been consumed to some extent because of the accumulation of production and consumption. Global environmental problems have also become increasingly severe, which is mainly because during the economic development the rate of nature resources consumption has exceeded that of natural replenishment, and the speed of producing waste is higher than that of the nature self-purifying and recovery process. Therefore, the conflict between the rapid economic growth and nature resources shortage as well as environmental pollution has become significantly severe. The twenty-first century is the age of environmental protection, industry upgrade and sustainable development. Economic development with less pollution and resource consumption is the common goal of governments. From the view of companies, remanufacturing based on used products gradually becomes a feasible way to meet the market demand and reduce production cost as it becomes much more difficult to acquire low-priced raw materials.\n2. Literature review: Extended product responsibility (Lifset et al., 2013), which is proposed by European countries, requires manufacturers to recycle their products. The USA has similar recycling acts, which require producers or consumers to be charged to subsidy the entities that collect and process used products (Souza, 2013). Raz et al. (2013) have used the energy consumption rate to represent the environmental performance, and proposed that the environmental performance should be taken into consideration in the production and usage stages.\n3. Problem description and notation: Consider a firm that dynamically obtains the used product for remanufacturing in a finite horizon through period T (the first period) to 0 (the last period). Let t=T, ..., 1 denote the period index. All the notations introduced in this section are summarized in Table I.\n4. Analysis: Rewriting the Equation (1) in the form of integral, we get:\n5. Model extension: uncertain returns: The quantity of returns Q\n6. Numerical study: Since numerical cases with different sets of parameter values have similar profiles, we present one as a representative. We model the stochastic demand for the remanufactured product as a Normal distribution with mean m=6 and standard deviation d=1. We set c=5, h=2, v=20, a=3, b=4, (Equation 79), (Equation 80). The system has zero initial stock and produces remanufactured products for three periods, that is, x\n7. Conclusion: Remanufacturing is a complex process with lots of uncertainties. Based on our investigation of the remanufacturer's pricing problem for used products under both random returns and demand, we find: first, remanufacturers can minimize the expected total cost by adjusting the acquisition price periodically; second, remanufacturers should raise the inventory level to cope with uncertainty in demand as the demand fluctuation increases; third, although remanufacturers can influence the quantity of returns by changing the acquisition price, they should keep a reasonable quantity of returned cores in stock because of the uncertain returns; fourth, if remanufactures are able to predict the trends in returns, they can lower the price for used products and reduce stocks; and finally, the optimal price of each period in a multi-period system is based on that of the previous period, so the decision about the acquisition price in each period interacts with each other. For the given stock level, the acquisition price in the previous period is higher than that of the next period, because in order to minimize the expected total cost over all periods, remanufactures should collect more used products in earlier periods in case that the quantity of natural returns is small in later periods.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamic acquisition pricing strategy for collecting used products (also known as cores or returns) in a finite planning horizon. In particular, this paper studies a cost-minimization model in which a firm offers acquisition price that impacts the quantity of the returns, and remanufactures the used product to satisfy the customer demand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses multi-period stochastic dynamic programming theory to model a remanufacturing system that faces the random demand for remanufactured products. The number of the returns at each period is uncertain and increases linearly with the acquisition price offered.\nFindings: The study shows that when the uncertainty of demand for remanufactured products increases, the remanufacturer should hold a higher core stock level to minimize the expected total cost and thus a higher acquisition price is needed to attract returns. However, given demand uncertainty, the optimal price decreases in the initial core stock level in each period. It also indicates that the optimal acquisition price increases in the variance of the returns, but decreases in the mean of the returns.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that a remanufacturer could reduce the expected total cost by adjusting the acquisition price according to the number of returns periodically.\nOriginality/value: Introducing the impact of supply uncertainty on the acquisition price of used products, this paper uses a multi-period dynamic model, instead of single period model in previous studies, to examine the remanufacturer's dynamic acquisition pricing policy.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evaluating the impact of research using the altmetrics approach (case study: the field of scientometrics)
|
[
"Social media",
"Information research",
"Scientometrics",
"Research evaluation",
"Citation indicators",
"Altmetrics indicators"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: For many years, citation analysis is used to investigate the scientific effectiveness of researchers. Although citation-based indices are among the most accepted and important indicators for assessing performance and scientific effectiveness, there have always been some deficiencies in these indices. The fact that citations take time to accumulate also has an impact on research evaluation, as a wait of a few years after publication is needed before the impact of papers can be measured (more in some disciplines). As a result, many have turned to journal impact factors as a proxy for the potential citation value of articles within journals; however, due to the skewness of citation distributions, journal measures should not be used as article-level indicators (Neylon and Wu, 2009). Additionally, the relationship between citations and the impact factor is weakening, so alternative metrics have been developed to respond to these challenges (Thelwall et al., 2013). On the other hand, because of the widespread use of social media in the scientific fields, new indicators called altmetrics indices along with the traditional scientometrics concepts (citation analysis) have been created to investigate the impact of research activities on social media.\n2. Research questions: RQ1. What is the presence rate of the articles published in the core journals of scientometrics in social media?RQ2. What is the state of the altmetric scores of the articles published in the core journals of scientometrics?RQ3. What are the most effective articles in the field of scientometrics based on altmetric indicators?RQ4. Which media are the most important social media in the field of scientometrics?RQ5. Is there a significant statistical relation between the presence of international articles in the field of scientometrics in social media and the number of paper citations?RQ6. Can altmteric indicators be used as a substitute or complementary of citation index for assessing the impact of research?\n3. Methodology and data gathering: This is an applied research using the altmetrics (social media measures) method. The research population consists of the articles and their citations published in two core journals in the field of scientometrics (Scientometrics and Journal of Informetrics) in a period of five years (2012-2016). The articles, their citation, and their altmetric data were collected and extracted in two steps. In Step 1, these articles and the citations counts of each paper directly were collected from Springer and ScienceDirect databases. Then, Step 2, to determine the presence rate of the retrieved articles in social media, each article was manually searched using the altmetric bookmarklet. This tool is a service provided by altmetric institute was used for data collection. This tool stores as a bookmark in Web browsers and provides altmetrics data. To use this tool, we need to select the article's digital object identifier on the homepage of the article and click on the bookmark stored on the Web browser. Accessible with one click via the altmetric donut badges, the details page for each research output gives a full record of all of the original shares and mentions of an individual piece of scholarly content. The research articles with the highest altmetric scores were identified. In this step, the collected data were stored in two excel files separately for each of the two studied journals. Finally, the association between altmetric scores and citation counts was investigated using correlation tests. The results of this analysis are presented in the following.\n4. Data analysis: In this section, to answer the research questions, the results of the analysis of the retrieved data are presented. To answer the RQ1, the survey revealed that of a total of 1,342 papers retrieved from Scientometrics journal, 643 papers (48 per cent) have been shared at least once in social media and have an altmetric score (Table I). Also, the gathered data from Journal of Informetrics shows that of a total of 396 papers retrieved, 188 papers (47.4 per cent) have been shared at least once in the social media and have an altmetric score (Table I). This table shows the number of citations of the articles with the altmetrics indicators, for Scientometrics journal's papers and Journal of Informetrics' papers is 4,565 and 1,670, respectively. In this case, the average number of citation for per Sci. articles is 7 and per Info. articles is 9. On the other hand, the number of citations of the articles without the altmetrics indicators for the above journals is 3,842 and 1,685, respectively. In this case, the average number of citation for per Sci. articles is 5 and per Info. articles is 8. These results indicate that there is no significant difference in citability between the articles with and without altmetrics indicators.\n5. Results: The summary of results obtained from data analysis in this study is described below:\n6. Conclusions: In sum, the findings of this research suggest that some social networks and their indices can be as representations of the impact of scientific papers, similar citations. However, due to the weakness of the correlation coefficients, the replacement of these two categories of indicators is not recommended, but it is possible to use the altmetrics indicators as complementary Scientometrics indicators in evaluating the research and calculating the impact of research. As Bornmann (2011) and Rousseau and Ye (2013) have pointed out, if alternative metrics are used to evaluate research, these measures should be the same as scientometric indicators based on a specialized judgment process. Therefore, the results based on this type of evaluation should not only directly lead to decision-making on research budgets but also need to be used to assist experts in deciding on a specialized arbitration process.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to assess the impact of research in the field of scientometrics by using the altmetrics (social media metrics) approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This is an applied study which uses scientometric and altmetrics methods. The research population consists of the studies and their citations published in the two core journals (Scientometrics and Journal of Informetrics) in a period of five years (included 1,738 papers and 11,504 citations). Collecting and extracting the studies directly was carried from Springer and ScienceDirect databases. The Altmetric Explorer, a service provided by Altmetric.com, was used to collect data on studies from various sources (www.altmetric.com/). The research studies with the altmetric scores were identified (included 830 papers). The altmetric scores represent the quantity and quality of attention that the study has received on social media. The association between altmetric scores and citation indicators was investigated by using correlation tests.\nFindings: The findings indicated a significant, positive and weak statistical relationship between the number of citations of the studies published in the field of scientometrics and the altmetric scores of these studies, as well as the number of readers of these studies in the two social networks (Mendeley and Citeulike) with the number of their citations. In this study, there was no statistically significant relationship between the number of citations of the studies and the number of readers on Twitter. In sum, the above findings suggest that some social networks and their indices can be representations of the impact of scientific papers, similar citations. However, owing to the weakness of the correlation coefficients, the replacement of these two categories of indicators is not recommended, but it is possible to use the altmetrics indicators as complementary scientometrics indicators in evaluating the impact of research.\nOriginality/value: Investigating the impact of research on social media can reflect the social impact of research and can also be useful for libraries, universities, and research organizations in planning, budgeting, and resource allocation processes.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Value co-destruction: a typology of resource misintegration manifestations
|
[
"Co-creation",
"Well-being",
"Service systems",
"Resource misintegration",
"Value co-destruction",
"Well-being domains",
"Coping mechanisms"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumers' ability to make use of their own resources and those of other customers or firms, to improve their own welfare and that of others through resource integration processes, is a fundamental tenet of value co-creation (VCC) (Vargo and Lusch, 2016). However, an emerging stream of value co-destruction (VCD) research (Ple and Chumpitaz Caceres, 2010; Echeverri and Skalen, 2011; Smith, 2013; Cabiddu et al., 2019) demonstrates that resource integration processes do not always lead to increased well-being for all service systems, be they individual or organizational (Laamanen and Skalen, 2015). Indeed, adopting a VCD perspective offers a useful vantage point to better understand how resource integration may manifest among service systems.\n2. Value co-destruction process and its relationship to resource misintegration: The link between integration of resources and VCC is well established in the service dominant logic of marketing (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). For example, Vargo et al. (2008) argue that value is co-created through the beneficial efforts of actors' applications of operant resources and sometimes through the use of operand resources, such as goods. McColl-Kennedy et al. (2012, p. 370) further define customer value co-creation as \"benefit realized from integration of resources through activities and interactions with collaborators in the customer's service network\". This optimistic view of resource application and integration is questioned by scholars such as Echeverri and Skalen (2011, p. 355), who note that \"the main impression we get from the literature is that engaging in interactive value formation processes is conceived as unproblematic for the parties involved,\" which is unrealistic.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Identification of relevant literature\n4. Typology of resource misintegration manifestations: The co-creation of value suggests several assumptions for the mutual benefit of all actors involved in the exchange. These may include equal status and, consequently, equal power of the interacting actors; voluntary resource integration without coercion; and, for all actors, full disclosure (i.e. adequate knowledge of the costs of resource integration and exchange alternatives). Such conditions for the equitable betterment of all interacting actors rarely exist however. Instead, actors may fail to co-create value for themselves or others through the process of resource misintegration, which we recognize as distinct manifestations. A manifestation is not a cause (e.g., poor communication, absence of trust, insufficient human capital or power imbalances, see Vafeas et al., 2016), but a visible display, demonstration, sign or expression that resource misintegration has occurred. We identify ten distinct manifestations along the resource integration process of access, adapt, and combine and apply.\n5. Reduced well-being as an integral component of value co-destruction: The resource misintegration examples in Table I illustrate how the VCD process may be triggered by one or more actors. Whether VCD and the associated reduced well-being across one or more life domains occur depends on the focal actor's coping strategies and resources.\n6. Discussion: 6.1 Theoretical contributions and managerial implications\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Actors who participate in co-created service experiences typically assume that they will experience improved well-being. However, a growing body of literature demonstrates that the reverse is also likely to be true, with one or more actors experiencing value co-destruction (VCD), rather than value co-creation, in the service system. Building on the notion of resource misintegration as a trigger of the VCD process, this paper offers a typology of resource misintegration manifestations and to present a dynamic conceptualization of the VCD process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic, iterative VCD literature review was conducted with a priori aims to uncover the manifestations of resource misintegration and illustrate its connection to VCD for an actor or actors.\nFindings: Ten distinct manifestations of resource misintegration are identified that provide evidence or an early warning sign of the potential for negative well-being for one or more actors in the service system. Furthermore, a dynamic framework illustrates how an affected actor uses proactive and reactive coping and support resources to prevent VCD or restore well-being.\nOriginality/value: The study presents a typology of manifestations of resource misintegration that signal or warn of the potential for VCD, thus providing an opportunity to prevent or curtail the VCD process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Behavior of investor flows in Israeli provident funds
|
[
"Liquidity",
"Persistence",
"Bull market",
"Concave",
"Inflow",
"Provident funds",
"G11",
"G15",
"G29"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Understanding and explaining the behavior of mutual fund investors have attracted much attention in the literature and investment community alike. As a result, many theories evolved trying to explain the mystery behind the asymmetric investor response to past performance of mutual funds. The most famous theories include: effect of switching costs (Ippolito, 1992), marketing by the fund (Sirri and Tufano, 1998), changing manager strategies of underperforming funds (Lynch and Musto, 2003), investor psychology (Goetzmann and Peles, 1997) and investor clientele effect (Sawicki, 2001; Del Guercio and Tkac, 2002). However, research on the topic for retirement savings funds is scarce due to lack of available data.\n2. Background: Provident funds in Israel are one of the long-term savings instruments - in addition to pension funds and life insurance. Unlike pension funds and life insurance, provident funds do not include insurance coverage in the event of various risks, such as disability and death. However, some provident funds (study funds) offer tax benefits to their contributors. Israeli provident funds grew moderately by 6 percent per annum on average, between 2000 and 2014 and the market size went up from 155bn shekels to 369bn shekels. Figure 1 shows the total net assets and shekel flows of provident funds from 2000 to 2014. Despite experiencing a steady growth, except for the year 2008, there have been net outflows from the industry in 7 years out of the 15 years of analysis. This indicates a financial fragility for the provident fund market.\n3. Literature: Most of the research about fund flows and performance coincided that mutual fund managers have an incentive to take higher risks in order to improve profitability and increase inflows since they can avoid significant redemptions due to bad performance. This is because US investors channel a disproportionately larger share of their savings into best performing funds while they do not get out of funds with the poorest performance, indicating an asymmetrical relationship between past returns and flows. Researchers approached this issue from different perspectives and offered various explanations.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Sample\n5. Results: 5.1 Flow-performance relation for provident funds\n6. Conclusion: The flow-performance relation for Israeli provident funds is approximately linear, showing little difference between better and worse performing funds, between 2000 and 2007 (first period) and is concave between 2008 and 2014 (second period). Therefore, unlike investors in mutual funds, provident fund members in Israel react to poorly performing funds with outflows and do not flock disproportionately to last year's winners.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the sensitivity of provident fund investors to past performance and how market conditions, changes in risk and liquidity levels influence the net flows into provident funds by using a unique sample from Israel.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study checks the impact of different levels of fund performance on provident fund flows using three alternative proxies for performance: raw return and the risk adjusted returns based on the Sharpe ratio and the Jensen's a. The analysis relies on the time fixed effect and fund fixed effect regression models.\nFindings: Results reveal that there exists an approximately concave flow-performance relationship and performance persistence among Israeli provident funds. Israeli provident fund investors are risk averse so they overreact to bad performance both in bull and bear markets. Moreover, liquidity is an important factor to influence the flow-performance curve. The investors' strong negative response to poor performance and relative insensitivity to outperformance show that provident fund managers are not rewarded for their risk-shifting activities as in mutual funds.\nOriginality/value: The authors explore the behavior of investor flows in non-institutional retirement savings funds specifically outside of the USA, which is a topic not properly investigated in literature. Moreover, examining inflows and outflows separately gives the authors a richer understanding of investors in pension schemes. This study also enhances the understanding of the impact of fund liquidity on the flow-performance relationship for the retirement funds segment.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Quality of Rayeb milk fortified with Tamr and honey
|
[
"Antioxidants",
"Dairy products",
"Fatty acids",
"Rayeb milk",
"Tamr",
"Honey"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The consumption of goat dairy products has increased worldwide, with a consequent increase in the demand for goat milk in the major producing countries (Queiroga et al., 2013). Goat's milk possesses many advantages such as relatively lower allergenic burden, easier digestion and favorable properties to human nutrition and health (Silanikove et al., 2010). Furthermore, a certain therapeutic value in human nutrition has been attributed to goats' milk (Slacanac et al., 2010). Thus, the use of milk with particular nutritional properties as goats' milk alone or in combination with bacterial strains having probiotic properties represents one of the technology options for manufacturing new dairy functional products (Minervini et al., 2009). Goats' milk yoghurt considered as an excellent carrier for probiotic cultures and their survivals remained above 106 CFUg-1 during storage period. A mixed starter comprising Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis and Streptococcus thermophiles has been successfully used for fermentation of goats' milk (Ranadheera et al., 2012). Also, goat's milk can be utilized to produce chocolate flavored probiotic ice cream (Ranadheera et al., 2013) and probiotic ricotta cheese (Meira et al., 2015) which contain the recommended level of probiotic.\n2. Materials and methods: 2.1 Raw materials\n3. Results and discussion: 3.1 Chemical composition of Rayeb milk made from goat's milk fortified with Tamr and honey\n4. Conclusions: Supplementation of goat's milk with Tamr and honey increased the dietary fiber, omega-3 and omega-6 values and antioxidants activity of Rayeb milk which increased its nutritional value. Adding 10 percent Tamr with 3 percent honey or 15 percent Tamr with 1 or 2 percent honey to goat's milk highly improved the sensory attributes of Rayeb milk. The counts of bifidobacteria greatly increased when Tamr and honey was mixed with Rayeb milk. According to these results, Tamr and honey could be used as sweeter and prebiotic in functional Rayeb milk production.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Stirred yoghurt made using probiotic bacteria which are usually called Rayeb milk in the Arab countries is one of the most important functional fermented milk products. Tamr (dried dates) is commonly consumed in various parts of the world and is believed to represent a vital component of the diet in the Arab world. Tamr and honey characterize with high nutritional and healthful benefits. The purpose of this paper is to manufacture functional fermented dairy food (Rayeb milk) which has the nutritional and health effects of goat's milk, Tamr, honey and probiotic.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Rayeb milk was made from goat's milk fortified with Tamr (10 and 15 percent) with or without honey (1, 2, and 3 percent) using ABT culture (S. thermophiles, L. acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium). Samples of Rayeb milk were studied for their chemical composition, starter bacteria populations, and sensory attributes during 14 days of storage period.\nFindings: Supplementation of goat's milk with Tamr and honey decreased saturated fatty acids concentrations in Rayeb milk. The levels of carbohydrate, total solids, dietary fiber, ash, total protein (TP), unsaturated fatty acids, omega-3, omega-6, omega-9 fatty acids and antioxidants activity were higher in Rayeb milk contained Tamr and honey than those of control. Also, numbers of probiotic bacteria (L. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium) greatly increased in Rayeb milk supplemented with Tamr and honey. The recommended level of 107 cfu.g-1 of bifidobacteria as a probiotic was exceeded for these treatments. Adding Tamr and honey highly improved the sensory attributes of Rayeb milk.\nOriginality/value: Adding 10 percent Tamr with 3 percent honey or 15 percent Tamr with 1 or 2 percent honey to goat's milk highly improved the nutritional, healthy and sensory properties of Rayeb milk.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Customer expectations and moderating role of demographics in fresh food retail: A study among Indian consumers
|
[
"India",
"Customer expectations",
"Social exchange theory (SET)",
"Customer demographics",
"Fresh food retail"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Every supply chain is designed and implemented to achieve the objectives of meeting customer expectations (Towers and Burnes, 2008; Zokaei and Hines, 2007), profitability for stakeholders and sustainability at large. However, while designing supply chains for fresh produce, the perishability and seasonality of the products must be considered (Barnard et al., 2012). These features coupled with fulfilling the ever-changing customer requirements result in unprecedented pressure on the fresh food supply chains. That is why despite high growth in retail sector, fresh food category continues to operate under lower margins. Goldman et al. (2002) emphasized that the major barrier toward the growth of the fresh food retail (FFR) is the ever-changing customer demographics and the failure to identify and fulfill their expectations. This motivates the researcher to understand the customer expectations in FFR to overcome the inherent challenges essential to its success.\nTheoretical background: Social exchange theory\nMethodology: The scale development procedure involved multiple phases, namely, item generation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (Arnold and Reynolds, 2003; Garg et al., 2014). These steps are discussed in detail in this section.\nResults and data analysis: Profile of the respondents\nEvaluation of structural model: For the structural model evaluation H1-H3 were tested in AMOS, and Table IV presents the model summary. The results infer that product-related features and in-store quality significantly influence customer satisfaction in FFR stores, accepting H1 and H2, while store support services were found non-significant, rejecting H3. The structural model quality was evaluated by examining the modification indices, and goodness-of-fit indices (Hair et al., 2010; Patyal and Koilakuntla, 2015) given in Table V. Figure 2 shows the final structural model depicting the standardized estimates. This result is contradictory to the studies carried in developed nations where store support services were found significant. We further investigate this factor by carrying a detailed demographic study of the respondents.\nDemographic study: This section aims at investigating the effect of demographics in the study. First, the effect of demographics on the preferred store was evaluated using crosstab in SPSS presented in Table VI. Respondents' income, employment status, household income, education and marital status were found to have a significant influence on the preferred store format. The influence of marital status is in line with the earlier studies (East, 1997; McGoldrick and Andre, 1997) while contradicting the findings of Prasad and Aryasri (2011) conducted in the Indian context. This depicted the presence of different customer groups confirmed using cluster analysis.\nDiscussions: The literature on the customer expectations is varied across economies, and in emerging economies like India, its current status is ambiguous. Customer expectations were identified as the composition of six Ps, namely, product, price, promotion, place, people and process. The three factors emerged in the study include product-related features, in-store quality and store support services. These factors expand the horizon of SET that emphasizes the importance of the factors for a successful exchange.\nConclusions: The study significantly contributes to the FFR literature by identifying the factors relevant to FFR stores comprising of the six Ps of the marketing mix. It also provides the influence of demographics on the preferred store formats. The non-significant factor, i.e. store support services were found to be strongly considered by the premium customers which is in line with the studies of developed nations' context. And, further using multigroup moderation, the store support services found significantly influencing the customer satisfaction for the higher income group categories. But, store support services remain non-significant for the age, gender and marital status in the Indian context. This implies that when Indian customers depict similar characteristics with those of the developed nations w.r.t their income, these features will significantly influence the customer satisfaction. Hence, FFR stores need to focus on the store support services (process) when the customers catered belong to higher income category. For traditional and autonomous shoppers, stores need to focus on product and in-store quality. Retail managers should have a holistic understanding of the customer demographics before making any strategic decisions. As an extension of the SET, distinct characteristics exist among these customer segments that differ w.r.t the utilitarian factors. The factors expand the horizon of exchange theory, specifically concerning FFR.\nImplications and future directions: Implications for theory\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions of customer expectations and study the moderating role of demographics in the context of fresh food retail.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structured questionnaire was designed using extant literature review followed by expert opinions. The survey was conducted among the customers in the twin cities of Maharashtra in India. The factors of customer expectations were identified using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and further confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis in SPSS and AMOS, respectively. The significance of the customer expectations on customer satisfaction was studied using structural equation modeling. Subsequently, the role of demographics was studied using two-step cluster analysis and multigroup moderation.\nFindings: During EFA three factors emerged, namely, product-related features, in-store quality and store support services. Structural model evaluation found product-related features and in-store quality significantly influencing the customer satisfaction, while store support services were found as a non-significant factor in the region studied. Further, using cluster analysis customers were segregated into three groups, namely, traditional, autonomous and premium customers, where the premium customers were found to prefer the store support services on a higher scale, and similar results were obtained using multigroup moderation. Demographics, namely, gender, age, respondents' income and marital status moderated for product-related features and in-store quality. Interestingly, respondents' income also moderated for the store support services.\nPractical implications: The findings provide directions for store managers of the fresh food category to align supply chain decisions with the unique requirements of customers considering their socio-economic characteristics.\nOriginality/value: On the basis of social exchange theory, the authors found that in a mutually beneficial relationship, concerning the value proposition, retailers need to address the requirement of the different income group customers for store support services.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Partisanship and organisational change in Mauritius
|
[
"Change management",
"Grounded theory",
"Partisanship",
"Small island economies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper examines the nature of change within organisations, and particularly identifies and analyses the practices used to implement organisational change in private sector organisations in Mauritius. It investigates the contribution of the key dimensions or factors of change in the organisations under study and has compared these with the theoretical elements considered to be necessary for effective change management in the extant literature.\nLiterature review: The extant literature on organisational change addresses issues ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Although much has been published in the field of management addressing societal issues in Mauritius, no article or study on change management processes specific to the country was identified. One article by Ramgutty-Wong and Gokhool (2000) discusses how managers are coping with globalisation-related changes in Mauritius, particularly in political, technological, economic and social areas. This study does not focus specifically on the change management process or the factors related to it.\nMethodology: This study sought to examine the nature of change within organisations in Mauritius. The overarching research problem addressed in this paper is as follows:\nFindings: The literature review led to the notion that competencies of change managers in Mauritius are likely to be unique due to the nature and contextual factors in which the process takes place. Although various factors influencing organisational change had been identified in studies elsewhere (see Alas and Vadi, 2004; Pihlak and Alas, 2012), those specific or unique to Mauritius had yet to be identified. The nature of organisational change in Mauritius includes various influences, such as history, politics, culture, societal pressure and economic conditions. This study fulfilled the main research question by:\nImplications: The findings of this research and the theoretical framework developed provide insights into the challenge and propose a contextual model for change management that takes into account the unique situational factors in Mauritius. The model adds to the traditional understandings of change process applied by leaders and other practitioners as it reveals additional information about the key dimensions required to conduct the change process effectively. Although this study was conducted in Mauritius, these findings have general implications and may be applied to other countries with similar historical, cultural or contextual features as Mauritius.\nLimitations and directions for future research: The limitations of this study are recognised. Selection of just three case study organisations within only the private sector in the small island economy of Mauritius provided an opportunity, however, for in-depth investigation of a complex phenomenon. As Yin (2014, p. 38) stated, \"when two or more cases support the same theory, an analytic generalisation will be possible\". Moderatum generalisations (Williams, 2000, p. 209) are \"inevitable, desirable and possible\". Acknowledgement of the limitations of such research simultaneously provides an opportunity to identify directions for future research.\nConclusion: This study has presented a modified grounded theory of organisational change in private sector organisations in Mauritius. The research examined organisational change processes during a period of three years (2005-2008) in three organisations that are inherently and contextually interesting and complex, and have not been previously studied by organisational researchers and practitioners.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of change management practices in private sector organisations in the small island economy of Mauritius.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interviews were conducted with key decision makers and individuals who had experienced the organisational change process in three private organisations from different sectors in Mauritius: a bank, a hotel and a privatised state-owned enterprise. A grounded theory approach was employed to establish the key dimensions of organisational change in this setting.\nFindings: Organisational change is a multi-dimensional, multi-directional and evolutionary process strongly influenced by the contextual and historical aspects of the country. The emerging key elements of change identified in the data confirmed a range of dimensions evident in the extant literature, but also identified a largely unacknowledged factor, considered to be central to the change process in Mauritian organisations. This emerging factor was identified as partisanship.\nOriginality/value: This study served to confirm six dimensions evident in the extant literature on organisational change: organisational structure, organisational culture, leadership processes, individuals, knowledge management and resistance to change. A seventh dimension, and heretofore largely unacknowledged factor, considered to be central to the change process in Mauritian organisations was also identified: partisanship. The study identified this emerging key dimension as having a pervasive influence. History, culture and context have served to embed this dimension in Mauritian organisations. Evidence is presented to illustrate how the process of organisational change is undertaken in Mauritius, and identify the role of partisanship. This has the potential to be applied to other small island economies with similar historical, cultural or contextual features.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Wanting to change the world, is it too much of a good thing? How sustainable orientation shapes entrepreneurial behaviour
|
[
"Motivation",
"Sustainable entrepreneurship",
"Psychology",
"Entrepreneurial intention"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sustainable entrepreneurship is when entrepreneurs pursue a triple bottom line in balancing economic wealth, environmental preservation and social equity (Hooi et al., 2016). This concept gained popularity in recent years, not only in research (e.g. Johnson and Schaltegger, 2016; Perez-Batres et al., 2012) but also in society in general. Indeed, as more and more people join the movement defending sustainability principles, enterprises are expected to follow suit. This is what emerged from the Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris in December 2015, where 195 countries committed to reinforcing the world's answer to the threat of climate change by setting targets and implementing sustainability practices and poverty alleviation measures (United Nations, 2015).\nSustainability orientation and entrepreneurial intention: Many researchers suggest that sustainable entrepreneurs may offer potential contributions to the social and environmental problems faced in a perspective of collective welfare (e.g. Cohen and Winn, 2007; Dean and McMullen, 2007; Patzelt and Shepherd, 2011; York and Venkataraman, 2010). Indeed, sustainable entrepreneurs found and develop organisations that reconcile economic, social and environmental objectives to counter the climatic and social upheavals which are, for the most part, a direct consequence of the activities of enterprises (IPCC, 2014).\nSocio cognitive career theory and motivation theory: In a recent meta-analysis, researchers demonstrated that the theories of intention leading to entrepreneurial behaviour benefit in combining together, as natural overlaps exist amongst their underlying concepts (Schlaegel and Koenig, 2014). This recommendation was applied by joining the TPB of Ajzen (1991) with the SCT of Lent et al. (2002) to demonstrate the entrepreneurial action of individuals with strong SO. The TPB suggests that before behaviour, intentions are determined through three variables: attitude towards the behaviour (or the career), subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Also, SCT stipulates that two direct precedents influence intentions and actions towards the career: self-efficacy and outcome expectation. Outcome expectation consists of the valence and the instrumentality towards these \"outcomes\". SCT partly relies on Vroom's (1964) motivation theory stating that an individual has greater motivation to accomplish a task when the expected results are valued (valence), when the belief that actions will lead to reaching expected results is held (instrumentality), as well as their perceived capability to accomplish said task (expectation, which essentially corresponds to self-efficacy) (Vroom, 1964). As numerous studies mobilising TPB measure the perceived behavioural control through the entrepreneurial self-efficacy (e.g. Engle et al., 2010; St-Jean et al., 2014), combining the two explanatory theories of intention and performance of entrepreneurial action allows to retain five important constructs: attitude towards the career, subjective norms, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, valence and instrumentality of expected results (outcome expectation).\nMethodology: Research sample\nMeasures: Dependent variable\nResults: Table II shows the results of the analysis. It can be noted being a woman corresponds to a lower level of entrepreneurial action (p=0.003). Age is not significant to explain action (p=0.279) in the final model, but it is significant in model 1, where only the control variables appear (p=0.020). Model 2 confirms the undeniable contribution of the TPB in explaining entrepreneurial action (D adj. R2=0.32), where attitudes (p=0.000) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (p=0.002) are strongly significant to explain it, while subjective norms are not (p=0.194). In Model 3, the negative effect of SO on entrepreneurial action (p=0.029) is noticed, which is opposite to the expected relationship. Thus, the higher SO is, the less individuals place themselves in entrepreneurial action. Hypothesis 1 must then be rejected. Model 4 shows that instrumentality of entrepreneurship to change the world is significant and positive to explain entrepreneurial action, a situation that can also be noticed in model 5, which confirms H2. In Model 5, instrumentality has a positive moderating effect (p=0.021) on the relationship between SO and entrepreneurial action, which confirms H3.\nDiscussion: The goal of this research was to discover if an individual's SO could increase the likelihood of working towards an entrepreneurial career. Contrarily to what Kuckertz and Wagner (2010) found amongst a sample of students, that is a positive relation between the SO and the intention to become an entrepreneur, this study shows the exact opposite. In fact, there is a negative and significant relationship between SO and entrepreneurial action. Although surprising at first glance, this result can be explained by a probably different conception from the potential benefit of entrepreneurship to promote sustainable development in the mind of Quebeckers. It is possible that in the mind of our sample of students, entrepreneurs are perceived as being more the cause of environmental problems rather than the solution. It is also possible that the cultural perspective plays a role in this important difference. Indeed, Kuckertz and Wagner (2010) enrolled French students from Alsace and others from Germany. Researches that focus on student entrepreneurial intention show that motivations to become an entrepreneur vary considerably depending on the country (Pruett et al., 2009). When one looks at the cultural differences between Germany and Canada according to the Hofstede (1984)[3] dimensions, it can be noticed that the main difference between the two cultures refers to long-term perspectives in which Germans will invest more in focussing on long term actions while Canadians will hope for much faster results. Thereupon, a society transformed by entrepreneurship may take much longer compared to activism, or even in the involvement in jobs related to SO values, where results happen faster. It is therefore possible that, as far as Canadian students are concerned, entrepreneurship is not perceived to be an interesting solution to those oriented towards sustainability. It suggests to pay attention to the instrumentality of entrepreneurship on one hand and to compare it amongst different cultures on the other.\nConclusion: In order to reach sustainability, our societies need more entrepreneurs who exhibit SO. This paper contributes in showing how people with high SO can consider entrepreneurship as a career choice and start actions towards this goal. Through SCT theoretical lens (Lent et al., 2002), the aim was to investigate the effect of outcome expectations to bring motivation in order for an individual to take action to become an entrepreneur. A sample of 197 university students was used throughout a longitudinal design study.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: When pursuing a sustainable orientation (SO), entrepreneurs can resolve environmental and social problems and act as change agents by pursuing opportunities related to market failures. While many studies focus on entrepreneurial intention, very few try to explain entrepreneurial behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the circumstances under which people could be led to become sustainable entrepreneurs. It examines the effect of SO, as well as the entrepreneurial motivation to change society as key drivers of entrepreneurial behaviour.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The hypotheses were tested in three waves (six-month interval) on a sample of 197 university students that are neither entrepreneurs, nor involved in any entrepreneurial processes. The authors measured entrepreneurial behaviour as a dependent variable and used subjective norms towards entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial attitude as well as entrepreneurial motivation and SO as independent variables.\nFindings: Contrary to the expectations, sustainability orientation has a negative impact on entrepreneurial action. However, individuals who think that entrepreneurship can change society (instrumentality) exhibit higher entrepreneurial action. Furthermore, this belief positively moderates the negative impact of SO on entrepreneurial action. In other words, if someone thinks that entrepreneurship can change the world, not only he/she is more inclined to engage in entrepreneurial actions but their values of SO will not decrease their entrepreneurial action.\nResearch limitations/implications: A longer timeframe of longitudinal research is needed to overcome the limitation regarding the assessment of entrepreneurial action.\nPractical implications: As a practical implication, educators who want to engage their institution as an engine of change towards sustainable development could highlight cases of sustainable businesses where profits, environmental and social issues were not neglected to improve the perceived feasibility and thus, entrepreneurial action.\nOriginality/value: Results demonstrate the negative effect of SO on entrepreneurship as a career choice, but not for those who believe that they can change society through this mean. This research highlights the relevance of Socio Cognitive Career Theory in the field of entrepreneurship, especially the neglected effect of outcome expectations on entrepreneurship as a career choice.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Building sustainability and innovation in organizations
|
[
"Innovation",
"Sustainability"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the beginning of industrial development (early twentieth century), there has been tension among growth, economic development and environmental preservation. According to Sarkis et al. (2011), there is a war between industry, mainly the chemical industry, and the entities concerned with preservation of the environment. Climate change has intensified the efforts of organizations to promote social and environmental conservation through the use of sustainable technologies (Mores et al., 2018). However, sustainable innovation can be seen as a way of changing business and society. The potential of sustainable innovation to transform technology, products and markets distinguish it as an area of entrepreneurial opportunity and a force of \"creative destruction,\" as defined by the Economist Joseph Schumpeter (1934) (Larson, 2000). However, what makes an organization sustainable?\n2. Innovation and sustainability: The concept of sustainability arose in the 1950s from the political perception of a global environmental crisis. In the 1970s, the term was organized as a triad: environmental, economic and social (Nascimento, 2012). A decade later, more specifically in 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was formed. The objective of WCED was to propose a global agenda for change to \"[...] reconcile the preservation of the environment with the economic development, whose port of arrival was called Sustainable Development\" (Nascimento, 2012, p. 54).\n3. Methodological procedures: This study aim to present the results of a systematic literature review on innovation and sustainability. The systematic review of the literature is important for evaluating the contribution of a given topic in a given period of time. \"The program of analysis can be applied to the field of work, with the goal of elaborating a knowledge of knowledge and improved through the development of a project for the context\" (Tranfield et al., 2003, p. 207). \"The systematic review process and its associated procedure, meta-analysis, has been developed over the past decade and now plays an important role in evidence-based practices\" (Tranfield et al., 2003, p. 209).\n4. Presentation and discussion of the results: In this section, we provide a descriptive analysis of the initial sample and review the dimensions of innovation and sustainability presented in the most-cited works. Later, we describe what the most recent studies contribute to the field and then identify the most-cited literature reviews.\n5. Discussion of results: The evidence from this study indicates that those who highly value institutional and economic sustainability are more willing to explore green innovation (Saunila et al., 2018). Innovation and sustainability create value for companies (Klewitz and Hansen, 2014).\n6. Concluding remarks: We are living in an era of transition in sustainability, with increasing pressure from government and society forcing organizations to become more environmentally benign (Sangwan and Choudhary, 2018). Those who wish to be truly sustainable will have to change the way they do business. Regardless of their size, companies that lack the capacity for innovation are unlikely to become truly sustainable (Shevchenko et al., 2016).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a systematic literature review on innovation and sustainability. To accomplish this aim, a systematic analysis of the literature in the Scopus database was carried out for articles with the terms \"innovation\" and \"sustainability\" in their titles. Once identified, articles were analyzed in three ways: the ten most-cited articles; the ten most-cited literature reviews; and the most recent articles. Sustainable development is the central theme of the articles studied. Sustainable development is influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are a part, including adequate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors. Encouraging green innovation is an environmental commitment and managerial concern driven by customer pressure, environmental regulations and cost reductions. Suppliers and customers can contribute or benefit from the value created.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was a Systematic literature review. The search terms \"Innov * AND sustain *\" were defined for the titles of the articles. The analysis was divided into three categories: the ten most-cited articles (without a year filter to form an idea of the impact of the main research in the field); the ten most-cited reviews (these were only filtered from 2009 to 2018); and the 10 most recent articles (all of the articles found were from the year 2018).\nFindings: The main findings of this study were that network action, mobilization of relevant stakeholders, reinvention of the business model, redefinition with multiple values and a sustainable strategic scope are the mechanisms that effectively contribute to promoting the link between innovation and sustainability in organizations. Sustainable development is the central theme of the articles studied. Sustainable development is influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are a part of, including adequate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature by providing perspectives for future studies that may contribute to the sustainable development of organizations. Sustainable development is strongly influenced by the ways that sustainability is measured within the network of which the organizations are part, including appropriate systems, and is mediated by compatible behaviors.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Shortage of storage space in Korean libraries: Solutions centering upon hub-based collaborative repositories
|
[
"National libraries",
"Archives management",
"Collections management",
"South Korea"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Korean library system began during the difficult period when the country was under Japanese occupation, followed by the Korean War. Because the system began amidst a barren cultural environment, or a relative cultural wilderness, the only choice was to aim toward quantitative growth. Nevertheless, Korean libraries have been under continuous pressure both domestically and internationally due to the lack of a sound infrastructure. Our nation as a whole has made tremendous efforts to lose the stigma of an underdeveloped culture or of a country that neglects culture in general.Following 1996, when Korea became a member of the OECD, these pressures increased. Whenever the number of public libraries, or the number of volumes per capita, was cited as a benchmark or alternative index to assess a nation's cultural advancement, the government, along with the library sector, felt uneasy. Behind our country's glorious accomplishments of high growth in socio-economic terms, a shadow deepened over other areas. One such dark area is the striking deficiency in library infrastructure and public support for the library system. The government began taking proactive policy measures to address the issue in 2000. Prime examples of this proactive approach are the Master Plan for Library Informatization and the Master Plan for Advancing Libraries, which were established by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Also, in 2005 the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development set forth its Master Plan for Promoting School Libraries and the Plan for Promoting University Libraries, while the National Library formulated its National Library of Korea 2010 plan. With more and better libraries in our country the number of persons a library was established to serve was reduced to 93,957, while the number of volumes per capita held by public libraries increased to 0.94 by the end of 2005. These figures, however, fall far below those observed in other culturally advanced nations.Even before we could properly address the issue of establishing a library infrastructure comparable to other advanced countries and of creating an advanced culture of using libraries, another urgent challenging issue emerged. The policy that had been followed for more than half a century, which focused on increasing the number of volumes, resulted in a lack of space in which to actually store the books. In order to manage libraries effectively, and also to reduce the opportunity costs of users, it became necessary to dispose of materials deemed \"obsolete\" - those no longer considered important to preserve or those rarely used by the public. This practice is not a simple matter, however, especially given the fact that quantitative indices are used to compare competitive advantage among different nations.Even so, the issue of \"obsoledge\" (\"obsolete knowledge\") that has emerged as the Achilles heel for the domestic library sector demands immediate attention; at the same time, the issue of insufficient storage space also requires an immediate solution. Against this backdrop, this paper will examine the current situation of our public libraries, centering on the issue of storage space, and will present some possible solutions.\nCurrent state of storage shortage in libraries and related challenges: When we talk about space for preserving texts within libraries, people often think of multi-tier stacks in a dark basement. Most modern libraries, however, have open access systems in which people can access books in an open area with stacks. The reason we need to pay attention to space, whether it is for preservation or for storage, is because most libraries currently face a problem of shortage that is expected only to worsen over time. To support this prediction, a corroborative analysis will be done to determine the seriousness of the problem and the plausibility of the assertion by looking only at the National Library of Korea and public libraries.Analysis of storage space at the National Library of Korea\nSolution for expanding storage space at libraries: Ways to expand storage space at libraries\nModels for establishing and operating hub-based national collaborative repositories: Grounds for the establishment of national collaborative repositories\nModels for dividing roles between national collaborative repositories and regional representative libraries: While the government is pursuing decentralization and the distribution of central administrative organizations to regions outside of Seoul, some may ask whether building national collaborative repositories is in line with the national policy and if there is truly a need for them. To address this and ultimately remove any scepticism, it seems appropriate to show clearly both how and why the roles of the central library, regional representative libraries and collaborative libraries are and should be different, and how the establishment of national collaborative repositories is indeed in line with further decentralization and balanced national development.Clause 1 of Article 19 of the Library Act outlines the eight principal tasks for the National Library of Korea, while Article 23 of the same law provides the six tasks for regional representative libraries (see Table VI). Regional representative libraries, in other words, are charged with undertaking general tasks as a public organization as well as participating in national-level policies that concern libraries, in line with the policy of decentralization. At the same time, they are responsible for developing policies suitable for each province and metropolitan centre and for preserving the resources transferred from individual libraries. Hub-based collaborative libraries should serve as a link between regional representative libraries and, most of all, assume their prime responsibility of preserving the special materials they collect on their own along with materials transferred from the central library and regional libraries. More specifically, the functions of hub-based collaborative libraries are:* to preserve the materials transferred from central and regional libraries;* to support the execution of library-related policies;* to support the establishment and operation of regional libraries;* to share in the tasks of the central library;* to collect and develop resources specific to each region;* to conduct or share in the conducting of education and training programs; and* to deliver library materials.Where the functions of the central library, regional representative libraries and hub-based collaborative libraries (the national branch libraries) intersect and overlap is outlined and illustrated in Figure 5.Since national collaborative libraries are in fact a type of library, they are expected to perform the basic functions of a library, which may result in a redundancy of functions among libraries. The proportion of functions, or the weight of certain functions, can differ, however, and some functions are exclusive. For example, the development of a national collection is the exclusive domain of the central library, while the development of library policies should be shared among all libraries. At the same time, the comprehensive collection and preservation of materials by city and/or province is a key function of regional representative libraries, while the establishment of municipal libraries requires the direct and indirect intervention of the central library. In this light, the roles must be divided among each of the entities in order to set clearly defined boundaries, as seen in Table VII.\nConclusion: The key role of any library throughout history has been the preservation of materials, and this role alone is justification for the library's continued existence. Accordingly, libraries continue to collect and store materials and the collection of materials they accumulate can be referred to as a library's \"collection\". This is where the history of libraries and record-keeping culture originates and the formula \"collection=library\" and the reverse \"library=collection\" is held good.The policy taken by Korea's library sector to expand its collection has served as the golden rule for the last half century, but now presents libraries with the challenge of a shortage of storage space. Perhaps the most economical alternative at this point would be to shift from a policy of quantitative growth to one of qualitative growth. It is not easy, however, to disregard the international practice that considers \"books per capita\" as a criterion for evaluating a nation's library as well as cultural infrastructure. One comes to the conclusion that libraries need to continue to grow quantitatively by securing more space for their holdings while at the same time improving the quality of their collections. Yet there has been little debate or consensus regarding how this expansion should be conducted or what it would entail.This paper has proposed the establishment of collaborative repositories, borrowing the principle of selection and concentration. If collaborative libraries are established to accommodate some of the national collection along with materials that are used infrequently or those held in duplicate by public libraries, the libraries from which these materials are transferred could not only solve the shortage in storage space but also have additional free space to allow for the procurement of new materials. This will effectively increase the circulation turnover rate while reducing a user's opportunity costs. In the meantime, the national library will be contributing to the country's decentralization and balanced national development, and also increasing its own value by being able to better offer its services and share the national collection with local communities.In October 1997, the ChoSun WangJo Sillok (Annals of the Yi Dynasty, National Treasure No. 151) was registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World. These important historical documents were preserved in four repositories. Among the four repositories, the materials kept at Choonchugwan, Choongjusago and Seongjusago were burned or lost during the Japanese invasions of 1592-1598 (Imjin-Waeran). Only Jeonjusago was spared. This sad part of Korea's history should serve to underscore the importance of creating a hub-based collaborative library system.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to offer some considerations for the implementation of hub-based collaborative repositories. The current situation of Korean public libraries is to be examined, centering upon the issue of storage space, and possible solutions are to be presented.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A corroborative analysis is done to determine the seriousness of the problem and the plausibility of the assertion by looking only at the National Library of Korea and public libraries.\nFindings: - By the end of 2005 Korean public libraries as a whole had reached 92 percent capacity, which suggests that there is an immediate need to secure additional storage space. Library collection size increased at a rate of 11.5 percent over a period of ten years (1996-2005). Even if a more moderate rate of 7 percent is applied to projections for 2015 storage space we will exceeded by 38.9 percent and the ratio of shortage in storage space to storage limit is expected to amount to 82.1 percent.\nOriginality/value: - This paper proposes the establishment of collaborative repositories, borrowing the principle of selection and concentration. The model for hub-based collaborative repositories is provided and the roles of the repository network are outlined. This will effectively increase the circulation turnover rate while reducing a user's opportunity costs. In the meantime, the National Library will be contributing to the country's decentralization and balanced national development and also increasing its own value.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Four Korean teacher learners' academic experiences in an Australian TESOL programme and disclosure of their multiple identities
|
[
"Identity",
"English teaching",
"Teacher learner",
"Curriculum internationalisation",
"Meaning system",
"TESOL"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As a high level of English proficiency has become essential to respond to the increasing global exchange in economics, culture and resources, many Asian students study in Australian Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programmes (Chowdhury and Le Ha, 2008; Le Ha, 2008; Phakiti and Li, 2011) to enhance their English competency as well as English teaching skills. Asian countries have strengthened state English education to raise global citizens and have reflected a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach in their national curricula (Cross, 2005; Hu, 2002; Le Ha, 2008; Tsui, 2006), with a high demand for quality English teachers. Korea is one of those countries (Ministry of Education, 1997; Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, 2008). Recent Korean English curricula have been designed based on CLT, and, in 2008, Lee's government expanded opportunities for teaching English in state schools to those who have TESOL certificates and can teach English for communicative purposes and teach English in English (TEE). Thus, the interest of Korean citizens, and in particular that of pre- or in-service teachers, in taking TESOL courses has increased following this (Kim, 2009), and many Koreans are studying in Australian TESOL programmes, with its safe environment and competitive cost (Kwon and Park, 2000). However, as Western TESOL curricula and their educational principles are based on cultures and systems different from those of the Asian learners' local contexts (Ellis, 2002; Le Ha, 2008; Liu, 1998), conflicts often develop influencing the quality of the learners' academic experiences in TESOL and their identities, which are under construction to be professionals.\nTeaching principles and curriculum in Australian universities and Asian learners' experiences and expectations in teaching English to speakers of other languages: Teaching principles in Australian universities and curriculum internationalisation\nMethodology: Research participants and programme settings\nKorean teacher learners' academic experiences in the Australian Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages programme: From the narratives of the Korean teacher learners in an Australian TESOL master's programme, their academic experiences related to the curriculum issues were categorised into five areas, alongside some related subcategories. Metaphors of teacher/lecturer roles and the change in values as a result of their overseas learning experiences follow these.\nSeveral meaning systems in the multiple selves of the four Koreans: The Korean learners in an Australian TESOL postgraduate programme had multiple selves, such as a teacher or English teacher identity, a consumer identity, a student or international student identity and a non-native speaker identity. The meaning systems embedded in these identities were mixed with Korean traditional and modern or Western values. These formed their experiences in the Australian TESOL programme. In this section, the multiple identities formed and shifted in the intercultural situation, and their meaning systems are discussed.\nImplications for curriculum internationalisation in higher education Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages programmes: Comprehension of the Korean teacher learners' multiple identities and the meaning systems embedded, reflected in their academic experiences in Australia, provides implications for the establishment of a postgraduate TESOL curriculum responsive to international needs. Curriculum internationalisation is \"the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of higher education at the institutional and national levels\" (Knight, 2008, p. 21). By reframing the issues related to such dimensions disclosed in this study within the institutions, strategies for internationalisation of the programmes can be suggested as follows.\nConclusion: Australian postgraduate TESOL programmes are the place in which the overseas teacher learners' different identities and meaning systems, the lecturers' academic values and the curriculum principles of the institutes interplay, resulting in constant meaning negotiation. Through the case study of the four Korean teacher learners' experiences in an Australian TESOL master's programme, it was revealed that they had an (English) teacher identity, an (international) student identity, a consumer identity and a non-native speaker identity. Their preference for CLT, learner-centredness and practicalities, pursuit of confirmation by an authority and demand for more inclusive and supportive practice were reflected in these multiple selves, as primary meaning systems, representing the mixed values of their traditional and modern or Western ideas, established from their transitional socio-cultural background and overseas learning experiences.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore four Korean teacher learners' academic experiences in an Australian Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) master's programme. By investigating the ways they encounter the overseas teacher education programme and how to interact with different meanings, this study reveals Korean teacher learners' multiple selves and several meaning systems embedded in them. The understandings from the case provide some implications for curriculum internationalisation in higher education as well as TESOL.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interviews, a focus group discussion and metaphors were used as data, and from these narratives, the participants' experience was categorised into the programme's aspects of the methods, contents and applicability, materials and usefulness, assessment criteria and feedback and communication and support. Each interview was undertaken in a library for around one and a half hours. At the end of the interviews, participants were required to produce a metaphor of desirable teacher/lecturer roles. For triangulation, a focus group discussion was conducted for approximately two hours, in which three participants could represent social worlds, evaluate them and establish themselves as members of particular groups. All the questions were semi-structured and about teaching and learning experiences in Korea and Australia and ideas of lecturers' roles, practices and desirable pedagogy.\nFindings: From the analysis of the participants' experiences in these, it was revealed that their identity was tangled with that of the (English) teacher, consumer, (international) student and non-native speaker. The meaning systems of these identities were based on the mixture of the Korean traditional and Western or modern educational values: positive attitude towards communicative language teaching and its contexutalisation, pursuit of practical knowledge and pragmatic ideas, favour for discussions and getting confirmation from authorities and being positioned in the weak and using different communication rules, etc.\nResearch limitations/implications: From the insights from this case, the lecturers and programme coordinators in intercultural TESOL courses will gain some ideas for a curriculum responsive to international needs. While it cannot be denied that the small scale of the study has limitations for generalisation, this research will be one of the required literatures which examines East Asians or Koreans in Western academic institutions, given that this qualitative study complements the findings of the quantitative studies by specifically disclosing the ways Korean teacher learners' identity and the meaning systems of desirable pedagogies.\nPractical implications: For the curriculum internationalisation in TESOL and several higher education (HE) courses, the lecturers' and the institutions' awareness of cultural differences and reducing stereotyping, language support and being explicit about new rules in the new game and communication for support and respectful and professional encounters are essential, alongside the learners' voluntary endeavour for academic adaptation in their overseas learning.\nSocial implications: The effort to understand each other in education is a good start for intercultural communication, that is, curriculum internationalisation in TESOL as well as higher education.\nOriginality/value: Different from other studies in similar areas, this study discloses the multiple selves/identities and meaning systems of the teacher learners in TESOL, by maximising the benefits of a qualitative study. The understandings from this approach help the researcher draw out practical implications for curriculum internationalisation in TESOL and HE.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The relationship between followers' perceived quality of relationship and preferred leadership style
|
[
"Leadership",
"Followership",
"Leadership style"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Hogg (2001) assertion that \"leaders exist because of followers and followers exist because of leaders\" (p. 185) illustrates the symbiotic nature of the relationship between leaders and followers. Most current definitions of leadership also include both leaders and followers with the concept that leadership is a process whereby leaders influence followers' thoughts and/or behavior (Northouse, 2007; Yukl, 2002). Although both leaders and followers are essential to the leadership process, there has been a division in research oriented toward understanding leaders and followers. While there has been a long running focus on research aimed toward understanding leaders as evidenced through the development of leader-centric theories including trait theory (Stogdill, 1948), skills theory (Katz, 1955), behavioral theory (Blake and Mouton, 1964; Fleishman, 1953), contingency theory (Fiedler, 1967), and situational theory (Hersey and Blanchard, 1969), there has been a lesser, separate research focus on understanding followers (Baker, 2007; Yukl, 2002). Burns (1978) noted this division between leader-centric and follower-centric research focus in his charge that \"one of the most serious failures in the study of leadership is the bifurcation between the literature on leadership and the literature on followership\" (p. 3).\n2. Theory and hypothesis development: Figure 1 depicts the research design model demonstrating the relationship between follower's perception of quality of relationship with their leader and the level of follower's preference for leadership style of that leader.\n3. Method: 3.1 Participants\n4. Results: 4.1 Hypothesis tests\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Summary of results\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Although leaders and followers are both essential elements within the leadership process, there has been limited research regarding followers and their role in the process. The purpose of this paper is to answer specific calls for research in the studies of followership, leadership, and the follower/leader relationship through the examination of the relationship between followers' perception of quality of relationship with their leaders and followers' preferred leadership style from their leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study utilized a quantitative, correlational approach using the LMX-7 questionnaire to measure followers' perceived quality of relationship with their leader and the MLQ-5x to measure followers' preferred leadership style from their leader. The test sample was 105 CPA's working in the USA for companies over 1,000 employees in size.\nFindings: The study determined positive, significant levels of relationship between follower's perceived quality of relationship and follower's preference for transformational leadership style. The study additionally determined that the level of preference for transactional leadership style, at the composite scale level, remained relatively consistent, regardless the quality of relationship.\nResearch limitations/implications: Because of the specific characteristic of the chosen research sample, the research results may not be generalized across other populations. Recommendations for future studies across different samples are identified.\nOriginality/value: This study is unique in that it adds to the body of knowledge of leadership studies through the perspective of the follower.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Understanding approaches to managing diversity in the workplace: An empirical investigation in Italy
|
[
"Equal opportunities",
"Legitimacy",
"Italy",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Diversity management"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The changing demographic composition of the workforce, the expectations of ethical conduct, plus the pressure from a global marketplace (Simons, 2002) are compelling more and more organisations to deal with employee diversity. Theory and empirical research on diversity management are increasingly needed (Shore et al., 2009; Olsen and Martins, 2012), especially from outside the USA, where most studies have been developed so far (Omanovic, 2009; Jonsen et al., 2011). This study makes an effort to address this lack of research, and especially the paucity of studies linking approaches to managing diversity with managerial interventions and contextual factors (Jonsen et al., 2011; Podsiadlowski et al., 2013), with the purpose to enhance understanding of why and how companies implement diversity management, and of factors that might explain their approach.\nTheoretical framework: The origins of diversity management in organisations can be traced back to the 1960s in the USA (Jonsen et al., 2011), with the advent of equal employment opportunity laws, followed by affirmative action programmes protecting under-represented minorities. Workplace diversity research has since then matured as a vast and rich research field, also within disciplines such as public relations (e.g. Len-Rios, 1998) and marketing (e.g. Foster, 2005).\nResearch objectives and methods: The research model depicted in Table I forms the basis for this empirical investigation. It is worth mentioning here that a first formulation of the model, with its tripartition and preliminary indicators, was developed in previous research, which included exploratory case studies (Mazzei and Ravazzani, 2008, 2012) and interviews with experts (Ravazzani, 2011). Starting from this original formulation and insights gained through a further extended literature review, the present study has articulated the model in more detail, introduced explanatory factors, and adopted a quantitative strategy for a more extensive investigation of Italian companies.\nResults on diversity management in Italy: In the following, results related to the research questions of the present study are illustrated. Table II summarises survey responses on research model indicators and contingent factors.\nDiscussion and conclusion: Findings seem to indicate that the \"Integrating diversity\" approach is the most common in Italy. Companies principally aim to address social expectations and mainly focus on the traditional, legally protected attributes of gender, parenthood and disability, reflecting their centrality in the social agenda and legislative make-up of Italy. Companies implement practices for employee well-being and integration, accompanied with external partnerships and communication, typically employed to meet the social demand for responsible conduct (Simons, 2002). In the same vein, specific groups are purposely employed in interface functions where the company's commitment to diversity is more visible (Thomas and Ely, 1996; Robinson and Dechant, 1997; Len-Rios, 1998); this sustains the corporate image in the eyes of stakeholders. Accordingly, the main benefits indicated are related to employee integration and company reputation. Perceived negative effects, systematic evaluation and dedicated resources are scarce, probably because they require a long-term perspective (Robinson and Dechant, 1997), whereas diversity management is a relatively new concept in Italy: more than half of the surveyed companies have run these policies for less than six years. Results on the factors of diversity culture and internationalisation indicate in particular that companies with a more recent commitment, and of Italian origin, place social expectations at the core of their approach.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of why and how companies implement diversity management in practice, and of factors that may explain their approach.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study takes inspiration from existing typologies depicting organisation-wide perspectives on diversity management, and articulates them in more detail by applying practice-driven indicators and highlighting possible contingent factors at play. The resulting framework is used to investigate diversity management in Italy. Data from a survey conducted among 90 companies and two focus groups with experts and managers are presented.\nFindings: The most common approach among Italian companies focuses on addressing social expectations, seemingly shaped by isomorphic pressures and the need to secure legitimacy in their environment. Results also point to an understanding and practice of diversity management in Italy that also incorporate compliance and opportunity-oriented aspects, in an interplay between coercion and voluntarism that reflects local perspective and priorities.\nOriginality/value: This study makes an effort to address the paucity of studies linking approaches to managing diversity with managerial interventions and contextual factors. The research model connecting approaches with practice-driven aspects and explanatory factors shows descriptive and predictive potential, although it should be contextualised to the specific setting under investigation. This study also fills a research gap in Italy, where existing research primarily involves case studies and qualitative approaches and focuses on gender issues. Implications for research and practice drawn from this study can be useful to scholars and practitioners in other countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
No ordinary consultation - a qualitative inquiry of hospital palliative care consultation services
|
[
"Implementation science",
"Hospitals",
"Interprofessional relations",
"Palliative medicine",
"Referral and consultation",
"Policy"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The focus of palliative care organisation has gradually shifted from free-standning hospices and specialised palliative care services to an emphasis on services and organisation that enable integration of palliative care with other health care specialities, e.g. oncology (Kaasa et al., 2018). One way of organising and strengthening in-hospital palliative care is to add a hospital palliative care consultation service (PCCS). Hospital palliative care programs that include consultation services have gained ground in several countries (Dumanovsky et al., 2016; Sasahara et al., 2010; Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2016), contributing to in-hospital palliative care for patients with life-limiting diseases and palliative needs (Sasahara et al., 2010). At the core of the definition of palliative care is its holistic focus on patients' suffering related to incurable and life-limiting illnesses and the endeavour to create prerequisites for an augmented quality of life (World Health Organization [WHO], 2002). \"Holistic\" here means seeing and attending to the whole of a person rather than only a part (McIntosh, 2013). Delivery of palliative care may be separated on different levels (Radbruch and Payne, 2009). One of these levels is specialised palliative care, which refers to care provided by personnel with extensive palliative care knowledge, working in services focusing only on palliative care. Palliative care may also be provided in services where palliative care is not the focus of the service but exists as one type of care given. This is called general palliative care and requires basic training in the field (Council of Europe, 2003). The importance of palliative care has been argued for through a human rights perspective (WHO, 2014), and increasingly been included into European countries' national policies and laws (Woitha et al., 2015), which emphasises its importance for health in the population. Furthermore, when palliative care has been integrated early, along with disease directed care, positive effects have been seen on survival, quality of life, depressive symptoms and heavy treatment late in the disease trajectory (Temel et al., 2010).Despite the common preference among patients to be able to die at home (Gomes et al., 2012), a considerable proportion of deaths occur in hospitals. This is true of the Swedish population (Hakanson et al., 2015) and of people with palliative needs internationally (Pivodic et al., 2016). Although the palliative needs of hospital patients are considerable (Sigurdardottir and Haugen Faksvag, 2008), identification of these needs seems to be lacking (Gardiner et al., 2013). High prevalence (Tranmer et al., 2003), as well as burden of symptoms (Robinson et al., 2014), has been reported but hospitals seem to fall short in meeting those needs (Robinson et al., 2014; Ohlen et al., 2017). However, with the introduction of hospital palliative care services, including consultations, in-hospital deaths have been reduced (Liu et al., 2017). Quality of dying (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2018), aggressive treatment, hospital stay (Triplett et al., 2017), attention to spiritual and emotional needs among patients' families (Gelfman et al., 2008) as well as hospital costs (May et al., 2014) have all been positively affected by palliative consultations. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge regarding impact of the components within palliative consultation initiatives.How palliative care consultations are organised and conducted varies between different initiatives. Members of the PCCS may include a physician, nurse (Rocque et al., 2015; Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2018; Ciemins et al., 2007), social worker and chaplain (Rocque et al., 2015; Ciemins et al., 2007), and less frequently, a pharmacist (Rocque et al., 2015) and a psychologist (Ciemins et al., 2007). In a Japanese context, efforts to explicate a standard of hospital PCCS have arrived at a central aim of: \"support to enable health care professionals to efficiently deal with difficult issues regarding palliative care\" (Sasahara et al., 2009, p. 503). Nevertheless, barriers towards referral to PCCSs or realising their recommendations have been put forward, for example, knowledge deficits, concern about contradictory advice to patients (Enguidanos et al., 2009), perception of patients not accepting or recognising their prognosis (Enguidanos et al., 2009; Snow et al., 2009) and being unfamiliar with the PCCS (Snow et al., 2009).Palliative care consultations could be seen as a means of knowledge translation of palliative care expertise to non-specialised palliative care services. In line with a previous definition of complex interventions (Craig et al., 2008), palliative consultations could be viewed as complex in consideration of their multiple components, diverse target group, required flexibility and various outcomes. Several studies have been conducted that examine the effects of palliative care consultations, contributing to an emerging evidence base that consultations are associated with positive outcomes. This is of importance, as it argues the need for hospital PCCS. Nevertheless, the benefits of examining the process, as well as the outcomes of complex interventions have also been argued (Oakley et al., 2006). Moreover, these consultations are to be considered as events taking place within complex social systems (Moore et al., 2019), and as such, understanding how they are contextually processed will be of importance. An elaborated understanding of the process may pinpoint potential strategies to overcome barriers to implementation. Moreover, it could possibly create knowledge that may facilitate future initiatives in contexts where palliative care consultations are not yet prevalent. The aim of this study therefore was to examine how palliative consultations in hospitals are practised, as perceived by consultants and health care professionals on receiving wards.\nMethod: Design\nResults: From the focus group discussions, it became evident that palliative consultations were not a uniform and standardised practice, with observed differences in practice between PCCSs and hospitals. However, many challenges and opportunities were also shared. In this section, our findings will be presented under the headings: Variations in palliative consultation practice and its functions and \"No ordinary consultation\" - employing a pro-active approach. For each section, except the initial one, we have added a quotation to illustrate the findings.Variations in palliative consultation practice and its functions\nDiscussion: Palliative consultations appeared to be a complex activity influenced by the context in which the actors operate and the interaction between PCCSs and wards, as well as the perception of the concept of palliative care. The main findings of this study were that PCCS practice varied between and within services, proactive consultation approaches were commonly used and shared views were considered important for consultations. Moreover, the perceived contribution of palliative care consultations was to create space for palliative care, contributing with knowledge and a palliative approach and enhancing cooperation. They were also aimed at ameliorating transition of patients and preventing unnecessary and repeated re-admissions to hospitals.The development of palliative consultations largely seemed to be a bottom-up driven process led by palliative care specialists, characterised by room for innovation and practice driven try-out approaches (McDermott et al., 2015). Consultation practice varied within and between PCCSs, which resembles the findings of a Dutch study, where variations in practice and organisation between palliative services were found (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2016). These variations could be linked to a lack of precursors for palliative consultations in the Swedish context, as well as vague guidelines regarding the provision of palliative consultations. A decentralised responsibility for health care services (Axelsson, 2000), including provision of palliative care (Woitha et al., 2015), has resulted in local differences in organisation. These differences have been held accountable for the variability in existence of PCCSs (RCC, 2016). One Swedish palliative policy (put forward by the profession) encourages all major hospitals to have access to a PCCS (RCC, 2016). However, little is said about how these consultations could be integrated or implemented. Moreover, interviews with politicians, hospital leaders and clinicians revealed there was limited knowledge of these policy documents, leading to the conclusion that this could hamper policy implementation. Furthermore, hospital leaders and politicians seemed to associate palliative care with specialised palliative care, possibly being unaware of the need to strengthen palliative care within emergency hospital wards (Lind et al., 2017). A problem consequently exists if leaders of care organisations targeted by a policy are unaware of its implications and could indicate an inhibited policy implementation. Findings from a study comparing a devolved or a national approach to policy implementation pointed towards a national implementation effort (including facilitating mechanisms) being somewhat more successful (Gauld et al., 2017).A number of the PCCSs chose to practise recurrent palliative consultation rounds. This model was seen as a way of becoming known and fundamental to reaching out and receiving patients. As palliative consultations were rather novel in several of the contexts, it seemed logical to implement a visible model, reminding wards of their existence. However, PCCSs have struggled to reach patients in other contexts and late referrals have been reported (Brinkman-Stoppelenburg et al., 2018), even when gradual change towards earlier referrals was anticipated due to greater availability and knowledge of the PCCS (Osta et al., 2008). This begs the question: were there reasons for these delays other than lack of awareness of the consultants' existence? In a recent standard for PCCSs in Japan, actions for increased awareness recur for a number of items in the standard (Sakashita et al., 2018, appendix), an approach that was considered helpful in highlighting the role of consultations and palliative care. Moreover, in the Swedish context, palliative care consultation per se has recently been mentioned as an example of an \"outreach activity\" to achieve a better quality of end of life care on a population level (Schelin et al., 2018, p. 1602).The focus groups highlighted divergent perceptions and beliefs of what palliative care entailed. A few participants stated that there was sometimes a perception among health care personnel that palliative care equated to \"end of life care\". This had consequences for the palliative consultations, for example, influencing which patients were brought up during the consultations. Internationally, there is growing recognition of the value of integrating palliative care early on (Kaasa et al., 2018). This has implications for policy makers and professionals across all specialities, both nationally and regionally, and requires working towards a shift in the general perception of the meaning of palliative care. The Swedish tradition of national quality registers is strong (Levay, 2016), and a national register for palliative care has been in existence for almost 15 years. As mentioned in Table 1, The Swedish Register of Palliative Care (SRPC, n.d.) and the three existing Swedish national guidelines for palliative care are all primarily aimed at palliative care at end of life, which is likely to contribute to the aforementioned perception of palliative care as equating to \"end-of-life care\". Nevertheless, this is probably not the only reason, as similar perceptions of palliative care equating to end of life care have been found in other contexts (Sarradon-Eck et al., 2019). Notably, a change in professionals' perceptions of palliative care from that of the individual (focusing on the dying) to comprehensive and collegial development has reportedly been initiated by a shared palliative working method supported by a palliative consultation service (Hahne et al., 2017). However, it is conceivable that integration of early palliative care in national and regional health policy documents could influence awareness among stakeholders and create change.In the current study, appreciation was expressed in regards to having a regular model that \"reminded\" wards of this particular patient group and their needs. In demanding contexts where time is a limited resource, research has shown that palliative care may become less prioritised in comparison to acute and curative care (Lind et al., 2017; Chan et al., 2018). Indicators of similar behaviours were found in our focus groups, where staff showed appreciation for how the regular consultations put focus on patients that would otherwise not be so thoroughly discussed, and time constraints were said to hold back nurses on the ward from participating in the consultation rounds. Comparing referrals only and regular consultations, it is possible that the repetitive component of the regular consultations drew attention to palliative care, which could possibly influence greater assistance to this patient group and their needs. Moreover, regular consultations could also be viewed as a pro-active approach, in contrast to a re-active response to referrals. Future research needs to examine how consultation practices impact patient care and palliative care knowledge use in receiving wards, and also consider, for example, which professions should staff the service. As discussed by Klarare et al. (2013), team composition likely affects the perspectives on care it contributes with. Researching palliative care consultations implies considering complexities in clinical interventions (Craig et al., 2008; Moore et al., 2019) with emphasis on the dynamics involved in interprofessional practice (Friberg et al., 2018).Methodological considerations\nConclusion: Introducing palliative consultation was a process whereby PCCSs and receiving wards successively found ways to collaborate. Important to such collaboration are shared views on how palliative care is conceptualised, as well as what a palliative consultation service can contribute. Within this study, divergent views on how to conceptualise palliative care and a lack of policy seemed to be linked to differences in consultation practice and a tentative trial and error approach within the PCCSs. Palliative consultations were largely a bottom-up driven development by palliative care specialists. Nevertheless, palliative consultations were primarily perceived to make palliative needs visible, to contribute palliative knowledge, to strengthen cooperation between specialised palliative care and hospital care, and to create opportunity to ameliorate transition. The way in which consultations were practised, many times employing a pro-active approach, contributed to the palliative consultations being \"no ordinary consultations\".\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Considering the great need for palliative care in hospitals, it is essential for hospital staff to have palliative care knowledge. Palliative consultations have been shown to have positive effects on in-hospital care. However, barriers to contact with and uptake of palliative consultation advice are reported, posing a need for further knowledge about the process of palliative consultations. The purpose of this study therefore was to examine how palliative consultations in hospitals are practised, as perceived by consultants and health care professionals on receiving wards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Focus groups with palliative care consultation services, health care personnel from receiving wards and managers of consultation services. Interpretive description and constant comparative method guided the analysis.\nFindings: Variations were seen in several aspects of practice, including approach to practice and represented professions. The palliative consultants were perceived to contribute by creating space for palliative care, adding palliative knowledge and approach, enhancing cooperation and creating opportunity to ameliorate transition. Based on a perception of carrying valuable perspectives and knowledge, a number of consultation services utilised proactive practices that took the initiative in relation to the receiving wards.\nOriginality/value: A lack of policy and divergent views on how to conceptualise palliative care appeared to be associated with variations in consultation practices, tentative approaches and a bottom-up driven development. This study adds knowledge, implying theoretical transferability as to how palliative care consultations can be practised, which is useful when designing and starting new consultation services.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Problem-based learning: lessons for administrators, educators and learners
|
[
"Focus groups",
"Higher education",
"Lifelong learning",
"Problem‐based learning",
"Singapore"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: If I hear it, I may forget it.If I see it, I shall remember.If I do it, I will understand (Confucius).Current trends in education demand that learners play an active role in the knowledge acquisition process. A strong sense of participation is required for every learner to experience a variety of processes, ranging from self-directed learning to group discussion to peer teaching to teacher guidance. It is this sense of participatory, action-oriented experience that a person learns most, reinforcing the above saying of Confucius.Problem-based learning (PBL) is an emerging teaching approach which has taken its prominence in tertiary education in recent years (Yeo, 2005). It is a shift from the traditional didactic teaching where the core knowledge discovery process lies almost entirely in the hands of the learner rather than the teacher. The teacher who used to be the content expert now guides, advises and empowers the learner to take charge of his/her learning process. Learning is usually motivated by a real-life problem from which pertinent issues are identified, and potential solutions are discussed and explored (Lahteenmaki, 2001).Independent and team learning are two key characteristics of PBL with self-reflection as an essential component in the learning process (Creedy and Hand, 1995). PBL requires that the learner adopt a change in mindset from teacher-dependence to self-reliance. However, not many people are completely comfortable with PBL (Dixon, 2000; Walker et al., 1996) for two reasons:1. teachers cannot shed off their content provision role easily; and2. students are too entrenched in their content reception role.In order to maintain equilibrium in PBL, institutions must be mindful of changes in teaching schedule, class size, setting and delivery format. The implementation of PBL does have implications for educational management in tertiary institutions. This paper highlights an example from a higher learning institute in Singapore. This institute introduced PBL in 1990s but this approach has not been fully implemented in the entire curricula due to various glitches experienced by administrators, lecturers and students. In particular, this paper discusses the various PBL challenges encountered at its Engineering School and explores several pertinent issues with considerable implications for educational management in today's tertiary settings.\nBackground of the study: As a progressive establishment, the case institution aims to provide quality education relevant to the economy and industry. It also aims to create a conducive and stimulating environment that encourages total development, continuous improvement and lifelong learning. Its vision is to prepare school-leavers and working adults for a future of dynamic change, with relevant knowledge, lifelong skills, character and a thirst for continuous improvement. It is with this vision that this institution constantly evaluates its teaching approaches to keep current the emerging needs of the learners as well as the industry.In 2002, this institution introduced a credit-based system, offering greater flexibility and choices to students. In the Engineering School, subjects in this system are offered in the following categories:* the institution's core subjects;* course subjects; and* interdisciplinary subjects.The credit system also offers flexibility in the timetabling system, allowing students from different disciplines to come together as a class to study a common subject. This eliminates the notion of a form class and students are free to interact with a diverse range of peers in their various lessons, whether lectures, tutorials or laboratory sessions.In 1998, the Engineering School piloted PBL in several subjects. However, PBL was fully implemented in the entire curricula of one of their courses and a smattering of subjects in the other courses in 1999.\nRevisiting the roots of PBL: Over the past five decades or so, research into the interrelation between the notion of apprenticeship and learning science has begun to make a contribution to educational practices insofar as learning approaches and processes are concerned (Barrows, 1985). PBL is based on the notion of learning by doing, which is predicated upon by the learning science concept of learning and acquiring an expertise. A teacher, who was conventionally skilled as a guide to learning, is now akin to a master in an \"apprenticeship\" environment likened to PBL (Barrows, 2000).PBL has taken its roots in several educational institutions. It primarily began with medical school curricula, such as the McMaster University Program developed in Hamilton, Ontario over 30 years ago (Albanese and Mitchell, 1993). In the medical field, it has been found that learning is most effective when scenarios of clinical situations are used as catalysts for discussion. These scenarios, as opposed to traditional clinical case studies often used in small-group conference teaching, consequently become the trigger problems in PBL, which are referred to as health care problems (HCP) (Barrows, 2000; Kwan, 2000). It must be noted that the primary aim of the HCPs is not to solve clinical problems. It is to generate a variety of issues pertaining to these HCPs for further analysis. As such, PBL should not be mixed up with problem-solving skills, although such skills are often the byproducts of PBL (Alvarstein and Johannesen, 2001; Woods, 1994).PBL might have begun in the medical education; however, it has been used in a wider spectrum of disciplines including Archaeology, Architecture, Art, Business and Management, Dentistry, Engineering, Information Management, Law, Music and Nursing (Eldredge, 2004; Kwan, 2000; Stonyer and Marshall, 2002).\nThe exploratory study: In the light of the theoretical backdrop, this paper seeks to provide a practical discussion on PBL, its processes and purposes. Specifically, the research problem that this study sought to investigate is: how do tertiary students respond to PBL and how their response helps decision makers to manage educational issues?In attempting to answer the research problem, this study was directed to the following research questions:1. What are the critical factors affecting students' response to PBL?2. What are the policy considerations of these factors for tertiary educational management?\nResearch methodology: A study was undertaken at the case institution's Engineering School to investigate the challenges of PBL as experienced by students and staff. qualitative methods were utilized in this study. The first stage involved focus group interviews with four groups of five students each and the second stage involved semi-structured interviews with three groups of staff at the Engineering School (see Table I).The focus group technique was utilized as it is the most important and popular qualitative research tool in any exploratory study (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). Further, this study investigated contemporary educational issues and aimed at understanding the underlying reasons and motivations of learners' and educators' attitude, and behavior in response to PBL (Malhotra, 1993). The underlying premise of focus groups is based on the assumption that individuals with a problem are more willing to share personal feelings among others who are experiencing a similar problem. It seems that the security and comfort of being in the company of others like oneself encourages sharing, and in the process creates a temporary social support group of these individuals. This leads to a more detailed and in-depth information being shared openly by participants. This type of rich and real data is especially useful for researchers investigating complex human behavior in the field of learning (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994).In the second stage, semi-structured yet focused interviewing was employed as it appropriately allowed the researcher to probe deeply into the respondents' thoughts and feelings about issues they were most familiar with (Cunningham and Gerrard, 2000; Yin, 1994). The interviews also gave them an opportunity to be spontaneous in the way they reflected on issues they believed in. Additionally, non-verbal clues were observed, which contributed to the richness of the insights into the issues investigated.Overall, the sampling plan was one of purposeful sampling for the two qualitative stages, where the respondents chosen had to have both sufficient background and experience in PBL so as to contribute to the richness and depth of the phenomena being studied (Perry, 1998).\nAnalysis of data: There was a large amount of data collected from both the focus groups and interviews conducted for this study. Transcripts for the information collected were clearly typed out. As the data were qualitative in nature, a certain amount of subjective judgment was used in the analysis (Morgan, 1993). For this research, a brief content analysis using the scissor-and-sort technique was utilized. A simple content analysis was appropriate if the purpose of using focus groups and interviews was for an in-depth exploration of a research topic about which little is known in a certain context (Stewart and Shamdasani, 1990).The transcripts were scanned by the researcher for an overall feel of the qualitative data. This was followed by paying attention to pertinent ideas, opinions or thoughts raised frequently by the respondents. Common ideas were then categorized into themes. Grouping these ideas into themes or broad categories allowed the researcher to interpret the data adequately. This technique of analyzing qualitative data is known as the scissor-and-sort method and is the most common technique used by qualitative researchers (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994; Stewart and Shamdasani, 1990). In the presentation of the data, quotations from the respondents are indicated by inverted commas identified by F1-18 for the focus group participants and I1-18 for the interviewees (Yin, 1994).\nCritical factors influencing PBL: Several pertinent themes emerged from the data analysis, contributing some answers to the first research question: what are the critical factors affecting students' response to PBL?Mindset\nImplications for practice: Processes associated with PBL implementation are often complex, involving a range of factors. These include the roles that school administrators need to adopt in targeting change in each lesson-delivery setting, and the roles that educators need to adopt in constructing appropriate pedagogical bases to meet the challenges of PBL (Creedy and Hand, 1995). Figure 1 is a framework which illustrates how a PBL curriculum can benefit from understanding the roles of people, process and purpose, providing some answers to the second research question: what are the policy considerations of these factors for tertiary educational management?Purpose\nImplications for educational management policy: The successful implementation of PBL not only depends on educators and students; it involves policy developers and administrators as well. These policy personnel are instrumental in institutionalizing each PBL system. Only when the appropriate policies are in place that intrinsic learning associated with PBL can be produced. Although such long-term outcomes of PBL as lifelong and survival skills cannot be measured immediately, appropriate policy management will have positive implications for current learning (Kofoed and Kolmos, 2001) (see Table II).Purpose\nConclusions: This study has explored several possible challenges that PBL brings to tertiary education, shedding some light on the research problem: how do tertiary students respond to PBL and how their response helps decision makers to manage educational issues? For an exploratory study, the objectives have been met satisfactorily, but this paper does not ignore the limitations of the qualitative methods used. The areas of reliability and validity in qualitative research are less likely to be obtained as completely as quantitative data (Stewart and Shamdasani, 1990). However, it is believed that this study does have potential for future research where quantitative methods may be utilized to ascertain certain relationships that have emerged from this study.A central finding in this study indicates that PBL as an emerging teaching approach is not merely the responsibility of teachers and students. It requires close partnership with administrators of the institution to plan, implement, support and evaluate the variety of needs in ensuring optimum outcomes. Of importance are the three key enablers of PBL - people, process and purpose - whose relationship is robust in bringing about committed learning and optimum outcomes. What is important is that PBL is not the only answer to providing total and wholesome education. A strategic hybrid method with the flexibility of pedagogical changes seems to be the direction for any tertiary institution to move ahead in this emerging environment where complexity and ambiguity prevail.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to explore the challenges of problem-based learning (PBL) as an unconventional teaching methodology experienced by a higher learning institute in Singapore.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The exploratory study was conducted using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Four groups of people were invited to participate in the research involving administrators, management personnel, lecturers and students.\nFindings: - Key findings of the research point to three pertinent enablers in developing PBL in higher education. They are the role of people, process and purpose in the implementation of PBL. These three areas are interconnected in many ways but their relationship is not entirely linear.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although the study is limited by the single context from which data were drawn, it offers considerable implications for research in higher education as PBL has been regarded as an emerging paradigm. Much discussion and debate of PBL have centered on the compatibility of subjects, backgrounds of students and the level of preparedness institutions are willing to adopt such an approach.\nPractical implications: - Implications for practice and policy include strategic communication of PBL rationale, appropriate structuring of PBL lessons, careful allocation of resources, identification of suitable PBL facilitators and ensuring of the right mixture of students in PBL group formations.\nOriginality/value: - Although a number of studies have been carried out in Singapore, very few have concentrated on how PBL has been implemented in engineering education. More importantly, while current studies center on the pedagogical aspects of PBL, this study provides a fresh perspective on educational management.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The role of E-quality within the consumer decision making process
|
[
"Loyalty",
"E-commerce",
"Structural equation modeling",
"Service quality",
"Bricks and clicks",
"E-service operations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The evolution of the internet has made e-commerce one of the most effective and efficient methods of doing business (Paterson et al., 1997; Gefen, 2002). E-commerce also provides marketers, operations managers and retailers with a new opportunity to transfer their business from the traditional brick-and-mortar store to an e-commerce web site (Reibstein, 2002). E-commerce is defined as trading by means of a new communications technology, which includes \"remote payments and electronic checking, online trading of stocks, bonds and related financial instruments, online banking, and online retailing (e-tailing)\" (Gunasekaran et al., 2002, pp. 185-187). In this study, the concept of e-commerce is limited to B2C and C2C retailing. There are several advantages that retailers gain when managing operations in e-commerce domain: first, e-commerce makes it possible to reach global consumers 24/7, and reduces production and purchasing cycles; second, e-commerce can reduce the cost of operating a business via reducing the costs associated with labor, store rental, and inventory maintenance; and, third, e-commerce can reduce transaction time and increase product turnover for the firm. Despite the practicality of e-commerce, several areas of research relevant to e-commerce operations remain unexplored. Although e-service quality is explored within the e-commerce domain (e.g. Ho and Lee, 2007; Parasuraman et al., 2005; Zhang and Prybutok, 2005), the customer decision-making process, considered critical to successful operations management in the e-commerce domain, remains relatively unexplored (Darley et al., 2010). In addition, the theoretical underpinning of the role of quality in e-service operations is insufficiently developed in the literature. To fill the gaps in the operations management and e-commerce literature, this paper develops and then tests a comprehensive composite framework of e-commerce operations within the customer decision-making process.\nTheoretical background: Perceived quality in e-commerce\nHypotheses development and research framework: E-channel quality\nResearch methodology and data collection: Sampling and measurement\nData analysis and results: Reliability and construct validity\nConclusion and implications: E-commerce has provided a new distribution channel for current manufacturing and services industries and has promoted the evolution from mass production to customer demand-driven production. Several companies including Amazon, Dell, and Apple have taken advantage of e-commerce to build the supply chain network to support business interactions and transactions. The goals of this research were: to propose a new measurement scale of perceived quality with dimensions from the customer decision-making process and to operationalize the influence of the scale's dimensions on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Three empirical studies (focus group interviews, first survey and second survey) were conducted to achieve these goals. All further reinforce the hypothesis that there are positive relationships between web site quality and transaction quality on e-service quality. Also, the findings support the hypothesis that there are positive influences of channel quality, e-service quality, and product quality on customer satisfaction. Moreover, customer satisfaction is positively related to customer loyalty.\nLimitations and future research directions: We acknowledge that this study has several limitations. First, the comprehensive measurement scale may be complicated for practitioners to adopt. Thus, it would be important to extend this study by developing a parsimonious model based on this scale and then to compare the predictive abilities of the two scales. In spite of this limitation, the purpose of the current study to develop and validate comprehensive scales based on the EKB decision-making process was achieved. The findings thus provide an enhanced understanding of how quality attributes perform in the customer online purchase process. Second, this study is a cross-sectional study of students in the southwestern US and is not representative of the total US college student body. Moreover, the convenience sample in this study is a limitation that must be acknowledged. These pose generalizability questions without further replication and validation. Further replications must consider a national student population and should expand to different countries. Third, it may be interesting and useful to use a non-student sample (i.e. members of the general public). Broadening the sampled population will enhance the generalizability of the measurement scale and framework developed in this work. Fourth, this study did not examine whether there were customer switching behaviors involving competitors' web sites. Future research could explore the existence, if any, of factors leading customers to switch to competitors' web sites. Fifth, we did not differentiate the measurement of perceived quality by customers using two different e-commerce models: pure e-commerce players and bricks-and-clicks combinations. However, there is growing evidence that more and more traditional retailers are adopting a bricks and clicks combination business model (Min and Wolfinbarger, 2005; Bernstein et al., 2008). Min and Wolfinbarger (2005) show that the bricks-and-clicks business model generally yields higher marketing efficiency and results in higher market share than a pure-play e-commerce model. One possible explanation for such a bricks-and-clicks advantage is that customers choosing pure-play dotcoms are placing more focus on web site quality and less on service quality compared with customers choosing bricks-and-clicks e-tailers. Therefore, an investigation of e-quality comparing pure-play e-tailers and bricks-and-clicks e-tailers is a valuable future research topic.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an empirically grounded comprehensive framework of e-quality that is the composite of the relationship between e-satisfaction and e-loyalty. This study's objectives were: first, to develop a comprehensive measurement scale of perceived quality from an operations perspective, based on the classic Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) decision-making process; second, to develop a framework that integrates dimensions of quality and measures perceptions of e-quality during the customer's decision-making process; and third, to examine the predictive capability of quality attributes in relation to service operations that rely on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following review of the related literature, focus group protocols were developed and interviews conducted. Based on the focus group input, surveys were developed and administered. Survey data from 717 online customers allowed testing the research hypotheses, and structural equation modeling allowed validation of the research framework.\nFindings: The study determined that \"e-channel quality\", \"e-service quality\" (including \"web site quality\" and \"transaction quality\"), and \"product quality\" positively influence customer e-satisfaction within an online operation. These constructs, in turn, influence customer e-loyalty in the e-commerce domain. The findings contribute valuable theoretical and managerial implications that can improve e-service operations.\nOriginality/value: The paper fills a relevant gap in the e-commerce and services operations literature by empirically developing and validating a new and robust quality measurement scale based on the EKB consumer decision-making process. The study also makes an important research contribution by providing empirical evidence that quality is pivotal in gaining customer loyalty and a competitive e-commerce edge.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
How to measure B2B relationship value to increase satisfaction and loyalty
|
[
"Loyalty",
"Relationship value",
"Satisfaction",
"Relational benefits",
"Relational costs"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Satisfaction and loyalty are priority objectives in business-to-business (B2B) relationships. To achieve satisfaction and loyalty, suppliers should focus their strategies on providing superior value to their customers (Eggert and Ulaga, 2010). This paper focuses on manufacturer-retailer relationships. Retailers are increasing their power in marketing channels and concentrating their orders through a reduced number of suppliers. In this scenario, manufacturers deploy various specialised services in an attempt to provide a \"complete solution\" to their customers (Mustak, 2014; Song et al., 2016). Due to increased competition and product commoditisation, suppliers search for new ways to differentiate their offer and provide increased value to their customers (Ulaga and Eggert, 2006a).\n2. Theoretical framework: The literature studying B2B relationships has shown a strong interest in identifying the factors that determine long-term successful relationships. As an initial step in the study of relationship value, we summarise in Table I the most relevant empirical papers on industrial B2B relationships that have focused on predicting customer satisfaction and/or loyalty. We observe a change of focus in the research interest; while the earlier studies explained satisfaction, more recent research extends the focus to explain behavioral intentions or loyalty (Barry and Terry, 2008; Cassia et al., 2017; Huang et al., 2017; Lopez Sanchez et al., 2012; Ulaga and Eggert, 2006b). Less consensus was observed when analysing the antecedents of these constructs, which encompass variables such as trust (Chen et al., 2017; Lusch et al., 2003; Ulaga and Eggert, 2006b), performance or quality (Davis-Sramek et al., 2008, 2009; Huang et al., 2017; Stank et al., 1999). Due to the lack of a greater conceptual development of relationship value, the construct is described as being limited to certain aspects linked to the relational experience of customers (e.g. quality of service, fulfilment of the service, brand image, brand guarantee, etc.). In general, the literature tends to accommodate the concept of relationship value to the scope of the research. Also, most studies take a one-dimensional perspective of relationship value in the nomological network with related constructs. However, the complexity and richness of the construct may not be fully captured through a one-dimensional approach. Thus, review of the literature synthesised on Table I suggests the need to analyse relationship value as a multidimensional construct in the relationship between manufacturers and distributors/retailers. Therefore, this marks an initial stage in the establishment of a nomological structure between relationship value, satisfaction and loyalty in this context.\n3. Research methodology: To test our hypotheses, data were collected through a survey. The review of the literature provided the initial measures of the constructs studied, which then were adapted to the context of our study: the manufacturer and retailer dyad. The central construct of our study, i.e. relationship value, was measured based on the proposal of Ruiz-Martinez et al. (2018), who identified the first- and second-order factors of relationship value (Table II). The first-order factors in the Core axis of relationship value were based on existing scales: order delivery (Ulaga and Eggert, 2006a), product quality (Ulaga and Eggert, 2006a), customisation (Homburg et al., 2011), and personnel training (Conca et al., 2004). The measurement for ICT costs were based on Perego et al. (2011), which allowed to analyse the logistics experience using ICT and to extract its costs. The scale for low quality costs is developed from Yang (2008), who identifies quality costs indicators. Seller support incorporated adapted items from different scales (Lii et al., 2012; Ulaga and Eggert, 2006a; Wang et al., 2012). The ICT benefits and electronic notification measures of the ICT axis were developed from the work by Perego et al. (2011), while switching cost was an adaptation of the scale proposed by Barry and Terry (2008). In terms of the measurement of the Access axis, social interaction was adapted from Homburg et al. (2011). Finally, the one-dimensional measurement of relationship value, as well as satisfaction and loyalty, were evaluated using scales with minor adaptations based on those proposed by Ulaga and Eggert (2006a, 2006b) and Daugherty et al. (1998), respectively.\n4. Results: To achieve the defined research objective, a model with constructs of different order had to be designed. The model was analysed through the partial least-squares (PLS) method, as this allows the simultaneous inclusion of formative and reflective constructs in the model (Hair et al., 2012). Recent studies such as Hu et al. (2019) or Liu and Chen (2018) follow this approach arguing its minimal restrictions on measurement scales, sample size, and residual distribution. Moreover, Liu and Chen (2018) argue that PLS is a better means to model latent constructs as formative. Since the PLS procedure considers relationship value to be a third-order construct (O'Cass and Ngo, 2011), the two-stage modelling method must be adopted (Becker et al., 2012). The PLS approach first estimates the first-order construct scores, which are then used as indicators of higher-order latent variables in a subsequent analysis, thus enabling the high-order nature of relationship value to be considered (Becker et al., 2012).\n5. Conclusions: This paper follows a multidimensional approach in the study of marketing channels focusing on the concept of relationship value. Our results allow us to conclude that relationship value is a multidimensional construct composed by three axes (core, ICT and access) that constitute the triple bottom line of value in manufacturer-retailer relationships. This operationalisation of value versus a one-dimensional approach is validated in a nomological network of relevant B2B constructs such as satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, our paper contributes to offer new insights into the links between relationship value as a multidimensional cognitive construct, satisfaction as an affective construct and loyalty as a behavioural construct.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the dimensional structure of relationship value by comparing the results of one-dimensional versus multidimensional conceptualisation in the prediction of satisfaction and loyalty in a B2B context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was carried out and 219 responses were obtained from retail companies in the furniture sector in Spain. The model was estimated using the partial least squares (PLS) approach.\nFindings: The results revealed that the multidimensional conceptualisation of relationship value explained satisfaction and loyalty levels to a greater extent than the one-dimensional conceptualisation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Given the complexity involved in conceptualising relationship value, its study needs to be expanded to encompass other contexts.\nPractical implications: Manufacturers should focus their efforts on improving each of the axes of relationship value, to ensure the satisfaction and loyalty of their retail customers.\nOriginality/value: This study integrates and justifies the measurement of relationship value and its axes in the nomological structure with other relational constructs.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Worker safety issues in night-time highway construction
|
[
"Safety",
"Accidents",
"Construction industry",
"Safety engineering"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increased traffic volumes especially in urban areas are approaching the design capacity of many transportation facilities. Heavy traffic and congestion last a long time. Any repair, maintenance, renovation or rehabilitation work conducted during the day on these roadways disrupts traffic and adds to congestions and delays. That is why planning construction and maintenance work at night-time appears to be an attractive solution since traffic flow at night is minimal.In addition to the advantage of mitigating the impact of construction operations on the traveling public, night-time construction has been observed to provide other advantages, such as shortening the duration of construction operations and reduced interruptions to construction activities. However, night-time construction also has disadvantages compared to day-time construction. One major disadvantage is that night-time construction operations may be more hazardous for both drivers and construction personnel because of visibility problems at night. Furthermore, statistics show that a higher percentage of night-time drivers are impaired by drugs, alcohol, fatigue, or age-related vision impairments. Also, night-time workers operate in an environment that may affect safety due to lighting and human factors.Highway work zone safety has been a high-priority issue for traffic engineering professionals and has been widely studied (Wang et al., 1996; Ha and Nemeth, 1995). Studies show that crash rates in work zones are higher than those on comparable highway sections without work zones (Pal and Sinha, 1996) but no systematic study has ever been conducted to investigate safety issues related to night-time highway construction/maintenance activities. As night-time construction is becoming more popular in many states, more data are becoming available to support this type of study. The research presented in this paper investigates highway construction/maintenance professionals' perceptions of the effects of night-time construction conditions on worker visibility and of issues associated with safety vests in night-time activities.\nMethodology: A questionnaire survey was administered to Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) operation personnel, IDOT resident engineers, contractors involved in night-time construction operations in Illinois within the past five years, and construction/maintenance professionals involved in night-time construction in the Departments of Transportation (DOTs) of other states than Illinois. The questionnaire involved three parts. The first part involved questions about the observations and experiences of the respondents concerning night-time accidents, including the type, severity, and frequency of night-time accidents involving workers in work areas. The second part investigated the respondents' perception of the performance of existing safety vests that are currently being used in night-time projects undertaken by the respondents' organizations. The third part sought information and opinions concerning the features and the design factors of safety vests.The questions were formulated after an extensive review of the relevant literature and after extensive consultations with a Technical Review Panel composed of senior personnel of the Bureau of Operations, the Bureau of Design and Environment, and the Bureau of Construction in IDOT, and two representatives of the Federal Highway Administration. The terms encountered in the questions were defined in two tables included with the questionnaire. IDOT provided the names and contact information of operations personnel, resident engineers, and contractors involved in night-time construction operations in Illinois within the past five years. Similarly, IDOT helped the research team access a formal network of individuals in each state's DOT who forwarded the surveys to engineers involved in night-time construction/maintenance work in their respective organizations. It was found that there was no information about night-time construction on the web sites of 14 of the 50 state DOTs. In other words, at the time the survey was conducted, only 36 of the 50 state DOTs were known for sure to be involved extensively in night-time construction/maintenance activities.The response rate was 45 percent (nine out of 20) for resident engineers, 20 percent (two out of 10) for operations personnel, 29 percent (four out of 14) for contractors, and 33 percent (12 out 36) for state DOTs involved in night-time construction. The overall response rate was 34 percent (27 out of 80).The t-test and Tamhane's T2 test (which is a conservative pair wise comparison based on a t-test) were used to assess the statistical significance of the differences in means. Some of the statistical tests were inconclusive because of the small number of respondents. Those results of significance are discussed with the findings presented in the next section.\nFindings and discussion: The first study addressing differences between day-time and night-time construction was conducted in Colorado back in 1986 (Price, 1986). Comparing the quality and cost of day-time and night-time projects, Price (1986) concluded that material delivery was more efficient at night due to less traffic but temperature extremes had an adverse effect on crew and equipment performance. Hinze and Carlisle (1990) examined the factors related to night-time construction. Ellis and Kumar (1993) investigated differences in cost and productivity between day-time and night-time construction in Florida and found that there was no significant difference in productivity, but that night-time projects cost less. Researchers have also noticed the potential adverse effect of night-time construction on quality (Price, 1986; Hinze and Carlisle, 1990). Dunston et al. (1998) presented the weekend closure strategy and its implementation in an actual project in Washington State. Their findings included improved quality and productivity over night-time construction. Ellis and Amos (1996) developed work zone lighting standards for night-time highway work. Wang et al. (1996) investigated highway work zone crashes by using the electronic data obtained from the multistate Highway Safety Information System (HSIS). Pal and Sinha (1996) studied various lane closure strategies. Shibuya et al. (1995) presented traffic control measures at flagger-operated work zones on two-lane roads. However, there has been no specific research comparing the effect of day-time and night-time construction on work zone safety.Data on fatal accidents in highway work zones in the State of Illinois in the five-year period of 1996-2001 was obtained by Arditi et al. (2003) from the Web-Based Encyclopedia of Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) serviced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov). Contrary to Birch's (1998) contention that accidents at night-time are more severe than accidents in day-time because of the increased number of impaired drivers and speeding drivers at night, according to the FARS data there is no indication that night-time construction is more hazardous than day-time construction in Illinois in the five-year period 1996-2001 (Arditi et al., 2003). When the respondents were asked for their perception of safety issues in night-time vs. day-time construction, they appeared to have supported Arditi et al.'s finding that day-time construction was also dangerous as evidenced by the findings presented in Figure 1.Type, severity, and frequency of night-time accidents\nConclusion: The objective of the research reported in this paper was to investigate the safety issues involved in night-time highway construction and maintenance activities. Accidents that involve fatalities and/or injuries of construction/maintenance workers in night-time work appear to be linked to the visibility of the workers involved in the accident. The findings of a survey of operations/maintenance/construction professionals in states that perform night-time construction activities can be summarized as follows:* Safety does not seem to be any more of a problem in night-time than in day-time works. The same attention should be given to safety both in night-time and day-time works.* Workers are mostly struck by through traffic inside or outside the work area whereas construction equipment cause accidents in fewer work areas.* The accidents caused by vehicles driving through the work area are perceived to be more numerous, severe and frequent than the accidents caused by construction equipment operating in the work area.* The main reason for night-time accidents is considered to be the condition of vehicle operators. Poor lighting condition is the second most common reason for these accidents. Both of these reasons are closely related to visibility issues.* Night-time construction workers are mostly concerned with 360deg visibility of the safety vests. It is no surprise that ANSI standards (ANSI/ISEA, 1999) make 360deg visibility a requirement for safety apparel.* The visibility and conspicuity of a safety vest and the reflectivity of the retro-reflective material are considered to be its two most important features. While these most desired features appear to be present when a safety vest is used in dry weather conditions and against different backgrounds (rural vs. urban), they seem to be deficient when the vests are used in wet weather conditions.* With a well-designed vest, it is possible to improve workers' job satisfaction, motivation and labor relations a great deal.* When making purchasing decisions relative to safety vests, one should make sure that the vests make the worker feel safe and that they minimize the frequency and severity of accidents. Cost and ease of manufacturing are not to be considered as primary criteria in this decision.Even though most accidents in night-time construction work areas are caused by the condition of the vehicle operator and even though there are more accidents caused by through traffic than by construction equipment operating inside the work area, the poor visibility of the workers play an important role in causing accidents. The design of safety vests should adhere to existing standards that specify the brightness and quantity of retroreflective materials (ANSI/ISEA, 1999) but should particularly ensure adequate performance in wet weather conditions. If safety vests perform well under different lighting and weather conditions and if they are perceived by workers to be effective, all workers will be motivated to wear them at all times. Consequently, the frequency and severity of night-time accidents can be reduced and labor productivity can be enhanced.It must be noted that a little over half of the data used to generate the results presented in this paper came from a survey of Illinois-based resident engineers, operations personnel and contractors. A national survey of resident engineers, operations personnel and contractors would certainly increase the sample size and therefore allow researchers to validate the findings of this study and to conduct extensive statistical analyses to compare perceptions between groups of respondents, geographical locations, and other characteristics.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The research presented in this paper aims to investigate highway construction/maintenance professionals' perceptions of the effects of night-time construction conditions on worker visibility and of issues associated with safety vests in night-time activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research was conducted by administering a questionnaire survey to Illinois Department of Transportation operations personnel, resident engineers, contractors, and construction/maintenance professionals involved in night-time construction in the Departments of Transportation of states other than Illinois.\nFindings: - It was found that most accidents in night-time construction work areas are caused by the condition of the vehicle operator, that accidents are caused by through-traffic and construction equipment operating inside the work area, and that the poor visibility of the workers plays an important role in accidents.\nResearch limitations/implications: - A national survey (rather than mostly Illinois personnel) would certainly increase the sample size and therefore allow researchers to validate the findings of this study and to conduct extensive statistical analyses.\nPractical implications: - Night-time construction/maintenance operations on highways may be hazardous for both drivers and construction personnel because of poor visibility at night. It is recommended that the design of safety vests adhere to existing standards issued by the American National Standards Institute and the International Safety Equipment Association. It is particularly important to ensure adequate performance in wet weather conditions.\nOriginality/value: - If safety vests are perceived by workers to be effective, the frequency and severity of night-time accidents can be reduced and labor productivity can be enhanced.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The Human Sigma approach to business improvement in tourism SMEs
|
[
"Six Sigma",
"SMEs",
"Tourism",
"Service quality",
"Business improvement",
"Human Sigma"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers from around the globe are beginning to respect business organisations that strive to be \"human\" and, therefore, exceed inherent customer expectations. Consequently, within the context of the UK tourism sector, many providers have corporate strategies that attempt to exceed customer expectations. However, increasing competition and ever-demanding customers, as well as recessionary and globalisation pressures, emphasise a need to focus on improving service quality in order to achieve competitive advantage. Arguably, this is ever more crucial for service providers, particularly within the tourism sector, as the UK economy evolves from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy oriented around service delivery (Gronroos, 1988). Indeed, exponential growth of the service sector, first witnessed during the 1980s consumer boom, continues as many service suppliers within the same marketplace compete with one another. Hence, the visitor economy incorporating the tourism sector and many small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly within the hospitality industry, represent an important and broad range of businesses in the UK. Subsequently, the importance of SMEs to the overall visitor economy in general and, the tourism industry in particular, cannot be overemphasised.\nThe service experience in tourism: Many tourism and hospitality organisations are characterised by frequent, complex and often inimitable encounters between employees and customers. Interactions with service employees are the experiences that customers remember best, and employees who are uncomfortable in dealing with customers, or who lack the training and expertise to meet customer expectations can cause customers to retain unpleasant memories of a service experience (Solnet, 2006). Arguably, therefore, organisational capital, the organisations human systems should be thought of therefore as one of the organisations competitive advantages. However, few research studies consider impacts of business improvement strategies on people in the organisation including how to motivate and engage employees.\nApproaches to business improvement: Quality management initiatives have become important as a pre-requisite for doing business (Dale, 2003) and the use of tools and techniques are a fundamental part of a business approach to quality management. To support and develop continuous improvement, it is necessary for tourism SMEs to use a selection of tools and techniques. They all have different roles to play in continuous improvement and if applied correctly, give repeatable and reliable results (Dale, 2003). However, although quality improvement methodologies, such as Six Sigma, have been successful in manufacturing contexts (Wessel and Burcher, 2004), their contribution to improving the employee-customer service encounter is less certain. In a service-focused environment, such as the tourism industry, organisations often find it difficult to identify processes which can be measured (Kumar et al., 2009). Much of the data are collected by face-to-face informal interactions with front-line staff as compared to automatic data collection methods used in manufacturing processes. In the service industry, most formal business decisions rely on the subjective judgements of staff and customers that are less precise (Antony and Kumar, 2005). In addition, one of the common myths to have emerged over the years is that improvement tools are only applicable to large organisations with immense resources and budget. Terziovski and Samson (2000) reported that small businesses are less likely to have a coherent quality assurance policy and quality department than large organisations. Nonetheless, Six Sigma has filtered into the service sector and in particular SMEs.\nPurpose and methodology: Therefore, the research on service quality and the importance of business improvement contributes to the specialist literature on the Human Sigma approach to business improvement. The aim of this study therefore, is to examine the extent to which business improvement tools are implemented within tourism SMEs. This research considers an organisation to be an SME if it has less than 250 employees (Department for Business Innovation and Skill). Organisations with around 250 employees display many characteristics of large organisations. It is not until numbers are around 50 that these characteristics seem to change significantly. In order to collect data effectively a survey questionnaire was developed to provide a baseline of practices by tourism SMEs in the sub-region (North West England). The questionnaire with open and closed items was sent to 980 TSMEs, which were chosen from the Lancashire Chamber of Commerce database to ascertain the extent of service quality improvement tools utilised, the familiarisation, including the benefits and common barriers to implementation.\nBusiness improvement: Status of improvement tools and other quality initiative implementation\nReasons for not implementing improvement tools: Crucially, therefore, it is important to understand the perceptions of improvement tools and factors hindering this implementation. The respondents were requested to identify what has \"stopped\" the business implementing any business improvement tools. The most common reasons reported were as follows:\nBenefits of improvement tool implementation: The respondents were also requested to identify perceived benefits from the usage of business improvement tools. The following summarises the key benefits gained from the implementation:\nCSFs of improvement tool implementation: The respondents were asked to rank CSF on a scale of 1 to 5 (1=strongly agree, 2=disagree, 3=uncertain, 4=agree and 5=strongly disagree). The aim was to determine the CSFs that tourism SMEs felt to be important. The CSFs used in the study were derived from existing literature of service quality management and business improvement. The findings reveal that achieving customer satisfaction (94 per cent strongly agree) and improving overall business performance (81 per cent strongly agree) are the most important CSFs. This highlights that linking tools and techniques to customers and business strategy are the most important factors for the successful implementation. However, only 39 per cent of tourism SMEs linked the importance of employee training and engagement to the implementation. Research suggests that management in such organisations can be weak and often involved in \"fire-fighting\", paying inadequate attention to softer issues such as leadership, culture change, employees training and education (Kumar et al., 2009). As noted, organisational capital, the organisations human systems should be thought of as one of the organisations competitive advantages and ultimately the centre of management focus. Businesses that focus only on their customers may succeed temporarily, but the results are not sustainable unless the employees are also engaged. Creating engaged employees is a key opportunity for tourism businesses that link success to customer satisfaction. By measuring employee and customer engagement levels, businesses will be able to better determine the value of their intangible assets. As suggested, Fleming and Asplund (2007) developed Human Sigma as a way to measure and manage the human systems of business. However, the research highlights the need for an improved understanding of the Human Sigma concepts to business improvement. Currently, limited research has been undertaken on the Human Sigma approach. Emerging from the research therefore, is a framework to guide the implementation of Human Sigma (Figure 1).\nConclusion: The need for business improvement has evolved into a fundamental business strategy and its importance in tourism SMEs is growing. With such an important place in the UK economy, it is in the interests of SMEs to adopt continuous improvement management practice in order to compete in today's global marketplace. Currently, therefore, employers are challenged to find every avenue in which to add value in order for their businesses to thrive and grow. Despite the escalating attention to issues related to service quality management, limited research has been undertaken in to the utilisation and contribution of contemporary business improvement tools.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Human Sigma is an emerging topic among many academics and practitioners. At present, limited studies have been reported about the successful applications of Human Sigma in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this paper therefore is to provide an analysis of contemporary business improvement tool implementation in UK tourism SMEs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper presents an exploratory study of the Human Sigma approach to business improvement. Particularly, the research offers an overview of approaches to business improvement, whilst also presenting a framework for the implementation of Human Sigma. Adopting a case study of tourism SMEs, the paper examines attitudes to service quality management in terms of the implementation of business improvement tools.\nFindings: The results of the study reveal that many of the SMEs are not aware of the Human Sigma approach to business improvement and while there is a range of tools, techniques and approaches available, they perceive several key barriers to prevent them from fully engaging. The research highlights the critical success factors for successful implementation are often related to customers and not employees. The perceived benefits from the usage of these tools are also displayed.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitations of this research are recognised, in particular the relatively small number of SMEs in a geographically confined area. Nevertheless, the research is intended primarily as an exploratory study designed to identify themes and issues as a basis for further research. Consequently, the study offers a number of significant findings that contribute more broadly to the Human Sigma literature.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents an initial study on the status of Human Sigma implementation in UK tourism SMEs. The service sector is dominated by a large number of SMEs and despite escalating attention paid within the literature to issues related to quality management, limited research has been undertaken into the utilisation and contribution of contemporary business improvements tools. A framework for the implementation of the Human Sigma approach to business improvement is illustrated. This paper will yield value to academics, consultants, researchers and practitioners.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Spillover effects from web to mobile payment services: The role of relevant schema and schematic fit
|
[
"Perceived value",
"Spillover effect",
"Schema",
"Schematic fit",
"Web-mobile service extension"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The advancement of wireless networks and technologies has extended various incumbent web-based services into the mobile context for capturing new business opportunities (Yang et al., 2015). This phenomenon is generally known as web-mobile service extension. This study pays considerable attention to one type of this extended service, namely, mobile payment (MP). Originally extended from well-established web payment (WP) services, MP services allow consumers to employ mobile terminals to perform payment activities (Zhou, 2013). Several MP services have been released, including PayPal, Alipay Wallet and Android Pay, given their critical capability for supporting ubiquity transactions (Lu et al., 2011). This service extension strategy enables firms to increase their revenues and facilitate service customization (Sun et al., 2014). This strategy also helps consumers improve the efficacy and convenience of their payment activities (Slade et al., 2015). Despite these promised benefits, integrating mobile channels into the existing service strategies remains a major challenge for firms. According to the eMarketer (2017) report, merely 4 percent of consumers in Germany, 5 percent in the UK, 6 percent in Canada and Australia, 7 percent in the USA, 9 percent in South Africa, 10 percent in South Korean and 23 percent in India had been using MP services.\n2. Theoretical foundations: 2.1 Spillover effect\n3. Hypothesis development: Figure 1 presents the research model of this study. The proposed model is congruent with the framework of spillover effect in which we operationalize relevant schema as cognitive and emotional trust in WP; schematic fit as perceived similarity and business tie; and spillover effect outcomes as perceived value and behavioral intention of MP. We propose that consumers' behavioral intention of MP services is determined by their perceived value of using such services. Furthermore, we argue that cognitive trust in WP, emotional trust in WP, perceived similarity and perceived business tie together predict perceived value of the intended MP services. Finally, we contend that perceived similarity and business tie positively moderate the effects of cognitive and emotional trust in WP on perceived value of MP. We also consider the impact of control variables in the model, including age, gender, income, education, WP experience, subjective norms and descriptive norms (Lu et al., 2011; Luo et al., 2010).\n4. Methodology: To empirically validate the research model, we employed an online survey of existing MP users. Our target sample was users of a popular Chinese online payment platform, namely, Alipay. Founded in February 2004, Alipay allows users to employ wired terminals like desk computer to perform payment activities. According to the Alipay website, it has nearly 520m registered users worldwide. In November 2013, Alipay had successively extended their web-based payment service to the mobile context, namely, Alipay Wallet. These observations indicated that Alipay Wallet was a suitable research setting for the current research.\n5. Data analysis and results: Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to test the research model. There are two available modeling approaches: covariance-based SEM (e.g. LISERL) and component-based SEM (e.g. PLS). Component-based PLS-SEM is considered to be more suitable than covariance-based SEM for an exploratory model with analyzing formative indicators and interaction effects (Ringle et al., 2012). Moreover, PLS-SEM has the merits of maximizing the explained variance of endogenous variables, thereby making it particularly suitable for prediction-oriented research (Chin et al., 2003). Following the two-step analytical procedures (Hair et al., 2016), we reported the measurement and structural models.\n6. Conclusion and implications: This study seeks to understand spillover effects on consumers' evaluation and use of newly extended MP services in the web-mobile payment extension context. Our results verify that cognitive trust in WP, emotional trust in WP, perceived similarity, and perceived business tie are important predictors of perceived value of MP, which determines consumers' behavioral intention of using MP services. In addition, high levels of perceived business tie reinforce the effects of cognitive and emotional trust in WP on perceived value of MP. All these findings confirm that the spillover effect exists in the evaluation and use of newly extended MP services. Generally, consumers are likely to develop favorable perceived value and behavioral intention of using extended MP services when they hold a high level of trusting beliefs and feelings toward incumbent WP services; and identify internal similarities and external business ties between WP and MP services.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Drawing from the spillover effect literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the spillover effect in consumers' web-mobile payment extension behavior. The authors figure out two categories of factors associated with the spillover effect: relevant schema and schematic fit. Cognitive trust and emotional trust in web payment are used to capture relevant schema, while perceived similarity and perceived business tie are proposed to denote schematic fit in the web-mobile payment extension context.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey (n =552) was conducted to empirically test the model. The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach.\nFindings: The results show that relevant schema and schematic fit factors positively influence perceived value of mobile payment (MP), which facilitates consumers' behavioral intention of MP.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the extant literature by theoretically identifying the key factors of the spillover effect and empirically investigating its role during the web-mobile service extension process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
A confirmatory factor analysis for SERVPERF instrument based on a sample of students from Syrian universities
|
[
"Higher education",
"Structural equation modelling",
"Service quality",
"Syria",
"SERVPERF",
"Confirmatory factor analysis"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is becoming broadly accepted that higher education needs to adopt marketing approaches due to globalization, reduction of government funds, competition among universities, and the classification of education as a marketable service (Abdullah, 2006; Gallifa and Batalle, 2010; Marzo-Navarro et al., 2005; O'Neil and Palmer, 2004). Accordingly, quality of service becomes one of the key success factors for a university to be able to attract students, serve their needs, and retain them (Kwek et al., 2010; Nadiri et al., 2009; Senthilkumar and Arulraj, 2011). Service quality of a university is generally assessed by using students' perceptions. This is based on the argument that university students are the primary customers of universities (Brochado, 2009; Marzo-Navarro et al., 2005; Voss et al., 2007).\nLiterature review: Service quality measurement\nPilot study and hypotheses development: To explore SERVPERF dimensionality in the Syrian context and to assure students' understanding of the instrument items, a pilot study was conducted. First, an expert translator translated the questionnaire from English to Arabic. Then the resulting translation was, blindly, back-translated from Arabic to English by another translator. After that, the authors matched the translated copies to reach the most accurate translation and eliminate statements that gave different meanings (e.g. Brislin, 1980; Mahmoud, 2013; Mahmoud and Reisel, 2014). The new copy was then reviewed by academicians from the Faculty of Business Administration, Arab International University to guarantee face validity (Tharenou et al., 2007). Thereafter, 50 copies of our questionnaire were conveniently hand-distributed to students in Damascus from both public and private universities, resulting in 40 valid responses. The respondents consisted of 40 percent males and 60 percent females. The average age was 20.78 years, with a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 25. The percentages of students for the year of study were 21.1, 44.7, 31.6, and 2.6 percent for Years 2-4, and master degree, respectively. SERVPERF items were then coded as 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree and entered into SPSS for analysis.\nMethods: Adopting a quantitative approach, we conducted a cross-sectional survey targeting a sample of students at the Syrian higher education institutes both public and private. The items of SERVPERF instrument were assessed on a five-point Likert scale. Using a convenience sampling method, we distributed 1,500 self-administrated questionnaires to students from public and private universities in Syria. This data collection process yielded back with 259 usable responses that were used in the statistical analysis for assessing SERVPERF factorial validity using the CFA method and assessing the perceived service quality offered at the Syrian universities.\nResults: Demographic data description\nDiscussion and implications: This study set out to understand the determinants of service quality at Syrian universities by confirming the factorial validity of SERVPERF based on an exploration of its dimensionality among Syrian universities' students. It also aims to assess the perceived service quality offered at the Syrian universities. The results reveal that SERVPERF is a three-factor instrument consisting of the three dimensions: faculty-individualized attention, support staff helpfulness, and support staff empathy. First, faculty-individualized attention implies the degree to which faculty members understand students' specific needs and care about them. Second, support staff helpfulness indicates the ability and willingness of support staff to serve students. Finally, support staff empathy refers to the care and the individualized attention provided to students by support staff.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to confirm the factorial structure of SERVPERF based on an exploration of its dimensionality among Syrian universities' students. It also aimed at assessing the perceived service quality offered at these universities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional survey was conducted targeting students at Syrian universities. Using a pilot sample of 40 students, the authors developed their hypotheses. Thereafter, based on a sample of 259 students, the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and one-sample t-test.\nFindings: The findings revealed that SERVPERF in the Syrian universities' context was a three-factor instrument consisting of the three dimensions: faculty-individualized attention, support staff helpfulness, and support staff empathy. Moreover, the findings showed that students at Syrian universities hold negative perceptions toward all of the three service quality dimensions provided by their universities.\nPractical implications: Given the imperative need for universities to monitor and improve the quality of their services, this study can help Syrian universities' administrations understand the perceptions of their students toward services offered, which can help them formulate effective marketing strategies.\nOriginality/value: This paper came to be one of the first studies that attempted to assess the perceived quality of services offered through the Syrian higher education system. Additionally, this study pioneered through drawing a factorial picture for SERVPERF at the Syrian Arab context.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Porter's business strategies in Japan
|
[
"Management strategy",
"Product differentiation",
"Japan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Japan has been in economic decline since the late 1980s. They are experiencing a shrinking economy, failing stocks, rising unemployment, and job cuts. Without reforms, the economy is only predicted to grow at only 0.8 percent annually from 2006 to 2010 according to country advisors Lorange and Turpin (2004). Legendary business strategy professor and consultant Michael Porter contends Japanese business strategy has been at least partially responsible for the inability of Japan to regain their position of global business dominance experienced in the early 1980s (Porter and Takeuchi, 1999). Porter contends his generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation and focus should be used if organizations expect to gain a competitive advantage and ultimately compete in the global economy. Ultimately, Porter believes national policy should facilitate the use of the generic strategies in order to gain and maintain a competitive economic advantage. Accordingly, the Japanese government has instituted the Porter Prize to encourage Japanese businesses to make a transition to the generic strategies espoused by Porter.\nThe research: Japanese business strategy has traditionally been based on the idea of Total Quality Management (Deming, 1986; Juran, 1988). Total Quality Management (TQM) strives to have continual cost reductions by improving processes and reducing waste. Japan's post-war recovery and great leap to becoming an economic powerhouse in the last half of the past century was attributed to their use of the TQM strategy to simultaneously reduce costs and increase quality (Ho, 1999).Over nearly the past two decades, a long recession has taken its toll on the Japanese economy. Japanese managers have lost faith in a system that once brought them so much success and they have begun to search for ways to bring about corporate change and an economic up-turn. In a controversial article, Porter and Takeuchi (1999) presented an argument that the economic recession in Japan is due in large part to the lack of discernable business strategies being practiced by Japanese firms.In an effort to become more globally competitive, the Japanese Ministry of Economic Trade and Industry (METI) established the \"Porter Prize.\" This prize recognizes Japanese companies who achieve and maintain superior profitability in their industry by implementing unique strategies based on innovations in products, processes, and management techniques. METI patterned this new award after the Deming Prize, which helped to spur many Japanese companies to implement TQM in the post Second World War recovery era. Japanese policy makers think a significant shift in strategy is necessary for a successful transition from the traditional Japanese system to a more globally competitive system (Miyagawa and Yoshida, 2005). Understanding the degree to which Japanese companies are embracing strategic management \"Porter style\" is essential to understanding the future of the Japanese economy.Recent research provides interesting insights concerning the impact Japanese national policy is having on the strategies of Japanese organizations. The main goal of our research was to determine the extent to which Japanese companies are making use of Porter's generic business strategies and then compare the use of the Porter strategies in Japan to the strategies implemented in the United States. A questionnaire was submitted to a sample of more than 300 American and Japanese managers with adequate organizational knowledge to answer basic questions regarding strategic practices used in their organizations. Should the reader wish to see more details regarding the methodology and statistical analyses included in this research they are encouraged to review these academic-oriented articles (Allen et. al., 2006, 2007). Table I is a summary of the organizations included in the sample.The respondents answered questions which focused on their organizations' relative usage of such Porter strategic practices as pursuit of cost reductions, improved customer service, operational efficiency, quality control, personnel supervision, targeting niche markets, and providing specialty products/services. Responses were statistically analyzed using an approach known as factor analysis in order to determine which types of strategies the organizations were practicing. The findings are summarized in Table II. (Please note that some conceptual overlap between strategies was present because some organizations were using strategic practices that were not purely of a single strategic type. Due to this mixing of strategies the total of all strategies for each nation exceeds 100 percent).Our findings indicate while American firms make relatively equal use of each of Porter's four generic strategies, the Japanese rely heavily on the cost leadership strategy. In fact, the Japanese organizations made only minimal usage of the product differentiation strategy. Two other uniquely Japanese types of strategies emerged from the Japanese data that can best be described as \"supply chain management\" and \"training-oriented.\"At first glance, it appears in spite of MITI's attempts to diversify Japanese strategic management with the Porter Prize, the Japanese remain stuck in what Porter and Takeuchi (1999) contended to be the source of Japan's economic woes. Japan's business strategies appear to remain rooted in the TQM-based tactics of the past. The TQM-based themes of cost minimization, supply chain management and training appear to still be very common in Japan. But upon further inspection and reflection on these results, we argue that Japanese strategy may actually be in transition towards Porter's generic strategies. In the following sections we further discuss these strategies and provide illustrative examples of their use by Japanese organizations. These examples will help practicing managers, consultants and national policy makers more clearly understand the implications of this research for the practice of strategy and national economic policy.Cost leadership\nConclusion: This article represents an attempt to identify current strategies in use in Japanese companies and the degree to which Japanese management is embracing these strategies in light of such developments as the Porter Prize. While Porter says Japanese companies, \"have no strategy\" and this tradition will be hard to break, the fact such a large-scale effort is underway to ignite Japanese interest in international strategies is an interesting topic. While Japanese companies do have discernable strategies, not all of them fit neatly into Porter's generic classifications. However, there is sufficient evidence the Japanese are making considerable progress in embracing the strategies that have proven successful to American organizations over the last three decades.Modern Japanese managers are beginning to adopt more typical Porter styles with greater success. Companies such as Taiyo Yakuhin, Horiba, and Bears Company are but a few such examples. But some Japanese companies are embracing traditional strategic methods as evidenced by their low usage of the differentiation and pure focus strategies. This may be because their strategies are more in line with their national culture, which is ingrained in TQM, group decision-making and formalized systems which seem to slow down urgent business decisions (Ishikawa, 1988). However, with incentives such as the Porter Prize, many Japanese firms are beginning to embrace the more \"Westernized\" way of thought.We must consider the important implications these research findings for Japanese managers. What do they need to do differently? What impact does their lack of adoption of differentiation and generic focus strategies have on their ability to compete globally? They were successful in the 1980s by differentiating based on quality, but that no longer seems to be the path for success. Considering the trend towards competition from low-labor cost countries like China, who have good quality based on the latest technology (financed by foreign investors), how can a high wage country like Japan compete globally?One of the ways Japan could begin to make greater advances within the global economy is to begin targeting different and selective market segments. Japanese firms could increase their use of differentiation strategies by creating products and services customers of a high-end market segment would be willing to buy. In addition, Japanese organizations could begin to invest more money in new research and development focused on creating new goods and processes, rather than improving existing products and services.What does all of this mean for non-Japanese managers, consultants and policy makers? Based on the examples described here, it is apparently critical to factor in national culture when trying to define an international strategy. Even within the context of her native country, Yuki Takahashi, co-founder of Bears Company had to create a strategy to match the traditional Japanese culture's view of women's responsibility in the home. This suggests that some of Porter's generic strategies might need to be modified to fit a specific culture. The supply-chain and training based strategies are focusing on culturally unique aspects that can indeed provide a competitive advantage through cost savings and differentiation.From a strategic standpoint, modern managers must be aware of the growing competitiveness of Japanese companies. They are trying to move out of an economic downturn, so they are highly motivated and encouraged to try new strategic methods to gain competitive advantages in world markets. Modern managers must begin thinking more globally in terms of competition and they must embrace strategic decision-making to a greater degree than they have before. By having an awareness of successful strategies, both in the USA and abroad, managers should be able to compete more effectively in international markets. If by understanding local economic and cultural driving forces behind a competitor's strategy, it is possible to anticipate their strategic decisions and reactions.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The Japanese government is promoting a move towards a variety of generic business strategies based on the Porter Prize as a way to regain global competitiveness and end their long economic recession. The purpose of this paper is to report on the current state of Japanese business strategies to a practitioner audience based on the authors' previous academic-oriented research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey of 101 Japanese respondents was conducted to determine their relative use of Porter's generic business strategies. Examples of implementation are presented to illustrate use of the critical strategies.\nFindings: - The Japanese are using two of Porter's generic strategies, namely cost leadership and differentiation and they are using two variations of Porter's focus strategies.\nResearch limitations/implications: - As is typical with all survey research, the convenience sample of organizations used in this survey may not be representative of all Japanese organizations.\nPractical implications: - Managers, consultants and policy makers will gain insights into the impact national policy can have on corporate strategy. This understanding is important when conducting business in a global environment. More specifically, readers will gain a better understanding of how Japanese firms are presently implementing competitive strategies as a result of a Japanese national strategy to promote the use of Porter's generic strategies.\nOriginality/value: - This article is a practitioner-oriented translation of an academic research study. The value of the current article is to share findings with the practitioner community and present examples of strategic implementation to managers, consultants and policy makers in a less technical format than a typical academic journal.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Evidence based practice among healthcare providers: a cross-sectional study
|
[
"Knowledge",
"Hospital",
"Evidence-based practice",
"Skill"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent decades, the importance of research in improving healthcare outcomes and quality of services provided in healthcare institutions has been highlighted (Wallin et al., 2003). The benefits of clinical research and their value in producing new knowledge about what works in healthcare emphasize on the need for paying special attention to evidence-based practice (EBP) (Polit and Beck, 2008). In this respect Krugman believed that in case of using the results obtained from scientific research, high risk clinical interventions which might occur as a result of misbalancing between clinical expertise, patient value and scientific evidence would be prevented (Krugman, 2003). To this aim there is a need for evidence-based decision making which applies a problem-solving approach to clinical care and consistently integrates the use of findings from well-designed studies, health professionals' expertise and patient preferences (Fineout-Overholt et al., 2005). EBP means \"incorporating clinical expertise with the best available evidence from systematic research and apply it in to the decision-making process for patient care\" (Sackett and Rosenberg, 1995). The mission of EBP in gathering documented data and up-to-date knowledge about specific clinical conditions is accomplished in a five step process including ask, acquire, apply and audit (Eddy, 2005). Literature affirmed the necessity for healthcare professionals to acquire knowledge about searching best evidence for answering clinical questions, critically appraising them for validity and integrating the evidence into clinical decision making (Melynk et al., 2000). In addition to gain professional knowledge in the field, it is essential for health service providers to be acknowledged about the key role of EBP in clinical settings. In this regard, EBP has been proposed as a basic policy in management, education and healthcare provision even in developing countries (Rycroft-Malone et al., 2004).\nResearch question and method: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 300 healthcare professionals working in Qazvin hospitals during July to September 2016 to assess their knowledge and behavior relating to EBP. Health professionals included physicians, nurses, midwives, medical laboratorists and radiology technologists. In total 254 individuals (response rate=84.6 percent) completed the questionnaire. To gather data we developed a questionnaire in six main parts including demographic characteristics of the participants (6 items), their viewpoints about having access to information resources needed for EBP (6 items), their knowledge about relevant databases (11 items) and understanding of the terminology used in EBP (11 items), their attitude toward the necessity for EBP as an effective tool for quality improvement (4 items) and finally their knowledge and skills in applying EBP while delivering healthcare services (10 items). To check the face validity of the questionnaire an expert group consisted of academic members of healthcare management department in QUMS were received the first version of developed items and asked to review the statements to ensure the comprehensiveness and integrity of them in each of the six sections. In addition, 20 individuals were selected to assess the comprehension and practicability of the items. In our pilot study Cronbach's a value was calculated to be 0.78 confirming the reliability of the data collection tool.\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nConclusions and recommendations: The study results revealed that health workforce participated in the research had a relatively positive view of EBP but their knowledge and skills in the area were quite limited. They also announced their most need in relation to actual participation in programs and activities related to EBP. These findings have been confirmed by previous studies on different occupational groups in the field of healthcare (Ammouri et al., 2014; Schneider et al., 2015; Weng et al., 2013). An important point that has been emphasized in most of the studies is to distinguish between workforce attitude and practice. In fact participants with positive attitude toward EBP do not necessarily have high level of performance in this regard. To ensure EBP, there should be required facilities such as scientific journals or web-based databases, professional guidelines and internet. In addition to availability of these conditions, training sessions which provide sufficient knowledge and attitude toward EBP is also necessary. Jette et al. (2003) affirmed our findings and emphasized that educational courses on EBP and training search techniques to physiotherapists could significantly improve their knowledge.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Nowadays health systems in most of the countries are trying to build their healthcare provision system based on scientific knowledge based evidence. Evidence-based practice (EBP) is a crucial factor for quality improvement focusing on compliance with clinical standards. The purpose of this paper is to assess evidence-based knowledge and skills among healthcare providers in Qazvin hospitals in 2016.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This was a descriptive study conducted among 300 health professionals working in hospitals affiliated by Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2016. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data on health providers' attitude, knowledge and skill regarding EBP. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regressions were used to analyze data using SPSS 16 software.\nFindings: A total of 254 participants (84.6 percent) completed the questionnaire in which their attitude, knowledge and skill toward EBP were assessed at a low level. Study results indicated that among different occupational groups, physicians and those with greater awareness toward EBP terminology had a more positive attitude compared with others. Furthermore, a higher level of knowledge and skill toward EBP was associated with being a physician and having a positive attitude toward the issue.\nPractical implications: Given the importance of EBP and due to insufficient knowledge of healthcare providers about the issue, it is necessary to hold appropriate educational courses to empower health workforce in implementing EBP principles.\nOriginality/value: The authors applied a self-administered questionnaire to assess health workforce knowledge and skills toward EBP. The results obtaining from the analysis not only highlights weaknesses related to service providers' knowledge and capabilities to implement EBP but also reveals facilities required for realization of the subject in hospital settings.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
On inequality in health and pro-poor development: the case of Southeast Asia
|
[
"Health",
"Southeast Asia",
"Attainment",
"Child stunting",
"Infant mortality",
"Shortfall"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: \"The poor suffer worse health and die younger. They have higher than average child and maternal mortality, higher levels of disease, and more limited access to health care and social protection. And gender inequality disadvantages further the health of poor women and girls.\" This citation is from a report (OECD-WHO, 2003) prepared jointly by the OECD and the WHO on the link between poverty and health. This report emphasizes in particular the fact that health should be considered as an asset so that when poor people are sick, the lost income and the impossibility of affording the cost of health care are likely to trap the poor in a situation where they become definitively unable to ever leave the status of poor. This is so because the lack of good health prevents them from investing in education and thus improving their labor productivity. It becomes then clear that the goal of poverty reduction cannot be reached if inequality in health is not reduced.\n2. On inequality in attainments vs inequality in shortfalls: Many health attainment indicators such as the IMR have bounded values, that is, they have a minimal value of 0 and a maximal value of 100 or 1,000, for example. Assume now that we have data on infant mortality for various population subgroups (rural vs urban areas, educational categories or wealth quintiles) and that we want to measure the inter-group inequality in mortality. We can first compute an index of the inequality of \"shortfalls,\" in our case an index of the inter-group inequality in the IMRs: infant mortality is indeed a \"shortfall\" variable since it measures which percent (or per thousand) of individuals to not survive until the age of one. But we can also measure the inequality of \"attainments,\" that is, an index measuring the degree of inequality of the percentage (or pro mil) of individuals who survive beyond the age of one. It should, however, be clear that most inequality indices will have a different value in the case where the computation is based on \"shortfalls\" and in that where it is derived from \"attainments.\"\n3. An empirical illustration: inequality in attainments and shortfalls for various indicators of health performance in Southeast Asia: Table II gives an empirical illustration covering the countries from Southeast Asia and some years for which data were available and shows the values of six consistent indices of inequality in attainments (shortfalls) derived from data on infant mortality. Table AI in the Appendix presents similar results for the inequality of the distribution of child mortality.\n4. Determining the contribution of changes in the average value of a health indicator and of its inequality to the value of this health indicator in the poorest quintile: Let (Equation 10) be the average value of a health indicator at time t and I(x\n5. A Shapley decomposition of the change in various health and access to health indicators in Southeast Asia: This Shapley decomposition technique has been applied to the four health indicators mentioned previously: infant and child mortality, child stunting and underweight, for various countries and years in Southeast Asia. Table VII gives the results of this decomposition as far as infant mortality is concerned. It appears that for Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal and the Philippines most of the decline in the infant mortality observed in the poorest wealth quintile was a consequence of the overall decline in infant mortality in these countries. But for India and Indonesia the decline in the between wealth quintiles inequality in infant mortality played also an important role. Finally note that in Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam the overall decline in infant mortality would per se have considerably reduced infant mortality in the poorest wealth quintile but the change (see, Table VII) in the between wealth quintiles inequality in infant mortality would per se have led to a rise in infant mortality among households belonging to the poorest wealth quintile.\n6. Conclusions: This paper aimed first at providing estimates of the degree of inequality in health attainments and access to health services in various countries in Southeast Asia during the past 20 years. Particular attention was given to the fact that, when working with bounded variables, indices measuring inequality in health attainments may be quite different from inequality in health shortfalls so that we selected only indices which have been proposed recently in the literature and give identical results for the inequality of shortfalls and that of attainments. These indices were then computed for four health variables: infant and child mortality, child stunting and underweight. In all cases it appears that both the average value of these variables and the inequality of their distribution between wealth quintiles declined over time.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to aim at taking a closer look at the decline in the inequality of the distribution of four health variables, infant and child mortality, child stunting and underweight, that took place in various Southeast Asian countries during the past 25 years. More specifically its goal is to check the extent to which this decline in health inequality, as well as the overall reduction in infant and child mortality, in child stunting and underweight, affected the poorest wealth quintile of the population of these countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In the first part of the paper the author presents a systematic comparison of the values taken by various consistent measures of the inequality of health attainments and shortfalls for several countries in Southeast Asia and for four health indicators: infant mortality, child mortality, child stunting and underweight. The second part of the paper uses the concept of Shapley decomposition to determine the respective impacts of the decrease in the average value of these health variables and in the inequality of their distribution on the reduction observed for each of these variables in the lowest wealth quintile.\nFindings: During the period examined there was an important decline infant and child mortality as well as in child stunting and underweight in all countries of Southeast Asia for which data were available. As far as the poorest wealth quintile is concerned this decline was mostly the consequence of the overall decline in these health variables rather than to the reduction of the inequality of their distribution.\nResearch limitations/implications: Data were available for only four health variables and for many countries data were available for only one period.\nPractical implications: A decline in health inequality should be considered as an important aspect of poverty reduction.\nSocial implications: Development should not be limited to its economic components. A broader view of development is indispensable.\nOriginality/value: This study is probably one of the first ones to provide the reader with data on the reduction in health inequality in Southeast Asia as well as on the impact of this decline on the poorest wealth quintile.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The measurement of worker relations: the development of a three-component scale
|
[
"Job satisfaction",
"Employee relations",
"Intergroup relations",
"Leadership member exchange",
"Organisational relations",
"Team member exchange"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Worker relations lie at the heart of work psychology given the presumed links between healthy worker relations and positive work outcomes. A review of the literature, however, suggests that the term worker relations is interpreted in a number of ways resulting in a variety of different techniques and measures being employed. Tailored instruments such as leader-member exchange (LMX), team-member exchange (TMX) and the Worker Opinion Survey (Cross, 1973) are valuable to the organisations for which they are designed as well as within specific research settings. However, they are often not suitable as a general tool across different environments such that a simpler and more general measure of worker relations would be of value both to researchers and practitioners. This paper begins by reviewing the importance of worker relations and its impact on work outcomes. The paper then describes the operationalisation of a three-component model of worker relations before presenting the results of initial testing. The contribution of the paper is to define, theorise and develop a general purpose short instrument capable of quantitatively measuring worker relations.\nWorker relations: Some of the most critical relationships that an individual can have are with their work colleagues (Struthers et al., 2005) and worker relations can be described as the interactions between individuals and their co-workers, their supervisors and their organisation. This paper intends to integrate these three disparate aspects of employee relations into a unified model applicable to both permanently employed staff and temporary workers.\nJob satisfaction: Worker relations have been seen as an important variable in job satisfaction research (Baruch-Feldman et al., 2002; Frone, 2000; Witt et al., 2000) and organisational climate (Bennett and Lehman, 1999; Mulki et al., 2006; Pritchard and Karasick, 1973). Baruch-Feldman et al. (2002) examined traffic wardens from a social support perspective, identifying that positive support from co-workers, squad supervisors and unit supervisors was positively associated with job satisfaction and negatively associated with job burnout. Frone (2000) also examined worker relations from an interpersonal conflict perspective creating two four-item measures for conflict with supervisors and with co-workers. Both conflict with supervisors and conflict with co-workers were negatively associated with job satisfaction indicating that when a breakdown of relations occurred, measured in their study as interpersonal conflict, it associated with lower levels of job satisfaction. The absence of conflict with supervisors and co-workers should not be considered the same as positive worker relations. However, while Baruch-Feldman et al. (2002) and Frone (2000) examined worker relations at the co-worker and supervisor level they did not investigate the interaction between the individual and the organisation.\nClimate research and worker relations: Organisational climate research has attracted attention for over 50 years on the basis that employees' perceptions of their working environment influence desired states such as satisfaction, commitment and innovation. Research often attempts either to describe a global organisational climate (Patterson et al., 2004, 2005; Schulte et al., 2006) or a local \"climate for\" approach such as climates for innovation, safety and ethics, (May et al., 2004; Mulki et al., 2006). Perceptions of climate can also be taken at the individual or unit level. This is necessary because the shared perceptions existing in a work group can have an additional influence on individual-level perceptions and their relations with other outcomes (Hellriegel and Slocum, 1973; Schulte et al., 2006).\nResearch methods: In order to develop the new scale and in an effort to achieve a parsimonious and balanced scale, a pool of 20 positively and negatively worded items was first created to capture the theoretical domain and the three proposed components of worker relations. The initial item pool was evaluated by a group of human resource practitioners who agreed that item content matched the three components. The full inventory is not shown here but the nine items retained for the new scale are shown in Table I. A seven-point Likert-type response scale was used with the following verbal anchors; disagree strongly, disagree, disagree slightly, neutral, agree slightly, agree and agree strongly.\nResults: From Study 1, exploratory factor analysis of the 20 items identified several items with high cross-loadings. After eliminating redundant items and in an effort to retain a final balanced scale, nine items made up of three from each of the three theoretical components were retained. The factor structure and the wording of the retained items are shown in Table I. Factor 1 represents relations with the supervisor, Factor 2 represents relations among individuals and Factor 3 represent relations in the organisation. Varimax rotation of the same data gave a similar pattern of factor loadings with the three-factors accounting for 57.8 per cent of total variance. Internal consistency reliability (a) of the three sub scales was; individual 0.74, supervisor 0.79 and organisation 0.72 which is relatively good given the small number of items in each sub-scale.\nDiscussion: The general finding from the analysis is that the nine item measure is a viable instrument with adequate reliability for assessing the three components of worker relations. Whereas measures of LMX, TMX and organisational climate are much larger and more specific, the new scale tested and proposed here is a more parsimonious measure that can be used to quantify the state of employee relations. The new scale had a moderate association with general job satisfaction with the strongest association relating to organisation-level relations. This is consistent with research (Baruch-Feldman et al., 2002; Frone, 2000; Witt et al., 2000) suggesting that worker relations are associated with job satisfaction. However, we expected individual level relations to show the strongest correlation with satisfaction and more research is needed here to unpick the relative influence of the three components on job satisfaction.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Healthy employee relations are important for individual well-being and are likely to contribute towards job satisfaction and other positive work outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of worker relations and proposes a new three-component model of worker relations which embraces the relationships that employees have with their co-workers, supervisor and the organisation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 20-item inventory was tested using data collected in a local authority (n=157) and led to the retention of nine items which were embodied in a scale for further evaluation. A second study using data using obtained in an emergency call management service (n=85) were used to further evaluate the factor structure of the scale and assess its predictive validity. A third study (n=70) provided further information on the measure.\nFindings: The new nine-item measure is a viable instrument with adequate reliability for assessing three levels of worker relations. In line with predictions, the three sub-scales (co-worker, supervisor and organisation) were positively correlated with job satisfaction and social relations.\nPractical implications: The new scale provides a freely available and parsimonious alternative to existing measures of worker relations.\nOriginality/value: The paper considers the component aspects of worker relations before defining, theorising and developing a general purpose short instrument capable of quantitatively measuring worker relations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Seeing through touch: a conceptual framework of visual-tactile interplay
|
[
"Brands",
"Products",
"Servicescapes",
"Sensory cues",
"Sensory marketing",
"Multisensory interplay",
"Visual-tactile interplay"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Marketing research has for a long time considered and used various visual and tactile cues in different contexts (Littel and Orth, 2013; Spence et al., 2004; Streicher and Estes, 2016), such as modifying light, hue, shape, temperature or texture of brands, products and servicescapes to influence emotional and behavioral responses (Chebat and Morrin, 2007; Custers et al., 2010; Klatzky and Peck, 2012; Reimann et al., 2010; Williams and Bargh, 2008). In the marketing domain, these responses vary from enhanced brand experience to faster reaction times (Klatzky et al., 1993; Littel and Orth, 2013).\n2. Theoretical underpinning: 2.1 Sensory marketing as a framework\n3. Conceptual framework: From the theoretical underpinning (Figure. 1), we discovered various conceptual linkages that constitute visual-tactile interplay in brand, product and servicescape contexts. While there are intertwining linkages between these contexts, such as a product being both a brand while being inside a servicescape, we discuss these entities, separately and in unity to get a broader understanding in a marketing context (Figure. 2).\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Brands\n5. Conclusions: 5.1 Theoretical contribution\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework of visual-tactile interplay and consumer responses in brand, product and servicescape contexts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper performs a literature review of visual-tactile interplay by reviewing prior research in marketing and psychology.\nFindings: The review reveals that visual-tactile interplay provokes various consumer responses depending on whether brands, products or servicescapes are used. The paper develops a comprehensive conceptual framework mapping out visual-tactile interplay and the relationship with consumers' cognition, emotions and behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: A conceptual model was developed with a novel view on how visual and tactile cues can together influence consumer responses.\nPractical implications: This paper shows how visual-tactile interplay is successful in brand, product and servicescape contexts and provides practical insight for firms into how to provoke consumers' cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses.\nOriginality/value: This paper contributes to existing literature by developing a conceptual framework and model of visual-tactile interplay and consumer responses by drawing on research in marketing and psychology.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Internal market orientation adoption and new service development (NSD): gearing up the internal performance of NSD teams
|
[
"Internal market orientation",
"Empirical study",
"New service development",
"Hierarchical research design",
"Meso-theory"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Prior studies have explored the success drivers of a new service after its launch (called \"market-based\" or \"external\" performance). Early studies examined various organisational factors (De Brentani, 1991; Avlonitis et al., 2001; de Jong and Vermeulen, 2003), whereas later studies evaluated the management of the new service development (NSD) process itself (Stevens and Dimitriadis, 2005) and the extent to which the \"voice of the customer\" (Carbonell et al., 2009; Melton and Hartline, 2010; Carbonell and Rodriguez-Escudero, 2014; Karlsson and Skalen, 2015), often captured through that of frontline employees (Santos-Vijande et al., 2016), is present and strong during the NSD process. Papastathopoulou and Hultink (2012) offer a very useful critical review of the pertinent literature along with interesting directions for future research.\nLiterature review and research hypotheses: New service development and the management of the new service development team\nMethodology: Respondents and procedure\nMeasurement model, data analysis and results: With our measures always estimated as reflective (Cadogan and Lee, 2013), we proceeded in stages. We began by testing the validity of the measures. As expected, IMO best fits as a second-order latent construct consisting of six first-order factors (Appendix 1). We then validated the factorial structure of all our constructs using all 52 items included in the study.\nDiscussion: Table 3 summarises the results from the data analysis regarding the hypotheses. Although the extant literature on the drivers of NSD performance is well-established, the specific mechanisms required to improve the success of innovation efforts remain only vaguely explained (Hotho and Champion, 2011), as this question has attracted limited attention. Moreover, with the level of the analysis remaining at the (macro-) organisational level, results are rather equivocal. A handful of studies examining the management of the NSD effort in relation to the NSD team have focussed mainly on the dynamics arising within the team during the NSD (Schleimer and Shulman, 2011; Homburg and Kuehnl, 2014). The single level of analysis and the key informant approach prior studies have used do not well serve the purpose of understanding the mechanisms associated with the management of the NSD team and how to improve its performance (Sanchez-Hernandez and Miranda, 2011; Mieres et al., 2012; Fang et al., 2014).\nLimitations and future research directions: Despite this study's interdisciplinary contributions, two limitations are noteworthy and must be considered. The first comes from the context and focus on NSD teams. While this context served the purpose and scope of our investigation, the context somewhat confines our ability to generalise the impact of IMO adoption (as a dynamic capability) on non-frontline employees or teams facing a task less challenging than NSD. It could be argued that TI and climate are lesser concerns in such cases. An indirect effect to the performance of such employees through a clearer definition of JBs, tasks and roles may also be possible when creativity is less important in delivering tasks (Kostopoulos et al., 2012). To fully uncover the impact of IMO adoption on the performance of non-frontline employees, research should consider other contexts as well. Likewise, other measures of team performance (e.g. task completion time, knowledge development) require adaptation to capture the performance measures in different contexts and job roles.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper reports on the impact of perceived resource adequacy (PRA) and competence (PRC) on new service development (NSD) teams' internal performance (IP). This study aims to explore the indirect effect of internal market orientation (IMO) adoption, as a dynamic capability, on both PRA and PRC through the shaping of the emerging dynamics within NSD teams.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a hierarchical research design, the authors use a meso-theory approach to test a path-analytic framework against 116 NSD managers (offering data at the macro- or organisational level) and 543 NSD team members (offering data at the micro- or team level).\nFindings: Both PRA and PRC are important in explaining NSD teams' IP at the organisational level, though their explanatory power varies. The adoption of IMO is also an important antecedent to this factor through the (indirect) effect on the team climate and degree of integration.\nResearch limitations/implications: IMO is an important dynamic capability that allows management to transform the mindset of employees, even if they do not directly interact with customers. In NSD efforts, this reflects on the team's perceptions of the adequacy of the resources they have to deliver the project through the managerial interventions at the team level, which (mainly) explains the team's IP.\nPractical implications: Adopting an IMO allows the development of a dynamic capability that carries wider benefits for the service organisation, as this has positive implications not just for frontline employees. Specifically, NSD efforts are likely to become more resource-efficient as a result of IMO adoption because of the interventions of management during the development effort.\nOriginality/value: This empirical study is the first to test the impact of IMO adoption as a dynamic capability and in a context other than frontline employees from a meso-theory perspective. This allows considering the different effects at the appropriate levels (macro and micro), thus enabling a more accurate definition of the mechanism through which companies benefit from IMO adoption.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
The conditioning function of rating mechanisms for consumers in the sharing economy
|
[
"Consumer behaviour",
"Ratings",
"Sharing economy",
"E-Commerce",
"Airbnb",
"Uber"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The peer-to-peer nature of the sharing economy[1] suggests that consumers and providers of sharing services should interact on an equal plane, removed from traditional service hierarchies. Current platforms accordingly co-opt the sharing narratives of earlier reciprocity-focused platforms to define the experiences they offer as social, casual and welcoming (Botsman and Rogers, 2010; Codagnone et al., 2016; Dredge and Gyimothy, 2015; Lee et al., 2015; Martin, 2016; Walker, 2015). However, the broad commercialization of the sharing economy has generated a duality of expectation and consumers must reconcile the idea of sociality with an increasingly transactional reality.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The sharing economy consumer\n3. Quantitative study: 3.1 Methods\n4. Qualitative study: 4.1 Methods\n5. Discussion: A key finding of the quantitative research phase is that sharing economy consumers perform moderate to high levels of expressive emotional labor. This finding suggests that, although many sharing experiences may have become functionally indistinct from traditional service encounters, consumers retain an expectation for heightened sociality. However, it should be emphasized that this \"heightened sociality\" corresponds to relatively anodyne traits such as having a friendly and sympathetic demeanor and avoiding outward expressions of anger.\n6. Conclusion: Emotional labor has emerged as an important concept in looking at workers in an organizational context, while psychological research has shown its predictors and - often detrimental - outcomes. However, despite being a widely researched and striving field of research, scholars have only started to explore the prevalence, antecedents and outcomes of emotional labor in the sharing economy (Lutz et al., 2018). Existing studies on emotional labor in the sharing economy, reflecting a focus in the general literature, have focused on the provider side (Gloss et al., 2016; Raval and Dourish, 2016). In this paper, we offered an initial exploration of emotional labor among consumers in the sharing economy. Utilizing a mixed-method study, we outlined how consumers are performing emotional labor during sharing experiences. We were able to specifically identify ratings as one of the mechanisms by which consumers are encouraged to not only regulate their emotional expressions, but also regulate them in a certain way. Whereas, in most consumer transactions, bad consumer behavior will not impact or preclude the future use of the service, in the sharing economy ratings often operate bilaterally, creating a footprint which could impact future use of a service.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how rating mechanisms encourage emotional labor norms among sharing economy consumers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study follows a mixed-methods research design. Survey data from 207 consumers were used to quantify the impact of three distinct rating dimensions on a consumer behavioral outcome (emotional labor). In the second step, 18 focus groups with 94 participants were used to investigate the conditioning functions of ratings in more depth.\nFindings: Rating mechanisms condition consumers toward performing socially desirable behaviors during sharing transactions. While consumers accept the necessity of bilateral rating mechanisms, they also recognize their coercive nature. Furthermore, the presence of bilateral rating mechanisms leads to negative outcomes such as annoyance and frustration.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to sharing economy literature by examining bilateral rating mechanisms as a means of behavioral conditioning for consumers. This study points to improvements in platform design and informs theory on tripartite markets as well as trust.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
LIVING LAB: user-driven innovation for sustainability
|
[
"European Union",
"Product technology",
"Innovation",
"Household products",
"Sustainable design",
"LIVING LAB",
"User‐driven innovation",
"Sustainable products and services",
"Sustainable innovation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: sustainability as a prerequisite for any product or service: Numerous research and policy reports show that the present patterns of production and consumption in the industrialised countries are not sustainable (IGES, 2010; Board of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Giljum et al., 2010; UNEP, 2010; WWF, 2008; Worldwatch Institute, 2009). An ever-increasing energy and resource consumption will disturb the Earth's sensitive biological eco-systems.The lifestyle of the average population in industrialised economies is characterised by high levels of consumption and is, thus, responsible for an enormous increase of resource extraction and environmental problems. In most countries, household consumption determines 60 percent or more of all life cycle impacts of final consumption. For industrialised countries recent studies indicate that housing, mobility, food and electrical appliances account for over 70 percent of the impact of household consumption (ETC/SCP, 2009).Therefore, an absolute decoupling of economic growth from resource use is a precondition for sustainable production and consumption (Barbier, 2009; Jackson, 2008). Society's welfare generation has to happen within the natural system boundaries. It must be sure that the ecosystem services provided by nature are not reduced (Schmidt-Bleek, 2009). Currently, humanity is consuming more ecosystem services and more natural resources than nature is providing on a sustainable basis. Thus, a holistic approach is needed taking into account and optimizing the whole production-consumption-system. Only sustainability-oriented efficiency and sufficiency strategies will be able to solve the future tasks, challenges and problems (Jackson, 2006; Spaargaren, 2004; Schor, 2004; Thogersen and Olander, 2002; Welfens et al., 2010). Thus, the future potential for resource efficiency, climate change, poverty reduction and broadening welfare lies in the fields of individual decision making and behavioural processes combined with organizational learning processes recognizing the social context situation (Reisch and Ropke, 2005; Thogersen, 2007; Sanne, 2002; Wenger, 2007). Therefore, more information and research results about these processes are needed, more knowledge is necessary about what people want and how they use products and frameworks in their living environment (Warde, 2005; Shove, 2005, 2003). Such an interactive, sciences and stakeholder integrative research approach needs other test beds, kits and framework conditions.\n2 Eco-design as a key precondition for sustainable development: Design is a driver for economic and socio-cultural innovation and communication processes in society; placed between companies and the society, between potentially eco-intelligent need satisfaction and eco-intelligent technical solutions. Design processes are reflecting socio-cultural, economic, and environmental trends and are thus integrated into such trends through a perpetual development process. A modern and innovative design connects the consumer, who is increasingly involved in the design processes (user-oriented design) and the producer. According to a EU report, a modern design and innovation-oriented economy are strengthening the competitive advantage of its companies and economic systems (European Commission, 2009).Sustainability research has shown that the development and implementation of ecological design is essential for a sustainable society. Design is a determining factor for ecological and social effects of products and their value chain in all life cycle phases. Therefore, a sustainable design is a key for improving resource and energy efficiency as well as environmental impacts of products and services. Integrating users and all relevant stakeholders in the value chain into development processes can reveal both negative as well as positive human-technology-interactions and therefore reduce problems of acceptance in consumers. Such a systemic approach requires new ecological services together with adequate business and user models fitting the following definition of eco-innovations, as written in the final report of the EU Sectoral Innovation Watch Panel on eco-innovation:Eco-innovation means the creation of novel and competitively priced goods, processes, systems, services, and procedures that can satisfy human needs and bring quality of life to all people with a life-cycle-wide minimal use of natural resources (material including energy carriers and surface area) per unit output, and a minimal release of toxic substances (Reid and Miedzinski, 2008).Based on this, the LIVING LAB approach is crucial for fostering eco-innovation as its perspective is different from the traditional \"eco-feedback\" approaches. Instead of reducing the users' behavioural options to what product developers deem to be the most sustainable - or raising awareness that does not necessarily result in reduced resource consumption - LIVING LAB wants to explore an approach that should lead to long-term effective sustainable innovations in the home by engaging users rather than restricting them or designing around them. This fits the challenge for LIVING LAB to undertake new methods of user-oriented research in order to foster innovation in sustainable lifestyles and products (Jackson, 2005; Shove, 2005).Modern sustainable homes are often rather high-tech environments. Heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, communication and energy management systems are all connected and interact with each other and with the home occupants who need to monitor, manage, maintain and live with them (Bakker et al., 2008; Selhofer et al., 2010; Shove, 2003). One of the research challenges is to explore to what extent people can indeed successfully interact with the potentially complex range of in-house systems, and to what extent this interaction contributes to sustainable households over time (Sanford and Harris, 2006; Warde, 2005). This leads to the following research objectives: to understand the relationships between home occupants' behaviour, domestic resource consumption and domestic systems (products and technologies), with the aim of minimizing the resource consumption and waste production, while optimizing user experience and comfort.LIVING LAB is an integrated technological socio-economic approach to enable optimised interaction of production and consumption. Technological and social innovations can only be developed interactively by mirroring, explaining, and integrating emerging trends and consumer behaviour. This is and will be essential for companies and consumers because individual or social milieu oriented solutions are going to play a significant role in a continuously differentiating \"World Society\". For instance, the social phenomenon swarms exemplifies the difficulties and open questions about how to respond to new trends and behaviour (Surowiecki, 2004; Couzin and Krause, 2003). However, the product and service mix equivalent for swarms may be quite different to the one of traditional households. This kind of questions must be understood when developing products that shall be sustainable and accepted by new groups of consumers.\n3 The LIVING LAB approach: Traditional methods for generating insights about consumers rarely make it possible to experience the full benefits of new or hypothetical products, and often fail to predict accurately whether consumers will understand the technologies that underpin truly innovative products. As a result, new products and innovations often fail in the market, and companies have increasingly poor returns on their investments in product innovation.Thus, user-centred research can have commercial value for companies by helping alleviate the risk involved when launching a new product, technology or service. At the same time, in designing such products more and more attention is given to improving environmental sustainability, while maintaining quality of life. A user-centred approach is needed here too, because all too often products, that were designed for environmental efficiency under given circumstances, are misused or overused, resulting in unintended and generally less sustainable outcomes (\"the rebound effect\"). There is a need for sustainability-oriented user insight to assess and improve the true impact of sustainable innovations around the home.A LIVING LAB is a combined lab-/household system, analysing existing product-service systems (PSS) as well as technical and socio-economic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations - new product mixes, services and societal infrastructures - and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.) and respect the limited numbers of natural services that can be used without destroying the ecological system. Therefore, this research approach is highly relevant for developing sustainable products and services as it allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user (i.e. home occupant) on centre stage. The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in-context, user-centred research, including long-term and cross-cultural research.LIVING LAB is a research infrastructure that focuses on research of the development of user-integrated PSS. Its overall goals are to:1. Map resource consumption and user experiences of sustainable innovations in the home.2. Understand the discrepancy between people's awareness and actions concerning the use of sustainable innovations in the home.3. Model factors in the use phase of sustainable innovations in the home influencing adoption and resource consumption effects.Furthermore, it aims to develop new longitudinal methods of user-centred design, building on co-creation and open innovation approaches. As most research in this field is of an explorative, qualitative nature, one of the challenges LIVING LAB will be facing is to come up with more robust approaches, addressing issues such as validity and generalization over larger user groups.In order to integrate knowledge of the use of sustainable innovations in the product and service design, the LIVING LAB approach tries to:* develop methods for contextual, social, user-centred design, early prototyping and testing;* explore open innovation processes for the development of sustainable solutions; and* offer different standardised research protocols and data collection methods, hence to provide comparable results between the different LIVING LAB facilities as well as reliable and valid information according to scientific criteria.Additionally, the dissemination of knowledge across the LIVING LAB network and beyond is an important public function of this research infrastructure. To disseminate knowledge on user and design practices facing the sustainable challenges within the EU community the LIVING LAB approach tries to:* establish and maintain an expert centre on sustainable solutions; and* manage databases (user studies, data analysis and collection, etc.) which support knowledge development, transfer and application of sustainable solutions on the national and European level.This research approach will not focus on one area exclusively, such as home automation or energy conservation. Instead, it takes a broader, more holistic perspective. Furthermore, it takes a systemic approach focused on user practice. It therefore can be a strategic research instrument for science, companies and society. It should help to generate competitive advantages matching sustainable requirements and contributions. It should give the possibility of arranging a competition of PSS for the highest resource efficiency solution (including benchmarking processes). For public awareness it is necessary to show the results and to position the PSS in a global economic system. Users should be actively integrated in research for the best sustainability solution.\n4 The LIVING LAB research agenda: Five research lines have been elaborated on the basis of a foresight process that started from a selection of global megatrends. An expert panel of the LIVING LAB project consortium analysed these megatrends and ranked them according to their relevance in terms of sustainability and in terms of LIVING LAB. As trends \"relevant for LL\" were defined those related to areas and developments that affect innovation intensity, competitiveness and user orientation. The experts were supposed to place the megatrends on a ranking system from \"0\" (not relevant at all) to \"5\" (extremely relevant) (Table I).Relevant research questions and topics were elaborated in a matrix on the basis of a cross-impact analysis of the most relevant megatrends and the basic functions of homes. Based on a thematic analysis and clustering of these research questions, five research lines were formulated in order to structure the potentially broad scope of LIVING LAB research into manageable foci:* design, construction and maintenance of sustainable homes;* integrated approaches to home energy management;* the connected home;* resource-efficient lifestyles and social networks; and* new product and service development.The research lines aim at being innovative and explorative but also traceable in their development. Furthermore, they were conceived to be related as closely as possible to current societal developments that influence questions of sustainability, innovation, competiveness and the project's focus area: the home.4.1 Research line: design, construction and maintenance of sustainable homes\n5 Conclusions: The LIVING LAB research agenda is supposed to be a part of a whole management cycle. Thus, the research agenda is not a terminal document but rather opens up an iterative process. As stated in the introduction, the agenda at hand was produced as research radar. Building upon deliverables already elaborated during the LIVING LAB project and using trend analysis, a potential research field was spanned. Out of this research field, as shown in the LIVING LAB research map (Figure 1), several research lines were developed. Clearly, the next step is the implementation of projects - based on the research lines and in a LIVING LAB research infrastructure.Once the first projects are conducted, evaluation will be necessary in order to analyse strengths and weaknesses that appeared. This evaluation again will be point of departure for a new research agenda, adjusting research infrastructure and projects. Processing new societal, technological developments not yet on the horizon, a continuously updated research agenda is a prerequisite for successful, i.e. relevant research at LIVING LAB.Depending on the extent and shape of LIVING LAB in the future, the need for a research agenda on the national level or for a single part of the research infrastructure may arise. In this case, nevertheless, an overall agenda is necessary in order to coordinate LIVING LABs on a European level, safeguarding the advantages of a European network, e.g. mutual learning, economies of scale and flexibility in the light of fast changing requirements in user-centred innovation research.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A LIVING LAB is a combined lab-/household system, analysing existing product-service-systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage.\nFindings: - As this paper discusses the design study, no actual findings can be presented here but the focus is on presenting the research approach.\nOriginality/value: - The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) of this approach are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in-context, user-centred research, including long-term and cross-cultural research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Halal endorsements: stirring controversy or gaining new customers?
|
[
"Religion",
"Labelling",
"Marketing communications",
"Cross-cultural advertising",
"Culture sociology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This research identifies reasons why consumers may reject products that carry religious endorsements. Specifically, we analyze the reactions of Christian consumers toward Muslim directed Halal endorsements. Our research is anchored in two of the most established theories in social psychology, namely Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), which explains peoples' predisposition to form situation contingent \"in-group/out-group\" distinctions and to discriminate on the basis of these boundaries; and Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius and Pratto, 1999), which describes human society as consisting of oppressive group-based hierarchical structures. Adopting the terminology of these theories, we focus on the key drivers of \"in-group\" (in this research context the Christian majority) animosity against \"out-groups\" (in this research context the Muslim minority), and explain the impact of potential animosity on the purchase intent of products carrying Halal endorsements.\nThe role of endorsements in consumer decision making: Endorsements come in various shapes and forms, ranging from statements by celebrities to quality seals issued by third parties. Friedman and Friedman (1979) suggest categorizing the different types of endorsements into three groups, namely celebrity endorsements (CE), typical consumer endorsements and TPE. A similar distinction is proposed by Daneshvary and Schwer (2000), who coined the term sponsorship advertising to denote endorsements and differentiate between identifiable people (celebrities), unidentifiable people (typical consumers), corporation or organization and inanimate figures (cartoon characters). Focussing specifically on TPE, Laric and Sarel (1981) further distinguish between warranties, factual-endorsements and evaluative-certifications. Factual-endorsements, which are central to the arguments we develop below, can also take different forms. A religious endorsement, for example, is a special factual-endorsement relating to ingredients and manufacturing processes, such as Kosher or Halal. Kosher means fit, and Kosher labeled food reflects that it is processed in accordance with Jewish dietary laws (Kashruth) created more than 5,000 years ago (Kamins and Marks, 1991). Halal endorsements, the focus of this research, similarly denote a product or process that is in accordance with the Sharia (Islamic Law). For meat, this means being slaughtered in the prescribed way. Figure 1 provides a classification of endorsements.\nKey constructs and conceptual model: We propose that consumers may reject products with religious endorsements which target consumers of different religious believes, and suggest that a central reason for such rejection is animosity against the focal group addressed by the endorsement. We rest this proposition in two theories that could offer explanations on the roots of such animosity, namely the Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979), and the Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius and Pratto, 1999). A brief discussion of these theories and the associated hypotheses are as follows.\nConceptual model and constructs: We are now describing our conceptual model (Figure 2) and the measures used to capture the constructs in our model.\nMethodology: To empirically test the hypotheses captured in our conceptual model, we conducted a large-scale survey in Austria, a predominantly Christian country. Following a pre-test, questionnaires were distributed to via electronic means and also handed out in person by one of the researchers. Respondents' age ranges from 17 to 76 years: 49.8 percent are under 25 years of age; 44.0 percent are between 25 and 40; while 6.3 percent are older than 40 years. The sample is nearly evenly split between non-students (50.2 percent) and students (49.8 percent).\nDiscussion: This research investigates how in-groups respond to out-group focussed endorsements. Specifically, we base our work on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) and Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius and Pratto, 1999) and analyze how Austrian Christians, the large majority in the country (in-group), react to products that carry minority Muslim-related Halal endorsements (out-group). This addresses an interesting research gap: While some studies investigated the impact of religious endorsements on the same religious community, no study has examined the response of one community toward religious endorsement of another community.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Halal food endorsements perceived positively by the focal target group may lead to a negative reaction of consumers that harbor animosity against this target group. For such potentially controversial endorsements, in-group animosity against out-group associated product endorsements could lead to a rejection and even an outspoken disapproval of these food products. The purpose of this paper is to explain what drives in-group reactions to Halal endorsements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use Social Identity Theory and the Social Dominance Theory in explaining animosity toward out-groups and willingness to buy products with Halal endorsements. Specifically, the authors analyze the reaction of more than 800 in-group majority Christians toward out-group minority Muslim directed Halal endorsements. Following the development of hypotheses and a conceptual model, structural equation modeling is used to measure the relationships between the constructs.\nFindings: Constructs based on Social Dominance Theory and Social Identity Theory predict animosity toward out-group endorsements, but the relationship between Social Dominance Theory and animosity is much stronger. Animosity is a mediator between these two constructs and willingness to purchase products with out-group focussed endorsements (Halal).\nResearch limitations/implications: The research has been conducted in one particular country (Austria) and focusses on a specific type of controversial endorsement, namely a religious (Halal) endorsement. Other research contexts (i.e. other countries and/or different types of controversial endorsements) should be used to widen the empirical base and validate the findings.\nPractical implications: Marketers should be aware of a possible negative impact of out-group focussed endorsements. In particular, they should be cognizant that racism and ethnocentrism prevailing in a society could reduce the purchase intent of in-groups.\nSocial implications: Efforts are required to combat the drivers of animosity between in-groups and out-groups. This paper provides insights on how this may be achieved.\nOriginality/value: This study focusses on a hitherto neglected phenomenon, i.e. controversial endorsements. It uses two alternative theories and advances the understanding of the role of animosity in a domestic consumer setting; an issue that has nearly exclusively been discussed with regard to cross-border purchasing.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Challenges of disaster training: implication for federal and state university libraries in Nigeria
|
[
"Nigeria",
"University libraries",
"Disaster management",
"Disaster training challenges",
"Disaster training programmes",
"Federal and state university libraries",
"Disaster training"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Disaster, irrespective of type (e.g. fire, flood, water, theft and loss of data), is detrimental to libraries due to the material composition of the resources housed in them. Thus, the vulnerability of library resources automatically means same for the library and its existence. One of the major reasons for the existence of university libraries is the general management of information resources with a view to facilitating learning, teaching and research. Again, whatever interferes or prevents the library from accomplishing this task can be termed a disaster. Therefore, any incident that threatens human safety and damages, or threatens to damage a library building, collections, contents, facilities, or services is a disaster (Ahenkorah-Marfo and Borteye, 2010) and could have a serious financial implication and also cause disruption of services (Rehman, 2014). It is therefore essential for libraries to guard against any threat, through adequate preparation to curtail the damage and loss of facilities and resources.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 The concept of disaster training in libraries\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Procedure\n4. Results: RQ1. What disaster training programs are available in federal and state university libraries?\n5. Discussion of findings: In the current study, it was found that the commonest training program in federal and state university libraries is targeted toward using fire disaster equipment and the most frequent of the trainings is fire drills and exercises. This suggests that fighting fire emergencies is the predominant disaster training program available among the libraries studied. This underpins why fire emergency drills and exercises were the prevailing trainings common to all the libraries examined. The interview response of the UL of the University of Lagos further buttressed the argument when she responded that they regularly engage in capacity building such as workshops, trainings and fire drills to sensitize staff members to be disaster conscious. For the UL of NOUN, the training programs provided for staff members fall within and outside the precinct of disaster issues.\n6. Recommendations: From the foregoing, the study recommends that:\n7. Conclusion: Having examined the implication for disaster training programs and the associated challenges on federal and state university libraries in Southwest Nigeria, evidence abounds that disaster training would be more effective if an all-inclusive disaster preparedness approach that cuts across all (existing and potential) vulnerabilities is adopted. Globally, it appears that libraries are better prepared to handle fire emergency than any other known disaster as literature reveals. The deducible justification for this claim particularly in the Nigerian context lies within the precinct of its disaster antecedents. Because disasters occur without prior warnings, the scope of disaster training in libraries should be broadened to accommodate other threats. Furthermore, the training must be designed to familiarize disaster team members with the architectural design of the library facility as well as the utilities, e.g., the location of: major electrical equipment and their control switch, fire extinguishers, stack and office areas, etc., for prompt action.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges affecting disaster training in federal and state university libraries in Southwest Nigeria with a view to finding ways of overcoming them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Having adopted the descriptive research design, 14 university libraries (seven each of federal and state) were selected from the Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. The total enumeration sampling technique was employed. Questionnaire and interview methods were used for data collection. The three research questions that guided the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and ranking. Judgments were drawn using real limit of numbers and 2.50 as criterion mean.\nFindings: Results emanated from the study showed that university libraries in the studied region are more equipped to fight fire disaster than any other emergency which is why fire drills and exercises are the prevailing disaster training received by library staff. It was also found that inadequate disaster facilities and equipment as well as poor funding were the greatest challenges confronting disaster training. The provision of adequate disaster facilities and equipment with the constitution of disaster prevention and response team was found as the most potent strategy for addressing the identified challenges.\nOriginality/value: The study lends strong empirical evidence for the underlining factors affecting disaster training in federal and state university libraries as well as academic libraries in general. The strategies for addressing the identified challenges are of more significance.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Surfacing creativity through the arts: a short interview with Terry McGraw
|
[
"Creative thinking",
"Innovation",
"Arts",
"Management strategy",
"Empowerment",
"Organizations"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: When asked about the value of art-based training, Harold G. (Terry) McGraw III, chairman, president and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies, stated \"Creativity is essential because it is at the heart of innovation, and innovation is a growth driver and, therefore, a business imperative. That is why, for several years, The McGraw-Hill Companies has been using arts-based learning as a training tool in several key leadership initiatives.\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to give the reader a first-hand view of why and how a major global corporation uses arts-based learning, from the perspective of its Chairman and CEO.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper is an interview with Harold (Terry) McGraw III, Chairman and CEO of The McGraw Hill Companies, discussing the value of arts-based learning to his corporation.\nFindings: - Mr McGraw characterizes creativity as a \"business imperative,\" and puts The McGraw Hill Companies' successful experiences with arts-based learning in a broad strategic context of \"surfacing creativity\" through engagement with the arts.\nOriginality/value: - The McGraw Hill Companies is a global pioneer in the use of arts-based learning to train leaders, help employees solve problems creatively, and foster personal growth; and is one of America's leading corporate supporters of the arts. Mr McGraw is a leader of unique stature and credibility, and with this interview, he becomes perhaps the most senior business leader in the world to discuss arts-based learning in business from a perspective of direct experience.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Application and limitation of axiomatic design complexity in quality engineering
|
[
"Bias",
"Axiomatic design",
"Complexity",
"Normal distribution",
"Uniform distribution",
"Variance",
"Relative complexity"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Several techniques have been suggested by Suh (2001) to reduce design complexity by decreasing information content. These techniques include bias elimination, variance reduction, design range (dr) widening, fixing extra design parameters (DPs), and the use of axiomatic design theorems and corollaries. Bias is defined as the positive difference between the mean (m\nComplexity for normal distribution: The design process is described in terms of the mapping between domains in axiomatic design (Suh, 1999). FRs in the functional domain describe the design goals for a product, e.g., systems and software. In the design stage, FRs in the functional domain must be mapped to DPs in the physical domain (Suh, 1999). The probability of success means the probability of satisfying a given FR in the process domain. The process domain can be viewed as the system range. Therefore, the probability of success would be the area under the curve of the pdf for the system range bounded by the dr (Suh, 1999). The purpose is to achieve the function within the specified range. When a task is achieved the task is considered to not be complex and when the task cannot be achieved it is considered to be very complex (Suh, 2005). The system range determines the actual pdf of the resulting design and may be different from the dr. The common range is the portion of the system range overlapped by the dr as shown in Figure 1. Suppose a given FR, system range, is a normal source of information, (Equation 6), then the FR has the pdf:\nCurrent unbounded solution: The common area under the system pdf and dr is the probability of achieving a specified FR (El-Haik, 2005). The complexity due to variability for the interval [m\nNew bounded solution: In Equation (6) the integration range is evenly extended by DFR on both sides of the mean, m\nComplexity for uniform distribution: Organizations that operate with the paradigm of specification limits can be assumed to follow uniform distributions in their products' performance. This paradigm gives rise to the simplest loss function, the step function as shown in Figure 4. A step function is based on the assertion that all parts produced within specifications, i.e., between lower specification (LS) and upper specification (US), are of equal value. The loss axis is conventionally drawn from zero to one, but it could just as easily be scaled from zero to the actual production cost of the part.\nUnbounded worst case: According to Stanford, the uniform distribution is the distribution of maximum entropy. Therefore, in this paper the complexity pertaining to a uniform distribution is proposed as the worst case. Suppose a production system follows a dr with a LS limit as dr\nBounded worst case: Using similar assumptions of information theory as used in the case of a normal distribution, a proposed complexity solution for a uniform distribution is described in this section. Again suppose a production system follows a dr with a LS limit as dr\nRC: For comparison between processes, the complexities as described in the previous sections can be used particularly to determine the complexity for uniformly distributed performance. One important assumption is that the processes perform with the mean coinciding with the target; i.e., bias is zero. RC of a process is defined as the ratio of complexity of the given process delivering performance to a process following a uniform distribution. Mathematically, RC is calculated as:\nExample: In Clausing (1994), the case study was concerned with performance variation and quality loss. The same case study is now addressing performance variation and complexity. In the case study, the design of Sony color televisions manufactured in San Diego and Tokyo plants is the same but the production variation in color density has different patterns or pdfs. The ideal customer satisfaction is achieved at the target T=10 and the specification limits are placed at T+-5. The San Diego plant shipped all the TV sets within specification limits following a uniform distribution under the philosophy of zero defects. The Tokyo factory manufactured TV sets following a normal (Gaussian) distribution with a six-sigma process and with the same target and specification limits T=10+-5. Therefore, the Tokyo plant was shipping 0.3 percent of the TVs outside the specification limits (or defectives) according to normal tables. On this basis, one might have an opinion that the San Diego plant had better performance than the Tokyo plant. Clausing makes the comparison by placing grades on the production from Tokyo plant and also by using the quadratic loss function (Taguchi et al., 1999, 2004) in which the loss assigned to each TV is proportional to the square of the deviation from the target. It was demonstrated that on the basis of this criterion the Tokyo plant performed much better than the San Diego plant.\nComplexity based on probability of satisfying FR: As discussed previously, Suh (2001) defined complexity in terms of the probability of achieving FRs in the dr. For a one-FR design, if the FR is a continuous random variable the probability of achieving the FR in the dr is:\nConclusion: The solution for complexity for a system following a normal distribution as given by El-Haik is unbounded and approximate and only considers variance. A bounded solution for complexity for a normal distribution based on the existing assumptions was given which includes bias in addition to variance. The bounded solution was then compared to the existing approximate solution from the variance as well as bias standpoint. It was found that bias has an inappropriately reverse relationship with the bounded solution of complexity. Therefore, complexity cannot be used to approximate the system improvement when the improvement is based on a reduction in bias. With the help of graphs the limitations of the concept of complexity is shown especially where the complexity cannot be used to truly asses the improvement.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: Complexity is an important element in axiomatic design theory. The current method for calculating complexity for a system following normal distribution is unbounded and approximate. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed bounded solution for complexity using design and system ranges on a single function requirement.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper discusses the complexity measure for a system following a uniform distribution. The complexities of two types of systems, a system performing with a uniform distribution and a system performing on target according to a normal distribution are then considered and compared. The research proposes a complexity measure for a system performing within specification limits with a uniform distribution. In addition, a new concept of relative complexity is proposed.\nFindings: A bounded solution for complexity for a normal distribution based on the existing assumptions was given which includes bias in addition to variance. The bounded solution was then compared to the existing approximate solution from the variance as well as bias standpoint. It was found that bias has an inappropriately reverse relationship with the bounded solution of complexity. Therefore, complexity cannot be used to approximate the system improvement when the improvement is based on a reduction in bias.\nOriginality/value: The current method for calculating complexity for a system following normal distribution is unbounded and approximate. This paper proposed a complexity measure for a system performing within specification limits with a uniform distribution.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Married professional women's career exit: integrating identity and social networks
|
[
"Social networks",
"Women",
"Careers",
"Employee turnover",
"Individual psychology"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Married professional women are increasingly making career decisions that create sensational headlines in management. Most recently, popular press and media hype has focused on talented, well-educated professional women who choose to stop working in order to stay home and care for their families (Baxter and Baird, 2006; Belkin, 2003; Jio, 2008; Story, 2005; Wallis et al., 2004). This notion of married professional women leaving the workforce has been expounded by the media with catch-phrases including the \"opt-out revolution\" and the \"brain drain.\"\nConceptualizing career exit: We define career exit as complete departure from the paid workforce. Career exit or opting out, as it is often referred to in the popular press, can be permanent, whereby a woman sees herself transitioning to \"household manager\" and expects that this will be the career she enacts for the remainder of her lifetime, or temporary, whereby a woman's professional identity becomes dormant with the expectation that it will be revived at a later time in a similar or modified form. We posit that career exit can occur with or without the intention of re-entry, since intention does not necessarily translate into behavior, and therefore include both permanent and temporary workforce departure in our conceptualization of career exit.Before delineating the way in which a woman's identity and social network shape her decision to opt out or exit her career, we first review the prevailing theoretical rationales for individual turnover in general as well as women's turnover in particular.Turnover in organizations\nIdentity: Identity answers the question \"who am I?\" and provides normative guidelines for behavior (Whetten and Godfrey, 1998). Two frameworks on identity have historically dominated the organizational literature, namely social identity theory and identity theory (Hatch and Schultz, 2004). Rooted in self-categorization and social comparison (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Festinger, 1954; Hogg and Terry, 2000; Tajfel and Turner, 1986), social identity theory states that individuals classify themselves and others into various social categories and view membership in these categories as distinct social roles (Tajfel and Turner, 1986). In contrast, identity theory focuses on how roles are arranged in a hierarchy of salience and how role relationships shape individuals' identity (Burke and Tully, 1977; Hogg et al., 1995; Stryker and Burke, 2000). From a post-modern perspective, identity implies both unity and fragmentation (Kondo, 1990) and self-identity is the reflexive process of sustaining a coherent yet continuously revised biographical narrative (Giddens, 1991). Recent research on identity construction introduces the concept of \"identity work,\" an on-going process of creating a coherent, distinct, and positively valued self (Alvesson et al., 2008; Sveningsson and Alvesson, 2003).In this research our interpretation of identity, and its impact on women's career exit, primarily stems from the identity theory framework. Rooted in symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1966; Mead, 1934; Stryker, 1980), the foundational premise that one's self-concept is anchored in social domains is critical when investigating the joint effects of identity and social networks on women's career exit.Identity salience hierarchy\nSocial networks: Identity theorists argue that the self is a product of society and it is in social networks and social interactions that selves are produced (Stryker, 1987). Individuals, groups, and organizations continuously create and recreate themselves through dialogues with others that serve as processes of interpretation and enactment (Goffman, 1959; Humphreys and Brown, 2002):Through social interaction and internalization of collective values, meanings, and standards, one comes to see oneself through the eyes of others and constructs a more or less stable sense of self (Ashforth, 2001, p. 26).Despite the growing call by scholars to consider the embeddedness of social behavior, the network influence of female workforce participation has rarely been examined (Charles et al., 2001). Incorporating a social network perspective is especially important for understanding women's career development since women make career decisions with an awareness of the larger networks of relationships surrounding them (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2006; Marcinkus et al., 2006).Network influence\nEmbeddedness and network properties: Network embeddedness determines one's degree of commitment to an identity and the structure and content of social networks determine how and what feedback is provided to individuals. Commitment to an identity is a function of several network properties including the number (size), affective importance (strength), and multiplexity of network ties that are formed by the person enacting an identity (Thoits, 1983). In addition, density[3], which taps into the redundancy of ties in a network and reveals how interconnected an individual's social network is also serves as a key aspect of one's social network influencing identity (Ibarra, 1993; Podolny and Baron, 1997). These network properties characterize the structure (i.e. size and density) and content (i.e. tie strength, multiplexity) of a given network and are influential in shaping a woman's identity and subsequent career behaviors, particularly career exit.Network size\nStructural constraints on women's social networks: When considering the joint role identity and social networks play in determining women's career exit, it is important to recognize that women's networks are affected by the social structure of their surrounding environment (Feld, 1982; Kanter, 1977; Ng and Chow, 2009; Reskin et al., 1999). As highlighted in their cross-national study, Charles et al. (2001, p. 385) assert that \"individual decision making and economic behavior can only be understood with attention to the broader social environment in which they occur.\" Studies demonstrate that context is filtered through interpersonal relationships (Brass, 1985; Ibarra, 1992, 1997); therefore, we suggest that constraints existing in the environment affect a woman's identity indirectly through her social network. Structural constraints may stem from organizational demography, occupational demography, sociopolitical context, and the ethnic or national culture in which a woman is embedded.Organizational demography\nConditions that facilitate or impede career exit: We argue that identity is the subjective construct that determines women's career exit, however, this behavior is likely moderated by objective conditions that facilitate or impede a woman's ability to exit her career. These conditions include aspects of a woman's spouse's career, the requirements of her dependent care, and her professional tenure.Spouse's career\nIdentity and social network costs and benefits of career exit: Identity shapes both attitudes and behaviors (Stewart and McDermott, 2004; Whetten and Godfrey, 1998), therefore, a woman's career exit reflects her integrated identity at the time of departure. There are several costs to exiting the paid workforce including a loss of income and benefits, a loss of technical skills (Reitman and Schneer, 2005), and an increased risk of distress due to identity loss (Thoits, 1983, 1986). When women exit their careers, they lose an identity that has social value and status and must, in part, redefine who they are (Stone, 2007). As Hall (2002, p. 170) explains, the question \"What do you do?\" is often a more acceptable way of asking, \"Who are you?\" Thus, the feedback loop from costs and benefits of career exit to identity, as depicted in our conceptual model, acknowledges the identity change that a woman who exits her career will undergo due to the loss of her career role identities. Our model also indicates a feedback loop from costs and benefits of career exit to social networks indicating the changes in one's personal network that inevitably follow leaving the workforce. Moore (1990) found that full-time employment decreased the number and diversity of kin in women's networks, and we expect that unemployment would have the opposite effect. Thus, when a woman exits her career she loses a set of role-relationships that defined her as, for example, a professional, an employee, a supervisor, and/or a subordinate. These role-relationships are replaced (although not entirely as network size has been shown to contract) by those in which she is defined as, for example, wife, mother, sister, friend, volunteer, and/or neighbor, thereby further reinforcing these role identities.There are also potential benefits to career exit including the elimination of work stress, reduced dependent care costs, and increased identity clarity (Stone, 2007). When a woman exits her career, since her social network is likely to increase in kin and community composition, it is also likely that the density of these relationships increase resulting in greater identity clarity for this set of role-relationships. Finally, a woman may have experienced normative pressures from her social network to quit following pregnancy, spouse's promotion or transfer, or elder care needs (Maertz and Campion, 2004) which would also subside when she exits her career:P5a. Career exit will lead to redefinition of a woman's salient role identities.P5b. Career exit will lead to changes in the composition of a woman's social network.\nDiscussion: Existing research has argued that career behavior is informed by the interaction of individual agency with the constraining aspects of the social environment (Bailyn, 1989; Hall, 2002; Powell and Mainiero, 1992). Our research develops a conceptual model explaining the reciprocal role that a woman's identity and social network have in driving a specific type of turnover, namely a woman's decision to exit her career or opt out. This dynamic reciprocity accounts for the contribution of extra-individual forces (e.g. direct ties, organizational demography, and national culture) as agents in identity construction (Alvesson et al., 2008) through identity negotiation and embeddedness. In addition, we highlight moderators impacting the relationship between a woman's identity and career exit behaviors, and delineate various costs and benefits of career exit for women's identity and social networks. In a time where individuals enjoy considerable choice regarding career paths, occupations, and employers, examining the complex reciprocal interaction between networks and identities is particularly pertinent (Albert et al., 2000).Theoretical contributions\nConclusion: Although identity and social networks are not new perspectives, in the context of married professional women's careers this conceptual framework highlights the complex individual and relational processes motivating career exit. The model developed here reveals the dynamic contributions that embedded role relationships make in shaping women's careers. We believe this more nuanced approach to the interactions between a woman's identity and her social environment will extend our understanding of the career choices available to and enacted by professional women.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to address the idea of \"opting out\" for married professional women by presenting a conceptual investigation into the impact that a woman's identity and social networks have in shaping her decisions surrounding career exit. A model is developed and intended to help researchers in this area move beyond existing frameworks when attempting to explain and predict women's career exit.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Research from the identity, social networks, turnover, and careers literatures was analyzed and integrated to put forth a new theoretical lens, represented by the conceptual model developed in this paper, that helps to explain married professional women's career exit.\nFindings: - Development of the model reveals a complex, reciprocal relationship between a woman's identity and her social network and depicts how these factors act in concert to shape women's decisions regarding career exit or \"opting out.\" This model also highlights the importance of structural constraints shaping a woman's social network, moderators impacting the relationship between a woman's identity and career exit behaviors, and outcomes of career exit.\nOriginality/value: - Although identity is a fundamental element of career development and relationships with others serve as an origin of self and source of self-understanding, the integration of these perspectives has been conspicuously absent from research on women's career exit. Examining the convergence of identity and social networks and the reciprocal relationship these constructs have on career phenomena advances our knowledge of why married professional women choose to \"opt out\" or exit their careers.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Consequences of "greenwashing": Consumers' reactions to hotels' green initiatives
|
[
"Sustainability",
"Environmental concerns",
"Corporate social responsibility",
"Green hotel",
"Greenwashing",
"Skepticism"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Hotels across the globe are increasingly embracing green practices. This is in response to an increased demand for green establishments stemming from the rise in green consumerism (Han et al., 2010; Laroche et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2010). According to a 2012 survey by TripAdvisor, the \"green\" travel trend is gaining momentum, as 71 per cent consumers asserted that they plan to make more eco-friendly choices in the next 12 months compared to 65 per cent that did so in the past 12 months (TripAdvisor, 2012). In a more recent survey, as much as 79 per cent of travelers indicated that implementing eco-friendly practices is important to their choice of lodging (TripAdvisor, 2013). With the upsurge in green consumerism, consumers are also becoming more critical of hotels' green practices, especially where the environment-friendly quotient is hard to verify and where cost motives take precedence over environmental ones. Consumers' thus have become increasingly aware of hotels' greenwashing propensities.\nLiterature review: Environmental efforts in the lodging industry\nMethodology: Sample and procedure\nResults: Respondents' demographics\nDiscussion: Theoretical implications\nConclusion: Greenwashing is an ongoing issue highly relevant to the lodging industry. Although numerous studies scrutinized this phenomenon in marketing and consumer behavior, hospitality research has not investigated it thoroughly, indicating a strong need of quality research in this topic both from consumer and from managerial standpoints. Our study fills this void and offers utility for both researchers and practitioners. Using influential discounting behavior theory and C-A-B paradigm as theoretical foundations, our study showed that an ulterior motive of hotels' environmental claims evoked consumer skepticism, which, in turn, negatively influenced consumers' intention to participate in the linen reuse program and intention to revisit the hotel. Skepticism was found to partially mediate the relationships between ulterior motive and intention to participate and between ulterior motive and revisit intention. Consumers' ecological concern was not found to moderate the relationship between skepticism and intention to participate and between skepticism and intention to revisit. In addition, a significant positive direct effect between ecological concern and intention to participate and a non-significant effect between ecological concern and revisit intention were revealed. With the increasing media attention on greenwashing, lodging properties across the world are increasingly under the scanner regarding the honesty of their environmental commitment. Consequently, hoteliers need to be more careful than ever concerning the green practices they adopt and how they market those practices. Especially for retaining valuable repeat customers, it is important that hotels diversify their green practices and focus on building a positive green image.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate, drawing upon influential discounting behavior theory and cognition - affect - behavior (C-A-B) paradigm, consumers' reactions to the phenomenon of \"greenwashing\" in the lodging industry. More specifically, this paper proposed and tested a theoretical model that examined whether recognizing the ulterior motive caused consumer skepticism about hotels' environmental claims, which in turn influenced consumers' intention to participate in linen reuse program and intention to revisit the hotel. Additionally, the moderating effects of ecological concern on the relationship between skepticism and intention to participate and between skepticism and intention to revisit were examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quasi-experimental design was used with two conditions (control vs ulterior motive) employing staff members of a US public university as study participants. In total, 638 useful responses were received.\nFindings: The results of this study revealed that an ulterior motive of hotels' environmental claims evoked consumer skepticism, which, in turn, negatively influenced consumers' intention to participate in the linen reuse program and intention to revisit the hotel. Skepticism was found to partially mediate the relationships between ulterior motive and intention to participate and between ulterior motive and intention to revisit. Consumers' ecological concern was not found to moderate the relationship between skepticism and intention to participate in the linen reuse program and skepticism and intention to revisit the hotel. In addition, a significant positive direct effect between ecological concern and intention to participate and a non-significant effect between ecological concern and revisit intention were revealed.\nResearch limitations/implications: Focus on consumers' response to the ulterior motive of environmental claims advances an understanding of consumers' attitudes and perceptions about hotels' green practices.\nPractical implications: Findings suggest that hotels need to be watchful so that consumers do not become skeptical. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that managers do everything possible to give customers no room for doubt. Hoteliers need to spend more effort in installing comprehensive green programs and make true green claims by keeping the potential consequences of greenwashing in mind. Hoteliers also need to seek out third-party certifications that require the hotel to meet certain standards, which will help ensure credibility in the eyes of consumers.\nOriginality/value: Hospitality literature has seldom explored this gray area of green marketing, and, in this regard, this study serves as a guide to hoteliers and researchers alike. The authors thereby anticipate that this study would encourage more research in this often overlooked but highly important area.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Strategic sourcing in the Hong Kong toy industry
|
[
"Strategic planning",
"Toys",
"Strategic leadership",
"Suppliers",
"Continuous improvement",
"Hong Kong"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The high-quality toys manufactured by Hong Kong toy companies attracts a lot of overseas customers such as Disney, Hasbro, Mattel from the United States of America, and Bandai, Takara and Tomy from Japan, who provide licensing for toy manufacturing or provide design for original equipment manufacturing (OEM). On the other hand, Manley, Playmates and Vtech are the famous Hong Kong manufacturers who design and market products under their own brand names that are known as open items (HKTDC, 2004). In order to take advantage of lower land/labour cost and sufficient labour resources, with the introduction of open door policy in China, many Hong Kong manufacturing companies, since the 1980s, have retained only the supporting services in Hong Kong and relocated their production facilities to southern China, such as Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou, ranging from several to two hundred kilometres away from Hong Kong (Yam and Tang, 1996).Nowadays, competition in the global market is keen. It asks for low cost, high quality, short product development lead-time, and high customer satisfaction. Facing the rapid growth and development of indigenous Chinese enterprises, Hong Kong toy manufacturers are under high pressure to compete with them. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council has conducted two surveys on Hong Kong as a sourcing centre for China-made products (HKTDC, 2000, 2003). The results showed that Hong Kong is challenged by Shanghai and Guangzhou of China in competitive cost. This implies that Hong Kong suppliers have to enhance the sourcing performance, so as to deliver goods to customers in a cost-effective manner.Sourcing is a complex process that contributes tremendously to the competitive advantage of an organization (Novack and Simco, 1991). High percentages (50 to 70) of an organization's sales revenues or total manufacturing costs are spent in sourcing of raw materials, components, finished goods or services (Presutti, 2003; Lo and Yeung, 2004, Tayles and Drury, 2001). If sourcing cost can be reduced, it can improve return on investment by increasing both the profit margins and the asset turnover rate (Dobler and Burt, 1996; Leenders and Fearon, 1997).There are a lot of manufacturing activities handled by Hong Kong toy companies. The companies have the choice to handle all these activities completely within the companies or retain only the core activities, such as product design and production line assembly, and outsource other activities through tier suppliers in the supply chain and provide only value-added activities in-house prior to shipment to the consumers. If toy companies can find good and reliable suppliers, in addition to focus on the internal sourcing operations, the suppliers can help the companies to control the new product development schedule, production planning and shipment schedule, in turn, to maintain a high quality standard within an acceptable budget and as a result to gain the competitiveness.There is much research in strategic sourcing, such as Engel (2003), Greaver (1999), Banfield (1999), Anderson and Katz (1998) and Quelin and Duhamel (2003) that are conceptual frameworks to identify key elements and procedures or processes to implement strategic sourcing. Others are longitudinal research on case studies in different industries such as Momme and Hvolby's (2002) research in a heavy industry; and Zeng (2003) adopts the process viewpoint and examines the design and management issues associated with global sourcing process based on a US aviation industry. These case studies provide in-depth investigation on limited samples of companies, so the results may be varied from companies of larger scale.No doubt that there are a lot researches in Hong Kong Industry regarding strategic sourcing, such as Li et al. (2003) study the relationship between supplier development and sourcing performance; Humphreys et al. (2004) study the relationship between supplier development and buyer-supplier performance; Humphreys et al. (2000) develop a strategic sourcing framework, which focuses on \"Buy or Make\" decision; Lo and Yeung (2004) develop a strategic alliance framework that integrates TQM philosophies into supplier alliances. It seems that there are very few studies on strategic sourcing for Hong Kong industry similar to Engel (2003), Greaver (1999), Banfield (1999), Anderson and Katz (1998), Quelin and Duhamel (2003), Momme and Hvolby (2002) and Zeng (2003). On the other hand, continuous improvement in strategic sourcing is identified to be an important element by Momme and Hvolby (2002), Engel (2003), and Zeng (2003), but it is not discussed and studied in detail by the authors. Therefore, it is one of this paper's objectives to review and examine continuous improvement in strategic sourcing.This paper examines the importance of strategic sourcing and key success factors by reviewing relevant literature to identify the core values and key success factors of strategic sourcing. A questionnaire survey was conducted and the empirical findings are used to verify the key success factors and the importance of strategic sourcing. As part of the empirical study, the extent of implementation (current practices) of these success factors and their relationship with sourcing performance in the Hong Kong toy industry are investigated. Lastly, implications of the findings will be drawn to enhance the competitiveness of the Hong Kong toy industry.\nCore values of strategic sourcing: During the past two decades, the sourcing function has been changed from a supportive role to strategic activity and has made significant progress to improve the competitive advantage of an organization (Quayle, 2002, Carr and Smeltzer, 1997). Based on extensive literature review, critical strategic sourcing elements are built upon the set of interrelated core values namely \"Leadership involvement in strategic sourcing\", \"Focus on core competence and life cycle cost\", \"Develop sourcing strategies\", \"Manage suppliers in strategic sourcing\" and lastly \"Continuous improvement in strategic sourcing\". Above all, these five core values are under the support of top management commitment and involvement in strategic sourcing. The details are discussed as follow:Leadership involvement in strategic sourcing\nKey success factors of strategic sourcing: Embedded in the core values, there are 14 key success strategic sourcing factors identified through literature review. By reviewing the nature of the 14 factors, they are grouped into three strategic sourcing factor categories namely as \"Visionary leadership in strategic sourcing\", \"Supplier management system\" and \"Continuous improvement\". The hierarchical model of key success factors in strategic sourcing is shown in Figure 1.\n1. Visionary leadership in strategic sourcing: Visionary leadership is defined as the ability to create a realistic and achievable vision with which companies can improve upon the present. The vision contains values and actions that are taken to achieve the desired result and expectation by allocating resources to make it happen (Robbins, 2000; Besterfield et al. 2003). Six key success factors in strategic sourcing have the same nature that requires visionary leadership, details as below:1.1 Leadership in strategic sourcing planning\n2. Supplier management system: Sourcing activities involve a lot of interactions with existing suppliers and new suppliers. To effectively distinguish the best system to suit the company's requirement and long-term needs is important (Dobler and Burt, 1996; Pooler and Pooler, 2004). Four key success factors in strategic sourcing related to management of suppliers are grouped under this strategic sourcing factor category. Details are shown below.2.1 Supplier evaluation and selection\n3. Continuous improvement: Continuous improvement is a critical element in strategic sourcing (Momme and Hvolby, 2002; Engel, 2003; Banfield, 1999; Zeng, 2003). It is a strategic activity activated by competitive pressure in the business environment and it aims to reduce cost, timescales as well as improve standard and productivity (Davison et al., 2005). Companies recognize that continuous improvement is necessary and the new environment forces companies to work towards common goals and to modify the attitudes and behaviours of personnel towards suppliers (Wagner et al., 2002). There is limited research literature in continuous improvement in strategic sourcing. By making reference to other domains of research literature, continuous improvement in strategic sourcing should begin with management of people, improvement in system and process, and finally learning through organization.3.1 People management\nResearch methodology: Research issues\nResults and analysis: Reliability and validity\nDiscussion and managerial implication: Based on our research results, five core values and 14 key success factors of strategic soucring were identified. The importance and current practices (extent of implementation) of these 14 factors by the Hong Kong toy industry were examined through questionnaire survey and results were valid and reliable. In addition, the results indicate the relationships of implementation of these 14 factors are positively related to sourcing performance and strategic sourcing could contribute to sourcing performance. Moreover, we examined the factors within the strategic sourcing factor categories of \"Continuous improvement\", i.e. \"People management\", \"System improvement\", \"Process improvement\" and \"Learning organization\" which were agreed by the Hong Kong toy industry as important factors in strategic sourcing but there are limitations of current strategic sourcing research. These are the areas that require researchers to further explore.The results show that \"Visionary leadership in strategic sourcing\", \"Supplier management system\" and \"Continuous improvement\" contribute similarly to the sourcing performance. But the extent of implementation results in Table IV indicate that the companies are performed well in the areas with highest rating (3.32) in \"Visionary leadership in strategic sourcing\", moderate rating (3.16) in \"Supplier management system\" and lowest rating (2.91) in \"Continuous improvement\". This implies that companies should further improve \"People management\", \"System improvement\", \"Process improvement\" and \"Learning organization\" by engaging top management and providing resources to support sourcing activities.Since the results show that implementation is lagging behind the degree of importance of strategic sourcing, it suggests that there is room for improvement. By reviewing this research, it provides a number of valuable findings and implications about strategic sourcing.First of all, \"Visionary leadership in strategic sourcing\" contributes to strategic sourcing. This indicates that strategic sourcing requires top management to set and communicate clear sourcing objectives and performance expectations to all levels of related employees. By encouraging cultural change to motivate and reward employees in the organization, it facilitates the collaboration across intra-organizational boundary, thus it can help to improve the sourcing performance. It is necessary for top management to include sourcing as part of corporate strategy, provide adequate resources to support sourcing function and encourage development of long-term buyer and supplier relationship. On the other hand, it is critical to utilize departmental expertise to form cross-functional teams to conduct competitive analysis. By interpreting the analyzing information, action plans are developed with a view to enhancing the strengths and weaknesses in sourcing function. Focus on life cycle cost is one of the important sourcing principles that lead to sourcing performance. The sourcing knowledge and skill of sourcing personnel is crucial to apply sourcing strategies to meet different requirements on products to be delivered.Secondly, \"Supplier management system\" also contributes to strategic sourcing. This implies that management of supplier is crucial. Suppliers who pass the evaluation on multiple selection criteria are qualified. Through matching product requirements with relevant criteria, the supplier with highest score is selected. It is essential to monitor supplier performance by performance assessment program. Based on the assessment results, suppliers can take correction actions for improvement. Moreover, the poorly performing suppliers can be pruned from the supply base. On the contrary, the good suppliers with reliable performance are certified and the partnership strategy can be applied. Similarly, the suppliers with average performance can be further developed by transferring best practices among suppliers through education and training. As a result, companies can gain competitive advantage through improving suppliers' capabilities. Collaboratiion with suppliers by providing more information, enabling early supplier involvement in new product development, can improve the development lead-lead and cost; thus can improve the sourcing performance.Thirdly, \"Continuous improvement\" also contributes to strategic sourcing. This suggests that continuous improvement in strategic sourcing is also important. The management should set the continuous improvement tasks in sourcing, allocate resources, provide an organization-wide culture, offer training to employees, motivate employees by reward and recognition to facilitate continuous improvement in sourcing. Systematic approaches should be adopted to solve problems and improve the sourcing system. Continuous improvement tools and techniques should be applied to improve sourcing performance by eliminating the problem sources. Companies should develop a learning organization through reinforcing the sharing of tacit knowledge through interpersonal communications, transferring existing and new knowledge within the company, and integrating knowledge into process, products or services through lessons learned from previous failure cases.\nConclusion and future research: The purpose of this study is to examine the key success strategic sourcing factors in the Hong Kong toy industry. The results of empirical findings of this study indicate that sourcing performance is positively related to the implementation of 14 key success strategic sourcing factors. It provides insight for Hong Kong toy companies to improve their sourcing performance by focusing on all these 14 key factors. Due to limited resources, it is not feasible to implement all 14 factors at once. Although the results showed the ranking of importance of the 14 factors, these factors were closely related and could not contribute to a good regression model. It is not appropriate to use the ranking of the factors as a reference. As a result, the future research will focus in prioritizing the 14 factors through interviews with experts in strategic sourcing of the Hong Kong toy industry. By analyzing the result, the importance of the 14 key factors will be prioritized. With reference to this result, a strategic sourcing model for Hong Kong toy companies will be developed and validated through case studies. The model can help Hong Kong toy companies through strategic sourcing to ally with high quality suppliers to source material, finished goods and services to improve the sourcing performance in order to gain competitive advantage.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to identify the core values and key success factors in strategic sourcing; and to examine the importance of strategic sourcing and the key success factors in the Hong Kong toy industry. In addition, the relationship between the implementation of the key factors and sourcing performance in the Hong Kong toy industry are investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The empirical research is based on a questionnaire survey that collected data from 205 Hong Kong toy companies. The survey investigated the degree of importance of key success strategic sourcing factors and the extent of implementation of the key factors in the companies. Furthermore, the sourcing performance of the companies was measured to investigate its relationship with the implementation of the key factors.\nFindings: - The research identifies five core values and 14 key success factors in strategic sourcing through literature reviews. The survey findings indicate that the identified key success factors are important and positively related to the sourcing performance. Moreover, the results show that the implementation of strategic sourcing in the Hong Kong toy industry is lagging behind the degree of importance of strategic sourcing.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Since there is a gap between the implementation and importance of strategic sourcing, there is room for the Hong Kong toy industry to improve sourcing performance by addressing the 14 key success factors.\nOriginality/value: - The paper identifies the key success strategic sourcing factors to improve sourcing performance in the Hong Kong toy industry.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Impact of audit quality on the components of executive cash compensation
|
[
"Performance",
"Organizational theory",
"Performance measures",
"Executive compensation"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Research has established that higher-quality auditors receive a fee premium (Crawswell et al., 1995) and that they positively affect firm parameters such as earnings quality and earnings response coefficients (Balsam et al., 2003; Krishnan, 2003). However, the impact of audit quality on the agency aspects of a firm has not been adequately studied. Accordingly, in this paper, we investigate the impact of audit quality on executive compensation.\n2. Literature review: In the modern business environment, the functions of ownership and management are separate. In such circumstances, classic agency theory implies that shareholders (principal) can get the manager (agent) to maximize the principal's utility through monitoring and incentive compensation (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). There have been many articles in the financial press regarding pay for performance and the perceived excesses in CEO and other executive compensation (Mullaney, 2015; Willingham, 2016)[2]. In other words, executive compensation has been a matter of utmost interest to academics, practitioners, regulators and the public.\n3. Hypotheses development: Agency theory states that performance-based incentives can reduce the agency problem. However, accounting-based performance measures, which are extensively used in executive compensation, can be easily manipulated by the managers. In fact, research shows that managers manipulate earnings for the specific purpose of influencing their bonus payments. Healy (1985), in a seminal study, finds that managers will manage earnings around bonus caps. Hence, if the earnings go above the cap, the managers will manage earnings downwards[4]. These results have been validated by subsequent research such as Gaver et al. (1995) and Holthausen et al. (1995).\n4. Data and research design: 4.1 Data\n5. Results and analysis: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Conclusion: We use agency theoretic arguments to predict that as audit quality increases, the ability of managers to manipulate performance measures such as earnings and revenues becomes costlier. Hence, the informativeness of earnings and revenues increases with respect to the productive effort of the managers. The firm is therefore able to place a higher weight on these accounting measures of performance in determining the managers' incentive compensation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study the impact of audit quality on the components of executive cash compensation. It is predicted that as audit quality improves, greater emphasis will be placed on the incentive components of cash compensation, and lower emphasis on the salary (fixed) component. Specifically, it is predicted that as audit quality enhances, greater emphasis will be placed on earnings and sales revenues in determining executive cash compensation. Using auditor specialization as a proxy for audit quality, empirical support is provided for all of our predictions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper provides empirical support with agency theoretic predictions.\nFindings: This paper developed the following hypotheses: H1 - in executive cash compensation, more weight is being placed on earnings-based measures as auditor specialization improves; H2 - in executive cash compensation, more weight is also being placed on sales revenues as auditor specialization improves; H3 - in executive cash compensation, salary levels decrease as auditor specialization improves; and H4 - the impact of auditor specialization on the weight on earnings, sales and the salary levels is lower in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) period compared to pre-SOX period.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the article limits itself to cash compensation, while current executive compensation is largely made of equity. Second, the measure of audit quality used, 'national level auditor specialization', may not be as effective in the post-SOX era.\nPractical implications: Compensation committees should pay attention to audit quality (in whatever way it may be proxied by) in determining executive compensation.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to show that audit quality not only improves the earnings response coefficient in firm valuation but also enhances the weight placed on earnings (and sales revenues) in executive compensation.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Transformational leadership and innovative work behavior
|
[
"Transformational leadership",
"Self-construal",
"Psychological empowerment",
"Innovative work behaviour"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In today's highly competitive and technologically advanced world, innovation plays a critical role (Smith and Tushman, 2005). Innovation by employees is one of the best ways to foster innovation and organizational success (Mytelka and Smith, 2002; Van de Ven, 1986). To motivate employees to innovate in intense knowledge-based work contexts, the role of managers as leaders has received attention of researchers and practitioners. Thus researchers have found increasing interest in discovering ways to persuade employees at individual levels to display creative behaviors through transformational leadership (Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006; Podsakoff et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2005). However, how transformational leaders affect innovative work behaviors (IWBs) of employees has not been adequately researched (Gong et al., 2009; Jung et al., 2003). While researchers have studied the relation between individual perceptions of transformational leadership and employees' creativity, which is first stage of innovation (Hyypia and Parjanen, 2013; Malloch, 2014), minimal attention has been given to the effect of transformational leadership on employees' IWB.\nTheoretical framework: IWB\nResearch method: Participants and procedures\nData analysis and results: Common method variance\nDiscussion: The current study adds the moderating role of employee's self-construal to the previous empirical research on transformational leadership-IWB linkage. The purpose was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB by focussing on psychological empowerment and self-construal (interdependent self-construal and independent self-construal). This study suggests three important conclusions. First, as shown in previous studies (e.g. Jung et al., 2003; Majumdar and Ray, 2011; Reuvers et al., 2008), we found a positive link between transformational leadership and IWB. Transformational leadership positively influences idea generation and employee's creativity on one hand and idea implementation on the other. However, the positive effect of transformational leadership on idea generation is stronger than idea implementation. The path coefficient of 0.23 between transformational leadership and IWB is slightly less than path coefficients found in previous studies which were mostly carried in western contexts. This may be due to the individual and cultural differences, as employees in Asian context are more collectivists and prefer to work on goals set by the organization and the group instead of pursuing personal goals which inhibit out of the box solutions.\nTheoretical implications: Our findings help to understand deeper the drivers of IWB among employees through focus on empowered followers and the relationship they have with supervisors. Transformational leadership fosters employee's creativity as well as his/her ability to convince others to implement novel ideas. Transformational leaders give autonomy and freedom to employees by placing emphasis on the meaning and worth of work roles. They stimulate intellectual abilities of employees and inspire them to create opportunities to significantly impact their work roles, which leads to higher levels of IWB.\nPractical implications: There are several practical implications that can be derived from our findings. It is practically important for leaders to understand what fosters IWB among employees. Those employees who have high interdependent self-construal display more IWB under the influence of transformational leader as compared to the employees who prefer personal identities and goals over their organizational identities and goals. Therefore, leaders should try to initiate socialization and training programs to bring closer their subordinates. This can be applied to the recruitment strategy by selecting those employees who prefer group goals and aspirations over individual goals and aspirations. Continuous innovation is critical for leaders and as innovation brings change in organization and employees who are socially interwoven care and help each other to accept the change. Those who are socially distant are difficult to convince for a change because they prefer status quo. By creating a greater sense of empowerment, transformational leaders could have a more positive effect on levels of IWB of their subordinates. To promote feelings of psychological empowerment, managers should articulate a vision to innovate continuously to inspire employees, recognize their efforts and give autonomy in job-related activities, clarify goals through collaboration and clearly specify tasks, responsibilities, and rewards, understand their needs and demands, build trust and confidence among employees to try out new ideas. To conclude, our findings suggest that not only the motivational issue of \"what do you want\" is important for employee IWB, but that the self-identity issue of \"who you are\" also plays an important role in stimulating employees' IWB.\nLimitations and recommendations: The current study in not without limitations. First, we were unable to establish causality due to the cross-sectional nature of data. We could not examine whether empowered employee causes more innovativeness in his/her behavior or willingness to innovate results in more psychological empowerment. Second, we relied on a questionnaire study and convenience samples. Although convenience samples were used and data was collected from China, the emergence of similar results across studies helps reduce concerns of limited generalizability and future research is needed to replicate results across western cultures (e.g. America, Western Europe), work contexts, and study designs. Third, cross-sectional, self-report method of collecting data might result in common method bias. We encourage researchers to continue this line of research by exploring other potential mediator variables on the effects of transformational leadership on IWB and by conducting longitudinal studies to explore the causal relationships implied in this study. It would also be beneficial to focus on the impact of transformational leadership on team-level behaviors and their impact on IWB, in particular the interaction of individuals with each other and the interaction of individuals as a team because most of the innovations take place in teams (Hulsheger et al., 2009).\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of self-construal (independent and interdependent) on the relationship between transformational leadership and employees' innovative work behavior (IWB).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 639 followers and 87 leaders filled out questionnaires from cross-industry sample of five most innovative companies of China. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relations.\nFindings: Results revealed that psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB. The research established that transformational leadership positively influences IWB which includes idea generation as well as idea implementation. The results also showed that the relationship between transformational leadership and IWB was stronger among employees with a higher interdependent self-construal and a lower independent self-construal.\nOriginality/value: This study adds to IWB literature by empirically testing the moderating role of self-construal and the mediating role of psychological empowerment on transformational leadership-IWB link.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Business strategies and the adoption of ERP: Evidence from Taiwan's communications industry
|
[
"Communication technologies",
"Manufacturing resource planning",
"Management strategy",
"Taiwan"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Given Taiwan's relatively small size and limited natural resources, it is essential that the country develops high-tech industries to sustain economic growth. Towards this goal, as far back as the early 1980s, the Taiwan Government started pooling its efforts and resources to encourage and support entrepreneurial activities and endeavors to stimulate the development of technology-intensive industries. Since then, Taiwan's computer and peripherals industries have become truly global businesses. Taiwan has also been trying to develop other technologies, including communications technology which is a new trillion-NT-dollar industry, and part of e-Taiwan's goal to develop the island into Asia's most digitized country (www.moea.gov.tw/~meco/cord/92report/92ppt.pdf). According to Industry & Technology Intelligence Services (www.itis.org.tw/web/Reports.jsp), the communications industry has been expanding. Market statistics indicate that the production value of this industry was US$12.17, 14.99 and 21.47 billion in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively, representing an annual growth rate of up to 23.2 and 43.2 percent.It is often essential that organizations adopt various state-of-the-art information technologies to upgrade and improve their business operations in order to stay competitive in the global economy. And, as many enterprises attest, it is quite important to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. ERP is an information system (IS) that integrates and manages all aspects of a business, including production planning, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, distribution, accounting, and customer service (Kumar et al., 2002). The research of Ho et al. (2004) focused on adaptation management strategies that manage the implementation of EPR. Lin et al. (2006) used quality function deployment to develop corporate strategies to improve ERP implementation. Velcu (2007) explored the relationship between ERP and the perceived benefits and found that alignment between ERP and business strategy contributes to the success of ERP projects.Cowan and Eder (2003) discussed AT&T's implementation of an ERP system and concluded the technological structure could be upgraded as the business strategy evolved. Berchet and Habchi (2005) considered that the implementation and deployment of the ERP system were a huge success for Alcatel, France. These research studies each focused on a case study of a telecommunications company. The research of Tsai and Hung (2008) suggested that ERP system implementation must take industrial differences into consideration. The present study aimed to provide further insight into the adoption of ERP and its relationship to business strategies in Taiwan's communications industry. It focuses on a single industry as this makes it possible to investigate the potential impact of industry-specific characteristics more effectively.\nLiterature review: Some issues relating to ERP systems\nResearch model: ERP adoption model\nResearch methodology: The research reported in this paper has been carried out using a deductive-inductive research approach proposed by Wallace (1971), while using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Initially, the research design began with theory. Using deductive reasoning, testable hypotheses from the theory were derived. The researcher then decided on the appropriate method for testing the hypotheses. After collecting data for testing the hypotheses, whether there is empirical support for the hypotheses can be decided based on the results of the data analysis. The latter process is referred to as inductive reasoning.In the context of this study, the research method involves reliance on both deductive and inductive reasoning approaches. Using the deductive approach, secondary data were collected via a review of the theory and research literature including articles, journals, books, and on- and off-line databases. At this point, we deduced consequences and made predictions from the theory related to ERP adoption and then four hypotheses were formulated. Inductive reasoning was then necessary to analyze the statistical data and reach the research results. Primary statistical data, described in more detail below, were collected using a questionnaire survey. Using appropriate statistical analysis techniques, the inferential results aim to verify or reject the hypotheses and lead to the development of a new modeling approach and theorizing of ERP adoption.Data were collected in two phases: during a pilot study and during a final questionnaire survey. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in both phases to test the validity of the responses. The pre-test questionnaire was constructed based on the previous research. Then, in the pilot study, a panel of experts and business chief officers was formed to review each question and suggest necessary refinements to the written, structured questionnaire. All questions are expressed in plain Chinese and are easily understandable by informants.In the second phases, a senior person (chief executive officer, manger director, manager, or consultant) in each of the communications businesses selected was contacted by telephone and asked to participate in the survey, with the assistance of a marketing research firm in Taiwan. The purpose of the survey was explained during the initial telephone contact, and a personal interview was set-up so that the most qualified person could be directly contacted to conduct the face-to-face interview and complete the questionnaire. The duration of the second phase was two weeks. The data were gathered and coded in a manner that allowed them to be quantitatively and statistically analyzed (Shih et al., 2006).A list of 315 communications businesses was obtained from the Committee of Communications Industry Development in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Information Service Industry Association of the ROC. Of these 315 companies, 100 companies completed the surveys, and the response rate was roughly 32 percent. The detailed breakdown of the respondents in terms of the total number of employees, total annual sales revenue, IT budget, and the computer-to-employee ratio is shown in Table I. Overall, the sample represents a wide range of firms, thereby increasing the generalizability of the results.Factor analysis of multi-item indicators and Cronbach's a-coefficient were used to evaluate validity and reliability of the constructs, respectively. Moreover, discriminant analysis was employed to test the four hypotheses pertaining to the decision to adopt ERP. It provides an appropriate statistical technique to identify the research variables that best discriminate between ERP adopters (the variable was coded 1) and non-adopters (the variable was coded 0). The objective is to maximize the between-group variance relative to the within-group variance. The basic assumption of discriminant analysis is that the discriminators follow multivariate normal distributions in each group with equal covariance matrix. However, in reality, discriminant analysis is quite robust even when the assumptions of multivariate normality are not met. In such cases, the discriminant analysis is found to give useful results (Jackson, 1983) and is, therefore, deemed an acceptable analytical procedure.\nData analysis and results: Analysis of reliability and validity\nDiscussions: ERP systems have been reshaping business structures and used to integrate the information flow in organizations because they are capable of solving the challenges posed by portfolios of supposedly disconnected and even uncoordinated business applications (Davenport, 1998). Taking theories from the extant literature into account, this paper is the first to develop and test an integrated model of ERP adoption in the communications industry in Taiwan. In general, the results provide strong support for our proposed model. A total of five ERP factors were evaluated in this study. Based on the tests of reliability and validity, the proposed instrument is a good measurement tool. Except for the factor of \"perceived IT advantages,\" the discriminant loadings of the other four factors have positive values, indicating that these factors lead to a higher probability of ERP being adopted.As for business strategies, all of the factors we evaluated are important discriminant indexes in determining the decision to adopt ERP. These results provide further support for the findings from prior research (Kumar et al., 2002; Umble et al., 2003; Ho et al., 2004; Wei et al., 2005; Velcu, 2007).The internal needs of a business are evidently a key factor affecting the adoption of an ERP system by that business. It is apparent that \"production and operations improvement\" is the second most effective discriminator, while \"product and service enhancement\" is the third most effective. This means that these two variables for ERP adopters are significantly higher than those for non-adopters. This finding is consistent with that of Premkumar and Ramamurthy (1995) whose study showed that for potential adopters to adopt a successful innovation, the innovation must satisfy internal needs.Adoption of an innovation occurs not only as a result of a rational assessment of the business implications of the new technology, but also as a response to satisfying market demand and external pressure. In this study, \"market expansion\" was included to reflect the role of external strategy. The results from the discriminant analysis indicate that \"market expansion\" affects the decision to adopt ERP.Shehab et al. (2004) confirmed that the implementation of an ERP system is a lengthy and costly process that requires large capital investment and a great number of personnel. In this study, the number of employees was used to measure organization size. Not surprisingly, the value of discriminant loading of organization size is the highest, and this indicates that organization size is the most significant discriminator. As the discriminant loading of this factor is positive, businesses that are larger show a greater likelihood of adopting ERP. This is consistent with findings from many studies on the adoption of ERP (Umble et al., 2003; Shehab et al., 2004).Nevertheless, it is well known that in many countries SMEs are the backbone of the economy. By using web-based technologies and community networks, SMEs may also enhance their competitiveness (Shehab et al., 2004). Koh and Simpson (2005, 2007) concluded that ERP could improve responsiveness and agility when faced with change and create a competitive advantage for SMEs. Although Boykin (2001) has concluded that ERP is better suited to comparatively large firms, smaller firms must still regularly adjust their business model and approach. What this implies is that if ERP systems suppliers center more on the needs of SMEs and supply them with more flexible software package selections, this may very well help SMEs increase their competitiveness.Finally, the remaining factor, \"perceived IT advantages,\" does not have any significant direct effect on the decision to adopt ERP. Furthermore, the univariate test shows there is no difference between the two groups. This is not consistent with the results of previous research on innovations that has found perceived advantage to be a significant variable for firms to adopt technology when they perceive IT as being beneficial in increasing their competitive advantage (Premkumar and Roberts, 1999; Thong, 1999; Tallon et al., 2000; Cao and Schniederjans, 2004; Yen and Sheu, 2004). Although \"perceived IT advantages\" seems to be an insignificant factor in this study, one should not ignore its important contributions to ERP practice. The reason is that \"perceived IT advantages\" has the highest mean, which indicates that most businesses believe in the importance of IT. This is consistent with the finding of Teo and Ang (2000) that ranked IS plans as the most useful in supporting business objectives in Singapore. Like Singapore, Taiwan is also a small island with limited manpower and high-labour costs.\nConclusions: Although a large number of businesses have already adopted ERP, users need to be careful, since this technology may not be the perfect tool in every case. Different organizations may need different methods to resolve each and every one of their problems. This study investigated the links between ERP adoption and firms' strategies in the communications industry in Taiwan. The results clearly demonstrate that ERP adoption is significantly associated with \"production and operations improvement,\" \"product and service enhancement,\" \"market expansion,\" and \"size.\" It is hoped that the results of this study provide some insight into the growing body of knowledge on the adoption of ERP. As with all research, this paper has some limitations that may form the starting point for further research.First, cross-sectional data have limitations in explaining the direction of causality in the relationships among variables. Future work should focus on a longitudinal analysis in order to strengthen the direction of causality proposed by the model. Second, our data only cover a single communications industry - that of Taiwan. This helps to minimize biases that could be introduced across industries and countries. However, the generalizability of the study is a concern. Different industries and countries have different operating characteristics and environments, and the factors related to the adoption of ERP may be quite different. One avenue for future research is to examine the robustness of the findings across industries and countries. Finally, numerous other factors that could possibly affect ERP adoption such as various types of uncertainty (Loh and Koh, 2004; Koh and Simpson, 2005, 2007; Koh et al., 2006) have not perhaps been observed in this research even if they affect the decision to adopt ERP. We encourage other researchers in the ERP area to continue this line of research and either confirm or modify the model that we have proposed here.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between business strategies and the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in Taiwan's communications industry. This sector has experienced astounding growth in production over the past three years.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data are collected from 100 organizations through face-to-face interviews. A discriminant analysis is used to test the hypotheses pertaining to the ERP adoption decision.\nFindings: - The results show that a number of identified variables among the key internal and external descriptors of the firm's business strategies are the chief factors that determine whether ERP is adopted or not. Another variable, organization size, is also important, indicating that companies of different size approach the adoption of ERP differently. These variables correctly classify 78 percent of the decisions made with respect to the adoption of ERP.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first empirical research study that examines the relationship between a firm's business strategy and the adoption of ERP in the rapidly expanding communications industry in Taiwan. With an increased understanding and better insight into this relationship, it should be possible for managers to be more proactive in their planning of the future adoption of an ERP system.\n",
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] |
Establishing a strong theoretical understanding of business action research: Focusing on networking learning and leadership
|
[
"Research methods",
"Leadership",
"Group dynamics"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As companies face increasingly turbulent and difficult economic circumstances, they have sought to devise more effective ways of overcoming the multitude of problems that they face. Business action research, with its emphasis on learning by doing allows those involved in problem solving to identify the issues, present ways of dealing with them and, in conjunction with others, readjust the results through evaluation. However, this concentration on practice often results in business organizations failing to reflect on their activity and to develop a theoretical understanding of action research. An initiative, the Business Action Research cohort (BARC), was established in 2002 to provide an environment in which intellectual activity could take place and a better understanding gained of how to apply action research in the workplace. This article records the experience of the BARC team that comprised of a network of practitioner-scholars based at Monash Univerity, Australia. It describes their establishment of a learning network that was focused on creating actionable knowledge and details how the original members of the PhD cohort acted as members and leaders to subsequent intakes of prospective PhD students.\nLinking theory with practice: The original grouping involved in BARC comprised of six students (five part-time, one full-time) who had completed the Master of Organizational Systems programme. The program had a strong focus on methodology in the areas of systems thinking, action research and organizational learning. In the following years three years, the composition of BARC changed. The inclusion of prospective PhD students created the challenge of how to deal with developing a community of interest with people who were at different stages of their work. For those new to the group, the extended nature of the cohort, which now consisted of 12 people, proved to be particularly problematic. They found themselves intimated by the initial cohort leading them to form separate cohorts so that they could discuss PhD-related issues.A similar programme run at Monash was established at Bath University, which had an action research-based PhD programme. Both programs are cohort based, with a focus on action research and incorporated aspects of systems in thinking in their teaching and learning. Initial research points to how five factors were found to contribute to the success of the learning networks formed by the action research cohorts both at Bath and Monash:1. process-environment;2. relationships/collaborative learning;3. intellectual stimulation;4. philosophy; and5. outcomes/results.\nCommon theoretical understanding aids cohort success: Over time, the job of maintaining a high intellectual understanding in the group fell to a few individuals. The leadership of the cohort group drew heavily on Flood's (2001) work as an intellectual basis for the work at Monash. It shaped the master's program and it was generally agreed by the original cohort members that Flood's work provided a common theoretical background. Underscoring the work of the cohort was an adherence to Checkland's framework, methodology, action (FMA) framework. This provided the structure for enabling the group to make a clear distinction between what they did within the university and the work of the action research that was conducted in the workplace. Group members devised a two-tier structure that allowed them to work at two levels - the theoretical (appropriate for the university and which focused on the discussion of intellectual frameworks) and the action component of Checklands's FMA which was reserved for the workplace. Metaphors were used as a sense-making tool in order to help members of the groups understand what was happening in their professional lives and the increasing problems that they faced with regard to the threats to their work.Checkland's FMA program led the cohort to discuss some other more obscure and lesser-known theories such as Beer's viable systems diagnosis, Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety and the work of Peirce and Pepper. Together these introduced to the group the concepts involved in cybernetic theory and led to a discussion of the problems involved in working in highly complex, probabilistic and self-regulating systems. A prime concern of the cohort members was how to control organizational aims and objectives by implementing robust theory, coherent action principles and emergent outcomes.The complex nature of these viable systems theories did cause problems to those newer members of the group and attempts were made to introduce ways of making them more easily understood and to show how complex theory can be presented to show its organizational usefulness. The five cooperating systems of viable systems diagnosis - policy, intelligence, control, coordination and operation were reformulated into a more digestible form.\nUps and downs: The intellectual discussions in the group proved to be the main selling point for continued involvement in the cohort. But, it was not all plain sailing. Interviews with group members drew attention to how periods of rapid productivity and intellectual growth were interspersed with periods of stagnation and lack of clarity on how to proceed. These periods coincided with the withdrawal of projects funds, redundancy and career changes. However, group membership gave people the strength to deal with the down phases and to devise strategies for dealing with them and to see them in the context of the AR journey.So, did the group achieve its objective of linking the theoretical knowledge with AR practice? Seemingly not. BARC failed to integrate its activities either in the university or in the organizations. The university provided the environment for the development of theoretical language but the experience of the Monash group suggests that the barriers working against reflective and critical thinking in the workplace are too strong.The future for the Monash group looks uncertain, as it enters its ninth year of operation. The university now employs only one member of the group and when he retires links to Monash will disappear. The absence of any succession planning for the leadership of BARC may, many suspect, lead to its demise.\nComment: The review is based on: \"Leadership in network learning: business action research at Monash University\", by Tim Haslett, John Barton, John Stephens, Liz Schell and Jane Olsen. The learning network is composed of a small sample based at an Australian university. People without a background in scientific research methodology will struggle to make sense of some of the article, which is extremely theoretical. This has been compounded by the fact that a number of concepts have been used without adequate explanation.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Describes how a group of practitioner-scholars developed a network learning organization and provided the leadership for establishing a better theoretical understanding of business action research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Case study. Draws on literature review, on interviews with those involved in the group and on the findings from a similar initiative in the UK.\nFindings: - As companies face increasingly turbulent and difficult economic circumstances, they have sought to devise more effective ways of overcoming the multitude of problems that they face. Business action research, with its emphasis on learning by doing allows those involved in problem solving to identify the issues, present ways of dealing with them and, in conjunction with others, readjust the results through evaluation. However, this concentration on practice often results in business organizations failing to reflect on their activity and to develop a theoretical understanding of action research. An initiative, the Business Action Research cohort, was established in 2002 to provide an environment in which intellectual activity could take place and a better understanding gained of how to apply action research in the workplace. This article records the experience of the BARC team that comprised of a network of practitioner-scholars based at Monash Univerity, Australia. It describes their establishment of a learning network that was focused on creating actionable knowledge and details how the original members of the PhD cohort acted as members and leaders to subsequent intakes of prospective PhD students.\nPractical implications: - Details the establishment of a learning network; identifies the problems. Will be of use to others wishing to establish a similar network for mature students.\nSocial implications: - Details the establishment of a learning network and how intellectual development of the group can provide business action research with a solid theoretical base.\nOriginality/value: - Identifies those theories that have relevance for business action research.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
The development of managerial skills in MBA programs : A reconsideration of learning goals and assessment procedures
|
[
"Business schools",
"Curricula",
"Master of Business Administration",
"Management skills",
"MBA programs",
"Learning outcomes"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Managerial skills (e.g. resolving conflicts, providing performance feedback) are malleable attributes: learned capacities to apply knowledge that, over time, may become implicit in nature (i.e. subconscious, see Gardner et al., 1996). From different perspectives, the literature is replete with conceptual and empirical investigations buttressing the notion that managerial skills are moldable, are acquired through considerable experience, and are in continuous development (e.g. Burke and Day, 1986; Gully et al., 2002; Holman et al., 1997; Mostovicz et al., 2009). In effect, skills develop via the acquisition of factual knowledge and understanding of how to interconnect and apply this knowledge.\nLearning perspectives and their implications for MBA education: In this section, we review the major tenets of stage, experiential, social, and action learning theories that, in our view, have notable implications for establishing learning goals in regard to the development of managerial skills within MBA training. Our review of selected theories is not intended to imply that these theories are mutually exclusive, nor is directed toward advocating one approach over another. Rather, this discussion is focussed on conveying, through the lens of prominent learning theories, a realistic sense of what can and cannot be accomplished in terms of managerial skill development within typical MBA instruction. The reader is referred to Burke et al. (2006) and Brown and Stitzman (2011) for more extensive discussions of learning theories and skill development.Stage approaches to skill development\nConsideration of knowledge structures in managerial skill acquisition within MBA education: As opposed to fact accumulation, knowledge structures represent a more elaborated cognitive output and a deeper understanding of what is known within a skill domain (see Davis and Yi, 2004; Day et al., 2001). Consistent with the above discussion, knowledge structures result from interconnecting factual information via systematic learning. While other concepts for knowledge organization were mentioned above (mental schemas, mental images, or operating image systems), we adopt the concept of knowledge structures (also referred to as concept maps) to signify an intermediate learning outcome. Our reasoning for adopting the notion of a knowledge structure is that it can be readily related to the ongoing development of managerial skills, and a variety of procedures have been proposed for quantifying these structures (e.g. see Goldsmith et al., 1991; Novak and Canas, 2008; Rowe et al., 1996; Schvaneveldt, 1990; Schuelke et al., 2009).The central premise of the mechanisms designed to evaluate knowledge structures is that experts cluster task-related information into mental structures that facilitate the interpretation of reality and regulate future behaviors. For example, early work by Chase and Simon (1973) shows that master chess players develop mental patterns of piece arrangements which are instrumental in streamlining interpretation of the game and in discriminating between alternative movements. This notion that expert's proficiency is grounded on complex knowledge structures has spawned a wealth of research seeking to better understand human competency in a host of distinct areas (e.g. medicine, Coderre et al., 2009; tennis, McPherson and Thomas, 1989; sales, Sharma et al., 2007). A key commonality across investigations is the assumption that experts' cognitive organization of knowledge in a domain (e.g. motivating others) is a close approximation of the required procedural knowledge to reach mastery in that particular domain. Hence, the degree of similarity between a novice's knowledge structure and the expert's one can work as a yardstick for the attained level of skill development (Day et al., 2001).As an example of the development of a knowledge structure related to a managerial skill, let us briefly consider the domain of \"intercultural competencies\" and the skilled activity concerning negotiation in cross-cultural contexts. Like all other managerial skill domains, students would initially (perhaps through lecture) begin to accumulate factual knowledge related to the skill. These facts would likely relate to general information about cross-cultural values, country-specific information, instrumental in raising students' awareness of their own cultural assumptions, information about culturally relevant clues in interpersonal contexts (e.g. body gestures), reasons for why it is important to adapt to others' values in negotiations, and methods of closure and follow-up procedures in negotiations. Over a period of time, and through systematic development (e.g. in-class dialogue, simulated experience, and reflection), students will both further accumulate factual knowledge related to each of the skill's aspects and interconnect the old and new facts. The amount of knowledge acquired with respect to the aspects of the skilled activity and, more importantly, the logical interconnection between facts that guide successive applications of knowledge in a procedural manner would represent a student's knowledge structure. An assessment of this structure would not necessarily invoke a dichotomous determination of development (skill mastery vs lack of mastery), but it would provide a measure indicating the degree of skill accomplishment.While we acknowledge the value of conventional knowledge assessments (e.g. quizzes, tests) in quantifying knowledge retention, these methods do not necessarily provide evidence of how learned material supports skilled activity. Our call is for an expansion of assessments to more directly evaluate how knowledge is compiled in learners' minds. Assessments of knowledge structures may range from objective quantification of similarities between students and experts' structures via mathematical algorithms to more idiosyncratic options where instructors judge the degree of skill attainment. Examples of algorithms for quantifying such structures would be programs such as Pathfinder (Schvaneveldt et al., 1989) and Cmap Tools (Canas and Novak, 2008; Novak and Canas, 2008). A more idiosyncratic evaluation option might include an instructor identifying steps for the skilled activity and their associated behaviors and then determining, via observation in simulations, the degree to which students understand the sequence of associated actions (see Koubek and Mountjoy, 1991 for a review of related measurement techniques). Although we are not advocating for the superiority of any of these methods, we are calling for more attention to assessments of this nature. This relative lack of attention was noted almost a decade ago (see Michlitsch and Wright, 2002) and could has been partially due the fact that several of the more advanced algorithms have only been available in recent years. We see these assessment methods as a potential accompaniment to the significant efforts B-Schools are making to enhance the quality of education (see the 2011 special issue of Journal of Management Development about challenges of B-Schools).We acknowledge that setting learning goals on the basis of knowledge structures may encounter resistance from B-school faculty and program administrators unfamiliar with these outputs and their evaluation options. In addition, in the age of media rankings, some B-Schools may be apprehensive about publicly setting program goals in terms of what might be viewed as partial outcomes (i.e. intermediate stages of skill development). Nevertheless, we would argue that greater focus on intermediate stages of skill development can move program administrators (and marketing efforts) away from overly ambitious aspirations (skill mastery) while providing a sound basis for quantifying successful development achievements in complex managerial skill domains.Evidence of developmental achievements might be necessary to ameliorate the so called \"learning\" crisis MBA programs are encountering. Especially considering that this crisis is inflamed by the virtual absence of data supporting skill accomplishments noted almost a decade ago (Rynes et al., 2003); an issue that undermines the perceived value of MBA programs (Paton, 2001). Additionally, assessments tied to intermediate stages of skill development are in line with the accrediting agencies' call to explore learning outcomes that surpass knowledge retention (e.g. AACSB's 2011b report, the Globalization of Management Education) and with explicit calls to innovate on assessments practices that provide evidence of learning (e.g. see Association of MBAs (AMBA) - Accreditation Criteria No. 7.14, 2011). As such, our recommendations may be instrumental in complying with the accrediting agencies' general philosophy about increasing the accountability of B-Schools as they provide a mean to quantify satisfactory learning outcomes (e.g. see International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education - (IACBE) philosophy of accrediation, 2011).In summary, we advocate for establishing learning goals and assessment procedures for complex managerial skills that build on the notions that complex skills can reach meaningful developmental stages within MBA education, knowledge structures may serve to operationalize as well as suggest standardized means for evaluating students' progress toward intermediate stages of skill development, and many types of managerial skills gradually and continuously develop over the life span, making skill mastery an overly ambitious learning goal for MBA instruction.\nAncillary suggestions: Course-specific instruction: focussed skill development\nConcluding remarks: The effectiveness of MBA programs with respect to the development of complex managerial skills has been harshly criticized. Drawing from the literature on theories of learning, we discussed why an implicit assumption of some of these criticisms - lack of skill mastery is a sign of MBA program failure - needs to be reexamined. We argued that this assumption overlooks constraints to complex managerial skill development within MBA instruction and precludes consideration of intermediate stages of development as meaningful accomplishments. Based on the notion that managerial skill development in many skill domains is a continuous life-long process, our position is that a primary role of MBA education is to set in motion a learning process for advancing managerial skills into intermediate stages while equipping graduates with learning tools that support development beyond graduation (e.g. self-reflective skills). Although specific managerial skills (e.g. setting goals) could reach advanced stages of development, we maintain that complex managerial skills (e.g. leading others, negotiating in intercultural contexts) are less likely to reach such levels of development within MBA instruction. Of note, this notion is clearly captured within accrediting agencies' guidelines. For example, the AMBA (2011) accreditation criteria reads \"Employers can expect graduates over time to [...] have well-developed interpersonal skills\" (p. 6; italics added). Here, we advocate for greater emphasis on learning goals tied to intermediate stages of skill development, ones that are operationalized with respect to measurable knowledge structures.A primary role of MBA education is to trigger a sustainable learning process by equipping learners with transferrable knowledge structures and learning mechanisms that promote life-long skill development. While we applaud current B-schools' innovations with respect to dealing with identified MBA deficiencies (see Datar et al., 2010, 2011 for examples), we assert that further progress could be made toward developing students' knowledge (with respect to managerial skills) in a manner that supports long-term developments. Ensuring that learning is adequately compiled in knowledge structures is an option. As Vygotsky (1978, p. 90) stated \"Learning [acquisition of factual information] is not development; however, properly organized learning results in mental development and sets in motion a variety of developmental processes that would be impossible apart from learning.\"\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Business schools have been under fire for their alleged inefficacy in developing students' managerial skills in MBA programs. On the basis of extant learning theories, the purpose of this paper is to propose a reconsideration of learning goals and assessment procedures for managerial skill development within MBA education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors review the literatures on stage, experiential, social, and action learning theories to identify pedagogical suggestions for optimal skill development and to highlight the constraints program administrators and teachers face in efforts to advance students' acquisition of complex managerial skills in MBA classrooms.\nFindings: - Conceptually, the authors argue that an emphasis on mastering complex managerial skills - as an expected learning outcome - might be an overly ambitious goal that can lead to neglecting early attainments in skill acquisition and create false impressions of MBA program failure. Furthermore, the authors discuss how MBA programs could consider the use of newer evaluation procedures for evaluating skill development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper calls for greater attention to intermediate stages of managerial skill development for establishing learning goals, the consideration of knowledge structures for assessing the degree of skill development, and a focus on managerial skill development as a life-long process.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
GM crops in sub-Saharan Africa: A critical comment on GTAP modelling
|
[
"Genetic modification",
"Sub Saharan Africa",
"Agriculture"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In sub-Saharan Africa, a number of factors including climate change, population growth, diseases, declining soil fertility, weak infrastructure and markets and several others account for declining food security and human wellbeing (Collier and Gunning, 1999; Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, 2004; Nafziger, 2006). The agriculture sector, which supports a large section of sub-Saharan Africa, plays a critical role in reducing hunger and poverty. Agricultural development policy for the region is of critical importance. The research question is what pattern of agricultural development maximises benefits for the poor in this region?Anderson and Jackson (2005) (hereafter A and J) use a Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model coupled with a range of assumptions to demonstrate that genetically modified (GM) crops have substantial positive welfare benefits for sub-Saharan Africa. The gist of the A and J paper seems to be that sub-Saharan Africa should embrace genetically modified crops wholeheartedly to amass \"potentially very large\" gains. This paper critically investigates the validity of the A and J claims and in doing so hopes to highlight the difficulties in using stylised models to make prescriptive policy recommendations.Since, the publication of a seminal paper by Pusztai et al. (2003), questions began to arise about not only health concerns, but also economic, social, environmental and ethical issues associated with GM foods (Hickey and Mittal, 2003). In the face of these controversies associated with GM crops, it is vitally important to get policy right.This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the GTAP model and its inappropriateness to sub-Saharan Africa. Section 3 describes the selective biases and errors in the A and J analysis. Section 4 puts forth some critical issues and facts relating to GMOs and Africa, and Section 5 discusses policy issues and presents concluding remarks.\n2 The GTAP model for sub-Saharan Africa: unrealistic assumptions and irrelevant modelling: 2.1 Unrealistic assumptions\n3 Selective biases of A and J: A and J consider \"no negative environmental risks net of positive environmental benefits associated with producing GM crops\" (p. 406) but they however claim that even if they were to consider these negative externalities, their estimated \"massive magnitude\" of welfare gains from GM \"would still leave\" (the hapless sub-Saharan African) \"with a large benefit\" (A and J, p. 406). This is a purely hypothetical result from A and J's stylized comparative static model. In reality, once the negative externalities are clearly identified the markets for the GM products are likely to collapse and the so-called \"massive magnitude\" of gains will turn into huge losses of markets and livelihoods for Africans. The Food Policy Institute (2002) of Rutgers University noted that \"a single human health disaster or environmental calamity involving GM food would lead to massive rejection\". The fact that A and J have ignored all the potential negative effects of GM foods means that the model must perforce result in gains. The extent of these gains then just depends on the assumptions regarding productivity and trade that A and J use.A and J also mention that if sub-Saharan African countries and other developing countries did not resort to \"embracing of currently developed GM crop varieties\" this might discourage GM monopolies from investing more in future research and that poor countries may lose out on potential gains \"many times the numbers shown above\" (by their simulations, that is) (A and J, p. 407). The above statement contradicts A and J's own statement (A and J, p. 406), that \"particularly bearing in mind that developing countries are being offered this technology at no cost by its private sector developers\".We note that a realistic look at their caveats would most likely nullify their estimates. Examination of all the externalities is beyond the scope of this comment but a considerable amount of research has questioned the unsubstantiated claims of GM and analysed the significant short-term and long-term adverse effects of GMOs (Altieri, 2004; Ho and Ching, 2003; Simms, 1999; Pillarisetti and Radel, 2004). Several dimensions of the negative effects of GM have been researched including:* environmental damage (Belcher et al., 2005; Centre for Food Safety, 2002; Rissler and Mellon, 1996);* health risk (Centre for Food Safety, 2000; The Lancet, 1999; Pusztai et al., 2003);* adverse economic effects including monopoly exploitation (Kuyek, 2002a, b; Mulvany, 2005);* religious, ethical, social and cultural concerns (Kirschenmann, 2005);* food security concerns (Simms, 1999);* biodiversity loss (Connor et al., 2005; Vietmeyer, 1996; Tisdell, 2003);* potential erosion of indigenous innovations, traditional knowledge and promotion of biopiracy (Howard, 2001); and* issues relating to corruption and regulatory inefficiencies (Vidal and Milner, 1997).\n4 Critical issues in African agriculture and GM: In order to make policy recommendations, A and J should have examined their supposed benefits of GM foods against other agricultural approaches that have shown documented gains in terms of food production, the environment, food security and poverty reduction. The practice of sustainable and multifunctional agriculture, which makes the best use of natural ways to help with pest control, soil regeneration and nutrient cycling, and also makes better use of knowledge and skills of farmers, so improving their self-reliance, has been shown to offer great potential. A and J also pay no attention to the multifunctional character of agriculture and the importance of poly-culture family farms in African agriculture. Calculation of total production and income from farms and the value of non-market multifunctional benefits is important, not just the possible quantity of production in a mono-cropping environment. Research shows that multifunctional non-market benefits (including environmental, social, economic, cultural and food security benefits) in agriculture are significant in sustainable, eco-friendly agricultural systems. Yields in many of the sub-Saharan African nations have been raised by 60-70 per cent by practicing ecological and multifunctional agriculture (Brummett, 1999; Fabricius and Koch, 2004; Fairhead and Leach, 2005; Ho and Ching, 2003; Fairhead and Leach, 2005; Klinkenborg, 1995; New Scientist, 2001; Pearce, 2001; Pretty, 1999; Tripp, 2006; Uphoff, 1999; Tisdell, 1999).In their concluding remarks, A and J suggest that the main motivation behind non-adoption of GM varieties by many African nations is their concern about losing the European markets. This is false and we note that the African Union (AU) has taken a leading role on biosafety issues by developing and endorsing the African Model Law on Safety in Biotechnology. The provisions of the African Model Law are more comprehensive than those required by the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and \"acknowledge the importance of Africa as both a centre of origin and a centre of diversity of food and other crops\" (Institute of Science in Society, 2005). The Model Law also embraces the \"precautionary principle\" and recognizes the sovereign right of every country to require a rigorous risk assessment of any GMO for any use before any decision is made. Indeed, several countries have imposed bans or other forms of restriction on the import, distribution and commercial growing of GMOs as part of a continent-wide response to the risks posed to health, environment, indigenous knowledge and traditional farming systems and livelihoods of the poor.\n5 Policy issues and concluding remarks: Agriculture is fundamental to African development and food security. A and J use a stylised and highly restrictive model which suffers from internal inconsistencies, bias, factual errors, and policy inconsistencies. The A and J model completely ignores Africa's realities and promotes controversial techno-fixes as a solution to a complex problem of poverty and development. Substantial research output shows that A and J's analysis is a biased, misleading and error-ridden modelling exercise:Biotechnology and GM crops are taking us down a dangerous road, creating the classic conditions for hunger, poverty and even famine. Ownership and control concentrated in too few hands and a food supply based on too few varieties of crops planted widely are the worst option for food security (Simms, 1999).While there are many visions of the farming future for sub-Saharan Africa, many of them have in common greater cooperation with nature, greater concern for economic independence and diminished reliance on chemicals and non-renewable resources. Both small and large-scale growers are beginning to use sustainable practices to conserve soil, discourage insect pests and improve their crops. Multidimensional research involving biological and social sciences and a synergy of new partnerships is needed (Altieri, 2004; Parrot and Marsden, 2002; Tisdell, 1999; Tewolde Berhan, 2003).Given the global environmental concerns, every effort should be made to integrate agricultural development as part of global sustainable development. New technologies may have a role to play provided they are in synchronization with ecological agriculture and indigenous knowledge, treating farmers as \"co-generators\" and \"users\" of technology (Welch and Graham, 1999; Tiffen, 1999). Eco-friendly agriculture technologies have the potential to support and promote sustainable rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa:... through maintaining family farming, rural employment and poverty reduction, and to positively contribute to biological diversity, soil and water systems, landscape, food quality, food security and culturally appropriate foods for communities (Pretty and Hines, 2001).Given the controversial nature of GM crops, and the tragic nature of poverty and food insecurity, an impartial and realistic analysis, and not a stylised and unrealistic model like A and J's, is all the more vital for sub-Saharan Africa. As the basis for developing policy recommendations, the A and J model and simulations are at best exercises in futility.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model has been used to claim that genetically modified (GM) crops have substantial positive welfare potential for sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine these claims with a view to seeing if this type of modelling provides any meaningful basis for agricultural policy recommendations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - One particular study is examined to show that because any possible negative effects of GM foods are ignored, optimistic assumptions are made about increases in productivity and trade, and selective scenarios are used, the modelling must, perforce, result in positive welfare effects.\nFindings: - It is found that, because of the assumptions of the study and the restricted scenarios investigated, all the modelling can do is estimate the size of the supposedly positive benefits. A negative outcome is not possible.\nPractical implications: - It is argued that the GTAP model is inappropriate for sub-Saharan Africa and that the sweeping conclusions from this type of stylised modelling trivialize the complex poverty and socio-economic problems of sub-Saharan Africa.\nOriginality/value: - It is demonstrated that, in this case, the GTAP model is not only redundant, but also can yield risky policy recommendations for sub-Saharan Africa as it affects not only the livelihoods of millions of poor Africans but the ecological balance, biodiversity and economic independence of these nations.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
Cost estimation accuracy in supply chain design: The role of decision-making complexity and management attention
|
[
"Case study",
"Supply chain design",
"Hidden cost",
"Supply chain complexity",
"Behavioural theory of the firm",
"Cost estimation",
"Management attention",
"Supply chain decision-making"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Supply chain design (SCD) decisions define a company's operating structure and form the basis for operational performance. SCD has primarily been treated as a configuration problem, in which mathematical problems are formulated to identify an optimal design according to predetermined performance criteria (Meixell and Gargeya, 2005). However, as supply chains become increasingly complex (Bozarth et al., 2009) and the foundation for supply chain decision-making becomes increasingly uncertain (Christopher and Holweg, 2017), the academic and managerial relevance of developing increasingly sophisticated mathematical models for SCD has been questioned (Christopher and Holweg, 2017; Ferdows et al., 2016). In parallel the mathematical approach to SCD has been supplemented by qualitative contributions. Examples include research on the benefits and modes of partnership (Lambert and Cooper, 2000), governance modes for global value chains (Gereffi et al., 2005) and methods of ensuring congruence in supply network configurations (Ferdows et al., 2016). However, few studies focus on decision-making processes in supply chain management (Manuj and Sahin, 2011). Specifically, while SCD principles are well researched, the process of making SCD decisions in organisations has been neglected. Further, while the behavioural aspects of decision-making processes have gained increasing attention in supply chain management (e.g. Carter et al., 2007), extant research has focused on operational decisions made at the individual level (e.g. ordering decisions) rather than group or cross-group decisions at the tactical or strategic level (Schorsch et al., 2017). Indeed, Wieland et al. (2016) pointed to a limited understanding of \"handling complexity when making joint SCM decisions\" (p. 210).\nTheoretical background: SCD decisions and decision-making complexity\nResearch design: This explorative study investigates the interplay between supply chain decision-making complexity and management attention and their effects on cost estimation accuracy through the perspective of the BTF. The unit of analysis is the decision-making process, and effectiveness is assessed as a decision's accuracy in terms of deviations between ex ante predictions and ex post realised costs. Case studies are useful for researching the decision-making process because they operate at the intersection of theory, structures and events, enabling this research to ground theoretical concepts in reality by investigating a phenomenon in its real environment using multiple sources (Stuart et al., 2002).\nCase findings: Drivers of supply chain decision-making complexity and the impact on SCD decisions\nDiscussion and case synthesis: The case findings are synthesised into four propositions concerning the relationships among supply chain characteristics, supply chain decision-making complexity, management attention and cost estimation accuracy.\nConcluding remarks: Complementing existing work, this paper investigates decision-making processes regarding SCD decisions and the influences of supply chain decision-making complexity and management attention: an area that has received limited research attention (Larsen et al., 2013; Marshall et al., 2015; Schorsch et al., 2017). This research has important implications for both theory and practice. First, the empirically grounded understanding of the decision processes offers insight into how supply chain complexity influences SCD decision-making. Second, building on the BTF, the research shows how management attention influences decision-making processes and impacts cost estimation accuracy through different behaviours induced during decision making.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how management attention and supply chain complexity affect the decision-making process and cost estimation accuracy of supply chain design (SCD) decisions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research follows an embedded case study design. Through the lens of the behavioural theory of the firm, the SCD decision process and realised outcomes are investigated through longitudinal data collection across ten embedded cases with varying degrees of supply chain decision-making complexity and management attention.\nFindings: The findings suggest that as supply chain decision-making complexity increases, cost estimation accuracy decreases. The extent to which supply chain decision-making complexity is readily recognised influences the selection of strategies for information search and analysis and, thus, impacts resulting cost estimation errors. The paper further shows the importance of management attention for cost estimation accuracy, especially management attention based on conflicting goals induce behaviours that improve estimation ability.\nResearch limitations/implications: A framework proposing a balance between supply chain decision-making complexity and management attention in SCD decisions is proposed. However, as an embedded case study the research would benefit from replication to externally validate results.\nOriginality/value: The method used in this study can identify how supply chain complexity is related to cost estimation errors and how management attention is associated with behaviours that improve cost estimation accuracy, indicating the importance of management attention in complex supply chain decision-making.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Linking business ownership and perceived administrative complexity
|
[
"Corporate ownership",
"Business formation",
"Unemployment"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small and new firms nowadays are often considered to be the driving force behind the (developed) economies. Thurik and Wennekers (2004), Jovanovic (1982), Ericson and Pakes (1995), Hopenhayn (1992), Lambson (1991), and Klepper (1996) suggest that entrepreneurship will stimulate and generate growth. Nevertheless, it was long believed that large firms were the driving force behind the economies in the developed countries. Traditional theories suggest that entrepreneurship will retard economic growth. Large firms could benefit, in contrast to small firms, from economies of scale and scope. Many economists believed that more large firms would lead to more economic growth and that the share of small firms eventually would disappear or reduce to only a small fraction.In the early 1980s David Birch published research results based on a data file of all US firms and their employment from 1969 through 1976. His research concluded that small firms, those with 100 or fewer employees, created 81 per cent of the net new jobs in the US (Birch, 1981). Although his research method was accompanied with much critique, other researchers found similar results (Gallagher and Stewart, 1986; Storey and Johnson, 1987; Konings, 1995). Furthermore, Brock and Evans (1989) found an increase in the number of small businesses and their impact on employment in the US in the eighties. Storey (1994) shows that small American and English firms create more employment than large firms. Thurik (1996) found that small enterprises in the fifteen member countries of the European Union (EU) have a bigger impact on economic growth than their larger counterparts.Since entrepreneurship stimulates economic growth and job creation it is also important to consider what stimulates entrepreneurial activity. If for instance the government can influence entrepreneurial activity it may indirectly influence economic progress. To understand how public policy can be implemented to stimulate entrepreneurship it is useful to consider what influences entrepreneurial activity. There are many factors that (could) have an impact on entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurship is shaped by many different factors, spanning a spectrum range of determinants, ranging from economic to historical, psychological, social, cultural and political. These determinants can be observed at the level of the individual, the level of the firm or at the spatial level (Audretsch, 2003).At the level of the individual, the model of income choice has been the prevalent theoretical framework. This model dates back to Knight (1921). In its most basic form, individuals are confronted with a choice between wage-employment in an incumbent firm or generating profits by starting up a new business. The model of income choice has been extended by Kihlstrom and Laffont (1979) to incorporate aversion to risk and by Lucas (1978) and Jovanovic (1994) to show why differences in firm-size exist, which has served as the basis for much more empirical research. Evans and Leighton (1989a, b, 1990) link personal characteristics such as education, experience, age and employment status of almost 4,000 white males to the decision to start a new firm. Bates (1990) and Blanchflower and Meyer (1994) link human capital to the income choice model. Storey (1991) links unemployment to the decision to start a new firm.At the level of the firm, studies have mostly focused on the determinants of new-firm start-ups. These studies typically have been at the industry level and have tried to link industry-specific factors to start-up activity. Geroski (1995) found that industry growth contributed to more start-up activity, Wagner (1994) found that start-up rates of new firms in Germany were higher in concentrated industries experiencing high growth.At the spatial level most studies also focus on start-up activity as a measure of entrepreneurship. Most investigated determinants are the unemployment rate, population density, population growth, human capital levels and enterprise structure (Audretsch, 2003). The present paper focuses on a different aspect of start-up activity, namely administrative regulations. The Observatory of European SMEs 2002, No. 7 reports that for enterprises in the former Europe-19 countries, administrative regulations represent the third most important business constraint, after lack of skilled labour and access to finance (KPMG/ENSR, 2002, chapter 2). This relates to administrative burdens for incumbent (i.e. existing) enterprises, for instance regulations concerning recruitment of employees. The current paper focuses on a different aspect of administrative burdens, namely the regulations concerning the start-up of a new firm. We examine to what extent perceived administrative complexity influences the number of business owners at the country level. We investigate this for a sample of 18 OECD countries building on an empirical model employed by Audretsch et al. (2001). Using this model we are able to explicitly control for one of the most important determinants of entrepreneurial activity, unemployment. We also control for risk tolerance and access to finance.The organisation of this paper is as follows. In section two we give a review of the literature. Section three presents the data and focuses on several measurement issues concerning business ownership and administrative burdens. In section four our model and empirical results are described and discussed. Section five provides concluding remarks.\nTheory: In the current paper we investigate four possible determinants of entrepreneurial activity measured at the country level: unemployment, administrative burdens, lack of financial support and risk tolerance. The relevant literature regarding these determinants is discussed below. Based on the literature we formulate hypotheses concerning the effects on entrepreneurship.Unemployment\nData and measurement issues: In this section we describe our data. We also pay attention to the importance of distinguishing between different measures of administrative burdens.Measuring entrepreneurship\nModel and empirical results: The hypotheses posed in the theory section are tested using a two-equation model. The two equations are estimated successively. As we described earlier, the effect of unemployment on entrepreneurship is not a priori clear, as there are both positive and negative forces. There is also debate about the direction of causality. Audretsch et al. (2001) find empirical evidence for both a positive effect of unemployment on business ownership (\"refugee effect\") and a negative effect of business ownership on unemployment (\"Schumpeter effect\")[5]. To control for these important effects, we first estimate an equation explaining the change in business ownership from lagged change in unemployment and lagged change in business ownership. This is based on Audretsch et al. (2001). Next, in a second equation we use the 2002 residuals from the first equation as a dependent variable and explain the variation in these residuals by risk tolerance, lack of financial support and administrative complexity. In this way we explicitly control for the effect of unemployment, which enables straightforward interpretation of the results for the other three determinants investigated in this paper.The organisation of this section is as follows. First we discuss the model by Audretsch et al. (2001), and provide an update of their results, using more recent data. Second, we present the results of the second equation linking the residuals from the updated Audretsch et al. (2001) regression to risk tolerance, lack of financial support and administrative complexity.The impact of unemployment on business ownership\nConclusion: In this paper we investigated the effect of administrative complexity on business ownership for a panel of 18 OECD countries. We also investigated three other determinants: risk tolerance, lack of finance and unemployment.We find that administrative complexity is negatively related to business ownership. When administrative procedures related to business start-up are complex, potential entrepreneurs are discouraged to start a new firm. We find this effect to be especially prevalent in the long run. We also pay attention to different measures of administrative burdens and the importance of distinguishing between actual and perceived administrative complexity. Our results are supported by Grilo and Thurik (2005). They report that the numbers of people who are about to set up a new business or recently had set up a business are negatively affected by administrative complexities. Our results suggest that it is not only important to reduce administrative burdens in order to increase the number of new firms, but that it is also of importance for governments to communicate existing administrative regulations to a country's population. The current paper has illustrated that for some countries there is a gap between perceived and actual administrative complexity. As it is perceived administrative complexity that influences the decision to set up shop, it is of major importance to reduce this gap.Our regression exercises also suggest that lack of financial support hardly has any influence on the decision of people to start a business. Potential entrepreneurs do not seem to be hindered in their start-up decision by a lack of financial support. For risk tolerance we find a negative impact on entrepreneurial activity, which seems counterintuitive. Nevertheless, if we view risk tolerance as an (inverse) measure of uncertainty avoidance of a country, the result might be explained by a lack of possibilities for intrapreneurship in large organisations. Our paper also confirms earlier empirical evidence by Audretsch et al. (2001) for the \"refugee\" effect of unemployment stimulating start-up and self-employment rates. Using more recent business ownership and unemployment data we find a positive and statistically significant effect of changes in unemployment on subsequent self-employment. People with unemployment and low prospects for wage-employment turn to self-employment as a viable alternative to provide themselves a living.A limitation of our research is that, due to data constraints, the temporal specification of our independent variables is not ideal. We are not able to measure the independent variables in a period preceding the period for the dependent variable. Instead we have to rely on the assumption that the variables risk tolerance, lack of financial support and administrative complexity do not change very fast over time. Therefore the findings in this paper should be regarded as exploratory.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - Administrative burdens are known to be a major business constraint for incumbent small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in modern economies. Far less is known about the influence of these burdens on the start-up of new firms. The current paper aims to examine to what extent perceived administrative complexity related to starting a new business influences the number of business owners across 18 OECD countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The article combines data on business ownership from EIM's COMPENDIA database and data on perceived administrative complexity from the Eurobarometer public opinion surveys coordinated by the European Commission. This regression model enables one to explicitly control for the influence of unemployment on the level of business ownership (\"refugee effect\"). There is also control for risk tolerance and access to finance.\nFindings: - The results suggest that administrative complexity is negatively related to business ownership. When administrative procedures related to business start-up are complex, potential entrepreneurs are discouraged from starting a new firm.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Owing to data constraints, the temporal specification of the independent variables is not ideal. Therefore the findings in this paper should be regarded as exploratory.\nPractical implications: - The results suggest that it is important not only to reduce administrative burdens in order to increase the number of new firms, but also for governments to communicate existing administrative regulations to a country's population.\nOriginality/value: - This is one of the first attempts to empirically link business ownership and perceived administrative complexity related to starting a new business for a large number of countries.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Exploration of the key evolutionary operational improvement activities
|
[
"Taiwan",
"Manufacturing industries",
"Operations management",
"Quality management",
"Supply chain management",
"Supply chain quality management",
"Operational improvement",
"Case studies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Operational effectiveness and efficiency are essential to superior performance, which is the primary goal of any enterprise (Porter, 1996). One of the most important ways to enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency is to pursue quality management, which has received significant attention from both manufacturing and service sectors. The ISO 9000 (International Organization for Standardization) standards, for example, aim to assist companies in establishing a solid quality system to maintain the quality level. Many organizations have chosen to go further with total quality management (TQM) initiatives (Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2001; Martinez-Lorente and Martinez-Costa, 2004) and/or GE's Six Sigma approach to reduce defects, improve productivity, eliminate waste and reduce costs (Zu et al., 2008).In a rapidly changing environment, the processes that occur between enterprises are no longer as independent as before, and combinations of relevant processes are part of the supply chain relationship. Supply chain management (SCM) has thus been widely discussed and studied in the context of various industries (Li et al., 2005; Chong et al., 2011) Recently, scholars have begun to merge quality management with SCM perspectives, and propose theories of supply chain quality management (SCQM) (Kuei et al., 2001, 2011; Foster, 2008). SCQM has been shown to be an effective response to market demands (Kuei et al., 2001, 2011), and communication with collaborating partners is a key factor for enterprises seeking to establish effective supply chain and quality relationships (Foster, 2008).To meet the challenges of a rapidly changing external environment, many enterprises have actively implemented operational improvements (Hanna et al., 2000). However, to date there are few studies on the evolutionary operational improvement gaps that appear when firms adopt new activities related to quality to enhance their competitiveness (Sila et al., 2006). And, how a company progresses from a quality-centric approach to another one is seldom mentioned, especially with regard to the development of SCQM. Knowledge of all kinds of operational improvement activities (such as ISO, TQM, Six Sigma, SCM, and SCQM) can help managers to lay out effective plans for process change and improvement. In addition, several studies (Eng and Yusof, 2003; Chen et al., 2010) have shown that companies with different sizes have distinguishing characteristics that have different effects on how TQM is implemented and how SCM is integrated with their supply chains. Given the diverse and disjointed forms and theories of quality and SCM in the existing literature, the primary aim of this study is to explore the practices of operational improvement in two contexts (i.e. small vs large companies) in Taiwan. We focus on Taiwan for the following reasons:* Porter's (1990) critical concept is that national competitive strengths tend to be associated with \"clusters\" of industries. According to the World Economic Forum's \"2006-2008 Global Competitiveness Report,\" Taiwan was ranked first in the world with regard to its \"State of Cluster Development\".* The two main business models of global supply chains that most involve firms in Taiwan are original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original design manufacturing (ODM). These two models account for 94 percent of domestic production volume in the notebook-computer industry (Feng and Chern, 2008).* Manufacturing firms in Taiwan have good practices with regard to supply chain integration, customer service management, design effectiveness, operations and distribution, quality and service, and coherence and information systems (Chow et al., 2008).The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. First, a brief literature review of the related work on quality management with regard to ISO 9000, TQM, Six Sigma, and SCM/SCQM is presented. Second, the research methods and the in-depth interviews used in the four case studies are explained to identify activity gaps in the evolutionary process of operational management. Third, based on a grounded theory analysis, the thematic relationships among the evolutionary operational improvement activities in large and small companies are depicted, and the differences in critical factors among the four cases are discussed. Fourth, the major propositions are then presented. Finally, the managerial implications of this study are presented.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 ISO 9000:2000 (International Organization for Standardization 9000:2000 version)\n3 Research design and data collection: 3.1 Methodological approach\n4 Results of thematic relationships: The thematic relationships are shown in the following figures.4.1 The phenomena of large companies\n5 Implications: The analyses of the thematic relationships among various QM activities undertaken in this work cover a broader range than that found in the existing research and suggest a number of possible paths and actions to practitioners. The evolutionary activities that occur between quality and SCM activities presented in this work provide customer-centric solutions for enterprises and their supply networks. Our analysis, centering around aims and guidelines for high impact practices, could have significant value to managers involved in a supply chain process, as they can use the results to review their companies' current capabilities with regard to certain management activities, and better understand some of the goals of other quality management activities that they want to achieve. The key dimensions of the QM and SCQM systems summarized in this study allow managers to understand their important features as they relate to current industry practices. They also provide managers with brief guidelines to follow during their evolutionary activities. The critical success factors (CSF) of QM/SCM/SCQM systems identified by this study could be taken as important references when implementing the related management activities. Finally, the eight propositions presented by this study clearly highlight the essence of the evolutionary activities between the two management activities reviewed in this work, and they can be taken as important operating principles during the implementation phase.According to the process of operational improvement found in the results of the thematic analysis, there is a slight difference between the large and small companies. Small companies focus more on the efficiency of the improvement activities, so almost all of those improvement activities move from Six Sigma with good systematic approaches to other related activities for gradual improvement and expansion. In contrast, large companies improve step by step based on company-wide quality awareness, and then gradually extend these activities to Six Sigma or SCM. From a performance point of view, because the improvement of small companies is based on Six Sigma, the performance of improvement activities tends to emphasize quantitative methods, and the results are likely to be immediate. However, large companies emphasize gradually developing the concept of quality, so the real performance may take longer.This study explored evolutionary practices with regard to the various operational improvement activities. The implications for managers are presented, and as for the related economic and commercial consequences, if a company implements the key related operational improvements and SCM/SCQM success factors derived from this study, then these would be able to progress more smoothly from one activity to another, and reduce the cost of each operational activity in the supply chain. In addition, making these changes would also enable the supply chain members cooperate more consistently and make internal and external business activities more efficient.Based on the results of this study, three other conclusions can be drawn, as follows. With regard to industry clusters, this study found that the case companies actively provided technical and service assistance to their downstream suppliers in order to be able to reach the goal of SCM/SCQM and enhance the overall capability of supply chain, and this is one of the positive effects from a good industrial cluster. Second, because our case companies are OEM/ODM, their products and service quality need to meet world-class standards, and this is one of the benefits generated by cooperation with international manufacturers. Finally, from the interviews of the case companies and the figures of the thematic relationships, it can be seen that all the case companies have implemented these practices, such as supply chain integration, customer service management, design effectiveness, operations and distribution, quality and service, and information systems.\n6 Conclusion: This study holistically explored the evolutionary operational improvement activities that occur when implementing various management activities and this may strengthen the understanding of the operational improvement evolution of QM/SCM/SCQM in current quality management research. Our approach also represents a fundamentally different view of quality capability development.The eight propositions presented by this study present action programs for each evolutionary operational improvement activity, and are in line with the reality faced by enterprises. Moreover, the results show that there are differences when a large or small company implements the management activities mentioned in this study. This perhaps results from the differences in the resources that such companies have access to, and the competitive strategies that they adopt. A large company's evolution of operational improvement activities is undertaken according to the traditional evolution of quality, while a small company selects and focuses on the most efficient management activities. This phenomenon has rarely been highlighted in other research.There are some limitations which may affect the interpretation of our results. First, this study is an exploratory work based on a qualitative approach. Although this qualitative case study provides more exploratory information, some embedded side-effects of the limited sample are inevitable. Second, we only considered the qualitative aspects of operational improvement activities by depth interviews. A further study of the SCM/SCQM practices of successful manufacturers using objective data to evaluate their performance is highly desirable. Third, we only provide relationships and CSF with regard to implementing SCM/SCQM practices, and further disaggregated analysis would be helpful to explain the organizational differences in terms of size, ownership, industry types, and regions among different manufacturer clusters when adopting SCM/SCQM practices. However, this study can still serve as an instructive reference when gaps in operational improvement activities need to be surveyed. In addition, as the case companies in this study are all from Taiwan and are in the manufacturing sector, one direction for further research is to examine firms from a different country and industry, as this would increase the generalizability of our findings.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore crucial evolutionary operational improvement initiatives related to quality management, and the emphasis is on the lessons learned from operational improvement practices in Taiwan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To understand a firm's evolutionary operational improvement activities holistically and deeply, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with executives from four firms in Taiwan. The grounded theory method is adopted in this study to depict the profile of the key evolutionary operational improvement activities.\nFindings: - Based on the results of the qualitative empirical study, six major dimensions of operational improvement are identified. Further, eight empirical propositions are proposed with detailed descriptions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results are based on international manufacturing companies in Taiwan, and thus cannot be generalized to situations in other emerging countries and industries without further research.\nPractical implications: - By referring to the results of this work, managers can better understand the relationships among operational improvement activities, and thus increase the chances to benefit from operational improvement initiatives.\nOriginality/value: - This paper adds to the literature by providing new empirical insights into the relationships among operational improvement activities.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Leadership and school improvement in France
|
[
"Leadership",
"School change",
"Improvement",
"Principals",
"France"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: During the last decade in particular schools in many countries have faced increased pressures to change and adapt. National and international evaluations such as PISA and TIMSS have acted as two of many catalysts for these developments. One clear consequence of such is that schools can no longer simply react to changes in society; they need to be developed in an active, conscious way. Not surprisingly, this has had an impact on the duties of school principals. In the western hemisphere the duties and profiles of school principals have been changing (for a detailed presentation and analysis, see OECD, 2008). In many cases, their responsibilities have expanded and their work profiles have become more complex. This is due in part to the fact that school leaders are considered a key factor for successful innovation in schools (Brookover et al., 1979; Teddlie and Stringfield, 1993). How these expanded responsibilities have affected principals in their everyday work practice is a question that needs to be addressed.\nLiterature review: When compared with that of the USA and UK, for example, there has not been a great amount of research on the principalship and school leadership in France. There are several possible explanations for this. The most obvious is that the field of educational research, certainly at university level, is still relatively undeveloped. There also appears to be a \"language barrier\" as many publications are published exclusively in French (although this is slowly changing). What seems certain is that to date no major study of the principalship and school leadership in France has been published in an English-language journal. No papers regarding this topic have appeared, for example, in the Journal of Educational Administration or other high-impact journals. Papers about any branch of the French educational context published in English are in fact quite sparse.\nConceptual anchors: In this paper leadership is understood as practice that entails \"influencing and serving others, taking the initiative and making decisions for the greater good, modeling learning and being sensitive to context\" (Swaffield and MacBeath, 2008, p. 1). It is recognized that leadership is not inevitably tied to formal positional authority (MacBeath et al., 2004), something Spillane refers to as the \"leader-plus aspect\" (see e.g. Spillane and Zuberi, 2009, p. 378f; Spillane et al., 2008, p. 191f). However, as this paper revolves around the leadership activities of formally appointed school leaders, leadership activities of other school members are not featured herein. Furthermore (again), taking a distributed perspective as a frame of investigation, it is understood that \"interactions are paramount in efforts to understand the practice from a distributed perspective\" (Spillane et al., 2008, p. 191). Therefore, this study tries to take into account leadership practice (by school principals) and its context like involved parties, previous activities, whether actions were planned or not, and so on.\nMethods and sources of data: Common research designs\nResults: After analyzing the observational and interview data, it can be said that while there are differences with regard to organizational and leadership activities, common features could be seen in all schools. Several generalized observations were noted:\nLimitations: This study has several limitations. First, the sample consists of schools from a school district situated in Paris, France, clearly limiting the possible ranges of interpretation and generalization. Second, this study does not encompass all dimensions of the work of school principals. For example, the work they did from home was not recorded. Third, with studies of observation as extensive as the one presented in this paper, there is always a risk to succumb to cognitive biases like the Pygmalion effect also referred to as the Rosenthal effect (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968). In essence the Rosenthal effect describes a phenomenon where certain expectations are projected on people due to previous knowledge upon which they then perform accordingly. However, since the principals observed and the researcher did not know each other prior to the study and had only had brief contact via e-mail (and a brief talk on the phone), the risk of a Rosenthal-like effect seems rather low. There is also the possibility of the Hawthorne effect, referring to the possibility that people will perform \"better\" than usual simply because they know they are being observed (for a description and critical review of the Hawthorne effect, see Jones, 1992). Again, this risk has been deemed insignificant as the principals received no feedback whatsoever during the week they were observed and interaction was kept to a minimum. Even if principals had had a conscious or subconscious desire to perform better, they would not have known in what ways to do so (e.g. perform more activities, perform more of a certain activity, emphasize a certain activity, etc.). More importantly, it is (not only) the author's contention that any research, be it quantitative or qualitative in nature, is influenced by the researcher's understanding and views and must therefore be biased in some respects. Consequently, it is imperative that all vital information be made transparent so that other researchers in the field can comprehend, reproduce and critique the work undertaken. Cognitive biases may not be eliminated this way but they can be made visible. While it cannot be guaranteed that the observations made and the conclusions reached in this study are free of bias, every effort has been made to make the theoretical assumptions and methods employed transparent. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether a sampling frame of one week of observation per school is enough to get a reliable estimate of a principal's daily work. Longer observations over the course of an entire school year might be desirable to produce more reliable results. Regarding the method chosen, it is the author's belief that structured observation as it was conducted in this study was an adequate method of procuring data. Criticisms that structured observations yield no meaningful information or that they are a crude Tayloristic method, seem misplaced, especially since no activity was recorded and analyzed in a vacuum but always with consideration for the context.\nDiscussion: Regarding the first research question, the school principals observed (and perhaps others in France) performed a multitude of tasks and responsibilities and had to cope with a demanding level of complexity. Oftentimes they worked in short bursts of activity, frequently being interrupted. This pattern of work is not exclusive to these French principals; in fact it seems to be quite common among principals (see e.g. Willis, 1980, p. 46 who writes \"[...] the principal's day will generally be hectic in pace, varied in its composition, discontinuous in any pursuit of tasks, with the unexpected always one of the few certainties of the job\"). Their activities were mostly concerned with administration and relationships. Three of the principals shadowed (Principals 1, 2 and 5) perceived the present, meaning the day-to-day operations, as critical. During the interviews they emphasized the importance of dealing with matters in the present or the near future. This \"firefighter approach\" of school leaders has long been viewed critically as it poses a high risk of focussing almost exclusively on short-term \"quick fix\" solutions, foregoing the development of long-term strategies (Peterson, 1977; Weick, 1996). This is also consistent with Anne Barrere's findings regarding \"conflicting temporalities\" of French school principals that were mentioned earlier: all observed principals were unable to comfortably balance short-term and long-term expectations; instead they either focussed on the present or the future. The workdays of Principals 1, 2 and 5 and partly those of Principal 4 were very disparate. Incidentally, Principals 1, 2 and 5 all mentioned the experience of stress in their work routine. This persistent feeling of being overburdened and always under pressure has been reported to be the case for principals in various countries (OECD, 2008, p. 30ff). Principals 1, 2 and 5 indicated that they handled all matters they deemed important themselves, especially when it came to school improvement efforts. This approach of micro-managing might be a key to understanding the high level of fragmentation of their workdays. If a high level of fragmentation is deemed undesirable (which might not be the case, see e.g. Thomas and Ayres, 1998), then a key factor to changing this appears to be the use of shared leadership structures. However, based on both what was observed and on the interviews, it is clear that while the concepts of shared leadership and their advantages are well known among the scientific society and practiced in several countries (mainly Scandinavian, see e.g. MacBeath, 2009), globally speaking, shared leadership practices do not seem to be widespread among school leaders (again, this has been reported to be so for principals in many countries, see OECD, 2008), certainly not in France. All principals except Principal 3, and to a lesser degree Principal 4, could likely free up time by delegating more consistently and building structures of shared leadership. Further research, especially on implementation and possible incentives, appears to be desirable in this context.\n",
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show how school principals in France spend their work time and when and under what circumstances they deal with school improvement-related matters.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For the study presented in this paper, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used. Five French colleges (secondary schools) from one school district were visited for a week each. Each principal was shadowed, his/her actions and the context were recorded and categorized. The shadowing was conducted using a structured observation approach derived from Mintzberg. In addition semi-structured interviews were conducted with all principals. The data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach.\nFindings: The results show how principals spend their work time and as well as possible areas of improvement. Among other things, they reveal very fragmented workdays. Most principals put a low emphasis on school improvement and struggle with conflicting expectations (preservation vs innovation). Shared leadership was only observed in one case.\nResearch limitations: The specificity of the sample limits the possible ranges of interpretation and generalization. Also, it remains unclear whether one week of observation per school is enough to get a reliable estimate of a principal's daily work. There is a need for further empirical studies of the matter.\nOriginality/value: This paper offers rare insights into the day-to-day work of French school principals. It contributes to the understanding of school leadership practice as well as to the transcultural understanding of school leadership.\n",
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] |
Building an implicit change leadership theory
|
[
"Change management",
"Organizational change",
"Implicit leadership theory"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The success of organizational change interventions relies heavily on the abilities and commitment of people to implement these interventions and see them through to completion. It has been said to be practically impossible for organizational change initiatives to succeed when employees are neither willing nor proactively engaged (Jacobs et al., 2013). Ultimately, the job of generating this engagement and ensuring that people have the ability to implement these interventions rests on the shoulders of an organization's leaders. A key variable in organizational change, therefore, is the effectiveness of its leaders - in particular, their effectiveness in leading change.\nMethods: The study used a mixed-method, sequential exploratory strategy. In the first phase, a qualitative survey was used to generate the list of subordinate schemas for change leadership through a survey. Simultaneously, a semi-structured approach generated the schemas for CM processes, using focus group discussions (FGDs). After content analysis, the data were used to create an instrument that was administered in order to test the relationships and enable generalization of the findings (Creswell, 2003).\nResults: Test of the measurement model\nDiscussion: This study aimed to build an ICLT. It elicited subordinates' schemas of their leaders' behaviors and traits in the context of organizational change. These 30 characteristics were clustered into five constructs: strategic and technical competencies, execution competencies, social competencies, character, and resilience. These five constructs composed a higher-order construct, ICL. Table V compares these ICL constructs with other studies' ILT constructs and change leadership constructs in terms of four categories - personal characteristics, and manifest behaviors related to strategy, execution, and people. This follows the classic categories of character, task, and people, and further breaks down \"task\" into strategy and execution. Using these categories, we could see that some constructs in the derived ICLT are common to general ILTs but with some nuances. Particularly, strategic and technical competencies, execution competencies, and social competencies appear in ILT research, although the manifest behaviors in the study are specific to the context of change. However, character and resilience appear to be unique.\n",
"role": "user"
},
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"content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for implicit change leadership theory (ICLT) and to explore its relationship with perceived effectiveness of change management (CM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study employed a mixed-methods design. It used a qualitative approach to identify schemas on the traits and behaviors of an ideal leader and schemas on what constitute effective CM. A quantitative approach was followed to test the conceptual model.\nFindings: The study suggests five competencies of ideal change leaders: strategic and technical competencies, execution competencies, social competencies, character, and resilience. Together, these five competencies comprise an ICLT. Moreover, schema congruence correlates with perceived effectiveness of CM. The closer the congruence between subordinates' ideal change leader and their actual change leader, the greater the perceived effectiveness of CM.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was limited to employees in the Philippines. It is thus suggested that data gathering in other populations be conducted to allow for generalizability of results. The research was cross-sectional in design, that limits causal explanations. Longitudinal studies examining perceptions and attitudes during and after the implementation of change could provide more robust evidence of the relationships between schemas and perceptions of change.\nPractical implications: The results suggest that to increase the chances of success of their change initiatives, organizations could consider leadership development interventions that could enhance the competencies of their leaders in the implicit change leadership constructs. Organizations also need to consider employee schemas of effective CM when implementing change.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution of this paper is to expand implicit leadership theory by applying it to a specific leadership context, that of organizational change, and to derive an ICLT.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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] |
Two sides of the same coin? Leadership and organizational culture
|
[
"Organizational culture",
"Leadership styles",
"Social learning theory",
"Organizational outcomes",
"Influence strategies"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The success of companies is attributed to organizational culture, because culture can determine whether or not the organization is able to survive under changing conditions (Smith and Vecchio, 2007). Top management teams create organizational culture based on their histories and personalities (Schein, 2010), this explains why research has extensively addressed the impact of founders or leaders on organizational culture (Klein et al., 2013; Nguyen and Mohamed, 2011; Sarros et al., 2002; Schein, 2010; Simosi and Xenikou, 2010; Smith and Vecchio, 2007). However, such an approach results in only a partial view (Scott et al., 2003). Failing to acknowledge the crucial role that culture plays in developing leaders can be costly because culture is a major part of the context and its effects on leadership development is vital to building sustainable businesses (Bal and Quinn, 2001).\nTheoretical background, review and hypotheses: Social learning theory\nMethods: Design, procedures and samples\nResults: Confirmatory factor analyses\nDiscussion and implications: Theoretical significance and suggestions for future research\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: Researchers have adopted a somewhat narrow conceptualization of organizational culture, founded on specific assumptions about the impact of founders or top leadership. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on 356 Chinese employees, this paper examines the relationships between organizational culture, leadership and employee outcomes. Specifically, the paper focuses on a mediation model by looking at how different leadership processes impact the relationship between culture and outcomes.\nFindings: Supportive and task leadership styles and a persuasive influence strategy are correlated with team, detail and innovation cultures, respectively, and are significantly stronger than that of other leadership styles/strategies. Partial support is found for the mediating effect of task and change leadership styles, and assertive and persuasive influence strategies. Contrary to the authors' second assumption regarding the social learning effect on outcomes, the study provides a tentative conclusion that different culture types may have different levels of strength in molding middle management and consequently influencing subordinate outcomes. The model of \"culture-leadership-outcome\" generally shows a similar pattern with the reverse effect of \"leadership-culture-outcome.\"\nOriginality/value: This study was the first to examine the impact of organizational culture on leadership and their effect on organizational outcomes, and to compare the reverse relationship. It suggests a new model that combines social cognitive theory with concepts drawn from the social learning perspective. Both the significant and non-significant results enhance our understanding on the mediating effects of leadership and culture. The findings also enrich leadership theory because no empirical studies systematically examined the similarities and differences between style approaches and influence strategies.\n",
"role": "assistant"
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Analysis of the dispersal of use for journals in Emerald Management Xtra (EMX)
|
[
"Electronic publishing",
"User studies",
"Electronic journals"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nAim: The aim of the study was to test the breadth of appeal of the 2005 Emerald Management Xtra collection of 110 business and management journals (108 published in 2004), using our own aggregated usage data gathered from the Emerald web site, and comparative data from the Consortium of University Libraries of Catalonia (CBUC) (Urbano et al., 2004). Our hypothesis was that, because Emerald titles have a broad appeal to a range of business and management students, teachers and researchers, this would be reflected in usage data which would be spread across the portfolio range.The \"80/20 rule\", or Pareto principle, is a generally observed rule of thumb. Broadly, it states that, for example, 80 per cent of profits will come from 20 per cent of customers; 80 per cent of crime will emanate from 20 per cent of the population; and so on. Drawing on the 80/20 rule, some commentators have used it to criticise the so-called \"big deal\", where a publisher will seek to supply all of their current content to a library with very deep discounts. Critics have argued that there is so much redundancy of usage in some cases that the \"big deal\" is really not much of a deal at all. Emerald journals have themselves published such critiques (see, for example, Nicholas et al., 2003; Ball, 2004).We hypothesised that our \"big deal\" was an effective one for librarians, and that, as such, Emerald journals online would defy the 80/20 rule.\nAnalysis: The 2004 customer usage was summed for each of Emerald's 108 business and management \"live\" titles. These are the titles included in Emerald Management Xtra. Some Emerald customers also have access to a number of discontinued titles, for which the archive is available, and to Emerald's range of 16 engineering, materials science and technology (EMST) journals. The EMST collection was excluded from the study as they are not part of the Emerald Management Xtra 2005 collection.The titles were ranked by decreasing 2004 usage. For the 108 titles covered, there were 6,406,712 downloads during 2004. The accumulated percentage of usage and the accumulated percentage of titles were then calculated.\nFindings: Experience tells us those journals at the top end of the \"download charts\" will tend to be well-established publications with a strong international reputation among authors and readers, and journals in popular study and research areas. As such, it is no surprise to find three of Emerald's longest-established and high-reputation journals, the European Journal of Marketing, Management Decision and the International Journal of Operations & Production Management in positions 1, 2 and 3. Both EJM and MD recorded more than a quarter of a million downloaded papers in 2004; between them, more than 8 per cent of total downloads (from just under 2 per cent of journal titles). So far so good for the 80/20 rule. But at that point, the usage curve flattens considerably.Table I shows that Emerald's top 15 journals (about 14 per cent of the portfolio) which contribute, between them, nearly two and a half million downloads; just less than 37 per cent of the total.Table II summarises the quintile ranges for usage. Here we can see how the 80/20 rule does not hold up for Emerald titles. For the EMX titles, Emerald's business and management portfolio (including library management), core consumption comes from 47.4 per cent of titles.\nComparing the CBUC figures: To further explore this data, we compared our own site usage data to that gathered by the CBUC consortium as to the percentage of titles contributing to 80 per cent of usage. As can be seen from Table III, Emerald's figures compare well with the findings of the CBUC study. For the universities in CBUC, 80 per cent of Emerald consumption was satisfied by 46.2 per cent of titles.Comparative data with that of three other publishers supplying CBUC with online journal collections, Kluwer, Academic Press and Wiley, proved interesting. While none of the CBUC data showed some of the usage data skews reported by some critics of publisher \"big deals\", and indeed none of the data from CBUC conformed to the \"80/20 rule\", we did find that Emerald's usage was much more evenly dispersed that the comparator group.Figure 1 demonstrates this graphically.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Most online usage comes from keyword and subject searching rather than journal title browsing. In other words, online usage does not, normally replicate the behaviour a researcher would exhibit in a physical (as opposed to virtual) library. Thus, papers from journals are freely chosen by users, based on a match between search criteria and the paper(s) that most closely match these criteria. Despite this, usage is more heavily concentrated in the more established journals. It is possible that users may choose a paper from a displayed list from a journal that they know, when multiple options are returned. This is a phenomenon where more research is required (and where Emerald staff are undertaking continuing studies).Emerald's journals tend to favour both an international and an interdisciplinary approach. Also, editors and reviewers are encouraged to ask authors for application of ideas and research findings, as well as making sure that research has been properly and thoroughly conducted - what we call rigour and relevance. As such, we would argue that popular and useful papers may well come from any of our journals across our portfolio; that there will not be journals in Emerald which are, so to speak, left out in the cold.Emerald's online journals collection has proved popular among business school and university libraries, with around 1400 full portfolio subscribers worldwide at the end of 2004. Because Emerald's \"big deal\" is highly subject-focused on business and management, there is little of the subject redundancy and therefore journal redundancy inherent in \"big deals\" offered by publishers with a more disparate portfolio.However, it was important for us to test whether the classic 80/20 rule held up for our journals' online usage. We found, quite conclusively, that it did not - that our usage does not conform to the 80/20 rule.While Emerald journals usage is not evenly spread, it is more so than that of comparable publishers. This is not an accidental phenomenon but one that reflects an editorial and portfolio management philosophy. We spend much time trying to determine how to give improved value to our customers, and look forward to sharing data with customers in the future.\n",
"role": "user"
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"content": "Purpose: - To test the breadth of appeal of the 2005 Emerald Management Xtra collection of over 100 business and management journals using aggregated usage data gathered from the Emerald web site. To test whether the \"80/20 rule\", or Pareto principle, of 80 per cent of the usage by all Emerald customers coming from 20 per cent of the titles in the database is true. To compare the results of this study with those obtained by the Consortium of University Libraries, Catalonia (CBUC) for their usage of database products from Emerald and other publishers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The analysis was made based on article downloads by all Emerald customers from COUNTER Journal Report 1 Release 1 compliant usage data. The journals were ranked in order of decreasing usage and then accumulated percentage usage was compared with accumulated percentage titles.\nFindings: - That across all Emerald customers 80 per cent of usage came from 47.4 per cent of titles. This result compared well with the CBUC study that found an 80:46.2 relationship for Emerald usage. The CBUC study found an 80:34.5 relationship across all the publishers' products included in their analysis.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study found that usage by all Emerald customers of the journals that make up the Emerald Management Xtra database far exceeded the Pareto principle assumption. This was also true for one Emerald consortium customer in Spain.\nPractical implications: - The study concludes that a subject-focused \"big deal\", such as the Emerald Management Xtra product, represents excellent value for customers. It contains many relevant titles in a package that is deeply discounted and costs far less than purchasing just the most used titles individually.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first study by a publisher that analyses the aggregated usage data for all of its customers. It demonstrates the value and utility of the electronic journal database, or \"big deal\".\n",
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The attitudes and behaviours of illegal downloaders
|
[
"Ethics",
"Social dynamics",
"Consumer behaviour",
"Copyright law",
"Intellectual property",
"Internet"
] |
[
{
"content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper summarises and evaluates the literature on digital consumer behaviour and attitudes towards digital piracy. It is a timely contribution to the debate around digital piracy, as the topic is hot news in the UK. The Government's Digital Britain Report, its \"strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy\" (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2009), has just been published, stimulating much discussion and reaction, and other issues have also brought the topic into sharp focus. These include the recently concluded \"Pirate Bay\" trial in Sweden, the dispute between YouTube and the music industry about video-showing rights, and the Open Rights Group/Consumer Focus report on copyright.For this review more than 400 reports and papers were identified and evaluated from the thousands published for the quality of their data; only a small percentage of which are actually cited in this paper. It is based on a report (Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research, 2009) submitted to SABIP, the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property policy.\nAims: The aims of the research described here are to:* elicit and explore, from the evidence base, factors that shape consumer attitude and behaviour towards the downloading and appropriating of digital content (music, film and software, in particular);* assess the extent to which these are qualitatively different from those relating to the illegal acquisition of physical objects (CDs, DVDs, etc.); and* to determine, from the findings accrued, the implications for policy makers and content providers.The research comes out of a report commissioned by SABIP, which charged the authors with critically evaluating the current evidence base related to this issue and, by our analysis of the literature, providing our own robust assessment of attitudes and behaviours in this strategic area, to inform future policy and practice.\nMethods: Appropriate academic databases were searched (including Web of Knowledge, EBSCO and Scopus) using various combinations of the following search terms: \"digital piracy\", filesharing, copyright, \"intellectual property\", softlifting (a term discovered during initial searching, which refers to small-scale individual software copying), downloading, etc.The various databases had means for truncating and combining terms; it was also possible to determine later authors' works which cited relevant articles. Finally, citations to previous works by the same or other authors were noted and sought - either through citation records (e.g. via Web of Knowledge) or by referring to references at the end of journal articles and tracking back.Inclusion criteria\nPopulations studied: Our initial aim was to review the literature on any group that could be described as \"consumers\" or \"end users\" of copiable material - music, software or films, etc. The literature, however, was found to be extremely limited in terms of the populations studied. Research was dominated by samples of university or school students (see, for example, Calluzzo and Cante, 2004; Lysonski and Durvasula, 2008), with wide variations within this group (e.g. undergraduates, postgraduates, high school, etc.). Some of these studies (for example, Taylor et al., 2009) included faculty in the population studied, although results were often discussed globally, without reference to the possible different behaviours of each group. There was one survey of \"the general public\" (Suter et al., 2006) and of executives/senior managers, albeit somewhat dated (Shim and Taylor, 1989). Thus, the behaviour of most adults appears to have been virtually unstudied.\nMethods used in the literature: Most of the literature consists of questionnaire surveys (albeit emphasising the measures taken to preserve anonymity, given the sensitive nature of the topic). One (Bhattacharjee et al., 2006) used computer logs of music file downloads and commercially available music sales charts, although this was more to gauge the commercial impact of music downloads rather than to examine usage behaviour per se. Another (Tang and Farn, 2005) set up a laboratory experiment in order to study downloading intentions.Questionnaire surveys\nFindings from the literature: This section begins with a discussion of research into who are the copyright infringers, and then continues with an outline of the factors contributing to the phenomenon. These are:* the contrast between personal and corporate;* the ethical neutrality of downloading;* the (apparent) lack of victims;* situational factors;* personal factors;* economic factors; and* anonymity.Following discussion of these themes, factors inhibiting piracy are discussed briefly.Who are the infringers?\nFactors inhibiting piracy: This is, of course, an extremely important area. Several factors have been discussed in the literature, including fear of punishment, Social pressures/norms, and performance (e.g. of software).Fear of punishment\nLimitations in the studies: The number of studies using students (be they undergraduate, post-graduate or even high-school) is a major limitation of the research in the field generally. In some cases reasons were given, although these appear to be based on certain assumptions about the online behaviour of young people. Shang et al. (2008, p. 354), for example, write that \"Since sharing music files using a P2P system is popular among teenagers, high school and university students were selected as the subjects for this study\". Ingram and Hinduja (2008, p. 343) explain that:Although the use of college student samples inherently raises concerns for generalizing to the broader population, its use in the current study is appropriate and especially insightful for two reasons. First, it has been reported that young people - particularly those around the traditional college student age - are the most likely to obtain their music from illegal sources (IFPI 2005). Second, university environments have been described as hotbeds for music piracy where the majority of digital song downloading takes place.In fact, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (2005) report quoted does not provide any empirical evidence for the view that young people are the most likely to obtain their music from illegal sources. Similarly, there is no evidence offered for the claim that universities are \"hotbeds for music piracy\". Other papers also fail to adequately reference similar claims.Similarly, Sims et al. (1996, p. 843), for example, opine that \"colleges and universities are believed to be breeding grounds for software piracy\", but do not cite any literature. Altschuller and Benbunan-Fich (2009, p. 49) write that \"downloading music through unapproved channels is illegal, yet it is increasingly rampant, particularly among younger internet users\", referencing this with two newspaper articles, both of which were written six years before the publication of their own paper.Higgins et al. (2008, p. 446) defend their use of students by saying:Some may criticize the use of a college student sample because of its lack of generalisability. Self-control theory [the focus of the study] is a general theory that has been thought to explain all crime all of the time, no matter the sample. Consequently, issues of generalisability are minimized in the present study.Sims et al. (1996, p. 843) also claim that \"since business students today are managers tomorrow, their pirating behavior will be carried into business. Thus, findings from this study [...] should be able to be generalized to nonstudents\".Not surprisingly, with student samples being so prevalent, use of similar subjects has been justified for comparative purposes. Thus, Limayem et al. (2004, p. 418) write that \"several piracy studies used students as subjects; we did the same thing in this paper in order to facilitate the comparison with prior research\".Some researchers do acknowledge the limitations of using student populations. Freestone and Mitchell (2004, p. 127), for example, admit that \"further research might use young and older respondents to discover how generalisable these findings are to the wider internet population\". Glass and Wood (1996, p. 1197) feel, similarly, that \"Studies are required to determine how representative the sample in this study is for the larger student population and whether it can be generalized to business settings\". Finally, on this point, Ingram and Hinduja (2008) also admit that their results, using a student sample, may not generalize to non-student populations or to other student populations in different university settings (their work being concentrated on \"undergraduates at a university that relies heavily on computer technology\" (p. 357).LaRose and Kim (2007, pp. 275-6) felt that:... the use of a college student sample imposes limitations on the generalizability of the present findings. They were based on the responses of students at only a single mid-western university in the United States. The responses of college students may not be representative of the entire population of online downloaders.Siponen and Vartiainen (2005) make a similar point about their own research.Stephen Taylor and colleagues (Taylor et al., 2009) were concerned about a different issue - that of \"self-selection\". They felt that this was a problem \"because the survey concerns a sensitive topic. Non-respondents might be unwilling to because they may engage heavily in DP as an illegal activity\". The degree of downloading reported, however, suggested \"that the sample design captured respondents across the entire spectrum of DP-related activities\". As an extra measure to make the data more robust, a qualifying question was added to the survey asking people to report how honestly they responded.Logsdon et al. (1994) recognized a similar problem - that of respondents wishing to appear to be socially desirable - in other words, choosing more ethical or law-abiding answers than they would if answering honestly. To counteract this, they incorporated the impression management scale from the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) from Paulhus (1991). Lee and Low (2004), who administered a face-to-face survey with participants recruited in a shopping mall, also highlighted the fact that respondents might have under-reported \"extreme internet downloading\". This research also faced the limitations of \"interviewer bias (such as the interplay between the relative age differences between the interviewer and Baby Boomer respondents), and auspices bias (the interviewer identified herself as a university researcher)\" (Lee and Low, 2004, unpaginated).Tang and Farn (2005) used the experimental design described above that, to an extent, obviated this problem. They were also aware of the problem of causality, and claimed that their method was superior to survey techniques in being able to address this, rather than find simple association. Shang et al. (2008) agreed. In discussing the limitations of their own study they state that \"the causal direction between the beliefs [...] and [...] behavior intention [...] is not easy to identify in survey research\".As a result of the overemphasis on student samples, little research exploring demographic factors - particularly differences in age-related online behaviour - appears to have been carried out. In their exploration into the determinants of attitudes related to illegal copying of software, Lau (2006) cite studies of 13- and 19-year-olds (Solomon and O'Brien, 1990; Sims et al., 1996). Indeed, the latter study itself mentions other limitations, which still do not appear to have been addressed. These include not surveying in a non-academic environment and not comparing respondents \"between majors (i.e., computer-related and non-computer) and their tendency to illegally copy software\" (Sims et al., 1996, p. 846).Molnar et al. (2008, p. 668) agree, suggesting that further research should explore general public perceptions about downloading software, music, etc., without regard for the licensing procedure. Expanding this research beyond the academic setting to the general population would have implications for software companies and all those whose work is available over the internet.Another limitation is the lack of longitudinal work in the area. Siegfried (2004) compared his study on student attitudes to software piracy to the prior work of Cohen and Cornwell (1989a, b), whose questionnaire was used. Significant findings were that more than half of the students surveyed by Siegfried (2004) said that they had copied software themselves, 10 per cent more than in Cohen and Cornwell's (1989a, b) study. This can be most easily attributed to greater computer literacy, given that only 24 per cent indicated computer experience in the earlier study, whereas in the later one, 78 per cent of respondents used computers \"daily\" for over a year.\nConclusion: implications for producers and policy makers: The main point that comes out of these studies is that, in a nutshell, the digital world is not the same as the physical world. It is changing very basic assumptions about the idea of ownership, sharing, and copying content. New business models are needed, and serious questions are raised about the quality and breadth of content material that will be created without new thinking.The potential criminalisation of up to seven million UK citizens, if newspaper reports are anything to go by (see, for example, Martin, 2009), has tremendous economic costs, and even if unauthorised downloading behaviour is changed in this country it is not yet clear that this is possible on a global scale. The focus on criminalisation is in keeping with the propensity of research, debate and, indeed, legal action to put the consumer as the central player, whilst not paying heed to the responsibilities of industry. Ethical reciprocity is not yet clearly defined.In short, there is a triangle of digital responsibility: between those that create and distribute content, those that consume, share and copy it, and those who manufacture the products that enable these exchanges. The consumer electronics industry is copyright-dependent, yet is predicated increasingly on technologies that allow the infringement of these copyrights. Hardware and software applications will only become more efficient at these and many other communication processes. Web access, like the products of the computer and software businesses, is also going to get better. As it does so more consumers will have the ability to download vast amounts of material, legally or not. Digital literacy education for all ages must include simple information on the complexities of downloading culture. Downloading and sharing per se is not wrong. The research, however, shows a maze of contradictions and complexities in this sensitive and controversial subject. More research is clearly needed, especially with a wider demographic population, and with other devices than PCs that can capture and download digital content.\n",
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},
{
"content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to summarise and evaluate the literature on digital consumer behaviour and attitudes towards digital piracy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper presents a review and synthesis of the academic literature on the subject, using the authors' unique \"pro-forma\" approach to the evaluation of individual papers.\nFindings: - A major limitation in the studies reported became apparent. They are almost exclusively concerned with the behaviours and attitudes of young people. There is a dearth of studies looking at demographic differences, and also a lack of longitudinal work. Given these constraints, the literature strongly suggests that social and situational factors impact on the likelihood of illegally obtaining digital content more than ethical considerations. Anonymity is a strong indicator, \"de-individualising\" people and releasing them from traditional societal constraints and making the digital world far different from the physical one. The literature is ambiguous on whether punishment acts as a deterrent.\nPractical implications: - The main point that comes out of these studies is that the digital world is not the same as the physical world. It is changing basic assumptions about the idea of ownership, sharing, and copying content. Laws prohibiting all unauthorised downloading potentially criminalise millions of people, so new and creative business models are needed to resolve the problem.\nOriginality/value: - The authors believe this to be the first systematic review of current literature in this area since the issue became topical with the Pirate Bay trial and the Government's Digital Britain report.\n",
"role": "assistant"
}
] |
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