Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
Still a man's world: Implications for managerial and professional women in a Turkish bank	[ "Discrimination in employment", "Women executives", "Banks", "Turkey" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: There has been considerable recent interest in the prospects for career advancement of managerial and professional women in both developing and industrialized countries ( Davidson and Burke, 2004; Morrison et al., 2002; Vinnicombe and Bank, 2003). There is widespread agreement that women continue to have difficulty in reaching the ranks of senior levels of management, despite having appropriate education, increasing years of service, the passage of time, and generally similar levels of job performance ( Burke and Nelson, 2002; Burke and Mattis, 2005; Davidson and Burke, 2000; Ragins et al., 1998; Ruderman and Ohlott, 2002).\nMethod: Respondent\nResults: Hierarchical regression analyses\nDiscussion: This study considered the following question: are managerial women's perceptions of organizational bias associated with work outcomes and indicators of psychological well-being? The answer is in the affirmative, but with some qualifications. Managerial women indicating greater perceived bias also reported a less satisfying and engaging workplace but they were not more likely to intend to quit their organization (Table III). In addition, managerial women indicating stronger perceptions of bias also reported higher levels of exhaustion, but not more psychosomatic symptoms (Table IV). Thus, perceptions of bias had negative effects on many but not all of these outcome measures. This may reflect the relatively young age of the sample (almost 60 percent were under 35 years of age); a longer experience with bias may in fact increase both intentions to quit and psychosomatic symptoms. In conclusion, perceptions of bias, what Schein (2007) refers to as \"think manager, think male\", were associated with less satisfaction and work engagement a fact that should be of concern to organizations trying to be competitive in a more demanding business environment. Bias perceptions were also stronger among the most educated women managers and professionals, those whose efforts are most likely to have benefits to their employing organizations. It would appear that addressing a biased organizational culture would be consistent with sound human resource management practices and benefit organizations.Implications for women's careers and organizational practice\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Although qualified women are entering professional and managerial ranks within organizations, they continue to have difficulties in advancing their careers. It has been suggested that the biggest obstacle to women's career advancement lies in the attitudes, biases and prejudices of their male colleagues and their organizational cultures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of perceptions of organizational bias among managerial and professional women and their work satisfactions and levels of psychological well-being.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected from 215 women, a 67 percent response rate, using anonymously completed questionnaires. Respondents worked for a large Turkish bank that had offices in several cities.\nFindings: - Women reporting greater perceptions of bias indicated less job satisfaction, lower levels of work engagement and higher levels of job stress; perceptions of bias were not related to intentions to quit however. In addition, women reporting greater perceptions of organizational bias indicated higher levels of exhaustion but these perceptions were unrelated to levels of self-reported psychosomatic symptoms. Interestingly, more educated women reported higher levels of perceived organizational bias.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Implications for women's job performance and career advancement as well as suggestions for addressing potential gender bias are offered.\nOriginality/value: - The paper adds to knowledge about the work and career experiences of women in Turkey and the challenges they face.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Can digital solutions help in the minimization of out-of-home waste? An analysis from the client and business perspective	[ "Business models", "Sustainable innovation", "Client waste", "Doggy bag", "Out-of-home waste" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Why tackling food waste has becoming a priority on the global political agenda (Corrado et al., 2019) and the reduction of food waste has been moved into the cultural mainstream? Just think that every year, approximately, one third of global food production is wasted along the food supply chain (Gustavsson et al., 2011). This represents a huge economic cost of approximately $2,600bn if we also consider the hidden environmental and social costs related to the phenomenon (FAO, 2013). Indeed, the environmental impacts associated with food waste range from the energy waste - if food waste were a country it would be the third global greenhouse gas emitter after the USA and China - to the waste of water and agricultural land and reducing it could save up to 30 percent of the arable land used annually to grow or farm food destined to be wasted (FAO, 2013). If we consider the social impacts associated with food loss, we entering to the field of food security: the 821m people that are still suffering hunger could be fed four times with the food wasted globally annually (FAO, 2018).\n2. Background: the complex management of food surplus and waste at hospitality level: The present study is based on a dual framework: on one side it takes into account the client perspective in order to better understand her/his awareness, attitudes and habits about the phenomenon (par.2.1). On the other side, it focuses on the business perspective in order to analyze how out-of-home food waste could be better managed, thanks to digital solutions and profitable business model innovation under the sustainable innovation stream of research (par 2.2).\n3. Out-of-home waste: the consumer perspective: 3.1 The data collection process and the case study\n4. A best practice in out-of-home waste management: the Regusto case study: 4.1 The Regusto philosophy: a solution for combining digital solutions and food recovery\n5. Discussion: The analysis based on the dual perspective, customers and businesses, has led to interesting results that now need to be intertwined. On one hand, the exploratory survey on clients has reported interesting relationships between attitudinal and personal characteristics and the propensity to generate more waste outside the home than at home. On the other hand, the analysis of the Regusto case study demonstrates how the use of digital innovation can meet the needs of consumers both when they go to the restaurant - by using the doggy bag to take away their leftovers - but also as users of food surplus of restaurants - by ordering through the smartphone application a \"last minute take-away meal\" - and, lastly, by introducing the contrast to food waste from school, through the doggy bag supplied to school canteens.\n6. Conclusion: Summing up, from a management perspective, it is relevant to highlight that food waste reduction could be a winner solution for both companies' revenues and world sustainability (see Principato et al., 2019). Moreover, thanks to the sharing economy and digitalization, it is possible to find interesting solutions that prevent food waste at both business and client perspectives and minimize it, while tackling other sustainability challenges like poverty and food security (Michelini et al., 2018).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Halving food waste has been included within the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Food wasted out-of-home is the second source of food waste. However, the majority of the studies have focused on home generated food waste, and still little is known about out-of-home food waste and how it is managed by food service companies. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a double perspective in analyzing food waste generated at a food service level, by focusing on both the client and business perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, from the client perspective, the authors aim at analyzing consumer out-of-home habits, self-reported waste quantification, and doggy bag usage by reporting the results of an exploratory survey which involved 411 individuals living in central Italy. Second, from a business perspective, the authors analyzed an award-winning practice that manages out-of-home food waste in Italy by combining food surplus management and digital solutions with a profitable business model innovation.\nFindings: Results obtained from the two perspectives of analysis support the need of business investments in innovations and digital solutions, in order to meet client needs and behavior, thus contributing to better manage and reduce food surplus and waste.\nPractical implications: This study will raise practitioners' knowledge on the advantages of digital solution in food surplus management, along with a better comprehension on food waste behavior from the client perspective.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that analyses out-of-home waste from both the client and business perspective, emphasizing how digital solutions can help in reducing the phenomenon.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Facilitating change in primary education: the role of existing school facilities in ICT initiatives	[ "Learning environments", "ICT", "Digital inclusion", "Schools", "Educational facilities", "Plan Ceibal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Rapid developments in digital technologies over the past two decades have generated a period of significant social and cultural change. In the developed world, digital technologies impact on almost every aspect of society and increasingly these technologies, and the opportunities that come with them, are being taken for granted. But the benefits are not enjoyed by all. Inequality in the use and application of digital technologies has become a driver of exclusion, which risks accelerating existing social divides as well as creating new ones (Warschauer, 2003; Selwyn, 2004; Finquelievich, 2006). In simple terms, digital exclusion is a symptom of wider exclusion within and between countries, but it is also a cause. As a direct consequence, the last decade has seen an array of information communication technology (ICT) initiatives in education aiming at decreasing inequality and digital exclusion (cf. Warschauer et al., 2004; Gulati, 2008). These initiatives commonly share the same fundamental aims of improving the quality of education through the introduction of ICT tools (laptops), and promoting digital literacy amongst pupils (Nugroho and Lonsdale, 2010). A prime example is the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which provides children in developing countries with Internet-connected laptops. In Uruguay, \"Plan Ceibal\" is a deliberate attempt to promote digital inclusion in the educational system. The initiative is aimed at both decreasing the digital divide and improving the quality of the education that is delivered in schools across the country. Through the initiative, which is a part of the national educational plan, Internet-connected laptops are distributed to all public primary school children and teachers at no charge for the pupils' families or the schools (Balaguer, 2010).\n2. Plan Ceibal: Despite relatively high attendance rates amongst pupils and that the social and income distribution indicators were amongst the highest in Latin America, Uruguay was in 2007 one of the countries in the region with the highest level of inequality in learning (OECD, 2007). \"Conectividad Educativa de Informatica Basica para el Aprendizaje en Linea\" [Basic Educational Connectivity for Online Learning], or \"Plan Ceibal\" as it has become known, was developed to address this inequality. The initiative was launched by the Uruguayan government in April 2007, with the intention of providing, free of charge, one portable computer to each pupil and teacher in public primary education. At this time, 43 per cent of public primary schools in Uruguay had no computer equipment available to pupils, 43 per cent had between one and four computers and only 14 per cent had five or more (Grupo Radar, 2010). This reflected the situation in society in general where approximately 30 per cent of Uruguayan households had a computer and only half of these had Internet access (Vazquez, 2009). In 2010, full coverage of public primary education was achieved, with 350,000 laptops (commonly referred to as XOs) delivered (CITS, 2010). The decision was subsequently taken to extend the initiative to secondary public schools (CITS, 2010). As of February 2013, 566,522 XOs have been distributed to pupils and teachers in public primary and secondary schools in the country (Plan Ceibal, 2013). This equates to approximately 20 per cent of the population being in possession of a personal XO.\n3. ICT in education: Academic studies in the field of ICT in education are by no means a new phenomenon. The past ten years have seen a vast array of research in this field (e.g. Angrist and Lavy, 2002; Warschauer, 2008; Tolani-Brown et al., 2009; Pena-Lopez, 2010; Malapile and Keengwe, in press). Not surprisingly, the findings from these studies vary immensely (cf. Condie et al., 2007). Some commentators claim that new technologies have the potential to fundamentally transform how and what people learn. This part of the literature is replete with claims about the revolutionary potential of ICT to impact on enhanced student learning and increased quality of education (Condie et al., 2007). Others are more sceptical and note that, although many positive results have been reported on a small scale, there are considerably fewer improvements in attainment that can be linked directly to the introduction of ICT on a large and replicable scale (e.g. Hepp et al., 2004; Balanskat et al., 2006). Hence, it seems evident, from the large literature on the topic, that new digital technologies have the potential to revolutionise education (cf. Anderson, 2010), yet it is equally clear that they certainly do not guarantee it. To the contrary, experience shows that change initiatives imposed on the schools, teachers in particular, all too often are used to reinforce existing approaches to learning rather than bringing about change (Woolner et al., 2012). It follows, therefore, that to take full advantage of new ICTs, there is a need to rethink traditional approaches to teaching and, perhaps more importantly, to understand what constitutes an effective learning environment.\n4. Facilities and educational attainment: In the educational research literature, it is commonly argued that the physical environment plays an important role in shaping student behaviour (e.g. Day and Midbjer, 2007; Duran-Narucki, 2008; Gislason, 2010; Barrett et al., 2013). How the school building is designed and maintained is understood to play a central role in the creation of environments that improve educational attainment. A wide variety of studies have focused on the tangible physical aspects of design and its functionality, proclaiming correlations between the physical school environment and improved levels of teaching and learning. A near consensus seems to exist that basic physical variables (e.g. natural ventilation, colour, temperature and acoustics) have an effect on learning (cf. Woolner, 2010). Indeed, clear links are drawn in the literature between the improvement of poor learning environments and increased pupil motivation and attainment (Higgins et al., 2005).\n5. Research design: The paper draws on a multiple case study set up to investigate the role of the school facilities and their immediate surroundings in mediating the successful introduction and adoption of individual laptops (XOs) in primary education in Uruguay. The case study consists of five public primary schools chosen through purposive sampling. Two of the schools were completed after the announcement of the Plan Ceibal and are located in deprived areas of the capital Montevideo characterised by high unemployment rates and very low family incomes. These two schools host 200 and 312 pupils, respectively. The three other schools were, as the majority of the schools in the country, built in the 1930s and are located in areas with very different socio-economic conditions: one in a poor city neighbourhood (362 pupils), one in a middle-class area (260 pupils) and one in a rural area (77 pupils). At the time of the data collection, May-July 2011, the pupils and teachers in each school had been in possession of XOs for approximately 3 years.\n6. Rethinking the use and operation of school facilities: The provision and maintenance of an adequate physical learning environment is very much an educational issue. For example, deficiencies in physical considerations, such as inappropriate furnishing, inadequate ventilation and poor lighting, may distract groups of pupils from their primary learning task and thereby diminish the quality of the learning environment (cf. Zandvliet and Straker, 2001). The five schools in the sample show that there are multitude ways in which the physical environment can support, or impede, the forming of effective learning environments when introducing laptops and associated pedagogical ideas into teaching. Some of these impediments come across as fairly trivial, for example how the use of the XO is limited by the access to electricity. On average, there were no more than two electricity sockets per classroom in the schools studied. This, in combination with the limited battery life of the XOs, effectively limits the use of the XOs to two hours per day, as the capacity in the school facilities to allow for the batteries to be charged is insufficient. Classroom activities that include the XO, therefore, have to be planned in advance and work on the basis that the pupils bring their XOs fully charged. Likewise, lighting solutions that have worked well in the past are no longer suitable. Adding curtains to avoid sun glare is easy enough, but this, amongst other things, necessitates the provision of additional lighting. It, therefore, seems evident that what previously might have been adequate learning environments no longer can be considered to be so.\n7. Concluding remarks: It is generally believed that ICTs can empower teachers and pupils, thus providing potentially significant contributions to learning and educational attainment. Yet, the exact meaning of \"improve the quality of education\" called for within the Plan Ceibal is not evidently clear. This is certainly the case amongst those charged with teaching and learning. They perceive the introduction of the XOs as yet another tool that helps them in the day-to-day reality of imparting education, but not as an element that will help them improve it. Nonetheless, through its wide distribution of laptops, Plan Ceibal, undoubtedly has the potential to affect substantial change in society in general, as well as in education. However, its successful diffusion is reliant on it being relevant and aligned to the individual particularities of a broad and diverse school population. The roll out of the Plan will, therefore, not be uniform, but will be subjected to localised challenges. Indeed, the introduction of the XOs will not by default change teaching practices and thus, bring about educational transformation across the country. To the contrary, the introduction of the XOs is context sensitive, and it cannot be extracted from the various contexts within which it takes place. The provision of training in how to use of the laptops in the day-to-day teaching is clearly important, but a clear case can also be made for the importance of adapting not only the pedagogical approaches but also the physical environments in which they are delivered. Such arguments are, however, effectively stifled by the huge investments made in the technology and the logistics of Plan Ceibal. In comparison, investing in the actual facilities and their operation and maintenance comes across as old fashioned and unimaginative. This, we argue, is not unique to the Uruguayan context. Indeed, we would go as far as stating that it is the case in most developing countries in which OLPC initiatives are being rolled out.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to illuminate the impact that the implementation of the Plan Ceibal imposes on the existing school infrastructure and how the use and upkeep of available facilities might need to be altered and changed to accommodate the new technology. Uruguay is, through the Plan Ceibal, the first country to provide every public primary school child with a laptop free of charge. The Plan represents a major investment to promote digital literacy and improve the quality of education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Empirical data are drawn from a multiple case study of five public primary schools. Particular attention is given to how school facilities and their immediate surroundings mediate the successful introduction and adoption of individual laptops.\nFindings: Plan Ceibal has the potential to change traditional teaching methods and behavioural patterns, which will in turn have an impact on how facilities and spaces are used. Questions are raised regarding the ultimate effectiveness of the initiative and if the aspired to improvements might be curtailed by a lack of investment in other areas, such as the school infrastructure. We argue for a context-sensitive view on research that not only considers the technology and potential changes in pedagogical approaches but also the physical environment in which these changes are to take place.\nOriginality/value: Research into facilities and asset management has an important role to play in the achievement of effective learning environments and the successful uptake of information communication technology (ICT) initiatives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessment model for organizational business process maturity with a focus on BPM governance practices	[ "Process management", "Management", "Process analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Any organization, whether from the public or private, needs to coordinate its work so as to forecast its resources and activities, manage them on a daily basis and promote the continuous improvement of its operations (Paim et al., 2009). As described by Muller (2013), a company is a set of interrelated processes, and understanding an organization from this perspective is essential to improving its management. Organizations operate within a complex environment, catering to varying demands from increasingly demanding clients, and tend to offer multiple products and services in different markets. In this context, it is increasingly important for companies to manage their processes effectively.\n2. Theoretical framework: 2.1. BPM governance\n3. Proposed assessment model for business process maturity: 3.1. Methodological procedures\n4. Conclusion: We sought to understand which management aspects are needed in order to implement process management. The goal in identifying these elements was to assist in proposing an assessment model for organizational BPM maturity, since these would be the main aspects analyzed. To that end, the theoretical framework was used to pinpoint these elements and BPM governance was identified as a critical factor in ensuring BPM implementation. The BPM governance aspects identified were BPM integration in organizational management; performance assessment; assigning process-based responsibilities; and disseminating the process management culture.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose an assessment model for process management maturity focussed on business process management (BPM) governance practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This investigation uses case studies.\nFindings: The BPM governance elements identified and analysis of the BPM maturity models previously used gave rise to the assessment model for organizational maturity in BPM developed for this study.\nOriginality/value: The model allowed the authors to diagnose organizations' current situation in terms of process management and provided a preliminary assessment of the next steps in the evolution of maturity for each of the factors analyzed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Communication challenges facing management teams	[ "Qualitative research", "Communication", "Communication challenges", "Competent communication practices", "Management teams" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recent perspectives in studies of management teams (MTs) put communication and interaction in the foreground. This focus originates from the so-called relational turn in social sciences, which changes the focus from individuals and their characteristics to people-in-conversations (Ospina and Uhl-Bien, 2012). However, the most common interest of MT research has been in the composition of MTs and demographic factors such as team members' age, gender, tenure and their connection to team performance, organizational success and corporate turnaround (Abebe, 2010; Hambrick and Mason, 1984; Zorn and Thompson, 2002). In spite of the important contributions made by composition research to MT research, the findings remain contradictory. A group of talented managers does not necessarily form an effective MT, but MTs exist and are shaped in communication. Lessem and Baruch (2000, p. 75) state that while it is relatively easy to focus on basic team characteristics \"the way people come together as a combination, has rarely been explored.\"\n2. Competent MT communication: To make a distinction between teams and groups, Jones and Roelofsma (2000) say that team members are more differentiated and interdependent compared to group members. In addition, Dubrin (1998) defines team members as having complementary skills, being committed to common goals and holding themselves accountable for achieving them. The management and organization literature has adopted the term top management team (TMT) to refer to the small group of managers at the top of an organization. However, there are different kinds of MTs, and not all of them operate at the very top. Usually a recognizable business unit within an organization has its own MT. In this paper we have chosen to use the term MT to encompass the variety of different MTs at different levels in organizations.\n3. Research approach and method: The area of MT studies is relatively new and the knowledge about the internal communication in MTs is fragmented and scarce (Bournois and Roussillon, 2010; Lessem and Baruch, 2000). Furthermore, Liang et al. (2010) claim that the effects of MT communication have been missing in the literature. We here state furthermore that not only the effects but also an in-depth understanding of the MT communication itself seem to be missing. We hope that our contribution will open new directions for scholars interested in qualitative research on MTs, and particularly the communication processes within them.\n4. Findings: communication challenges facing MTs: We were able to identify six dimensions that present a range of different communication challenges to MTwork. Neither end of the dimension is better or worse than the other end, but rather they are dependent on contextual interpretations. By presenting the results as dimensions, we can appreciate the detailed data and the MT members' perceptions, which were sometimes contradictory.\n5. Discussion: As illustrated in this study, the interviewed MT members have versatile experiences related to internal MT communication. Although they stated that they very rarely discuss communication issues within their respective MT, the interviewees showed capability in analyzing MT communication and reflecting on the internal communication of their team and their own part in it. With a qualitative approach we were able to explore the unique and contextual challenges within internal MT communication as the MT members experience them (Lindlof and Taylor, 2011). Lessem and Baruch (2000) have pointed out that very few studies have explored the top team performance as a team. This study has illustrated the essential themes (presented as dimensions) that the MT members experience and perceive as central in MT communication and teamwork.\n6. Conclusions: Although this study makes valuable contributions to MT research and literature it does not come without limitations. The first limitation is the number of interviews, which was relatively small. Getting access to top levels in organizations is challenging, and despite articulating the confidentiality of the research when approaching organizations, many MT members did not respond or they rejected the request. However, the aim of this study was to explore and understand the complexities of MT communication rather than produce a certain amount of data. With this approach we have gained new insights into the communication challenges within internal MT communication.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore what kinds of communication challenges management teams (MTs) experience and to suggest ideas for developing competent communication practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Working according to the principles of qualitative research, a total of seven MT members from seven different international companies were interviewed. The thematic in-depth interviews were analyzed by first looking at all references of communication challenges, and then grouping them into six different dimensions.\nFindings: Most of the communication challenges facing MTs are related to the teams' meetings, where issues of leadership, decision making and participation may well be intensified. The meetings were experienced as formal communication forums, where MT members do not always express their true opinions either because other team members prevent it or because they are unable to do so. Informal communication plays a pivotal role in facilitating trust and competent communication practices.\nPractical implications: MTs need to be mindful of how they communicate and develop a reflective practice in order to develop competent communication practices.\nOriginality/value: The study illustrates the essential themes that the MT members experience and perceive as central in MT communication and teamwork. Studying MTs from a communication perspective adds a valuable contribution to MT research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organizing integrated care for older persons: strategies in Sweden during the past decade	[ "Older people", "Integration", "Organizational structures", "Sweden", "Strategy", "Integrated care strategies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The increasing differentiation of welfare services, and particularly of care for older persons, calls for improved integration across the involved organizations (Axelsson and Bihari Axelsson, 2006; Glendinning, 2003). Older persons often have complex needs and they receive care from many different providers of health care, social care and rehabilitation, which requires a high degree of co-ordination (Johnson et al., 2003; Naylor and Keating, 2008). Demands for co-ordination of care are formally addressed in national policies as well as health- and social-care legislation (Department of Health, 2008; SFS, 1982:763, 2001:453). Moreover, there is a trend towards private sector involvement in elder care in Sweden (Ahgren and Axelsson, 2011; Gurner and Thorslund, 2003) as well as internationally (Bode et al., 2011; Glendinning, 2003), and of giving older persons opportunities to choose between different care providers (Department of Health, 2005; SFS, 2008:962). Problems with the increasing differentiation include the risk of fragmentation of responsibilities, which may result in efficiency and quality problems, such as duplications, gaps and discontinuity (Axelsson and Bihari Axelsson, 2006; Clarfield et al., 2001; Glendinning, 2003). This may in turn lead to concerns for the older persons, primarily dealing with unmet care needs (Bowles et al., 2003; Gurner and Thorslund, 2003). Furthermore, the legitimacy of the involved organizations is closely connected with trends in society. Specifically, it depends on their response to the expectations and the positive symbolic value connected with co-ordination and integration (Tragardh and Lindberg, 2004; Wistow and Dickinson, 2012).\nAim and research questions: The study's aim was to describe and analyse ways of organizing integrated care for older persons in Sweden during the past decade. The following research questions were posed:\nTheoretical framework: Integration of care may be organized in many different forms. It can be divided into two main dimensions: vertical and horizontal integration (Axelsson and Bihari Axelsson, 2006; Hvinden, 1994). Vertical integration occurs between organizations on different levels of a hierarchical structure, and horizontal integration occurs between organizations that belong to the same level or have the same status. Axelsson and Bihari Axelsson (2006) combined these dimensions into a conceptual scheme (Figure 1).\nMethod: Data collection\nResults and analysis: Strategies to organize integrated care\nDiscussion: The most common form of integration in the studied cases was co-operation, followed by co-ordination, contracting and collaboration. Strategies for co-ordination, contracting and co-operation were mostly initiated at the top organizational level. In a few cases managers and staff at the operational level were initiators, which particularly appeared for collaboration strategies. In most cases it was not reported if the respective strategy continued after project time or not, and it was not possible to judge which initiators or strategies resulted in sustainable strategies. Looking at the trends over time, the start and development of local health care systems and increasing focus on consumer choice and contracting out were typical for this decade. Common goals were to improve integration, and most often it was not specified what this was supposed to lead to. All evaluations of regular organization of integrated care had goals of increasing knowledge of integrated care. To steer and design care were common goals, and positive outcomes for staff and/or principals were also reported. Finally, positive outcomes for the older persons, e.g. improved health, could be seen in few cases. It was not possible to compare goal achievement and assess which strategies were most successful, as goal achievement was sometimes not measured at all or not consistently measured across the cases.\nConclusions and implications: Co-operation was the most common form of integration in the studied cases, which implies that both vertical and horizontal integration are high. Collaboration focused on horizontal integration was quite rare in the cases, but might be more common in reality. The theoretical framework of forms of integration was applicable for the cases, but the boundaries between the different forms were not always clear. Additionally, contracting can be questioned as being a form of integration, as it implies both low vertical and low horizontal integration. Contracting turned out to be problematic for co-operation between organizations, which was reported in the cases. Furthermore, the goals in the cases were often expressed in general terms, and they focused on developing steering and design of care, rather than outcomes for older persons. It might however be that these goals were supposed to indirectly benefit the older person. Goals to improve integration probably imply an ambition to legitimize the organization, as integration is in line with the surrounding normative expectations. Thus, the rhetoric of integration seems to take precedence over its practical implications. In clinical practice it seems important to be aware of setting specific follow-up goals, to be able to make robust evaluations. There is also a need to pay attention to the risk that special funds may focus on short-term goals and prevent the development of sustainable integrated care solutions. Trends over the decade comprise the development of local health care systems and an increasing focus on consumer choice and contracting out. There is a need to study these trends further, and evaluate the effects on organizations and for the older persons. In addition, theoretical grounds of integration need to be further tested with empirical data, for future development of integration theory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse ways of organizing integrated care for older persons in Sweden during the past decade.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The data consist of 62 cases of development work, described in official reports. A meta-analysis of cases was performed, including content analysis of each case. A theoretical framework comprising different forms of integration (co-ordination, contracting, co-operation and collaboration) was applied.\nFindings: Co-operation was common and collaboration, including multiprofessional teamwork, was rare in the cases. Contracting can be questioned as being a form of integration, and the introduction of consumer choice models appeared problematic in inter-organization integration. Goals stated in the cases concerned steering and designing care, rather than outcome specifications for older persons. Explicit goals to improve integration in itself could imply that the organizations adapt to strong normative expectations in society. Trends over the decade comprised development of local health care systems, introduction of consumer choice models and contracting out.\nResearch limitations/implications: Most cases were projects, but others comprised evaluations of regular organization of integrated care. These evaluations were often written normatively, but constituted the conditions for practice and were important study contributions.\nPractical implications: Guiding clinical practice to be aware of importance of setting follow-up goals.\nSocial implications: Awareness of the risk that special funds may impede sustainable strategies development.\nOriginality/value: A theoretical framework of forms of integration was applied to several different strategies, which had been carried out mostly in practice. The study contributes to understanding of how different strategies have been developed and applied to organize integrated care, and highlights some relationships between integration theory and practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Don't throw rocks from the side-lines: A sociomaterial exploration of organizational blogs as boundary objects	[ "Case study", "Blogging", "E-government", "E-collaboration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Research has highlighted the utility and importance of boundary objects as a means of mediating knowledge, developing shared perspectives and negotiating interests between groups and individuals undertaking collaborative tasks (e.g. Star and Griesemer, 1989; Carlile, 2002; Sapsed and Salter, 2004; Star, 2010; Scarbrough et al., 2015). Social media, particularly blogs and wikis, have become a popular means for groups and individuals to share views. In addition to being ubiquitous on the web, the use of social media has been widely adopted within organizations (Yardi et al., 2009; Shneiderman et al., 2011; Meijer and Torenvlied, 2014). Use of such media seeks to develop shared knowledge and shared perspectives, and hence we can consider their role as intra-organizational boundary objects.\nBoundary objects: prior literature: Star and Griesemer (1989) developed the concept of a boundary object in relation to a context where work is conducted by diverse groups of actors who need to cooperate. Put simply, \"boundary objects are a sort of arrangement that allow different groups to work together\" (Star, 2010 p. 602). Rather than refer to the edge of a domain, Star (2010) argues the term boundary \"is used to mean a shared space, where exactly that sense of here and there are confounded\" (p. 602/3). Important characteristics of boundary objects include their ability to provide this shared space where people interact, align their work, create shared meaning and importantly, mobilize to create action (Henderson, 1999; Star and Griesemer, 1989; Johnson, 1988; Latour, 1996; Winner, 1980). More recently, Scarbrough et al.'s (2015) discussion of boundary objects reinforces their incorporation into practice and their performative nature, noting that \"the relations between objects \"orchestrate\" the tasks of multiple groups\" (p. 217).\nThe characteristics of organizational blogs: prior literature: A blog is a web-based log or diary that usually has a sequence of dated entries of text (Yardi et al., 2009; Kolari et al., 2007; Page, 2010; Tseng, 2007). It may be authored by a single person, or by several people taking turns to add content. Blogs often feature the opportunity for readers to post feedback on the authors' posts or to add their own views and comments (Buis and Carpenter, 2009; Miller and Pole, 2010). Hence, blogs allow subjective authorial expression. Siapera (2008) examines the connection between blogging, subjectivity, and autonomy, discussing occasions that give rise to a blog posting and what each post accomplishes in collaboration with others. He concludes that blogs contribute to the democratic process in a novel way, and because of its use of chronology, readers' comments and hyperlinks, a blog becomes a collaborative and emergent form of expression, although in order to achieve democracy questions of power and distribution must to be addressed (Siapera, 2008). Since it is shared and can be archived, it forms a repository and a visible record of views, reactions, and assurances (Efimova and Grudin, 2007; Hourigan and Murray, 2010; Huh et al., 2007).\nSociomateriality and boundary objects: Many studies of boundary objects have been phenomenological and atheoretical in nature, promoting normative approaches to practice (e.g. Lee-Kelley and Blackman, 2012). Those studies that adopt a theoretical perspective seek to recognize both the social and material dimensions. Theoretical approaches that have proved popular are structuration theory (Giddens, 1986), with a number of studies in the IT domain (e.g. Desanctis and Poole, 1994; Markus and Silver, 2008) and actor-network theory (Latour, 1996) which has similarly spawned IT based studies (e.g. Briers and Chua, 2001; Kimble et al., 2010). However, both recognize an ontological distinction between the social and the material.\nResearch method: Consistent with our sociomaterial approach, we adopted a social constructionist ontological worldview and a corresponding interpretivist view of epistemology (Walsham, 1995; Klein and Myers, 1999). We adopted a case study research design in order to be able to explore the ongoing intra-action of the blog and its contextual setting (Benbasat and Zmud, 1999; Stake, 1995). This was operationalised by a single case study that explored the use of a blog in a major UK Government department over a four-year period.\nData collection: Three complementary types of data were collected. First, one of the research team undertook a series of face-to-face interviews with key informants in the government department. Four interviews were undertaken, one each with a director, a manager, and a team member in the internal IT team and one user of the blog (22 pages/11,000 words). Interviews were guided by a semi-structured interview schedule and explored inter alia priorities of the department and its functions, structures, communication, and use and impacts of the blog.\nData analysis: The face-to-face interviews were recorded, fully transcribed, and one researcher coded the transcripts using the software package QSR NVivo (Crowley et al., 2002). Two other researchers analysed the blog posts using tabular layouts in a word processing package. All three researchers reviewed all analysis, further increasing the internal validity of the study. Initial analysis was undertaken by means of open coding (Dey, 1993). Guided by the notion of inseparability, rather than identify multiple discrete and axial codes, we reviewed the data for more holistic instances of intra-action between the blog and boundaries within the organization. We did not predefine the instances, rather let them arise from the data. Three exemplar instances were identified: a performative portrayal of the organization, making the internal external, and reconfiguring accountabilities. These three instances are described in the Findings section.\nBackground mise en scene: blogging in a major UK Government department: The case study is based on the UK Home Office, which is a major central government department that employs over 25,000 staff across more than 20 locations. The department is led by a permanent secretary who is a career civil servant. The department is responsible for a wide range of diverse activities including passport and visa processing, enforcing border control, monitoring immigration, overseeing policing, and leading counter-terrorism activities (Home Office, 2006, 2007, 2008). The case study covers the period 2006-2009.\nFindings: Sensitized by our lens of sociomateriality, we present our findings as three exemplar instances of how the blog and boundaries were intra-actively performed. This emergent and ongoing performance resulted in wider changes both inside and outside the organization. The following section presents the empirical data and the following Discussion section provides a theoretically based explication.\nMaking the internal external: We were drawn to, and able to, undertake this study because the postings on the blog by the main contributors were made public under a FOI request. The initial response of the blog owner, the permanent secretary, on the blog showed that he had not expected the contents of the blog could be put in the public domain and that he was not supportive of this:[...] the Sunday Telegraph asked, under freedom of information, if I would publish the blog. But surely this is our internal space for a frank conversation? I can't see what it's got to do with the national press, can you?(October 2006).\nReconfiguring accountabilities: A key means of allowing the blog to engender change in the organization was to allow, and even encourage, staff to voice publicly the limitations they saw in key services and functions. This was encouraged by the blog owner by inviting senior staff, such as the head of IT and the head of the BA to be guest bloggers, which was, in turn, a response to the many comments on such services and functions by staff.\nDiscussion: The case suggests that the blog functioned effectively as a boundary object. It enabled staff in different functional areas, geographical locations and at different grades to develop shared and new knowledge, and allowed them to \"act toward and with\" (Star, 2010, p. 603) this knowledge. For example, there had previously been little common knowledge of the problems caused by poorly functioning IT. The blog gave individual staff voice (Mowbray et al., 2015), which the interview data confirmed had been absent in such a large, dispersed organization and where senior staff had previously employed broadcast, uni-directional communication methods. The cumulative nature of the blog allowed a shared view of the situation to be developed through discursive practices (Ewenstein and Whyte, 2009) and often involving \"war stories\" (Nicolini et al., 2012). The continued, although punctuated, use of the blog over the four-year period considered by the case study and its use by a wide range of staff demonstrate that both the blog owner and staff found the blog effective; it was locally useful, hence a boundary object-in-use (Levina and Vaast, 2005).\nConclusion: This study has adopted a sociomaterial perspective in order to explore how social media platforms and organizational boundaries are inter-actively performed. The specific platform explored was a blog and the setting, a large UK Government department, which had multiple functional, geographic and hierarchical grade boundaries. The study addresses calls for empirical research that explicate how and why boundary objects operate (Carlile, 2004; Doolin and Mcleod, 2012). Whilst public facing and organizational blogs are ubiquitous, to our knowledge, they have not previously been explored as organizational boundary objects.\nValue to practitioners and academics: Our study provides practitioners who are operating or considering the development of an organizational blog with a description of the formation and use in a challenging real-world setting. It is relatively simple and low cost to establish a blog. They appear to offer a panacea for the enduring challenge of developing effective organization-wide communication and knowledge sharing (Blundel et al., 2012), and the notion of rapid experimentation often associated with online media (Van Gelderen et al., 2008) may encourage a headlong adoption of blogs with little reflection. However, this study has highlighted that the blog and the organizational boundaries, and other aspects of the organization, are dynamic and mutually constitutive. Whilst an organization may, like the government department in our case study, choose to adopt a blog in order to engender change, but that change may be unexpected. Only certain organizations are subject to FOI requests, and hence they may not face the unexpected blurring of the internal and external faced by our case study. However, the mutual and ongoing becoming emphasized in our sociomaterial approach alerts practitioners to the sense that the full implications and impact of the blog cannot be foretold.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Social media such as blogs are being widely used in organizations in order to undertake internal communication and share knowledge, rendering them important boundary objects. A root metaphor of the boundary object domain is the notion of relatively static and inert objects spanning similarly static boundaries. A strong sociomaterial perspective allows the immisciblity of object and boundary to be challenged, since a key tenet of this perspective is the ongoing and mutually constituted performance of the material and social. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The aim of the research is to draw upon sociomateriality to explore the operation of social media platforms as intra-organizational boundary objects. Given the novel perspective of this study and its social constructivist ontology, the authors adopt an exploratory, interpretivist research design. This is operationalized as a case study of the use of an organizational blog by a major UK Government department over an extended period. A novel aspect of the study is the use of data released under a Freedom of Information request.\nFindings: The authors present three exemplar instances of how the blog and organizational boundaries were performed in the situated practice of the case study organization. The authors draw on the literature on boundary objects, blogs and sociomateriality in order to provide a theoretical explication of the mutually constituted performance of the blog and organizational boundaries. The authors also invoke the notion of \"extended chains of intra-action\" to theorize changes in the wider organization.\nOriginality/value: Adoption of a sociomaterial lens provides a highly novel perspective of boundary objects and organizational boundaries. The study highlights the indeterminate and dynamic nature of boundary objects and boundaries, with both being in an intra-active state of becoming challenging conventional conceptions. The study demonstrates that specific material-discursive practices arising from the situated practice of the blog at the respective boundaries were performative, reconfiguring the blog and boundaries and being generative of further changes in the organization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of e-learning adoption among students of developing countries	[ "Determinants", "Ghana", "E-learning", "Developing countries", "Adoption", "Structural equation modelling (SEM)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Teaching and learning has evolved over time; and the current situation being experienced in academic institutions is the use of information technology as a mediator. This new shift provides another perspective on education, with an emphasis on the use of electronically mediated tools to facilitate the learning process (Piccoli et al., 2001). This evolutionary change is referred to as electronic learning or e-learning, which refers to the use of information and communication technologies to facilitate access to resources that enhance teaching and learning. E-learning comes not as a substitute to traditional teaching and learning, but rather to strengthen and expand the reach of learning (Islam and Azad, 2015). Examples of e-learning tools include Moodle, Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai and Web 2.0 platforms (Akeroyd, 2005).\n2. Literature review: 2.1. ELA\n3. Research framework: Technology adoption has been studied using different theories and frameworks such as the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework, the theory of reasoned action (TRA), the diffusion of innovation model, the TAM, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), institutional theory among others (Ondago et al., 2012). The abundance of theories increases the amount of difficulty in selecting an appropriate theory; however, the level of analysis of the theory is one criterion that clearly distinguishes the respective theories. Some theories are developed to study individual adoption (Davis, 1989) while others are developed to study organizational adoption (Tornatzky and Klein, 1982). But, a review of the literature revealed an overwhelming support for the TAM (Al-Hawari and Mouakket, 2010; Chokri, 2012; Motaghian et al., 2013; Persico et al., 2014) as an appropriate model to investigate ELA; hence the theoretical foundations of this study.\n4. Methodology: The study is quantitative, using the survey technique as the data collection method. The model that was tested is made up of five constructs, each having multiple items that are measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree.\n5. Findings: 5.1. Demographic analysis\n6. Discussion: Considering that the study sought to investigate the determinants of ELA among students, through the lens of an extended TAM, the researchers proposed additional constructs to TAM to measure the adoption of e-learning. These constructs include: CSE, and ATTU. The study confirmed the initial proposition by previous authors that TAM is a useful theoretical model that helps in the understanding and explanation of ELA. As presented by the goodness of fit test, the model well represented the collected data. The study tested a total of nine hypotheses, out of which three were rejected, and thus, nullifying the initial hypothesized paths between PEOU and ELIB, CSE and ATTU and CSE and PU.\n7. Conclusion: This study investigated the determinants of ELA among students through the lens of an extended TAM. The conceptual model was empirically tested using SEM in IBM's Amos programme. Out of nine hypotheses proposed, six were supported, while three were rejected. Hypothesized relationships such as H2-H4 was found to be insignificant whilst, H1, H4-H7 and H9 were significant. The result of the study demonstrated that some of the constructs used had either a direct or indirect effect on university students' ELIB. On the basis of this, there is the need for practical application of the result of the study in the development and management of e-learning in universities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of e-learning adoption (ELA) among students in the University of Ghana.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative research approach comprising of a survey of 337 students was adopted. Data were collected using questionnaires designed in conjunction with 13 factors (computer self-efficacy (CSE), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU) and attitude towards use (ATTU)) in the conceptual model of the study. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modelling.\nFindings: The result revealed that PU and ATTU had a direct effect on ELA whilst, PU and PEOU also had a direct relationship on ATTU. Other variables such as CSE and PEOU had an indirect relationship on ELA though they were found to have an insignificant direct relationship on ELA.\nPractical implications: The level of significance of each construct identified in the study provide practical guidance to school administrators and instructors as to which factors to pay close attention to when implementing e-learning projects within their respective institutions.\nOriginality/value: This study provides insight into ELA from the students' perspective, through an extension of the TAM model in a developing country context given the existence of cultural differences and societal idiosyncrasies which exist in different contexts, particularly in Africa.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing multiple logics in partnerships for scaling social innovation	[ "Institutional logics", "Partnership", "Social innovation", "Scaling social innovation", "L25", "L31", "O35" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It has been widely accepted that innovation plays a central role in technological and economic development. As a result, the study of innovation - that is, how to stimulate, nurture and diffuse it - has maintained a top position on the agendas of researchers, managers and policy makers. However, despite these acknowledged technological and economic outcomes, the social benefits associated with innovation can be less obvious, difficult to measure and take time to become apparent.\n1. Theoretical framework: 1.1 Social innovation and social entrepreneurship (SE)\n2. Methodology: In the following sections we outline how our data were selected and how we apply the logic compatibility-centrality matrix to the case studies reviewed. Given the secondary nature of the data and the relatively high-level content of the case studies, the intent of the analysis is to provide a descriptive, exploratory understanding of how contested logics in particular are managed in intra- and inter-organizational partnerships.\n3. Analysis and findings: 3.1 Applying the compatibility-centrality matrix\n4. Discussion: Our theoretical framework and empirical analysis illustrates that multiple institutional logics are an inherent element of efforts to scale social innovation via intra- and inter-organizational partnerships. As discussed, scaling efforts often entail a decision by the organization to choose to focus more on growing its capacity for impact in a narrower system, or to focus on reaching as many people as possible through a more horizontal dissemination of knowledge and services. In either scenario, the management of multiple institutional logics is important to the partnership's success and social outcomes. Those who increase their scale by expanding the organization may face issues of mission creep as commercial and other logics start to dominate social ones, as we saw in the cases of the Back Office Cooperative and Aspire. Also, where organizational growth is pursued through formal partnerships, managing competing logics can be critical to maintaining social impact as a new culture is developed.\n5. Conclusion: This paper represents an exploratory study into how social innovators manage competing logics in the context of intra- and inter-organizational partnerships for scaling social innovation. It represents the first application to our knowledge of Besharov and Smith's (2014) logic compatibility-centrality matrix to the level of collaborative ventures. Our findings contribute to understanding how behaviors associated with institutional logics at the partnership level (e.g. flexibility and autonomy) can influence the outcomes of these ventures. From a practical standpoint, they indicate that those seeking to engage in partnerships for scaling social innovation should reflect on how the parties involved are selected, the degree to which values and assumptions are consistent, and associated implications. Efforts should be made to strategically plan how competing logics will be addressed and integrated in the emergent culture.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the field of social innovation by examining institutional logics at the level of inter- and intra-organizational partnerships for scaling impact.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors use a set of case studies from the Stanford Social Innovation Review to analyze success in scaling social innovations applying the logic compatibility-centrality matrix proposed by Besharov and Smith (2014), which aims to reveal the potential for conflict in organizations based on the diversity of logics present and the degree to which they are compatible with each other.\nFindings: The findings shed insight on how individuals and organizations are able to manage logic multiplicity in the context of partnerships for scaling social innovation.\nOriginality/value: The authors build on recent work that recognizes logic multiplicity in social enterprises resulting from their hybrid nature, and the authors add to the existing debate by introducing to the discussion contributions from cognitive theory that help explain why organizational cultures evolve and scale out the way they do.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Boston sport organizations and community disaster recovery	[ "Aftercare", "Emergency response", "Disasters", "Manmade disaster", "Sport organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2014, there were 336 disaster events worldwide, leading to 12,700 deaths and $110B in economic losses (\nResearch setting: In Boston, Massachusetts, the annual Boston Marathon has gained global recognition as the most famous marathon in the world. Events during the race in 2013 resulted in a strong and passionate collective reaction across the Boston region, highlighting the important role several other sport organizations hold in this sports-centric New England city.\nLiterature review: Several investigations have examined the organizational-community relationship (Babiak and Wolfe, 2009). Some authors have researched the impact of a community on the actions of an organization (Marquis and Battilana, 2009), while others have studied the potential for positive public benefits (Elkington, 1998), as well as tendencies for self-promotion over common good (Margolis and Walsh, 2003). Additionally, other scientists have examined the effects of a community on the actions of corporations, demonstrating that community standards drive organizational decision making (Marquis et al., 2007; Marquis and Battilana, 2009).\nMethod: Initial information for this case study was gathered from three sources: published media reports about the Boston bombing and recovery efforts; observations made by the author during visits to six Boston sport venues or events in May 2013; and informal interviews with approximately ten Boston residents and Boston sport organization employees.\nFindings: To examine the perceptions of the Boston sport organization leaders during the recovery process, interview data were organized into four broad themes: Patriot's Day in Boston, initial disaster response, fund raising, and special events. First, the interviewee's views of the importance of Patriot's Day in Boston provided insight into the setting of the race and the general atmosphere of the events. The three remaining themes arose as the leaders addressed emergency responses then shifted their focus toward financial efforts and community support activities.\nDiscussion and implications: This study sought to examine the disaster relief efforts of sport organizations in Boston through a content analysis of media reports and interviews with sport executives. Boston area sport organizations participated in tangible and emotional support activities following the attacks in 2013. Activities that provided tangible support included fundraising, donations, cause-related marketing, and public service announcements. Most fundraising efforts were directed toward support of the One Fund, which dispersed over $62M to victims and families affected by the bombings. In addition to tangible support, three types of emotional support were reviewed. Memorials during pre-game activities included special recognition of victims, families, and first responders. Other memorials included ceremonial first-pitch events and in-game musical tributes. Several reports discussed the site visits that five or six Red Sox players made to local hospitals. The BAA, the non-profit group in charge of organizing and officiating the marathon, were the only direct example of community outreach. The BAA set up counseling opportunities for runners, victims, and families dealing with the emotional toll of the traumatic events.\nConclusions: The purpose of this paper was to examine the role played by sport organizations in the community recovery efforts in Boston following the 2013 marathon bombings. Relief activities were identified including tangible, emotional, and informational support. The exposure of these activities, along with the perspectives from various executives from the sport organizations, may provide insight for other sport organizations that will be looked to for assistance during a future disaster. The examination of organizational actions and leader's perceptions following the disaster should provide insight for other sport organization leaders and civic officials as they prepare for future challenges.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by sport organizations in the community recovery efforts in Boston following the 2013 marathon bombings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Interview questions were created following initial site visits and content analysis of 40 media reports specifically dealing with social recovery efforts following the attacks. Six semi-structured interviews with professional team and organizational leaders were completed and analyzed to gain insight into the leader's perspectives of the relief process. Finally, the media reports and interviews were reviewed and specific recovery efforts were classified into tangible, emotional, or informational support categories.\nFindings: The findings of this case study are specific to the disaster relief efforts in Boston, Massachusetts following the 2013 marathon bombings and therefore cannot be generalized beyond this scope. This paper provided focussed analysis of the reactions of several Boston area sport organizations during the immediate disaster recovery period. The long-term impacts of these efforts require further investigation.\nPractical implications: The examination of the viewpoints of the sport organization leaders following the disaster may provide insight for other sport organization leaders and civic officials as they prepare for future challenges.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides a detailed examination of several sport organizations responses following the community disaster in Boston. It also provides unique perspectives from the sport organization leaders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social network relationship, supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance of small and medium enterprises in a developing economy	[ "Supply chain disruptions", "Supply chain resilience", "Supply network relationships", "Customer-oriented performance", "Resource-based view", "Social capital theory", "Ghana" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The growing complexity and the inherent risk of unexpected disruptions that characterise business activities make contemporary supply chains vulnerable (Hohenstein et al., 2015; Ponormarov and Holcomb, 2009). In dynamic and turbulent environments, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe are confronted with numerous events that threaten to disrupt operations and continuous flow of value (Ponormarov and Holcomb, 2009; Hendricks and Singhal, 2003). These events may include both natural and man-made causes such as earthquakes, fires, equipment failures, loss of critical suppliers, labour disputes, supplier defaults and political instability, and can potentially impede the flow of value and affect operational and financial performance (Ponormarov and Holcomb, 2009). One of the key characteristic of disruptions is that they can occur suddenly without prior warning signals. To minimize the risk of disruptions, firms need to build capabilities across their value chain to position them in readiness to withstand and recover from disruptions, which constitutes the essence of supply chain resilience (Ponormarov and Holcomb, 2009). Thus, resilience represents a strategic and critical capability that can mitigate the devastating effects of disruptive events on the operations of firms and supply chains (Brandon-Jones et al., 2014; Ponormarov and Holcomb, 2009).The role of social network relationships in developing resilience to supply chain disruptions is gaining prominence in the supply chain management (SCM) literature (Galaskiewicz, 2011; Johnson et al., 2013). Social network relationship is conceived as the interrelationships among groups and individuals through social connections. In other words, it involves interrelated firms and actors such as government agencies and non-government organizations, customers and many others, who consolidate their resources to execute some activities for the benefit of all parties involved (Acquaah, 2012). Viewing supply chains as networks of organisations highlights the inadequacies of firms' internal resources in building some higher order capabilities such as resilience (Christopher, 2016). Thus, many firms actively seek strategic collaborations with other firms, with social network relationships helping firms to achieve this. Among SMEs, particularly in cultural-collectivist regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, social network relationships represent an important mechanism through which firms access external resources and capabilities to develop synergy and resilience (Acquaah, 2012). SMEs play important roles in the socio-economic development particularly in developing and emerging economies, usually accounting for the majority of all firms. They however mostly operate with considerable lesser resources and capabilities than larger organizations, which potentially makes them more vulnerable to disruptions when they occur. Research into supply chain resilience among SMEs is however very limited, with the majority of the studies being conceptual or theoretical in nature (Bhamra et al., 2011; Kamalahmadi and Parast, 2016). There is the need for good empirical based studies that explore the drivers and effects of supply chain resilience among SMEs. This study proposes social network relationships as the antecedent of supply chain resilience, which in turn leads to higher customer oriented performance.The study addresses some research gaps. Although supply chain resilience has been deemed important in ensuring business continuity in times of disruptions (Linnenluecke, 2017), research into this relationship remain mostly conceptual and empirically limited in SCM literature (Linnenluecke, 2017; Hohenstein et al., 2015). In particular, studies investigating supply chain resilience and its implications on operational performance have been rather limited (Brandon-Jones et al., 2014; Hohenstein et al., 2015). Furthermore, although SCM literature recognizes the theoretical relevance of social network relationships, a literature search revealed that prior studies have not empirically examined its relationship to supply chain resilience. Hence, this study helps empirically establish whether or not supply chains could build capabilities for resilience through social networking. Thus this study exploring the antecedents and effects of supply chain resilience among SMEs enhances supply chain management literature, particularly in the context of developing economies. Our first and second research questions are: (1) does social network relationship affect supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance among SMEs? (2) does supply chain resilience influence customer-oriented performance in times of supply chain disruption? The question of whether or not supply chain resilience acts as a mechanism through which social network relationship influence customer-oriented performance in the face of disruptions also remains unaddressed in extant literature. This leads us to our third research question: (3) does supply chain resilience serve as a mechanism through which social network relationships influence customer-oriented performance?In addressing these questions, our study makes both theoretical and managerial contributions. Theoretically, the study extends the social network relationship-performance domain by drawing insights from resource based view (RBV) and social capital theories to explain (1) how social network relationship affects customer-oriented performance through supply chain resilience and (2) the extent to which supply chain resilience to disruptions drives customer-oriented performance of SMEs. Managerially, from the perspective of sub-Saharan African country with its economic and cultural peculiarities (Amedofu et al., 2019; Asamoah et al., 2015), the study makes context specific contributions to guide managers of SMEs on the importance of social network relationships in building resilience to disruption to guarantee business continuity. In the following sections, we present the literature and theoretical background and hypotheses of the study, followed by a discussion of the methods employed and results. Then we present the discussions and implications. Finally, we conclude with limitations and avenues for future research of the studies.\n2. Literature and theoretical background: 2.1 Supply chain resilience and SMEs\n3. Hypotheses formulation: 3.1 Social network relationship and supply chain resilience\n4. Methods: 4.1 Data\n5. Data analysis: 5.1 Assessment of measures\n6. Theoretical and managerial implications: Our study makes theoretical and managerial contributions. Theoretically, we combine RBV research with social capital theory to extend our understanding on how social network relationships drive Customer-oriented performance and the mechanism through which such manifestation occurs in the face of disruptions and uncertainties. In the context of SCM, we theorise and empirically establish that social networks, through their capacity to generate resources and capability, represent strategic channels through which supply chain goals of meeting customer requirements can be achieved.Second, our findings provide evidence that supply chain resilience does not only act as an antecedent to Customer-oriented performance but also, and more insightfully, plays a mediating role in the relationship between social network relationships and Customer-oriented performance. We argued that given the inevitability of disruptions associated with business operations, it takes resilient supply chains to thrive. Our findings support the assertion by demonstrating the criticality of supply chain resilience in ensuring seamless and continuous flow of value to customers in the face of disruptions and turbulence. Thus, in the context of SMEs, our findings shed light on the important roles of both business and non-business related social network relationships in building resilience within supply chains and how that reflects in Customer-oriented performance in terms of delivering continuous and reliable products and services to customers in the event of disruptions.The study also sheds managerial insights. First, our evidence informs managers of SMEs on the importance of investing in resilience within their supply chains, to not only withstand the eventualities of disruptions, but also guarantee continuous flow of value to their customers in the event of disruptions. Second, our findings reiterate the importance of social network relationships as a source of generating resources and capabilities to improve operational performance. In particular, the findings reveal that social network relationships play a crucial role in building resilience to disruptions as it fosters internal and external alliances, resources and collaborative capabilities. The conception of supply chains as collaborative and co-operative networking endeavour of firms underscores the insufficiency of firms operating in isolation as their internal resources and capabilities may not be adequate to operate effectively and competitively within the task environment (Christopher, 2016). Consequently, and given the inevitability of disruptions and uncertainties characterising business operations, it is strategically imperative for owner managers, especially those operating within the Sub-Sahara Africa, to move beyond the internal silos to develop and leverage their social ties and connections in order to marshal resources and capabilities needed to develop a resilience that makes their supply chains robust. Such strategic thinking and approach to business management technically equips managers and their supply chains to proactively deal with and overcome the liabilities of disruptions and uncertainties to guarantee continuity of operations, thereby satisfying customers in terms of uninterrupted timely delivery of goods and services. Thus, we demonstrate that, social network relationships represent an important business capital that provides sources of resources and capabilities to building resilience to drive and sustain operational efficiency and performance in the event of disruption. 6.1 Limitations and avenues for future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While the concept of supply chain resilience has received lots of scholarly and policy interest over the past few years, empirical research examining its sources and outcomes remains inadequate, particularly, in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Grounded in the resource-based view and social capital frameworks, the study examines the relationship between social network relationship, supply chain resilience and customer oriented performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study develops and empirically tests a research model that proposes social network relationships and customer-oriented performance as the antecedent and outcome respectively of supply chain resilience. Data was obtained from a survey of 110 SMEs in Ghana.\nFindings: The findings of the study suggest that a firm's external and internal social networks can be leveraged to enhance its supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance. Supply chain resilience was also found to enhance customer-oriented performance. Additionally, supply chain resilience was found to significantly mediate the effect of social network relationships on customer-oriented performance.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that empirically explores and establishes the relationship between social network relationships, supply chain resilience and customer-oriented performance to the best of the authors' knowledge.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the determinants and consequences of salesperson market orientation behavior: An empirical study in the financial service industry	[ "Adaptive selling", "Sales control systems", "Sales planning", "Salesperson goal orientation", "Salesperson market orientation behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last few decades, research in sales management has highlighted the importance of customer-directed selling behaviors and investigated the nature and functions of their different forms, such as a salesperson's customer orientation and sales service behaviors (Franke and Park, 2006; Plouffe et al., 2009; Saxe and Weitz, 1982; Spiro and Weitz, 1990). With recent changes in market characteristics and sales tasks, the focus of customer-directed selling behaviors is also changing (Ahearne et al., 2013; Cron et al., 2014; Verbeke et al., 2011). Changes in the nature of sales activities are a recent trend, often requiring salespeople to contribute additional value in gathering information from internal and external environments and utilizing it, instead of simply selling products and servicing customers (Akesson et al., 2016; Piercy et al., 2006). Hence, among the various forms of customer-directed selling behaviors that exist, market-oriented ones have received increasing attention in research over the last five years, as a result of the greater competitiveness and complexity of today's business environment (Wang and Miao, 2015).\n2. Conceptual background and model: 2.1 The nature and importance of SMOB\n3. Research hypotheses: 3.1 Effects of the goal orientations of salespeople on SMOB\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Sample and data collection\n5. Data analysis and results: To assess the measurement properties and structural model, partial least squares (PLS) analyses were performed using SmartPLS (Ringle et al., 2005). PLS is more appropriate than variance-based structural equation modeling for causal and predictive analyses in complex relationships (Chin, 1998). In addition, PLS is better suited when the research model is at an early stage of theoretical development (Reinartz et al., 2009). Because there have been very few empirical studies of SMOB, our focus was on theory development. Therefore, PLS was deemed to be more suitable than other statistical methods for our study.\n6. Discussion and implications: This study focused on the determinants and consequences of SMOB. This report advances the sales management literature, providing insights into the sales performance implications of SMOB by identifying the factors that may improve them and by verifying the relationship among them, working-smart behaviors, and sales performance. In other words, this study identified both the determinants of SMOB and the underlying mechanisms that link it to sales performance.\n7. Limitations and future research: Although this study sheds light on the factors that enhance SMOB and the interrelationships between them, working-smart behaviors, and sales performance, we recognize its limitations and suggest several paths for further research. First, to remain parsimonious, this study could not encompass every factor that fosters SMOB. Future research may extend the scope of this work by analyzing other variables and incorporating potential moderator variables that influence the link between SMOB and sales performance. In addition, we analyzed the outcome of sales performance, but there are other relevant outcome factors, such as job satisfaction and job performance. However, as the links between customer orientation, adaptive selling, and job satisfaction have been thoroughly studied (Franke and Park, 2006), future research should analyze the link between SMOB and satisfaction, using other selling behaviors as possible mediators of this linkage to shed light on the impact of SMOB on other relevant outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While the importance of salesperson market orientation behavior (SMOB) is widely acknowledged, as evidenced by the increasing research attention this concept is receiving, discussion of its antecedents and consequences in the literature remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the antecedents of SMOB and the underlying process through which it influences sales performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A causal model was developed to analyze the antecedents and consequences of SMOB. This proposed model and various hypotheses were tested using data obtained from a sample of 264 salespeople in the Taiwanese financial services industry.\nFindings: The learning orientation and behavioral controls of salespeople positively influence SMOB. In addition, SMOB plays a critical role in improving two types of \"working-smart\" behaviors (i.e., sales planning and adaptive selling), thereby achieving better sales performance.\nOriginality/value: This report sheds light on the importance of SMOB in today's personal sales environment and uncovers the underlying mechanisms through which SMOB contributes to sales performance. It also offers specific guidelines for the assessment and management of SMOB to enhance the performance of salespeople within the financial services industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
South African foodservice quality: inpatient's perceptions	[ "Foodservice quality", "Inpatient expectations", "Inpatient perceptions", "Inpatient satisfaction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Prior to 1994, only four South African provinces existed, with ten homelands set-up as ethnically defined territories to accommodate the black populations (Beck, 2000). In 1994, the new democratic government inherited a highly fragmented, inequitable healthcare system with health departments for four different racial groups; each homeland having its own health department. In trying to address healthcare system inequalities, new government officials demarcated the country into nine provinces, each with a legislature, premier and executive council and a distinctive landscape, population, economy and climate. Primary healthcare focused on curative and preventive health aimed at community development and participation in planning, providing, controlling and healthcare service monitoring. Western cultural menus were used at different hospitals inconsiderately to patient cultural and religious food preferences. Public healthcare is government funded and offered to all South African citizens at affordable costs. However, there are disadvantages, such as long waiting times, rushed appointments, old facilities, poor disease control and prevention. Citizens can opt to purchase private insurance and be treated at private healthcare facilities, which offer perks and services unavailable in public healthcare. South Africa's National Health Insurance is gradually being introduced to the country for a unified, equitable, more affordable and accessible healthcare system for the South African population (Young, 2016). South Africans are faced with transforming national healthcare delivery and all its relevant institutions.\nLiterature review: South African healthcare is competitive, and patients have become more quality conscious. Consequently, they do not hesitate to switch to other providers if services do not meet their expectations (Roshnee, 2008), which means the industry is becoming increasingly concerned about quality enhancements to meet intensified patients' demands for service excellence (Kim et al., 2010). Simultaneously, food and foodservice delivery have become the most significant elements in determining inpatient's overall healthcare satisfaction (Muraal and Davar, 2014). Hospital diet is an integral treatment process because food affects recovery and life quality (Mentziou et al., 2014; Sahin et al., 2006; Beck et al., 2002). Several studies reveal mixed results on inpatient foodservice perceptions. Mentziou et al. (2014) indicate that most patients perceive food quality variety as satisfactory; while Jessri et al. (2011) showed that patients admitted to general medical and surgical wards in Iranian hospitals reported that food quality and quantity were unsatisfactory. Quality, therefore, is an important foodservice satisfaction determinant (Messina et al., 2012; Wright et al., 2006).\nMaterials and methods: Study design\nResults: The results are presented in tables showing descriptive and inferential statistics. All summary statistics are given as frequencies and proportions (expressed in percentages) for categorical variables and averages as medians.\nDiscussion and conclusion: We analysed the most important overall hospital foodservice perceptions using a descriptive approach. Results revealed lower inpatient satisfaction levels with aspects relating to foodservice system reliability; i.e., they were not informed about meal times (overall median=0). Also, they had to wait longer than expected to receive their meals, (overall median=0) and were not informed about reasons for delays (overall median=2). In the responsiveness section, we found that service staff did not explain menu food items, (overall median=0), which made patients unhappy and needs improvement. Another area that needs improvement is empathy, which relates to service personnel who did not inform patients about nutritional values (overall median=0). When patients are well-informed about their care, anxiety is alleviated resulting in increased positive perceptions. Keeping patients well-informed implies that staff addressed or promoted inpatient's rights issues.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess patient perceptions regarding South African hospital foodservice quality.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 419 questionnaires were administered to surgical and medical inpatients consuming a normal diet in six South African provinces. A number of 23 urban and 10 rural hospitals were sampled. Inpatients were surveyed for their opinions on hospital foodservice quality with a view to improving meals and food delivery processes.\nFindings: Results revealed lower patient satisfaction with aspects relating to foodservice reliability. Among other issues, inpatients were not informed about meal times (overall median=0), had to wait longer than expected for their meals and were not informed about delays (overall median=2). Menu items were not explained to inpatients (overall median=0), and inpatients were not informed about nutritional values (overall median=0). Consequently, patients opined that they were not willing to use the hospital foodservice in future (overall median=2).\nOriginality/value: To identify South African healthcare issues that need improvement, it is necessary to establish where to act. These findings create awareness among authorities and hospital managers to consider patient perceptions when they review and try to improve public hospital foodservice quality, which could also assist in ensuring improvement in food consumption levels, thereby combating South African hospital malnutrition.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A case study of tri-morbidity	[ "Case study", "Mental health", "Mortality", "Health inclusion", "Tri-morbidity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPurpose: Homelessness can be characterised by tri-morbidity, which is the combination of substance misuse, physical ill health and mental ill health (Player et al., 2019). It is widely known that despite the NHS being set up to provide access to health care for all, access and provision is inequitable (Hart, 1971), (Marmot et al., 2020). Two recent papers on health inclusion found that those from socially excluded populations had a mortality rate 8 times higher for men than the average and 12 times higher for women (Luchenski et al., 2018), (Aldridge et al., 2008). This increase in mortality in those who are socially excluded such as homeless patients is contributed to the complex impact of tri-morbidity and social circumstances. Considering a life course perspective for individuals living with tri-morbidity is important. A life course approach refers to the protective factors and risk factors that we are exposed to over a life course and how this may impact our morbidity and mortality in later life (Hertzman et al., 2001). This approach can help better understand the impact negative life events can have and where intervention may be helpful (Kuh et al., 2003). In the case of homelessness, multiple negative life events may accumulate in a short space of time with limited personal and professional resources to help manage them or allow recovery, leading to further risks and negative life events. This spiralling of negative life events over time may help explain the higher mortality rates for those who are socially excluded (Rashbrook, 2019). However, they provide an opportunity for system changes to enable better outcomes for such individuals. The aim of this case report is to shed light on the current public health crisis of mental health and homelessness and to consider how a life course approach may be a useful part of a response to this crisis.\nApproach: This case study highlights the current crisis of homelessness and mental health in the UK and specifically the East of England. The mortality data for homeless deaths in the UK and the East of England are those reported by the Office of National Statistics (Butt and John, 2019). One specific case is detailed but anonymised, by changing some of the identifiable information but not the essence of the case, (Smith, 2008) to highlight the life course of an individual living with tri-morbidity and describe a pathological level of negative life events. The complexity of health and social care required for such individuals and potential opportunities for service involvement and multidisciplinary working which may help to change the trajectory of such individuals' life courses are discussed (Rees, 2009).\nNational data: There were an estimated 726 registered deaths of homeless people in England and Wales in 2018, the highest year-to-year increase (22%) since the time series began, and 88% of this total were male (Butt and John, 2019). The mean age at death for homeless people was 45 years for males and 43 years for females in 2018, compared to the general population of England and Wales in which the mean age at death was 76 years for men and 81 years for women (Butt and John, 2019). Two in five deaths of homeless people were related to drug poisoning in 2018, and the number of deaths from this cause has increased by 55% since 2017 (Butt and John, 2019). In the East of England, the number of homeless individuals made up between 10% and 15% of the national number over the past ten years. It is estimated that there were 56 deaths of homeless people in the East of England in 2018 (Butt and John, 2019). Larger cities such as London, Birmingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne have the highest mortality rates.\nMental health and homelessness: In 2009, Crisis issued a report on mental health and the homeless population (Rees, 2009). While it is difficult to illicit exact statistics on this topic, owing to poor coding and presentation to health services, it is clear there is an increase in mental health diagnoses in the homeless population (Thomas, 2012), (White and Maguire, 2019). The report suggested that a homeless individual was twice as likely to have a diagnosis of mental health problems than someone in the general population and that psychosis was 4-15 times more likely (Rees, 2009). Those who are street homeless carried a higher risk for psychotic illness at 50-100 times that of the general population (Rees, 2009). Alcohol and substance misuse were more likely to be seen in those homeless individuals with severe mental illness. These findings were echoed in a local report comparing homelessness in two cities in Ireland in 2015 (O'Reilly et al., 2015). All the above, i.e. those with significant tri-morbidity, had a five times increased mortality risk compared to their equivalent age in the general population (Rees, 2009). However, it is known that of those who are under mental health services for psychosis, very few are homeless (Rees, 2009). Thus, there is a discrepancy between what is known to be a significant health issue and what specialist help is being received. A review on suicides in the UK in 2011 reported that only 25% of those who die from suicide were under the care of mental health services despite mental illness being commonly associated with suicide (Windfuhr and Kapur, 2011). Between 1% and 3% of suicides in this report were homeless individuals. At points of last contact with services, such individuals reported emotional distress, physical illness, increased substance misuse and self-harm (Windfuhr and Kapur, 2011). It was suggested that outreach services and the voluntary sector could help address engagement with mental health services to improve outcomes for such individuals.\nCase summary: This is the history of a young adult homeless man with increasing levels of distress, possible developmental disorder, history of trauma, and he was repeatedly assessed by multiple services including Community NHS Trust, Multi-agency Consortium (Council, Health, Housing Trust, DWP & Shelter), Early Intervention Team (Mental Health (MH) Trust), Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment team (MH Trust) and Criminal Justice Liaison (MH Trust). He was not provided with any ongoing specialist care or treatment that he was able to engage with. There appeared to be a lack of clear formulation and multi-agency discussions and care plans up until the point of discharge from the MH Trust. Unfortunately, the patient died because of suicide in his early 20s. In the months prior to his death, he presented frequently to a vulnerable adult service, specialising in care for those who live with tri-morbidity. At these appointments, he engaged but struggled to find the words to communicate his symptoms which had, in other settings, presented as anger outbursts. During his last appointment, he was unable to carry out all activities of daily living except for showering and waiting for help. Referrals were made to mental health teams, but following assessment evidence based treatment plans were put in place; treatments involved group therapy which the patient was unable to attend owing to mental health symptoms; therefore, he was discharged from secondary care services (Figure 1).\nDiscussion: This is an upsetting case which makes for difficult reading; however, it highlights that much can be reflected on and hopefully learnt, such as altering the approach to cases of tri-morbidity and better understanding it. Applying the life course approach to this, the first area of complexity surrounds preconception and maternal health (Smith et al., 1998). Ensuring input from services to manage complex substance misuse and alcohol dependency in pregnancy would be important in this case, and recognising the impact of alcohol dependency in the unborn child and following birth is essential.\nConclusion: There is an epidemic of homelessness with the average age of mortality for those living on the streets reducing year on year. None of the approaches or concepts discussed previously are new, and all aim for patient centred care with the right people at the right time and cohesive working amongst health and social care. However, in those patients who are most vulnerable the efforts needed to achieve and maintain this are greater, but the potential outcome changes to the individual and society are also greater. Going above and beyond to re-engage individuals and build relationships is an important role for health-care professionals, particularly where trauma and distrust of people and services and often level of chaos are potential barriers. Basic engagement strategies and building rapport are the initial work that is often under-valued, and it is often this that can support people to be able to engage in later psychological work. Moreover, once there is a level of engagement, to recognise that patients have lived extraordinary lives, often unable to speak the medical language or to be funnelled into diagnoses and treatment plans, that an extraordinary approach to diagnosis and treatment is crucial, and one which all agencies are signed up to, to provide true holistic care.\nOriginality: This is an original piece of work with real cases discussed but anonymised according to the British Medical Journal guidance on reporting death case reports (Smith, 2008). The authors were unable to contact the individual's next of kin but attempts were made to further anonymise the case, so it is not traceable to the individual.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the vulnerability of individuals living with tri-morbidity and the complexity of care required to serve this patient group, moreover to consider how a life course approach may assist.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses a case study of a death of a young male adult experiencing homelessness and tri-morbidity in the UK and comparison of the mortality data for homeless adults in the UK with the general population. A synopsis of the mental health and health inclusion guidance for vulnerable adults is used.\nFindings: This paper found the importance of considering a life course approach and the impact of negative life events on individuals living with tri-morbidity and also the role of specialist services to support the complex needs of vulnerable adults including the importance of multi-disciplinary working and holistic care.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research implications of this study are to consider how individuals living with tri-morbidity fit in to evidence-based care.\nPractical implications: The practical implication is to consider that those living with tri-morbidity have extra-ordinary lives often with a high concentration of negative life events. Therefore, an extra-ordinary approach to care maybe needed to ensure health inequalities are reduced.\nSocial implications: This paper is an important case highlighting health inequalities, specifically mortality, in the homeless population.\nOriginality/value: This paper is an original piece of work, with real cases discussed but anonymised according to guidance on reporting death case reports.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Minimum wage change effects on restaurant pricing and employment	[ "Employment", "Staffing", "Restaurants", "Pricing", "Minimum wage", "Labor utilization" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is estimated that 90 per cent of all countries have some type of minimum wage policy (ILO, 2008). This lowest permitted level of employee compensation permitted is intended to provide protection for wage earners, yet interestingly, there is not one ideal minimum wage level (Belser and Sobeck, 2012). Many countries, including the USA, boost minimum wage levels to meet changing fiscal and societal needs. The USA passed federal minimum wage legislation in 1938 and has increased minimum wage levels over time as economic conditions changed (Neumark and Wascher, 2008). New state and local laws resulted in increases to the minimum wage in 21 states in 2015 (Kasperkevic and Srinivas, 2015) and 19 states in 2017, with more hikes coming as a result of phased-in increases (Ruggless, 2017).\nLiterature review: Minimum wage rates in the USA are set at the federal and the state levels. While the federal minimum wage has remained the same since 2009, many state minimum wage levels continue to increase, while other states discuss future increases (Solly, 2016). Federal lawmakers suggest that a federal minimum wage increase may be appropriate but encourage states' policy-makers to examine their own markets and adjust minimum wage levels in their respective states (Belser and Sobeck, 2012). Recent state minimum wage proposals have ranged from a 10 per cent increase to a 100 per cent increase (DOL, 2015).\nMethodology: A survey was designed to gather data from restaurant operators based on instruments from previous studies that examined the impact of minimum wage growth (Aaronson et al., 2008; Addison et al., 2012; Dube et al., 2007). An Employment Policies Institute (EPI, 2015) survey on the expected changes because of a possible $15 minimum wage in New York was also referenced. Because the purpose of this study is to determine the impact of various levels of minimum wage increase, the researchers included four potential levels: 25, 50, 75 and 100 per cent. These levels were established after evaluating previous industry-level studies and popular press estimates of commonly discussed future minimum wage levels. Questions relating to restaurant demographics were created using characteristics suggested by Haley-Lock (2012), including geographic location, firm size and ownership type. As previous studies found mixed results depending on the type of restaurant (Addison et al., 2012; Dube et al., 2007), respondents were asked details about the size and type of restaurants for which they were responsible. In addition, some jurisdictions, such as New York, are implementing different minimum wages depending on the type of operation, particularly fast-food (McAndrew, 2015). Including restaurant ownership type is also important because prior research has shown that independent restaurants have a higher failure rate than chains (Parsa et al., 2005; Parsa et al., 2011).\nResults: There were 219 completed surveys out of 845 started, for a completion rate of 25.9 per cent. Respondent demographics are given in Part A of Table II. Participants were 39.3 per cent male and 60.7 per cent female. Respondents had restaurants in 46 states around the USA. Supervisors and managers accounted for 66.2 per cent of respondents, while 33.8 per cent held higher positions such as a general manager or owner. Of the respondents, 142 controlled pricing, 174 had control over employment and 97 controlled both. Each respondent was responsible for one to 69 restaurants, with an average of 1.9 restaurants per respondent, with 79.0 per cent of respondents responsible for just one.\nDiscussion and conclusions: Results of the study show two significant findings. First, the level of minimum wage increase is anticipated to significantly affect changes in pricing and employment. The higher the minimum wage increase, the more significant an anticipated increase in price or decrease in employment. It is important for legislators considering minimum wage levels to understand the impact of these changes at the restaurant level to determine the best way to introduce wage hikes to markets. The second significant finding of this study is that all types of restaurants anticipate approximately the same percentage price increases and employment decreases when faced with minimum wage increases. This knowledge can help policy-makers to determine if minimum wage levels should be varied based on business type.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: State and local governments are considering large increases to the minimum wage. As restaurants employ many individuals paid at or below minimum wage, these changes may affect their businesses. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anticipated effects of minimum wage growth on employment and pricing in US food and beverage operations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study utilizes an experimental design where restaurant owners and managers are presented with scenarios of differing levels of potential minimum wage increases and are asked to anticipate changes to employment and pricing.\nFindings: Restaurant owners and managers involved in the study indicate the level of the minimum wage increase will significantly affect changes in pricing and employment levels. Results also show that restaurant demographics such as type of restaurant and average check do not significantly affect the relative change operators anticipate implementing. Specific ways participants plan to make adjustments are also presented.\nOriginality/value: The anticipated impact of minimum wage increases at the restaurant level is examined, which differs from previous studies that determine the impact at the industry level. This study evaluates large minimum wage increases of up to 100 per cent, which have previously not been studied.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Software piracy, inequality and the poor: evidence from Africa	[ "Africa", "Intellectual property rights", "Piracy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Poverty and inequality undoubtedly remain substantial challenges to African economic and human developments (Asongu, 2012a). It has also become abundantly clear that, for any country, region or continent to be actively involved in the global economy, it must adopt competition as a benchmark to progress. Competition derives from intellectual capital, which is protected by intellectual property rights (IPRs) laws (treaties). In recent economic history, there has been a wide consensus on the key role that IPRs protection play in promoting innovation processes and economic growth. Much recently, however, technological progress has not only brought about an increased availability of information and technology products, but also the proliferation of technology used to copy, unlawfully download or counterfeit such commodities. Given present efforts being placed on harmonizing the standard and enforcement of IPRs protection worldwide (Asongu, 2012b), whereas much has been debated about the incidence of IPRs on economic development in developing countries, the income-redistributive role of piracy has remained unexplored in the literature.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 IPRs and development\n3. Data and methodology: 3.1 Data\n4. Empirical analysis: This section aims to examine three main issues: the ability of the instruments to explain the endogenous components of the piracy channel; the capacity of the exogenous components of the piracy channel to explain inequality; and the ability of instruments to explain inequality beyond the piracy channel. While the first issue is addressed with first-stage regressions, the second and third concerns are assessed with the 2SLS regressions.\n5. Conclusion: Poverty and inequality undoubtedly remain substantial challenges to economic and human developments. There is also a growing role of IPRs protection, especially with advances in ICTs. While existing piracy literature has focussed on the socio-economic determinants of piracy, but for Andres (2006a), the piracy-inequality nexus has remained unexplored. The current paper which steers clear of Andres (2006a) from three standpoints[6] has had a threefold contribution to the literature. First, as far as we have reviewed, it is the first empirical study to assess the incidence of piracy on inequality in Africa. Second, the piracy-inequality nexus is contingent on the upholding of IPRs. In other words, it has examined how IPRs laws (treaties) are instrumental in the effect of piracy on income-inequality. Third, given current efforts that have been devoted to fighting piracy in the continent, the study has also assessed how governance mechanisms are instrumental in the effect of piracy on inequality. The main finding suggests that, software piracy is good for the poor as it has a positive income-redistributive effect. This finding is consistent with recent piracy literature (Moores and Esichaikul, 2011) from both economic and cultural considerations. ICTs and education (dissemination of knowledge) are instrumental in this positive redistributive effect, while good governance mitigates inequality beyond the piracy channel.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Poverty and inequality undoubtedly remain substantial challenges to economic and human developments amid growing emphasis on intellectual property rights (IPRs) (with recent advances in information and communication technology (ICTs)) and good governance. In the first empirical study on the incidence of piracy on inequality in Africa, the purpose of this paper is to examine how a plethora of factors (IPRs laws, education and ICTs and government quality) are instrumental in the piracy-inequality nexus.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two-stage least squares estimation approaches are applied in which piracy is instrumented with IPRs regimes (treaties), education and ICTs and government quality dynamics.\nFindings: The main finding suggests that, software piracy is good for the poor as it has a positive income-redistributive effect; consistent with economic and cultural considerations from recent literature. ICTs and education (dissemination of knowledge) are instrumental in this positive redistributive effect, while good governance mitigates inequality beyond the piracy channel.\nPractical implications: As a policy implication, in the adoption IPRs, sampled countries should take account of the role less stringent IPRs regimes play on income-redistribution through software piracy. Collateral benefits include among others, the cheap dissemination of knowledge through ICTs which African countries badly need in their quest to become \"knowledge economies.\" A caveat, however, is that, too much piracy may decrease incentives to innovate. Hence, the need to adopt tighter IPRs regimes in tandem with increasing income-equality.\nOriginality/value: It is the first empirical assessment of the incidence of piracy on inequality in Africa: a continent with stubbornly high poverty and inequality rates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring suitability of cloud computing for small and medium-sized enterprises in India	[ "SME", "ICT", "Adoption", "Cloud computing", "MSME" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy of many developing countries by making major contributions to the domains of employment generation, industrial output, and exports. SMEs in developing countries, especially like India, also help in decreasing various existing regional disparities by leveraging the socioeconomic growth of rural and backward areas. As per an annual report for 2014-2015, published by Government of India, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME), SMEs in India provide employment to around 80 million individuals, contribute 8 percent to GDP, and also constitute 40 percent of the total export from the country.\nLiterature review: Cloud computing\nResearch model development and hypotheses formulation: Seven factors are thus identified for building the research model. These factors which are taken as independent variables in the research model comprise of all the major benefits and concerns associated with adopting cloud computing and are identified as perceived cost benefits, relative advantage, top management support, competitive pressure, security and privacy, reliability, and perceived concerns after carrying out the due review of literature. The dependent variable has been defined as SME's intention to adopt cloud computing. Here, intention to use cloud computing refers to SME's intention to use cloud computing in the near future and this variable is measured using two forward-looking statements that capture the intent of SMEs (Lin and Lin, 2008). Figure 1 depicts the research model for the presented study.\nResearch methodology: Measurement\nData analysis and results: Factor analysis\nDiscussion: The results of this study suggest that perceived benefits, top management support, competitive pressure, and perceived concerns are the significant factors that influence SME's intention to adopt cloud computing. This study confirms that the factor- perceived benefits is one of the key factors influencing adoption of cloud computing by SMEs. As found in the previous studies, SMEs expect to derive various benefits such as cost reduction, improved scalability and flexibility, affordability, improved and easy access to latest ICTs, and easier installation and maintenance process by adopting cloud computing (Gupta et al., 2013; Kannabiran and Dharamlingam, 2012; Alshamaila et al., 2013; Oliveira et al., 2014; Ifinedo, 2011). The perceived benefits of cloud computing, therefore, emerges as an important factor that significantly influences intention to adopt cloud computing among SMEs.\nManagerial and research implications: The presented study has important implications for SMEs, cloud service providers, and other government and non-government agencies engaged in supporting and promoting SMEs in India. Besides providing awareness about cloud computing along with its benefits and challenges, this study will help Indian SMEs in deciding whether cloud computing can really be beneficial and feasible for their businesses. The results of this study indicate that perceived benefits, top management support, competitive pressure, and perceived concerns play a crucial role in SMEs' intention to adopt cloud computing. Managers of SMEs can identify specific perceived benefits of cloud computing for their respective businesses. If found advantageous and viable, SMEs can identify areas and applications that they can migrate to the cloud. Some of the crucial areas, especially in the Indian context, that SMEs can plan to migrate to cloud environment include data storage, website hosting, accounting and billing, ERP, and web analytics (Babu and Chakravarty, 2014). The positive and supportive attitude of top management further enhances the probability of cloud computing adoption in SMEs. The concerns highlighted in this study will assist SMEs in better management of the cloud computing adoption process, and also in seeking and ensuring proper support from the cloud service providers. This study is also going to help cloud service providers in better understanding the needs and concerns of SMEs, which can help them in customizing their offerings. Efforts are required from service providers to create awareness among SMEs by showcasing real benefits reaped from cloud computing and at the same time demystifying the perceived concerns of these SMEs. Government agencies engaged in promoting and supporting SMEs can organize workshops and seminars for sensitizing SMEs about benefits of ICTs and educating SMEs about how they can get the necessary ICT infrastructure through cloud computing in a most cost-effective manner.\nConclusion: Cloud computing has revolutionized the way IT solutions are delivered and utilized. The projected benefits of cloud computing like cost advantage, scalability, flexibility, affordability, simplicity, quick implementation process, and improved business continuity appear more appropriate to SMEs. This study evaluated the suitability of cloud computing for SMEs in India. To begin with, literature was surveyed to identify benefits and concern areas regarding adoption and usage of cloud computing by SMEs. All the identified benefits and concerns were further combined into existing factors influencing adoption of information systems in organizations. Some additional factors relevant for the present study are also considered. An initial conceptual framework was formulated on the basis of factors identified. The framework was empirically evaluated based on a sample of 121 SMEs from a prominent industrial area in India. Exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of five factors influencing cloud computing adoption by SMEs, which included perceived benefits, top management support and competitive pressure, perceived concerns, security and privacy, and reliability. The initial research framework was modified accordingly and the new hypotheses were postulated to reflect changes. Results indicated that perceived benefits, top management support and competitive pressure, and perceived concerns are the significant factors influencing SME's intention to adopt cloud computing. These findings supplement the literature that evaluates adoption of cloud computing by organizations. Unexpectedly, the factors such as security and privacy, and reliability were not found significant in this study, which may reflect growing maturity of cloud computing services. The study offers some useful contributions to the growing body of knowledge pertaining to adoption of cloud computing adoption by SMEs and offers benefits to researchers, IT policy makers, cloud service providers, and owners/managers of SMEs in their efforts to promote usage of cloud computing among SMEs.\nLimitations and future directions: The results of this work should be interpreted in light of study's limitations. The term SME used in the study is based on the definition given by the Government of India. According to this definition, firms are categorized as micro, small, and medium enterprise based on the total investment made in plant and machinery. This definition is different from the ones used in the other studies and in other countries where SMEs are defined on the basis of a number of employees and yearly revenue. The study should be extended to cover more SMEs at the national level. A replication of the same type of work in some other developing countries would enable comparison among different countries. This may provide insights into the way cloud computing is being used or perceived in these countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the suitability of cloud computing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Literature review is used to identify benefits, challenges, and factors concerning usage and adoption of cloud computing by SMEs. A conceptual framework was developed based on the existing theoretical models and factors identified from the literature. A survey based on questionnaire method was followed to collect data from 121 manufacturing SMEs in India. The conceptual framework was refined by using factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: Major benefits of cloud computing for SMEs include cost advantage, easy deployment process, easier access to latest information and communication technologies, automatic updates and upgrades, scalability, flexibility, and improved disaster recovery and back-up capabilities. The concern area includes perceived loss of control, vendor lock-in, security issues, reliability and availability issues, and internet connectivity and speed. The factors that are found significant include perceived benefits, top management support, competitive pressure, and perceived concerns. The model explained 73 percent of cloud computing adoption.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study is expected to make significant contribution toward body of knowledge pertaining to information technology adoption in SMEs.\nPractical implications: The study is expected to provide SMEs an insight into real benefits and challenges associated with adopting cloud computing. The model can help SMEs in evaluating their readiness for adopting cloud computing and can ensure successful outcome of cloud computing adoption in SMEs. Providers are also going to be benefited through their enhanced understanding of SMEs' requirements.\nOriginality/value: The proposed framework incorporates all the relevant factors including perceived benefits, perceived concerns, and other organizational and environmental factors to improve model's predictive power.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The intellectual structure of the supply chain management discipline: A citation and social network analysis	[ "Supply chain management", "Social network analysis", "Citation analysis", "Bibliometric study", "Journals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Academic disciplines in social sciences emerge because there is the need to satisfy the demand for new knowledge that is necessary to explain phenomena created by the ever-changing political, demographic, economic and technological conditions and because individuals and organisations are interested in funding and doing research to explain these phenomena (Berry and Parasuraman, 1993; Heineke and Davis, 2007). Collaborations and networks then develop in conferences and through published works in journals and the field gradually takes shape.As an academic field Supply Chain Management (SCM) evolved from the Operations Management Discipline (Harland, 1996). Supply chains always existed in industries, but the term SCM has been introduced in 1980s as a consulting solution to logistics management and its growth in business circles as a new competitive way of forming companies' strategy and in academia as a new field of study has been reported extensively. This growth was a natural evolution which occurred to fill the academic gap of the externalisation of Operations Management, which was driven by the rapid changes in Information Technology that enabled more effective communication between business and the new competitive globalised environment created by economic, demographic and political developments that brought about the emergence of new forms of inter-organisational relationships (alliances, partnerships) (Giannakis and Croom, 2004).The nature of SCM research has been examined by several scholars (See for example, Harland, 1996; Cooper et al., 1997; Fine, 2000; Croom et al., 2000; Tan, 2001; Chen and Paulraj, 2004; Lawson et al., 2006). It has been described as a multivariate discipline encompassing a large number of different literatures and research areas, spanning from Operations Management, Strategy and Marketing to Sociology and Geography (Giannakis and Croom, 2004), but has been criticised that it lacks clear theoretical and conceptual schema which define its boundaries (Chen and Paulraj, 2004), and that it overlaps with other competing disciplines like Operational Research and Marketing (Ganeshan et al., 1999; Lummus and Vokura, 1999; Lambert and Cooper, 2000; Croom et al., 2000).The SCM field has been expanded over the past 30 years and continues to grow. Many pioneering scholars are still conducting research in the field and an increasing number of UG and PG programmes in SCM are developed and offered in universities around the world. There is a substantial growth of papers that refer to supply chain management phenomena or include the term supply chain in their title. Earlier works (Tan, 2001, Miles and Snow, 2007) examined the stages through which the SCM literature developed by analysing the different contributions to the development of SCM thought. Each of these contributions introduced a new feature to the totality of SCM thought.The research presented in this paper investigates the way in which the academic field of SCM has evolved over time, not through an extensive critical analysis of the literature, but by analysing a network of eminent journals of the discipline. In order to better understand the changing characteristics of the SCM discipline, the citations that are exchanged between and among these journals are analysed. These citations represent the communication patterns between researchers and facilitate the dissemination of ideas between and within journals.By studying and analysing how knowledge has been disseminated in the SCM literature, useful insights will be generated regarding the theory and practice of SCM, the identification of its problem domain and its inter-disciplinary nature as well as helping researchers to identify emerging themes. Traditionally, this can be done through an examination of a large number of contemporary literatures. The bibliometric study that this paper adopts does not analyse the pertinent literature of SCM per se, but the way journals exchange knowledge (in the form of citations). This approach can also provide a clear picture of how the academic field of SCM has evolved but it also gives the opportunity to identify the role that each journal performs and how various streams of research can be combined to face future challenges of SCM phenomena. The study also gives the opportunity to identify the linkages of SCM with other disciplines to investigate if the existence of SCM fulfils a purpose, or performs a role for academics and practitioners. In this direction this paper addresses the following research objectives:RO1. To identify a network of journals that can represent effectively the academic network of SCM discipline.RO2. To collect the number of citations that appear in the published articles of these journals over a period of 20 years.RO3. To identify the connections between journals, and identify the role that they play in the creation and dissemination of knowledge.RO4. To identify how the field has changed over the past 20 years through the role of the journals in the network and point out agendas for future research in SCM.The remainder of the paper is organised in five sections: In the first section, the two research methods that are utilised in this research (citation analysis and social network analysis) are introduced. The analytical steps that have been followed for the selection of the journals to be studied and the data collection procedure are outlined in the second section. The findings of the analysis are presented in the third section and a critical examination of the results in the fourth section. Finally in the last section potential extension of the research in the interested field is discussed.\nCitation and social network analyses: Citation analysis\nResearch design and data collection: Journal selection\nData analysis: Social network analysis indicators\nRoles and relationships between journals: Self-citations\nResearch findings and discussion: The findings of the SNA analysis generate useful insights about the objectives of this study.For the selection of a network of journals that represent the intellectual structure of the SCM discipline (Research Objective 1), a large number of journals that increasingly publish articles in the broad field of SCM has been identified. Apart from the seminal disciplines of Logistics, Operations Management and Purchasing, these journals represent a growing interest in SCM phenomena originating in the disciplines of Operational Research, Information Systems, Marketing and General Management. This explosion of interest in supply chain issues provides evidence that the SCM problem domain is being established as an important academic discipline. The selection of the citations from the journals of the selected network also indicated an explosion of interest of the SCM related journal in journals that fall within other disciplines (Research Objective 2).A discipline's scientific status is enhanced if the knowledge base is widely dispersed and used by other disciplines and researchers (Anderson, 1983). Researchers in the field of SCM draw knowledge on a diverse and very rich body of literature spanning from Operations Management and Logistics to Psychology and Geography. A unique established body of literature regarding supply chain phenomena does not exist and researchers in the field tend to prefer to publish their work in more established general management academic journals. Supply Chain Management related papers are increasingly found in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategic Management Journal, and Management Science. These journals in fact are among the most cited journals of the network of journals that have been analysed in this study. Several special issues dedicated to SCM phenomena have been published in these journals with the trend spreading to journals that were traditionally not considered part of the SCM discipline.For the connections between the selected journals and the identification of the role of the journals in the network, their similarities and the way that their exchange of communication (citations) has changed over time (Research objectives 3 and 4), the SNA analysis revealed the following findings.Position in the network: Several studies propose that the prominence in a social network is of paramount importance for the diffusion and dissemination of knowledge (Knoke and Song, 2008; Borgatti and Li, 2009). In the analysed network several journals perform this role: The JSCM, SCMIJ, JOM, IJOPM and JEIM have acquired a central role in the network with a focus that transcends the traditional areas of SCM (logistics, procurement, operations). The transformation of the JEIM in particular from a specialised IS logistics journal (Logistics Information Management) to a journal that incorporates a large number of SCM phenomena (Alsudairi and Dwivedi, 2010; Dwivedi and Mustafee, 2010; Schlichter and Kraemmergaard, 2010) has also been substantial. These journals can be considered as gatekeepers of knowledge in the scientific community of SCM.Clusters in the network: The findings show that the network of SCM journals has changed considerably over the past 20 years. The 1991-2000 decade was characterised by distinct clusters of journals (see Figures A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 and A6 in Appendix 1) and by a single journal that acted as gatekeeper. The last decade however shows a convergence of communication between the journals and the emergence of larger clusters (that are closer to each other). The distinction between logistics related journals and operations and process management related journals still exists, but there is evidence of convergence. This provides evidence that the network has become more cohesive over the last ten years. Rather than having a few \"powerful journals\" in the network, the prestige of journals in network is spread across a large number of journals.The SCM discipline evolved in a way that has been characterised by an increasing need for communication between journals specialising in logistics, transportation, purchasing, operations and process management. Research in Operations Management issues appear to be closer today to SCM as it is evidenced in the analysis. The number of papers that are published in the JOM and IJOPM with a clear focus on SCM phenomena has increased by 400% over the past 20 years. More and more paper related to SCM are presented in the traditional OM conferences (POMS, EUROMA, INFORMS). The advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools over the past decade and the implications of ICT tools on the management of supply chain processes have alsoBy comparing the SCM discipline to other business disciplines like marketing, Information Systems, or Accounting it can be seen that the SCM discipline is far less concentrated than those disciplines (Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003; Wakefield, 2008; Polites and Watson, 2009). On one hand this may be interpreted as an ever-increasing acceptance of the value of managing inter-organisational systems, which in effect is what SCM stands for. On the other hand though as Pfeffer (1993) postulates, \"without a strong network and lack of consensus a discipline's ability to compete with adjacent disciplines is jeopardized\".\nConclusion: In this paper a network of ten academic journals that can be used to represent the academic field of SCM was analysed, with the use of citation data to calculate several SNA metrics (centrality, betweenness, position in the network and network cohesion). The role of each of the journals was identified through the application of SNA in citation data. Based on the findings, several insights have been generated on the way that the SCM has evolved how knowledge and ideas are disseminated in the network.The evolution of the SCM discipline over the last 20 years represents an interesting case study to analyse how the changes in the marco-economic environment influenced academic research. The way that the field will evolve in the next 20 years with the ever-greater emphasis on inter-disciplinary (and even non-disciplinary) research, represents a great opportunity and challenge for the SCM discipline to acquire a central role in the research in the management of organisational systems. As it is by nature a hybrid field of socio-economic and engineering disciplines, it can provide an ideal paradigm for greater theoretical and practical advancements for organisations. Published theoretical and applied research in SCM related journals not only will increase the profile of the SCM discipline, but will also create a fascinating forum in which academics can exchange ideas for a variety of pertinent inter-organisational phenomena.Several implications can be drawn from this study for research in SCM related phenomena.1. The exponential growth of interest in SCM phenomena and the growing cohesion of the network of journals is a natural consequence as an academic discipline matures. There needs to be however an increased epistemological and methodological clarity of the problem domain of the SCM discipline.2. The distinctive clusters of journals that represent relatively independent approaches to SCM presents an opportunity for the growth of the discipline. At the same time however, without the use of integrated approaches that bridge the conceptually different perspectives (e.g. logistics and operations management), competing paradigms will emerge. The recent stream of research that promotes the sustainability agenda across the supply chain, as well as the strategic notion of value added across the supply chain may provide the integrating theoretical pillars to promote research in SCM.Limitations and future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to explore the way that the intellectual structure of the SCM discipline has been shaped over the last 20 years. The discipline is represented by the papers that are published in a network of ten leading academic journals in the field. As the SCM literature has grown, the analysis of the way that the characteristics of this network of journals have changed over time enables the identification of salient challenges facing SCM theory and practice for the new decade.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A combination of social network and citation analyses among the selected journals is applied. Citations between and within journals are collected and analysed using social network analysis metrics, that assess the communication patterns between and among the journals, the cohesion of the network and the role that each of the journals has performed (and is acquiring) in the dissemination of knowledge.\nFindings: - The analysis reveals that the current structure of the network of journals is characterised by an evident shift of focus of operations management journals towards more SCM phenomena, the cohesion of the discipline has improved but is still fragmented due to a lack of reciprocal co-citations among the journals, and the emergence of three distinctive clusters in the network.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study reflects the growth of supply chain management, by studying an eclectic number of academic journals over the past 20 years, but can be extended beyond this period and it can include more academic and practitioner journals to examine its extended problem domain.\nPractical implications: - The study confirms the inter-disciplinary nature of supply chain phenomena and the opportunity for research in SCM to acquire a central role in the study of inter-organisational systems.\nOriginality/value: - Bibliographic studies have been conducted in the past in several (more established) disciplines. The study of where knowledge is communicated with co-citations among papers and journals provides concrete evidence of the changing characteristics of an academic discipline. The SCM discipline is maturing as an academic discipline and the analysis of its intellectual structure can assist in establishing its legitimacy and future expansion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Work-family conflict/enrichment: the role of personal resources	[ "Conflict", "Enrichment", "Conservation of resources", "Resource reservoir", "Work and family" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As the number of women, dual-earner couples, and single parents in the workforce increases (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2014), and more individuals assume elder care responsibilities (Zacher et al., 2012), it is clear that many employees face the challenge of managing work and family roles (Major and Germano, 2006). Work-family balance has important implications for individuals, organizations, and society, and consequently, a growing body of research has explored the intersection of work and family domains.\nLoss and gain of resources and work-family interaction: The COR theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2002) is, arguably, one of the most influential theories explaining human stress and well-being. The basic tenet of the COR theory is that individuals strive to obtain, retain, protect, and foster those things that they value, or serve as a means of obtaining things they value, named \"resources\". Resources include object resources (e.g. tools for work, car), condition resources (e.g. marriage, supportive work relationships), personal resources (e.g. self-efficacy, self-esteem), and energy resources (e.g. time, knowledge, credit). Individual difference variables (e.g. hope, personal health) are also included as a component of the COR theory and are treated as resources (Grandey and Cropanzano, 1999). The COR theory suggests that resources exist in caravans (Hobfoll, 2011). According to Hobfoll (2012), \"The resource caravans concept posits that personal, social, and material resources are created developmentally and that they travel in \"packs\" or caravans, not singly as they are typically presented in the literature\" (p. 229; see also Greenhaus and Powell, 2006). For example, layoff may result, among other things, in a reduced feeling of accomplishment, deterioration of relationships with spouse and children, as well as less money for extras. In contrast, advancement to a managerial role may result in a feeling of having control over one's life, support from co-workers, adequate home furnishings, but also less time with spouse and children.\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Means, standard deviations, internal reliabilities, and intercorrelations among study variables are presented in Table I.\nDiscussion: The COR theory is considered the most commonly used theory in the work and family literature (Steenbergen et al., 2007). Several studies found the hypothesized associations between chosen resources and the work-family interaction, while in other studies, no such associations were found. Accordingly, calls have been made to study a wider range of resources that can be related to the interaction between work and family domains. As noted, the COR theory predicts that changes in a person's resource reservoir would be related to his or her well-being, but has no prediction about specific resources. In the current study, we aimed to fill this gap and provide a more thorough examination of the relationship between loss, threat of loss, and gain in resource reservoir, on the one hand, and conflict vs enrichment between work and family domains, on the other hand. By focusing on how resource gain and loss are linked to the work-family interaction, the study increased our understanding of the role of resources in individuals' work-family experiences.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The conservation of resources (COR) theory provides a theoretical foundation for work-family research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate thoroughly the associations between threat of or actual loss of resources as well as gain of resources and work-family interaction, employing COR assumptions and measures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A sample of 216 working mothers filled out a questionnaire that included conservation of resources evaluation and scales measuring work-family conflict (WFC) and enrichment. Analyses of variance were performed to test the hypothesized associations.\nFindings: WFC and family-work conflict (FWC) were positively correlated with the threat of and actual loss of resources; family-work enrichment (FWE) was positively correlated with the gain of resources. Participants who reported higher threat of loss of resources compared to gain of resources reported high levels of WFC and FWC; those who reported higher loss of resources compared to gain of resources reported high levels of FWC. In addition, participants who reported gains that outweighed losses (whether actual loss or simply threat of loss) reported higher levels of FWE.\nOriginality/value: The findings support using the COR theory as a theoretical basis for work-family research and emphasize the detrimental role of threat of loss of resources. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implications of psychological contract breach: A perceived organizational support perspective	[ "Employee behaviour", "Psychological contracts", "Psychological contract breach", "Psychological contract violation", "Perceived organizational support", "In‐role behaviour", "Organizational citizenship behaviours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: It has been more than a decade since Morrison and Robinson (1997) introduced a distinction between psychological contract breach and psychological contract violation. They define psychological contract breach (\"breach\" hereinafter) as the cognition of having received less than what was promised by the organization, and psychological contract violation (\"violation\" hereinafter) as the negative emotional state that may follow breach.\nTheoretical framework and research hypotheses: Meta-analytic research shows that breach is related negatively to in-role behavior (Zhao et al., 2007). This conclusion is so well accepted that it has essentially attained the status of an axiom in the psychological contract literature, without much, if any critical thought. However, it is important to recognize that most of the studies that have advanced this conclusion (e.g. Kickul et al., 2002; Robinson, 1996) relied on self-reports of in-role behavior (Conway and Briner, 2005). This problem has been addressed in a few studies (e.g. Johnson and O'Leary-Kelly, 2003; Restubog et al., 2007; Turnley et al., 2003) that used supervisor ratings of in-role behavior. Although these studies found a negative relation between breach and supervisor-rated in-role behavior, additional research is needed because of the limited samples of job types and industries considered by them. Therefore, the present study tested the following hypothesis:H1. Breach will be negatively related to supervisor ratings of in-role behaviors.Similarly, we were also interested in examining the relation between breach and supervisor ratings of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). OCB is defined as discretionary behavior on the part of the employee that is not explicitly recognized by the organization, though in the long run it promotes the efficient and effective functioning of an organization (Organ, 1988; Organ et al., 2006). It deserves adding that research by Stone-Romero et al. (2009) showed that the behaviors that are typically viewed as OCBs are in fact requirements of many roles (especially managerial). Nevertheless, it is common for researchers to regard OCB as discretionary, and not reflected in performance appraisals. Thus, it has been suggested that when breach is perceived, employees may be more inclined to reduce OCB than in-role behavior (Robinson and Morrison, 1995). Empirical evidence supporting this assertion, for various forms of OCB (e.g. civic virtue, loyalty), has for the most part been generated from studies that have relied on self-reports of OCB (e.g. Kickul and Lester, 2001; Robinson, 1996). Only a few studies (e.g. Johnson and O'Leary-Kelly, 2003; Turnley et al., 2003) have used supervisor-rated or other-rated (e.g. peers, customers) OCB measures.The literature suggests that there are as many as 40 specific OCB facets (e.g. altruism, courtesy, dedication; Organ et al., 2006). However, in the present study we examined them from the perspective of the two general forms they can take (Organ et al., 2006; Williams and Anderson, 1991):1. OCB directed at individuals within an organization (OCBI); and2. OCB directed at the organization as a whole (OCBO).This perspective provides the opportunity to draw general conclusions rather than conclusions about specific facets of OCB. Therefore, it represents the next step in the evolution of OCB research because most of the work on breach as an antecedent to OCB has not considered OCB from this perspective. In addition, this perspective provides the opportunity to examine the assumed differential effects of breach and violation on the two general forms of OCB. This is important because it has been suggested that OCBI and OCBO may have different antecedents (Brief and Motowidlo, 1986; Organ et al., 2006).Only one study (Restubog et al., 2007) has explicitly examined relations between breach and supervisor-ratings of OCBI and OCB. It found a negative relation between breach and both outcomes. However, if one accepts the premise that psychological contract fulfillment (contract fulfillment hereinafter) is the opposite of breach, then research by Turnley et al. (2003) merits mention. They reported that contract fulfillment was more strongly (positively) related to OCB than OCBI. However, for at least two reasons, the results of both of the just-mentioned studies need to be interpreted cautiously. First, Restubog et al.'s (2007) findings may not generalize to workers in nations with individualistic cultures (e.g. the USA) because their study was conducted in The Philippines where the workplace culture stresses familism (Restubog and Bordia, 2006). Second, the results of Turnley et al.'s (2003) study need to be re-examined because it may not be appropriate to view contract fulfillment as the opposite of breach. For example, it has been suggested that breach and contract fulfillment be framed \"as the joint effects of delivered and promised inducements on outcomes\" (Lambert et al., 2003, p. 926). Thus, because additional research is needed, we tested the following hypotheses:H2. Breach will be negatively related to supervisor ratings of OCBI.H3. Breach will be negatively related to supervisor ratings of OCBO.The relation between breach and violation\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Descriptive statistics\nDiscussion: The main objective of our study was to advance the research on relations between breach and the assumed consequences of violation and behaviors. Its results make several valuable contributions to the literature on breach and its assumed consequences.The present study's results extend the findings of previous research by testing a model that considered both mediators and moderators of the relations between breach and various assumed consequences. Research of this type is virtually non-existent (Conway and Briner, 2005; Zhao et al., 2007). The specific contributions of our study are noted below.First, building on Morrison and Robinson's (1997) proposition that breach is an antecedent to violation, we tested the model shown in Figure 1 and found very strong support for it. This finding extends Morrison and Robinson's (1997) research because their model did not consider the outcomes of violation. Interestingly, our findings indicate that violation may be a mediator of relations between breach and employee behaviors. This important result serves to clarify the process underlying the relations between breach and employee behaviors.Second, our findings complement the results of research by Dulac et al. (2008). They reported that violation mediates relations between breach and such employee attitudes as commitment, trust, and turnover intentions. In contrast, our study showed support for a model involving job behaviors. More specifically, the findings of our study are consistent with a model positing that breach-violation-behaviors.Third, our study makes an important contribution by being the first to examine the role of perceived support as a moderator of the relations between breach or violation and the assumed behavioral outcomes of in-role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO. We found that perceived support strengthened the negative relations between breach and in-role behavior, and between violation and OCBI and OCBO. These findings suggest that negative beliefs about the work context can exacerbate the negative relations between either breach or violation and workplace behaviors.Fourth, our study also heeds the call for integrative research on the psychological contract and perceived support constructs (Aselage and Eisenberger, 2003). For instance, we were able to test empirically Morrison and Robinson's (1997) theoretical proposition that an interpretation processes interacts with breach to determine the strength of the relation between breach and violation. They argued that immediately following breach, the employee attempts to attach meaning to it. In turn, this interpretation process determines the intensity of negative feelings (i.e. violation) that the employee experiences. We found this to be the case by showing that perceived support moderated relations between breach and several assumed consequences. For example, the strength of the relation between breach and violation was stronger for high than for low perceived support employees.The finding that perceived support strengthens the positive relation between breach and violation is contrary to the only other study (Dulac et al., 2008) that has examined this issue. The discrepancy between our findings and those of Dulac et al. (2008) may serve as a stimulus for future research. It is possible that both perspectives are correct. For example, our findings may apply to established employees, whereas Dulac et al.'s findings may apply to new employees. Our hospital respondents had been employed there for an average of 9.4 years and our MBA respondents had been employed an average of 5.8 years for their organizations. All of Dulac et al.'s respondents had been with their employers for six months. Thus, it is unlikely that Dulac et al.'s respondents had gone through a formal performance evaluation or been exposed to many organizational politics, each of which has a profound impact on perceived support (Aselage and Eisenberger, 2003). In addition, our sample was drawn from employees in the United States, and Dulac et al.'s sample was drawn from Belgian organizations. Therefore, national culture may have played a role in the different findings of the studies.Limitations\nConclusion: Our study represents an important step in the advancement of knowledge on the psychological contract. It points to the need for research to move beyond the assumed simple direct relations between breach and employee behaviors. More specifically, we found evidence that suggests that negative affective reaction to breach (i.e. violation) may be a critical intervening variable in the relations between breach and employee behaviors. In addition, the results showed that perceived support moderates relations between breach or violation and employee behaviors such that the same relations are stronger for high than low perceived support individuals. Consequently, we recommend that future research continues to examine the potential role of mediators and moderators of relations between breach and employee behaviors. These efforts may lead to a better understanding of the processes underlying employee reactions to breach.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to investigate the assumed direct and indirect effects of psychological contract breach (breach) on supervisor-rated employee behaviors of in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) directed at an individual (OCBI), and OCB directed at the organization (OCBO). The assumed indirect effects are to be investigated with psychological contract violation (violation) as a mediator of these relations. In addition, perceived organizational support (perceived support) is to be examined as a moderator of the same relations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A survey was administered to 1,013 employees working in the USA and hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling.\nFindings: - The results indicate that: breach is negatively related to supervisor-rated in-role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO; breach is positively related to violation and that violation in turn is negatively related to supervisor-rated in-role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO; and perceived support can strengthen the positive relation between breach and violation, and the negative relations between breach or violation and supervisor-rated employee behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The use of a non-experimental design does not allow for definitive conclusions regarding causality.\nPractical implications: - Managers should be aware of the potential negative implications of the escalation of breach to violation on employee behaviors and the value of understanding that the level of perceived support may influence employee behaviors following breach or violation.\nOriginality/value: - This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by being the first to examine perceived support as a moderator of the relations between breach or violation and supervisor-rated in-role behavior, OCBI, and OCBO.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The past, present and future of Haiti as a post-colonial, post-conflict and post-disaster destination	[ "Future", "Image", "Tourism", "History", "Haiti" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Despite the fact that the tourism industry is a major economic industry in the world (Botti, 2010; Cooper and Hall, 2004; Bertho-Lavenir, 1999), there is no consensus among academics regarding its date of birth (Seraphin, 2012). For Youel (1998), tourism started with the Greek who organised the first Olympic Games in 776 BC. For Boyer (1999) tourism started with the first published tourist guide in 1551. Boyer (1999) also identified the Grand Tour (seventeenth to eighteenth century) as an important factor in the development of the industry. For King et al. (2006), tourism started in the eighteenth century with the development of transport and more specifically the introduction of the stagecoach in the mid-eighteenth century. Before then, it was rare for people to travel any further than the nearest town in their entire life. Hoerner (2002) also acknowledged the role played by transport in the development of the tourism industry, but he mainly took into consideration the first packaged tour put together by Thomas Cook in 1841 as the starting point of the tourism industry. That said, the tourism industry only started to be considered as an economic activity in 1911 (Scutariu, 2009). The reasons why people have been travelling and are still travelling for are sport and leisure; culture; visiting friends and relatives; business; health; religion; education (Barrow, 2008; Draper, 2007; Davidson, 1998; Davidson and Maitland, 1997) that contributed to the branding of some destinations. As a result, since 1682, date when Louis XIV moved to Versailles, France established itself as a destination known for the quality of its food and luxury hotels. Also, cities like Bath (in England), Baden (Germany) and Vichy (France) became known as health destinations because of their natural water sources used to treat some conditions, hence the origin of the word Spa that stands for Salus Per Aqua (Seraphin, 2012; Barrow, 2008; Davidson, 1998; Davidson and Maitland, 1997). In the eighteenth century, places like Ostend (Belgium) and in the nineteenth century, places like Miami Beach and Palm Beach (USA) became known as seaside destinations. As early as the nineteenth century, Switzerland for instance became known for its mountains (Merlin, 2001). Destination branding can therefore be considered as a long existing phenomenon. \"Brands and branding have existed for as long as it has been possible to trace artefacts of human existence\" (Moore and Reid, 2008, p. 419).\n2. Historical and contextual framework: 2.1 Haiti: a cultural destination (1939-1960)\n3. The future: a topic of interest in tourism: 3.1 Potential approaches to predict the future\n4. Discussion: 4.1 Defining diaspora as an ambidextrous group\n5. Conclusion: The turning point in the development of the tourism industry in Haiti has been the 2010 earthquake, which has triggered a will to provide quality products and service, specifically in the hospitality sector, the most dynamic sector of the tourism industry in Haiti. With the diaspora, Haiti has the potential to reclaim a positive image and a leading position in the Caribbean. That said, before performing at this level, the destination must first and foremost contribute to the wellbeing of it people as a sine qua non condition for the success of its tourism industry.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the future of the tourism industry in Haiti. More specifically, the paper answers the following question: will Haiti be able to reclaim a positive image and leading position in the Caribbean as a tourist destination?\nDesign/methodology/approach: Within the paradigm of theory building and exploratory approach, this conceptual study is based on a narrative literature review.\nFindings: The turning point in the development of the tourism industry in Haiti has been the 2010 earthquake which has triggered a will to provide quality products and service specifically in the hospitality sector, the most dynamic sector of the tourism industry. With the diaspora, Haiti has the potential to reclaim a positive image and a leading position in the Caribbean. That said, before performing at this level, the destination must first and foremost contribute to the wellbeing of its people as a sine qua non condition for the success of its tourism industry.\nPractical implications: The findings of this research may help potential investors to decide whether or not they want to invest in Haiti. The findings of the paper may also assist the DMO in its branding and marketing strategy.\nOriginality/value: The alleviation of poverty using tourism as a tool in a post-colonial, post-conflict and post-disaster context should be analysed, understood and approached from a human aspect point of view and perspective. Resilience is what better describes the tourism industry and the locals in Haiti. The locals are neither passive nor powerless.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Product Service Systems and supply network relationships: an exploratory case study	[ "Product management", "Supply", "Supplier relations", "Product life cycle" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Many industrialised nations are witnessing a contraction in their manufacturing sectors caused by a shift of production to low-cost economies. An example of this is the reduction in contribution of the manufacturing sector to gross domestic product. In the period 1973-1997 the contribution of the manufacturing sector in the UK went from 30 to 18 per cent, 34 to 21 per cent in Japan and 24 to 16 per cent in the USA (Department of Trade and Industry, 2002). In order to combat this, manufacturing firms have moved away from seeking competitive advantage through process or product innovation (Dickson, 1992; Ghemawat, 1986) to \"servitizing\", by integrating value-added services with their core offering (Davies, 2006; Slack et al., 2004; Vandermerwe and Rada, 1988). Thus, the offering moves from a product to a Product Service System (PSS) (Baines et al., 2007, 2009; Spring and Araujo, 2009).PSSs change the relationship between the manufacturer and the customer from a single point transaction in which the customer purchases a product from the manufacturer, to an ongoing relationship in which the manufacturer continues to provide services to the customer throughout the life of the PSS. There are well-known examples of PSSs in both a business-to-business context (e.g. Xerox's document management) and a business-to-consumer context (for example, mobile telephone handsets sold with service contracts).There has been extensive discussion in the academic literature about the business drivers for a successful PSS. There is a commonly held view that the PSS model can offer a \"win-win\" for the supplier and the consumer of the PSS, potentially with an associated environmental benefit (Mont, 2002; Tukker and Tischner, 2006). However, to date there has been little consideration in the PSS literature of the effect on the upstream supply chain engaged in delivering the PSS. It is this gap that we seek to address by exploring the differences between \"traditional\" and \"PSS\" supply chains using a case study in a supply network that delivers both \"traditional\" products and PSS. We do this in order to determine whether there are changes required in terms of the characteristics of the supply network and whether there were counterintuitive behaviours.The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 of the paper reviews the relevant PSS literature with particular focus on the supply chain. In Section 3, the research methodology is presented, followed by the results in Section 4. Section 5 provides a discussion of the research outcomes and conclusions are presented in Section 6.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 The motivation for offering PSSs\n3 Methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4 Results: The results are presented in two sections. First, the relationships and information flows for the studied organizations are discussed; then the case results are reviewed and classified using the themes that emerged from the data.4.1 Structure of supply chain relationships\n5 Discussion: This paper has presented a detailed investigation into the delivery of a PSS by a large manufacturer and two of its suppliers. While it is difficult to generalise from a single case, the results have identified some interesting characteristics of network relationships which provide an increased understanding of the delivery of a large, complex PSS by a supply chain and will help to inform future research. The discussion is presented in three sections: the first section provides a review of the results in the context of the PSS literature, then the following two sections provide a more detailed discussion of the two strongest themes from the case results: the need for incentive alignment and effective information sharing in PSS supply networks.5.1 Comparison of research findings with PSS literature\n6 Conclusions: This research has undertaken a detailed investigation into a supply network delivering a complex PSS and provides a foundation for future research into PSS supply networks. The key conclusions drawn from the research are:* The proposed benefits of PSS are not necessarily achieved by the extended supply network. Our results have shown that the adoption of a PSS business model can have a negative effect on companies in the supply chain if the suppliers are not well integrated into the PSS delivery. Customer/supplier relationships in supply chains delivering PSS may become extremely complicated, with companies playing multiple roles in the supply network.* The alignment of incentives between a PSS provider and its suppliers is important for a successful PSS but can be difficult to achieve due to the differing objectives of each company. Furthermore, the transfer of risk in PSS delivery makes incentive alignment more difficult to achieve than in a traditional supply chain. In our case study, we found it was not sufficient for the PSS provider to develop a formal relationship with a supplier for the delivery of PSS, they also needed to align the profit incentive between them to achieve a successful partnership.* Effective information sharing across the PSS supply network is essential for a profitable and sustainable PSS, but this can be very difficult to achieve in practice, particularly if the PSS provider is concerned about knowledge leakage into the supply chain.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - In recent years there has been increasing interest in Product Service Systems (PSSs) as a business model for selling integrated product and service offerings. To date, there has been extensive research into the benefits of PSS to manufacturers and their customers, but there has been limited research into the effect of PSS on the upstream supply chain. This paper seeks to address this gap in the research.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research uses case-based research which is appropriate for exploratory research of this type. In-depth interviews were conducted with key personnel in a focal firm and two members of its supply chain, and the results were analysed to identify emergent themes.\nFindings: - The research has identified differences in supplier behaviour dependent on their role in PSS delivery and their relationship with the PSS provider. In particular, it suggests that for a successful partnership it is important to align the objectives between PSS provider and suppliers.\nOriginality/value: - This research provides a detailed investigation into a PSS supply chain and highlights the complexity of roles and relationships among the organizations within it. It will be of value to other PSS researchers and organizations transitioning to the delivery of PSS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A quantitative analysis of the characteristics of rapid-growth firms and their entrepreneurs in China	[ "Business development", "Entrepreneurs, Attitudes", "Resources", "Management strategy", "China" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Only a small fraction of all firms aim for, or ever achieve rapid growth. Yet, it is those rapid-growth firms that make a disproportionate share of the creation of new jobs and employment. Despite the fact that the average firm in the USA grows only at rate of 3.5 per cent, there exists a subset of firms that grows in a more accelerated fashion (Barringer et al., 2005). These rapid-growth firms are not only an important stimulus to national economy but also particular interest to academics and practitioners because rapid growth is often an indication of market acceptance and firm success (Fesser and Willard, 1990). Many rapid-growth firms in China, such as Lenovo, Haier, Mengniu Ltd., have spawned new industries and spearheaded the development of innovative products and services. By examining rapid-growth firms, researchers can help all firms better understand the attributes associated with firm growth in China.Despite these positive outcomes, rapid growth is difficult to achieve and maintain. The growth rate of companies often comes to a halt because of the changing needs at different phases during the company life cycle. In fact, according to Zook and Allen (1999), only one in seven companies could generate and keep sustained, profitable growth. In an earlier study, Hambrick and Crozier (1985) suggested that coping with the stress imposed by instant size, sense of infallibility, internal turmoil, and extraordinary resource needs are persistent challenges that managers of rapid-growth firms have to face. Missteps in the management of any one of these challenges might lead to the failure of an otherwise successful rapid-growth firm. These unsuccessful rapid-growth firms in China were called as falling star firms (Yuli Zhang, 2001).Despite the challenges associated with rapid growth, numerous surveys (e.g. Deloitte and Touche LLP, 1996) suggest that growth is a top strategic priority for a large percentage of firms. Rapid growth, however, is not a random or chance event, but is associated with specific firm attributes, behaviors, strategies, and decision-making. That is to say, to some extent, rapid-growth firms have unique characteristics among SMEs. Researchers across the world have done much work to recognize the specific characteristics of rapid-growth firms in many other countries, but very limited in the Chinese context, so the purpose of this study is to add research into rapid-growth firms in China to the literature. By using a quantitative analysis of 30 rapid-growth and 30 slow-growth firms surveyed in Tianjin City, China, this study hopes to draw distinction in the key attributes between rapid-growth and slow-growth companies in China and provide prescriptive advice to Chinese executives who wish to increase their firms' growth potential.\n2. Literature review: The literature on rapid-growth firms has focused on whether there are systematic differences between rapid-growth firms and their slow-growth counterparts, and what these differences are. In a review of 55 research articles on firm growth published between 1989 and 1996, Delmar (1997) concluded that there is little agreement on what factors affect growth. In a more recent article, Delmar and Davidsson (1998) remarked that despite increased research efforts, our knowledge about high-growth businesses is \"still very limited.\" Similarly, after reviewing 68 studies on firm growth and performance, Wiklund (1998) characterized the literature as \"highly fragmented\" by analyzing 70 research articles on firm growth published between 1987 and 1997 and suggest an integrated research frame: entrepreneurial attitudes, resources, capabilities, strategies, and task environment. Barringer et al. (2005) examined 106 articles, book chapters, and books on firm growth and performance from the entrepreneurship, management, and economics literatures between 1977 and 2003 and found that the literature is rather rich and mature on rapid-growth firms highlighting four major areas:1. entrepreneur characteristics;2. firm attributes;3. business practices; and4. human resource management (HRM) practices.To review the literature, we compared key variables of the research review by Wiklund (1998) and by Barringer et al. (2005). A summary of our findings is provided (see Table I). Contrary to prior beliefs that the literature on firm growth is fragmented or limited, we found that Barringer has made a great progress for the study of firm growth. First, he found that growth is not a random event. A firm's growth-related attributes, its business practices, and its HRM practices make a difference in terms of its ability to achieve and sustain rapid growth. Second, implication of the study is that the personal characteristics of the entrepreneurs who start a firm have an impact on the firm's ability to achieve and maintain a rapid growth rate (Barringer et al., 2005). Three similar factors in the two researches help us understand rapid-growth firms: entrepreneurial resources or capabilities/entrepreneur attitudes, firm resources or capabilities/ firm attitudes, business practices/ entrepreneurial innovativeness.But comparing key variables of the research review by Wiklund (1998) with that by Barringer et al. (2005), we found that the study of Barringer has some limitations:* The study concerned less with entrepreneurial strategy. Miller and Friesen (1978) held the view that entrepreneurial firms highly valued innovation, and regularly considered risk in their product-market strategies. Innovation, risk-taking and pro-activeness are three main elements of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial strategy, therefore, is an important dimension for studying rapid-growth firms (Wiklund, 1998).* Environment seems to be ignored. Environment is a key concept in the study of rapid-growth firms. Child (1972) argued that environment played a crucial role in determining performance of rapid-growth firms. If the perception of the environment is accurate, better strategy decisions will be made. Conversely, firms will face huge risk and be in danger of bankruptcy if the perception of the environment is inaccurate. Not only is there a fit issue between strategy and environment, but there also needs to be a fit between the objective environment and the perceived environment (Dess and Beard, 1984).* HRM was concerned too much in his research. Undoubtedly, HRM is an important factor for SME's growth, but Wiklund (1998) believed that entrepreneur was even more important than the employees in SME, at the same time, entrepreneurial strategy and the task environment of entrepreneur was the core factor for SME's growth.From this point, is it possible, or even desirable, to integrate two research frames? As suggested by Gartner et al. (1992), there is no need for the development of new theories. Instead, Existing theories can be used. So we integrated research frameworks of Wiklund (1998) and Barringer et al. (2005) (see Figure 1):* entrepreneurial attitudes;* entrepreneurial strategy;* firms' resources and capabilities;* environment; and* rapid growth (see Table II).2.1. Entrepreneurial attitudes\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Sample\n4. Discussion of the results of the analysis: These variables including relevant industry experience, entrepreneurial experience, age, present size, rate of employees that hold university degree, growth-oriented vision and mission, day-to-day advisors cooperation, creating unique value for customers, product superiority, innovation, dynamism, hostility, heterogeneity, and proclivity were higher than other variables in our study. The rapid-growth firms in the sample create unique value for their customers to a higher degree than their slower-growth counterparts. This result is the same as the result of Barringer et al. (2005).4.1 Entrepreneurial attitudes\n5. Conclusions: Most of the findings in this research affirm the statements in existing literature on rapid-growth firms. The characteristics of the entrepreneur of a firm, along with firm resources and capacities, task environment, and entrepreneurial strategies, are important in helping a firm achieve rapid growth. The results of the study are important because they confirm the results in existing literature based on quantitative analysis on lager scale survey in China.First, different variables were identified, based on evidence in the integrated research frame and a large scale survey in China, 2004. For example, favorite firm resources and capacities, task environment, and entrepreneurial strategies can create greater value for success with certain entrepreneurs, which might spur them to push their firms onto a trajectory of rapid growth.Second, the variable creating unique value emerged as a strong predictor of rapid growth. Although Barringer regards this variable conceptually similar to Porter's (1985) concept of product differentiation, the results of this study suggest that unique value is a separate concept, and it refers to an ability to offer good products or service to help customers maximize utility, reduce costs, and/or increase organizational effectiveness in a unique manner. This result is the similar to the result of Barringer et al. (2005).Finally, the results of this study draw attention to the importance of entrepreneur orientation strategy in facilitating rapid growth researches. But not as expected, risk-taking and innovativeness were not different. We think that our data may be limited and this will need further exploration in the future.\n6. Implications and observation: First, it has been confirmed that growth is not a random event (Barringer et al., 2005; Wiklund, 1998). A firm's growth-related attributes, namely, entrepreneur attitudes, resources and capabilities of the firm, task environment, and entrepreneurial strategies make a difference in its ability to achieve and sustain rapid growth. The growth-facilitating variables identified in this study are shown in Table IV. Entrepreneurs who lead growth-minded firms may benefit by taking into account these factors and considering the extent to which their firms have addressed these variables. For example, one of the strongest findings in the study is that firms that have made a proclivity growth are more likely to achieve rapid growth than low-growth firms. The same important finding is that firms with growth-oriented vision and mission are more likely to achieve rapid growth than low-growth firms. The research findings show that growth-orientated firms are more entrepreneurial. Growth-oriented vision and mission are important indicators for measuring firm growth.A second implication of the study is that entrepreneurs are not necessarily naturally born. The most important variables in this research are relevant industry experience. Entrepreneurs who start a firm have an impact on the firm's ability to achieve and maintain a rapid growth rate by acquired experience and learning.To conclude the paper, we would like to make two observations about the present study. First, all of the categories of variables examined in the study came from a narrow point of view. For instance, although the literature on rapid-growth firms is converging, there is a need for more integration across the categories of variables that are associated with rapid growth, but our conceptual models was only depicted by integrating the research frameworks of Wiklund (1998) and of Barringer et al. (2005). So cross-integration of topics, like firm attributes and business practices, will push the literature on rapid-growth firms forward and enrich the debate. Second, although our research is based on a big sample in China, the adopted Fisher's Exact Test is only a frequency analysis (Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1990). So we suggest that a more reliable research method could be used in future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to compare rapid-growth companies with slow-growth ones in order to provide fresh insights into the attributes of Chinese rapid-growth companies through an integrated research framework, which was adapted from the framework proposed by Wiklund and by Barringer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To obtain data for analysis, the research selected the top 30 rapid-growth firms and the bottom 30 slow-growth firms from a data bank which contains complete financial data of 533 firms from 2001 to 2003. All data concerning rapid-growth were coded either one or zero, and were analyzed by Fisher's Exact Test to find out the frequency of important growth variables.\nFindings: - It is found that the major differences between rapid-growth and slow-growth firms lie in different favorite firm resources and capacities, task environment, and entrepreneurial strategies. They can create greater value for success with certain entrepreneurs, and might spur those entrepreneurs to push their firms onto a rapid growth road. In addition, the variable of creating unique value emerges as a strong predictor of rapid growth. Entrepreneur orientation strategy is not found to be significantly facilitating rapid growth. This illustrates that all growth companies value highly entrepreneurship-oriented strategy.\nPractical implications: - These research findings confirm that growth is not a random event and that entrepreneurs are not necessarily natural. These research findings will promote entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship in China.\nOriginality/value: - There are two originalities in this research. First, the authors developed a new integrated framework based on previous research achievements. Second, it is the first empirical study concerning company growth variables in China.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From implementation to appropriation: understanding knowledge management system development and introduction as a process of translation	[ "Development", "Knowledge management", "Translation", "Actor-network theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Fixed Graphic\nIntroduction: The goal of this paper is to examine the complexities emerging in the attempts to develop a sophisticated IT-based knowledge management system (KMS) for sharing knowledge in the form of best practice, using actor-network theory (ANT). The authors use the work of Latour (1987, 1990, 2005), who views innovation as a process of translation by which a vague initial idea is shaped and transformed through negotiations and mediations, to build up a network of allies who believe in, test and carry forward the development of the innovation. The authors argue efforts to develop and introduce KMS can be conceptualised as continuous processes of translation, whereby heterogeneous human and non-human elements are drawn together and mobilised to produce stable networks through associations between them. Such a translation approach produces more nuanced explanations about the social practices that underpin the development and introduction of KMS, as well as their intended and unintended outcomes.\nKMS, actor-network theory and translations: Existing KMS approaches implicitly adopt a particular view of organisations (e.g. technically constrained systems versus socially constructed) and human nature (e.g. voluntaristic versus deterministic), overlooking other aspects. The literature generally has put emphasis on either people, organisational aspects or technology at the expense of the relationships between them[1](du Plessis, 2007); planned actions overlooking the role of causality, unexpected events and improvisation (Lech, 2014); objective and measurable aspects downplaying subjective informal emerging aspects (Mehta, 2008) and assumes that all actors involved - as if by magic - will act rationally, understand reasons and modify their behaviours accordingly in order to achieve the goals of a project (March et al., 2000).\nThe setting: Engico is one of the leading global manufacturers of products and components for, among others, the electrical and heavy machinery industries. The company employs over 30,000 people in 50 countries and is the world leader in a number of product segments. At the time of study, the company was organised into six divisions, each serving a global market and focusing on its own specific customer segments and an equal number of staff departments. A management team that coordinated the manufacturing and product development process activities of the different factories headed each division. Some of the managers worked at the different production sites; others were stationed at Engico's headquarters. The company's strong engineering culture was especially tangible in one of its staff departments, Corporate Technical Development (CTD), which, apart from coordinating Engico's research and development (R\nThe methods: To account for the main practices that explains the development of the BPT project, it was necessary to apply a methodological strategy that considers the fragmented dynamic and multiple contexts in which modern organising evolves. Czarniawska (1997) suggested an ergonographic approach - a narrative approach that studies ways of organising work in organisations. Accordingly we combined four techniques - shadowing, field notes, diary studies and observant participation (Czarniawska, 2014) - that allowed for a more encompassing observation of complex technologies, a variety of tools, methods and models, a large number of people, decisions, opinions and interests, surprises, controversies and contests, which had messy interconnections (Diedrich, 2004).\nThe BPT project: The idea of sharing knowledge in the form of best practices with the help of a KMS had recently arrived at Engico in the form of a report compiled by Sweden's Technical Attaches (STATT) - an organisation describing itself as a \"global knowledge organisation focusing on innovation-related analyses and internationalisation of small and medium-sized companies\" (www.statt.se/extern/statt/vision.htm, 2003). Every year, the Attaches would pick a \"hot\" topic, research it and publish their analyses in a yearly report. The STATT report was the product of a benchmarking exercise and included eight case studies of companies working with KM. These cases were described as \"best practice\" in KMS. The BPT project started in 2000 and passed through three phases as detailed in Table I[3].\nThe program of action: \"Please share your knowledge across organisational boundaries\": Senior managers at Engico, who were able to connect the STATT report's content to their own experience, picked up the report and became especially interested in an Intranet-based KMS that Ford had developed to spread best practices in the organisation. Interest in KM had been widespread among senior managers at the organisation, because they saw it as a solution to the problems perceived with knowledge sharing across organisational boundaries. According to one manager:\nEnrolling more human and non-human elements in support of the program: However, the BPT software application remained hidden away on the computers of the IT specialists in the project team and, thus, did not convince many employees of the claims of the senior managers. To have any chance at all of becoming enrolled in support of the managers' program of action, the software needed to be made widely available and become integrated on many of the computers in the factories and divisions. This was in line with the senior managers' intention of developing an Intranet-based process throughout the company. The obvious choice could have been Lotus Notes, the platform most widely used throughout Engico. However, Engico had recently acquired a new IT platform, CoolSnake, from a US American IT-consulting firm, after senior managers had demanded a new product lifecycle management tool. The Engico IT specialists described CoolSnake as \"leading edge\" and one of the most advanced systems of its kind. Senior management intended it to replace the local IT solutions at Engico, thereby enabling a centralisation and homogenisation of the product data available at the company and a more efficient management of the life cycles of its many different products. Because of the support, which CoolSnake enjoyed at Engico among managers and IT specialists, this platform, and not Lotus Notes, became the obvious choice for BPT to run on.\nThe anti-programs: In November 2000, the BPT process was launched in an unpretentious manner. Soon, it became apparent however that very few employees were using it. Senior managers put the blame solely on the prospective users:\nCountering the anti-programs: To get more employees to agree with their program of action, the proponents of BPT decided to increase information about the BPT system throughout Engico. They created an information pamphlet, a single, folded A4 page filled with information about the envisioned KMS, the BPT's homepage and the system's benefits. The arguments for introducing BPT: reuse and spread of already proven improvements leading to:\nDelegating the work to the object: The BPT team' confidence in their system remained high though. They admitted that they had previously made a mistake when they had launched an untried technology and had not involved the users early on. From now on, they would do things differently. This time they would ensure that the IT system worked smoothly before the BPT process was re-launched:\nDiscussion Towards a new approach for understanding the development and introduction of a KMS: The study shows that the BPT project, would be difficult to explain within the physicalist \"diffusion model\" (Latour, 1986, 1987; Czarniawska, 2002) and the logic of \"implementation\", traditionally used to explain the development and introduction of KMS in organisations. It shows that these processes are seldom actualised in a neat and linear movement from some source of origin to its site of implementation, but tend to be far messier, serendipitous and contingent than the implementation logic assumes. The process traced in this study resembles what has in anthropology and other fields been referred to as \"appropriation\", the simultaneous construction and consumption of novel technologies. The term appropriation signifies the assignment of agency to people towards whom a novel technology or other program of action is directed. While, according to the implementation logic, people are mere puppets in the hands of the new technology, appropriation alludes to the idea that people take in novel technologies and programs of action in general and make them there own - or not. In this respect, a translation perspective on KMS encourages a key question: how does a novel program of action become appropriated by employees in an organisation as a routinely used KMS? The case of the BPT process offers an excellent example to explore this question, as the procedure at the time of study was under development at Engico and not yet real.\nConclusion From KMS implementation to KMS appropriation: This study drew on ANT to illuminate the complexities involved when constructing an IT-based KMS in a large multinational organisation. While conventional models of KMS implementation focused on a rational definition and the planning of the stages to control time, people and material resources, a translation perspective approach is a complex, multilayered and messy process drawing together managers, employees, software programs, IT platforms and other objects. During translation, the associations among them change, but importantly they also play dynamic roles. The authors called this whole process KMS appropriation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the complexities emerging in the attempts to develop a sophisticated IT-based knowledge management system (KMS) for sharing knowledge. Using actor-network theory, the authors conceptualise this as continuous processes of translation, whereby heterogeneous human and non-human (e.g. technologies, methods and plans) elements are drawn together and mobilised to produce stable networks through associations between them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The case study method was adopted using a narrative approach that studies the ways of organising work in organisations. Shadowing, field notes, diary studies and participant observation were the main data collection methods used.\nFindings: The development and introduction of a KMS is a contingent and local process shaped by messy translations whereby the original idea, human and other non-human elements are reconfigured. By considering humans and non-humans symmetrically, the intended and unintended actions, and the role of unexpected events, this approach overcomes the deterministic view of human nature of the conventional KMS approaches.\nResearch limitations/implications: A conceptual framework is presented as a means to improve the understanding of the complex associations emerging within networks of people, objects and machines during the development and introduction of KMS.\nPractical implications: The translation approach helps practitioners to consider their taken-for-granted assumptions about people, machines and the associations among them. This assists practitioners to uncover emerging conflicting issues between human and machines, among machines and among humans. Furthermore, this allows practitioners to recognise the different identities humans and non-humans take, overtime, as a result of emerging associations.\nOriginality/value: The originality of this paper lies in the use of alternative conceptual lenses to understand KMS development and introduction as processes of translation. Additionally, rather than exploring the success stories, it focuses on a failed attempt to introduce a KMS.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Theoretical versus actual product variety: how much customisation do customers really demand?	[ "Customization", "Automotive industry", "Product specification", "Manufacturing systems", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Large manufacturing firms, such as vehicle manufacturers, often complain about the rise in product variety. Claims such as \"We do not build two products that are the same\" or \"Our product complexity is almost infinite\" are common, yet also stand unchallenged. In this paper, we take the debate on product variety forward by analysing actual customer orders to determine to what degree product variety is not just theoretically possible, but actually demanded by customers across different market segments and geographical regions. To this effect, we apply existing variety measures and mitigation strategies, but also propose and validate new measures that enhance our understanding of product variety and its impact on manufacturing and distribution systems.A general trend towards increasing product variety has been observed across many industries, as diverse as fashion (Fisher et al., 1994), computers (Bayus and Putsis, 1999), fast moving consumer goods (Quelch and Kenny, 1994) and automotive (Pil and Holweg, 2004). This trend is driven by the growing importance of providing customer choice in competitive settings, where offering product variety is supposed to create a competitive advantage (da Silveira, 1998; Pine, 1993). On the other hand, product variety increases the coordination effort, reduces productivity, and thus increases operational cost (MacDuffie et al., 1996; Ramdas, 2003).Studies have conceptualised and measured product variety in a number of ways. The predominant view is based on economic theory whereby the introduction of imperfect product substitutes allows firms to escape from traditional (and often unprofitable) price-based strategies (Lancaster, 1990). At the same time, marketing literature points to the satisfaction of customer needs and preferences, leading to a proliferation of product variety (Kotler and Armstrong, 1991). Proposed measures of product variety tend to focus either on a number of variants offered by the production system (MacDuffie et al., 1996), or on modelling the effects of potential variation in product variety on production performance measures (lead time, set up times, lot sizes and so on; see Randall and Ulrich (2001)). There are few studies that examine the actual variety of products (Huffmann and Kahn, 1998), so in many ways we still have only a limited understanding of how variety impacts on the manufacturing system, and how to counter this impact effectively and efficiently. Rather than focusing on the conceptual tools for management of product variety, this paper extends the current discussion by providing empirical evidence on the actual (as opposed to the theoretical) level of product variety as a way to validate proposed measures of actual variety.While previous contributions (Fisher and Ittner, 1999; Pil and Holweg, 2004; Coffey, 2005) have mostly computed the theoretical number of possible end items (i.e. configurable car variants), this study utilises a dataset of actual customer orders for three car models produced by a global vehicle manufacturer to illustrate the actual level of product variety in the automotive industry. This includes a discussion of a number of external product variety measures (i.e. variety offered to the customer), highlighting their advantages and disadvantages for assessing the variety level offered to customers. While the development of new measures of product variety is an important contribution, there is a need to demonstrate how new measures provide an incremental benefit for managing current challenges. To this effect the paper proposes and validates market-based variety measures with empirical data, that ultimately will aid managerial decision making. More specifically, we aim to assess the impact that the variety demanded in the marketplace has on a manufacturing-distribution system. To do this, we extend the validation to show how mitigation strategies (postponement and option bundling) affect our proposed product variety measures. Thus, we follow the call of Ramdas (2003), and others, that we are in need of a better estimation of parameters based on real data, and more comprehensive models that overcome the functional silos within which variety is commonly discussed.The paper is organised as follows: in Section 2 we review the existing dimensions and measures, in Section 3 we discuss research design and methodology, Section 4 presents the empirical findings of actual and theoretical variety, in Section 5 we discuss the impact of mitigation strategies, before concluding in Section 6 with managerial and theoretical implications of our work.\n2 Product variety: review of dimensions and measures: A wide body of literature has discussed the numerous aspects linked to product variety (for comprehensive reviews see, e.g. Lancaster (1990) and Ramdas (2003)). This discussion has been further extended by the debate on mass customization by Pine (1993) and Zipkin (2001) and modularity (Baldwin and Clark, 1997), through which product variety can be delivered to end customers at lower costs. A central theme in the argument remains the decision on the \"optimum\" or \"appropriate\" level of variety: on the one hand, offering variety can provide differentiation in the marketplace, increasing revenues, on the other hand, it increases cost (Ramdas, 2003). In this section, we focus the review on dimensions and measures of product variety as an understanding of these aspects is required for evaluating the empirical evidence provided in the next section, as well as the mitigation strategies at hand.2.1 Dimensions of variety\n3 Method: We base our study in the automobile industry as an example of high product variety within the context of a high-volume manufacturing setting, which provides us the required scale to conduct statistical analyses that would not have been feasible in low-volume settings. We have opted for a single case study research design, as this allows us to obtain a comprehensive and representative coverage of the product portfolio, comprising of sales, engineering and production data.3.1 Case selection\n4 Findings: In this section, we present findings on measuring external product variety, discuss the measures and their meaning, and point out short-comings in the current state-of-the-art when empirically describing product variety. These measures are:* the theoretical variety, as the variety offered to customers, then two measures of actual variety;* the absolute number of unique products sold; and* the average repetition ratio (ARR) of products in manufacturing.Further, we extend the current measures discussion by using the standard Pareto measure for product variety, as we cumulate the unique product configurations over the total amount of sales. In Section 4.1, we present theoretical external product variety as a starting point in our discussion. In Section 4.2, we describe our findings regarding the actual product variety that customers in different market settings really demanded and how this compares with the theoretical offering. Section 4.3 examines the distribution of the previously discussed actual product variety using the indices presented in Section 2.3.4.1 Theoretical variety\n5 Assessing the impact of variety mitigation strategies: In this section, we expand on our previous findings, and simulate the impact of various mitigation strategies on the overall variety distribution. We focus our analysis on late configuration (or postponement) and option bundling strategies. These are directly linked to the order fulfillment and distribution strategies, and allow us to understand the real impact these strategies have on variety demands on the factory. We assume a static product design, so exclude design-based strategies such as modularity and mutable support structures (product platforms). We acknowledge that modularity is another potential strategy for mitigating the impact of product variety on the manufacturing system (Pil and Holweg, 2004). However, the benefits of modularity are derived from sharing modules across models, such as power trains, suspensions, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning), and even platform elements. While we would assume that considerable benefits could be derived from modularisation, it was not possible to examine this from our data. Clearly, this is an area for future research extending our study into product design aspects also.5.1 Late configuration\n6 Conclusion: In this study, we have gone beyond previous research by not just calculating the theoretically possible variety a manufacturing firm faces, but also comparing it to the actual variety that is demanded in the marketplace. We have shown that the utility of existing variety measures is not sufficient to comprehensively quantify variety, as the actual variety of products demanded differs significantly by market segment and region. Thus, statements like \"We don't build two products alike\" clearly need to be questioned.Overall, our findings are largely consistent with prior propositions in the operations management literature, however, they do provide several important new insights that qualify prior contributions. Specifically, our results demonstrate that the effectiveness of mitigation strategies is not universal, but contingent on the number of product variants, and their distribution across customer orders. Specifically, we found that late configuration strategies are more effective the earlier on they are applied in the manufacturing process. Second, we found that option bundling strategies are only effective if the overall choice is reduced to a small number of bundles in relation to the overall variety offered.While these findings are bound by the case firm and industry context in which we conduct our analysis, we also proposed and validated two new measures that stand irrespective of the context in which they were developed: the ARR and the specification Pareto curve. While ARR measures provide an insight into the actual external variety, they still lack information about the distribution of variety across customers. Such information can be obtained by a specification Pareto curve, which describes the actual product variety requested by customers. Combined, these measures provide the comprehensive overview of how much variety is actually demanded in the marketplace that is still missing in the literature. Adding these to existing frameworks of product variety (MacDuffie et al., 1996; Holweg and Pil, 2004), Figure 6 shows a conceptual framework of product variety, and its key measures.With regards to methodology, we also adopted the Gini coefficient and the HHI as means of assessing the effectiveness of a mitigation strategy: the former to assess the absolute effectiveness, the latter to assess the relative change incurred by a given strategy. While \"borrowed\" from an economics background, we found these measures to be very useful in studying product variety in a management context. And, finally, if anything, our analysis presents a strong case for taking the theoretical concepts of product variety and to put these to the empirical test. As we have shown here, much of the debate on product variety is of limited use if one does not consider how much of the theoretically possible variety is actually demanded in the marketplace.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to challenge the common claim of \"infinite variety\" being demanded in the marketplace by measuring not just how much variety theoretically could be produced, but how much is actually demanded by the customer. To this effect, the authors propose and validate market-based variety measures with empirical data and in a second step, extend their analysis by applying these measures and empirically testing the impact of variety mitigation strategies, such as postponement and options bundling.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors analyse production and sales data of 226,106 passenger cars, comprising of three models of one vehicle manufacturer sold across four global market regions. The theoretical variety is compared with actual variety for each model-market combination, and these data are linked to actual production and sales records.\nFindings: - The authors propose and validate product variety measures based on actual customer orders, and empirically demonstrate how these measures can be used to assess the impact of late configuration and option bundling strategies, and find that these are generally valid, but that their applicability is contingent upon the respective variety distribution profile.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Analyses are developed within the context of a single firm and industry, although an attempt was made to counter this weakness by considering models from the volume, niche and premium market segments.\nPractical implications: - The paper highlights how actual variety differs from theoretical variety in practice, which in turn co-determines the effectiveness of mitigation strategies applied by firms.\nOriginality/value: - The paper's main contribution is to propose and empirically test a set of novel measures of product variety: the average repetition ratio and a specification Pareto curve, both of which complement and enhance one's understanding of product variety and its impact on manufacturing and distribution systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employees' perceptions of barriers to participation in training and development in small engineering businesses	[ "Training and development", "Small business", "Barriers", "Employee perspective", "Proactive behaviour", "Workplace norms" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Small businesses are significantly less likely to provide employees with access to formal training and development (T\n2. Research questions and conceptual framework: The aim of this study is to investigate the barriers to employee participation in voluntary formal T\n3. Barriers to participation in T&D: The extant literature suggests that there are some significant issues that deter small businesses from participating in formal T\n4. Formal and informal learning: The current study focuses on employee access to formal, structured T\n5. Methodology: To accomplish the overall aim and address the specific research questions, an exploratory qualitative methodology, involving data collection via site visits and in-depth semi-structured interviews, was used. Exploration is the preferred methodological approach when a phenomenon has received little or no systematic empirical scrutiny, or has been largely examined using prediction and control rather than flexibility and open-mindedness (Stebbins, 2001, 2008). For the current study, an exploratory qualitative methodology was therefore appropriate as there has been limited research into the factors that serve as barriers to small business participation in T\n6. Research findings: The research findings are presented according to the two research questions which are directly linked to variables in the research conceptual framework.\n7. Discussion: This study builds on Lewin's (1951) B-P-E model and uses an exploratory research design to:\n8. Conclusion and implications: Research into relatively low levels of employee participation in formal T\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate barriers to employee participation in voluntary formal training and development opportunities from the perspective of employees in small engineering businesses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory qualitative methodology involving data collection via site visits and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 employees in five small engineering businesses was used. Interviews explored the role of developmental proactivity and employees' perceptions of conditions in the immediate work environment and industry sector that represent barriers to their participation in formal training and development. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.\nFindings: Three key findings are as follows. First, proactive behaviour regarding access to external training and development is muted in small business settings because of strong resource allocation norms. Second, factors in the internal work environment rather than the industry sector constitute the major barriers to training and development. Third, owner-managers and employees appear to have significantly differing perspectives of barriers to training and development.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings suggest avenues for future research. These include examining how workplace norms influence employee behaviour with regard to accessing formal training and development and investigating the learning strategies that employees use to compensate for a lack of access to training and development.\nOriginality/value: Research into relatively low levels of employee participation in formal training and development in small businesses is deficient because it predominantly involves surveys of owner-managers' opinions. This study is novel because it seeks to generate new insights not previously articulated by employees. The study yielded four propositions that have practical and research implications.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Identifying the drivers of enterprise resource planning and assessing its impacts on supply chain performances	[ "Supply chain performance", "Enterprise resource planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Faced with avalanche of information to be processed in the extended enterprise, enterprise resource planning (ERP) has emerged as one of the major breakthrough information technologies that can re-shape business practices. Despite some missteps and implementation failure, the popularity of ERP continued to increase for the last few years. As a matter of fact, the ERP market grew from $28.8 billion in 2006 to $47.5 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to an estimated $67.7 billion by 2017 (Jacobson et al., 2007; Lucintel, 2013). The ERP spending in 2011 soared by 31 percent compared to 2010 and then the ERP spending in 2012 rose by 4.5 percent compared to 2011 (The Business Technology Forum, 2011; Low, 2012). Reflecting this trend, almost three quarters (72 percent) of the manufacturers recently surveyed by the Aberdeen Group (2011) are currently using ERP for their improvement in operating efficiency and subsequent organizational growth. This continued popularity of ERP has been attributed to its ability to process transaction information faster, track product orders and inventory, automate orders and payment, lower setup costs, reduce order cycle time, reduce administrative overhead expenditures, improve cash management, avoid data duplication, and integrate business processes throughout the entire supply chain (Davenport, 2000; Trott and Hoecht, 2004; O'Leary, 2004). In other words, ERP can enhance supply chain visibility and subsequently improve supply chain efficiency. Evolved from manufacturing requirement planning, ERP is generally referred to as a cutting edge information technology that helps the firm coordinate and integrate company-wide business processes including sales, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, purchasing, accounting, and human resources management using a common database and shared management reporting tools (Brady et al., 2001). In a sense, ERP is a \"dashboard\" that provides some levels of central oversight and controls that are needed to ensure that all of the company's resources are working together toward the same goal.\n2. Prior literature: If successfully implemented, ERP can create value in a number of different ways by integrating the firm's multifarious business activities into a single system, facilitating organizational standardization, increasing access to online and real time information, improving intra- and inter-organizational communication and collaboration, and enhancing decision-making capabilities (O'Leary, 2000). ERP implementation, however, poses enormous managerial challenges not to mention high cost of start-up investment. The failure to deal with these challenges often spells disaster as illustrated by the ERP nightmares of Hershey Foods, Nike, HP, and Waste Management. To help ERP adopters avoid this disaster, most prior studies on ERP (Zhang et al., 2002; Al-Mashari et al., 2003; Umble et al., 2003; Nah et al., 2001, 2003; Nah and Delgado, 2006; Soja, 2006; Ulrich, 2007; Chung et al., 2008; Doom et al., 2010; Liu, 2011; Ram et al., 2013; Ram and Corkindale, 2014) have focussed on the identification of critical success factors for ERP implementation. Much of these earlier studies attempted to uncover the main sources of ERP implementation failures and successes. These sources include: top management commitment, project management, changes in organizational culture, data accuracy, user training and education, user involvement, multi-site applications, ERP software vendor support, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. In addition, other studies (Hong and Kim, 2002; Abdinnour-Helm et al., 2003; Ke and Wei, 2008; Morton and Hu, 2008; Dezdar and Ainin, 2011) reported that organizational fit, internal restructuring, enterprise-wide communication and pre-implementation attitudes can influence the ERP implementation success. The key research framework that these prior studies used is similar to a technology acceptance model introduced by Davis (1986) which aims to examine how prospective user behavior, attitude, and his/her external environments influence technology adoption decisions. This kind of research framework, however, is not designed to understand how ERP adoption impacts the firm's business performances, nor does it assess the extent of ERP impact on business outcomes.\n3. Theory development and hypotheses: To examine which factors drive the ERP adoption and gauge the level of the ERP success, we employed two well-known theories in the strategic management literature: a contingency theory; and a RBV of the firm. To elaborate, contingency theory, which was developed in the late 1960s, is one of the behavioral theories that study how environmental variables influence the behaviors of organizations (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967; Chandra and Kumar, 2000). Contingency theory is predicated on the premise that the firm's strategy including ICT adoption strategy depends on its endogenous and exogenous business environments (Donaldson, 2001). For instance, in highly turbulent business environments where a firm faces difficulty in recognizing the needs and preferences of its customers due to a greater uncertainty, an access to accurate and timely information needed for a strategic decision can dictate the success of the firm (Citrin et al., 2007). In other words, ICT can be seen as a strategic differentiator in unstable and uncertain business environments. As such, the ICT adoption/investment is essential for the improvement of the firm's performances in highly turbulent business environments. On the other hand, a firm which is resistant to any changes, or reluctant to bear risk, or not ready to embrace new ICT for technical or economic reasons, may not be a good fit for ICT adoption. Therefore, the contingency theory may help the firm understand what truly drives the ERP adoption and then identify a set of external and internal environmental variables influencing the firm's ERP success.\n4. Research methodology: To test the hypotheses, we carried out the current study in three phases: a pre-pilot; a pilot; and a large-scale questionnaire survey. In the pre-pilot phase, we generated potential survey items through theory development and a literature review. In the pilot phase, we develop a structural equation model (SEM) along with the identification of valid constructs based on structural interviews and the Q-sort method. At the last stage, we conducted a large-scale survey via mail questionnaires primarily targeting the Korean industry comprised of manufacturers and their suppliers. Using the data obtained from this survey, we employed the partial least square (PLS) approach to test the validity of the proposed SEM. Specific details of the current research methodology are described below.\n5. Analysis and results: The preliminary statistical validity of the five hypotheses presented earlier was checked, using the Pearson correlation. For each construct, a composite score was computed by taking the average scores of all items. The results are presented in Table X. All correlations but one between external environment and ERP implementation (with a correlation coefficient of 0.018) are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. The correlation coefficients are 0.179 (external environment and internal environment), 0.572 (internal environment and ERP implementation), 0.642 (ERP implementation and supplier capability), 0.615 (ERP implementation and organizational capability), 0.699 (supplier capability and supplier performance), 0.764 (organizational capability and organizational performance), 0.823 (supplier performance and organizational performance), and 0.733 (organizational performance and customer value). It appears that there are high correlations among all the constructs except the relationship between external environment and ERP implementation.\n6. Key findings and managerial implications: This section summarizes key findings of our ERP study and their practical implications for firms which must cope with the challenges of more volatile supply chain operations in an era of technological innovations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is intended to integrate all facets of a company's business operations encompassing production planning, material purchasing, inventory control, logistics, accounting, finance, marketing, and human resource management by creating a single depository of the database that can be shared by the entire organization and its trading partners. Through an empirical study, the purpose of this paper is to identify a multitude of drivers that facilitate or hinder the implementation of ERP in business environments. Also, this paper determines its role in supply chain operations and assesses its impact on supply chain performances.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To examine which factors drive the ERP adoption and gauge the level of the ERP success, the authors develop a research framework based on two well-known theories in the strategy literature: a contingency theory; and a resource-based view of the firm. This research framework allowed us to develop a series of hypotheses regarding the use of ERP for strategic sourcing. To test hypotheses, the authors carried out the study in three phases: a pre-pilot; a pilot; and a large-scale questionnaire survey. In the pre-pilot phase, the authors generated potential survey items through theory development and a literature review. In the pilot phase, the authors develop a structural equation model along with the identification of valid constructs based on structural interviews and the Q-sort method. At the last stage, the authors conducted a large-scale survey via mail questionnaires primarily targeting the Korean industry comprised of manufacturers and their suppliers and customers.\nFindings: The firm's ERP adoption and implementation decision is mainly affected by its internal environment. Defying the conventional wisdom, the firm's external environment has little influence on its decision to adopt and implement ERP. However, through the mediating role of an internal environment, an external environment still indirectly influences the ERP adoption and ERP implementation decision. Also, the authors found that ERP could enhance the ERP adopter's organizational capability and supplier capability.\nOriginality/value: This study is one of a few attempts to investigate the role of ERP in the supply chain and identify important determinants influencing the ERP adoption and implementation decisions. Especially, in contrast with the previous literature which often gauged the benefits of ERP from an ERP adopter's standpoint, this paper is one of the few to assess the benefits of ERP from the ERP adopter's supply chain partners standpoints. Also, it is one of the first to assess the impact of ERP on supplier capability, organizational capability, and customer value.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Process architecture development using Riva and ARIS: comparative study	[ "ARIS", "Business process modelling", "Process architecture", "Riva", "Value-added chain" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Part of business process modeling is the development of the process architecture that embraces organizational processes and their relationships, to help understand processes and support their improvement. Cauvet and Guzelian (2008) suggest that business process modeling is used to automate business processes in order to increase productivity, and to evaluate, and so improve existing processes. Harmon (2003) recommends building process architecture before individual processes are selected, modeled and supported by any computer-assisted software. The process architecture is then expected to guide process development to ensure appropriate interrelation. A number of process architecture methods are available in the literature, but few studies have focused on assessing these methods, and comparing them to find out how easy they are to use in particular contexts, and whether they can be standardized.\n2. Development of the PAD using Riva: Ould (2005) argued that a process is about people doing business: how they do it, how they think they do it and how they can do it better. A process is basically a set of activities that interact together to achieve a certain goal. Ould stressed the importance of constructing process architecture, stating that it is a concept of central importance for any work with processes. He developed the Riva method, which received attention in the UK. Fady and Beeson (2009) used PAD to reveal the structure of business processes in a port. Beeson et al. (2013) used PAD to build process architecture for higher education. Ould asserted that PAD is invariant for an organization that in the same business. This particular kind of process architecture proposed within the Riva approach is based upon key entities in an organization. An essential business entity (EBE) can be physical or concrete, such as a customer or a clinical trial. Those entities are part of the essence of the business.\n3. PAD using ARIS: To investigate the processes within an academic library and view them using ARIS process architecture, it is important to understand how ARIS works. Developed by Scheer in the early 1990s (a few years prior to the development of the Riva method by Ould), the ARIS toolset supports business process modeling and documentation of enterprise architecture. ARIS provides various models in different views (see Figure 3). The first is the organizational view, which demonstrates the units within the organization (Who?), the second is the data view, the objects (What information?) and the third is the process (control) view which refers to the functions to be performed (What is being done?). There is also the function view, which represents the activities, and finally the product view which refers to a service or a product (Scheer and Nuttgens, 2000). For this work, as the main aim is to model library processes, the adopted view will be the process (control view).\n4. Comparative analysis: This section provides detailed comparison between the two process architecture methods: the PAD and the process architecture using ARIS. It shows where each design approach fits within the five categories of the design approaches that can be used to develop a business process architecture. It also presents the relationship types that can be used between processes in each architecture method. The comparison also determines whether each architecture method is model dependent and domain independent. The areas of application where each model can be useful are also introduced, followed by some associated challenges. Finally, an overview of the tool used to support developing each process architecture is introduced in Table II.\n5. Conclusions: Two approaches of business process architecture were compared: Value-Added Chain Diagram using ARIS; and the PAD from the Riva method. The former is a function-based approach while the latter is an object-based one. Dijkman et al. (2016) state that the function-based and the object-based structuring approaches are the most useful (compared to reference-based models, for example). This paper is not about developing the architecture itself; instead, it seeks to compare these approaches in terms of analyzing the main aspects in an attempt to highlight certain strengths and weaknesses for each modeling method, and thus, offering an analysis of their applicability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Business process modeling has been given great attention due to its crucial role in developing computer-based systems that support (and automate) organizational processes. In information systems, building the right process architecture is vital, since a poor division of organizational processes can lead to complex designs or incoherent structure. Moreover, process architecture acts as a \"big picture\" of what the organization does, and represents dynamic relationships between the existing processes, which, in turn, helps understand how the organization works (Ould, 2005). The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper discusses the derivation of a process architecture diagram (PAD) using the Riva method in detail, in contrast to the PAD developed using Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS). The information system selected as an example for this comparative study is in the context of academic libraries, embedding various yet generic library processes.\nFindings: Organizational process architecture provides a basis for business management, based on specific framework supported by integrated tools and methods (Kozina, 2006). ARIS and Riva process architecture methods can be used to visualize and document organizational processes. Understanding the merits and weaknesses of each method is essential to identify possible areas of application.\nResearch limitations/implications: The processes selected were generic in most academic libraries not taking into consideration special personalized processes. These can be added though.\nPractical implications: Both techniques are feasible and can be used to view and analyze library processes, allowing bridging the gap between theory and practice.\nOriginality/value: A number of process architecture methods are available, however, few studies focused on assessing these methods, and comparing some of them to find out how easy they are to be used in particular contexts, and whether they can be standardized.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Balancing risk and revenue: cost of quality within the banking industry	[ "Banking", "Cost of quality", "Modeling", "Operational risks", "Opportunity costs", "Services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the face of increasing competition, managing quality and mitigating costs have become critical challenges for businesses if they are to gain market share and report stronger profits. One tool which aids businesses in overcoming the aforementioned challenges is the cost of quality (COQ) methodology. Originating in the manufacturing industry in the 1950s, the COQ framework helps justify quality management activities to the company management (Youngdahl and Kellogg, 1997). With COQ, quality assurance activities' expenses can be weighed against the positive impact brought about by the activities.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Service quality management\n3. Data: Our principal data sources are the Colombian Banker Association (www.asobancaria.com) and the Colombian Government Regulator (www.superfinanciera.gov.co). After consulting with officials within these organizations regarding data quality, we settled on three major Colombian banks out of the 24 that can be found in Colombia. Together, the three banking institutions hold 51 percent of the market's assets. We also limited the period studied to 60 months of financial statements from 2008 to 2012 based on the advice of the officials. At the request of our data sources, we will not disclose the banks' actual names, and instead the three banks will be referred to only as banks A, B and C in this paper. Our study is also not an attempt to compare performance between these three unnamed banks.\n4. Model: COQ models fall under five major categories: PAF models, Crosby's model, opportunity or intangible cost models, process cost models and activity-based costing models. The majority of publications describing, analyzing or developing COQ models used PAF models (Schiffauerova and Thomson, 2006). The COQ model developed for this paper also follows the PAF scheme. To better represent the banking industry, we split the PAF scheme's failure cost into two categories: operational risks and lost opportunities. Our banking COQ model uses the product performance approach. Two viewpoints are represented by our COQ model, the first being the customers' perception of a bank's service quality and the second being the stability and sustainability of a bank in the market.\n5. Analysis: From the sample of 90 COQ measures, the mean of the ratio of total COQ over operational expenses is found to be 3.98 percent with a standard deviation of 1.9 percent. The 99% confidence interval for the ratio mean is between 3.46 and 4.50 percent.\n6. Conclusion: This work is the first to develop a general model for COQ which is applicable to any bank operating under the Basel Accords. A product performance approach, uncommon for service industry COQ models, was adopted while developing our model as the approach emphasizes taking on a long-term and holistic perspective that is helpful in preserving stability in the banking industry. Unlike many COQ models, the model we presented takes opportunity cost into account. This is accomplished by using data on the non-performing loans possessed by a bank to calculate the returns which that bank could have earned had the loans been collected. The model developed was tested on three Colombian banks. Previous COQ studies have mostly ignored the service industry and each study was centered on a single firm.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: By developing a better understanding of costs associated with improving organizational quality and costs incurred by neglecting it, banks could devise more optimal operational policies. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a generic banking cost of quality (COQ) model developed from Colombian banking data. The model has been developed using the product performance approach, which is consistent with strategizing from a long-term and organization-wide perspective. The proposed COQ function is composed of prevention and appraisal categories, costs caused by events of operational risks and opportunity costs caused by events of credit risks measured though non-performing loans.\nFindings: The model was validated using data obtained from three major Colombian banks. The significant theoretical contribution of this research stems from the development of a banking COQ model which represents a pioneer effort at quantifying quality costs in financial institutions.\nOriginality/value: This is a unique attempt at using a product performance approach in service industry and also a rare effort toward incorporating opportunity costs in COQ. Managerially, the proposed COQ model can be established as a holistic business strategy and can serve as a tool helping managers to evaluate the impact of quality management initiatives and to decide on trade-offs between quality level and quality costs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When an icon stumbles: the Ribena issue mismanaged	[ "Brand image", "Corporate image", "Corporate strategy", "Complaints", "Advertising" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction:: Ribena blackcurrant drink was launched in Britain in the 1930s and won lasting fame during the Second World War as a source of vitamin C for British children denied fresh fruit such as oranges. It subsequently became established as an iconic \"healthy food\" served by mothers in 22 other countries around the world[1] especially locations such as Australia and New Zealand with strong post-war British migration. Today Ribena generates sales world wide of PS169 million ($US 332 million) for manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, 2006).In 2004, two New Zealand teenagers testing the vitamin C content of various fruit drinks for a high-school chemistry project found that the pre-diluted ready-to-drink (RTD) variety of Ribena did not contain four times the vitamin C of oranges, as implied in advertising. After the students failed to secure a satisfactory response from GSK, their complaint went to a popular television consumer programme and eventually to the Auckland District Court. In March 2007, the company pleaded guilty to 15 representative charges and was fined $NZ 227,500 (PS81,750 or $US 163,400) for the misleading television commercials and incorrect labeling. The second largest global pharmaceutical company was forced to take out apology advertising in both Australia and New Zealand and their humiliation at the hands of two 14 year old schoolgirls was widely reported around the world.Among the fundamental principles of issue and crisis management are to recognize the problem early, to promptly institute a strategic response plan and corrective action and, if necessary, to apologize genuinely and without delay.This case study reviews the manufacturer's lack of success against each of these principles and its failure to effectively exercise the dissociative defences posited within the concept of corporate apologia. It examines how the giant corporation which owns Ribena mismanaged a seemingly simple local problem and suffered unnecessarily severe consequential damage to its brand and international reputation.\nA theoretical framework for the case: The first fundamental principle to be considered is issue scanning which, as a vital element for early warning, should involve not just scanning the field for possible future risks, but learning from relevant past events.The literature provides many high profile cases of severe brand damage caused by product failures, often where early warnings were ignored or misinterpreted and sometimes leading on to crisis. Examples of such reputational damage would include Perrier's benzene contamination crisis (Miller and Gleizes, 1990; Barton, 1991), Firestone's ATX tyre recall (Blaney et al., 2002) and Dow Corning's silicon breast implant issue (LaPlant, 1993).There have sadly also been many examples of \"self inflicted\" damage to an iconic brand, such as the disastrous introduction of \"New Coke\" (Pendergrast, 1993); protest over withdrawal of Nabisco's famous Crown Pilot cracker (Esrock et al., 2002); and the genetically modified food debacle of the late 1990s, where Monsanto \"wrecked an entire industry, as well as its own brand\" (Larkin, 2003, p. viii).In each of these cases, not only were early warning signs or market evaluation ignored, but there was a failure to translate issue identification into effective issue management, where lack of clear objectives within a proper planned approach can lead to confusion, mixed messages, wasted effort and ultimate failure (Jaques, 2005).A common failure to link issue early warnings to development of a strategic response - and directly pertinent to the Ribena case - is where seemingly low level consumer complaints are not properly addressed, leading to major corporate problems. Instructive examples include the 1994 Intel Pentium chip fiasco, where technical concerns raised by a persistent academic were underestimated, resulting in a global product recall (Hearit, 1999); or the 2001 case involving Starbucks, where mishandling of an issue about September 11 rescue workers in New York being charged for bottled water led to severe corporate embarrassment and a persistent \"urban legend\" (Seid and Ainsley, 2001).Moreover, the specific area of food labeling and advertising is a rich territory for management case studies, none more relevant to the Ribena incident than the Perrier benzene contamination crisis of 1990 (Miller and Gleizes, 1990; Barton, 1991) which not only led to a worldwide recall of an iconic brand product and eventual sale of the company, but forced Perrier to admit misleading advertising and change its label.The present case also draws directly from the field of apologia and image restoration. Building on the seminal work of Ware and Linkugel (1973), Sproule (1988) Benoit (1995) and others, the American academic Keith Hearit (1995a) took scholarship concerning the apologetic efforts of individuals and reconceptualized the apologetic discourse of corporations accused of wrongdoing as a social legitimacy crisis. He emphasized that:[...] an apologia is not an apology (although it may contain one), but a defence that seeks to present a compelling, counter description of organizational actions. It functions to situate alleged organizational wrongdoing in a more favorable context than the initial charges suggest (Hearit, 1994, p. 115).Hearit (1995b) identified that organizations accused of wrongdoing use one of three forms of dissociative defence: opinion/knowledge dissociation, individual/group dissociation and act/essence dissociation.The decade since Hearit's innovative analysis has seen the establishment of an extensive literature on how organizations respond to crises involving allegations of wrongdoing (Benoit, 1995, 1997; Coombs, 1995; Hearit, 2001; Ulmer and Sellnow, 2002) and some key overview analyses of the field (Burns and Bruner, 2000; Rowland and Jerome, 2004: Hearit, 2006; Ulmer et al., 2007).In their detailed review, Rowland and Jerome (2004) concluded there is relatively little agreement among the various research traditions and typologies created and that the most developed systems contain so many strategy options they are of limited value. The two key reasons, they propose, are the enormous variation in circumstances and characteristics among cases which limits the capacity to generalize, and the sometimes conflicting purposes in corporate apologia between two distinct endeavours - image repair and image maintenance.The Ribena incident presents an organization compounding this conflict of purposes by simultaneously attempting image maintenance of the main Ribena syrup brand and image repair for the RTD sub-brand. In the process, GSK used all three of Hearit's dissociative defences, as well as a number of largely unsuccessful strategic objectives, in their attempt to achieve image restoration.\nFailure of early warning: While the Perrier contamination and labeling crisis involved a high profile iconic brand stumble within the beverage industry, the reputational and financial risks of misleading advertising for a drink product had previously been experienced by Ribena itself. Just a few years before its New Zealand embarrassment, GSK in the UK faced strident criticism over Ribena Toothkind, a reduced sugar formula with added calcium launched in 1998 which it was claimed did not encourage decay in children's teeth. After a two year investigation the UK Advertising Standards Authority found that the claim was misleading, as the drink was \"simply less harmful than other sugary drinks, rather than not harmful at all\" (BBC online, 2001). GSK appealed to the High Court, which in early 2001 found against the product claim and upheld the ruling that the tooth decay claim be removed from the packaging. Later it was also removed from advertising and Ribena Toothkind was replaced in 2005 by Ribena Really Light.GSK's aggressive defense of Ribena Toothkind against a charge of misleading advertising in the UK provides an important and almost contemporaneous context for their response to similar allegations against the iconic Ribena brand in New Zealand (coincidentally the original Glaxo brand was born in New Zealand in 1906 as a milk-based infant food).In 2004, two 14 year old students at Pakuranga College in Auckland - Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo - tested the vitamin C content of various fruit drinks for a classroom chemistry project. They found that the RTD version of the Ribena did not contain four times the vitamin C of oranges, despite wording used in product advertising.The schoolgirls wrote to GSK New Zealand complaining that the television advertising statement \"the blackcurrants in Ribena contain four times the vitamin C of oranges\" was \"intentionally misleading and quite inappropriate\" in that it misled people to believe that Ribena fruit drink itself contained four times the vitamin C, which is untrue. They also reported that they telephoned the company and were dismissed with the response \"It's the blackcurrant which have it\" (Eames, 2007a).The company was eventually prosecuted and pleaded guilty to ten representative charges arising from the \"four times\" advertising claim. They also pleaded guilty to five other charges relating to false labeling of the RTD Ribena, which was advertised as containing 7 mg of vitamin C per 100 ml when subsequent testing showed it contained no measurable vitamin C at all.Notwithstanding the recent bruising experience in the UK involving controversial advertising claims for Ribena Toothkind, the New Zealand company apparently chose not to respond to the girls' written approach. So the two teenagers took their case to top-rating New Zealand television consumer programme Fair Go, which broadcast the story nationally in October 2004.GSK did not appear on Fair Go but issued the TV producers a written statement, which was summarized on air:The claim \"blackcurrants in Ribena contain four times the vitamin C of oranges\" is correct and relates to blackcurrants and oranges in their natural fruit state. This is a claim applicable to all Ribena products not just concentrate. We make no comparison to juices, fruit drinks or any other pre-packaged drink product. The advertising statement has appeared as part of Ribena advertising world wide for more than a decade. All Ribena products boldly highlight the actual and correct vitamin C content as required by law. We sincerely apologise for the way in which Anna and Jenny's complaint was dealt with (Fair Go, 2004)[2].Despite the UK experience and this exposure on New Zealand national television providing early indications of an impending serious issue, the TV commercial with the \"four times\" claim remained in use for another 18 months. Meanwhile the two girls took their complaint directly to the government consumer watchdog the New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC).Furthermore, at the same time Ribena - promoted as having \"no artificial colour, flavour or sweetener\" - was under sustained attack for its high sugar content. In January 2004, the UK Food Commission journal had reported that the 70 g of sugar in a 500 ml lunchbox bottle of Ribena would exceed a child's recommended maximum sugar intake for the whole day by 30 per cent (Food Magazine, 2004). And in January 2007, precisely in the midst of media publicity about the upcoming court case in New Zealand, newspapers in Australia and New Zealand reported a study by the Australian Consumer Association journal listing Ribena as one of the top ten \"Foods that make kids fatter faster\" (Choice, 2007). The report and widespread media coverage identified the major ingredients of the RTD product as water and sugar (11 teaspoons per drink, exceeding Coca-Cola) with blackcurrant juice, processed from concentrate, coming in at only 5 per cent.\nFour response strategies: Facing the NZCC investigation and threatened prosecution, GSK appears to have pursued four strategies:1. Quarantine Ribena RTD from Ribena syrup to protect the parent brand.2. Contain brand damage to Australia and New Zealand.3. Reduce impact by offering acceptable \"explanations\".4. Apologise conditionally and rely on lack of intent of wrongdoing as mitigation.Analysis of the case against each of these strategic objectives in turn suggests that only the fourth was successfully achieved.Quarantining the sub-brand\nApologia used for image restoration: Keith Hearit, one of the authorities on the use of corporate apologia by organizations accused of wrongdoing, has identified three forms of dissociative defence. (Hearit, 1995b) At different stages of the Ribena case, GSK attempted all three, and each is analysed within the theoretical framework:Opinion/knowledge dissociation\nConclusion: From information available on the public record GSK management appear to have learned very little from their prolonged and aggressive defence of controversial British advertising for Ribena Toothkind (indeed the replacement product is still promoted as \"tooth friendly\").At a broader level the New Zealand case provides some valuable lessons for future management practice:* Ensure systems are in place to adequately respond to early indications of an impending issue.* Promptly implement a forward strategy and keep to consistent messages.* Understand the risk when legal considerations dominate the public response.* Integrate full issue and threat assessment when planning brand extensions.* And finally, recognize the importance of genuine and meaningful apologia to achieve effective image restoration.Sales of Ribena in New Zealand at the time were just $NZ 8 million - equivalent to about PS2.8 million out of global Ribena sales of PS169 million. Only time will reveal the extent to which this heavily publicized stumble in such a minor market has caused lasting damage to an iconic global brand.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - When two 14-year-old New Zealand schoolgirls challenged the advertising claims of Ribena blackcurrant drink - owned by global giant GlaxoSmithKline - they triggered a sequence of events which led to prosecution, public opprobrium and international damage to an iconic brand. The purpose of this paper is to explore the case and identify lessons for future management practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Some of the fundamental principles of issue management, post-crisis discourse and corporate apologia are to recognize the problem early, to promptly institute a strategic response plan and corrective action and, if necessary, to apologise genuinely and without delay. The paper assesses the case against the theoretical basis of each of these principles and comparable cases. A senior executive of the company concerned was interviewed about some management aspects.\nFindings: - Despite early indications of a problem which had potential impact around the world, a major global corporation responded inadequately to a local situation and, as a result, suffered prolonged embarrassment at the hands of two teenagers and unnecessarily severe damage to its brand and international reputation.\nOriginality/value: - By in-depth analysis of a recent case, the paper underlines valuable lessons in terms of prompt management intervention, consistent strategy and effective apologia. It also illustrates the danger of poor management of a brand extension and the risk of contagion facing multinational organizations where adverse outcomes in one small regional market can rapidly damage a global reputation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality from the patient's perspective: a one-year trial	[ "Nursing", "Satisfaction", "Acute services", "Concordance model", "Sweden" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There are psychology studies suggesting that certain information may change a patient's illness perception and hope (Meichenbaum and Turk, 1987). Hence, sensitively and professionally delivered information might be an important element of nursing performance. It is essential in patient assessments and in general efforts to improve care. In fact, information quality predicts patient satisfaction (Veenstra and Hofoss, 2003; McCabe, 2004). However, everyday care is often less than perfect. Studies show that patients often feel they get too little, diffuse or too general information about illness and treatment (Yardley et al., 2001; Coulter, 2003). For instance, Yardley et al. (2001) found that patients were sensitive to the way diagnoses were presented to them and also seemed to hold back questions when they felt physicians were uneasy with the situation. Most patients are unfamiliar with healthcare and cannot judge illness severity from clues such as speedy investigations.In the concordance model, patients and professionals work in a partnership and cooperate in the care situation, in contrast to the traditional model, which presupposes that patients receive information passively. Information that follows the concordance model seems to better meet patients' needs (Calman and Hine, 1995).In a study of information provided to patients with haematological diagnoses, Persson (1998) found that although information was deemed adequate, it was not always comprehensible and was sometimes too ambiguous in relation to care routines. Providing information to women with breast cancer, Palsson (1995) found that patients had to wait for information and when they were eventually informed, information about medical treatment was inadequate (though sufficient information was provided about nursing care). Persson et al. (2005) found in Swedish patients with colostomy and ileostomy that information and participation were lacking, and that this affected patients' overall satisfaction ratings. Similarly, Lutby et al. (2005) noted that well-informed patients were also more satisfied with care and that patients liked to participate in making decisions about their care. Thus, information and participation seem to strongly affect patient satisfaction with care. A prostate cancer study showed that information provided to patients (about practical procedures and side effects) was incomplete and random (Jakobsson, 2000). The researcher also found several distinct patients types with marked differences in their ability to comprehend information; implying that information should be tailored to meet individual needs and to account for social and psychological contexts.During a treatment period, hospital time often lasts just a few days, while treatment and side effects may go on for months or even years. The challenge for healthcare staff is to make a difference to patients' knowledge that reaches outside the hospital and into their daily lives. Moreover, this has to be accomplished rapidly, during the minimal time that patients spend hospitalised. Hence, as well as being tailored to individual needs, information provided must be clear, concise, well structured and if necessary repeated. Feedback from patients is essential to ascertain that these requirements are met. To gather and assess this feedback in a systematic way, specific instruments are required. Several questionnaires are available and generally, patient satisfaction questionnaire surveys often show high-grade satisfaction with the general care although they display dissatisfaction with the amount of information. Therefore, systematically handling information might increase service quality from the patient's perspective.\nAims: Our main aim, therefore, was to investigate how changes in information handling routines might influence patients' service quality perceptions. To improve service quality generally, it is important to have a clear view of patients' opinions on the essential factors related to their care. Therefore, a secondary aim was to test the quality from patient's perspective - QPP questionnaire's everyday feasibility for healthcare quality assessment.\nDesign: We selected two wards with similar patients and routines. In one ward, an intervention involving changing information handling was implemented. Patients admitted to the two wards were asked to fill in the QPP questionnaire. Each patient's participation lasted a year, completing the questionnaire three times: at diagnosis; six months; and 12 months. The QPP instrument includes 68 questions as statements (see Table I). Respondents had to state their perceived reality and its subjective importance. Data were processed using SPSS software.Sample/participants\nFindings: Medical-technical competence\nDiscussion: Limitations\nConclusion: Our results indicate that physician- and nurse-provided information supplements each other and both should be targeted to improve service quality. Implementing enhanced information routines proved to meet patients' nursing information expectations. However, the most salient features were that patients emphasised social factors and subjective care aspects over time and that personal relations and cooperation with staff seemed to be more important than technical factors. The QPP questionnaire gave an overall care performance view and the QPP indexes may be used as fairly accurate material easily transformed into feedback that is comprehensible to healthcare professionals and administrators. Although the full questionnaire may be valuable to other research projects, in everyday use, something more easily managed would be preferable. The 14 statements we present proved sensitive to apparent changes and therefore might be a more easily administered test to quality changes from the patient's perspective - at least regarding severely ill patients.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to shows how changing information routines might influence service quality perceptions. A secondary aim was to test an instrument's everyday feasibility for healthcare quality assessment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Patients often show high-grade satisfaction with general care although they display dissatisfaction with some information they receive. A questionnaire survey was used to establish patient satisfaction after introducing standardised guidelines for nursing performance and information provision. Patient satisfaction was assessed using \"quality from the patient's perspective\" (QPP) questionnaire. Patients from gynaecological and haematological wards (n=71) (the study group) and a comparison group (n=67) were surveyed. Patients were given the questionnaire when their diagnosis was confirmed, after six months and 12 months. Data were collected over 36 months.\nFindings: - The study group showed an increased satisfaction with information from nurses (p=0.001) but not physicians. However, patients tended to put greater emphasis on socio-cultural issues than information and cooperation seemed to represent high quality from the patient's perspective.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Successively lower response rate, mainly owing to cancer patients' deteriorating medical conditions. The study verifies the concordance model's relative merits.\nPractical implications: - The study verifies that care's softer side appears to be more important to patients than information improvements.\nOriginality/value: - Results confirm that patients' satisfaction with information had implications for overall quality; but social issues seemed more important and enhancing quality is best achieved through participation and cooperation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A reflective memory based framework for crowd network simulations	[ "Crowd network", "HLA-high level architecture", "Large scale simulation", "Reflective memory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As the proverb goes \"two heads are better than one\" and \"everybody's business is nobody's business\", the phenomenon of crowd intelligence can be easily observed in our daily lives. At the same time, with the rapid development of network technologies, crowd intelligence becomes much more complicate and universal, for human, enterprises, governments, equipments and articles turns to be more and more intelligent, and these intelligent agents are connecting to form numerous crowd network systems, such as e-commerce platforms, networked supply chains, Wikipedia and network elections (Michelucci and Dickinson, 2016).\n2. Related work: Nowadays, most economy and society experiments are depended on simulations, for they can greatly enhance replicability of these experiments, such as Anylogic, Swarm, Repast, MASON, NetLogo, GEMPACK and HLA.\n3. High-level architecture-based simulation framework: Although HLA satisfied the diversification requirement and dynamic requirement well to some extent, while unfortunately HLA only fit requirements of simulation realm mostly in military field, and every professional field has its own characteristics, that is to say, when adopting HLA in other research fields, it still needs more efforts to meet new challenges. First, development of HLA federations is ad hoc. simulation object model and federation object model are used to define interactions among federates and simulation domains. In advancement of simulation executions, simulation object model and federation object model are fixed, and interactions among objects and federates are all set before simulation execution starts. A given HLA federation only satisfied given long-term stable cooperation. When environment changes, a new one must be developed. This is not convenient to dynamic collaborations. Second, many contradictions are solved by agreements outside information systems, so these agreements are not guaranteed by software or workflow. Third, when it comes to crowd network, systemic emergence is a key characteristic of complex systems, and HLA do not support this kind of simulations. Last but not the least important, scale of HLA simulations is thousand level at the most, but the scale of crowd network simulations often exceed million or trillion level, which leads to extremely huge burden for message communications. To reduce communication load of HLA simulations, HLA adopts publish-subscription mechanism to perform communication among federates but broadcast. For example, supposing federate publishes/subscribes information only 8 bytes per time, in TCP protocol this message will be packed to a packet with 40-byte long. Under this circumstance, network communication burden can be shown by Table I.\n4. A reflective memory-based simulation framework for crowd network: To settle down above problems, this paper proposes a reflective memory-based simulation framework (Figure 1). This framework is particularly suitable for crowd network simulations with features of dynamic, diversification and mass member features.\n5. Implementation architecture: To apply this framework, an implementation architecture is introduced (Figure 3) in this paper. In this architecture, crowd network simulation platform is composed by federate definition tools, simulation definition tools, simulation execution and observation tools, simulation result evaluation tools and distributed simulation bus. And disturbance federates are special federates to research evolution of digital selves that are constructed by disturbance models and effect mechanism. Digital self-federates are applications which contain simulation objects of digital selves. They define and perform interactions among digital selves by federate definition tools and simulate evolution of digital selves driven by simulation bus.\n6. Summary: As main mode of modern service industry and future economy society, the research on crowd network can greatly facilitate governances of economy society and make it more efficient, humane, sustainable and at the same time avoid disorders. However, because most results cannot be observed in real world, the research of crowd network cannot follow a traditional way. Simulation is the main means to put forward related researches. Compared with other large scale interactive simulations, simulation for crowd network has challenges of dynamic, diversification and massive participants. Fortunately, known as the most famous and widely accepted standard, HLA has been widely used in large-scale simulations. But when it comes to crowd network, HLA has shortcomings like fixed federation, limited scale and agreement outside the software system. With reference to HLA, this paper proposes a novel reflective memory-based framework toward crowd network simulations. The proposed framework adopts a two-level federation-based architecture, system level simulation (system federation) and application level simulation (application federations), which separates simulation related environments into physical and logical aspect to enhance the flexibility of simulations. Simulation definition is introduced in this architecture to resolve the problem of outside agreements and share resources pool (constructed by reflective memory) is used to address the systemic emergence and scale problem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As main mode of modern service industry and future economy society, the research on crowd network can greatly facilitate governances of economy society and make it more efficient, humane, sustainable and at the same time avoid disorders. However, because most results cannot be observed in real world, the research of crowd network cannot follow a traditional way. Simulation is the main means to put forward related research studies. Compared with other large-scale interactive simulations, simulation for crowd network has challenges of dynamic, diversification and massive participants. Fortunately, known as the most famous and widely accepted standard, high level architecture (HLA) has been widely used in large-scale simulations. But when it comes to crowd network, HLA has shortcomings like fixed federation, limited scale and agreement outside the software system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper proposes a novel reflective memory-based framework for crowd network simulations. The proposed framework adopts a two-level federation-based architecture, which separates simulation-related environments into physical and logical aspect to enhance the flexibility of simulations. Simulation definition is introduced in this architecture to resolve the problem of outside agreements and share resources pool (constructed by reflective memory) is used to address the systemic emergence and scale problem.\nFindings: With reference to HLA, this paper proposes a novel reflective memory-based framework toward crowd network simulations. The proposed framework adopts a two-level federation-based architecture, system-level simulation (system federation) and application-level simulation (application federations), which separates simulation-related environments into physical and logical aspect to enhance the flexibility of simulations. Simulation definition is introduced in this architecture to resolve the problem of outside agreements and share resources pool (constructed by reflective memory) is used to address the systemic emergence and scale problem.\nOriginality/value: Simulation syntax and semantic are all settled under this framework by templates, especially interface templates, as simulations are separated by two-level federations, physical and logical simulation environment are considered separately; the definition of simulation execution is flexible. When developing new simulations, recompile is not necessary, which can acquire much more reusability, because reflective memory is adopted as share memory within given simulation execution in this framework; population can be perceived by all federates, which greatly enhances the scalability of this kind of simulations; communication efficiency and capability has greatly improved by this share memory-based framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Programming quality of festivals: conceptualization, measurement, and relation to consequences	[ "Festival programming quality", "Service quality", "Visitor experiences", "Visitor satisfaction", "Behavioral intentions", "Customer services quality", "Service quality assurance", "User satisfaction", "Leisure activities", "Entertainment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Festival programs have been widely compared to theater dramas in that they offer escapism, surprise and transformation to festival visitors and participants as the audience (Wiersma and Strolberg, 2003). In such analogies, the importance assumed by festival programming is no less than that of scripting and choreography in dramaturgy (Allen et al., 2008). Festival programming is basically concerned with arrangement of the flow of festival elements, and its primary function lies in the enhancement of visitor experiences, and therefore of the overall attractiveness of the festival. Especially for festivals with homogenous core cultural or artistic products, the quality of festival programming may well play the decisive role in determining visitor experiences of the festival at large (Ralston et al., 2007; Shone and Perry, 2001). With destinations worldwide placing great emphasis on festivals, taking account of their profound economic and cultural implications, the quality of programming at festivals is becoming increasingly associated with their competitive advantages.While the necessity of programming festivals in an attractive, effective and distinctive manner has been generally accepted, there has been far less research dedicated to the comprehensive and consistent profiling and modeling of festival programming quality. For instance, in the festival quality model developed by Lee et al. (2007), programming is only inferred in the \"special entertainment features\" dimension, which includes the operational aspects of artistic and music performances during the festival. Also, in the integrated model of festival service and experience factors proposed by Ralston et al. (2007), a series of factors are stressed, such as a clear theme, targeted impressions and multiple senses, but discussions of the links between these factors have been inadequate, without an attempt to incorporate them into the broader and unifying concept of festival programming.Taking note of the current research void, this study aims to conceptualize and profile festival programming quality in a comprehensive manner underpinned by the classical SERVQUAL model. The main purposes of this paper are:* to identify the dimensionality of the quality of festival programming; and* to empirically investigate the relationships between festival programming quality and the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of festival visitors.\n2. Literature: 2.1 Festival programming\n3. Conceptual framework and hypotheses: It can be revealed from review of literature in the previous section that existing research on service quality issues in festivals has been overwhelmingly concentrated at a holistic level, with the major quality dimensions identified being generic features, special entertainment features, information sources, and comfort amenities (Baker and Crompton, 2000; Lee et al., 2007; Thrane, 2002). Festival programming quality, however, has mostly been discussed in broad and qualitative terms, leaving a research gap intended to be partly addressed by this study.This study, aiming at deriving an integrated model of festival programming quality, first postulates that the quality of festival programming includes both technical dimensions concerned with what festival visitors can obtain from the festival program and functional dimensions relating to the manner in which organizers present the festival program to visitors. Such a dichotomy corresponds to the results of previous studies, which have demonstrated that incorporating technical aspects of quality can enhance the validity of the SERVQUAL model (Bouranta et al., 2009; Chen and Hu, 2010).Based upon the SERVQUAL model reviewed in the previous section, a six-dimension scale may be inductively derived for festival programming quality. The scale incorporates the following six dimensions of:1. diversity in various aspects of programs;2. balance of stakeholder requirements;3. arrangement of simultaneity;4. provision of incremental experiences;5. allocation of flexibility; and6. linkage with traditional tourism components.3.1 Diversity in various aspects of programs\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Measures\n5. Results: 5.1 Demographic profile of respondents\n6. Conclusion and implications: Festivals have long been believed to be economical, effective and extensive instruments for the host destination to realize its economical, cultural, social and tourism objectives, bringing benefits that few other artificially devised and mobilized tourism phenomena can rival (Nelson, 2004; Prentice and Anderson, 2003). Recognizing the current paucity of research in festival programming, this study inductively proposes and empirically tests a comprehensive scale to measure the quality of festival programming. The scale is theoretically underpinned by elaborations on service quality, and is constructed in a holistic manner in the sense that all of the major stakeholders in festival programming - organizers, visitors, sponsors, business partners - have been incorporated. In the final six-dimension scale which is composed of 23 items in total, major components of festival programming are derived, namely diversity of programs, balance of sponsor requirements, simultaneity, incremental arrangements and flexibility of programs, together with linkages to other tourism products. The study results reveal the multi-facet nature of festival programming quality, taking account of its integration of both technical and functional aspects of service quality. Furthermore, this study also establishes the significance of festival programming to satisfaction and behavioral intention levels of festival visitors. Thus, a conclusion can be drawn here that the quality of festival programming is an entirety based upon artistic, emotional and technological performance, with cross-references to both product and service quality features. While most studies on festival programming stress various aspects of quality issues, this study demonstrates that a holistic approach would be more appropriate to account for the comprehensive dimensionality of festival programming quality.Results of this study complement and leverage findings yielded by previous research efforts. Ralston et al. (2007) outlined the general importance of incorporating service and experience factors in staging festivals. This study builds on this general observation by further specifying and integrating these factors into a hierarchical model. For instance, the diversity dimension of the tested model further explores the factor of \"multiple senses\" suggested by Ralston et al. (2007), and the requirements of clear theme and targeted impressions by Ralston et al. (2007) are integrated and specified in the dimension of incrementality in the model raised by this study. Meanwhile, the study also elaborates on the dimensionalities and consequences of the binary components of technical and artistic performance for staging successful recreational encounters in the festival sector as proposed by Ellis and Rossman (2008). While such dimensions expounded in the tested model as flexibility, linkage and sponsor balance can be related to the concept of technical aspects in Ellis and Rossman (2008), the dimensions of diversity, simultaneity, incrementality correspond to the realm of artistic aspects, all of which are further clarified by this study.A finding of particular importance here is identification of the dimensions of sponsor balance and linkages with traditional tourism products, thereby providing reassurance on the importance of such technical and tangible aspects of festival programming quality as elaborated by previous studies (Huang, 2008). The constructs of diversity and flexibility also attest to recognition of the significance of assurance and empathy as aspects of service quality in the tourism and hospitality sectors (Bouranta et al., 2009; Chen and Hu, 2010). Furthermore, this study goes one step further in verifying the unique functions of the dimensions of incremental experiences and simultaneity in determining the quality of festival programming. These two dimensions concern the management of visitor experiences, which can be duly transformed into key performance attributes referred to by festival visitors when evaluating the programming quality of the festival. In Brown and James (2004), the importance of \"timing\" and \"building\" is only broadly discussed, and this study statistically examines the functions of temporal ordering of festival programs. In other words, this study helps identify the dimensionality and features of the \"desirability aspect\" of festival programming as put forward by Getz (2007). Actually, the emphases inherent in these two constructs on the emotional aspects of programming quality have well echoed the findings by Kincaid et al. (2010) and Ryu et al. (2010) and that have stressed the significance of emotion-based relationships to service quality in hospitality settings.This study, through relevant statistical evidence, consolidates the status of festival programming quality as a substantial component to consider when assessing the experiences of festival visitors. Especially, in instances where the festival focuses on \"mundane\" themes, the significance of festival programming quality assumes greater prominence than do the traditional attributes of core festival products and service performance among festival staff.Third, with regard to the comparatively inadequate research efforts made in the quality of programming field as a whole, this study might serve as a reference for other research endeavors inquiring into similar topics in other tourism and tertiary industry sectors. By far, the number of studies focusing on festival programming is still limited (Allen et al., 2008). Actually, the issue of programming is quite omnipresent in the tourism field, extending to such topics as in the planning of itineraries for group package tours, the scheduling of activities at resorts and theme parks, and the prioritization of programs at tourism retail businesses, etc. With a growing recognition of the importance of \"storyline\"-based content in attracting and retaining consumers (Stebbins, 2007), this study may be utilized to lay some foundation for further research efforts in this direction.From a practical perspective, the results of this study may offer some valuable insights for festival planners and organizers on how to better design, operate and manage their festivals to maximize the experiences of festival visitors, enhance visitor satisfaction, and facilitate repeat visits to future festivals. First of all, given the study results demonstrating the significant influences of programming quality on the satisfaction (b=0.853, t=5.977, p < 0.001) and behavioral intentions of festival visitors (b=0.781, t=6.363, p < 0.001), festival planners and organizers would be best advised to initiate corresponding strategies when conceptualizing, deliberating on and promoting their festival products. Appropriate resources and efforts should be allocated to programming so that the emphasis on programming quality can be duly transformed into competitive advantages. Especially during the promotional stage of the festival, programming aspects should be adequately highlighted to achieve a synergy effect with core festival products. In addition, for long-running festivals, programming should be regarded as the key means of maintaining the attractiveness of the festival to visitors. This leads to a logic extrapolation that for repetitive festivals to which their original core products are inherently attached, programming should be effectively utilized to compensate for the negative influences of product and destination lifecycles on the festival.At present, the issue of programming is still regarded as of secondary importance in the strategic planning of most festivals. Except for some serious programming efforts made on a limited scale in a handful of theme parks, programming management has generally been inconsistent and incomprehensive (Kao et al., 2008). In addition, quality of programming often has to be sacrificed due to various constraints on festival organizers in terms of time, financial and human resources. Furthermore, the economic, artistic and competitive potentials of programming are still not fully recognized by festival stakeholders, particularly business sponsors (O'Toole and Mikolaitis, 2006). Correspondingly, the findings of this study pinpoint areas where festival programming management can be streamlined and improved. On one hand, given the resilience of such dimensions as diversity, simultaneity, and incrementality, experiences from the performing arts industries can be incorporated into festival programming. Introducing and enhancing the post of \"artistic director\" might serve as a pertinent step in this direction. On the other hand, better integration of programming management with other aspects of festival planning is needed to ensure all the components of festival management contribute to the satisfaction and behavioral intention levels of festival visitors as a whole. To this end, a more even distribution of resources among various planning task forces should be achieved.Notwithstanding the valuable contributions of this study, it remains subject to various limitations pending further refinement and improvement. First, further enhancement of the six-dimension, 23-item scale is possible. There might be redundant items and dimensions that should be disposed of, and the six dimensions of the instrument as it currently stands may not be exhaustive. Therefore, future research is needed to make the current scale more rigorous, succinct, and comprehensive. Especially, a mixed methodology may be chosen, gathering input from professional organizers and then triangulating the data to generate new insights into festival programming. Second, as noted in the methodology section, the focus of this study on a cultural festival situated in an urban Chinese environment in which the majority of respondents were Chinese visitors means that its generalizability could be limited. Future studies may focus on different categories of festivals and the broader special events fields to critically examine the tenability of the model in other festival and special event contexts. In particular, application and examination of the scale in a MICE setting would be of considerable theoretical and practical value. Meanwhile, opinions should be elicited from respondents with non-Chinese cultural backgrounds to further evaluate and refine the external reliability of the proposed scale. Because the area of festival programming quality is still a nebulous one, it is hoped that this study can serve as a reference for more in-depth exploration of festival programming quality itself, as well as for comparisons of its conceptualization both within different festival categories and across general tourism and hospitality sectors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Programming of festivals is more and more becoming a source from which the competitive advantages of the festivals may originate. This study aims to conceptualize the dimensionality of programming quality of festivals and empirically test it and its relationships with the satisfaction and behavioral intention levels of festival visitors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Structured interviews were conducted with 350 visitors to a cultural festival. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized in the data analysis.\nFindings: - The programming quality of festivals was found to consist of six dimensions, namely diversity, stakeholder balance, incrementality, simultaneity, flexibility and linkage. Meanwhile, the positive effects of festival programming quality on the satisfaction and behavioral intention levels of festival visitors are confirmed.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study is limited for possible inexhaustiveness of the dimensions proposed and examined. Future research is needed to make the current measurement more rigorous, succinct and comprehensive.\nPractical implications: - This study can offer some valuable insights for festival planners and organizers to better design, operate and manage their festival to such an extent that the experiences of festival visitors are maximized, visitor satisfactions are enhanced, and re-visits to future festivals facilitated.\nOriginality/value: - This study makes its contribution to better understanding of festival programming quality, where artistic, emotional and technological aspects are integrated. This study aims to delineate the entirety of programming quality of festivals and its relationships to the satisfaction and behavioral intention levels of festival visitors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making creativity more effective: Factors that impact on cross-domain collaborations	[ "Innovation", "Creativity management", "Cross-domain collaboration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Globalization and incessant advances in technology are often cited as reasons why the current business environment is becoming progressively tougher. Companies must constantly evolve in order to meet different challenges that arise.\nTeamwork matters: Many firms consequently see teamwork and collaboration as increasing the likelihood of success. A strong emphasis in this area can enable wonderful things to be achieved, as Mattie Stepanek once pointed out. The late US poet similarly claimed that strength lies in unity.\nBetween-group diversities: benefits and challenges: Plenty of evidence suggests that the impact of multi-disciplinary groups on creativity is mostly favorable. Among the major reasons for this are:\nInfluences on creativity at discipline at sector levels: Creativity and innovation are essential to the well-being of any firm. Many different factors can influence creative output. Resource availability, time to generate ideas, autonomy and training are just a few. A workplace climate conducive to creativity is a massive help as well. Evidence suggests that such factors are important to a large degree across different disciplines and sectors.\nWays to enhance collaboration: Creative endeavor can benefit more when groups contain representatives from a broader range of disciplines. The downside to this is the higher risk of misunderstanding and conflict as each discipline has its own approaches to innovation. It helps if management can ascertain, where knowledge overlaps between collaboration partners so that some common ground can be determined.\nComment: The review is based on \"Creativity in cross-domain collaborations: searching factors to increase efficiency\" by Sik (2016). The challenges facing partners involved in cross-domain collaborations are examined in detail here. Sik offers considerable insight into the different characteristics typical within various disciplines and sectors and how this can impact on collaborative projects. His suggestions on how to make such efforts more successful add further value to this piece.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: Cross-domain collaborations enable firms to gain access to new capabilities that better position them to meet the increasingly complex problems which face businesses. But, significant differences exist in the way that various disciplines and sectors perceive and approach creativity. Management must therefore consider issues that include idea ownership, personality traits, management support and how creativity is quantified and measured to prevent misalignment and enhance the effectiveness of creative endeavors.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between leadership style and the success of Lean management implementation	[ "Performance", "Lean", "Leadership style" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The successful implementation of LM in some well-known organizations boosted its implementation in many others around the world. In addition, the last economic recession increased the need for competition and therefore the need to implement tools and techniques that improve the competitive level (Alsmadi et al., 2012), with LM practices among those. However, several cases in which the LM implementation has been reported unsuccessful (Sorooshian et al., 2017), justify the increasing concern about implementation aspects (Van Landeghem, 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Lean management\n3. Hypotheses: A transactional leader recognizes accomplishments and promises rewards for performance and effort (Bass, 1990). Laohavichien et al. (2009) states that this type of leadership can lead to successful quality performance, as the leader can reward the accomplishment of quality goals and give penalties to the ones that do not meet them. This clarification of what are the leader's expectations builds commitment from employees to achieve the goals, such as innovative activities and aligns the employees' expectations with the firm improvement needs, which also leads to a higher quality performance. The contingent reward creates employees' awareness about the expectation to develop new ideas and solutions regarding the processes and practices. In addition, through the management by exception, leaders closely monitor employees and give constructive feedback, which allows identifying which processes and practices need to be improved (Prasad and Junni, 2016). Therefore, we should test the following hypothesis (H1):\n4. Methodology: Similarly to Assen (2016), Dun and Wilderom (2016), Gelei et al. (2015), Pamfilie et al. (2012) and Sureerattanan et al. (2014), when researching leadership and/or Lean-related topics, a questionnaire was used to collect data, also following the advice of Saunders et al. (2009), who point out that a questionnaire is the most indicated gathering method when the aim is not to have a detailed perspective, but a high volume of observations. By contrast, Aij et al. (2015) and Laureani and Antony (2017) drew on interviews.\n5. Results: 5.1 Descriptive analysis\n6. Conclusion: Leadership has been identified as a critical success factor of Lean implementation. The purpose of the present study was to identify what is the impact of leadership style on the success of Lean implementation, and find out the most important leader' attributes that facilitate LM implementation. To accomplish that goal, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 65 Portuguese companies that have implemented LM. The results suggest that empowering leadership has a positive impact in the success of Lean implementation (measured through the implementation of Lean practices). Therefore, we can recommend to companies that are thinking about implementing Lean, to pay attention to the attitudes of the leaders associated to this style: \"Delegation of authority,\" \"accountability,\" \"self-directed decision making,\" \"information sharing,\" \"skill development,\" and \"coaching for innovative performance.\" When the Lean implementation success was measured through the increase of market share, the directive leadership showed a negative impact. Consequently, we suggest to companies taking into consideration the dimensions of this directive style (assigned goals, and instruction and command). Moreover, we identified that none of the leadership style proved to be dominant. This seems to suggest that it is the power of leadership that influences LM, instead of the power of leadership style. Accordingly, when testing separately which leader's attributes are more important in the success of Lean implementation, several dimensions exhibited statistical significance: \"Individualized consideration,\" \"information sharing,\" \"skill development,\" \"intellectual stimulation,\" \"assigned goals\" and \"self-directed decision making.\" Consequently, organizations that are in the beginning of the LM implementation process should be aware of the importance of leadership and, more than just adopting a single style, adopt attitudes related to these attributes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to better understand the role that leadership plays in the success of Lean management (LM) implementation, by trying to identify what is the impact of the transactional, transformational, directive and empowering leadership styles on the success of such an implementation in Portuguese companies, and what are the most important leaders' attributes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An on-line questionnaire was distributed to 65 manufacturing and services Portuguese organizations that have implemented LM.\nFindings: The results suggest that the empowering leadership style has a positive impact on the success of LM implementation. Even though results do not allow concluding about the impact of the other styles, several leader's attributes were identified as having influence: individualized consideration, information sharing, skill development, intellectual stimulation, assigned goals and self-directed decision making.\nOriginality/value: Very few studies have addressed the role of leadership in the success of adopting LM and, to the best knowledge, only one paper studied the critical attributes of leaders in LM implementation. Moreover, the present study focuses in Portugal, country where this topic has rarely been investigated.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Service appropriation: how do customers make the service their own?	[ "Healthcare", "Service marketing", "Appropriation", "Ownership", "Self-service technology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Technology is omnipresent in private and public spheres. For example, with applications for various mobile devices, companies encourage customers to manage their money, children, social relations, purchases, and health with technology. In the health sector alone, 97,000 mobile health apps are available across 62 app stores[1]. Many apps and devices are developed by public or private companies to help patients, such as enabling people with diabetes to measure their glycemic index, control their weight, develop or sustain healthy habits, or plan physical activities. These forms of \"outsourcing\", together with the development of multichannel services across platforms, move patients into complex, participative systems, in which the service is likely to fail, unless the customers are motivated and able to perform their necessary roles and make the service their own.\nAppropriation: a literature review: The appropriation concept supports a wide range of meanings, depending on the context and its application. The term derives from the Latin root appropriare, which means adapting or conforming, such that it refers to the act of suiting or fitting something for a particular purpose, person, or occasion, as well as to the fact of owning something. Appropriare in turn comes from propius, which has a dual meaning. First, it refers to what belongs to an individual, which is not shared with others. Second, it can refer to what characterizes the individual. Thus, the ambiguity of the term arises because the being and having are mixed (Laulan, 1984). Because the suffix \"-ation\" refers to an action being accomplished, \"appropriation\" is a praxeological process, built through action (Laulan, 1984). In turn, it might refer to adapting something (Miller, 1995), domesticating (Warnier, 1994), incorporating by contagion (Rozin, 1994), interpreting (Dumais, 2010), instrumentally controlling (Cova and Cova, 2001), or fully possessing an object (Sartre, 1943).\nConceptualization of service appropriation: In previous literature, appropriation has been conceptualized in various ways and applied to different contexts and objects (spaces, objects, feelings, experiences) in many research fields. Although this status makes it difficult to define the concept, it also demonstrates its great relevance in social sciences in general and service marketing in particular. Confronting these definitions and various sequences, we propose a theoretical conceptualization of service appropriation as a state composed of five dimensions, mostly based on the modes of appropriation identified by Sartre (1943) and later reinterpreted by Belk (1988).\nAn exploratory study in the health sector: With this conceptualization of service appropriation, we confront our theoretical framework with reality. Specifically, we conducted an exploratory study in the health sector, focused on chronic illness care, as is necessary for patients diagnosed with diabetes, obesity, or chronic respiratory diseases. Service appropriation is particularly relevant in this field, because patients must be active and complete complex tasks. To benefit from the service, patients must cooperate with physicians, providing them with information and feedback, completing specific treatments, adopting healthy behaviours, monitoring their disease progression (e.g. noting their weight, testing blood sugar levels), using specific tools (e.g. inhalers for chronic respiratory diseases), and making appointments with their physicians. Hospitals and health organizations, which embrace complex care pathways, also increasingly encourage remote medical relationships, mediated by smartphone applications, such that in 2015, some 500 million patients will download at least one health-related application[2]. The question of service appropriation is highly relevant for health professionals who seek to improve public health but also cut costs. Without service appropriation, neither objective can be achieved.\nFindings: The results of our three qualitative studies reveal: first, the characteristics of healthcare services and the respective roles of patients and physicians; second, the definition of service appropriation offered by respondents; and third, the dimensions of healthcare service appropriation.\nDiscussion and conclusions: In this research, service appropriation refers to the process by which customers make the service their own. We develop a cognitive approach to service appropriation and highlight its underlying dimensions. Five dimensions came from prior literature (knowledge, self-adaptation, control, creation, ownership); the sixth dimension emerged from our qualitative study (consciousness). Customers develop their knowledge of the service (and its attributes), become aware of its positive and negative consequences (consciousness), adapt their consumption or lifestyles (self-adaptation), monitor the service or some of its attributes (control), create additional service value through usage (creation), and develop feelings of psychological ownership that are strongly linked to their self-concept and identity.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive framework for service appropriation, specifying the different facets of the phenomenon.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A literature review summarizes views of the appropriation concept from various disciplines (human and social sciences, information systems, marketing), reinforced by an exploratory study in the health sector.\nFindings: Six underlying dimensions of service appropriation emerge: service knowledge; service consciousness; self-adaptation to service; service control; service creation; and psychological ownership of the service.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is mainly conceptual and requires empirical testing in other domains to confirm the applicability of the proposed framework.\nPractical implications: This study offers insights into how service providers and managers should design services and integrate customers in the service coproduction process.\nOriginality/value: The complementary view of appropriation in the context of services defines it as a cognitive, measurable state. The outcome of this approach is an original, integrative framework applied to services, not just spaces or immersive experiences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Uncertainty shocks and policymakers' behavior: evidence from the subprime crisis era	[ "Uncertainty", "Financial and credit shocks", "Lending activity", "Policy effectiveness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The origin of the 2007-2009 global economic and financial panic can be traced back to a set of incentives that were introduced in the public policy stance to encourage and support a rapid expansion of credit[1]. It is also popularly known that the crisis was mainly driven by waves of successive external shocks over the short space of three years. It started with a drop in house prices in 2007 (caused by a set of naive tightening monetary policies)[2]. It was then strengthened by (i) spikes in food and energy prices in mid-2008; (ii) an unprecedented synchronized drop in international stock market indexes; and (iii) an unusual contraction in the retail, commercial and interbank lending activity in the aftermath of the Lehman\n2. Related literature: This paper is related to various strands of the literature. Most broadly, it relates to the literature on the effects of unprecedented financial and real variables' dynamics on real economic activity and political stability. Bloom (2009) first examined the impact of uncertainty shocks on real economic outcomes. By focussing on stock market volatility shocks, he finds that uncertainty tend to increase when economic and political shocks (e.g. 1st Gulf War, Asian Crisis, 9/11 terrorist attacks, Lehman Chapter 11) take place; a stock market volatility shock produces a rapid and statistically significant drop in industrial production and employment. In the spirit of Bloom (2009), Donadelli (2015) identifies uncertainty shocks in the US credit, production and stock markets in the post-Lehman era (i.e. January 2007-December 2011). The author examines then their effects on Asian stock market prices. Post-Lehman results suggest that uncertainty shocks produce a short-run drop in most Asian stock market prices. Following Bloom (2009), the effects of uncertainty shocks have been studied also in a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium context. Fernandez-Villaverde et al. (2011) study the real effects of real interest rate volatility shocks. They find that an increase in real interest rate volatility has a negative effect on real economic activity (i.e. it produces a drop in output, consumption and investment). In a similar setup, Fernandez-Villaverde et al. (2012) examine the effects of fiscal volatility shocks (i.e. changes in uncertainty about future fiscal policy) on macroeconomic aggregates. They find that fiscal volatility shocks have sizable adverse effects on economic activity. Similarly, Leduc and Liu (2015) show that uncertainty shocks can be contractionary. They rely on an economy with frictions and flexible-prices.\n3. Empirical evidence: re-examining the US stock market: This section provides first an updated analysis of the dynamics of the US stock market volatility over the last decades. In particular, we compare volatility in the pre- and post-subprime crisis eras. Second, it the spirit of Bloom (2009), we identify stock market volatility shocks and then study their effects on the US real economic activity. Overall, the analysis is aimed at capturing uncertainty shocks and their effects on macro aggregates, two aspects that are crucial for policymakers' strategies (i.e. economic policy uncertainty).\n4. Empirical evidence: the US credit market: This section examines changes in credit market dynamics as well as their effects on the real economic activity. First, we report stylized facts on the US credit market conditions during the subprime crisis. We rely on the consumer credit, loans and mortgages and interbank lending markets. We turn then our attention to the impact of consumer credit uncertainty shocks and tightening credit conditions on the industrial production and unemployment rate.\n5. A framework to analyze central banks' behavior in presence of unusual money and credit market conditions: The evidence provided so far shows that the subprime crisis era is characterized by a large number of uncertainty shocks, especially in the credit market, and a high level of economic policy uncertainty. In this scenario, central banks have less information about the structure of the economy they are attempting to control. In particular, there may be an extraordinary high level of uncertainty about the parameter of the model. As largely known, uncertainty makes monetary authorities more conservative in the sense that they prefer to determine the appropriate policy response ignoring uncertainty, thus, \"doing less\" (Brainard, 1967). Blinder (1995) argues that the presence of uncertainty can have important implications for policy[11]. For this reason, policymaker should be more cautious. Brainard (1967) develops a model of policy implementation in which the policy maker is uncertain about the impact of the policy instrument on the economy. In a single one target-one policy instrument environment, he shows that optimal policy is a function of both the first and second central moments of the response coefficients. In other words, this type of uncertainty limits movements of the policy instrument away from the level at which policymakers are most certain about its effect. Brainard (1967) claims that, in response to uncertainty about the parameter on a variable, policymakers should attenuate their policy response to movements in that variable. If n instruments are considered (i.e. uncertainty about n parameters), then the implementation of policies requires additional prudence. In this section, we consider two main departures from Brainard's (1967) benchmark model: we abstract from a close economy; and, we account for credit/liquidity market restrictions.\n6. Summary and policy implications: An unprecedented drop in output, consumption, investment and asset prices characterized the subprime crisis in most industrialized economies. During the same period these economies experienced large and synchronized tightening of credit conditions as well as a steep increase in economic policy uncertainty. As results of the unusual credit tightening and the associated lack in liquidity central banks, and in particular the FED, massively injected liquidity into the economy through quantitative easing policies. However, an unusual \"money-liquidity relationship,\" caused by the presence of extraordinary credit market events, partially offset the benefits of the implemented expansionary policies. This paper, in a Brainard uncertainty word, addresses whether monetary authorities' aggressiveness was accurate at the time of the crisis. We focus on a simple two country-two instruments static model with parameter uncertainty and discuss how the nature of monetary policy should change when such uncertainty is accounted for. Our environment suggests that policies are affected by the variance of the response coefficients as well as by the correlation between response coefficients. While a high response coefficient variance induces authorities to be much more cautious, a negative correlation between response coefficients suggests aggressiveness. It turns out that a high level of parameter uncertainty and an unusual \"money-liquidity relationship\" exacerbate the cautiousness-aggressiveness trade-off. Overall, our simple analysis suggests that in presence of extraordinary money and credit market dynamics policymakers should re-design policies. For example, central banks misdiagnosed the interbank lending market and thereby responded incorrectly by focussing exclusively on liquidity rather than risk. In addition, they provided support for certain financial institutions and creditors, but not for others without a logical and motivated agenda. This worsened the crisis even if there was a large amount of liquidity injected into the market as well as increased the level of economic policy uncertainty. As a result, interest rates reached rapidly the zero lower bound limiting the channel through which authorities stimulate the economy during recession times. Is the time for unconventional monetary policies? Both our empirical and simple theoretical evidence suggest that in presence of extraordinary money-credit market conditions standard expansionary monetary policy might fail (i.e. aggressiveness does not deliver the expected results). Therefore, there is room for alternative/extreme solutions (i.e. unconventional monetary policies), which should take into account the adverse effects of the interbank lending channel and use novel policy instruments. Based on recent research and central bankers' speeches, it seems that we are going into this direction. However, we leave this challenge for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the 2007-2009 uncertainty shocks on policymakers' behavior.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Uncertainty shocks in the US credit, financial and production markets are represented by extraordinary events. As in Bloom (2009), these events are associated with significant economic and political shocks (e.g. Lehman Brothers' collapse). Credit markets uncertainty shocks, which played a crucial role in the aftermath of the house prices collapse in the USA, are first analyzed in a bivariate VAR context, and then, embodied in a simple theoretical framework.\nFindings: The empirical evidence suggests that the US credit, financial and production markets have been affected by a relative large number of uncertainty shocks (i.e. rare events). In a Brainard's (1967) uncertainty scenario, it is shown that a bizarre money-liquidity relationship exacerbates the \"policymakers' cautiousness-aggressiveness trade-off.\" In addition, the model suggests that a \"double\" dose of policy, in presence of a global credit crunch, might be useless.\nOriginality/value: This paper improves the existing literature in two main directions. First, it provides novel empirical evidence on the unusual dynamics of the US credit market and its effects on the real economic activity during the crisis. Second, in a very simple theoretical framework accounting for parameter uncertainty, it addresses whether a bizarre money-credit relationship affects policymakers' behavior (i.e. cautiousness vs aggressiveness).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Validation of a biases model in strategic security decision making	[ "State security", "Decision making", "Decision support systems", "Management strategy", "Security and decision biases", "Strategic security decisions", "Security initiative theoretical model validation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: By far, the vast majority of the security literature has concentrated on tactical and operational levels, for example, using criteria and standards associated with risk assessments and risk management (Monfelt et al., 2011). While some literature has touched on various strategic security aspects (Sommestad et al., 2011), they have tended to address situational factors and have not dealt with biases that may influences these factors. Other literature has touched on biases, for example, using Bayesian statistical decision theory (Shirtz and Elovici, 2011), but again, these have mainly focused on tactical and operational security elements. Our goal in this manuscript was to highlight the roles that biases play in strategic security initiatives. In other words, the purpose of our study was to investigate how biases (across organizational positions) may affect strategic security decision making.This is important because the well-known research-practice curve shows that those issues researched in academic and corporate applied research and development (R&D) institutes lead to what practitioners implement, therefore, research into security initiatives is important, particularly as the research applies to long-term horizons. For example, security research grant proposal seekers from agencies such as the US Department of Defence (DARPA) have been increasingly met with rejections stating that non-tactical research funding has been cut, and that any submissions for strategic initiatives must be extremely compelling (Dean, 2010). Concomitantly, budgets for strategic security initiatives have been cut in many commercial organizations from around 8 per cent (Bartels, 2006) down to about 2 or 3 per cent (Shim and McLendon, 2011). Therefore, the strategic security initiatives in which organizations invest must be carefully considered and justified; and this most likely means to work from a validated theoretical model from which to derive a well justified security solution - over time.Managers and other decision makers typically have at their disposals decision support systems that can generate probabilistic estimates and provide recommendations, yet sometimes people choose intuition over information and evidence provided by these technologies (Workman, 2005). The body of strategic decision research has put primacy on normative utility theories (von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1947) and rational decision-making models (Baron, 1988) such as using Bayesian probability networks, and on economic factors such as estimations of returns on investments and payback periods (Wijnberg et al., 2002), but the importance to our manuscript in making these distinctions is to highlight the key roles that non-rational assessments play in decisions about strategic security projects (Larrick et al., 1990, 1993). Consider for instance prospect theory (Thibaut and Kelley, 2005), which was illustrated in the depiction by one charged felon in a confession against another in a bargaining that places a competitive mindset on a premium of personal gain, stated as: \"I'd rather we both hang than you get off easier than me.\"The use of the term non-rational decision making is not derogatory nor does it imply irrational or mean necessarily incorrect; but rather the term refers to decisions that are not based on scientific or structured decision processes, and are sometimes referred to as naive theories (Bjorklund, 1995; Wegener and Petty, 1997). An example of this was illustrated with a survey by Business Objects (2004) in which 43 per cent of the respondent managers said they made decisions based on \"gut feeling\" at least 50 per cent of the time. Naive theories are theories all people have about the workings of activities and events without operationalizing and testing these theories and they rely on their perceptions and experiences for judgments (Kahneman et al., 1982).Given the importance of strategic initiatives in general to organization survival over time (Jarzabkowski, 2008; Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008), we were interested in the question: \"Does bias influence continuing or quitting a strategic security initiative?\" While rational and utility models have been extensively studied in decision making - non-rational (heuristic) empirical research has been sparse in the literature relative to real-world business decisions such as those related continuing or terminating strategic projects. The few studies that have been conducted into real-world business problems have often not been theory-based, or have drawn only on a single heuristic component, or they have combined models of rational and non-rational factors.With our research, we contribute to the literature by developing a model using behavioural decision theory focusing exclusively on bias factors, and applying that resulting model to help predict their effects on real-world decisions about strategic security projects in organizations. In the manuscript that follows, we first present our theoretical underpinning; from this, we develop our hypotheses. We then explain our research method, followed by the results from of our analyses. Our manuscript concludes with a discussion of our findings. Our purpose here is to create and validate a model that can be used in later research for consideration in strategic initiative proposals and project selection activities.\n2 Theory and model propositions: 2.1 Strategic projects and decisions - broad generalized contexts\n3 Method: 3.1 Participants\n4 Results: While there were some significant correlations among factors, they were under the threshold (of r=0.60) for a major concern about multicollinearity (Leech et al., 2011) although some multicollinearity is probable. However, given the high tolerances of the final scales used and an acceptable theoretical model fit (Byrne, 2001), we continued with AMOS to conduct structured equation modelling (SEM) to test the propositions for their theoretical predictive abilities. The model is shown in Figure 1.P1 stated that people who had lower risk adversity would be less likely to continue strategic security initiatives than those who had higher risk adversity. This proposition was supported (b=0.21, p<0.001). P2 stated that people who were overconfident would be more likely to continue strategic security initiatives than those who were not overconfident. This proposition was also supported (b=0.32, p<0.001). P3 stated that people who would rely on initial anchors for decisions about strategic initiatives would be more likely to continue security strategic initiatives than those who used the normative rule, and this was confirmed (b=0.17, p<0.001). Finally, we predicted that people who would rely on a normative utility for decisions about security strategic initiatives would be less likely to continue strategic security initiatives than those who relied on the expected utility in forecasting. This too was supported (b=-0.09, p<0.01) (Table III).\n5 Discussion, limitations, and conclusions: Research into more general business strategic projects has received some attention in the business and decision-making literature; however, not much beyond anecdotes has been published in the body of security literature. The security literature in general propagates the need for quantitative formula such as annualized loss expectancy (ALE) even though the compositions of these formulas are substantially subjective. While certainly helpful, these quantitative financial assessments overlook both the fact that they indeed incorporate guesswork (e.g. how much is a device going to be worth in three years), as well as other important qualitative components that should also be considered, such as damage to company reputation from a security breach.A key to determining risk is a blend of quantitative (often statistical) assessments and logical evaluations, and just plain good judgment - and managers are paid as much for their judgments as any other aspect of their job. Therefore, since countermeasures are designed to prevent a security breach and their assessed value according to the total impact, both quantitative assessments (such as ALE) and the qualitative judgments of managers (such as following normative rules) are necessary for successfully managing security. Yet subjective weights given to these formulas have suffered from ambiguity in the literature and have failed to acknowledge the role that biases play in these decisions - let alone that they have failed to articulate their effects. Research has been actively trying to adjust for these inaccuracies.A second issue has been that grant-funded projects have tended to be adopted in governmental practice more than those that are not funded. Moreover, well justified internal strategic proposals tend to be adopted over those that are not well justified. Over commitment to an initiative can be equally devastating to an organization. Cognitive biases and logical diffusion can therefore make or break a security technology adoption. The key point here is, though, even though logical and well justified projects do not necessarily lead to a good outcome, but those that are tend to be analyzed better and offer the probability of a more positive result. We used a longitudinal study, which helps to mitigate effects over time given the field nature of empirical research.Even though computational decision support and project planning systems exist for people to utilize in making determinations about the performance to objectives in a short-term project schedule. While in the short-term, people tend to rely more on these kinds of technologies, when initiatives are strategic in nature and are projected over a substantial timeframe, there are strong tendencies for people to switch to heuristics, gut feel, and naive theories for making commitment or termination decisions (Klaczynski and Narasimham, 1998). Many laboratory studies have been done to investigate the effects of using heuristics on various problems and decisions, and some field studies have examined how a given heuristic may affect various outcomes. We were interested in helping to fill a gap in the literature by looking specifically at how heuristics would impact the important security decision of whether to terminate or continue with strategic security initiatives.5.1 Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Funding agencies such as the Office of Naval Research, Department of Homeland Security, and others, have reduced funding for non-tactical operations. Simultaneously, organizations are squeezing their overhead budgets (where security initiatives fall) and are focusing more on revenue generation given current economic climates. Thus, in both governmental sectors and in commercial settings, there are reasons to believe that strategic security initiatives are being sacrificed, and those that survive must be compelling. To assist organizational leaders with these difficult choices, it is critical to understand biases that affect decisions about strategic security initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to validate and empirically test the predictability of a theoretical model, from which implications can be made for research and practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using behavioral decision theory, a randomized longitudinal study was conducted over three years with a multinational corporation with headquarter-offices in the UK and the USA, and regional offices in India, Germany and France. From these data, a model was developed and tested for fit with a confirmatory factor analysis and its predictive ability was tested using structured equation modeling.\nFindings: - It was found that risk aversion, overconfidence, adjustment of cognitive anchors, and expected utility biases affected whether managers and other stakeholders continued or terminated strategic security initiatives.\nOriginality/value: - Prematurely terminating or over commitment to a strategic initiative can be costly if not significantly damaging to an organization or government military or intelligence agency. Understanding how biases factor into these decisions can help strategic initiative decision makers improve their decisions and assist them in recognizing normative rules or optimal (straddle point) solutions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revisiting the cataloging of free Internet resources at the University of Denver	[ "User studies", "Library users", "Electronic document delivery", "Academic libraries", "Cataloguing", "Collections management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPreamble: In 2008, Brown and Meagher published \"Cataloging free e-resources: is it worth the investment?\" in this journal (Brown and Meagher, 2008). The authors sought to determine if was worth the time and effort to catalog freely available Internet resources. This project was an added dimension to a project already begun, in which they tracked user clickthroughs to US federal publications, a project documented in a separate paper (Brown, 2011). They tracked the usage of these non-federal free resources by adding clickthrough links to the 856 fields in catalog records.\nBackground to the study: Tracking of outbound links from the online public access catalog was begun by DU in 2003 because an increasing number of URLs were appearing in catalog records for government publications, and nothing analogous to vendor-supplied clickthrough data was available for these resources. When the project was extended to other free Internet resources in 2004, the same lack of statistics motivated these data gathering efforts. The arrival of Google Analytics in 2005 could not lend assistance to this project, as the links were to content outside the library's purview, and thus not able to be tracked.\nUpdate to the original study: Since the 2008 article, the DU library catalog has changed from a library-hosted system to one hosted by the DU's University Technology Services. In 2010, the original clickthrough tracking mechanism had to be migrated from a ColdFusion platform and the code completely rewritten in PHP language. In 2011, the Library upgraded from Innovative Interface's Millennium platform to the Sierra platform. Yet throughout this entire period we have continued to track user clicks of outbound links in catalog records to freely available Internet content. The technology on the PHP platform remains the same conceptually as it was when originally designed.\nOverview of projects: Many of the projects (listed in Table II) were in place at the beginning of the clickthrough project and still are in place to this day. These include American Museum of Natural History, American Mathematical Society, Brookings Institution, Council on Library and Information Resources, Colorado State Publications, Documenting the American South, Human Rights Watch, Institute of Development Studies (UK), Making of America, National Academies Press, University of California Press, United Nations, Wright American Fiction and the World Bank. As time went by, several other sets of freely available Internet sites were added to the project, the most significant of these being ERIC.\nChanges to record management and effects on record tracking: Since 2008, the availability of vendor-provided record sets for freely available resources has proliferated. Some of these MARC record sets are themselves freely available on the Web (Wright American Fiction, 2007), some require a login or have to be requested from the database host [e.g. Making of America (MOA MARC Records, 2006)], and others still are sets that can be purchased from the database host of an outside vendor [e.g. ERIC (Marcive Inc., 2015)].\nConclusion: For more than 10 years, DU has been adding URLs to its local catalog for freely available Internet content. The tracking protocols used for these 10 years have shown that users do use this online content. Based on these statistics, the DU Library has concluded that the time it takes to catalog these freely available resources or to add links to existing records for tangible materials is indeed worth the effort.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to present updated statistics demonstrating the value of cataloging free Internet resources and the challenges of batch loading, vendor records, electronic resource modules and discovery tools, as an update to the 2008 paper in this journal\nDesign/methodology/approach: Updates the statistics from the URL redirection system for tracking user access to freely available Web publications.\nFindings: With more projects and bibliographic records included within the scope of the project, users still find and use the links to outbound content. New technologies and management methods support the cataloging of free Web content, even if, at times, cataloging standards are compromised.\nOriginality/value: Several studies have focused on US federal document clickthroughs from the library catalog, but this is the only study to exclusively track clickthroughs to freely available Web content.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using language strategically: Corporate communication on the international stage	[ "Corporate communication", "Multinationals", "International business", "Language management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nInternational business and communication: It is stating the obvious to point out the importance of language for effective communication. In the context of business, its role has become even more vital over recent decades. Thanks to globalization, a greater number of multinational corporations (MNCs) now exist. The internationalization of business has expanded accordingly.\nThe pitfalls of a lingua franca: The response of many leaders is to use a lingua franca. On the face of things, a strategy of this nature appears a sensible option. Establish some common ground between speakers of different languages, and the increased mutual understanding leads to greater collaboration all round. If only it was that simple.\nA framework for language management: Organizations can do much worse than to view language as a key strategic resource. A four-stage plan perhaps offers an ideal way of managing it effectively. The first step entails an assessment of the company's existing language capabilities. Suitable methodologies are:\nComment: The review is based on: \"Language: the sharpest tool in the business strategy toolbox\" by Sanden (2016). The author claims that firms can gain a competitive edge by using language strategically. She suggests language management as an effective way to help both multinational and domestic firms address communication challenges that have increased because of globalization and greater worker mobility. Her insightful article offers key implications for practitioners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.\nFindings: It is stating the obvious to point out the importance of language for effective communication. In the context of business, its role has become even more vital over recent decades. Thanks to globalization, a greater number of multinational corporations (MNCs) now exist. The internationalization of business has expanded accordingly. Such developments mean that organizations should ideally afford language management a more prominent place on the agenda. Smarter operators will view language in strategic terms and recognize its capacity to significantly impact on performance. The geographically dispersed composition of MNCs means that multilingual occurrences are routine. Growth in the diversity and mobility of workers further compounds the situation.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effect of consumer relationship proneness on perceived loyalty program attributes and resistance to change	[ "Consumer relationship proneness", "Customer relations", "Customer loyalty", "Loyalty programs", "Loyalty program attributes", "Resistance to change", "Apparel retailing", "US consumers", "Retailing", "Buyer‐seller relationships" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Consumers who are inclined to engage in relationships with retailers (i.e. relationship-prone consumers) develop higher levels of trust and commitment (Hedrick et al., 2007), allocate higher customer share, and show greater adherence to marketing requests and policies as compared to those who are not (see Parish and Holloway, 2010). From a profitability perspective, it is not surprising that retailers want to attract and retain relationship prone consumers. To identify this category of consumers researchers have examined consumer relationship proneness (CRP) as one trait affecting the relationship marketing outcomes that retailers strive to achieve (e.g. De Wulf et al., 2001; Odekerken-Schroder et al., 2003; Parish and Holloway, 2010).As some individuals have questioned whether customer loyalty actually results from participation in loyalty programs (Wright and Sparks, 1999) and others have found both weak ties between loyalty programs and customer loyalty (Cedrola and Memmo, 2010) and other predictors of loyalty (e.g. merchandise quality, interaction with associates) (Yavas and Babakus, 2009), the importance of CRP for the investigation of customer loyalty is clear; given that if customers are not prone to retain relationships with retailers it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain their loyalty. While CRP is believed to affect the success of customer retention strategies (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995), there is only a very small body of academic literature dealing with the potential impact of CRP on loyalty program outcomes (see Parish and Holloway, 2010). With these issues in mind, we examined CRP as an important individual difference variable that explains variation among loyalty program members. Specifically, we investigated the interrelationships among CRP, perceived loyalty program attributes (i.e. advantage, complexity, risk), and resistance to change. Our objective was to examine how CRP affects the perceived loyalty program attributes and resistance to change and how the perceived loyalty program attributes affect resistance to change.The contributions of our research are twofold. First, we critically examined CRP with loyalty program members, fulfilling an identified gap in the literature and testing CRP as a critical factor influencing the effectiveness of loyalty programs. Second, on a managerial level we generate beneficial insights for retailers interested in fine-tuning their loyalty programs.\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Our conceptual model (depicted in Figure 1) is consistent with the work of Demoulin and Zidda (2009) who recognized that:* the successful implementation of loyalty programs partially depends on individual customer characteristics; and* perceived loyalty program attributes contribute to relationship formation and decision-making.Demoulin and Zidda (2009), developing their conceptual framework on the basis of the diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 2003), postulated that the likelihood of adoption of a new loyalty program could be explained by customers' perceptions of the program attributes (i.e. advantages, complexity, and risk). We applied these principles in the context of apparel retail loyalty programs. In the sections that follow, we discuss each of the constructs and describe their expected effects.Perceived loyalty program attributes and consumer relationship proneness (CRP)\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: A structural analysis was conducted using the maximum likelihood estimation method. The results from the structural model are presented in Table III. Error variances among three perceived loyalty program attributes were allowed to be correlated because there might be some other common factors that may affect perceived program attributes (e.g. economic shopping orientation) (see Demoulin and Zidda, 2009). The structural model exhibited a good fit with the data (kh2=125.89 with 54 df, kh2/df=2.33, CFI=0.96, NNFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.067, and SRMR=0.052).Table III illustrates the findings of the study. Regarding H1-H3, the effect of CRP on loyalty program attributes was significant (p < 0.001): perceived complexity (b=-0.31, t=-4.17), perceived advantage (b=0.30, t=4.64) and perceived risk (b=-0.29, t=-4.47). CRP had a negative effect on both perceived complexity and risk. CRP had a positive effect on the perceived advantage of a loyalty program. For H4, the effect of CRP on resistance to change (b=0.32, t=5.28) was significant (p < 0.01). CRP positively impacted loyalty program members' resistance to change. Thus, H1-H4 was supported.For H5-H7, only perceived advantage was found to be a significant predictor of resistance to change (b=0.60, t=3.50, p < 0.001). The perceived complexity and risk of a loyalty program did not negatively affect loyalty program members' resistance to change. Thus, H6 was supported, while H5 and H7 were not.\nDiscussion and managerial implications: The purpose of our study was to examine the interrelationships among consumer relationship proneness, three perceived loyalty program attributes (i.e. perceived complexity, advantage, and risk), and resistance to change with consumers who were participants in apparel retailer's loyalty programs. Our results not only verify theoretical conceptions regarding consumer relationship proneness and its effect on perceived loyalty program attributes and resistance to change but also provide insights into the implementation and development of apparel retail loyalty programs as well as customer relationship management.Relationship proneness exerted a significant influence on resistance to change directly and indirectly through perceived advantage of loyalty programs. In other words, consumers who prefer to be regular and steady consumers of an apparel store were likely to associate advantages to the loyalty program and were resistant to changing their preference for the loyalty program. In addition, consistent with findings of prior researchers (i.e. Bloemer et al., 2003; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002; Smith et al., 2003), we found that relationship-prone consumers were likely to associate low levels of perceived complexity and risk and high levels of perceived advantage with apparel loyalty programs. Although observing the fact that maintaining relationships with customers is not always considered as a desirable strategy from a retailer's viewpoint (Berry, 1995; Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995) because not all types of shoppers are prone to engage in relationships with retailers, we demonstrated that a loyalty member's proneness to a relationship impacts resistance to change. Measurement of customers' relationship proneness may allow retailers to improve strategies to target the \"right\" customers for their loyalty programs, as well as to segment their customers (Parish and Holloway, 2010). Thus, our findings suggest that, if retailers get relationship-prone consumers into their loyalty programs, they will maximize the effectiveness of these programs.Our findings suggest that apparel retailers interested in loyalty programs as a customer retention strategy may want to emphasize the various advantages or benefits of their program. In relationship marketing tactics, advantages or benefits provided to shoppers for relational exchanges may consist of price offs, special services, personalization, customized products (Noble and Phillips, 2004), frequent shopper programs, and community among customers. For example, as a special customer service advantage, some retailers offer free clothing storage, complementary private dinner parties, and fashion shows. As a personalization advantage, customers can receive the opportunity to personalize websites and email communication (Parish and Holloway, 2010) with their prior purchasing history and wish lists. Additionally, as a community advantage, customers can exchange product-related information or reviews and develop personal relationship with retailers via an online community channel. These benefits when highlighted as part of a loyalty program and offered to relationship-prone members may lead to high levels of resistance to change.Contrary to our hypothesis, the perceived risk and complexity members associated with their apparel loyalty program did not mediate the link between relationship proneness and resistance to change. Members' resistance to change was not influenced by the perceived risk and complexity of an apparel loyalty program. Perceived risk and complexity may not have mediated the link because our apparel loyalty program members may have placed less emphasis on the complexity and the risk they linked to their apparel loyalty program than on the perceived advantages. However, in terms of perceived risk, our finding is consistent with that of previous researchers who studied perceived risk and new loyalty card adoption (Demoulin and Zidda, 2009; Van Doorn et al., 2007) as well as those researchers who found that perceived risk did not influence the probability of adoption (Demoulin and Zidda, 2009). Van Doorn et al. (2007) also found that the association between privacy concerns and enrollment in loyalty programs was rather weak. We believe that further research is required to extend our understanding of antecedents and outcomes of the risk and complexity customers' associate with loyalty programs.\nLimitations and suggestions for future research: Like all research our study has certain limitations. Our results were obtained at one point in time so a longitudinal study might provide an enhanced understanding of the interrelationships among the variables and how they might change over time. In particular, keeping track of shifts in customer relational behavior regarding loyalty programs, examining consumers' perceptions after one year and again after two years of participation in a loyalty program would offer empirical evidence related to loyalty program participants' relational behavior and attitudinal loyalty.Future research is needed to apply our proposed model to other retailing contexts and to extend the model. Our conceptual model does not include antecedents of relationship proneness. For instance, fashion/product involvement, peer/media influence, price/product or service quality consciousness, and brand image consciousness shopping orientation could be added as antecedents of relationship proneness. In addition, examining the social situational or personal moderator effects of relationship proneness on loyalty program attributes as well as resistance to change could be addressed in future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelationships among consumer relationship proneness (CRP), three perceived loyalty program attributes (i.e. perceived complexity, advantage, and risk), and resistance to change with participants in apparel retailer's loyalty programs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected using an online survey with the assistance of a marketing research company. Participants were 294 members of apparel retailers' loyalty programs. Participants indicated one apparel retailer's loyalty program in which they took part. After that, they completed a questionnaire making reference to the program they had identified. To reduce measurement artifacts, dependent variables were assessed prior to their predictors.\nFindings: - CRP was found to have a significant effect on perceived advantage and resistance to change. In turn, perceived advantage revealed a significant positive effect on resistance to change. The results not only verify theoretical conceptions regarding CRP and its effect on perceived loyalty program attributes and resistance to change, but also provide insights into the implementation and development of apparel retail loyalty programs as well as customer relationship management.\nOriginality/value: - The contributions of the research are twofold. First, it critically examines CRP with loyalty program members fulfilling an identified gap in the literature and testing CRP as a critical factor to the effectiveness of loyalty programs. Second, on a managerial level, it generates beneficial insight for apparel retailers to fine-tune their loyalty programs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Tea, coffee and associated lifestyle factors	[ "Tea", "Coffee", "Demographics", "Health", "Lifestyles", "Personal health", "United Kingdom", "Consumer behaviour", "Drinks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Tea and coffee consumption are almost ubiquitous and caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug in the world (Barone and Roberts, 1996; Gilbert, 1984). Both tea and coffee contain caffeine, which may benefit vigilance performance and subjective mood (Smith, 2002), on the other hand it can potentiate the stress response (Van Dusseldorp et al., 1992). Longer term, tea and coffee may protect against Alzheimer's (Maia and Mendonca, 2002) and Parkinson's diseases (Ross et al., 2007), although its withdrawal may be associated with negative effects like headache and flu-like symptoms (Juliano and Griffiths, 2004) and has been linked to faster bone mineral loss in healthy postmenopausal women, for example (Harris and Dawson-Hughes, 1994). Different consumption patterns might therefore predispose to certain consequences, however relatively little research has been carried out that considers differences between caffeinated and decaffeinated tea/coffee consumers or non-consumers of these drinks. Some evidence suggests regular and non-regular consumers of caffeine do not differ in terms of stable personality traits, at least in a younger population (Brice and Smith, 2002; Hewlett and Smith, 2006) although sensation seeking was reported higher for higher consumers of caffeine, alcohol and nicotine (Evans et al., 2006). Differences in some lifestyle factors are evident depending on consumption levels (e.g. smoking and alcohol intake (Fenster et al., 1999; Istvan and Matarazzo, 1984)). How these trends relate to drink type (tea or coffee) is usually not discussed, yet the caffeine content of coffee drinks is higher than that for tea.Young avoiders of caffeine-containing beverages are more likely to believe that caffeine had various negative effects on health (Page, 1987). Similarly, people with health problems have been reported to avoid caffeine (Shlonsky et al., 2003). Lower intake of caffeine (and other psychoactive substances - alcohol and nicotine) could represent a health choice, despite the potential benefits of caffeinated drink consumption.Little research has investigated differences based on tea and coffee consuming habits. Differences between drink-consumers associated with demographic or lifestyle factors could have implications for research into caffeine effects on health or disease states. This paper re-analyses data collected from a population-based survey (Smith et al., 2000; Wadsworth et al., 2004a, b) of almost 8,000 respondents to address this issues. The survey collected information about both caffeinated and de-caffeinated tea and coffee consumption, as well as demographic, health and lifestyle factors. The aim was to examine the relationship between tea and coffee consumption habits and the demographic, health and lifestyle factors measured.\nMethod: The data provided an opportunity to examine issues associated with drink consumption habits.Participants\nResults: (Caffeinated drinks refers to caffeinated tea and coffee) Figure 1 shows the percentage of the sample that reported no caffeinated tea or coffee per day (by age and sex). More women than men were non-consumers of tea or coffee (kh2(1)=20.6, p<0.001) with the highest percentage amongst those under 30 years (kh2(6)=291.8, p<0.001).Figure 2 shows the percentage of the sample that regularly drank de-caffeinated tea or coffee (by age group). Consumption of de-caffeinated drinks varied by age for both the regular caffeinated drink consumers (kh2(6)=17.3, p<0.01) and non-consumers of caffeinated drinks (although to a much bigger extent, kh2(6)=111.3, p<0.001) where consumption of de-caffeinated drinks was highest in the 50-59 years age group. Consumption of de-caffeinated tea/coffee was low in the under 30s age group for the regular and non-regular caffeine consumers.Figure 3 shows mean (se) daily caffeine consumption (mg/day) from tea and coffee among caffeinated drink consumers (by age and sex). There was an effect of sex where men consumed more caffeine than women (F(6,768)=65.1, p<0.001) from these sources. There was also an effect of age (F(1,768)=18.5, p<0.001) where those under 30 consumed the least caffeine (p<0.001) from these sources (although caffeine from cola was not assessed). Caffeine consumption from tea/coffee for those in the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups did not differ from each other but the trend was that they were marginally higher than the other age groups (p<0.05).Factors associated with drinking caffeinated, de-caffeinated and no tea/coffee\nDiscussion: Consumption of de-caffeinated tea and coffee was associated with age where the highest proportion of consumers and level of consumption appears to be around the 50s age group. In some ways this may be beneficial, e.g. for bone loss but may remove a possible benefit in terms of cognitive decline (see Arendash et al., 2009 for example), though this other factors may play a role (for example epigalocatechi-3-galate from tea has a neuroprotective role (Weinreb et al., 2004) but is not found in coffee). For those that did consume caffeinated drinks, the level of caffeine consumption was higher in men, consistent with previous data (Hewlett and Smith, 2006; Barone and Roberts, 1996). Also consistent with reported findings, stable personality traits were unrelated to group membership (Brice and Smith, 2002; Hewlett and Smith, 2006). However, this paper examined further the demographic, health and lifestyle traits associated with tea and coffee consumption patterns. Research may often compare regular and non-consumers of caffeine (Brice and Smith, 2002; Hewlett and Smith, 2006; Page, 1987; James, 1994) but the possibility of different traits or behaviours associated with drink types is usually not considered. The present findings suggest that neither caffeinated drink consumers, nor non-consumers, are homogenous groups, but that there were factors in the demographic, health related and lifestyle variables that differed according to consumption patterns.Caffeinated drink consumption or non-consumption\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to determine lifestyle factors associated with different drink choices as past research has suggested some differences.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Caffeinated tea and coffee consuming habits in a South Wales sample were investigated by postal questionnaire. Multiple regression was used to determine odds ratios for demographic, health and lifestyle factors associated with drink patterns. There were 7,979 questionnaire respondents, 58 per cent of whom were female. Their mean age was 45.61 years (SD =18.00, range =16-97).\nFindings: - Caffeinated tea/coffee consumption was associated with both alcohol and smoking behaviours. The results also suggested that non-consumers of caffeinated tea or coffee were not a homogeneous group, as different demographic and lifestyle profiles were identified for: those that did not drink tea or coffee at all; and those that drank only decaffeinated tea or coffee.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future caffeine research may need to consider whether a broad distinction based on caffeine consumption or non-consumption alone is always appropriate.\nOriginality/value: - The findings suggest some differences within the caffeinated drink consuming population, including demographic profiles relating to whether consumers drank tea or coffee. They add to the data already available in comparing not only caffeine versus no caffeine, but also characteristics associated with different caffeinated drinks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial early-warning models on cross-holding groups	[ "Corporate governance", "Corporate ownership", "Financial control", "Financial forecasting" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction and importance: The ownership structure of business groups is problem-prone because of the existence of pyramid structures and cross-holdings. Cross-holdings structure, make it difficult to exert monitoring and control in the world. The present study primarily uses statistical methods to establish financial early-warning models that make it possible to predict, in advance, the probability of a company experiencing financial distress (Lin and Chen, 2008, Chakraborty and Sharma, 2007, Smith, 2008).A company limited by shares is characterized by a separation between the managerial control of a professional chief executive officer (CEO) and the ownership rights of shareholders, This is intended to improve business performance. However, this change in the form of ownership has given rise to agency problems (Chuang et al., 2007), such as how:* In a family enterprise, management and ownership are both in the same hands (a single person acts as both chairman of the board and CEO), reducing agency costs (Michael and Ross, 2007).* There is an increasing concentration of large, institutional shareholder.* Cross-holdings, indicate an increasing ownership stake held by major shareholders.In the USA when, most companies in the early period were limited by shares, and markets were not controlled by large corporations, but today this situation is changing.As Lin et al. (2008) indicates, financial statements are dressed up to the point that they do not accurately reflect a company's profitability, and companies frequently hide material information or delay its disclosure. Because periodically-disclosed financial statements do not provide warnings of problems, information asymmetry prevents investors from being fully informed and protected (Zhou, 2007). It is thus very important to find a way for stock market regulators to discover problems early on (Jagric et al., 2007). Financial problems at a listed company can create economic disturbances (Tsang, 2007), spread to other companies, and affect a range of interested parties, including employees, financial institutions, investors, creditors, and other firms that do business with the company. Such problems also have a deep impact on the nation, society, and the economy. In addition to requiring that listed companies disclose audited financial statements regularly and other material information as it arises, the competent authorities require the disclosure of five types of financial ratios (financial structure, solvency, operating performance, profitability, and cash flows) to serve as performance indicators, but these still do not provide effective early warning of problems (Larry, 2007).The present study builds on work done by Ohlson (1980). The study for the first time samples used equal numbers of distressed and non-distressed business groups and carried out a 1:1 matched-pair analysis on 116 firms (58 pairs). We carry out transformation analysis using information filed by listed and other public companies regarding the ownership stakes of directors and executive officers, pledge ratios for their shares, and CPA audit opinions. By obtaining a better financial distress prediction model using publicly available financial information, we hope to improve the usefulness of corporate financial distress predictions.On the basis this study attempt the following steps:1. This study employs logit regression to build a business group financial distress early-warning model that will provide greater predictive accuracy than other models, in hopes of coming up with a model and variables that accurately predict business group financial distress before the fact.2. We determine predictive accuracy, explanatory power, and goodness-of-fit of the model at one, two, and three years prior to the occurrence of distress.3. We use ownership structure and corporate governance variables as research variables to more accurately predict the occurrence of corporate financial distress.4. We analyze and determine indicators and important variables that can predict the occurrence of business group financial distress.This approach enables investors, shareholders, company management, and financial institutions to make correct judgments, avoiding irreparable losses to stakeholders. In an effort to construct a better financial early-warning model, the present study, in addition to making use of financial ratio variables, also examines non-financial ratio aspects, such as ownership structure, corporate governance, and publicly-available financial information. This method highlights the importance of corporate governance and yields more useful predictions concerning the possibility of corporate financial distress.In its empirical analysis, the present study (1) employs normality tests (K-S tests, M-U tests) on distressed and non-distressed companies, and logit regression to build a business group financial distress early-warning model that will provide greater predictive accuracy than other models, in hopes of coming up with a model and variables that accurately predict business group financial distress before the fact. In addition, the study (2) determines predictive accuracy, explanatory power, and goodness-of-fit of the model at one, two, and three years prior to the occurrence of distress; (3) uses ownership structure and corporate governance variables as research variables to more accurately predict the occurrence of corporate financial distress, and (4) determines and analyzes indicators and important variables that can predict the occurrence of business group financial distress.This is the first study that attempts to use financial ratios and non-financial ratios as variables to analyze business groups, focusing on exchange-listed, OTC-listed, and emerging stock companies from Taiwan that experienced financial distress during a sampling period covering the years 2002-2007. More specifically, we carry out matched-pair analysis on 116 companies, selecting 58 pairs, each consisting of one distressed company and one non-distressed company that are similar in size and operating in the same industry.We used logit regression to establish an early-warning model, and made multiple discoveries. There are generally significant differences between the financial and non-financial ratios of distressed and non-distressed companies. One year prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include both a financial structure indicator (debt ratio [X1]) and solvency indicators (times interest earned [X6], as well as an interest expense ratio [X7]). Two years prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include a financial structure indicator (debt ratio [X1]) and profitability indicators (operating expense ratio [X16], net income ratio [X19], and retention ratio [X25]). Three years prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include a cash flow indicator (cash flow ratio [X26]) and ownership structure indicators (establishment of independent directors and supervisors [X32] and pledge ratio for shares held by directors and supervisors [X36]).Generally speaking, the logit regression model has significant predictive power and is thus effective in predicting distress. Predictive accuracy for distressed enterprises is above 90 percent over all time frames, with accuracy readings of 92.93 percent one year prior to the occurrence of distress, 94.95 percent at two years prior, and 90.91 percent at three years prior.\n2 Literature review and theoretical background: This paper primarily categorizes on the basis of the purpose of ownership stakes. It considers the ratio of director and supervisor ownership stakes after the pledging of their shares, and predicts the correlation between business group ownership structure and financial distress early-warning models. The term \"business group\" refers to a group that assembles independent firms under common management and financial control. The formation of business groups is a global trend (Granovetter, 1995; Ghemawat and Khanna, 1998; Kester, 1992). There are company-centered business groups with banks and other major corporations at the periphery, such as the Daimler-Benz Group of Germany and the Daiichi-Kangyo Bank Group of Japan, and there are family-centered business groups, such as the Wallenberg Group of Sweden, the Krupp Group of Germany, the Tata Group of India, the Angelini Group of Chile, and the SK Group of South Korea. Large corporations in developed, wealthy nations are generally able to control shareholders by organizing a hierarchical chain of managerial control and ownership rights, thereby allowing certain shareholders to exercise control in excess of their actual ownership stakes (La Porta et al., 1999).A 1999 study by La Porta discovered that the Berle and Means (1932) concept of separation between managerial control and ownership rights has begun to undergo a change. Where large firms in different countries have different ownership models, for example, relatively few efforts have been made to model validation. There have been few empirical studies like those of Berle and Means (1932) on the characteristics of company ownership.In traditional agency theory, there are two main theories that focus on the correlation between ownership structure and corporate performance. One is the convergence-of-interest hypothesis, and the other is the entrenchment hypothesis. The present study reviews the literature on these two hypotheses at home and abroad.The earliest study of corporate financial distress was done by Beaver (1996), who defined a financially-distressed company as one where any of the following four problems has occurred: non-payment of dividends on preferred shares, default on payment of debts, overdrawing on a bank account, or declaration of bankruptcy. Deakin (1972) described a financially-distressed company as one that has gone out of business, declared bankruptcy, written a dishonored check, or become insolvent. Dun and Bradstreet (1988), Ohlson (1980), Zmijewski (1984), Whitaker (1999), and Pastena and Ruland (1986) had defined a series of financially-distressed company like the above.The Taiwan Economic Journal defines financial distress in its Taiwan Corporate Credit Risk Index (TCRI) database for nine items. The present study adopts the TCRI definition of financial distress.However, company financial statements are time sensitive, and the veracity of financial statements provided by some companies is quite suspect; therefore, it is necessary to use other information to establish financial distress models.\n3 Research methodology: This is the first study that attempts to use financial and non-financial ratios as variables to analyze business groups, focusing on exchange-listed, OTC-listed, and emerging stock companies from Taiwan that experienced financial distress during a sampling period covering the years 2002-2007. More specifically, we carry out matched-pair analysis on 116 companies, selecting 58 pairs, each consisting of one distressed company and one non-distressed company that were similar in size and operating in the same industry.In this session, we will describle the methodology of the paper, such as sources of data, measurement of variables, and empirical model hypotheses.The present study primarily uses financial and non-financial information on listed business groups and other public companies, as obtained from the Taiwan Economic Journal, the Market Observation Post System web site, and the Taiwan Stock Exchange. This information was classified into two main groups, based on whether the companies are distressed or non-distressed, and matched-pair analysis was then performed. Based on five main aspects of financial statements, plus non-financial information relating to ownership structure and corporate governance, we select 37 ratios (28 key financial ratios and nine non-financial ratios) and use them to perform independent variable analysis.3.1 Sources of data\n4 Basic quantitative analysis and its empirical results: 4.1 Normality test for sample data\n5 Managerial implications to financial management for enterprises: There are generally significant differences between the financial and non-financial ratios of distressed and non-distressed companies. One year prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include both a financial structure indicator (debt ratio) and solvency indicators (times interest earned and interest expense ratio). Two years prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include a financial structure indicator (debt ratio) and profitability indicators (operating expense ratio, net income ratio, and retention ratio). Three years prior to the occurrence of financial distress, the predictor variables include a cash flow indicator (cash flow ratio) and ownership structure indicators (establishment of independent directors and supervisors and pledge ratio for shares held by directors and supervisors).Empirical analysis reveals the following.5.1 Financial ratio variables remain the primary variables for predicting corporate financial distress\n6 Discussions and conclusions: We used logit regression to establish an early-warning model, and made multiple discoveries. The present study examines predictor variables at one, two, and three years prior to the occurrence of financial distress at Taiwanese business groups. At one and two years prior to distress, we found significant differences, primarily among financial variables, while, at three years prior to distress, there were significant differences in one financial variable and two ownership structure variables. A low share pledge ratio (denoted by a negative b coefficient) among directors and supervisors (X36) at three years prior to the occurrence of financial distress at business groups indicates that the higher the ownership stake of inside directors and supervisors after pledging of shares, the more likely the company is to experience financial distress; a company in such circumstances should establish independent directors and supervisors (X32) (denoted by a positive b coefficient) to lower the likelihood of financial distress.Accordingly, when the ownership stake of inside directors is too high, a company should add outsiders, i.e. establish independent directors and supervisors, to strengthen oversight and prevent problems from arising due to the existence of pyramid structures and cross-holdings. Cross-holdings, in particular, make it difficult to exercise monitoring and control. This highlights the importance of implementing corporate governance.Examining the 37 variable ratios from one to three years prior to distress, we found that t-testing on the financial and non-financial ratios of distressed and non-distressed companies yields eight variables, including when a \"single person acts as both chairman of the board and CEO\" (X31), that are non-significant for each of the three years prior to distress, which denotes acceptance of the null hypothesis H0 and rejection of the alternative hypothesis H1, and means that the parametric of financial variables for distressed and non-distressed companies is identical. Accordingly, having ownership and managerial control in the hands of a single person, i.e. allowing the same person to serve as both chairman and CEO, does not greatly increase the likelihood of a company experiencing financial distress.Furthermore, not having ownership and managerial control in different hands, i.e. allowing the same person to serve as both chairman and CEO, can lessen the agency problem and avoid issues such as information asymmetry and conflicts of interest, thereby lowering the likelihood of a company experiencing financial distress. This is in line with the convergence-of-interest hypothesis, which proposes that as management ownership increases, its interests converge with those of the shareholders, which mitigates the agency problem and increases company value.6.1 Distribution of financial ratio variables is abnormal\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper primarily uses statistical methods to establish financial early-warning models that make it possible to predict, in advance, the probability of a company experiencing financial distress.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - In its empirical analysis, this is the first study that attempts to use financial ratios and non-financial ratios as variables to analyze business groups, and the present study uses the (K-S tests), and (M-U tests) and logit regressions model.\nFindings: - Financial ratio variables remain the primary variables for predicting corporate financial distress. Upon examining the predictor variables for corporate financial distress at one, two, and three years prior to distress, it was found that financial ratio variables were the main ones at one and two years prior to distress, while at three years prior to distress there was one financial ratio variable and two ownership structure variables that showed significant differences. Financial structure, solvency, profitability, and cash flow indicators are the principal financial ratio variables. Ratios of director and supervisor ownership stakes after pledging of shares differed significantly between financially distressed and non-distressed companies. Establishing independent directors and supervisors can lower the likelihood of financial distress.\nResearch limitations/implications: - As the time remaining before occurrence of financial distress grows shorter, test results show that the number of financial ratios with significant differences goes up. But the longer the time that remains before occurrence of financial distress, the more the financial ratios show non-significant differences. That is why a number of scholars hold that the longer the period under study, the less explanatory power it has.\nOriginality/value: - The mean contribution of this paper is that establishing independent directors and supervisors can lower the likelihood of financial distress. The paper is useful to researchers or practitioners who are focused on financial risk management and corporate governance implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Published errors and errata in library and information science journals	[ "Library and information science", "Corrections", "Errata", "Erratum", "Peer-review process", "Published errors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Peer-review is a mechanism for the quality control and the elimination of errors in scholarly journals. Traditional method of peer-review and editorial process has been criticized for various reasons, including biases, subjectivity and publication delay, but any alternative approach to the quality control has yet been found (Haustein, 2012). Although many mistakes are detected during the review process there is still a possibility that the errors remain undiscovered, which negatively affects scholarly literature. One standard approach for correcting unintentional published mistakes and erroneous literature is the issue of errata to avoid the dissemination of errors and to maintain the integrity of the scientific literature. Erratum (also known as correction or corrigendum) is published when a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading because of an honest error that originates in either research or publication process (Da Silva and Dobranszki, 2017). When researchers detect mistakes or flaws in their previously-published articles that affect the content or understanding of the work, they would issue a notice of correction to briefly describe the error and to document the changes or emendations to an earlier article. Some instances of errors are including typographical or grammatical errors, mislabeling of figures, incorrect references and misspelling of authors' name or affiliation.\nMethods: The current research is conducted using a bibliometric approach. The data used in this research were obtained from two products of the Clarivate Analytics, namely, Web of Science (WoS) and Journal Citation Reports (JCR). A search was conducted in \"Information Science and Library Science\" subject category in the WoS. The results were then analyzed based on the document types and the retrieved documents were limited to corrections only. Moreover, the time span under analysis was limited to ten years from 2006 to 2015. Therefore, a total of 369 corrections published in LIS journals and indexed in the WoS were identified and selected for investigation and no sampling was conducted. The correction notices, as well as the original papers, which accompanied the errata, were then downloaded for further investigations. Each correction notice was read carefully by the researchers and the place of the errors, as well as the time span between the publication of the original papers and their errata were extracted. With regard to three journals, namely, Library Journal, Econtent and Scientist, the correction notices were not accessible on the journals' website and links from the original articles to their corrections were not presented. As a result, these journals were only investigated for the first three research objectives. Data analysis was conducted using the Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 18.\nResults: (a) Yearly distribution of errata in library and information science journals\nDiscussion: The current research is conducted with the aim of providing better insights into the errors occurred and the errata published in the LIS journals. Results of the study showed that 369 corrections were published in 50 out of the 88 LIS journals listed in the JCR 2017. During the ten years under analysis, the average of 7.38 corrections was published in each of LIS journals. Compare with the correction rates of other subject categories in the WoS, the observed published errors in LIS discipline was found to be substantially lower. Nearly 0.37 per cent of the overall output of LIS journals during 2006-2015 were officially corrected, place this subject category in the 125th rank out of the 150 subject categories with at-least one erratum in the WoS. Moreover, the correction rate found for LIS journals in this research was lower than the correction rate of 4 per cent for Oncology journals (Molckovsky et al., 2011), 2.3 per cent for biological science journals (Sabine, 1985) and 0.9 per cent for physics journals (Haustein, 2012). In general, biomedical sciences have had the most established mechanism in addressing literature correction issues due to the serious effect of incorrect information on patients' health.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the characterization of corrections to the papers published in Library and Information Science (LIS) journals during 2006-2015. It studies the frequency and location of the published errors, time interval between the publication of the original papers and their corrections, as well as associations between journals' impact factors (IF) and their correction rates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The population of the study comprised of 369 errata published in 50 LIS journals. The data were obtained from Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science (WoS) and Journal Citation Reports.\nFindings: The results of the study revealed a correction rate of 0.37 per cent for LIS journals, which is substantially lower than that of 124 subject categories with at-least one erratum in the WoS. Among the countries with the highest number of errata in LIS journals, the USA ranked first, followed by China and England. However, the greatest share of errata to overall LIS publications of the country was seen in Kazakhstan, Russia and Botswana. Results showed that no statistically significant relationships existed between the journals' IF and their correction rates. The highest proportion of errors published in LIS literature was occurred in authors' information, references, tables and figures. Moreover, the average time from publication of the original articles to their corresponding errata was found to be 8.7 months.\nSocial implications: Correcting the unintentional mistakes in scholarly articles is an ethical responsibility of researchers and journal editors.\nOriginality/value: The current research tries to investigate the characteristics of errata in the LIS field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impacts of organizational learning capacities on relationship-specific innovations: Evidence from the global buyer-supplier relationship	[ "Absorptive learning capacity", "Exploitation/exploration focus", "Interorganizational learning", "Joint learning capacity", "Supplier dependence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Learning can come in many forms. One form for businesses occurs at the firm level, and is termed \"absorptive (learning) capacity\" (ALC) (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Several decades of studies exist on a firm's ALC - its capability to value, assimilate and apply information and knowledge from partner firms - as having a key role in the process of organizational evolution and adaptation (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Lewin et al., 1999). According to the literature, a firm's ALC in an organizational learning domain is a well-recognized antecedent of firm innovation (Lane and Lubatkin, 1998; Malhotra et al., 2005; Roberts et al., 2012). Yet, since a different form of learning occurs when two or more firms come together, the role of joint learning via partnerships remains intact in the literature (Fang and Zou, 2010). Given the ever-increasing speed of innovation in the global marketplace, the learning capacity of a single firm alone is not enough to capture the dynamic nature of global innovation competition (Lane and Lubatkin, 1998). Specifically, in the global marketplace and supply chain relationships, joint learning - learning through collaborations with partner firms - is becoming crucial (Fang and Zou, 2010; Lubatkin et al., 2001).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: Knowledge-based view, inter-partner learning and resource dependence theory\nMethod: Unit of analysis\nDiscussion and implications: We examine the relative effect of the different types of inter-partnerfirm learning capacity on RI between a supplier firm and a multinational buyer. As Jean et al. (2012) suggest, innovation generated by supply channel relationships has an important role in the success of supply chain partners. Especially, our framework contributes to the interorganizational learning literature by integrating inter-partner learning theory and RDT in a global context of MNCs and their suppliers. It is important to elucidate and utilize the combination of inter-partner learning theory and RDT in this fast changing interactive business environments. For instance, relational components between suppliers and buyers are so crucial and play a pivotal role in generating interactive innovation between a supplier and a buyer firm. Along with KBV and RDT, lack of proper resources does matter, reshaping firms' strategy and attitude toward the relationship with buyer firms (Jean et al., 2012).\nLimitations and future research: Although the results offer valuable implications, they should be interpreted with the following limitations in mind. First, we only consider emerging market firms in this study. Though our results may apply to various types of markets, industries and countries, readers should read the study with this context in mind. Likewise, the study sample was drawn from the Taiwanese electronics industry. Future study needs to confirm our results in the context of both high-tech industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and new materials, and low-tech industries such as banking, construction and food (Rubera and Kirca, 2012). Moreover, a comparison of different industries could capture more researchers' attention. For instance, a comparison of the effects of high- and low-tech industries could investigate the nature of knowledge transfer between supply chain partners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organizational learning is a critical factor in generating firm innovation. While the firms are working with global business partners, not only does their absorptive learning capacity (ALC) with business partners play an important role in generating innovation from the inter-partner firm relationship, but their joint learning capacity (JLC) does as well. However, little research has simultaneously examined absorptive and JLC on innovation in global supply chain relationships. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Drawing on the knowledge-based view, inter-partner learning theory and resource dependence theory, the current study investigates the effects of two organizational learning capacities on relationship-specific innovation: ALC (firm-level) and JLC (relationship level). In addition, a firm's focus on exploitation/exploration strategy and supplier dependence is further incorporated into the study as moderators. Moreover, solutions to endogeneity issues are discussed and reported due to the usage of survey data. The model of this study was tested using data collected from 190 electronics firms in Taiwan as an emerging market.\nFindings: The findings of this research reveal that JLC in the presence of absorptive capacity positively influences relationship-specific innovation. Furthermore, the exploitation focus of a firm positively moderates the effects of both absorptive and JLC on relationship-specific innovation. However, supplier dependence negatively moderates the effect of JLC.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research provides some theoretical implications for learning and innovation generation in global supply chains.\nPractical implications: The paper provides some managerial implications for how to manage innovations in the global supply chain relationships.\nOriginality/value: This paper fulfills an identified need to study how innovation generation can be better managed in global supply chain contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does son preference pay-off for the ailing and elderly in rural India?	[ "Education", "Gender", "Developing countries", "Development", "Health care", "Agricultural economies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The objective of this paper is to take a close look at factors that influence the choice and quality of healthcare received by ailing and elderly people in rural north India. We are primarily interested in seeing what role is played by the presence of sons in the family, particularly co-residence with sons. In the absence of some broad-based social security arrangement in countries like India, older adults traditionally turn to living arrangement where the older adults are supported by their children or extended family. In a patriarchal society as India such responsibility lies with the sons if one has son/s. Such dependence on sons explains preferential treatment towards younger sons as a justification for the care parents receive from sons in their advanced years. This culture of son preference behavior provides the context for this paper. In other words, does it pay off to have sons? The empirical analysis is based on the World Bank's Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) which presents data relating to household surveys conducted for rural villages in Uttar Pradesh in northern India and Bihar in eastern India during the 1997-1998 time-period.\nBrief literature review: Not enough can be said about the importance of addressing issues that affect the elderly in India. According to Indian Census (2001) projections, Indians aged 60 and above will be at 173 million by 2026 and will dominate the world's older population (Census of India, 2001). In the absence of some broad-based social security arrangement, most of these older adult will turn to traditional living arrangement where the older adult are supported by their children or extended family (Rajan et al., 1999). While living arrangements for the elderly are known to be influenced by different factors such as gender, health status, extent of disability, socio-economic status, labor force participation, and societal traditions (Prakash, 1999; Cameron and Cobb-Clark, 2001), the literature indicates that living with the eldest son is found to be the most preferred choice and living with the daughter the least preferred (Bhat and Dhruvarajan, 2001).\nData and empirical model: For the purpose of the empirical analysis we utilize World Bank's LSMS data collected from rural villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India in 1997-1998. The dataset may be somewhat dated but it provides relevant information which transcends time. Additionally, with economic growth and modernization, more and more young people in India have migrated away from rural areas in the recent decade. Thus, surveys carried out in the last decade by the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) in India show very little evidence of elderly parent in rural areas living with their adult children. This practice seemed to be much more prevalent at the time of the LSMS survey of 1997-1998. We only include people 60 years of age or more who live in the same household as the household head and who are also related to the household head. Using these criteria we have a sample of 941 individuals comprising 528 men and 413 women who make up our sample. These individual belong to 643 households spread out over 115 villages.\nResults: Table II presents Heckman's first and second stage estimation with Heckman Probit two-step consistent standard errors for five different specifications of the model. The first column presents the first stage or selection equation estimates. Since these variables remain consistent across different specifications of the outcome equation we present these results once to reduce redundancy. The dependent variable for the selection equation is EVER_ILL which indicates whether the elderly respondent has reported illness in the past year. The results of the selection equation do not indicate that living with the son has any statistically significant impact on the health status of the elderly. Even though the sign on this coefficient is negative it remains statistically insignificant. The variables found to have a statistically significant impact on the health of the elderly are the age of the person, presence (or absence in this case) of a spouse, the gender, and the economic condition of the person. All explanatory variables have expected signs. Age, being male, not having a spouse, and being very poor are found to be increase the probability of getting sick for the elderly. In addition, the absence of a latrine is found to have a statistically significant and positive impact on the probability of getting sick.\nConclusion: The commonly accepted old age hypothesis justifies investment in sons as a way to ensure that sons will care for aging parents once they grow up. This makes particular sense in countries without any socially provided old age pension scheme. It is common practice for elderly parents to live with son/s and/or depend on them both socially and economically. In this paper we test to see how co-residence with sons influences the probability of receiving any healthcare and the quality of healthcare parents receive when they are old and sick. For the purpose of the empirical analysis we utilize the World Bank's LSMS of households in villages of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to take a close look at factors that influence the choice and quality of healthcare received by ailing and elderly people in rural north India. The author is primarily interested in seeing what role is played by the presence of sons in the family, particularly co-residence with sons. In the absence of some broad-based social security arrangement in countries like India, older adults traditionally turn to living arrangement where the older adults are supported by their children or extended family. In a patriarchal society as India, such responsibility lies with the sons if one has son/s. Such dependence on sons explains preferential treatment towards younger sons as a justification for the care parents receive from sons in their advanced years. This culture of son preference behavior provides the context for this paper.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The empirical model is based on testing three inter-related research questions. First, the author asks whether having grown sons or living with son/s leads to up-front better quality of healthcare for parents. If the empirical analysis does not show support for this research question, the author broadens the research question to ask whether those with grown son/s or those that live with their son/s have a higher probability of seeing a trained medical professional as compared to some traditional healer. If the empirical analysis does not support the second question, the author further broadens the research question and asks whether those elderly who are sick are more likely to receive any healthcare (medical or traditional) if they have grown son/s or live with their son/s.\nFindings: The results show that co-residence with a son does not have a statistically significant impact on the quality of healthcare received by the elderly individual. Additionally, not having a son also does not have a statistically significant impact on quality of healthcare received.\nResearch limitations/implications: For the purpose of the empirical analysis, the author utilizes World Bank's Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) data collected from rural villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India in 1997-1998. The dataset may be somewhat dated, but it provides relevant information which transcends time. Additionally, with economic growth and modernization, more and more young people in India have migrated away from rural areas in the recent decade. Thus, surveys carried out in the last decade by the National Family Health Surveys in India show very little evidence of elderly parent in rural areas living with their adult children. This practice seemed to be much more prevalent at the time of the LSMS survey of 1997-1998.\nPractical implications: Contrary to popular expectation, the results show that co-residing with a son has no statistically significant impact on healthcare received by parents. Additionally, not having sons does not matter either.\nOriginality/value: The author finds relatively fewer studies done on factors that determine the choice of healthcare for the elderly, particularly relating to those that are ailing (for reasons other than simply aging) and with reference to their living arrangement. The present paper addresses this void in the literature and is expected to make a meaningful contribution in bridging this gap in the literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Words from the heart speak to the heart: A study of deep acting, faking, and hiding among child care workers	[ "Emotional labour", "Positive/negative emotions", "Display rules", "Child care workers", "Canada", "Vocational training", "Emotional Labour Scale" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Child care is a significant and growing industry, due to the rising number of dual-working parents who have children requiring the services of child care workers (Baker et al., 2008; The New York Times, 1993; Pungello and Kurtz-Costes, 1999). Most child care workers choose this line of work because of the desire to care for children (Ferrell and Daniel, 1993). Like nurses (Lopez, 2006), child care workers provide \"organized emotional care\" that entails emotional labor. In contrast to the plethora of studies on the emotional labor of nurses, there is a dearth of research on the emotional labor performed by child care workers. This is an important oversight, since according to Hochschild's (1983) classification, child care work is likely to involve high levels of job-focused emotional labor, which has been linked to burnout and physical symptoms of stress (Bono and Vey, 2004).\nEmotional labor of child care workers: Service workers are expected to comply with well-established norms and practices regarding emotional display. These rules and practices are derived from sources that are cultural, vocational, personal, and situational in nature (Zapf, 2002). This expectation to perform emotional labor has been found among child care workers (Colley, 2003; Rutman, 1996). They regularly experience pressure and a sense of powerlessness at work (Fuqua and Couture, 1986; Rutman, 1996). Daily contact with children and parents increase their susceptibility to chronic job stress and burnout (Mattingly, 1977; Fuqua and Couture, 1986; Maslach and Pines, 1977; Cordes and Dougherty, 1993). Child care workers must reconcile the discrepancy between the ideal of showing sensitivity, gentleness, enthusiasm, effort, and enjoyment during their time with children, on the one hand, and detachment from having to respond to the idiosyncratic and sometimes unreasonable parental demands, on the other hand (Colley, 2003; Cote, 2005; Zapf and Holz, 2006). As noted by Butler and Modaff (2008, p. 247):A strong dialectic of the relationship between providers and children was attachment versus detachment. Specifically, providers needed to form particular types of relationships with the children in their care (attachment). These attachments, however, often led to parental jealousy. Therefore, providers concurrently attempted to demonstrate that they were not a parental substitute (detachment).The emotional labor of child care workers has been characterized as one of \"detached attachment,\" which is \"a forced or affected emotional aloofness that enables caregivers to form boundaries around care\" (Buchbinder et al., 2006, p. 50). The detached attachment occurs when \"care-based relationships [are brought] into market-based settings\" (Buchbinder et al., 2006, p. 50). Thus, child care workers need to negotiate the boundaries between appropriate detachment/distance and care (Nelson, 1990).Indeed, Owen et al. (2000) found that high-quality communications between child care workers and parents were associated with better adaptation to the child care center by children. These researchers found that:[...] the parent-caregiver interactions that take place when information is sought and shared are likely to reinforce a positive relationship between parent and caregiver as well as serve to contribute to investment in the child and the child's well being (p. 425).Similarly, Shpancer (2002, p. 384) suggested that a strong child care worker-parent link \"may facilitate continuity between the contexts [which] [...] is in turn assumed to facilitate adjustment, reduce confusion, ambiguity, and conflict, and provide a coherent environment conductive to optimal development.\" This relationship may be influenced by the extent to which parents experience anxiety and/or guilt over using the child care center and relying on the workers for child rearing (Shpancer, 2002).The relationship between child care workers and parents may be strained and require role negotiations (Cote, 2005; Mattingly, 1977; Rutman, 1996). For example, Rutman's (1996, p. 636) study found that, \"child care workers' relationships with parents were complex and frequently charged with emotion and ambivalence.\" Moreover, Tuominen (2003) found that dealing with parents was the most disliked part of their work, especially when the workers' competence was called into question or when they were treated with disrespect. Given that parents are the ultimate decision makers regarding their children's care and whether to continue using the facility, child care workers are compelled to show the appropriate emotions that convince parents of their competence and sincerity in providing quality service. In this manner, the emotional labor undertaken during their brief daily encounters with parents helps child care workers sustain effective care (Rutman, 1996). Rutman noted that, although child care can promote greater intimacy, which facilitates deep acting, discourse with children and their parents also are bound by display rules and obligations that encourage a certain amount of surface acting, especially faking.In addition to the issue of appropriate emotional display, Colley's (2003, p. 9) study revealed that emotion regulation was a central theme in the narratives of novice child care workers:This involves working on their own [...] feelings to suppress extreme emotions and evoke calmer feelings. It requires conscious effort, repeated practice, and a degree of self-surveillance and self-denial on the part of the students.As Colley reported, most of the students entering their second year of training were better able to manage their own emotions as they learned to react differently to provocations or distress than when they first began their training. Despite the infrequent emotional support that child care workers received from colleagues and parents and the meager financial rewards that came with their line of work (Rutman, 1996), Colley's findings suggest that deep acting, as well as faking and hiding emotions, were indeed central aspects of child care workers' role enactment.Rutman's (1996) and Colley's (2003) research also underscores the need to distinguish between passive and active forms of deep acting (Kruml and Geddes, 2000). In passive deep acting, a worker spontaneously experiences, without any deliberate effort, the appropriate feelings during role performance. In active deep acting, a conscious attempt is made to alter or change one's feelings to match what is required. Much of the research on child care workers, including ours, focus on the active form of deep acting.\nHypotheses: Given that emotion regulation in service work typically follows display rules that define the boundaries of what are appropriate or organizationally sanctioned behaviors, we consider how the three dimensions of emotional labor relate to two types of display requirements (Best et al., 1997). The requirements for displaying positive emotions and suppressing negative feelings are ubiquitous across the public and private sectors, non-profit and for-profit firms, whenever service delivery is involved (Kramer and Hess, 2002; Martin et al., 1998). Although display rules are designed to facilitate effective service delivery (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987), they also are linked to chronic strain based on how clients react to workers' emotional displays (Cote, 2005). Showing emotions such as enthusiasm and empathic concern is common currency in most helping professions, including child care work (Colley, 2003; Hochschild, 1983; Mumby and Putnam, 1992). In contrast, negative feelings like anger, impatience, and nervousness should not be \"leaked\" in the course of role enactment, but, rather, hidden from public view (Colley, 2003; Rutman, 1996).The foregoing review underscores the intersection between display rules and one's feelings. It also suggests that a state of dissonance may occur as a result of either the expression of unfelt emotions or the suppression of felt ones (Zapf and Holz, 2006). However, even with such dissonance, deep acting occurs frequently due to the internalization of role requirements for service delivery (Hochschild, 1983; Martin et al., 1998). To the extent that unfelt emotions are organizationally or professionally prescribed for display as part of service delivery (Martin et al., 1998; Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987), surface acting will occur as well. Hence, we posit the following:H1. Display rules are positively associated with deep acting.H2. Display rules concerning the expression of positive emotions are positively associated with faking emotions.H3. Display rules concerning the suppression of negative emotions are positively associated with hiding feelings.Following Glomb and Tews (2004), we examine how discrete positive and negative affective states are differentially related to emotional labor. For most occupations, positive affectivity facilitates and is, in turn, informed by deep acting (Martin et al., 1998); although in some lines of work, negative affectivity may be relevant as well (Glomb and Tews, 2004; Zapf and Holz, 2006). As Martin et al. (1998) found in a study of The Body Shop sales staff, the spontaneous expression of upbeat emotions enhanced their collective identities and self-authenticity and facilitated deep acting during customer service. As Anita Roddick, the CEO of The Body Shop, asserted, it was easier for workers to feel happy if they practiced showing such feelings (e.g. smiling) to their customers. The foregoing discussion suggests a mutually reinforcing link between affectivity and deep acting. Hence, we posit that:H4. Positive affectivity is positively associated with deep acting.However, to the extent that faking positive emotions is encouraged in most service settings (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987; Zapf and Holz, 2006), and given that faking is also related to deep acting (Brotheridge and Lee, 2003), we also posit that:H5. Positive affectivity is positively associated with faking emotions.Although negative emotions also occur during role enactment (Glomb and Tews, 2004; Zapf and Holz, 2006), their expression may be misunderstood or rejected by customers (Cote, 2005) and may interfere with service delivery (Rafaeli and Sutton, 1987). Given the strong norms against the expression of negative emotions in most service encounters (Mumby and Putnam, 1992; Martin et al., 1998), we posit that:H6. Negative affectivity is positively associated with hiding feelings.The extent to which child care workers differ in the frequency of using deep acting, faking and hiding also may be a function of their role-related competence, maturity levels, and job experience, as revealed in Colley's (2003) research. Hence, we control for the variables of age, education, career length and organizational tenure, and the duration of parent discourse prior to testing the six hypotheses.\nMethod: Sampling and survey procedures\nResults: Dimensionality of measures\nDiscussion: Emotional labor dimensions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to understand, from the child care worker's perspective, how work experience, display rules, and affectivity are related to emotional labor. It also examines the utility of separating surface acting into its two components: the hiding and faking of emotions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study is based on a cross-sectional self-report survey of 198 child care workers in Western Canada.\nFindings: - Deep acting occurred more frequently among younger workers, whereas experienced workers hid their feelings more frequently than did their less-experienced counterparts. The requirement to express positive emotions was associated with deep acting and faking emotions, whereas the requirement to suppress negative emotions was associated with hiding feelings.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Results support the treatment of surface acting's components as distinct given their differential association with the other variables. Future research should validate the emotional labor measure in service occupations that involve different frequency and intensity levels of contact.\nPractical implications: - The finding that young and inexperienced workers appear to engage in different emotion regulation strategies than mature and experienced workers may be due to their job training. A potential solution is to include service learning projects in child care training that build their confidence in communicating with parents.\nOriginality/value: - Use of the revised Emotional Labour Scale in future studies may facilitate a deeper understanding of workplace emotional expression.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and perceived brand quality on customer-based brand preference	[ "Hotel", "Brand preference", "CSR performance", "Perceived brand quality" ]	[ { "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.\n1. Introduction: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a subject of study in academia for more than six decades. CSR has evolved from executives' idiosyncratic philanthropic activities to widespread acceptance as a valuable component of stakeholder management and has been incorporated into strategic performance models (Kolodinsky et al., 2010). Engaging in CSR behaviors is prevalent across various types of businesses in different industries and countries (Singh et al., 2008). Other scholars have identified CSR as a group of factors that influence brand building (Chomvilailuk and Butcher, 2010; Hoeffler and Keller, 2002; Roll, 2006). From an academic perspective, the value of a brand name is defined as its brand equity. Yoo et al. (2000) determined that positive brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty all contribute to growth of brand equity. Corporations increasingly integrate CSR programs into their business strategies in efforts to generate branding benefits (Hoeffler and Keller, 2002). Kolodinsky et al. (2010) found that consumers' positive attitudes toward corporate social activity could affect their perceptions and behaviors. Studies examining the link between CSR and marketing results have recently emerged in the literature; however, some research gaps still need to be bridged. First, current understanding of CSR's impacts on branding and customer responses is limited (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001; Singh et al., 2008). For example, so far, brand quality is still a very important issue discussed by many papers in top marketing journals (Bharadwaj et al., 2011; Meyvis et al., 2012), as is brand preference (Heilman et al., 2000; Liu and Smeesters, 2010). Brand preference was almost identical with purchase intention (Banks, 1950), and brand preference features in all of the major texts on brands and brand strategy (Alamro and Rowley, 2011). However, studies of the relationships among CSR, brand quality and brand preference are rare. Second, despite increased research on the various effects of CSR, the question of whether CSR is worthwhile for the service provider still remains to be addressed (Eisingerich et al., 2011). Results that address this question are also rare in the service arena[1]. Mandhachitara and Poolthong (2011) indicated CSR has a significantly strong and positive association with attitudinal loyalty. Perceived service quality mediated the relationship between CSR and repeat patronage intentions (behavioral loyalty). Direct effects were reported between perceived service quality and both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. Mattila and Hanks (2012) investigated antecedents to participation in CSR programs and found status-seeking consumers exhibited higher levels of prosocial behaviors when the cause was a national one (compared to a local cause), particularly when the individual felt empathy toward the larger cause. Eisingerich et al. (2011) demonstrated that CSR shields firms from negative information about CSR practices but not information related to firms' core service offerings. Because the literature is still limited, some questions into the role of CSR influence in the service industry need to be answered. Third, CSR has emerged as an inescapable priority for business leaders in every country (Porter and Kramer, 2006). Some studies focus on Chinese consumers and CSR (Ramasamy and Yeung, 2009; Xu and Yang, 2010; Tian et al., 2011), but the following questions remain unanswered: How Chinese consumers in the service industry look at CSR? Does CSR performance really play a significant role in the service sector in China? Are all CSR activities equally effective in the Chinese service sector? As a result of the limited research, this study focuses on examining whether customers' perception of service providers' CSR performance influences customer-based brand preference.\n2. Literature review and hypothesis development: 2.1 CSR performance and brand preference\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Measurements\n4. Results: Regression analyses were used to test the impact of CSR performance and perceived brand quality on brand preference. Results indicate that the overall model for each regressed equation has a good fit with a highly significant F value and satisfactory R2 (0.171~0.423) and adjusted R2 (0.167~0.419). All variance inflationary factor values of independent variables in this model are < 3; therefore, no significant multicollinearity problem exists. The results are illustrated in Table IV, where all CSR variables and brand quality (b = 0.63, p < 0.001) produce significant and positive effects on brand preference. Among these three CSR factors, the domain of CSR to stakeholders displayed the strongest influence on brand preference (b = 0.58, p < 0.001). The influence exerted from the other two CSR domains of environment (b = 0.48, p < 0.001) and society (b = 0.46, p < 0.001) was on a lower level. The results indicate that H1, H2 and H3 are all supported. The mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference was tested based on Baron and Kenny's (1986) method. In Table IV (H4a, H4b and H4c), the results show that the beta values all decreased when perceived brand quality was introduced in each regression equation (CSR to environment decreased from 0.48 to 0.14; CSR to society from 0.46 to 0.26; and CSR to stakeholders from 0.58 to 0.27). All R-square values increased with perceived brand quality's influence. In this sense, the results suggest the presence of a partial mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to investigate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance (i.e. to the environment, society and stakeholders) and perceived brand quality influence brand preference. The mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference is also studied.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In 2011, 243 valid responses to questionnaire surveys were collected from a convenience sample in China. Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: Customers' brand preference can be enhanced by CSR performance. Performance in each of the three CSR domains (i.e. environment, society and stakeholders) positively impacts brand preference, although to different degrees. The impact of CSR on stakeholders has the strongest influence on Chinese customers' brand preference among the three CSR domains. Perceived brand quality was found to be a mediator of the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research studies the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference. Results show CSR performance is not the strongest predictor of branding outcomes, its explanatory power is comparatively weaker than that of perceived brand quality. Additionally, we found a mediating effect of perceived brand quality on the relationship between CSR performance and brand preference.\nPractical implications: Brands can be more attractive to Chinese consumers when brands take appropriate investments in CSR activities. A socially responsible brand is not guaranteed to yield a competitive advantage. Instead a competitive advantage will more likely result through the employment of the appropriate CSR strategies, with a focus on stakeholders' interests.\nOriginality/value: The current research contributes to the literature by finding that not all CSR activities are equally effective. Customers in emerging markets still appear to be focused more on the quality of brands and, to some extent, stakeholder CSR practice, as these provide direct benefits to customers. Findings of this study also support the notion that Chinese consumers are beginning to use CSR information to evaluate brands.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Structural social capital and innovation. Is knowledge transfer the missing link?	[ "Innovation", "Knowledge transfer processes", "Knowledge types", "Structural social capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The knowledge-based view of the firm recognises the centrality of knowledge and its management as the main enablers of a firm's competitive advantage (Nonaka, 1991; Grant, 1996; Argote and Ingram, 2000). However, companies and their employees do not always possess the necessary knowledge to innovate within their boundaries; therefore, they cross boundaries to learn from strategic alliances and other forms of collaborations (Filieri et al., 2014). To compete in the knowledge economy, individuals and firms are urged continuously to search, access and exploit external knowledge, as provided by different actors such as business partners, customers, suppliers, universities and competing firms. Knowledge is often generated through social interactions (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Kogut and Zander, 1992; Brown and Duguid, 2002), and the process of transferring knowledge from one organisation to another or from one person to another is considered to be vital for the generation of innovations (Powell et al., 1996; Lane et al., 2001; Owen-Smith and Powell, 2004; Shu et al., 2012). The rising importance of both business and individual networks for the acquisition of valuable knowledge demands a thorough understanding of the way these entities orchestrate relationships to facilitate knowledge flows and optimise innovation outputs (Filieri et al., 2014).\nKnowledge, knowledge types and knowledge transfer processes: The rapidly evolving competitive environment conditions in the contemporary knowledge-based economy mean that the capacity to manage knowledge is critical; indeed, it is the main factor enhancing firms' ability to innovate successfully and to sustain competitive advantage (Nonaka, 1991; Spender, 1994; Grant, 1996; Zack, 1999). Davenport and Prusak define knowledge as:\nSC in managerial studies: SC theory emerged in the mid-1980s from sociology (Bourdieu, 1985; Coleman, 1988, 1990; Burt, 1992; Putnam, 1993), and the origins and definitions of SC have been widely discussed in theoretical papers (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; Adler and Kwon, 2002; Inkpen and Tsang, 2005; Alguezaui and Filieri, 2010). One of the difficulties in dealing with SC theory is the number of definitions of the concept, which has led to disparate approaches. However, there is general agreement that SC represents the social relationships of an individual or collective entity and the resources accessed through those social relationships (Lin, 2001). Drawing on Coleman's conceptualisation of SC (1988), Nahapiet and Ghoshal introduced SC into business and management studies by defining it as: \"the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit\" (1998, p. 243). SC refers to the set of resources, both tangible and intangible, which may be easily and rapidly available to an individual, a business unit or a focal firm within a certain network configuration (structural SC); it refers also to personal relationships (relational SC) and a shared intellectual background (cognitive SC) (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998).\nMethodology: A thorough and comprehensive review has been undertaken of empirical and theoretical studies of structural SC, knowledge transfer/creation and innovation covering a period of 20 years, from 1992 to 2012. The focus of this research was work published in journals in management, strategy and organisational behaviour. Some significant studies on the topic of SC, KT and innovation published in leading sociology (e.g. American Journal of Sociology), marketing (e.g. Industrial Marketing Management) and innovation journals (e.g. Journal of Product Innovation Management) were also included.\nStructural SC and knowledge transfer: The structural dimension of SC reflects \"the patterns of the social ties characterising a group of actors, it concerns the properties of the social system and the network of relations as a whole\" (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998, p. 244). The following paragraphs review the literature on the relationship between structural SC dimensions (Table IV), KT and innovation. At the end of each paragraph, a short summary is provided to synthetise the main findings (commonalities and differences) emerging from the reviewed studies and to provide some directions for future research (Table III).\nDiscussion: This literature review has documented that the majority of studies on structural SC focus on the relational and structural embeddedness, investigating the role of strong and weak ties, and of cohesive network and structural holes in KT and innovation.\nConclusions: SC theory has been used by many scholars to explain how individuals, groups and businesses manage relationships to access knowledge and generate innovation. To understand the role that structural SC plays on knowledge transfer and on the transfer of different knowledge types at multiple levels (i.e. intra and inter-firm), a systematic review of research published in the past 20 years on this topic in management, strategy and organisation journals has been conducted.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to address the gap that, to date, no systematic review has been carried out on the role that structural social capital (SC) plays for knowledge transfer and innovation at the interpersonal, inter-unit and inter-firm levels. Individuals and organisations are becoming increasingly involved in collaboration networks to share knowledge and generate innovation. SC theory has been adopted in several areas of study to explain how individuals, groups and organisations manage relationships to generate innovation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This review covers studies of SC in organisational behaviour, strategy and management over a period of 20 years.\nFindings: The literature review shows that knowledge types and knowledge transfer processes are the missing links in the relationship between structural SC and innovation. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that seemingly opposite configurations of SC are complementary to each other (structural holes vs dense networks; strong vs weak ties) and that contextual factors should be considered when discussing the effects of SC on knowledge transfer and innovation. In addition, it is the balance of different configurations of SC which enables an individual or a company to explore, access, assimilate and combine different knowledge types, which will lead to improved innovation outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This review facilitates understanding of the role of SC for knowledge transfer processes and the mediating role of knowledge transfer processes and knowledge types in the relationship between structural SC and innovation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate governance, accruals quality and stock returns: evidence from the UK	[ "Corporate governance", "Audit", "Accruals quality", "Stock returns" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Corporate governance has received a growing attention by researchers, professional bodies and business communities around the world. A plethora of prior research studies examined different aspects of the corporate governance mechanisms using alternative proxies for each governance provision. In this paper, we analyse the influence of governance provisions, both at the aggregate and individual levels, on the quality of financial information, as well as on the stock returns. It has been widely documented that governance provisions affect earnings management and stock returns (e.g. Bedard et al., 2004; Larcker and Richardson, 2004). However, which provisions, among the many provisions firms have are the ones that exert important influence on earnings management and on the stock returns? This is the main question of the paper.\n2. Study background and research questions: Corporate governance (CG) has received and still receiving an increasing attention by researchers, professional bodies and business communities around the world. Our review of prior empirical research is structured along two lines according to the two objectives of this paper. First, we review research on the association between corporate governance and the extent of corporate earnings management as measured by discretionary accruals. Second, we discuss extant research on the relationship between corporate governance and stock returns.\n3. Sample and data: Our initial sample contains all the UK listed companies during the period of 2004 to 2010 for which the governance scores are available in the Corporate Governance Quotient (CGQ) database and London Share Price Database (LSPD). Our sample ends in 2010 because of the lag in updating return data by LSPD.\n4. Research methods: 4.1 Corporate governance and earnings management\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Corporate governance and earnings management\n6. Conclusion: This study investigates the relationship between corporate governance, accruals quality, and stock returns. A large body of research questions these important issues. We extend this market-based accounting literature in two ways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to identify the most significant governance provision in enhancing the financial information quality of UK listed firms. In addition, it investigates the influence of this governance provision in explaining stock returns of 20 UK industry portfolios.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To identify the main governance provision in enhancing the accruals quality, the paper runs regressions of accruals quality variable on the total governance variable, on the governance provisions individually, and on the governance provisions taken together with and without integrating control variables. Next, Asset Pricing tests are employed to examine the capacity of the audit provision, as proved the most influential governance provision on accruals quality, to explain stock returns. The quantitative approach used in the paper enables to investigate the relationship between corporate governance, accruals quality, and stock returns.\nFindings: Results indicate that audit provision is the most important governance mechanism affecting accruals quality. In addition, this mechanism is comparable with the book-to-market factor in explaining the time-series variation in portfolios returns. Furthermore, the introduction of the Audit factor to Fama-French model reduces the significance of the size factor and the book-to-market factor in explaining stock returns. This suggests that size and the book-to-market factors contain information related to the audit provision.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of the paper carry implications for investors as they do not need to equally weight all corporate governance provisions in their resource allocation decisions. The significant influence of audit provision on accruals quality needs to be taken into consideration when investment decisions are made. Audit factor is important in predicting future returns. It is also found to be as good as book-to-market factor in explaining portfolios returns. Also, the findings have many implications for regulatory bodies in their efforts to enhance financial information quality. Establishing roles for best governance in reducing information risk should focus, among other things, on the significant elements of corporate governance in improving accruals quality. The main limitation of the study is the restricted variation in the Audit governance factor which comes from the source of corporate governance data, i.e. CGQ. Firms in the sample do not exhibit diversified levels of Audit scores. Accordingly, when constructing audit risk factor it was found that firms could only be split into two portfolios according to their Audit scores instead of five.\nOriginality/value: This study identifies audit provision as the most significant governance mechanism in enhancing the financial information quality of UK listed firms. In addition, a factor representing audit provision is constructed to investigate the influence of this provision on stock returns. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that examines the capacity of the audit provision to explain stock returns in an asset pricing framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Path dependence in policies supporting smart specialisation strategies : Insights from the Basque case	[ "Technology led strategy", "Innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: There is clear recognition in the literature on regional studies about the importance of path dependence for both economic development and policy-making processes. However, it remains an under-analysed concept. Specifically, there is little research on the link between path dependence and policy making, and the important question of how path dependence in public policies affects regional development. This question is particularly important in the context of the research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) that have recently appeared in the literature (Foray et al., 2009, 2011; McCann and Ortega-Argiles, 2013), and are currently being developed by all European regions (promoted by European Commission ex-ante conditionality for receiving European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI)).\nII. Path dependence and change in institutions and policy making: According to the seminal works of David (1985) and Arthur (1989), path dependence applies to processes where the current situation is dependent on its own history. In other words, decisions taken in the past, sometimes even by pure chance (historical accidents), become reinforced over time and can increasingly restrain future choices. Path dependence occurs due to the quasi-irreversibility of investments and the existence of both network externalities (economies of scale from the supply and demand side, and effects stemming from technical complementarity and compatibility) and self-reinforcement effects (SREs) (such as learning effects, coordination effects and self-reinforcing expectations) (Martin, 2010). Although the concept was first applied to the analysis of technological change, it was quickly employed to explain the evolution of organisations, institutions and even territories.\nIII. Data and methodology: We employ a detailed case study to analyse continuity and change of STI policy in path dependence processes because it allows us to take a holistic view of such a complex issue, while at the same time considering a detailed sequence of events (Bennet and Elman, 2006; Dobusch and Kapeller, 2013). The Basque Country is a good case to be the object of analysis since there is no region in the EU that enjoys more political autonomy (Cooke and Morgan, 1998; Morgan, 2013b), it is one of the few cases recognised by the literature as a real innovation system (Cooke et al., 2000) and it reflects a complex innovation system where policies from at least five different levels are being felt (Magro and Wilson, 2013). In addition, it is a region in which STI policy has had a continuity path; partly as a result of having been a region governed by the same party during that time (in isolation or coalition), but also due to broad-based agreement on this path across all political parties (Aranguren et al., 2012b).\nIV. Policies for RIS3 in the Basque Country: current state and challenges ahead: As Morgan (2013b, p. 122) puts it: \"Far from having to design a smart specialisation strategy from scratch, therefore, the Basque Government can legitimately claim that it has been building-up such a strategy for the past thirty years\". The essence of such strategy is expressed in their Science, Technology and Innovation Plans (the last and ongoing plan is the so-called PCTI-2015) and in the thematic plans elaborated to develop the R&D-based diversification strategies contained therein (Biobasque, Nanobasque, Energybasque and Advanced Manufacturing strategy). The mechanisms of path dependence operating in these strategies are likely to be quite diverse, as can be deducted from the different degrees of formalization, starting points, diversification goals and ways, economic impacts and actors involved in these R&D-based diversification strategies (see for more details Table I).\nV. Path dependence and evolution in the Basque STI policy: In order to understand the present situation in the Basque STI policy field it is important to learn from the past and to reflect on how path dependence has affected the present conditions and the development of the regional innovation system. Through an analysis of the history of Basque STI policy, we can identify three main stages, which are unified around a core path towards building a system that can support the upgrading and diversification of Basque industry. Moving through each of these phases we can analyse changing roles at the political, administrative and operational layers of the system (see Table II).\nVI. Conclusions: Path dependence literature has tried to go beyond general statements such as \"history matters\" and a metaphorical application of the term by specifying, among other things, when it can be said that a process is path dependent (when contingency and self-reinforcing processes are present), which phases can be distinguished in such processes (preformation, creation and development), which are the specific sources of path dependence (different types of self-reinforcing processes) and which change mechanisms can be applied in order to avoid lock-in effects (layering, conversion and the like).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to apply the path dependence theoretical framework to STI policies that support research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Review of the recent literature on the phases, sources of reinforcement and change mechanisms (layering, conversion, recombination, etc.) present in path-dependent processes, as well as the role played by mental frameworks, political agents and power relations; and its illustration and testing over 30 years of STI policy development in the Basque Country.\nFindings: How to operationalise the analysis of continuity and change of STI policies supporting RIS3 policies characterised by path dependence processes. Likewise, learnings from the analysis of Basque case regarding the types of challenges that European regions will face as they design their RIS3, according to their degree of maturity in STI policies.\nOriginality/value: It is the first time that the recently developed tools for analysis of path-dependent processes are applied to the development of STI policies supporting RIS3 policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How does education inequality respond to policy? A method and application to survey data from Albania and Nepal	[ "Nepal", "Albania", "Bootstrapping", "Demand for education", "Education concentration index", "Income-related inequality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper studies multiple aspects of inequality in education for selected developing countries. From estimation of inequality to linking determinants of education demand to inequality reduction, the paper is driven by a need to identify policies that could enhance schooling for socially and economically disadvantaged groups.\n2. Data and method: 2.1. Sources of data\n3. Results: 3.1. Inequality in education\n4. Conclusion: This paper proposes and applies a clear method to determine the effects of policy related variables on inequality in education. The method we follow allows us to measure the effects of changes in policy relevant factors after all the factors accounting for education inequality have been identified. This decomposition procedure for education inequality establishes the role played by two sets of factors: elasticities of education demand with respect to income and other determinants of education; and inequalities in those determinants.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure inequality in education and examine how socioeconomic factors affect education inequality in Albania and Nepal.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using large household survey data sets the authors calculate income-related inequality in education and decompose the inequality into factors that determine educational attainment. The decomposition procedure establishes the role played by two sets of factors: elasticities of education demand with respect to its determinants; and inequalities in those determinants. The paper then proposes a new mechanism to quantify the effects of policy simulations regarding income, urbanization, and distance to school on education inequality.\nFindings: Both the countries show significant inequality in education. Educational attainment in Albania and Nepal is determined by socioeconomic, demographic and geographic factors of which three are particularly significant in affecting inequality - income, urbanization and distance to school.\nResearch limitations/implications: While schooling for most individuals is largely financed by public subsidy in the countries, attainment is also likely affected by the price of education services and cost of health care. Identification of those factors in the context of more comprehensive data will enable researchers in future to draw firmer conclusions.\nPractical implications: The proposed method can help to identify cost-effective and sustainable policies to reduce socioeconomic inequality in education in developing countries.\nSocial implications: Reduction in education inequality can lead to higher income and better health which are instrumental in uplifting the poor in developing countries.\nOriginality/value: This is the first paper to measure education inequality using a concentration index and to propose a new mechanism to show the effect of simulated policies on education inequality.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Institutional research as a bridge: Aligning institutional internal data needs and external information requirements a strategic view	[ "Institutional research", "Institutional quality", "Accreditation", "Information requirements", "External accrediting body", "Internal organizational structure" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: As is the case in most modern arenas, the capacity for collecting and disseminating data about higher education is growing rapidly. New technologies, new software, new analytic methodologies and new approaches combine to create the potential for exponentially larger amounts and types of data that might be used to inform all interested parties.\nThe centrality of academic institutions: In the first instance, it must be recognized that institutions are the true locus of higher education, the place where higher education occurs. Academic institutions are the context for specialized programs. Particular academic programs or degrees rarely occur in an organizational vacuum. This reality is reflected in the vast literature on the nature of higher education. See, for example, Pelikan's (1992) sweeping chapter \"The idea of the university in scholarly literature.\"\nIR and external environments: Academic institutions also do not exist in a vacuum, instead being part of the larger society (Rojas and Bernasconi, 2011). In most countries, academic institutions are expected to be connected to the community, both the physical community in which they are located and the wider community of society. No longer can universities be isolated ivory towers. Instead, institutions have responsibilities to society, serving constituencies far beyond their gates, including the public and governmental stakeholders that provide support.\nThe challenge to IR: These considerations beg a core question: IR for whom? What is the real purpose of IR capacity? What are the proper roles of such a function both internally and externally? Is the principal purpose to serve the needs of the institutional decision makers? How are those decision makers defined? How do the internal and external functions align? Are there other considerations? For example, Colombia has instituted a new information model - the Modelo de Indicadores del Desempeno de la Educacion Publica (MIDE) - that explicitly states its purpose is to provide accessible information on higher education institutions for students and families (Modelo de Indicadores del Desempeno de la Educacion Publica, 2016).\nAligning internal and external data needs: In other words, external data requirements should be aligned with institutional data needs. External agencies should seek few, if any, data not also useful for internal institutional requirements. After all, institutions and accreditors have shared interests in information.\nConclusions: It also can be argued that the AIR approach does not go far enough. Indeed, this paper argues that the aspirations for IR should also be to engage and include external stakeholders. There should also be greater emphasis on serving the data needs of accreditors, other external bodies and, indeed, the public at large.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper explores the roles of institutional research (IR) units in higher education, examining both internal and external responsibilities and demands. The purpose of this paper is to encourage a broader strategic discussion of the missions and capacities of such academic institutional entities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The methodology employed begins with a review of relevant literature, followed by critical observations of an experienced reflective practitioner. Beginning with the premise that academic institutions are central, the paper discusses the external environment of institutions and the requirements placed on their internal IR operations. A core question is presented: research for whom? Both traditional and alternative organizational models are discussed in this light. The paper then explores ways in which data needs might be aligned in order to provide accountable, useful and transparent information to all stakeholders, internal and external.\nFindings: Findings show that the linking of internal information needs with those of external actors is key to effective operations; that IR units should seek to be a bridge between their institution and its environment so that effective information can be provided to all who need it. The paper is not designed as a detailed operational roadmap, but rather to highlight issues for examination within the context of specific institutional and agency situations.\nOriginality/value: Its originality stems from the focus on such linkages and the call for organizational leaders to recognize the full value of IR both within and across organizational boundaries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Modeling the efficiency of GCC banks: a data envelopment analysis approach	[ "Data analysis", "Process efficiency", "Banks", "Persian Gulf States" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Established in 1981 to defend smaller member nations against political and military upheavals in the region, the GCC bloc is comprised of six oil-rich Arab nations: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The six member states have a combined gross domestic product of an estimated $420 billion (Kuwait Times, 2006). Driven by continued significant economic growth throughout the GCC region on the back of high oil prices, nearly all GCC banks achieved record net income levels in 2005. The top 50 GCC banks saw net profits rise by a huge 58 percent in 2005 on an aggregate basis, well up from an already very high increase of 38 percent in 2004 and 23 percent in 2003.The overall return on equity (ROE) climbed to 22.6 percent in 2005 from 18.3 percent in 2004 and 15.6 percent in 2003. The return on assets (ROA) increased to 2.97 percent in 2005 against 2.29 percent in 2004 and 1.84 percent in 2003. At 2.97 percent in 2005, the GCC banking sector's ROA is probably the highest regional profitability indicator in the world. The top 50 GCC banks in the region saw total assets rise by 24 percent in 2005 to $506.4 billion. Total shareholders' equity for the top 50 rose by 39 percent to $67.9 billion, in part reflecting the strong profitability generated during the year. Nearly all the top 50 banks registered high percentage increases in assets, equity and net profits (Stubing, 2006).UAE banks dominate the top 50 banks, with 15 representatives in the total assets list and 16 in the shareholders' equity list. However, Saudi Arabian banks dominate the top end of both lists, with the four largest banks in the GCC in terms of asset size and shareholders' equity coming from the kingdom. The Saudi banks also form the top four places in regards to net profits for region. The Saudi banking sector continues to be the largest banking sector within the GCC.Despite the fact that efficiency evaluation and benchmarking are widely used methods to identify the best practices as a means to improve the performance and increase productivity (Barros, 2004), research on the performance and efficiency of the GCC banking industry is virtually non-existent. Measuring efficiency levels at the GCC banks is an important issue for managers and investors alike. Consumers also benefit from efficient resource usage and allocation because this may mean lower prices and more professional service (Anderson et al., 1998). Although widely employed to evaluate bank efficiency in the West (Rickards, 2003), DEA is less well known within the banking sector in developing countries, and the GCC countries are no exception. In this research we fill this research gap through some initial analysis on top commercial banks in the GCC, an area where there has been virtually no previous research. The paper also contributes methodologically through the use of various non-parametric DEA methods that provide considerable information for business analysis. More specifically, the purpose of this research is two-fold:1. to assess the efficiency of the top GCC banks using 2005 operating data; and2. to develop separate benchmarks for possible reductions in resources and possible increase in outputs used by top GCC banks.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The next section reviews the relevant literature. The following section summarizes the methodology used to conduct the analysis. The subsequent section presents empirical results of the efficiency levels of GCC banks. After a brief preliminary data analysis, this section first sets out efficiency scores derived from estimating the basic DEA models; it also presents sensitivity analysis of DEA-derived efficiency scores as a rough validity check on the results. Next, the paper sets out some managerial and policy implications of the analysis. The final section deals with research limitations and explores avenues for future research.\nLiterature review: During the late 1980s and particularly in the 1990s, the DEA method has been used extensively to evaluate banking institutions. In their review, Berger and Humphrey (1997) count 130 studies on the efficiency of the banking industry in 21 countries; 116 of them were published between 1992 and 1997.Miller and Noulas (1996) examined the efficiency of large US banks. They found an overall technical efficiency of around 97 percent. However, the majority of banks were found to be too large and experiencing decreasing returns to scale. A second-stage regression analysis showed that pure technical efficiency is positively related to bank size and bank profitability.Bhattacharya et al. (1997) used a two-stage DEA approach to examine the impact of liberalization on the efficiency of the Indian banking industry. In the first stage a technical efficiency score was calculated, whereas in the second stage a stochastic frontier analysis was used to attribute variation in efficiency scores to three sources: temporal, ownership and noise component.Alirezaee et al. (1998) utilised data from 1,282 bank branches in Canada to conduct numerical experiments relating to DEA results to sample size. They found that the average branch efficiency score varied inversely with the number of branches in the sample and directly with the total number of inputs and outputs. They also cautioned that using relatively small sample sizes in a model with as few as three inputs and three outputs could lead to a substantial upward bias in efficiency scores.Seiford and Zhu (1999) examined the performance of the top 55 US banks using a two-stage DEA approach. The results indicated that relatively large banks exhibit better performance on profitability, whereas smaller banks tend to perform better with respect to marketability.Cook and Hababou (2001) studied both the sales and service efficiencies of bank branches. They extended the standard additive DEA modelling approach using goal programming to derive optimal efficiency scores while accounting for shared branch resource inputs.Drake and Howcroft (2002) assessed the relative efficiency of UK clearing bank branches using DEA method. This paper utilised the basic efficiency indices and extended the analysis by examining the relationship between size and efficiency.Yildirim (2002) evaluated the efficiency of Turkish commercial banks between 1988 and 1999 using the DEA method. The results suggest that over the sample period both pure technical and scale efficiency measures showed a great variation and the sector did not achieve sustained efficiency gains.Using a bootstrapping DEA technique, Casu and Molyneux (2003) investigated efficiency across European banking systems. Results suggest that there has been a slight improvement in bank efficiency levels since the implementation of the EU's Single Market Programme.Krishnasamy (2003) used both DEA and Malmquist total factor productivity index (MPI) to evaluate bank efficiency and productivity changes in Malaysia over the period 2000-2001. The results from the analysis indicated that total MPI increased in all the bans studied. The growth of productivity in these banks was attributed to technological change rather than technical efficiency change.Wu et al. (2006) integrated DEA and neural networks (NNs) to examine the relative branch efficiency of a large Canadian bank. Findings suggest that the predicted efficiency using the DEA-NN model has good correlation with that calculated by DEA, which indicates that the predicted efficiency using the DEA-NN approach is a god proxy to classical DEA approach.Studies on performance evaluation and efficiency of the banking industry in the Arab world are rare in extant literature. Notable among them are Al-Faraj et al. (1993), Chaffai (1997) and Al-Shammari and Salimi (1998). Al-Faraj et al. (1993) used DEA to evaluate 15 bank branches of one of the largest commercial banks in Saudi Arabia. The results indicated that 12 branches were efficient. Chaffai (1997) evaluated the technical efficiency in the Tunisian banking industry. Results of this study showed that technical efficiency of labour and capital inputs are decreasing over time and Labour input is more inefficiently used than capital input. Al-Shammari and Salimi (1998) evaluated the comparative operating efficiency of banks in Jordan using a modified version of DEA. The results suggest that the majority of banks investigated are fairly inefficient over the period 1991-1994. Table I summarises previous research conducted to evaluate bank efficiency using DEA.From this brief review we find that although numerous studies have attempted to assess banks efficiency in the West and other parts of the world, very few studies have focused on measuring efficiency in the Arab world, and the GCC is no exception. The lack of empirical research in this area confirms Atiyya's (1992) findings concerning the lack of empirical research into Arab management practices in general. In this investigation we aim to fill this research gap by empirically evaluating banks' efficiency in the GCC.\nMethodology: Data envelopment analysis\nResults: Preliminary data analysis\nImplications: Systematic benchmarking through efficiency measurement is one method managers can use to benchmark the efficiency of their banks. The process of benchmarking may be used to identify useful best business practices, innovative ideas, effective operating procedures, and winning strategies that can be adopted by a bank to accelerate its own progress by ensuring quality, productivity, and cost improvements (Chang and Lo, 2005). In contrast, with piecemeal examination of single performance indicators, global efficiency techniques used in this study can offer GCC bank managers a rounded assessment of their banks' performance. Unlike targets that are based on individual performance measures, global efficiency measures can offer local managers the freedom to set their own priorities, and to seek out improvements along dimensions of performance where they believe that gains are most readily secured. DEA results can also be used by GCC bank managers to support other objectives, such as allocating finance or identifying the priorities for inspection and improvement of performance. One of the important implications of this study is that efficiency measures facilitate the publication of \"league tables\" or rankings of entire GCC banks. Some authors believe that such rankings nurture public interest in the performance of organizations, promote accountability and stimulate a search for improvement (Hibbard et al., 2003). Finally, it is hoped that GCC bank managers have the possibility to analyse organizational practices of the peer groups and that they will be able to improve their future efficiency by adapting these practices for their inefficient banks.\nLimitations and future research: Like any other study, the present study has several limitations that warrant more research. First, it may not always be possible for a bank to ever become efficient because several of the inputs may not be under the full control of management. Therefore, it must be clear that some DEA targets might be impossible to achieve in practice. DEA results are obtained from the application of a mathematical algorithm, without considering specific conditions and restrictions of a bank. It is in the hands of managers to skilfully use these results as a support for decision-making. Second, the selected variables in the present study might not be exhaustive, and the data set is short. Staat (2001) has showed formally how DEA efficiency scores are affected by sample size. Future studies may use a larger sample size and panel data with different sets of inputs and outputs to test the robustness of the results. Third, this study used a cross-sectional data set to evaluate the efficiency of the top GCC banks. However, Sengupta (1995) suggests that competitiveness or efficiency can better be evaluated through the analysis of average efficiencies across time. Future studies may use longitudinal designs to assess time-varying efficiency. Finally, as suggested by Bauer et al. (1998), for the frontier-based efficiency scores to be useful, the estimated scores should be positively correlated with traditional non-frontier based measures of performance. Avkiran (1999) also suggests that assessment of banks operational performance through DEA should be complemented by ratio analysis that measures financial performance of the bank. He recommends that as a sound managerial practice, profitability measures should be compared with DEA results and significant disagreements investigated. Therefore, future studies should test the existence of positive rank-order correlations between efficiency scores obtained from DEA analysis and traditional efficiency measures such as financial ratios. This test would give assurances that frontier measures are not simply artificial products of the assumptions made regarding the underlying optimisation techniques used. Finally, it should be noted that previous studies (e.g. Weill, 2004) have found a lack of robustness between parametric and non-parametric approaches used to evaluate efficiency. Therefore, future studies of Arab banking industry should compare efficiency scores based on parametric and non-parametric techniques.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The major aim of this research is to measure the relative efficiency of the top 50 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banks. The sensitivity of the results is also investigated.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to evaluate the relative efficiency of GCC banks. Cross-sectional data for the year 2005 were used to conduct the analysis.\nFindings: - The results indicate that the performance of several banks is sub-optimal, suggesting the potential for significant improvements. Separate benchmarks were derived for possible reductions in resources used, and significant savings are possible on this account.\nOriginality/value: - From a policy perspective, this study highlights the importance of encouraging increased efficiency throughout the banking industry in the GCC.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring continuance intention of social networking sites: An empirical study integrating social support and network externalities	[ "Continuance intention", "Network externalities", "Social support", "Social networking sites", "SNS providers", "SNS users" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook and Twitter, have become ubiquitous and well-established online social platforms in people's daily life (Lin and Lu, 2011; Maier et al., 2014). Nearly every moment, a large number of people use SNSs to contact with others, express themselves, read current news, display beautiful pictures or just share their daily lives. Meanwhile, the popularity of portable devices (smartphones and tablet PCs) and the application of the fourth-generation mobile technologies have further accelerated this trend (Zhou, 2015). For users, SNSs have become both computer-mediated and smartphone-mediated communication systems and allowed them to log in without limitations of time and place. Essentially, SNSs are platforms based on interaction and participation (Wei et al., 2014). Thus, SNS users can be considered as the key to the success of them. In other words, long-term development of SNSs largely depends on users' continuance intention. However, Park and Lee (2010) argued that although SNSs have attracted a variety of users, how to keep them is not easy because many functions and features of different SNSs now have become highly similar, and therefore fierce competitions among SNS providers will inevitably exist. Under this background, approaches of retaining users and facilitating their long-term usage are necessary to be explored. Many studies have examined this from different perspectives.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 Social support\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Data analysis and results: A two-step approach for data analysis was used in this paper (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). It tests the measurement model and structural relationship among the latent constructs.\n5. Discussion: Through theoretical analysis and empirical tests, we propose a theoretical model to examine how network externalities influence social support and subsequently affect continuance intention. The findings of our research provide theoretical and practical implications for future researches.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of continuance intention of social networking site (SNS) users through a new perspective and discuss how to retain SNS users.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The author proposed a research model by integrating network externalities and social support. Three dimensions of social support and two types of network externalities were analyzed, respectively, to explore the direct and indirect effects on continuance intention. Online questionnaires were adopted to collect data, and 513 valid samples were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach.\nFindings: The findings show that network externalities have a significant indirect effect on user' continuance intention through the mediation effects of social support, and among the three dimensions of social support, network management plays a more important role on continuance intention.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings suggest that network externalities can trigger the function of social support to keep the \"stickiness\" of SNS users, and network management is the key dimension of online social support. Some other theoretical and practical implications are also provided.\nOriginality/value: The study is novel in exploring users' continuance intention of SNSs by integrating social support and network externalities. Meanwhile, the author also intends to compare the effect of different dimensions of social support on SNS usage and discuss their internal relationships.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A case study on the misuse of hawala banking	[ "Banking", "Trust", "Money markets", "Crimes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The informal economy is one of the more elusive objects in social research (Lippens and Ponsaers, 2006, p. 259). Not only is its subject matter subterranean or hidden, but one encounters severe problems when trying to define the concept of \"informal economy\". Attempts at definition have often tended to converge on the rather basic notion of informal economy as economic activity which is unregulated, uncontrolled and/or non-enforced by either the state or other (public) authorities (Lippens and Ponsaers, 2006, p. 259).The dealings of hawala bankers[1] are unmistakably part of the informal economy. Hawala bankers are financial service providers who carry out financial transactions without a license and therefore without government control. They accept cash, cheques or other valuable goods at one location and pay a corresponding sum in cash or other remuneration at another location. This service is comparable with services provided by official banks and by non-banking financial institutions such as Western Union and MoneyGram, but unlike these companies, hawala bankers disregard the legal obligations concerning the identification of clients, record keeping, and the disclosure of unusual transactions, to which these official financial institutions are subject. The essence of hawala banking is simply that financial transactions occur in the absence of, or parallel to, formal banking sector channels. Hawala banking is not certified and supervised by any government[2].The activities of these bankers can be described as \"irregular informal economic activities\". They are an example of the production and consumption of unregistered services outside regular employment (Henry and Sills, 2006, p. 264). The term \"informal\" should be put into perspective. Berkowitz et al. (2006) point out the fact that, sociologically speaking, the networks of hawala bankers are not \"informal\" but, on the contrary, highly formalized through means such as kinship, ethnicity and other means of institutionalizing trust: \"they are only \"informal\" in the sense that they are not modern Western banking networks and organizations\" (p. 1).The irregular informal activity performed by hawala bankers represents a significant financial interest, particularly to migrants and their relatives in the country of origin. According to a recent estimate by the World Bank, migrants annually transfer 167 billion dollars to family members and relations in their country of origin through the official financial system (World Bank, 2006, p. 87). It is estimated that the informal remittance sector represents at least 50 per cent of the size of the formal sector (World Bank, 2006, p. 92). Informal remittances include not only the services provided by hawala bankers, but also individuals who take cash with them, send it by mail, or ask others to deliver money on their behalf. Dutch consumer research into methods of transferring money used by migrants revealed that in roughly half of the cases formal channels were used (banks, money transfer agencies). The contribution of hawala bankers to the total remittances varied between ethnic groups, from 7 (Turkish migrants) to 31 per cent (Somalis) (Consumentenbond, 2005, p. 23). An accurate estimate of the amount of money transferred through hawala bankers is not available. Presumably, the amounts are significant, since hawala bankers are attractive to many migrants because they work cheaper, faster, and less bureaucratically compared with formal remitters (e.g. Perkel, 2004, p. 198 et sequation). An added benefit for illegal migrants is that hawala bankers usually do not record their identities.In recent years, the interest in hawala banking has increased considerably, not because of its economic impact on migrants, but as part of the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In a time when formal banks are faced with a growing body of anti-money laundering legislation, the informal character of hawala banks is increasingly regarded by the authorities as a weak link in the fight against money laundering. The characteristics of hawala banking, including anonymity and lack of official scrutiny, make them susceptible to misuse (Johnston, 2005; Razavy, 2005, p. 288). Despite these concerns, not much empirical material on the misuse of hawala banking has been published to date[3]. Hawala banking is indeed an elusive object. One way of gaining insight into this \"hidden phenomenon\" is to study police files. Over the past several years, within the framework of a long-term research project into organised crime, I have studied ten cases involving misuse of hawala banking by criminal groups in The Netherlands (Kleemans et al., 2002; van de Bunt and Kleemans, 2007)[4]. Recently, two new cases were examined. The empirical material on which this contribution is based now consists of 12 cases, collected between 1996 and 2007. The police files concerned contain reports of wiretapped telephone conversations, copies of confiscated \"accounts\", transcripts of police interrogations of suspects, witness statements, etc. Sometimes these files offer detailed and authentic insights into the functioning of hawala bankers, but a lack of clarity remains regarding the size of the international network of hawala bankers. Based on the information gathered from police files, the present contribution examines the ways in which hawala banking can be used for criminal purposes[5].\n2 Hawala banking: Hawala bankers are not real bankers. They only provide a limited number of \"banking services\", i.e. the transfer of money and the exchange of currency. Hawala banking is a system in which money (or value) of the customer (remitter) is received by hawala banker A for the purpose of paying it to a third party (recipient) in another geographical location. A then communicates with hawala banker B at the transfer destination, requesting that funds be paid out to an individual identified by the initial customer. Communication may occur through, for example, telephone, facsimile or Internet. The initial hawalader A charges the customer a fee or percentage of the transfer amount.The simplest form of hawala banking is the \"euro to euro\" or the \"pound to pound\" system used by, for instance, the Benin communities in Amsterdam and London. \"Euro to euro\" means that the remitter can go to an office somewhere in Amsterdam and have a certain amount of money transferred to a location in Nigeria, where the recipient is paid in euros. The receiving banker A is the same person as the paying banker B, or belongs to the same small organisation. The transaction fee amounts to 10 per cent of the money that was transferred to Nigeria (Aarts, 2008).At the other end of the spectrum we find hawala bankers collaborating within networks spanning the globe. They operate at their own risk, using their own money, but their modus operandi is based on strong collaboration and mutual trust. The basic model works as follows: banker A receives money which is paid out by hawalader B, leaving A indebted to B. Cooperation in the network of hawala bankers rests on the principle that the roles will be reversed in the next transaction: B receives money from a remitter to be paid out by A to the recipient. Now B owes A. When the amounts involved in both transactions are the same, the debts cancel each other out and there is no need for a physical transfer of money. In practice, the volume of transfers may be higher in one direction than in another. The hawala bankers consequently need to settle their accounts by using conventional banking systems, physical transfers, or through a series of trade transactions (Passas, 1999; Kleemans et al., 2002, p. 120; Munshani, 2005)[6].Trust is the most critical element in this system of hawala banking. Without mutual trust between bankers, hawala banking cannot function. After all, hawala banker B has made a payment without receiving its counter-value. Meanwhile, the remitter has to take it for granted that the money handed over will actually be paid to the recipient. In other words, trust between the two hawala bankers as well as between the bankers and their clients is essential. According to Jost and Sandhu (2000, p. 1), the components of hawala that distinguish it from other remittance systems are trust and the extensive use of connections such as family relationships or regional affiliations. This could explain why the simple form of hawala banking is prevalent in a \"low trust country\" such as Nigeria (Smith, 2007): more extensive networks would require a level of trust between bankers that seems to be lacking in this country.The existing literature points to the fact that the commercial transactions within hawala networks appear to run smoothly, despite the fact that, at least theoretically, the system provides ample opportunity for fraud and conflicts concerning settlements. Many authors try to explain this by referring to the hawala bankers' strong social ties. The economists Schramm and Taube (2003, p. 417) point out that hawala networks are similar to \"homogeneous clubs\": networks which create lock-in situations through which extremely risk-laden exchange relationships can be transformed into self-fulfilling contracts. This can be explained by the strong social ties (ethnic or family), which usually structure the network of hawala bankers. Razavy (2005, p. 285) adds to this that the strength of the hawala banking system depends on its embeddedness in the common culture and belief system of the community. In this way, opportunistic behaviour by operators is likely to be doubly punished. Not only does an unreliable hawala banker risk expulsion from the hawala network, but also excommunication from the community and loss of honour (Razavy 2005, p. 286; Schramm and Taube, 2003, p. 416). Broken trust results in economic suicide for the hawala banker and because of these negative consequences hawala bankers can rely upon the certainty that no one in the network would dare to cheat[7].Hawala banking also depends on the trust of its customers. The intriguing aspect of hawala banking is that, as far as its customers are concerned, a maximum of trust is engendered despite a minimum of transparency and formality. According to Munshani (2005, p. 13), even a request of a receipt is offensive because it would doubt the credibility of the informal banker. Clients interviewed seemed uninterested in a receipt even if one was available. Considering the lack of formal procedures, the trust placed by clients in hawala bankers is remarkably high. When, for instance, Surinamese immigrants in The Netherlands were asked why they use hawala bankers instead of official banks or money transfer agencies such as MoneyGram, they mentioned the trustworthiness of hawala bankers as an important consideration (Unger and Siegel, 2006, p. 91).One of the essential characteristics of hawala banking is that the business relationship between banker and customer is based on personal trust. While many modern social arrangements tend to be secular and anonymous, the hawala system critically preserves the cultural mark of immediate and personal interactions (Razavy, 2005, p. 285). Sometimes these relationships grow so close that some families deal with the same hawala banker and his ancestors throughout the generations. The constant encounters, together with the reputation that a hawala banker holds within a community, greatly reduces the likelihood of cheating. Schramm and Taube (2003, p. 416) also note that hawala bankers are strongly interwoven with the socio-religious fabric of society. As a consequence of this particular embeddedness, the norms and values affiliated with the entire system may gain a self-reinforcing element. In hawala banking, clients and operators are often of the same ethnic background (Munshani, 2005; Perkel, 2004). Turkish migrants transfer money through Turkish informal bankers, while Surinamese migrants use Surinamese offices. This common background is in itself logical. First of all, sharing a common language and culture creates a basis of trust and, second, Turkish bankers are obviously in a better position to conduct money transactions in Turkey than, for instance, Surinamese or Iraqi bankers.\n3 Hawala banking for criminal purposes: It seems obvious that the need for trust increases with the risk of a transaction. The risks are greater when the transaction sums are high or when criminal funds are involved. Berkowitz et al. (2006, p. 8), for instance, maintain that trust will be stronger and more closely institutionally hedged in cases in which illegal or questionable transactions are being undertaken. They suspect in most cases the transactions are sheltered by marriage ties. On the face of it, this seems an obvious line of reasoning, but it does not seem to be supported by the data from the cases I examined. First, I will give an overview of the different types of illegal transactions involving hawala bankers.3.1 Illegal services\n4 Conclusions: Hawala banking is a centuries-old institution which has not yet outlived its usefulness. Migrant workers in particular supposedly put more trust in hawala bankers than in formal banks. But this is only part of the truth. Hawala banking is a system that flies under the radar of modern supervision of financial transactions. As a result of this, underground banking can become an attractive option for criminals and terrorists to transfer funds around the world without being noticed. Up to now, little empirical research has been carried out into the role of hawala bankers in transferring the proceeds of crime. Starting from my research into organised crime, I analysed 12 cases involving hawala bankers who participated in the transfer of the proceeds of crime. The cases challenge a number of existing preconceptions and cliches about hawala banking. The emphasis in the literature on the presence of trust between bankers and clients as well as between bankers themselves is not supported by my research findings. Strong ethnic and family ties are not always a necessary condition for cooperation. The importance of ethnicity and personal trust should not be exaggerated. In most of the cases, the bankers and their (criminal) customers were of different ethnic origins and contact was established through other than ethnic channels. When the stakes are high, a common social background and shared ethnicity between different bankers, as well as between bankers and their clients, seem to be less important than is often assumed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Since 9/11, hawala banking (financial service providers who carry out financial transactions whereby cash, cheques or other valuable goods are accepted at one location and a corresponding sum in cash or other remuneration is paid at another location) has attracted a great deal of attention. Much has been written on the subject, but so far little empirical research has been conducted into the misuse of hawala banking for criminal purposes. This paper aims to fill this gap.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper contains an analysis of 12 police files on the use of hawala banks by perpetrators of crime. The data gathered from these cases are compared to what has been reported on hawala banking in the existing literature.\nFindings: - The literature emphasises the importance of trust between client and banker, as well as between hawala bankers themselves. Trust is supposedly based on strong social ties (ethnic and family ties). The 12 cases studied (almost all of which concerned the misuse of hawala banking by drug dealers) put the significance of trust into perspective: the importance of ethnicity and personal trust should not be exaggerated. When the stakes are high, a common social background and shared ethnicity between bankers, as well as between bankers and their clients, seems to be less important than is often assumed.\nOriginality/value: - The paper goes beyond the traditional focus on trust and strong social ties.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Capturing college students on the web: analysis of clothing web site attributes	[ "Retailing", "Electronic commerce", "Internet", "Perception", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Recently, the internet has become one of the most rapidly growing retail formats, with online sales growth rates outpacing those in traditional retail settings (Burns, 2005; Levy and Weitz, 2001). According to the US Census Bureau, online retail spending is estimated to total $47.8 billion in 2002 and expected to triple to $130 billion by 2006 (as cited in Case and King (2003)). In 2004, figures for online sales accounted for 6.5 percent of total retail sales, up from 5.4 percent in 2003 and are expected to account for 7.7 percent of total retail sales in 2005 (Burns, 2005). Growth in the number of internet shoppers and the percent of internet sales are expected to continue (Maloy, 2003; Siddiqui et al., 2003). With the general trend toward the increasing use of the internet as an important shopping medium (Burns, 2005; Levy and Weitz, 2001; UCLA, 2001), the attributes of a retailer's web site are crucial for attracting shoppers to the site and convincing them to become or remain customers.\nLiterature review: Store attributes affect consumers' decisions on where to shop and what to purchase in stores (Daily, 1978; Scott, 1985). This notion applies to web site storefronts. As consumers can obtain information about products and services or purchase them, the attributes of a web site storefront become important in attracting customers and keeping them in the electronic marketplace, which is similar to the way retail stores lure customers in traditional retail settings. Some researchers suggest that such attributes as convenience, competitive price, the amount and type of product information, the ease of searching for information and customer service feedback, playing a major role in creating demand for online purchasing and increasing store transactions and sales (Lohse and Spiller, 1998; Swaminathan et al., 1999; Zellweger, 1997). Other research also indicates such factors as low prices, ease of comparison shopping, low shipping costs, timely delivery, security information, good customer services, convenience and time saving, and speedy e-mail response as key reasons for the increase in online purchasing (Lorek, 2003; Magee, 2003; Maloy, 2003; Retail Merchandiser, 2003; Rowley and Okelberry, 2000). Siddiqui et al. (2003) found that web page design, ease of navigation, security guarantees, and return policies encourage consumers to purchase apparel products online. Park and Stoel (2002) noted that rich, descriptive information provided on the web sites results in greater purchasing activity by online shoppers.A study by Swaminathan et al. (1999) revealed that the perceived ease of placing and canceling orders and usefulness of product information provided on web sites increased customer satisfaction and likelihood of repeat purchasing. Szymanski and Hise (2000) identified online convenience, merchandising, web site design and payment security as important factors that influence internet shoppers' satisfaction. Koivumaki (2001) found web site characteristics such as clarity of the interface, usefulness of the web site, interactivity, ease of navigation, selection availability, product presentation, ease of use and convenience of shopping had significant positive effects on the satisfaction. Kim and Stoel (2004) noted that the perceptions of informational fit-to-task, transaction capability, and response time were significantly related to satisfaction with internet web sites. Watchravesringkan and Shim (2003) examined the relationship between consumers' future online shopping intentions and their attitudes toward web site attributes and found that the more positive were consumers' attitudes toward web sites' processing speed and transaction security, the stronger their intentions to search online for apparel-product information and to buy apparel online. As seen, previous research has indicated close relationships between internet web site attributes and consumers' online shopping behavior.Kim and Lim (2001) studied the relationship between consumers' evaluation of the relative importance of web site attributes and their satisfaction with the attributes of the web sites where they shopped. They found that some dimensions of evaluating the importance of web site characteristics influenced respondents' satisfaction with other dimensions of the web site characteristics; for example, the respondents' evaluation of the \"information quality\" dimension of web site attributes was significantly related to the respondents' satisfaction with \"entertainment\" dimension. This implies that consumers may perceive good quality of information on the web sites as an entertainment factor in browsing the web sites. On this basis, the following hypotheses were formulated:H1. There will be web site attribute dimensions that represent online shoppers' perception of their favorite clothing web sites.H2. Online shoppers' evaluation of the relative importance of clothing web site attributes will be significantly correlated with the perceptions of their favorite clothing web sites.\nMethod: Sampling and data collection\nResults: Factor analysis\nDiscussion and implications: In this study, five web site evaluation criteria were identified (i.e. product information, customer service, privacy/security, navigation, auditory experience/comparison shopping). It is interesting to have auditory experience/comparison shopping as one of the factors of web site attributes, which are entertainment aspects of shopping. This result implies that e-tailers need to provide auditory experience and comparison shopping features to attract young college student consumers to browse their web sites and to increase the opportunities to retain them on their web sites. Among the five criteria, privacy/security received the highest mean score in terms of both relative importance of web site attributes and perceived quality of web site attributes, indicating that privacy/security was the most important criteria of the apparel web sites for respondents. These results suggest that apparel e-tailers should emphasize their efforts in protecting their customers' privacy and security. In an effort to reduce privacy and security concerns, apparel e-tailers should make efforts to shore up the security of their customer databases. They also need to frequently affirm guarantees of confidentiality in various areas of the web site, instead of stating in the policy section only.Our research identified the dimensions of web site storefront attributes that represent online shoppers' perceptions of their favorite clothing web site and examine the relationship between their perceptions of their favorite web sites and the evaluation of the relative importance of various web site attributes. The results revealed three variables, the product information, customer service and navigation factors, were closely related to each other and create a well-defined dimension in representing the respondents' perceptions of their favorite clothing web site attributes. College student online clothing shoppers perceived the product information, navigation and customer service factors as being major elements in representing the perception of their favorite clothing web sites and they tend to shop online at their favorite clothing web sites because they perceive their favorite clothing web sites as providing those characteristics. These dimensions were fairly well predicted by the following set of independent variables: the product information, navigation, and customer service factors of general clothing web site characteristics; that is, product information, navigation and customer service factors of general web site characteristics provide a substantive contribution to the variance in the variables in the dependent variate and, thus are the key predictors of those variables. Findings suggest that we cannot view each web site attribute dimension as a separate one. For example, online shoppers' perceptions of product information dimension of their favorite web sites was significantly related with their evaluation of not only product information factor but also customer service and navigation factors in evaluating the relative importance of general clothing web site characteristics. Providing good customer services for online shopping and well-established web site navigation features will influence online shoppers' perception of their favorite clothing web sites as providing good product information aspect. Thus, these three factors are important for apparel e-tailers in developing effective clothing web sites and they should make every effort to integrate these three web site attribute dimensions. Accordingly, in order to attract and retain college student consumers on the web sites, apparel retailers must ensure that their web sites provide product information such as price, up-to-date product information, size, colors, and quality photos, and customer services such as sales assistance system, return policy, and order tracking and checking. In addition, they should ensure that they provide well-established web sites that have uncluttered screens and easy search paths and that are fun to visit. For example, along with providing up-to-date product information and fashion trends, putting music popular among college student consumers on the web site may be effective ways to create a fun place for online shoppers to visit.Interestingly, the results for H1 showed that privacy and security were not major elements in respondents' perceptions of their favorite clothing web sites, although the factor comprising these elements had the highest mean value of the five constructs of perception of favorite clothing web sites. A possible reason for this result is that privacy and security may be comparatively less correlated to other factors in representing the perception of favorite clothing web sites. Because canonical correlation takes into account correlations among dependent variables in representing the variate, the lack of correlation with other variables might cause exclusion of privacy and security. The privacy and security factor cannot be overlooked, however, in establishing clothing web sites because, with respect to the mean score, respondents put this factor in the first place among the five constructs in their evaluation of general clothing web site and their perception of favorite clothing web sites.Although this research offers new insights to retailers in building effective web sites, it has limitations. Although we used systematic random sampling, the contacted students' self-selection to respond or not to the survey may have biased the sample. Another sampling issue is that inclusion of only college students aged 18 to 22, at two US universities, limits the generalizability of the results to the larger population of young adult consumers and to other consumers. As well, despite drawing the sample from students at two large universities in the US locations widely separated geographically, the research results cannot be generalized to all US college students. Future research should include online shoppers at different colleges and also of different ages. High school students, for example, are active internet users with great potential for shopping online.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to identify the dimensions of web site attributes that represent online shoppers' perceptions of their favorite clothing web site and to examine the relationship with the evaluation of the relative importance of various clothing web site attributes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - US college students, who had online shopping experience and favorite clothing web sites that they especially like to visit, were surveyed. Hypothesized relationships between the relative importance of general clothing web site attributes and the perceptions of favorite clothing web sites were tested using canonical correlation analysis.\nFindings: - The results revealed three variables, the product information, customer service and navigation factors, were closely related to each other and create a well-defined dimension in representing the respondents' perceptions of their favorite clothing web sites. These dimensions were fairly well predicted by the following set of independent variables: the product information, navigation, and customer service factors of general clothing web site attributes.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Results cannot be generalized to all young adult consumers and to other consumers. Future research should include other population groups.\nPractical implications: - This research offers new insights to apparel e-tailers in building effective web sites that can attract young adult online shoppers to the company and retain them through the web sites.\nOriginality/value: - This study is the first to investigate young adult online consumers' perceptions of their favorite internet web sites in relation to their evaluations of the relative importance of general clothing web sites attributes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Comparative study of behavioral mindsets in team decision	[ "Resource allocation", "Behavioural mindset", "Team decision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Resource allocation is an important and significant studied problem in higher education (Ho et al., 2006). Resource allocation involves apportioning a finite set of resources among a number of parties. The problem is choosing both the procedure and the criteria to generate an outcome which all affected parties would consider fair and thus find acceptable. Researchers, industrial engineers, economists, and others have constructed numerous models utilizing techniques, both within their individual specialty and many overlapping scientific and behavioral fields, in an attempt to find a better way to allocate scarce resources. The intent of this paper is not to develop a new model, but to describe a college's effort in applying shared governance in team decision making when allocating the college's budget to its five departments, and more importantly to gain a greater awareness and appreciation of the evolving issues that are critical to the decision-making process. The College of Business Administration (CBA) is one of the eight colleges in a university within the California State University System in the USA. The university has a proud tradition in valuing the role of shared governance between its faculty and administration. Among the few annual university-wide recognition awards to faculty is an Academic Leadership Award given to acknowledge publicly and reward significant contributions to the principle and practice of shared governance. The college has practiced shared governance involving faculty deliberations when making key decisions over the years. In 2001, it received the California Prospector Award (a statewide Baldrige awards program) from the California Council for Excellence in recognition of its efforts in continuous improvement. In this paper, we focus on two case examples of shared governance in budget allocation by comparing the behavioral mindsets of the team of chairs in 2003 vis-a-vis the team of chairs in 2011. We first examine the fit of real data taken from these two budget allocation case examples, to the results of five behavioral mindsets and their corresponding team decision models. Using this approach, we are able to identify a very distinctly different \"best-fit\" behavioral mindset exhibited by the two teams of players in their decision making. The distinct differences in the two case examples provide interesting insights, for which our analysis is able to find support from established theories. Our results show the type of behavioral mindset in team decision evolves over time, and contextual factors such as changes in the macro-environment, the composition of decision makers, and their personalities, play an important role in shaping the final outcome.\n2. Literature review: Resource allocation in any organization including higher education is a strategic issue. When correctly done, resource allocation ensures an organization's sustainable growth, and nurtures a fair and transparent culture in the organization. However, resource allocation is distributive in nature, and bargaining is inevitable. Also, many contextual and intertwining factors are involved in affecting the negotiated outcome. In the following, our literature review will focus on the key issues in a team decision making involving budget allocation such as the applicability of fairness and equity theories, economic and behavioral utility functions, resource allocation models, gender differences, and contextual effects.\n3. Case descriptions, models, and results: In this section, we present the two case examples along with their budget data, the five behavioral mindset models, and a comparative analysis of the results.\n4. Research highlights and conclusion: In conducting this comparative study of the two case examples, we focus our attention on gaining a greater awareness and appreciation of the evolving issues that are critical to the budget allocation decision-making process. We find that the worst possible payoff reference point (max-min) in 2003 had shifted to the best possible payoff reference point (min-max) in 2011. We attribute this shift in the reference point to the change in contextual factors such as fiscal climate, size of budget involved, and composition of decision makers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Resource allocation is an important area of strategic planning in any organization, including higher education. In comparing two case examples of a college's efforts in shared governance in allocating budget to its five departments, the purpose of this paper is to show the importance of a college's awareness and understanding of team behavioral mindsets and contextual factors when practicing continuous improvement each time it applies shared governance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors propose five models that represent five distinct behavioral mindsets. The authors examine the fit of real data based on two case examples, and then identify and compare the behavioral mindsets and possible coalition formed in each case.\nFindings: The results show the type of behavioral mindset evolves over time, and the contextual factors such as changes in the macro-environment, the composition of decision makers, and their personalities, play an important role in shaping the final outcome. Continuously monitoring and learning, which leads to a more thorough understanding and awareness of the changes in contextual factors, is imperative.\nOriginality/value: Team decision making involving resource allocation is a critical problem in higher education when applying shared governance. A clear understanding of the type of behavioral mindset exhibited in the process and its causes is critical. The paper proposes a model that can help higher education administrators identify the behavioral mindset. In addition, the authors find support from established theories for the evolution of team behavioral mindsets in a college's budget allocation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Community based innovation: its antecedents and its impact on innovation success	[ "Innovation", "Product development", "Taiwan" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A significant recent change in business markets has been the increasing involvement of industrial customers in manufacturers' new product development (NPD) processes (Bonner and Orville, 2004; Kristensson et al., 2004). As Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2000) state, in business markets, \"customers are fundamentally changing the dynamics of the marketplace. The market has become a forum in which customers play an active role ... in NPD.\" Traditionally, new product development processes and the marketing of new products took place within the firm boundaries, but several factors have led to the erosion of closed innovation. The lessons also can be transferred to physical products, and these companies have started to look for new ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their innovation processes through active search for new technologies and ideas outside of the firm, and also through cooperation with suppliers and competitors.Christensen (2003) indicates that a company that listens to its customers and provides what they want still may lose out to the competition - because a cheaper, not-as-good but good-enough competitor comes in and gains market share. Therefore, Chesbrough (2003) encourages changing the role of R&D, to focus more on knowledge brokering. The technology brokering process model (Hargadon and Sutton, 1997) describes how an organization systematically can collect information from different domains and combine it to create new products and services. Community-based innovations aggregate the efforts of individuals to create something that serves a shared need, and explicitly includes the participation of customers. These efforts are supported by formal or informal community partnerships that lower overhead, coordinate behavior, and spread risks in order to create value that, oftentimes, otherwise would be unavailable to the market. A significant example of this can be found in open software development, whereby self-organized user groups are able to create software applications superior to rival commercialized products (Fuller et al., 2007). Since online communities offer a promising environment for creating innovation, they offer an interesting context for further empirical studies of this topic (Makipaa et al., 2005; Fuller et al., 2007; Ahonen et al., 2007). Analyzing four different sports communities, Fuller et al. (2007) indicated that on average one-third of the community members improve their purchased sports equipment or design their own products. According to Viskari et al. (2007), the new open innovation paradigm has been implemented successfully in eight global companies, operating in fields such as example and example. Such virtual interest communities are based upon shared enthusiasm for an issue or an activity. They possess and exchange knowledge concerning specific product domains and often are virtual meeting places for innovative users to discuss opportunities for new products and ideas for product improvement.Online communities centering on shared hobbies attract innovative consumers (Kozinets, 2002; McAlexander et al., 2002; McWilliam, 2000; Sawhney and Prandelli, 2000; Verona et al., 2004) who aim to exchange their experiences of using the latest equipment and share their ideas for modifications or entirely new products, and such groups are a promising source of innovations (Morrison et al., 2004; Verona et al., 2004; Von Hippel, 2005, 2002). The confrontation with an innovator's new product, discussing the proposal, and providing feedback creates a common understanding about the innovation - and new common knowledge emerges (Hienerth, 2006; Sawhney and Prandelli, 2000). Although the literature provides a number of tools to interact virtually with consumers, there is no systematic approach to identify, motivate, and interact with qualified consumers so that they share their knowledge with producers during new product development. Thus, in this work, we will introduce a systematic method of realizing community-based innovation, which then is applied and described in detail with the help of a case study. We will conclude with an evaluation of the method and recommendations for further research.The remainder of this article proceeds as follows: First, a theoretical framework is advanced to explore the nature of community-based innovation. Within the framework, the paper addresses the issues of how downstream customer network connectivity, process complexity, and interdependence may moderate such effects. Second, this paper focuses on one aspect of community-based product development: Why do participants work voluntarily within and contribute to communities that provide, support, and maintain a public good? This paper takes an inductive approach and develops a model to understand participation in product-development communities. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and empirical implications, as well as limitations and future research directions.\n2. Background and theory: 2.1 The process of NPD: from closed to open innovation\n3. Research conceptual framework and method: 3.1 Research conceptual framework\n4. Empirical study: 4.1 Hypothesis testing\n5. Discussion and implications: 5.1 Summary of results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to combine Makipaa et al., Fuller et al., and Ahonen et al. with regard to CBI ideas, and applies them to the new product development process of the firm. The main research links user innovation and commercialization, and the discussion between the members creates centripetal and condensation strengthening factors. A complete model is developed for empirical testing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The sample is 143 participants from five online communities of firms operating in Taiwan, namely Microsoft, Working House, Inventec Corporation, Hometec Technology Inc., and Asustek Computer Inc., that were contacted and asked to participate in the study. Data were collected from March 19 to May 31, 2008 via the web for internet users using a standardized questionnaire. Excluding those surveys that were undeliverable and those who believed that it was inappropriate to respond, the overall effective response rate was 87 percent (125 of 143).\nFindings: - This research proposes four other factors to promote the member participation CBI degree effectively, and further affects them to participate in the company's desire for three stages of new product development. But studies regarding the participation product concepts and design stage also find the members comparatively are not interested. Finally, a complete model is developed for empirical testing. It seems to be a promising source of innovation capabilities for new product development.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The focus in this study is on how the integration of community members into new product development using the community based innovation method leads to encouraging results. Nevertheless, it is difficult to claim its general usability. So far, there is no study indicating the effectiveness and efficiency of CBI for ongoing, continued consumer integration. Then studies concerning the impact of CBI on innovation success are just beginning, and are restricted to the initial findings of a few case studies. Therefore, the actual market impacts of co-developed products has not been tested on a large scale, as most of the CBI projects have not been carried to the point of testing the innovations in an actual marketplace.\nOriginality/value: - The main contribution of the CBI method lies in the systematic utilization of the existing, but so far merely exploited, innovative potential of online communities. However, none of the previous studies have integrated these variables into a more comprehensive framework. A complete model is developed for empirical testing. And the discussion between the members creates centripetal and condensation strengthening factors. The main research links user innovation and commercialization.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Charting intellectual capital performance of the gateway to China	[ "Intellectual capital", "China", "Hong Kong", "Value added", "Organizational performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A growing number of leading academics and business practitioners acknowledge that the economy worldwide is being transformed into a \"knowledge-based economy\", where economic value is seen mainly to be derived from intellectual capital (IC), rather than just from physical capital (Sveiby, 1997; Pulic, 1998; Bontis, 2001; Chen et al., 2005). Given this shift in the means of value creation in the new economy, traditional accounting measures may no longer be adequate in reflecting the true performance of these companies.The gap between a company's market value and its book value, also known as the market to book controversy, has been observed and discussed (Lev and Zarowin, 1999). Different IC models and valuation methods have been proposed to measure IC or intangible assets in order to reflect better the invisible value not captured in financial statements (Lev and Zarowin, 1999; Edvinsson and Malone, 1997).Forty-two valuation methodologies for measuring intangible assets have been identified so far (Sveiby, 2010), and it is likely that more methodologies will arise. Among them, the value added intellectual coefficient(tm) (VAIC) (Pulic, 2000a, b) is increasingly being adopted by both academics and practitioners (Pulic and Bornemann, 1997; Firer and Williams, 2003; Chen et al., 2005; Shiu, 2006; Chan, 2009b). Evidence from these studies suggests a relationship between IC and business performance (Firer and Williams, 2003; Chen et al., 2005; Shiu, 2006; Chan, 2009b; Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010). Previous IC studies mostly focused on companies in Europe and North America (Pulic, 2000b; Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010; Nazari and Herremans, 2007; Riahi-Belkaoui, 2003), but emerging economies have been gaining global importance in recent years. Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, recently commented in a special address that a reshuffling of global economic power has been witnessed in the past few years (Lamy, 2010). In fact, China has risen to become the second-largest economy in the world (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010a). However, IC studies on Mainland China seem to be lacking.China's economic development has been fascinating. She is the world's number one exporter, and holds the largest foreign exchange reserves (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010a). Hong Kong (formerly a British colony, now a Special Administrative Region of China since July 1997) has thrived as a trade gateway to mainland China for over a century and a half (InvestHK - The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2010). Located on the southeast coastline of mainland China, Hong Kong has served as a go-between for the mainland and the Western world since colonial times. To access the world's biggest single market - mainland China's 1.3 billion consumers - thousands of companies overseas have established their beachhead in Hong Kong due to its world-class infrastructure, pro-trade policies, international business environment, stable political environment, sound legal system, and abundant pool of talents (InvestHK - The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2010; HSBC, 2010). Despite the small geographical area that Hong Kong occupies (its size is only 0.0115 percent of the size of mainland China) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2010b), Hong Kong alone contributed 41 percent of China's foreign capital inflows during the period 1979-2005 (Lee et al., 2009). Thus, there is a strong motivation to study IC and its association with corporate financial performance in Hong Kong.This research investigated the relationship between companies' IC and their financial performance as well as exploring the general IC development of Hong Kong during the period 2001 to 2009 in relation to Hong Kong's aspiration of becoming a knowledge economy. Empirical evidence, if any, was sought to explore the existence of a relationship between IC and four key traditional indicators of corporate financial performance, namely, market valuation, profitability, productivity and return on equity (ROE). The findings extend the understanding of the role of IC in business operation in Hong Kong, as well as helping to identify the specific IC drivers that may have a direct impact on the financial performance of Hong Kong companies.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 IC\n3. Research method: 3.1 Research objectives\n4. Empirical results: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Discussion of key findings and implications: 5.1 An emerging trend from the two phases\n6. Conclusion: Empirical findings, based on correlation and linear multiple regression analysis, indicate that the associations between VAIC and traditional corporate performance indicators are mixed. Corporate IC performance, as measured by VAIC, was found to have a small impact on profitability. However, when VAIC was split into its three components (i.e., HCE, SCE, CEE), and put into the regression equation to predict corporate financial performance, the strength of the models increased significantly. In addition, the individual IC components were stronger predictors of corporate financial performance than VAIC alone. For example, by including the three VAIC components in the regression equation, Model 8 was able to explain around 50 percent of the variance in return on equity.The increase in predicting power across two phases may imply that certain improvement in IC management occurred in Hong Kong during the nine years studied. Managers may have recognized the importance of IC in profit generation over the studied period. The dominant role of physical capital diminished as companies were able to utilize structural capital effectively to generate higher return, as evident from a higher regression coefficient on SCE from phase I to phase II in all models.Pulic (2008) argued that human capital can be viewed as a pool of knowledge which can bring enduring future benefits and the key assumption of VAIC is that expenditure on employees is treated as investment. The study has revealed a tendency for the development of tangibles to continue to take priority over IC development (although the situation was improving in the samples surveyed mainly by means of structural capital enhancement) for the purpose of boosting corporate performance such as ROE. There may be risks in managers focusing solely on generating return for equity owners, as this would result in underinvestment in cultivating human resources, and hinder further development in competitiveness.Hong Kong has long been the regional hub for financial services in Asia. In fact, Hong Kong has been ranked third on the Global Financial Centres Index for the last two years (Z/Yen Group, 2010). To strengthen Hong Kong's leadership in the global financial services sector, accelerating developments in IC measurement and reporting is a top priority. Moreover, as indicated in Petty and Cuganesan(2005), since the level of IC disclosure on annual reports is associated with corporate growth rates, there is a strong incentive for businesses to acquire consultancy services on IC reporting, thus further fueling the growth of financial services sector in the region.\n7. Further study: The contradictive role that structural capital plays in improving profitability and productivity may suggest that although investment in structural capital is increasingly being regarded by Hong Kong companies as crucial to reducing operating expenses and improving efficiency, these companies may have limited ability to apply computer systems and procedures to capture additional business opportunities and explore revenue sources. This study found that SCE had an increasingly prominent role in predicting corporate financial performance, thus signifying the importance of structural capital. As the gateway to the world's fastest growing economy, will Hong Kong companies be able to invest more in their structural capital in order to drive profitability? The Hong Kong economy is dominantly service-based - the service sectors accounted for 91.9 percent of GDP as a whole in 2008 (Census and Statistics Department, HKSAR, 2009). Service sectors have been found to be less capable of transforming human capital into structural capital than their non-service counterparts (Bontis et al., 2000). Hence further research on IC will be essential in strengthening the economic development of Hong Kong. A more in-depth qualitative study on IC in Hong Kong companies is warranted. The above results also identify a significant trend in the development of structural capital, which needs to be further examined in relation to the dynamics of how it interacts with corporate performance, information technology and innovation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to investigate whether intellectual capital (IC) has an impact on the financial aspects of organizational performance as well as attempting to identify the IC components that are associated with corporate financial performance indicators that signal organizational growth.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study drew on financial data from publicly available annual reports of all the constituent companies of the Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the years 2001-2009. Following the value added intellectual coefficient(tm) (VAIC) methodology, regression models were constructed to examine the relationships between IC and the corporate financial performance indicators.\nFindings: - Evidence was found to suggest that IC, as measured by VAIC, was positively associated with profitability of businesses. In particular, structural capital, as a key component of IC, played a notable part in enhancing corporate profitability, and showed a growing trend in its significance. Empirical findings, based on correlation and linear multiple regression analysis, indicated that the components of VAIC were strong predictors of corporate financial performance such as return on equity and profitability. In particular, capital employed efficiency (CEE) was a significant predictor of all four corporate financial performance indicators.\nPractical implications: - The results may extend the understanding of the role of IC in business operations in Hong Kong, and may help to identify the specific IC drivers that may have a direct impact on the financial performance of these companies. In particular, although CEE was a significant predictor of all four corporate finance performance indicators, the increasing contribution of structural capital efficiency (SCE) in predicting ROA and ROE was observed. The role that structural capital plays in strengthening business performance warrants further investigation.\nOriginality/value: - There has only been one previous empirical study on the intellectual capital of constituent companies on the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index. This study adds to the literature as the second study in the field. It is the first comparative study across two time periods of the above-mentioned data.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The reduction of irregularities in the use of "process FMEA"	[ "Failure modes and effects analysis", "Reliability management", "Automotive industry", "Brazil" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: According to Biasoli (2003), the failure of a product in the warranty period not only implies costs for the company, but also compromises the company's credibility. One technique for improving reliability is failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), which allows preventive analysis of failures that may compromise reliability (Stamatis, 2003; Palady, 1997; Puente et al., 2002). Dale and Shaw (1990) state that the main reason for having an FMEA procedure in most companies is that it is a mandatory requirement of their customers.Many organizations use FMEA, especially automotive companies, as it is a QS-9000 quality system requirement (Instituto de Qualidade Automotiva, 2002). ISO/TS 16949 (World Automotive Standard), which is equivalent to QS-9000, is a standard that defines quality requirements for suppliers.However, a number of questions have been raised about FMEA. According to Tumer et al. (2003), it is laborious, requires a considerable amount of time, and is expensive. In addition, the results obtained using the technique are unsatisfactory because of inconsistencies in the descriptions of the functions and failures of the object being analyzed.Teng and Ho (1996) concluded in their research that if too much time, manpower and effort are spent just on the development of an FMEA report, then the implementation of FMEA is highly questionable.Aguiar and Salomon (2007) found irregularities in some of the FMEAs they analyzed and suggested that this occurs because first-level suppliers delegate part of their production to smaller companies, which do not comply with quality requirements.According to Kaufman and Sato (2004), some organizations do not take advantage of the benefits of FMEA. Surveying more than 100, the authors concluded that most of them use this methodology to comply with quality requirements.According to Teng et al. (2006), companies need to establish a collaborative supply chain environment to enhance their manufacturing and business performance. The use of FMEA as a platform is of great benefit to these companies in their endeavors to increase profits.Teng and Ho (1996) suggested that the input from supplier(s) and customer(s) be included in the development of the design FMEA and proposed that design and process FMEAs be linked through a number of steps to ensure that FMEA is used appropriately in a supply chain.Teng et al. (2006), aiming to further enhance the collaborative supply chain environment for FMEA applications, developed a tool to determine the sample size and reliability for attribute tests, such as a go/no go test. After practical tests were carried out, there was found to be a gap between actual practices and the required knowledge for the process FMEA to be successfully implemented in a collaborative environment. Hence, they suggested that further research be carried out into the development of a \"more comprehensive tool\" for all types of testing and the design of an \"FMEA platform for all supply chain operations\".In light of both this suggestion and the regulatory requirements, this study analyzes the process FMEA used in an automotive company and seven of its suppliers with a view to identifying irregularities during its completion and developing a strategy to reduce these discrepancies.The study investigates the factors that give rise to disparities in FMEAs and the information needed to conduct them. The authors also describe an application strategy that includes a partly parameterized spreadsheet for a cold stamping process that was tested at three suppliers.\n2. Research methodology: The approach adopted in this study included a review of the literature, as it was deemed important to understand the concepts and methods involved (Gil, 2002).Because the aim of the study was to identify irregularities in the way that FMEAs were filled out, a case study involving an automotive manufacturer and its suppliers was carried out. The study is, in fact, an empirical investigation of a contemporary phenomenon in a real environment, and the demarcation between the phenomenon itself and the context in which it occurs is not clearly defined. The stages for a case study suggested by Yin (2008) were followed and are described below:1. Choice of a theoretical basis (filling out of the FMEA spreadsheet).2. Selection of the case (automotive company and seven main suppliers).3. Preparation of data selection (factors that have an impact on the way the FMEA is filled out).4. Execution of the study:* Review of the literature related to, amongst other things, reliability, quality, the cold stamping production process and the commonest defects associated with this process.* Collection of data from the seven suppliers selected for the study by means of a semi structured questionnaire (Gil, 2002) with questions related to the company and the way in which the FMEAs are filled out. The seven suppliers chosen were selected because they supply the bulk of the parts to the manufacturer - 327 out of a total of 357 parts - and are therefore the most representative suppliers.* Collection of data from each supplier: ten process FMEAS that had been completed in the previous 24 months were collected from each supplier.1. Reparation of the report (diagnosis).2. Suggestions for improvements.* Proposed changes - carried out in stages: critical analysis of each parameter identified; diagnosis of the possible causes of the parameters that exert an influence; and suggestions for improvements to both the methodology and the spreadsheet to minimize any discrepancies when preparing and using the FMEA.* Validating the proposed changes - application of the FMEA at three of the seven suppliers. The FMEA incorporates the proposed changes, which include a partially parameterized spreadsheet suggested by the authors to take into account the study diagnosis. All three suppliers are different sizes (small, medium-sized and large) and were chosen to determine whether the variable \"company size\" had any impact. To draw up the spreadsheet a stamped part that met the following criteria was chosen: it should involve no more than three stamping operations; it should be of average geometric complexity; and the suppliers involved must be starting to produce the part and make it commercially available in Brazil. Once the spreadsheets had been collected, they were compared and analyzed in the same way as the first spreadsheets that were collected. The results obtained with the standard FMEA spreadsheet were then compared with those obtained using the partially parameterized spreadsheet after some of the suggestions to ensure that the FMEA was developed more effectively had been implemented.\n3. Quality, reliability and failure: Quality is the basis upon which products are judged by users. The focus of quality assurance is to assure compliance of the product with what has been specified. Compliance is measured by the variation of product characteristics around specified values (Xenos, 1998; Shirose, 1995). Slack et al. (2007) define \"reliability\" as the capability of a system to perform as expected during a certain time interval.In spite of the importance attached to reliability, the possibility of unforeseen events occurring always exists, although not all such events may be critical. Hence, it is important to measure the impact of a failure, as suggested by Aguiar and Salomon (2007).Moubray (1999) mentions that the origins of failures are normally related to human error. According to Juran (2000), some failures can be controlled and afford an opportunity for us to learn from them. Moore (1997) mentions seven mechanisms for identifying failures, including failure analysis methods. One of these is FMEA, which, according to Palady (1997), has been extensively used to analyze the reliability of products and manufacturing processes and is the most efficient low-risk technique for preventing problems and identifying solutions.3.1 FMEA\n4. Analysis of how FMEAs were conducted: The seven suppliers investigated are located in three states in Brazil; two are large, two medium-sized and three small. One of the first questions posed related to the number of people who attended meetings, and it was found that only three companies held meetings with four or more people.The next piece of information collected, which was gathered in order to understand the existing level of integration, was the number of people per department who were involved in preparing FMEAs. It was found that because of the subdivision of specialties, the larger the company, the greater the number of departments that took part. There was found to be a lack of participation by the \"operators\" in company A, and a lack of participation by the car manufacturer in all the companies.The time spent preparing FMEAs was then determined, and suppliers were asked whether they felt this time was excessive. Only one supplier spent more than four hours, but all considered FMEA meetings to be too lengthy.In light of the statement by Teng et al. (2006) that one of the keys to the successful implementation of FMEA is to ensure that all participants understand how to use the technique, the interviewees in each company were asked about this. In large companies, all those involved had mastered the method, but in medium-sized and small companies this was not a requirement and not everyone had this level of knowledge.FMEA spreadsheet data was then collected and analyzed to identify whether there were any inconsistencies or discrepancies in the way the spreadsheet was being filled out.4.1 FMEA comparison and analysis\n5. Conclusions: This paper has described an approach that uses process FMEA as a platform in supply chain operations to enhance manufacturing operations in all the supply chain partners. The approach addresses and resolves the following issues, which are important for true supply chain collaboration:* It ensures that all those involved have the same level of knowledge about the method.* It makes an updated failure history based on data from all involved parties available.* It brings the supplier and manufacturer together while the FMEA is being developed.* It provides a partly parameterized spreadsheet that makes the analysis easier to perform and reduces variability in the identification of stamping process operations and failures that can occur in these operations, as well as providing a historical basis, using company historical data, for some of the rates.Initially, ten standard FMEA spreadsheets were collected from each of seven suppliers for an automotive manufacturer, and it was found that, in general, items such as operations, failure modes and effects of failures in FMEA are subjective and that this tends to compromise the accuracy of any analyses. Furthermore, each supplier uses a very low risk priority number (NPR) to identify actions to prevent possible failures. When the proposed strategy, which involves a partly parameterized spreadsheet, was applied in three of these suppliers, this variability was found to be reduced.Application of the proposed strategy allowed us to conclude that training, standardization of the language related to processes involved in the analysis and updating of failure history are fundamental factors in ensuring true supply chain collaboration. In addition, the presence of the manufacturer at the meetings is vital to ensure integration between the parties involved and the availability of updated information about the manufacturing process, the product and the end customer.The authors suggest that further studies be carried out to improve this strategy based on suggestions collected from suppliers and that the strategy be tested in a bigger group with a part requiring a larger number of operations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Use of failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a requirement of ISO/TS 16949. However, research has shown that there are inconsistencies in the way the technique is applied in automotive suppliers. The aim of this study is to identify these irregularities and to propose a strategy to minimize them.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Questionnaires were applied in seven of the main suppliers to a European automotive company, and ten FMEAs from each company were analyzed.\nFindings: - The study identifies irregularities in the development of process FMEAs and highlights seven factors that contribute to these inconsistencies. Based on these data, a strategy including a partially preconfigured FMEA form is suggested. When tested with three of the suppliers, the strategy was found to result in a significant improvement.\nOriginality/value: - The study describes an application strategy for automotive companies to correct problems associated with the use of FMEAs. The strategy includes a partly parameterized spreadsheet for a cold stamping process that allows companies to implement their process FMEA in a collaborative supply chain environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk based integrity modeling of offshore process components suffering stochastic degradation	[ "Modelling", "Risk analysis", "Process management", "Asset integrity", "Degradation", "Consequence analysis", "Optimal replacement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Maintaining the structural integrity of deteriorating process assets has been a subject of research for many years (Khan et al., 2006; American Petroleum Institute, 2002; Montgomery and Serratella, 2002). In the operational stage, the deterioration of component is mainly caused by environmentally induced defects, such as corrosion and cracking (Thodi et al., 2010; Straub, 2004). Thus, at some points in life cycle, it will not be economical to operate the components due to deterioration and strength loss. The continuation of operation depends on the instantaneous condition and the cost of operation and maintenance. The failure to make an appropriate decision may result in a slow down or shutdown of the complete facility. Time to execute maintenance on an operating component is decided on the basis of either the fear of eminent failure or that it becomes too expensive to operate. The age-related structural degradations increase the probability and consequences of failure over a period of time that may necessitate the replacement of components. The main challenges encountered in considering the maintenance by replacement strategy of operating equipment is to determine what is the exact condition and financial information to be included in the model. The objective of this paper is to develop an optimal replacement strategy for ageing offshore process components. A brief description of the risk-based integrity modeling (RBIM) methodology is discussed at first. The aim of RBIM is to protect human life, financial investment and environment from the likelihood of failure. A stochastic degradation modeling for corrosion and cracking is followed. Further, the consequence analysis using the engineering economics is emphasized in this paper. Thus, by combining the probability and consequences of failure, an optimum interval for the risk-based replacement of components is developed.A background study is presented in Section 2, followed by the economic service life in Section 3 and the RBIM methodology in Section 4. Further, the stochastic degradation modeling using Bayesian analysis is presented in Section 5, and the economic consequence analysis in Section 6. Finally, the results and discussions are presented in Section 7, and the summary and conclusions are presented in Section 8.\n2. Background: Maintenance is defined as the combination of all technical and administrative actions intended to restore an item to a state, where it can perform a required function (Soderholm et al., 2007). The established maintenance methodologies, such as reliability-centered maintenance (RCM), total productive maintenance (TPM) and condition-based maintenance (CBM) are robust enough to reduce the business risks. However, they are based on the component's probability of failure only. The incorporation of consequences of failure, inspection and maintenance is not a part of such maintenance strategies. The RCM, TPM and CBM strategies become more useful if they incorporate information about the failure detection, mechanism, repair, costs, maintenance strategy and management policies (Garg and Deshmukh, 2006). Recently, the risk-based maintenance has emerged as a valuable approach. It is becoming a recognized tool because it uses life-cycle risks in optimizing the maintenance activities. A risk-based maintenance model for offshore oil and gas pipeline based on a semi-quantitative risk ranking method is presented by Dey et al. (2004). The choice of a risk analysis approach has a major impact on the identification of risk sources and in developing a realistic decision making in maintenance process (Backlund and Hannu, 2002). Careful requirement identification, a systematic approach with clear aims and goals are needed when performing risk analysis. Component failures involve various costs that are difficult to estimate. A classification of expected failure costs for pipelines involving factors such as loss of production, loss of commodity, loss of life and property, loss of reputation and environmental damage are presented by Dey (2001). However, factors such as when the failure happens, the impact of failure, cost associated with inspection and maintenance were not discussed. The total cost of combining corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance and CBM policies is reported by Silva et al. (2008). But, it has taken into account the actual repair costs only; while the associated failure, inspection and replacement costs are ignored. The approach presented by Anderson and Rasmussen (1999) for short-term maintenance planning strategies does not consider the effect of the economic consequences of failure in decision making. This paper presents a RBIM for the optimal replacement, based on the component's likelihood and consequences of failure. In the RBIM methodology, an economic consequence model for failure, inspection and maintenance is emphasized here.\n3. Economic service life and replacement: Once the offshore process facility is operational the best way to avoid failure is through inspection and maintenance, as the design or manufacturing changes in the operational stage is cumbersome (Thodi et al., 2010). If the operation is following a well-established design procedure and the components receive proper inspection and maintenance, they can be kept operating for an extended period of time. If a component continues to operate for an indefinite period of time, failure will eventually occur as a result of the structural deterioration and strength loss, resulting in excessive corrective maintenance cost. Replacement is a maintenance strategy, which involve replacing the component instead of performing the maintenance (Duffuaa et al., 1999). After each replacement, the system returns to its original condition. Economic service life is the period of time during which a piece of equipment can function safely and economically. Based on equipment's condition, if an appropriate life span is computed dynamically, the operator can schedule the replacement strategy to smooth out operation. The costs of operating a facility can be divided into two categories: failure costs and operating costs. The failure costs have two components: the failure recovery costs and the salvage value at the time of disposal. The operating costs include the inspection and maintenance costs, the labor wages, the material cost, coating, testing and alignment costs. Usually, it is the inspection and maintenance cost that increases annually, due to degradations and material loss.\n4. RBIM: The risk to component's operational life is defined as the multiplication of the probability of failure and its consequence. The RBIM is a methodology to quantify the risk to life posed by deteriorating components and to mitigate that in a cost-effective manner. The general framework for RBIM is illustrated in Figure 1. The wall thickness of components deteriorates due to environmental effects, causing leaks and breakage. The potential process components integrity threats have been identified as various types of corrosion and cracking (Thodi et al., 2009, 2010). Since these deterioration mechanisms are stochastic processes, the inspection data are also random in nature. A probability distribution function obtained using a Bayesian prior-posterior analysis, can be used to model real-life inspection data. An assumption is made is that the degradation processes are independent to each other. In an RBIM framework (Figure 1), the consequence analysis focusses on estimating the cost incurred as a result of failure occurrence, inspection, and maintenance tasks (Thodi et al., 2010). Failure costs include loss of breakdown, loss due to shut down, loss due to spill cleanup, loss due to environmental damage and liability. The cost of inspection includes cost of gaining access to the component, cost of surface preparation and cost of detecting and sizing of flaws using the non-destructive tests (NDT). Upon detection and sizing of flaws, the maintenance cost consists of cost of transportation of equipment, and cost of skilled personnel. To rule out likelihood of failure completely, the component needs to be replaced at the onset of deterioration. But, if replacement is performed prematurely, maintenance will be large, while late performance of replacement will result in large costs as a result of unplanned shutdown and costly breakdown maintenance. Hence, there is a need for an optimal policy which aims at minimizing total operating cost. This paper presents an attempt to obtain an optimal replacement decision based on minimizing the operational risk.\n5. Stochastic degradation modeling: How to estimate the probability of structural deterioration-related failure, based on the present condition of component is discussed in detail in Thodi et al. (2009, 2010). The failure rate estimation is based on the expert's prior knowledge and the NDT data acquired during inspection. The Bayesian prior-posterior analysis has been used to model such a dynamic system, where the prior knowledge of the system and field data are input. The prior probability is based on judgmental studies and analyzing generic database (Thodi et al., 2009). The NDT data have been used to derive the likelihood probability. Since the prior-likelihood combinations were non-conjugate pairs, the simulation-based Metropolis-Hastings (M-H) algorithm and Laplace approximation methods are used to estimate the posterior models (Thodi et al., 2010). The posterior model has been developed for corrosion: uniform, pitting and erosion, and cracking: stress corrosion, corrosion fatigue and hydrogen induced cracking. The Bayesian analysis methodology used for the said degradation mechanisms is discussed in brief in Section 5.1.5.1 Bayes theorem\n6. Consequences analysis: The purpose of RBIM is to maximize the profit from the operation of facility by minimizing the risk by preventing failures associated with deteriorations. To provide a consistent measure of risk, all consequence categories should be in the same units. Otherwise, the overall risk from many contributing sources cannot be computed. A standard choice of unit to represent all consequence categories is dollar, because risk can be interpreted as the expected loss due to a certain event or groups of events (Jones, 1995). Therefore, the failure consequences are expressed in terms of dollar in this study. The overall framework for economic consequence analysis is presented in Figure 2.6.1 Economic consequences of failure\n7. Results and discussions: 7.1 Stochastic degradation modeling\n8. Summary and conclusions: An RBIM strategy for optimal replacement decisions of offshore process components has been discussed in this paper. Replacement strategies are designed to remedy the effects of physical deterioration, strength loss and obsolescence of process components. Physical deterioration leads to reduction in the efficiency of operation, wall thickness and material strength. Obsolescence occurs as a result of continuous developments of new components. In the first part of this paper, an integrity modeling framework is discussed, followed by a brief discussion of the stochastic degradation modeling using the Bayesian prior-posterior analysis. An economic consequence analysis model based on component replacement concepts is discussed further in detail. The AEC is calculated by combining the failure, inspection and maintenance costs. The posterior probability of failure is then combined with the AEC of consequences to produce the operational life risk curve. The optimal replacement interval is the interval corresponding to minimum risk. By performing replacement at this interval, the risk of operation will be reduced close to the ALARP level. In this study, a case study of a pipeline segment was presented. The optimum replacement intervals for a pipeline segment were found to be ten years for EC and eight years for CFC. The smaller of these two values has been selected as the optimum replacement interval for the ageing pipeline segment. The replacement strategy entails the economic replacement of components rather than performing maintenance. This model takes into account the effects of taxes, the uncertainty and variability in the degradation process and the consequence parameters using the Bayesian Monte Carlo simulations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to develop a risk-based integrity model for the optimal replacement of offshore process components, based on the likelihood and consequence of failure arising from time-dependent degradation mechanisms.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Risk is a combination of the probability of failure and its likely consequences. Offshore process component degradation mechanisms are modeled using Bayesian prior-posterior analysis. The failure consequences are developed in terms of the cost incurred as a result of failure, inspection and maintenance. By combining the cumulative posterior probability of failure and the equivalent cost of degradations, the operational life-risk curve is produced. The optimal replacement strategy is obtained as the global minimum of the operational risk curve.\nFindings: - The offshore process component degradation mechanisms are random processes. The proposed risk-based integrity model can be used to model these processes effectively to obtain an optimal replacement strategy. Bayesian analysis can be used to model the uncertainty in the degradation data. The Bayesian posterior estimation using an M-H algorithm converged to satisfactory results using 10,000 simulations. The computed operational risk curve is observed to be a convex function of the service life. Furthermore, it is observed that the application of this model will reduce the risk of operation close to an ALARP level and consequently will promote the safety of operation.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The developed model is applicable to offshore process components which suffer time-dependent stochastic degradation mechanisms. Furthermore, this model is developed based on an assumption that the component degradation processes are independent. In reality, the degradation processes may not be independent.\nPractical implications: - The developed methodology and models will assist asset integrity engineers/managers in estimating optimal replacement intervals for offshore process components. This can reduce operating costs and resources required for inspection and maintenance (IM) tasks.\nOriginality/value: - The frequent replacement of offshore process components involves higher cost and risk. Similarly, the late replacement of components may result in failure and costly breakdown maintenance. The developed model estimates an optimal replacement strategy for offshore process components suffering stochastic degradation. Implementation of the developed model improves component integrity, increases safety, reduces potential shutdown and reduces operational cost.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The ERP system impact on the role of accountants	[ "Republic of China", "People's Republic of China", "Accountants", "Resource management", "Enterprise resources planning", "Shanghai Financial Service Center" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In today's competitive environment, enterprises need to be reformed to get competitive advantages. The fastest and most effective way to achieve this goal is to introduce a new information system (IS) to carry out the reform. One of the systems is enterprise resources planning (ERP), which ensures all operational systems of the company are fully integrated (Maguire et al., 2010). By providing real-time access to operational and financial data, ERP system allows companies to streamline their management structure and create more flexible, more democratic and flatter organizations (Davenport, 1998).In the last two decades, ERP system has been one of the best technological solutions for the effective and efficient information management (Francoise et al., 2009). Noudoostbeni et al. (2010) point out ERP is one of the main businesses that help organizations to manage their resources in the effective way. Under the circumstances, ERP system has become the necessary tool in application of information technology (IT). The main function of ERP system is to combine all operational information needed for every process from different departments into one database and information is imported to the accounting department (Kale, 2000). It shows the importance of ERP system in accounting field. However, ERP system also brings great impact on the role of accountants. It has replaced or consolidated many works of accountants. This may change the nature of their job. They have to face the new environment with a positive attitude.The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of ERP system on accountants. Desormeaux (1998) agrees that ERP implementation raises the role and position of the accounting department and accountants because accountants are considered information providers and analysts for other departments after ERP implementation. In contrast, vendors of ERP system in Taiwan think accountants are financial guardians. Therefore, it is important for us to explore how ERP system affects the role of accountants. Through this research, we want to understand the impact of ERP system on accountants more to help them adapt to the new role.The research subjects are the Shanghai Financial Service Center and accounting departments of R company in region businesses of mainland and Taiwan. R company is a representative transnational chemical company in the USA and its sales volume and market share are large and high. This research uses case study approach to find out the impact of ERP system on accountants in R company and discusses the role and job qualifications of accountants after ERP implementation.\n2 Literature review and study: ERP system\n3 Research design: Few papers discussing the impact of ERP system on accountants focus on the changes of operations and roles before and after ERP implementation to find out the impact of ERP implementation on accountants. Most of them are descriptions of the concept and case study. However, the case study is criticized since there are various explanations for results of the case study and they cannot be generalized (Yin, 1989). Case study research is suggested as an effective method in testing theory within IS research and combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches such as interviews and questionnaires, proven valuable in assisting IS researchers to avoid potential analytical errors and omissions (Longinidis and Gotzamani, 2009). Therefore, this paper outlined operations accountants may perform in literature review. Besides, an interview, we conducted a survey and designed a questionnaire to improve the persuasion of evidence collection and data analysis.R company, a transnational corporation, specializes in research, development and the manufacture of fine chemicals. Production of acrylate is over 400,000 tons each year, which accounts for 20 percent of the world market while production of polymer only accounts for one-third of the world market. R company is one of main suppliers of acrylate monomer and polymer. The company is in the top two in world's fine chemical industry. R company owns over 100 factories, research institutions, and over 18,000 employees around the world. Its products are sold in over a hundred countries. The sales volume each year is around six billion in US dollars. In March 2003, R company ranked in second in the most admired chemical company in the USA according to the magazine \"FORTUNE\".R company implemented SAP ERP system in 2004. It is a leading and indicative company in the Greater China area because of its scale, number of employees and the volume of sales. Most of past papers focus on companies in the USA. However, R company stresses Asia-Pacific and the Greater China areas. Therefore, it is representative to take R company as the subject of the research to compare the differences of the impact of ERP system on accountants between Taiwan and the Greater China areas after ERP implementation.\n4 Research results and analysis: Interview\n5 Conclusion: This paper uses the case study method to discuss the changes of roles and operations of accountants individually by their position, background and department, which is the major difference from past research. We find that the difference of changes of the roles of managerial and non-managerial accountants is the most obvious after ERP implementation. However, past research does not explore this difference from the aspect of different positions. After ERP implementation, the role of non-managerial accountants does not change as much as that of managerial accountants, leader of the e-business project, does. Managerial accountants have to take over more management functions such as education and training and financial analysis. Past research thinks all accountants, including managerial and non-managerial accountants, are considered consultants who are responsible for integrating data and providing and analyzing information (Desormeaux, 1998; Scapens, 1998; Cooper and Kaplan, 1998) but our findings are different from that. This paper provides a better understanding of the changes of operations of accountants by exploring them separately in categories of position, background and department.We summarize the top three changes of operations in each group after ERP implementation in Table X. For the changes of operations in each group, review of front-end data mapping was decreased because ERP system integrates business processes and provides the instant access to integrated data across the entire enterprise to improve operational efficiency (Chou and Chang, 2008; Ke and Wei, 2008; Liang et al., 2007). As mentioned above, managerial accountants are responsible for more education, training and financial analysis operations than non-managerial accountants are after ERP implementation. For the changes of operations in SFC and region business, accountants of SFC increase operation of financial analysis. For the changes of operations of accounting and non-accounting graduate accountants, non-accounting graduate accountants are mainly in charge of \"financial analysis\", \"ERP system maintenance\", \"education and training\" and \"financial analysis\" after ERP implementation. There is the difference in \"financial analysis\" because most of the non-accounting graduate accountants majored in finance in R company. Therefore, they already have knowledge in finance and accounting and are better than accounting graduate accountants in analysis and presentation. Therefore, non-accounting graduate accountants have an increase of operation of financial analysis after ERP implementation.The transaction data handler and financial report provider are the roles accountants mainly play in all aspects of \"Shanghai Financial Service Center, accounting departments of region businesses\", \"managerial accountants, non-managerial accountants\" and \"accounting graduates, non-accounting graduates\". The major effects on accountants after ERP implementation are \"reducing the routine workload\", \"increasing working efficiency\", \"increasing the quality of statements of analysis and management\", \"increasing the professional skills for IT\", \"enhancing the motivation in learning and growth\" and \"raising competitive pressure\".The transaction data handler and financial report provider will still be the major roles accountants mainly play when ERP implementation is not adequately effective. If it is, accountants should change their role from the traditional transaction data handler and financial report provider to the analytical and decision making consultants, who provide their suggestions for the company. If traditional accounting operations are still the major jobs for accountants after ERP implementation, it implies accountants are still required to have a certain degree of knowledge in traditional accounting.As ERP implementation begins, IT replaces highly repeated traditional accounting operations. Under successful ERP implementations, data quality increases, decision making is improved, and the percentage of reports automatically generated by the ERP system is greater than under the traditional ISs. Many reports produced automatically by ERP system were previously prepared by the accountants using other software, such as spreadsheets. Therefore, besides compiling data and preparing financial statements, accountants need to enhance communication and analytical ability and to familiarize with working processes in the company. Because of the complete records of transactions and clear audit trail of ERP systems, accountants can utilize the drill down function to track down every transaction in order of general ledgers, sub ledgers and transactions to improve the auditing of the company. This will strengthen its internal control to reinforce its corporate governance. After ERP implementation, the focus of internal control has shifted from accounting operation to the whole business operations. Traditional auditing emphasizes on the results such as signature and documentation instead of the causes. While the whole business auditing stresses on processes and procedures. Accountants play critical roles on effectively promoting business core value.This paper provides companies with job requirements of accountants of different positions and backgrounds after ERP implementation. Moreover, it helps accountants realize what kind of skill they need to have after ERP implementation. The research limitation of this paper is the data we obtained are mainly from SFC and region businesses in Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. Therefore, we are unable to consider the effects of ERP system on accountants in other regions. We suggest future study expand the sampling scope and compare the difference in different industries and regions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system on the role of accountants, to provide job qualifications for their reference.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research adopts the case study method, using on-the-spot interviews and a questionnaire to find out the effects of an ERP system on the role of accountants.\nFindings: - The role of accountants is mainly to be transaction data handlers and financial report providers. Clearly, accountants must have certain degree of knowledge in the realm of traditional finance accounting. In addition, accounting supervisors think implementing an ERP system changes the role of accountants.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The data collected by the authors are mainly from the Shanghai Financial Center and regional businesses in Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan. The authors are only able to study the impact of ERP systems on the role of accountants in the short-term rather than in the long-term.\nOriginality/value: - It is widely accepted that an ERP system is more than just an accounting information system, so implementing an ERP system will not necessarily promote the positions of the accounting department and accountants on the subjective cognition of accountants. Accountants need to have knowledge of financial accounting, IT and management after ERP implementation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social and emotional learning for parents through Conscious Discipline	[ "Discipline", "Self-regulation", "Behaviour problems", "Parent–child relationships", "Parenting skills", "Social and emotional learning and competencies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nPurpose of research: This paper summarizes findings from a mixed-methods study investigating associations between the parent component of the school-based, social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum conscious discipline (CD) and parenting skills, parent-child relationships and child behavior. Researchers also looked at whether there were improvements in parent-teacher communication about children's social-emotional development. This study, funded by CD, was conducted by a team of independent researchers.\nLiterature review: Beginning in infancy, children form the foundations of their social-emotional knowledge and abilities through experiences with family members, other caregivers and their environment (Cooper et al., 2009; Morris et al., 2017). SEL is the process by which individuals acquire and apply social-emotional competencies - including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making and relationship skills - that promote healthy individual and relational functioning (Payton et al., 2008). Social-emotional competencies, in turn, affect mental health, social functioning, cognitive functioning and long-term achievement (Brackett et al., 2011). Indeed, Jones et al. (2015) found an association between social-emotional competencies measured in kindergarten and positive outcomes later in life including higher levels of educational achievement, higher rates of employment and reduced criminal activity.\nMethod: This mixed-methods study took place in four Head Start programs implementing CD PEC in four states and used interviews with program staff and parents, questionnaires completed by parents, and observations of program staff facilitating the training. The research team collected data at three time points: prior to the start of the CD PEC class series (\"Pre\"), immediately after the last class (\"Post 1\") and six to eight weeks after the last session (\"Post 2\"). (Note: Data collection for one site started during Week 2 of the class series due to scheduling difficulties.)\nResults: Attendance\nDiscussion: The current study provides preliminary evidence of CD PEC's positive associations with parent- and teacher-reported improvements in parenting skills, parent-child relationships and child behavior and emotion management. Across four Head Start programs, parents who attended CD PEC sessions reported increased understanding of the CD skills and strategies, as well as numerous examples of how they were actively practicing new ways of interacting with and supporting their children. Survey results showed significant improvements in parents' self-reported skills and attitudes following the conclusion of the seven-week series. Notably, six to eight weeks after the intervention, more parents reported consistent usage of many CD skills and strategies than immediately after classes concluded, suggesting the sustainability of what parents learned from the sessions. Program staff also reported observed changes in parenting behavior and some cases of behavioral improvements among children. Overall, CD PEC was successful in helping parents learn to first regulate their own reactions before addressing their children's behavior. Parents reported feeling better prepared to effectively help their children cope with their emotions, including using more positive practices while avoiding punitive actions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine Conscious Discipline's (CD) Parenting Education Curriculum (CD PEC), the parenting component of CD's research-based social and emotional learning program. CD aims to change child behavior by changing how adults understand and manage their own behaviors and emotions. Researchers explored CD PEC's association with improved parenting skills, parent-child relationships and child behavior and emotion management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: During pre- and post-site visits, parents in four Head Start programs completed the Attentive Parenting Survey (n=25) and interviews (n=19); and 20 staff were also interviewed.\nFindings: Parents reported that CD PEC shifted their perspectives and practices for managing children's challenging behaviors, improved parent-child relationships and resulted in decreased child behavior problems.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study was correlational, based on self-report, and had a small sample with no comparison group.\nPractical implications: This study supports CD PEC as a means of shifting parenting practices, relationships and child behavior by focusing on adult social-emotional skills and self-regulation.\nSocial implications: This study provides preliminary evidence that addressing the social-emotional needs of adults is a viable step to helping children improve their social skills, emotion regulation and general behavior, which have all been linked to later academic and life success.\nOriginality/value: The paper studies improvements in parents' emotion recognition and self-regulation before disciplining their children.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Wanted: training competencies for the twenty-first century	[ "Human resource development", "Hospitality education", "Training", "Hospitality management", "Competences" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Billions of dollars are spent yearly on employee training. Overall, American companies spent approximately $129.6 billion dollars in 2006 on employees training and development (HR Magazine, 2008). In fact, US organizations today spend on average $1,850 per year, per employee, on training (Saranow, 2006; Ruiz, 2006). This represents a potentially significant amount of resources for organizations. For instance, this means that a company with 100 employees will spend, on average, about $185,000 per year for training, while a company with 1,000 employees spends approximately $1.85 million dollars per year.Training costs in the hospitality industry can be even more staggering. With an average turnover of hourly employees in 2005 of 102 percent for employees and 33 percent for managers, the training costs can explode significantly (Popp, 2006; Watkins, 2006). Additionally, since high turnover is significantly related to decreased hotel profits (Tracey and Hinkin, 2008), reducing turnover can also be a method for improving profitability (Simons and Hinkin, 2001; Woods and Macaulay, 1989). In addition, others have contended that the amount and quality of training is also directly related to turnover (Berta, 2006). In fact, Mullen (2004) noted that 70 percent of exiting employees would stay if they were developed and nurtured by their companies. From these studies we can assume that better training results in lower turnover rates and more profits.The facts presented above indicate the importance of training in the hotel industry. However, not all training dollars are well spent. Research has shown that employees are more responsive to some types of training than to others (Tan et al., 2003). Thus, it is imperative to study the necessary competencies training professionals must demonstrate to perform training that is perceived as effective by employees.\nLiterature review: Competencies\nMethodology: Based on Zaltman's Metaphor Elicitation technique of picture analysis, an in-depth interview process using pictures was performed with ten training professionals from two hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, averaging 2,600 rooms each property. Both properties were members of two mega hotel-casino corporations. The sample included participants that occupied both management and non-management positions since, in some cases, training is delivered by both managers and training coordinators.Five participants (one human resources' training manager and four training and development coordinators) worked for a new casino property near completion and opening. The remaining participants came from an off-the Strip Las Vegas hotel casino. Among this second group of participants were a hotel division training manager, two food and beverage training managers, a housekeeping training manager and a reservation training coordinator. Participants in this research were experts in their field, and they represented both genders, a variety of years of experience in the field of hospitality, and a range of different training responsibilities. A complete description of the participants' demographics is depicted in Table I.Ten days before the day of the interview, participants were notified to collect three to ten pictures that described their opinions and impressions about their roles in hospitality. To prepare for the interview, the participants spent a considerable amount of time both thinking about the topic and locating the appropriate images from magazines, newspapers, books, the internet, or other sources. As a result of the pre-planning stage, participants arrived for the in-depth interview at an advanced stage of thinking, ready to discuss their opinions and impressions. Participants had to name each picture they brought in the interview by using a construct that described the equivalent competency they deemed important in their profession. During the one-to-one, one hour, interviews, training professionals talked through the pictures by using metaphors to describe the competencies that were important in effectively performing their jobs. Metaphors facilitated bringing unconscious feelings and thoughts to a level of awareness, where both parties, interviewee and interviewer, could examine them more openly together. Occasionally, the interviewer used probing techniques to explore in-depth key ideas.During the interviews, several participants noted that they did not previously (or consciously) know the answers to some questions and that the use of metaphors and probing techniques helped elicit deeper responses. In effect, participants felt that they were discovering hidden thoughts and opinions that they did not know were existent before the interview.Analysis of data included a coding process aiming to identify the key meanings the participants were trying to express. Researchers then identified aspects of a participant's meanings collected in interviews and, consequently, identified constructs from these interviews as well as links between constructs. Linking constructs together more fully captures the meanings represented. Meaning was largely given in the links between concepts.In coding, researchers tried to capture two broad types of associations, or linkages. One important link was the causal connection between two concepts. The second link was a simple association between two concepts. Some concepts were associated with each other, but not necessarily in a causal manner. Hence, in order to understand the association among constructs that a particular group of training professionals held, a consensus map was developed (see Figure 1).Atlas ti, software, version 5, was used in creating the consensus map for the training professionals' competencies. This software made it possible to display key concepts and the causal or association linkages between them in a better and more comprehensive way, and visual manner (see Figure 1).\nAnalysis: Study results indicated the high diversity of training professionals' competencies and qualities as well as the rapid change of the training techniques and training material. This research elicited several competencies required for effective training managers, including:* teamwork;* inspiration-motivation;* creativity;* mentoring;* keeping current;* pro-activeness;* active listening;* staying healthy;* training measurement;* consistency; and* love and passion for the profession (Figure 1).Table II illustrates the different competency themes as they were discussed by position. As this table shows, teamwork and love/passion were the most noted themes in this study. The most recurrent theme for management was love/passion for their profession, followed by creativity and mentoring. Training coordinators' most noted theme was teamwork, followed by inspiration-motivation and creativity. This is important as Sandwith (1993) noted that leadership competencies most often contained themes of teamwork, love and passion for one's work, inspiration/motivation and mentoring. Conceptual competencies, including creativity and pro-activeness, were the second most noted themes. Finally, technical competencies, including training measurement and keeping current, ranked third and interpersonal competencies (such as active listening) were noted least frequently. Staying healthy could not be categorized under any set of competencies due to its unique nature.Teamwork\nSummary and conclusion: The training professionals' role is important because trainers develop the workforce and offer employees career opportunities for advancement at the same time they help decrease the rate of turnover and personnel costs. Moreover, development is a powerful tool for fostering an environment that will attract talented employees. The company that trains and develops its human capital has a reputation for valuing its employees and, consequently, increases the quantity and quality of the pool of candidates.Training professionals agreed that their role is shifting from being a provider of training to becoming a facilitator of learning. These participants all noted the importance of promoting, guiding, enabling and supporting learning as the focus of their activities in order to achieve learning organizations that reinvent not just their organization but also their industry.Training techniques and materials are changing rapidly. Technology, change in demographics, and even terrorism (although not discussed in this study) were some of the reasons for those changes. E-learning has substantially substituted traditional in-house training because the trainee can attend training seminars online from any convenient place equipped with a computer and a link to the internet. Moreover, changing demographics and workforce characteristics means adjusting with the new attitudes, cultures, values and motivation of the diverse workforce. Finally, security training has become much more important, especially after the September 11, 2001 bombing of the New York World Trade Centers.It appears from the study that there are several qualities an effective training professional should possess in today's hospitality industry. These include:* Teamwork. We believe that this concept was especially important for training professionals that work under pressure and they need the collegiality and the team spirit to overcome the significant pressure of the opening of a new property. They must \"walk the talk\" as they perceive themselves as the ambassadors of teamwork to the rest of the company's employees.* Inspiration and motivation. These are the means to overcome resistance during training and to deliver satisfactory training outcomes. Motivation can be the possibility of a promotion that could result in higher compensation or simply the personal satisfaction that one gains from learning.* Creativity was another characteristic that contributed in the successful delivery of training. Training professionals noted that they had to be creative in their training practices in order to increase trainee acceptance. Sharing personal stories, using humor and creating a fun environment were ways to make participants feel comfortable and interested during the training session. Most noted that this is particularly important at a time when they were facing severe departmental budget cuts.* Mentoring was essential to succession planning of the company. Coaching and nurturing employees to be individuals helps prepare people for more important roles.* Keeping current. Training professionals often are responsible for the design of training sessions. Therefore, they need to develop research and analytical skills for novel and updated training design, material and delivery methods.* Being proactive was suggested as the best approach to adapting to technological changes, customers' increasing demands, and to new training expectations. Being proactive signified forecasting the trends of the market, and trying to keep ahead of the competition.* Active listening. The nature of the training professionals' occupation is that they are interacting with lots of different types of people. Being a good listener makes trainers much more effective. Research in leadership has demonstrated that communication skills were perhaps the most important skills for effective leadership supports findings.* Staying healthy is the proactive solution to effectively negotiating the increased demands of training profession, especially during peak seasons. The alternative of going to work sick was not considered as an alternative as it was ethically challenged.* Measuring and evaluating training outcomes justifies the colloquialisms \"you cannot manage something unless you measure it,\" and \"inspect what you expect.\" Thus, the use of historical data, data collected from observation, and surveys can provide the training and development department with feed-back needed to improve its performance. It is interesting to note that measurement skills are advanced competencies that might be present only in training professionals with a graduate degree.* Consistency in training was required for providing customers with great service. Therefore, setting and applying uniform training standards and guidelines were important in achieving consistency in training.* Love and passion were noted as important characteristics of trainers by all participants. Therefore, enthusiasm is a necessary ingredient for promotability and success. Learning from the trainees can be unexpectedly rewarding for the trainers, because the dissemination of knowledge can work both ways.\nDiscussion: Results of this study are parallel with four major management competency studies that used Sandwith's domains. Results indicate that leadership competencies are paramount in the training field. However, in the current study conceptual and technical skills are considered more important than interpersonal skills-in contrast to former research reports (Kay and Russette, 2000; Tas, 1988; Tas et al., 1996; Okeiyi et al., 1994). Potentially, these differences are present because of the different departments under study. However, they may also be the result of digging deeper into the unconscious observations of trainers. The current study examined managerial and non-managerial training professionals from different departments (human resources, food and beverage and hotel operations) than previous studies that studied general managers, management and non-management employees in the food and beverage, hotel and sales departments (not specifically training staff). Concepts such as pro-activeness, consistency, training measurement and staying healthy were newly introduced in the present study.The findings of the current study have many similarities with the results of Rae's (2002) study on training competencies. Both studies found that technological skills, people skills, creativity, effectiveness by using different ways of communicating information, humor and self-confidence were important competencies for training professionals. The results of this study were similar to those found by Leigh (2006) in that regard. Notably, both of these studies found that communication skills are important in effective training. Similarities were also found between these results and Gorman's opinions (Lalaguna, 2007), where good communication, enthusiasm and passion are significant ingredients to the success of training.The magnitude and extent of this study were met by several constraints. The study was conducted in Las Vegas, Nevada, a tourist year-round destination with unique features and characteristics. The restriction was due to the location of respondents and the economic and practical feasibility of conducting this research. The sample for personal interviews included training professionals representing two hotel chains. Obviously, a study which included different market segments, small- and medium-sized hotels, for instance, as well as different sizes of properties, would provide a more complete image of the hospitality industry's perspective on training and development opinions and impressions. Therefore, this should be viewed as preliminary research and it is recommended that future researchers utilize these results as a starting point to different types of properties as well as different participants in each.This study will provide existing and future training professionals with information on the important competencies they should develop in order to improve training effectiveness. Moreover, human resources management can use the competencies that resulted from this study as a guide for compiling competency-based job analyses for training positions, and consequently recruit and appraise training professionals based on these job specifications. Finally, the outcome of the paper can be proven to be beneficial not only for hospitality executives, and future and current training professionals, but also for educators, both since training and teaching showcase many similarities and because informing college students who will become future managers helps to prepare them for their impending work environments. Being passionate, creative, having good communication skills, keeping current, measuring the outcome of training/teaching, and having passion and enthusiasm for their profession are equally important competencies for training professionals and educators.It is noteworthy to state that staying healthy is not noted in the literature as an important ingredient of the effectiveness in the training profession. This perhaps can be attributed to the uniqueness of Las Vegas as a tourist destination, where hospitality providers operate 24/7, and the average occupancy rate for lodging is 90 percent all year around; hence, leaving no space for absences to the local hospitality industry employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research paper is to describe the results and implications of the training professionals' competencies in the hospitality industry in the USA.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A qualitative implicit method, in-depth interviews using pictures were conducted with ten training professionals, where metaphors were widely used and links between concepts were identified. The qualitative software Atlas ti was used in creating a consensus map: a display showing the required competencies of training professionals in hospitality.\nFindings: - The training competencies that resulted from the current study are imperative for the effectiveness of training and development such as teamwork, inspiration-motivation, creativity, mentoring, keeping current, proactiveness, active listening, staying healthy, training measurement, consistency, and love and passion for the profession.\nResearch limitations/implications: - In-depth interviews using pictures is an implicit research technique that attempts to reveal the unconscious thoughts and opinions of training professionals. The study took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, a unique tourist destination, and the interviewees were employed by large hotel-casino corporations. Future studies need to research different sizes of hospitality institutions and different tourist destinations.\nPractical implications: - Human resources management can use the outcome of the study as a guide for compiling competency-based job analyses for training positions, and consequently recruit and appraise training professionals based on these job specifications. Moreover, the outcome of the paper can be proven beneficial not only for hospitality executives, and future and current training professionals, but also for educators since training and teaching show-case many similarities.\nSocial implications: - Improved and efficient training will result in lower employee turnover since employees will rate higher in job satisfaction and consequently that will result in better customer service and returning business for the company; a win-win situation for all involved stakeholders in a hospitality company.\nOriginality/value: - Both hospitality executives and future and current training professionals should find these research results most interesting as they reveal the necessary competencies that will enable them to best train and develop hospitality employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The application of a resilience assessment approach to promote campus environmental management: A South African case study	[ "Resilience", "Adaptive management", "Panarchy", "Resilience assessment approach", "Social-ecological system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002. A report delivered at this summit on behalf of the Environmental Advisory Council of the Swedish Government indicated that human and natural systems cannot be treated independently, and the response of ecosystems to human use is never linear, predictable or controllable (Folke et al., 2002). University campuses are seen as small villages with a noticeable demand for resources such as water and energy, and an increased ability to generate waste and contribute to pollution (Viebahn, 2002). It is expected of corporate businesses to participate in sound environmental practices, and universities are, therefore, not excluded from compliance with environmental legislation and have in their favour the expertise and opportunity to do sound research on factors which endanger the natural environment (Disterheft et al., 2012). Command and control mechanisms are primarily used to enforce environmental compliance. A more natural approach to managing the environment, namely, resilience assessment, relies on not only available natural resources but also takes into account the interaction between the social system; humans; and the natural system, i.e. ecology. This research study is the first of its kind in South Africa to apply a resilience assessment to a small social-ecological system like a university campus.\nConcept clarification: To understand how resilience assessment contributes to sustainable campus environments, the following concepts will be clarified.\nMethodology: A learning-based approach was followed in this research study. It relied on both endogenous and exogenous evidence to provide a holistic view of the field of study (Du Plessis, 2008; Gunderson, 2009). A sequential, exploratory mixed-method research design, consisting in the first phase of qualitative data collection and analysis with the literature review, contributed to the compilation of a historical timeline of the social-ecological system of the campus. The resilience assessment approach was then introduced as the quantitative phase of data collection and analysis. This study regards the resilience assessment as quantitative because information regarding student numbers, weather data (for example, temperature in degrees Celsius and rainfall in millimetres), waste production in kilograms and number of animal and plant species was all taken into account during the research process. In conducting the resilience assessment, interviews with participants also delivered relevant qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative and quantitative phases were seen as equally important in the research (Creswell, 2009).\nFindings and discussion: Findings are revealed according to the five steps included in the Resilience Assessment framework.\nResilience assessment: pros and cons: Resilience assessment is no longer seen as a substitute for sustainability; it is complementary to sustainability. The large scope in time and space with its focus on dealing with change and uncertainty makes a vital contribution in the process of adaptive management in matters related to the environment. Several issues are reported as problematic when performing a resilience assessment. These include the identification of thresholds; how to deal with trade-offs on different scales like climate change mitigation; lack of sufficient guidance on the design of a participatory process; and training different participants to apply the method of resilience assessment (Sellberg et al., 2015).\nThe way forward: Resilience assessment techniques have a recent history of providing useful information to promote sustainable environmental practices at the NWU (Vaal Campus). In 2012, a legal compliance audit performed by the Centre for Environmental Management (CEM) of the NWU, Potchefstroom Campus, indicated that there was environmental non-compliance on a variety of matters (NWU, 2012). To address this by way of an alternative approach, a resilience assessment project was undertaken in 2013 and 2014, with the aim of making a positive contribution to the environmental management on the Vaal Campus. Commitment to the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) began in 2013 at the NWU (Vaal Campus) under the leadership of Professor Johann Tempelhoff. The GCI is a worldwide effort by university campuses to support sustainability and promote sustainable initiatives. Individuals working in administrative and academic fields, as well as students, have become involved in discussions about environmental matters which link up well with the multi-level governance model of the resilience approach.\nThe way forward - challenges: The promotion of a sustainable campus environment entails more than cognisance of the social and ecological dimensions. It has been suggested that a top-down approach, where campus management is involved in the environmental management of the campus, delivers the best results (Lukman and Glavic, 2007). An environmental management policy for the campus is a major priority. Although NWU as an institution has made significant efforts towards a greener environment, cohesion between the different campuses is not always forthcoming. Then too, economic constraints often hinder progress and the implementation of initiatives. It is easy to formulate ideas during brainstorming in the GCI Group, but implementing those ideas takes a great deal of dedication and hard work. Identifying viable initiatives requires constant reflection and input. To raise awareness among students and staff members remains the biggest challenge. The quest for a sustainable campus is an on-going activity and requires dedicated commitment from the few permanent members of the GCI to keep the notions on track, while other role players, such as students, are often only involved for a limited period before they move on in their chosen career paths.\nConclusions: The real value of using a resilience assessment approach lies in the focus of the researcher on the specific focal system. Each focal system is unique regarding boundaries and upper and lower systems. The research project provided a proposal for campus management and environmentally concerned role players on possible environmental management action to be taken at the NWU (Vaal Campus). The resilience assessment of NWU's Vaal Campus revealed that the involvement of diverse groups, students, lecturing and administrative staff in the GCI can contribute to the flow of ideas and facilitates connections in the social subsystem. The environmental manager and GCI are applying adaptive management strategies on environmental matters. Members of the GCI Group are also doing what they can to find alternative strategies to address such issues, and there is clear evidence of an open and flexible social context that is strengthened by the involvement of a multi-level governance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to outline the benefits of using resilience assessment instead of command and control mechanisms to evaluate sustainable campus environments.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An exploratory mixed-method design was followed for the purposes of the project. During the first qualitative phase, a historical timeline of the focal system was created. In the quantitative phase, the resilience assessment guided the investigation. To collect data, the case study research strategy included a heuristic process of collecting and reviewing documents, semi-structured interviews, observations and the systematic implementation of the resilience assessment approach.\nFindings: Based on the resilience assessment approach, it is argued that the environmental status of university campuses can be considered relevant to the local community and immediate environment. Knowledge of the finite resources and their capacity in the context of the social-ecological system may increase the resilience of a campus.\nOriginality/value: This research study explores the use of an alternative approach to environmental practices at university campuses. The resilience assessment is usually performed on large ecosystems. By applying this approach to a small ecosystem, the study fills a gap in the applicability of the resilience approach.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
IC disclosures in IPO prospectuses: evidence from Malaysia	[ "Intellectual capital", "Initial public offering", "Content analysis", "Multiple regression analysis", "Malaysia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The shift toward a knowledge-based economy calls for recognition of new resources that have not previously appeared in firms' financial statements. In addition to physical and financial capital, intellectual capital (IC) resources, such as knowledge workers, corporate culture and business strategies, are equally important for companies to remain competitive and sustain their growth. It is the unique blend between IC and tangible resources that drives the value of companies (Ashton, 2005), which, in turn, helps them to secure a sustainable competitive advantage. Factors such as technological advancements, globalisation and increasing competition have resulted in increasing demand for narrative reporting (voluntary disclosure) and decreasing significance of financial reporting (Lev and Zarowin, 1999). Furthermore, the Accounting Standards Board (2007) has expressed growing dissatisfaction with traditional financial reporting and called for improved IC disclosure. As such, disclosures of IC information can complement conventional financial disclosures, thus enhancing a company's level of transparency.IC is recognised as an important topic for further research in the fields of financial and external reporting (Parker, 2007). Although many studies have examined the content of IC disclosures and the reasons for these disclosures, most data from prior studies are restricted to developed nations (Abeysekera, 2007; Goh and Lim, 2004). Empirical evidence from emerging countries like Malaysia remains scarce because research on IC disclosure is rather new (Abdullah and Sofian, 2009), particularly research focusing on initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses. This study aims to narrow this gap in the IC disclosure literature by focusing on data from Malaysia. This study seeks to explore the factors influencing the disclosure of IC information in the companies' prospectuses. The rest of the paper is organised in the following manner. Section 2 provides brief background information on the Malaysian economy. Section 3 discusses the literature related to IC disclosure and its potential determinants. Section 4 describes our sample selection, data, measurement of the IC disclosure index and multiple regression analysis. Our empirical results are discussed in section 5, and their implications and limitations are offered in sections 6 and 7, respectively. Finally, our concluding comments are presented in section 8.\n2. An overview of the Malaysian economy: Malaysia has recorded remarkable economic development since gaining its independence in 1957. Based on the report titled The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development by the Commission on Growth and Development (2008), from 1967 until 1997, Malaysia was one of 13 countries in the world to have gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7 per cent or more per year. Nevertheless, the Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998 considerably weakened this economic growth, with a record low of -7.50 per cent in 1998 (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2002). The crisis also devalued the Ringgit from RM2.50 to RM4.88 against the US$ and increased interest rates to approximately 12 per cent per year. Likewise, the stock exchange composite index plunged from 1,271 points to 262 points, corresponding to a decline in share value of about US$225 billion. The financial meltdown has significantly increased the uncertainty in the capital market and adversely affected investor confidence.Several measures have been initiated to facilitate the recovery process. For example, the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) (Securities Commission, 2007) was introduced in 2000 (latest revision 2007) to mitigate the crisis. In line with the agenda on reforms, the Capital Market Masterplan (CMP) was issued in 2001 by the Securities Commission with the purpose of strengthening the standards of investor protection by enhancing disclosure and governance standards. The Malaysian government also promoted the idea of leapfrogging to a knowledge economy in April 2001 through the Third Outline Perspective Plan 2001-2010 (OPP3).Although IC is increasingly becoming the key driver of the knowledge economy, Malaysian companies undervalue their IC or intangible assets (Brand Finance, 2008). The low proportion of intangible contributions implies that Malaysian companies continue to rely on tangible assets as their primary resources. Moreover, the recovery of the Malaysian economy was much slower than that of other countries affected by the Asian financial crisis (Abdul Rahman and Salim, 2010), thus delaying Malaysia's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020. This delay has led to an increased need for companies to measure and report IC resources as part of the effort to push Malaysia forward in the global economy, which is rapidly shifting towards knowledge-based activities.\n3. Literature review: Several empirical studies using the content analysis method in the field of IC disclosure are reported in Table I. Analyses of IC disclosure have employed several types of communication media, such as annual reports (Abeysekera, 2007; Bozzolan et al., 2003; Cerbioni and Parbonetti, 2007; Guthrie et al., 2004), prospectuses (Bukh et al., 2005; Cordazzo, 2007; Rimmel et al., 2009; Singh and Van der Zahn, 2007), analyst reports (Garcia-Meca, 2005), management reports and chairman's letters (Oliveira et al., 2006). Researchers such as Gerpott et al. (2008) and Striukova et al. (2008) have analysed multiple communication media. It is also evident from Table I that prior studies have focused mostly on companies in developed countries, such as Canada (Bontis, 2003), Ireland (Brennan, 2001), Australia (Guthrie and Petty, 2000) and the UK (Striukova et al., 2008; Williams, 2001).Although many studies have used annual reports to investigate IC disclosure practices (Guthrie et al., 2004; Vergauwen et al., 2007), the focus on prospectuses is indeed limited (Singh and Van der Zahn, 2007), particularly in developing and emerging countries such as Malaysia. The study of IC disclosure in IPO prospectuses is unique for two reasons: most IPO companies are less acknowledged by investors because they are relatively small and young, and IPO companies have limited publicly available information on their financial results (Cordazzo, 2007) because they are only required to publicise financial information for the three financial years prior to the IPO (Securities Commission, 2005). As such, to promote the shares they are offering to investors, the companies use prospectuses to provide relevant information for making an investment decision. Thus, it is anticipated that a higher level of IC disclosure will be observed in prospectuses than in annual reports (Bukh et al., 2005).The disclosure of IC information in a prospectus may give some insights into information asymmetry problems that lead to suboptimal allocation of resources within the company. A disclosure of more IC information provides a potentially important means to supplement the small amount of available information, thus reducing the problem of information asymmetry. Indeed, the issue is important given that IPOs in Malaysia are quite underpriced compare to IPOs in other developing countries (Prasad et al., 2006). Also, this study has special relevance to Malaysia, where the economy is shifting from input-driven to knowledge-driven. From 2001 to 2010, the IPO market grew strongly, with a total of 414 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia and RM52.79 billion in funds raised (Bursa Malaysia, 2010). Based on the above arguments, coupled with significant growth in the equity market, it is important to recognise and understand the increasing need for IC disclosure by a company seeking access to capital markets via IPO.3.1 The determinants of IC disclosure\n4. Data and methods: This section discusses the sample selection process and data collection procedure using content analysis methodology. The following sections present the measurement of the variables and the analytical procedure used in this study.4.1 Sample selection\n5. Empirical analysis: This section presents the results of the study. First, the trend of disclosing IC information in Malaysian IPO prospectuses during the period from 2004 to 2008 is described. This is followed by descriptive statistics. Finally, the results of the multiple regression analysis are presented.5.1 IC disclosure trend\n6. Implications for managers, practitioners and researchers: This paper offers significant implications in the following ways. First, the findings of the study help to extend the previous research on IC disclosure in this specific area, i.e. to explore the determinants of IC disclosure in an emerging country, particularly in the IPO setting. Recognising the growing importance of IC in the knowledge economy, the presence of IC information is an important supplement to conventional financial disclosure for revealing the company's value creation potential. The issue is of particular important to Malaysia as it shifts to a knowledge-based economy. Hence, this study provides an overview of the progress of IC disclosure practices, especially in IPO prospectuses.Second, the regulators and policy makers may find the results informative in dealing with factors that enhance IC disclosure. In view of the Malaysian corporate governance reforms agenda, the present study is timely in providing much-needed empirical support of the efforts to improve transparency and promote higher standards of disclosure to increase investor confidence. The low level of IC disclosure indicates that the progress of IC reporting in Malaysia is limited due to the absence of specific guidelines for IPO companies on how to incorporate various IC disclosures into their prospectus. Increased disclosure of IC information is anticipated to allow for more meaningful decision making on resource allocation by potential investors.Finally, this study also developed a disclosure index specifically customised to Malaysian IPOs. As such, the index can be employed as a basis for companies to report their IC information, which, in turn, will increase the probability of companies' reporting IC in the prospectuses. The index can also act as a catalyst for developing new approaches to corporate reporting that include greater disclosure of IC.\n7. Limitations and future research: Although the study contributes to an understanding of IC disclosure in the Malaysian IPO setting, it is limited in three ways. First, this study only examines IPO prospectuses in one country. Future research should seek to enlarge the current sample to further investigate the precise nature of IC disclosure and enhance the comparability between nations or sectors. Second, the method of analysing the content of prospectuses merely detects the presence or absence of a particular IC item from a predetermined checklist. A more robust method should be utilised to measure both the quantity and the quality of IC disclosures. Finally, although multiple regression analysis is the most common regression model used in analysing the determinants of IC disclosure, it is interesting to observe the results from using different methods, such as censoring or truncated regression models or Bayesian estimation.\n8. Conclusions: This study provides valuable insights on the factors affecting the disclosure of IC information using multiple regression analysis. The population of interest comprises 130 companies in the technology and industrial products sectors that applied for initial listing on Bursa Malaysia over the period from 2004 to 2008. The study investigated the effects of nine potential determinants of IC disclosure level. In general, the results provide evidence that board size, board independence, company age, leverage, underwriter and listing board significantly influence the extent of IC disclosure in an IPO prospectus. Nonetheless, the effect of each explanatory variable may vary in every model estimated, perhaps due to different sectors and environments. On the other hand, the study finds no significant association with board diversity, size or auditor type. The study also presents the trend on disclosure of IC information in Malaysian IPO prospectuses. It reveals the following:* the extent of IC disclosure seems to be relatively low (34.99 per cent, or 28 items out of 84); and* R&D information is disclosed most frequently, followed by process, strategy, customer, human resource, and IT information.Despite the low level of IC disclosure, the presence of IC information in the prospectus is a signal that urgent needs exist, first, to create a mutually agreed-upon framework for IC and, second, to understand what IC exactly is.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) information in the Malaysian initial public offering (IPO) prospectus using multiple regression analysis.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The sample consists of 130 companies in the technology and industrial products sectors of Bursa Malaysia that went through an IPO between 2004 and 2008. Initially, the extent of the IC disclosure index is quantified using content analysis methodology. The multiple regression analysis is then used to examine the associations of nine potential explanatory variables with IC disclosure level.\nFindings: - In general, the results provide evidence that board size, board independence, age, leverage, underwriter and listing board significantly influence the extent of IC disclosure in an IPO prospectus. Nonetheless, the effect of each explanatory variable may vary in each estimated parameter of the multiple regression models. Three variables, board diversity, size and auditor, were not significant.\nOriginality/value: - Although many studies have examined the content of and reasons for IC disclosures, this study provides empirical evidence in this specific area, i.e. to explore the determinants of IC disclosure, particularly from the perspective of IPO prospectuses, in emerging countries such as Malaysia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Role of social anxiety on high engagement and addictive behavior in the context of social networking sites	[ "Social networking site", "Social anxiety", "Internet addiction", "Uses and gratification theory", "High engagement", "Relationship maintenance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As the use of social networking sites (SNS) (e.g. Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) is prevalent among the big percentage of populations around the globe, studies about SNS use has been referred to as one of the top research topics (Andreassen et al., 2017; Blachnio et al., 2016; Oncu, 2015; Kwon et al., 2014; Zhu and Bao, 2018). At the same time, studies also point out that the pervasive access to social media exerts negative effects on both individuals and the society as the whole (Wang et al., 2011). In this study, we aim at probing the problem of the problematic internet use (PIU) due to SNS addiction as denoted by Turel and Serenko (2012). SNS addiction is a type of technology addiction, which is a pathological problematic state (Turel and Serenko, 2012, p. 514) and is an addictive consumption trait of SNS (Kang et al., 2013). Technology addiction (Turel and Serenko, 2012; Turel, 2015) has been studied in cases of internet addiction (Armstrong et al., 2000; Charlton et al., 2013, Chak and Leung, 2004; Chou and Hsiao, 2000; Douglas et al., 2008; Griffiths et al., 2016; Yellowlees and Marks, 2007), online game addiction (Charlton and Danforth, 2007; Skoric et al., 2009; Xu et al., 2012; Wittek et al., 2016). Drawing from these, we define SNS addiction as the user's maladaptive psychological state of dependency on the SNS use, which is manifested through an obsessive pattern of SNS use behavior that take place at the expense of other important activities and infringe normal matters users ought to deal with. As SNS is used for information communication, it consumes time to maintain personal wall for posting information, interacting with others such as replying messages, replying comments and so on. If the time spent on SNS results in shifting other works that should be done, this continuous pattern of SNS is referred to as the pathological SNS use (Turel and Serenko, 2012).\n2. Theoretical background and research model: In order to test the roles of social anxiety and relationship maintenance on SNS addiction (pathological) and high-engagement (non-pathological) behavior (Kuss and Lopez-Fernandez, 2016), user self-motivations triggered by the media use in terms of U&G theory is involved in the research model. Also, we claim that relationship maintenance as bonding and bridging is important to consider at while focusing on the SNS use (Lee, 2013). Users adopt SNS for communication with people in order to facilitate relationship maintenance; at the same time, SNS users also can be influenced by anxiety as the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986), which points out that people tend to compare themselves with others in the same network. We claim that this regard is neglected in the literature, but in fact SNS provokes a challenge that users experience comparison with respect to happiness or sadness of others in the social-capital perspective (Lee, 2013). In other words, social anxiety refers to the uncertainty of other SNS users' perceptions about the engagement of SNS, and it may manifest a heightened desire to learn more about what similar others experience. The role played by social anxiety has been proven valid in the relationship of online communication and online self-disclosure among adolescents (Wang et al., 2011). Drawing from this, this study claims that it should be logical to combine the perspective of U&G and social cognition in one study and empirically examines its validity among SNS users. The research model is presented in Figure 1.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1 Participants and procedure\n4. Discussion and implications: 4.1 Summary of results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to tackle the problem of technology addiction by investigating the differences between the antecedences of addictive (problematic technology usage) and high-engagement behavior (non-problematic technology usage). The case of social networking site usage (SNS, e.g. Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) is taken as the case out of the reason of prevalent user population.\nDesign/methodology/approach: It is revealed that people tend to use SNS not only for building a relationship, but also for communicating. In other words, there are inner needs of adopting the SNS technology. However, no clear definitions can be followed for determining the problematic SNS usage, addictive behavior and the high-engagement behavior. Therefore, this study adopts the notion of uses and gratification theory (U&G theory) for investigating the SNS usage behavior. Also, the social anxiety is also first introduced to integrate into the research for an empirical study.\nFindings: Results reveal that gratification sought and relationship maintenance are associated with the addictive behavior, whereas the relationship maintenance is significantly related to high-engagement behavior.\nResearch limitations/implications: First, the selected data represents a sample of SNW users in the Asian Pacific region and mainly from the group of young college users. Therefore, caution must be taken when generalizing the findings to other SNW users or groups. Second, the time aspect related to social media dependence may need to be considered in future studies. Third, the authors found marginal support for the influence of intentions of high engagement, and future studies may consider applying other theories that could better explain these types of behavior.\nPractical implications: The results of this study provide strong evidence that inner anxiety perceived by users should not be neglected while tackling the problematic internet use due to SNW addiction because it can strengthen the force for depending on SNW for seeking social support. Apart from the value of perceived enjoyment as asserted in previous studies, this study opens up a new opportunity to tackle SNW dependence.\nSocial implications: The key implication of this research is that the impact of the mental health of users on SNW problematic should not be overlooked . The higher the level of anxiety perceived, the more likely is the SNW dependence. Therefore, the online behavior depending on psychological health should be addressed because it may be a critical point for assisting users to adopt SNW wisely.\nOriginality/value: This study confirms that social anxiety people experience in real (offline) life has impacts on online behavior of SNS usage (online). It suggests that the difference between users as the perceived level of social anxiety can trigger different levels of SNS usage. Second, U&G theory is proven valid in understanding SNS addiction. Third, relationship maintenance through the use of SNS reveals its dissimilar effects on SNS addiction and high engagement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A comparative analysis of different paperless picking systems	[ "Hourly cost function", "Paperless picking", "Warehouse manual picking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and background: The evolution of customer orders, which are becoming ever more frequent and require smaller amounts of products, has inevitably changed the way their processing is performed by suppliers, who are facing the need to respond very rapidly and flexibly. This trend strongly affects the configuration of picking warehouses and of the activities that have to be carried out within them, with larger pick volumes that have to be satisfied within shorter time windows (De Koster et al., 2007; Bartholdi and Hackman, 2011). One of the priorities for warehouse managers is, therefore, the improvement of picking performance (Battini et al., 2015). Considering that most of the order picking systems are characterised by manual activities performed by human operators, a possible approach for increasing the productivity of order picking systems could focus on pickers' productivity in terms of reducing the time needed to fulfil an order, and also the reduction of possible errors (Grosse and Glock, 2013; Grosse et al., 2013). In the recent study by Grosse et al. (2015), \"Proposition 1\" underlines the importance of investigating other objectives besides travel time minimisation in an order picking system. In particular, the need to develop studies that focus on picking error reduction is pointed out including, for example, consideration of the precise possible trade-offs between the cost of investment in paperless information technology and the return on investment from reduced picking errors. Furthermore, according to De Koster and Van Der Poort (1998) and Poon et al. (2009), paperless order picking systems can be a useful strategy to obtain benefits in an order picking warehouse, as validated also in the case studies of some authors in the literature (Berger and Ludwig, 2007; Reif et al., 2010; Yeow and Goomas, 2012). All these studies have concluded that a possible solution that would reduce picking errors and hence improve picking performances is the adoption of paperless picking technologies. According to Frazelle (1988) and Tolliver (1989), for example, it has been estimated that a light-directed picking system with automated data entry can reduce human error by 95 per cent as well as increase productivity by 10 per cent.\n2. Paperless picking technological framework: 2.1. Presentation of the paperless picking technologies\n3. Economic evaluation of the different paperless picking solutions: Starting from the working schemes proposed in Section 2.2, a cost function is derived, which is useful from an economic point of view for conducting a quantitative comparison of the different paperless picking solutions (Baumann, 2013). This cost function, called the hourly cost function (Equation 1), where j is the considered technology, comprises four main hourly cost components:\n4. Application to real case studies: This section reports on some case studies with the aim of presenting an example of the application of the model in order to better show the correlation of the different factors, the points on which it would be interesting to focus and their consequent impact on the hourly cost function. Such functions were plotted for all the analysed paperless picking technologies for two different proposed warehouse configurations, which have both been derived from the simplification of two different case studies. The first case study concerns a low-level picking warehouse using voice picking technology, with a proposed configuration composed of 20 shelving units, 100 metres long with 100 stock locations each; therefore, with a total number of stock locations n\n5. Conclusions: Warehouse manual picking is one of the most critical activities in a warehouse: every improvement made in this area can lead to good results in terms of time and cost saving (De Koster et al., 2007; Grosse et al., 2015). In this sense, the development of devices able to support and help the pickers during their work, such as the paperless picking technologies, is of particular interest (Frazelle, 1988; Tolliver, 1989). The present paper has introduced a useful comparison of different paperless picking systems (i.e. handheld and barcodes, handheld and RFID tags, voice picking system, traditional pick-to-light, RFID pick-to-light), both from a technological and an economic point of view. In particular, starting from the functional description of the solutions, the different errors arising have been pointed out, which have been also taken into account in the development of the hourly cost function. In fact, the proposed cost function is composed of four main hourly cost factors: the stock locations cost, the pickers cost, the picking errors cost and the fixed cost. The cost model has then been employed in a case study concerning the comparison of the different analysed technologies in two different warehouse configurations: a low-level manual picking warehouse, composed of different racks and aisles, and multilevel picking shelving. The study outcomes show that the best paperless picking solutions for the low-level manual picking warehouse with a medium-low number of picked rows per hour are the handheld solutions (both those with barcodes and those with RFID tags) and the voice picking system, while the RFID pick-to-light solution is the best one when the number of picks per hour is high. On the contrary, in the case of the multilevel picking shelving, the most convenient technology is the RFID pick-to-light system for almost all the numbers of picked rows per hour. The proposed model represents an interesting approach which is considered useful for evaluating different paperless picking technologies, considering also their practical employment within a specific warehouse characterised by a certain layout configuration and a particular picking rate. Furthermore, its simplicity makes it easy for warehouse staff to apply directly; in any event, the engagement of warehouse managers is certainly needed in order to obtain and eventually verify the most accurate times, errors and cost values. In fact, an important point for attention in such a method is the need for the correct estimation of the input data. Further studies in this field will be focused on the enrichment of the economic comparison by introducing other technologies, the study of other warehouse configurations and the evaluation of their applicability to the picking for the feeding of assembly systems.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Warehouse picking is often referred to as the most labour-intensive, expensive and time consuming operation in manual warehouses. These factors are becoming even more crucial due to recent trends in manufacturing and warehousing requiring the processing of orders that are always smaller and needed in a shorter time. For this reason, in recent years more efficient and better performing systems have been developed, employing various technological solutions that can support pickers during their work. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a comparison of five paperless picking systems (i.e. barcodes handheld, RFID tags handheld, voice picking, traditional pick-to-light, RFID pick-to-light).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Warehouse picking is often referred to as the most labour-intensive, expensive and time consuming operation in manual warehouses. These factors are becoming even more crucial due to recent trends in manufacturing and warehousing requiring the processing of orders that are always smaller and needed in a shorter time. For this reason, in recent years more efficient and better performing systems have been developed, employing various technological solutions that can support pickers during their work. The present paper introduces a comparison of five paperless picking systems (i.e. barcodes handheld, RFID tags handheld, voice picking, traditional pick-to-light, RFID pick-to-light.\nFindings: The proposed approach contributes to the understanding of the performance of different technologies in different application fields; some solutions are more suitable for a low-level warehouse, others bring greater benefits in the case of picking from multilevel shelving.\nOriginality/value: The study concerns an issue that until now has received very little attention in the literature. It compares some traditional solutions with some innovative ones by an economic evaluation. The presented hourly cost function also takes into account the different errors arising and their probability of occurrence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
From exclusion to inclusion: A proposed approach to addressing the culture of masculinity within policing	[ "Gender", "Women", "Organizational culture", "Workplace" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In a democratic society the police are responsible for enforcing the law, preventing crime, protecting life and property, and maintaining peace and public order (Martin, 1999). And while the nature and philosophy of policing has evolved since the inception of modern policing in the early 1800s, policing continues to be understood as a dangerous, \"masculine\" occupation because of its association with aggressive behavior and the legitimate use of force, from which women have been traditionally excluded (Rabe-Hemp, 2008).\nThe nature of policing: The police are often considered the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system as they are expected to work to prevent crime and enforce laws. In addition, they are expected to protect life and property, maintain peace and public order, and provide a wide range of other services to citizens 24 hours a day. In any of these scenarios exists the potential for violence and the right of the police to use force to gain control (Martin and Jurik, 2007). The combination of danger related to physical violence, authority to exercise force, and increasing organizational pressures for efficiency has resulted in a unique set of police behaviors and attitudes (Skolnick, 1994).\nPolicing and gender: Police work is performed in gendered organizations where \"advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned through and in terms of a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine\" (Acker, 1990, p. 146). Masculine occupations, such as policing, require qualities that are perceived as being possessed by men and not women (Ely and Meyerson, 2010). Women have generally been deemed incapable of possessing the traditionally masculine and esteemed characteristics of strength, courage, and authority, and therefore have been considered unable to do the job (Balkin, 1988). When women are either consciously excluded or relegated to inferior positions, they are unable to advance and are expected to accept a subordinated role within an organization (Shelley et al., 2011). The impact on policing is the maintenance of a numerical dominance of men, which serves to reinforce the masculine identify of the profession (Acker, 1990).\nRemoving gender as a barrier to inclusion: Taking a step outside policing, research in similarly dangerous and masculine work environments indicates that the script of masculinity can be changed. A study by Ely and Meyerson (2010) at two offshore oil production platforms identified three primary cultural elements that enabled platform workers to deviate from traditional expectations of masculinity: shared goals that advance collective well-being, definitions of competence linked to task requirements, and a learning orientation toward work. Additionally, the primary focus on safety directed workers away from the goal of proving masculinity to goals that were incompatible with maintaining a masculine image. In contrast to other \"dangerous\" workplaces, the workers at the two sites routinely admitted physical limitations, publicly admitted to mistakes, and openly shared fears and anxieties while demonstrating concern regard for others. These actions were supported through cultural practices that rewarded competence, learning, and the expression of vulnerability (Ely and Meyerson, 2010).\nImplications and limitations: Policing as a profession has continued to evolve since the early days of the modern police departments. Once dominated by the masculine qualities of strength, authority, and power, the introduction of community policing has given way to more \"feminine\" characteristics that serve to create cooperative relationships with communities; however, police organizations continue to draw on masculine images to define what it means to be a police officer (Prokos and Padavic, 2002). In addition, recruiting and other professional materials continue to include images of male officers engaged in tactical and other traditional crime-fighting roles (Gascon and Schaefer, 2003). What this implies is that despite the rise of community policing and the increasing presence of women, the masculine reality of policing has not been sufficiently addressed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural aspect of policing, particularly as it relates to the role of gender, and proposes an alternative approach to addressing the culture of masculinity within policing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, the author provides a brief overview of the nature of policing. This is followed by a review of the relevant literature on policing and gender and the implications for men, women, and police organizations of adhering to a militarized or hegemonic form of masculinity. Finally, the author discusses Ely and Myerson's proposed theory for \"undoing gender\" and its relevance for policing.\nFindings: The findings of this paper suggest that the police culture continues to reinforce the masculine image of policing, thereby representing a significant barrier to the advancement of women. The findings also suggest that this barrier may be overcome through shared goals that advance collective well-being, definitions of competence linked to task requirements, and a learning orientation toward work.\nOriginality/value: This paper makes an important contribution to the existing literature on gender and policing, as it specifically focusses on the cultural influences of masculinity and considers the structural, behavioral, and cultural changes required to create margins of safety for police officers to experiment with new behaviors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
State ownership and firm profitability in emerging markets: A simultaneous equations analysis	[ "Firm profitability", "State ownership", "Simultaneous equation analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Agency cost theory developed by Jensen and Meckling (1976) suggested that firm performance depends on the structure of share ownership among managers and other outside owners. Companies in many developing countries operate under a very exclusive ownership structure, making them different from companies in developed countries. A dominant characteristic of share ownership in developing countries is the state's equity ownership, either through direct investment or indirectly through public institutions (Bruton et al., 2015; Cuervo-Cazurra et al., 2014; Grossi et al., 2015). In many developing countries where firms are still state controlled, we note that the state's contribution delays the country's economic development (Omran, 2007).\n2. Prior research: The state's role in corporate organizations may be examined through property ownership rights theory and agency theory. Agency theory suggests that separation of ownership structure and management leads to principal-agent conflicts since managers may privilege their own interests at the expense of shareholders and company performance (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). Conflict of interests between managers and shareholders may generate agency costs (Farrer and Ramsay, 1998). The nature of the principal-agent conflict depends on whether ownership is public or private (Stiglitz, 1994). Specifically, a state-dominated ownership increasing management monitoring may reduce agency costs and improve firm profitability (Bos, 1991). However, Hess et al. (2010) insured that government ownership may not be efficient in competitive markets because managers would prefer enforcing social and political goals as opposed to value maximization and this may lead to higher transaction costs. In particular, private owners are better motivated than government administrators to supervise and remunerate their agent-managers to improve firm profitability (Ng et al. 2009). Furthermore, ownership rights theory (Alchian and Demsetz, 1972) suggests that income rights given to private firms promote profit maximization and improve their profitability than income rights given to state-owned firms.\n3. Data and methodology: This study examines year-end financial statement data from 2000 to 2013 for 232 Tunisian firms. State ownership information is obtained from the Tunis stock exchange and firms. Table I presents the number and percent of firms by industry. The sample is diversified across industries with 16.810 percent in the manufacturing sector, 15.086 percent in the services sector and 18.534 percent in the transportation and public utilities.\n4. The univariate analysis: Table III shows Spearman rank correlations between the dependent and independent variables. In summary, the correlations between state ownership and firm-profitability are negative. Moreover, LEVARAGE, TAX and EXCHANGE significantly correlate only with the dependent variables of the equations they identify. However, INVES and SIZE correlate simultaneously with state ownership and profitability indicators. Except for the high correlation coefficients between STATE and STATE2 (0.980), multicollinearity does not appear to be a problem disturbing the regression results. In particular, STATE and STATE2 are derived from each other and their strong correlation is expected.\n5. The multivariate regression: The main advantage of a multivariate regression analysis is that it allows us to control for the impact of other variables that may affect firm profitability independently from state ownership. The two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation technique is initially used because the system is over-identified. This method is robust to the presence of multicollinearity and specification error (Kennedy, 1998). Moreover, we use the three-stage least squares to take into consideration covariance between the residuals of the two equations in the simultaneous system.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: This paper investigates the relationship between state ownership and firm profitability for 232 Tunisian companies over the period of 2001-2013. The univariate tests that compare firm profitability across different groups of firms divided according to state-ownership level show that partial state-controlled firms (10 percent STATE<30 percent) have higher profitability level followed by privately controlled firms (0STATE<10 percent). However, other firms with ultimate or a unique state control have relatively a lower level of profitability. The results reveal that the government can improve profitability in Tunisian firms just when it acts as a partial controller and not as an ultimate or a unique controller, mainly if its shareholding is under 30 percent. Moreover, the univariate analysis shows that public and non-administrative institutions have a higher profitability than ultimate and solely controlled companies. This result is explained by the specific structure of these institutions, suggesting that a potential governance reform may improve public firm profitability.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between state ownership and firm profitability in developing countries by considering the endogenous nature of state ownership and firm profitability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A simultaneous equation analysis is applied to study 232 Tunisian firms over the 2001-2013 period. This analysis is compared with OLS estimates to show its power in terms of an endogenous setting and its potential to improve estimation.\nFindings: Unlike the OLS estimates that show a non-significant relationship between state ownership and firm profitability, the simultaneous equation analysis reveals a non-symmetrical concave relationship. Specifically, state ownership affects positively firm profitability when it is relatively small and negatively when state ownership dominates. Specification test indicates that both state ownership and firm profitability are endogenous. Furthermore, the simultaneous model's explanatory power exceeds that of OLS estimates and proves to be a suitable estimation technique.\nPractical implications: Taking into account public firms' categorization, the authors implicitly examine the effect of privatization and corporatization on firm profitability. The findings imply that privatization is not the only solution to the operational problems of public firms, but an internal governance system restructuring can also be favorable for these firms.\nOriginality/value: In addition to focusing on a new database of developing countries, the case of Tunisian firms, the main empirical analysis is conducted by considering the endogeneity issue. Thus, the findings improve understanding of the role played by state ownership and suggest that a partial state control appears to be beneficial to firm profitability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
ISO 9001-certified public healthcare center's efficiency and re-certification	[ "ISO 9001", "Efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: 1.1 Background\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Efficiency and DEA\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research object and sample\n4. Findings and discussions: 4.1 Findings\n5. Conclusion, limitation and future research: This research has measured the efficiency of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare centers in Jakarta, Indonesia. Furthermore, this research has also analyzed the differences in the efficiency of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare centers based on the number of \"re-certification\" process they experienced. This research result showed that there is a variation in efficiency values of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare centers we studied. There are only 23 percent of the public healthcare centers we studied that can be categorized as the technically efficient public healthcare center. Furthermore, this research also found that there are no significant efficiency value differences among the groups of public healthcare center based on the number of \"re-certification\" the center experienced. In other words, the number of \"re-certification\" the center experienced does not influence the efficiency value.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the efficiency of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare center in Jakarta, Indonesia and examine the impact of \"re-certification\" on the efficiency.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample of the research is 30 ISO 9001-certified district public healthcare centers in Jakarta. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Man-Whitney U test were applied.\nFindings: The research result showed that there is a variation in efficiency values of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare centers that this research studied. There are only 23 percent of the public healthcare centers that can be categorized as the technically efficient public healthcare center. Furthermore, this research also found that there are no significant efficiency value differences among the groups of public healthcare center based on the number of \"re-certification\" the center experienced.\nResearch limitations/implications: This research only involved ISO 9001-certified public healthcare center from Jakarta, Indonesia.\nPractical implications: Registering ISO 9001 for the public healthcare center does not guarantee that the public healthcare center will have better efficiency. The government and the public healthcare center management should ensure that the ISO 9001 implementation method used by the public healthcare center is appropriate for improving the efficiency of the public healthcare center.\nOriginality/value: There is a lack of research that studied the efficiency of ISO 9001-certified public healthcare center. Furthermore, there is no research that investigates the effect of \"re-certification\" on efficiency. This research fulfills the literature gaps.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Absorptive capacity as a confounder of the process of supply chain integration	[ "Performance", "Supply chain management", "Absorptive capacity", "Human resources", "Internal integration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the twenty-first century, the importance of coordination between members of a supply chain has become indispensable for survival. Businesses compete as supply chains rather than as stand-alone companies (Christopher, 2016). Subsequently, SCI has been widely acknowledged in the literature as a critical factor with a positive effect on firm performance (Devaraj et al., 2007; Flynn et al., 2010; Rosenzweig et al., 2003; Swink et al., 2007). According to Chen et al. (2009), SCI involves restructuring activities used to link and simplify processes to help firms allocate, align and utilize both internal and external resources. Even, some authors have recognized its role as one of the \"best practices\" for improving performance (Miri-Lavassani and Movahedi, 2018; Sousa and Voss, 2008), highlighting its potential as a source of competitive advantage. In addition, Tarifa-Fernandez and de-Burgos-Jimenez (2017) state that once this value is supported by empirical evidence, research should shift from the justification of its worth to the understanding of the contextual conditions under which it is more effective.\n2. Theoretical background and research hypotheses: Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1991) and the notion of complementary resources (Teece, 1986; Black and Boal, 1994), this study analyzes the relationships between different resources and capabilities, which are required to gain a competitive advantage in supply chains. The theoretical model identifies two sets of practices and assets related to the development of AC. Firms with this complementary capability enhance performance through external SCI. Thus, this study adopts a contingent model to explain how SCI and AC affect firm performance: when the value of AC increases, the positive relationships between both SI and CI and firm performance also increase. Figure 1 shows these relationships.\n3. Methods: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess convergent and discriminant validity. The CFA results suggested that the model provided a good fit for the data. The ratio of kh2 (217.57) to degrees of freedom (157) is less than the recommended value of 3.0 for a satisfactory fit of a model to data (Hair et al., 1998). All individual items in the measurement model had standardized coefficients that were significant (p<0.001), indicating that the constructs exhibited convergent validity. Collectively, these results provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity (see Table II). Cronbach's a reliability coefficient was computed, which ranged between 0.70 and 0.91. The values of composite reliability (CR) were also computed, which ranged from 0.71 to 0.92, and the values of average variance explained (AVE), ranging from 0.50 to 0.74. Table III shows the correlation matrix, means and standard deviation of the construct used in the research model.\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Discussion of results\n6. Conclusions: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the role of AC in the process of SCI. This study has considered II and HPHRP as antecedents of AC, and, in turn, AC as a moderating variable in the relationship between external integration and performance. In short, the empirical results suggested that only HPHRP are directly related to the development of AC within a firm. In addition, this study provides evidence that AC positively moderates the relationship between CI and SI and supplier performance. Firms with higher levels of AC enhance the positive effects of supply chain external integration on financial and economic performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and advance on existing knowledge regarding supply chain integration (SCI) and absorptive capacity (AC). On the one hand, new elements, such as high-performance human resource practices (HPHRP) and internal integration (II) are proposed to foster AC within the supply chain. On the other hand, the study proposes a model and hypotheses to analyze the moderating effect of AC on the relationship between external SCI and supply chain performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Four hypotheses are formulated based on relevant literature. Data were collected from the horticultural marketing sector, using two different sources, a survey and archival data. A total of 99 responses were analyzed. Hierarchical multiple regressions were carried out to test the proposed hypotheses.\nFindings: The results confirm that HPHRP are a crucial element when trying to increase the level of AC. In addition, the results show that AC has a moderating effect on the relationship between SCI and supply chain performance (both economic and financial). AC moderates the relationship between customer integration and economic performance.\nOriginality/value: This study examines the potential causes for the differences that exist in a firm's ability to develop AC. Thus, on the one hand, HPHRP and II are proposed as triggers of AC, and on the other, AC is proposed as a moderator in the relationship between SCI and performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Scanning practices and information sources: an empirical study of firm size	[ "Environmental management", "Information media", "Small to medium‐sized enterprises", "Portugal" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The environmental conditions facing today's businesses are increasingly fraught with complexity, turbulence and uncertainty. A firm's ability to survive partly depends on its ability to anticipate external change and take this into account when defining the strategic targets that it wishes to pursue (Choo, 2001). To do so, it needs to be able to acquire, distribute and above all analyse information relating to the current state and evolution of its socio-economic environment. The implementation of environmental scanning systems is a response to that need (Lesca and Caron-Fasan, 2008). It is also a necessary condition for achieving performance (Daft et al., 1988; Barringer and Bluedorn, 1999; Ogunmokun and Ng, 1999; Beal, 2000; Howell and Shea, 2001). In particular, research in the fields of strategic management and information systems stresses the importance of environmental scanning for organisations whose environments are perceived as complex, dynamic and turbulent (El Sawy, 1985). Moreover, scanning and interpreting environmental changes are critical elements of strategy formulation and strategic decision-making (Hambrick, 1981; Barringer and Bluedorn, 1999; Aguilar, 1967; Daft et al., 1988; May et al., 2000; Danneels, 2008; Liao et al., 2008).Despite environmental scanning and information search activities having received much attention in the management literature (e.g. Aguilar, 1967; Hambrick, 1982, Sawyerr, 1993; Sawyerr et al., 2000), to date most studies have centred on large organisations. However, in order to develop and sustain competitiveness, the availability of timely and relevant information through effective environmental scanning is equally important for smaller firms (Pearce et al., 1982; Walters et al., 2005; Liao et al., 2008). Despite this observation, the relative lack of slack resources as the main competitive constraint faced by these firms (Strandholm and Kumar, 2003; Rogers, 2004; Hewitt-Dundas, 2006) may force them to make choices concerning the scope and frequency of environmental scanning which could place them at an information disadvantage, compared to their larger counterparts.Nevertheless, in line with Walters et al. (2005), research on environmental scanning among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been relatively scarce. The few studies with a focus on the environmental scanning in this sector are far from conclusive (i.e. Pineda et al., 1998; Beal, 2000; Raymond et al., 2001; Ngamkroeckjoti et al., 2005; Liao et al., 2008). For example, Pineda et al. (1998) found that managers of SMEs are less willing to seek and accept advice from others, which can be attributed to their high internal locus of control. In contrast, several other researchers contended that SMEs decision-makers lack sufficient resources to create a formal system to conduct environmental scanning; therefore, they must rely more heavily on externally-focused scanning practices (Churchill and Lewis, 1983; Mohan-Neill, 1995). SMEs typically lack the infrastructure to search for and collect information in a suitable manner and they are more dependent on information coming from networks and other forms of association (Matthews and Scott, 1995; Liao et al., 2008).Some studies show that SMEs do obtain value from their environmental scanning activities (e.g. Lang et al., 1997; Beal, 2000), but these studies do not include a comparison with larger companies. Thus, they are not of much help in determining whether smaller firms have information shortcomings relative to larger companies. This is an important issue insofar as within the EU-27 context more than 99 per cent of all businesses are classified as SMEs, employing two-thirds of the total EU workforce (Eurostat, 2009). Against this background, the purpose of this study is to examine and compare the environmental scanning practices and information sources used by large companies as well as by SMEs. Specifically, we focus on two research questions. First, compared to large companies, do SMEs undertake different environmental scanning activities? Secondly, do SMEs differ in their information research compared to large companies? Therewith, we seek to contribute to a better understanding of the scanning and information gathering behaviour of SMEs, in order to develop measures to overcome their potential disadvantages in this respect.The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 introduces the importance of environmental scanning and information sources; it also shows some particular characteristics of SMEs and presents our research hypotheses. Section 3 illustrates the research method, sample, data and the different statistical analyses used. Section 4 discusses the empirical findings in the light of our hypotheses. Finally, Section 5 concludes and makes recommendations for SME managers and policy-makers.\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses: 2.1 Differences between large companies and SMEs\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Research design\n4. Findings and discussion: 4.1 Clustering of scanning practices\n5. Concluding remarks: 5.1 Conclusions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the environmental scanning practices and information sources used by large companies as well as by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the latter being relatively absent from scientific scrutiny. In doing so, it endeavours to contribute to a better understanding of the scanning and information-gathering behaviour of SMEs, in order to develop measures to overcome their potential disadvantages in this respect.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were obtained from 165 Portuguese firms. Respondents were required to evaluate their use of 11 different environmental scanning practices and 12 information sources. For data analysis, the variables were classified using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the retained components and variables underwent a one-way variance analysis.\nFindings: - Results indicate that smaller firms do not scan as broadly and as frequently as their larger counterparts. Although external information sources are used equally by larger and smaller enterprises, in general there is also a positive relationship between the exploitation of information sources and firm size.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Findings are taken from the Portuguese context, with its own idiosyncratic economic structure and climate. Generalisations should therefore be made with caution.\nPractical implications: - As the \"size effect\" influences the propensity for environmental scanning, SMEs are urged to adopt inter-firm strategies in order to achieve a critical mass. The importance of building scanning and information networks among SMEs must be highlighted.\nOriginality/value: - Research on environmental scanning in SMEs and comparative studies of the firm size effect have been relatively scarce. The findings reveal that firm size matters, insofar as the use of different scanning practices and information sources mostly augments with increasing firm size.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring customer-based brand equity: empirical evidence from the sportswear market in China	[ "Brand equity", "Sports", "Clothing", "China", "Consumers" ]	[ { "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.\nIntroduction: The active sportswear and athletic footwear product group is one of the most heavily branded areas in the global apparel market. Estimates hold that over three-quarters of the total active sportswear market, and nearly 80 percent of authentic footwear, are branded. According to Just-style, three global sportswear brands, Nike, Adidas, and Reebok, had 33 percent of the global active sportswear and athletic footwear market in 2007 (Newbery, 2008). Branding remains the industry's largest source of competitive advantage. This is an area of clothing in which customers' purchasing choices are frequently determined by the sports figures they admire, or the teams they follow, and the brands they aspire to wear (Newbery, 2008). Therefore, brand equity plays a strategic role in helping sportswear brand managers gain competitive advantage and make wise management decisions. When correctly measured, it is the appropriate metric for evaluating the long-term impact of marketing decisions (Simon and Sullivan, 1993).Although the literature identifies several dimensions of brand equity from other industries, existing research on brand equity in the sportswear industry is still spare. Despite the growing importance of the Chinese market in sportswear products, the topic of how a sportswear firm builds brand equity there appears to be under-researched. By retesting the most popularly adopted brand equity dimensions, this study aims to empirically test and operationalize the customer-based brand equity components and how they interact within the context of sportswear brands in a Chinese sample. The end results of this research also lead to a deeper understanding of a sportswear brand equity concept as well as some implications for practitioners working in the sportswear industry.To accomplish the above stated goals, this paper offers a brief introduction to China's sportswear market, followed by a review of relevant theoretical literature and a description of the hypotheses of the study. Next, it describes the methodology and rationale for measuring customer-based brand equity. Conclusions and managerial implications follow.\nLiterature review: Brand building in the Chinese sportswear market\nConceptual framework and research hypotheses: Conceptual framework\nMethodology: A research framework was designed to test the above-hypothesized relationships in the sportswear industry in China. For this purpose, the sports shoe market was targeted. This consideration was based on the fact that China is the world's fastest-growing market for sportswear products, and young Chinese consumers, especially urban youth, are increasingly attracted to branded sportswear (Urbanowicz et al., 2008).Sample and data collection\nResults: Demographic characteristics\nDiscussion and managerial implications: Building brand equity is crucial for a heavily branded product category, like sportswear, within a highly competitive and brand conscious market, such as China. The purpose of this study was to examine and retest the applicability of Aaker's brand equity model, the most common conceptual framework for the measurement of customer-based brand equity, on the sportswear industry in a representative Chinese sample.Although these findings do not completely support all of Aaker's brand dimensions, we found that both brand associations and brand loyalty had a significant effect on band equity. Loyalty demonstrated the strongest impact, indicating the essential role of developing brand loyalty in building brand equity in the Chinese sportswear market. This result confirms other research findings, such as Yoo et al. (2000) and Kim and Kim (2004). In addition, the results show that brand association is positively related to brand equity. This means that, consistent with previous studies, strong associations that support a competitively attractive and distinct brand position could create a favorable feeling and behavior toward the brand and lead to a strong sportswear brand in China (Kim and Kim, 2004; Yoo et al., 2000).The empirical data and statistical tests in this study did not provide enough support for the positive and direct relationship between perceived quality and brand awareness and brand equity, indicating that having high quality or having a brand name alone is not a guarantee of a successful brand in the sportswear industry. This result is also in line with some earlier studies (e.g., Swait et al., 1993; Yoo et al., 2000).It should be noted, however, when the correlation among dimensions was specified in the structural model, the intercorrelations between perceived quality and brand association (g=0.52, t=5.74) and brand loyalty (g=0.52, t=6.05), and the intercorrelations between brand awareness and brand association (g=0.69, t=6.16) and brand loyalty (g=0.57, t=5.88) were significant and all positive. Thus, perceived quality and brand awareness might affect brand equity by influencing brand association and brand loyalty first (see Table III). Many previous studies also suggested a potential casual order might exist among the brand equity dimensions (Oliver, 1997; Yoo et al., 2000).Although these findings are based on the evidence from the sportswear industry in China, they are helpful in other clothing-related industries as well, such as general clothing, footwear, fashion accessories, and cosmetics. They suggest that different brand equity dimensions contribute to overall equity in different ways, and that an order exists among the four dimensions. Since marketing/brand managers often have limited resources (e.g. money, time, and manpower) to implement branding strategies, these findings can help them prioritize and allocate resources across the dimensions.Two implications can be derived here. The first is that managers should concentrate their efforts primarily on brand loyalty and brand image, which have high importance in the construct of brand equity. In the highly competitive sportswear industry, the key is to create a unique, favorable, and strong brand image to provide customers with a reason to buy the brand, then work to keep their loyalty and gain their repeat business (Aaker, 1991; Tepeci, 1999). Celebrity/star endorsements, sports event sponsorships, advertising across different media, and non-price promotion are potentially effective marketing strategies to build a strong brand image and brand loyalty (Aaker, 1991; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Fan and Pfitzenmaier, 2002; Keller, 2002; Yoo et al., 2000).The second implication is that marketing/brand managers should consider the intercorrelations among the four dimensions of brand equity, especially the relationship of perceived quality to brand association and brand loyalty, and the relationship of brand awareness to brand association and brand loyalty. While brand awareness serves as a foundation for brand image and brand loyalty, high quality enables consumers to recognize a brand's distinctiveness and superiority and leads to consumer satisfaction and loyalty (Aaker, 1991; Oliver, 1997). As a result, we suggest that when concentrating on creating brand association and brand loyalty, managers should not undervalue the effects of perceived quality and brand awareness.\nLimitations: This study has two major limitations. First, it is limited to the sportswear market in China and focuses on only the two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai. Thus, future research needs to be done if the results are to be expanded into other regional Chinese markets in light of significant regional gaps in consumer attitudes and behaviors. It should also be noted that no performance measurements have been conducted in this study due to the inability to gather the required financial data. Including performance measurement and financial performance of the studied sportswear brands, e.g. sales and profit, would further strengthen this research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to examine the practicality and applications of a customer-based brand equity model in the Chinese sportswear market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Based on Aaker's well-known conceptual framework of brand equity, this study employed structural equation modeling to investigate the causal relationships among the four dimensions of brand equity and overall brand equity in the sportswear industry. The present study used a sample of 304 actual consumers from China's two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai.\nFindings: - The findings conclude that brand association and brand loyalty are influential dimensions of brand equity. Weak support was found for the perceived quality and brand awareness dimensions.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Future research needs to be done if the results are to be expanded into other regional Chinese markets in light of the significant gaps between different regions. Further research also could strengthen this analysis by adding performance measurement into the model.\nPractical implications: - The paper shows that sportswear brand managers and marketing planners should consider the relative importance of brand equity in their overall brand equity evaluation, and should concentrate their efforts primarily on building brand loyalty and image.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to the scant literature testing the applicability of consumer-based brand equity in the sportswear industry. Since China is the world's fastest-growing market for sportswear products, this study also provides important insights about the understanding of Chinese consumers' perceptions of overall brand equity and its dimensions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Motivate to innovate: How authentic and transformational leaders influence employees' psychological capital and service innovation behavior	[ "HRM", "Leadership", "Hospitality", "Psychological capital", "Positive psychology", "Service innovation behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In service organizations, as in any labor-intensive industry, employees and, in particular, frontline employees, play a fundamental role (Wirtz et al., 2008). Rothfelder et al. (2013) point out the importance of frontline employees: they work in a consumer-centric manner at the heart of a service organization and are recognized as the face of the company. Driving service quality and customer satisfaction directly, frontline employees are the foundation of customer loyalty and a service organization's competitive advantage (Ottenbacher, 2007; Kim et al., 2012; Kim and Oh, 2004). A growing number of studies from scholars such as Slatten et al. (2011) are drawing the conclusion that frontline employees should be at the center of the management's and leadership's attention in service industries.\n2. Theoretical background and Hypotheses: 2.1 Selected leadership styles: transformational leadership and authentic leadership\n3. Method: 3.1 Sample and procedure\n4. Results: 4.1 Psychometric properties of the measures\n5. Conclusion: 5.1 Significance of the findings and contributions to theory and research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to empirically test a research model investigating the effects of authentic leadership (AL) and transformational leadership (TL) on follower service innovation behavior (SIB) with follower psychological capital (PsyCap) as a partial mediator.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from a sample of 336 full-time frontline employees across 15 five-star hotels in Seoul, South Korea, over a time lag of one month, hypothesized relationships were analyzed with structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results suggest that AL has a greater effect on follower PsyCap and SIB than TL. In examining the role of PsyCap as a partial mediator, the results support the hypotheses that AL and TL trigger follower SIB directly but at the same time boost follower PsyCap, thus enhancing follower SIB.\nPractical implications: The greater impact of AL on follower PsyCap and SIB suggests that the practice of corporate human resource management should place an emphasis on AL traits in leadership development. This study offers a useful perspective on the development of follower PsyCap and SIB by linking leadership traits.\nOriginality/value: By discussing AL and TL together within a single research framework, the study extends organizational psychology research by linking TL and AL to two important organizational psychological and performance variables, and exploring their comparative effects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cost, revenue and profit efficiency analysis of Indian scheduled commercial banks: Empirical evidence across ownership	[ "India", "Scheduled commercial banks", "Cost efficiency", "Profit efficiency", "Return to scale", "Revenue efficiency" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Financial liberalization since 1990s has transformed the structure of the Indian banking sector. Earlier, Indian banking sector was always dominated by public sector banks (PSBs). So much so that PSBs accounted for as much as 91 per cent of the total assets as against private sector banks with only 3 per cent and foreign sector banks (FSBs) with just 6 per cent of the share (Reserve Bank of India, 1993). But, liberalization of financial sector augmented the entry of new private and foreign banks in India. The competition among all these banks in different sectors gradually became intense. This declined the market share of assets of PSBs to 73 per cent, while the share of private and FSBs increased to 20 and 7 per cent, respectively (Reserve Bank of India, 2013). Multiplicity of banks in the banking podium also squeezed and divided the proportion of profitability of banks. In the present scenario, banks in all sectors need to work with greater efficiency to sustain the stiff competition.\n2. Review of literature: Countless studies have explored the efficiency performance of banks (Bhattacharyya et al., 1997; Saha and Ravisankar, 2000; Sathye, 2003; Niazi, 2003; Girardone et al., 2004; Das et al., 2005; Burki and Niazi, 2010; Ataullah and Le, 2006; Girardone et al., 2007; Sahoo and Sengupta, 2007; Pasiouras and Kosmidou, 2007; Asimakopoulos et al., 2008; Ahmed, 2008; Kumar and Gulati, 2008; Chauhan and Pal, 2009; Uddin and Suzuki, 2011; Gulati, 2011; Kumar, 2012; Raina and Sharma, 2013; Zeitun and Benjelloun, 2013; Jayaraman and Srinivasan, 2014; Okorie and Agu, 2015). Majority of the research articles have focused on technical efficiency, i.e. reducing input to the maximum possible extent with given level of outputs or maximising the outputs with the given level of inputs (Yue, 1992; Bhattacharyya et al., 1997; Saha and Ravisankar, 2000; Vujcic and Jemric, 2002; Khanam and Nghiem, 2004; Ketkar and Ketkar, 2008; Bala and Kumar, 2011; Uddin and Suzuki, 2011; Gulati, 2011; Sharma et al., 2012; Zeitun and Benjelloun, 2013). Technical efficiency considers the ability of banks in using its inputs optimally or producing its outputs efficiently, but it does not take into consideration their prices. Merely considering inputs-outputs will not provide any useful information, as it will not lead them to earn financial benefits unless and until their prices are also taken into consideration. So, the researchers shifted their approach toward financial efficiency measures, i.e. cost, revenue and profit efficiency. The existing literature highlights that number of studies have exclusively concentrated on the cost efficiency of the banks (Niazi, 2003; Girardone et al., 2004; Das et al., 2005; Burki and Niazi, 2010; Girardone et al., 2007; Sahoo and Sengupta, 2007; Pasiouras and Kosmidou, 2007; Asimakopoulos et al., 2008; Ahmed, 2008; Uddin and Suzuki, 2011; Gulati, 2011; Kumar, 2012; Raina and Sharma, 2013). But, the literature on banking that merely focuses on cost efficiency has been criticized for ignoring the revenue and profit efficiency of banks because high cost incurring bank, i.e. cost inefficient bank might be able to generate higher profits than the cost efficient bank (Berger and Mester, 1997 and Berger and Humphrey, 1997; Bader et al., 2008; Kamarudin et al., 2014 and Sufian et al., 2013) as in the present electronic era banks offer products and services through technology, which increases their cost and makes them inefficient in terms of cost; however, owing to higher revenue generated by them, they have better profits. Only one study has exclusively reviewed the revenue efficiency performance of the banks (Rammohan and Ray, 2004). The study has been criticized, as it takes into account the output side only, i.e. it evaluates how effectively a bank sells its outputs without considering how many inputs are used by them. Thus, analysing revenue efficiency also provides a partial view about the performance of the banks. Some of the studies have considered both cost and profit efficiency of the banks (Maudos et al., 1999; Isik and Hassan, 2002; Ariff and Can, 2008; Das and Ghosh, 2009). Few studies have reviewed revenue efficiency along with cost efficiency (Loukoianova, 2008; Wanniarachchige and Suzuki, 2011; Pancurova and Lyocsa, 2013). Berger and Mester (2003) and Maudos and Pastor (2003) emphasized that profit efficiency offers more useful information to the management, as it provides a complete picture of the economic goal of a bank and is, in fact, suggestive of both cost as well as revenue efficiency. Thus, it is imperative to study all the three efficiency concepts simultaneously. Only a few studies in the literature available have evaluated all the three efficiency concepts simultaneously. Rogers (1998) estimated these efficiencies for more than 10,000 commercial banks operating in the USA from 1991 to 1995. The results of the study confirmed that banks were on an average more efficient at producing and selling non-traditional outputs relative to traditional outputs. Das et al. (2005) also measured the various efficiencies of all major Indian commercial banks from 1996-1997 to 2002-2003. The study concluded that the most of banks in terms of cost efficiency were in the highest efficiency range. The revenue efficiency and profit efficiency scores depicted that the banks appeared to be more differentiated. A significant number of banks were in the lowest range according to profit efficiency scores. Hassan (2005) also examined these three efficiency scores of Islamic banks over 1996-2003. The results highlighted that Islamic banks were relatively better in generating profits than controlling costs. Similarly, Bader et al. (2008) also evaluated efficiencies of 43 Islamic and 37 conventional banks functioning in 21 countries over the period of 1990-2005. The results showed that the highest level of inefficiency among banks was on the revenue side which was followed by the profit efficiency. Sufian et al. (2012) examined the effect of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on these efficiency scores. The results highlighted that efficiency of Malaysian banking sector had improved in the post-merger period. Sufian et al. (2013) also analyzed the three efficiencies of the Malaysian Islamic Banks over the period of 2006-2010. The efficiency results showed that Malaysian foreign Islamic banks were better than Malaysian domestic Islamic banks, as the former's efficiency scores were higher than that of the latter. In addition, Kamarudin et al. (2014) examined the efficiency levels of 74 banks (47 conventional and 27 Islamic banks) in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries over the periods 2007 to 2011. The results depicted that GCC Islamic banks were unproductive in generating best outputs as well as in fully using the inputs efficiently. The synoptic view of review of literature is presented in Table I.\n3. Database and research methodology: 3.1 Sample selection\n4. Empirical findings: efficiency of scheduled commercial banks in India: Table VI highlights the cost efficiency (CE), revenue efficiency (RE) and profit efficiency (PE) of Indian scheduled commercial banks across ownership as below.\n5. Conclusion: Overall, the cost, revenue and profit efficiency score for banks belonging to different sectors confirms that Indian scheduled commercial banks were not able to maintain their input-output synchronization in terms of cost and revenue. There exists a room for improvement for SCBs. Bank managers need to establish equilibrium between inputs and outputs of banks keeping in mind their prices in the country's dynamic environment. The results of the study indicate that FSBs are most cost and profit efficient. In contrast, PSBs are highly revenue efficient, but they have shown higher cost inefficiency. Private sector banks are placed on the last position according to revenue and profit efficiency results. No doubt, banks operating in different sectors are regulated and fully controlled by Reserve Bank of India (2008). Still, there are some differences among them in terms of their working, customer base, employee base, spread of their branches, working environment, etc. PSBs have large network of branches and cover even the rural population, whereas majority of private sector banks are operating in the urban and semi-urban areas, and FSBs are operating only in the main metropolitan cities. PSBs have the obligation to fulfil social objectives along with achieving profits. Moreover, PSBs are finding themselves in a dilemma owing to dual regulation from Reserve Bank of India and Government of India. On the contrary, private sector banks mainly focus on the profit maximization objective. No doubt, PSBs and private sector banks are the domestic banks and have similar norms, but their existence, goals and interference from government builds a gap among them. Most of all, FSBs are taking the advantage of investing limited resources on technological equipments in the selective metropolitan cities and catering to the needs of high society individuals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the cost, revenue and profit efficiency performance of Indian scheduled commercial banks. The study also determines differences if any related to efficiency among banks on the basis of ownership pattern.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Cost, revenue and profit efficiency of banks is calculated by using the non-parametric approach, namely, data envelopment analysis. Further, the differences in the efficiency scores are examined by applying analysis of variance.\nFindings: Indian scheduled commercial banks have not been able to maintain their input-output synchronization in terms of cost, revenue and profits in the year 2012-2013. Foreign sector banks have higher cost and profit efficiency as compared to their counterparts in private and public sector, whereas public sector banks are found to have been more revenue efficient.\nOriginality/value: With specific reference to India, less empirical work has been carried out with respect to cost, revenue and profit efficiency. None of the studies have evaluated the sector-wise performance of banks in terms of all three efficiency parameters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Riskiness of lending to small businesses: a dynamic panel data analysis	[ "SME", "Microfinance institutions", "Credit risk", "Dynamic panel data model", "C33", "D53", "D82", "G21" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The roots of microfinance lie in the social mission of poverty alleviation by targeting client groups that are most vulnerable such as women, micro-entrepreneurs, traders, labourers and large numbers of small holders (Lafourcade et al., 2005; Rauf and Mahmood, 2009). This strategic focus was the main driver of the microcredit revolution, which sought to dispel the longstanding myth that poor people were not bankable. The micro-credit revolution took into account the problem of unaffordable transaction costs and high risks due to pervasive information asymmetry among these groups. Therefore, the predominant method that was used to deliver credit was through group lending. Experiments with the group lending technology reported high loan repayment rates[1]. This was seen as a sign that group lending was enough to accommodate risks imposed by adverse selection and moral hazard. Despite this fact, increasing risk is becoming an issue of concern in the sector and many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are now facing the danger of collapse. For instance, Chen et al. (2010) have documented delinquency crises in Nicaragua, Morocco, Pakistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2000 and 2009. In addition, Boateng et al. (2016) have documented the collapse of about 50 microfinance institutions in Ghana in 2013. Riquet and Poursat (2013) have reported the collapse of 25 MFIs in West African Economic and Monetary Union countries and 4 in Central African Economic and Monetary Community Bloc between 2001 and 2011. In 2000, the state of Andra Pradesh in India faced a microfinance crisis sparked by excessive lending. This was accompanied by many cases of suicide and overzealous regulation by the government (Mader, 2013; Yimga, 2016).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Financing of SMEs\n3. Methodology: This study tests the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between lending to SMEs and credit risk exposure (H0: a = 0). To implement the test, risk exposure (which is captured by credit risk and insolvency risk) is regressed against some measure of lending to SMEs (plus control variables). The models used by Jimenez and Saurina (2004); Baradwaj et al. (2014) and Erdinc and Abazi (2014) utilize a panel frameworks shown in equation (1):\n4. Results: 4.1 Univariate results\n5. Conclusion and policy recommendations: Information economics theory argues that SMEs are excluded from formal financial markets due to their opacity. However, this conjecture has not yet received much research interest. To test this conjecture, and to fill the knowledge gap, this study used data from four different data sets, namely, MIX Market, World Development Indicators, World Government Indicators and Doing Business Indicators. The study accommodates dynamic panel bias by applying system GMM estimators on data that was gathered from 1,000 MFIs across 120 countries between 2004 and 2014.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study aims to pose the question: Has lending to small businesses been a source of increased risk in microfinance institutions (MFIs)? This question is pertinent given the higher levels of perceived riskiness of lending to small business operators owing to their opacity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study accommodates panel bias by using system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimators on micro-level data from 2004 to 2014.\nFindings: Study findings indicate that lending to small businesses by MFIs does not affect credit and insolvency risk in these institutions. However, using disaggregated data, there is evidence that lending to small businesses by cooperatives significantly reduces their insolvency risk exposure. Conversely, lending to small business by micro-banks, cooperatives, non-bank financial institutions and non-governmental organizations does not significantly affect their risk exposure.\nPractical implications: These findings imply that the technologies that have been used by MFIs in lending to small enterprises have helped them mitigate the problems of adverse selection and moral hazard.\nOriginality/value: Information economics theory postulates that small firms are excluded from formal financial markets owing to their opacity. The hypothesis has not attracted much empirical research interest; hence, this study aims to bridge this gap in knowledge.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining the impact of socialization and information sharing and the mediating effect of trust on innovation capability	[ "Social capital", "Innovation", "Socialization", "Trust", "Buyer-supplier relationships", "Information sharing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Innovation capability is the ability to offer new or enhanced products or services, as well as implement new or improved processes (Koufteros et al., 2007). The ability to develop new products and services provides a competitive advantage that can enhance a firm's performance (De Clercg et al., 2011) through increased sales or reduced costs. Product and process innovation play complementary roles in contributing to the success of a firm. Technology enables customers to be well-informed about the latest and most cutting-edge products. With rapidly changing customer demands, companies face greater pressure to re-invent their products and processes to survive in a fiercely competitive global market. In fact, one of the key performance indicators in the manufacturing industry is product innovation (Krause et al., 2007). Thus, the need to consistently innovate is paramount for most firms. Successful companies often involve suppliers in both product and process innovation. Involving suppliers in new product development can increase the innovation capability of the buying firms resulting in improved development flexibility, product quality, reduced development time, and costs (Smet et al., 2013). However, the involvement of the supplier reduces control of the buying firm over the entire project, which can result in problems if not managed properly (Aken et al., 2015). Thus, it is important to understand the practices in managing supplier relationships that reduce these risks.\nTheoretical framework: Social capital\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults: Measurement model\nDiscussion: The purpose of our research study was to examine the interrelationship between trust, socialization, and information sharing on innovation in the context of BSR. We examined this research question from the buying firm's perception of the impact that one of their key suppliers has on their innovation capabilities. The theoretical foundation of our study is that the three dimensions (structural, relational, and cognitive) of social capital are related and that the structural dimension can enhance the relational dimension. We focused only on specific elements of structural and relational dimensions of social capital in order to provide a deeper understanding of their impact on innovation capability. Unlike prior research that focuses on network properties of structural capital, we explored other aspects of structural capital like socialization and information, which is a value added contribution. Socialization and information sharing are components of the structural dimension of social capital and trust is a component of the relational dimension of social capital; therefore we anticipated that information sharing and socialization would improve trust. Our hypotheses were based on the notion that trust would improve the impact of socialization and information sharing on innovative capabilities. In contrast socialization and information sharing without trust would not improve the innovation capabilities of the buying firm. We looked at this question based on the assumptions that socialization provides a forum to exchange information and trust provides a filtering device to assess the quality and reliability of the information. Our model also considered that increased socialization and exchange of information improved trust. Prior studies focused on impact of network properties, such as supplier embeddedness (Koufteros et al., 2007) on innovation. Our study fills this gap by looking at other aspects of structural capital like socialization and information sharing and examining how it impacts innovative capabilities.\nConclusion: This research study examined the impact of trust between buyers and suppliers on the effectiveness of socialization and information sharing on the buying firm's innovation capabilities. In summary, we found that trust positively mediated the impact of formal socialization and information sharing on innovation capabilities. Formal socialization without trust did not impact innovation capabilities. Correspondingly, trust did not mediate the relationship of informal socialization on innovation capabilities. Our findings suggest that the interrelationship of trust, formal socialization, and information sharing have a strong impact on the buying firm's innovation capabilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationship between trust, socialization, and information sharing on the buying firm's innovation capability in the context of the buyer-supplier relationship (BSR). A nomological model is developed that examines the mediating role of relational capital (supplier trust) on the relationship between structural capital (socialization and information sharing) and innovation capability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted on 357 US executives. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.\nFindings: Information sharing and formal socialization activities increased the buying firm's trust in its key supplier. However, formal socialization activities within the context of the business environment did not have a significant direct impact on buyer's innovative capabilities; but when mediated by trust, it positively impacted innovation capabilities. Informal socialization within the context of the social environment directly impacted innovation capabilities but trust did not mediate the relationship. Information sharing impacted trust and innovation significantly and trust mediated the impact of information sharing on innovation capabilities.\nOriginality/value: This study defines the formal and informal aspects of socialization and investigates its impact on trust and buyer innovation capabilities. This is one of the few studies that highlights the mediating role of trust between firms to facilitate innovation capability.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Malaria research in India during 2003-2012: a bibliometric analysis	[ "India", "Asia", "Bibliometrics", "H-index", "Bradford's distribution", "Malaria" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans (a type of unicellular microorganism) of the genus Plasmodium. Commonly, the disease is transmitted via a bite from an infected female Anopheles mosquito, which introduces the organisms from its saliva into a person's circulatory system. In the blood, the protists travel to the liver to mature and reproduce. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever and headache, which in severe cases can progress to coma or death. The disease is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions in a broad band around the equator, including much of Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas. A range of organizations have led a global movement to combat malaria. In 2007, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation renewed a call, originally set forth by the WHO in 1995, for malaria eradication; in 2011, the UN Secretary-General declared a goal of reducing malaria deaths to zero by 2015 (United Nations News Service Section, 2011).\nObjectives: The major objectives of the study are:\nMethodology: One common method of bibliometric research is to trace publications using the SCI of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Philadelphia (Fu et al., 2010). The documents used in the present study were taken from a combined search from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded); Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) of Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS). For retrieval of information, the term \"malaria*\" was used as topic/subject and \"India\" was used as authors address/affiliation and \"2003-2012\" was used as the time span for the present study. As a result 2,020 documents retrieved and matched with the query. For the purpose of analysis the documents were entered into MS-Excel in a logical and statistical order.\nAnalysis and discussion: Malaria affected Asian countries\nConclusion: In the present study on malaria research by the Indian researchers which were indexed in WoS during 2003 to 2012, we obtained following significant points; a total of 2,020 documents were published out of which 1,645 were research articles listed in 282 journals and in 90 WoS research areas. The malaria research outputs of Indian researchers during the period under study presented an upward trend as the research production increased steadily in the last ten years, and the annual research production in 2012 was about thrice that of the research outputs in 2003. As the flagship Malaria Journal published the largest number of articles. This information should be useful to libraries collecting information on malaria.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The aim of this paper is to analyze Indian researchers' publications on malaria research and to serve as a guide to libraries needing to collect information on malaria. It also seeks to compare malaria affected Asian countries global rank with their publication and death rates.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For the purpose of the study Indian researchers' publication data which were indexed in Thomson Reuters Web of Science (WoS) were used. Various statistical techniques and bibliometric measures have been employed for further analysis.\nFindings: The present study found out 2,020 documents with h-index of 48, published by Indian researchers which were indexed in WoS during 2003 to 2012 and the majority of them were articles (81.43 percent). Malaria Journal is the most favored research journal among the Indian research community which covers 97 papers. A.P. Dash contributed maximum number of 136 (6.74 percent) papers. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is the largest Indian funding agency with 184 (9.11 percent) research grants.\nResearch limitations/implications: Limitation by geographical area and time, i.e. the study only focuses the research publication of Indian researchers on malaria research during 2003 to 2012.\nOriginality/value: This is the first attempt to apply bibliometric techniques to analyze malaria research by Indian researchers, and, more generally for a country which is very badly affected by the disease.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The antecedents and dimensionality of knowledge-sharing intention: An empirical study of R&D engineers in a high-performing IT company	[ "Knowledge sharing", "Knowledge management", "Organizational climate", "Explicit knowledge", "Personality traits", "Tacit knowledge" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Scholars and practitioners focused with increasing emphasis over the past 20 years on an organization's ability to facilitate, utilize and share knowledge as critical components of organizational success (Grant, 1996; Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). As such, an organization's values do not depend merely on what employees know, but on abilities to leverage that knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). A focal point of extant literature centers on knowledge-sharing research and, specifically, on the relationship of knowledge sharing and organization outcomes. Several studies registered that managing knowledge properly leads to higher profits and improved performance (Collins and Smith, 2006; Tanriverdi, 2005; Thornhill, 2006). Given that knowledge sharing is important for organizational success, another challenge is to identify the determinants that facilitate effective and efficient knowledge sharing within an organization.\nLiterature review: Knowledge sharing\nMethod: Participants and procedures\nResults: Measurement models of scale items\nDiscussion: The purpose of this study was to explore antecedents and dimensionality of knowledge-sharing intention. The results from hierarchical regression analyses supported hypotheses that organizational support, reward, consciousness and openness are significantly associated with knowledge-sharing intention. Particularly, this study showed a negative relationship between reward and knowledge-sharing intention. Second, knowledge-sharing intention can be considered in two separate dimensions: tacit and explicit knowledge sharing. Confirmatory factor analysis supported that EKS and TKS are distinct constructs. Consistent with the ideas of Bock et al. (2005), this study revealed that there may be value in exploring the antecedents of EKS and TKS.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the relationships between situational/dispositional variables and an individual's intention to knowledge sharing, and has theoretical implications for researchers in human resource development and management, as well as implications for practicing managers in organizations. First, this study examines whether an integrative model of knowledge sharing reveals an impact of various antecedents on sharing of knowledge between individuals, which has been rarely explored in a single study. In particular, this study is interested in examining whether the two dimensions improve individual sharing of explicit and tacit knowledge, respectively.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey design approach is used as the research method for data collection. Initially, a pilot study is conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the measures. A 120-item questionnaire is used to measure personality traits, organizational climate and knowledge-sharing intention. The main study is conducted at the Korean IT companies, which have knowledge management system and actively share knowledge between R&D engineers.\nFindings: The results of regression analyses indicate that conscientiousness, openness and extroversion of dispositional variables are positively related to an individual's intention to share knowledge. Of situational variables, organizational support and identity are positively related to knowledge sharing, and reward is negatively associated with knowledge-sharing intention. Theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.\nOriginality/value: Scholars focused with increasing emphasis over the past 20 years on an organization's ability to facilitate, utilize and share knowledge as critical components of organizational success. Several scholarly attempts tried to explain the antecedents of knowledge sharing. Despite an increasing demand for a coherent and integrated approach to knowledge sharing, empirical efforts remain largely absent with regard to how knowledge transfer and knowledge-sharing practices among individuals are affected by dispositional and situational variables. Also, individual intention to share knowledge was primarily measured as a unidimensional concept. This is a surprising oversight, given that tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge are critical. Indeed, these may be collectivized successfully for the firm's driver. To address this gap in our understanding of the personal dynamics involved in knowledge-sharing practices, this study seeks to investigate whether dispositional and situational variables lead to changes in individual's intention to share tacit and explicit knowledge.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What sells in a crisis? Determinants of sale probability over a cycle and through a crash	[ "Turnover", "Liquidity", "Ownership", "Foreign investment", "Market cycles", "Sale probability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Real estate assets are lumpy and heterogeneous, and their returns vary based on their physical and spatial characteristics. Investors in commercial real estate exchange rights to properties in private, decentralized markets and through a process that is often lengthy and involves significant transaction costs. These factors reduce liquidity in real estate as compared with many other investment assets. In this paper, we try to understand what affects the liquidity of individual commercial real estate assets over the course of the economic cycle, focusing on the probability of sale as a proxy for liquidity. Identifying and analyzing the variables that affect likelihood of sale during different market periods can inform investment strategy and is important for understanding real estate market conditions. Our study explores a range of variables and a number of time periods in order to identify key determinants of sale probability and how these change over time. The results provide insights into investment behavior over a commercial real estate cycle.\n2. Background and review: Transaction volume, turnover and the probability that a particular asset will trade are interrelated measures of transaction activity that are connected to the concept of liquidity. Different proxies capture different dimensions of liquidity, and these include measures of activity and measures of how quickly assets are selling. Together, such measures provide information on liquidity and real estate market conditions (for a review of liquidity measures, see Ametefe et al., 2016). The focus of this work is the probability of sale, but, to illustrate how different measures of activity are related, we adapt a stylized example from Fisher et al. (2004). Say a particular location has a stock of 1,200 properties and that 120 of those properties are sold each year, each being the subject of a separate transaction. The proportion of assets traded - or turnover - would be 10 percent and, if each property was similar and had an equal chance of being sold, then the probability that any one asset would sell in that period is 10 percent. The average holding period in this scenario would be ten years.\n3. Data and methods: For our study, we use data on UK commercial real estate transactions provided by RCA. RCA is a research company that tracks transactions of commercial real estate above a threshold of $10 million for all major markets around the world. In the UK, RCA works in partnership with PD, a UK-based company, and they collect data on many deals below the $10 million threshold as well. Information on transactions is obtained from multiple sources including brokerage and investment firms, listing services, press reports and public records[2]. We use the RCA/PD database to test which factors affect the probability of sale for different properties and whether these factors change at different points in the commercial real estate cycle.\n4. Results: Estimated coefficients for six panel models are presented in Table III. These relate to sales across the retail, office and industrial sectors. All of the models contain a common set of asset and owner variables, but vary in terms of the market variables that are included. Models 1 to 3 use changes in the RCA/PD CPPI to proxy real estate market conditions while models 4 to 6 employ real GDP growth to represent the performance of the economy. Within these two sets of models, individual models then vary as to whether real government bond yields, spreads or the debt flow variable is included[7].\n5. Conclusion: From an extensive data set of UK commercial real estate sales, we identified which factors most affected probability of sale over the real estate cycle. Identifying these factors is important as it can inform investment strategies and our understanding of how real estate investment markets operate. Building on earlier research, we defined the probability of a commercial real estate sale as a function of market, asset and owner characteristics. We considered the effects of attributes such as type, size and location on probability of sale as well as ownership type and nationality, plus a range of economic variables such as real GDP growth and the flow of debt finance. Also, we analyzed sub-periods to understand how patterns change across the market cycle.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand what affects the liquidity of individual commercial real estate assets over the course of the economic cycle by exploring a range of variables and a number of time periods to identify key determinants of sale probability.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Analyzing 12,000 UK commercial real estate transactions (2003 to 2013) the authors use an innovative sampling technique akin to a perpetual inventory approach to generate a sample of held assets for each 12 month interval. Next, the authors use probit models to test how market, owner and property factors affect sale probability in different market environments.\nFindings: The types of properties that are most likely to sell changes between strong and weak markets. Office and retail assets were more likely to sell than industrial both overall and in better market conditions, but were less likely to sell than industrial properties during the downturn from mid-2007 to mid-2009. Assets located in the City of London more likely to sell in both strong and weak markets. The behavior of different groups of owners changed over time, and this indicates that the type of owner might have implications for the liquidity of individual assets over and above their physical and locational attributes.\nPractical implications: Variation in sale probability over time and across assets has implications for real estate investment management both in terms of asset selection and the ability to rebalance portfolios over the course of the cycle. Results also suggest that sample selection may be an issue for commercial real estate price indices around the globe and imply that indices based on a limited group of owners/sellers might be susceptible to further biases when tracking market performance through time.\nOriginality/value: The study differs from the existing literature on sale probability as the authors analyzed samples of transactions drawn from all investor types, a significant advantage over studies based on data restricted to samples of domestic institutional investors. As well, information on country of origin for buyers and sellers allows us to explore the influence of foreign ownership on the probability of sale. Finally, the authors not only analyze all transactions together, but the authors also look at transactions in five distinct periods that correspond with different phases of the UK commercial real estate cycle. This paper considers the UK real estate market, but it is likely that many of the findings hold for other major commercial real estate markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does local autonomy facilitate local government reform initiatives? Evidence from Switzerland	[ "Local autonomy", "Local government reform", "Switzerland", "Multilevel analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: This paper focuses on the connections between local autonomy and local government reforms, which have rarely been examined according to some scholars (Bouckaert and Kuhlmann, 2016a; Lidstrom, 1998; Wolman, 2008; Kersting and Vetter, 2003; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2011). It examines development paths of local public sector reforms in a comparative perspective, namely, the \"need for more contextual country-case specific information to understand reforms, their triggers and effects\" and \"the elaboration of more comprehensive comparative databases, indicators, indices, and statistics\" (Bouckaert and Kuhlmann, 2016a, pp. 352-353).\n2. Theoretical considerations and hypotheses: Local government reforms can be conceived of as institutional policies. They are indeed an integral part of policies in the sense that they consist of intentionally coherent decisions or activities carried out by public actors to resolve a specific collective problem in a targeted manner (Knoepfel et al., 2006). Yet, as they are aiming at changing the \"rules of the game\", they are conceptualised as a specific variant of policies, namely, institutional policies (Bouckaert and Kuhlmann, 2016b). Understood in the sense of changing institutional structures and actions within a politico-administrative system, institutional policies can be called \"polity policy\" (Wollmann, 2000, p. 199). This paper more particularly analyses reform initiatives that are taken at the local level. For these local government reform initiatives to answer citizens' demands and problems, local governments are considered to be in an extraordinary position. Indeed, the local level is often used as a laboratory of reform capable of promoting innovative policy choices (Vetter, 2007). Furthermore, local governments' closeness to citizens gives them the opportunity to guarantee an efficient and effective delivery of public services (Oates, 1972) and to integrate citizens into the democratic decision-making process (Mill, 2001).\n3. Methodology: The subjects of this comparative analysis of institutional settings - as outlined above: political institutions apprehended as corporative actors - are local governments in Switzerland, which are Swiss municipalities. Constituted on a territory basis at the lowest level of the Swiss federal state, Swiss municipalities carry out, with broad autonomy, public tasks of local importance (Hafelin et al., 2010). The Federal Constitution of 1999 stipulates that the autonomy of the municipalities is guaranteed in accordance with cantonal law (art. 50.1). Each of the 26 Swiss cantons has, therefore, its own laws, which lead to 26 different legal frameworks and quite substantial differences in terms of institutional, financial and administrative settings. Moreover, the Swiss municipal structure is highly fragmented and heterogeneous: as of 1 January 2017, the population of the 2,255 Swiss municipalities varies considerably, the average of all municipalities' population size being 3,733 and the median 1,475 inhabitants (Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 2017). Because of the differences between municipalities from different cantons as well as between municipalities within the same canton, comparative analysis permits variation on the independent and the dependent variables. Yet, further advantages of such a subnational comparative method (compared to cross-national studies) lie in the similarities between the cases of observation. Present in all cantons, Swiss municipalities are homogenous with regard to many variables concerning their general definition, structure, public functions, respect of federal laws, etc. For its characteristics, the Swiss subnational setting represents an ideal quasi-experimental context in which to analyse the explanatory power of local autonomy on the variation of local government reforms without having to control for many other potential causal factors (Snyder, 2001).\n4. Swiss municipalities' reform initiatives and autonomy: In the Swiss context, local government reforms can be theoretically classified depending on the institutional structure they are directed at (Ladner and Steiner, 2005): local managerial and territorial reforms are apprehended as local administrative reforms, whereas changes towards more direct participation and changes in local representative democracy are classified as local political reforms; they can be further distinguished according to their kind (see below list).\n5. The influence of the autonomy of Swiss municipalities on their reform initiatives: To determine what kind of reform initiatives by Swiss municipalities is affected by what type of autonomy in those municipalities, a linear mixed-effects model has been performed for each institutional structures-related factor - Swiss municipalities' managerial, political and territorial reforms (see Table III). The estimates of the parameters can be compared for each kind of reform and these empirical results can be connected to the hypotheses formulated above.\n6. Discussion and conclusion: This paper investigates the extent to which initiatives of local governments to launch modernisation processes are facilitated by those governments' autonomy. A multilevel analysis taking into account the various types and dimensions of local autonomy has been performed to the Swiss case. Regarding the reforms, conceptualised as institutional policies, three different kinds depending on the institutional structures they are targeting at have been distinguished, mainly inspired by the classification of Kersting and Vetter (2003), and supported empirically. The main findings revealed by the Swiss case are threefold.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the initiatives of local governments to launch modernisation processes are facilitated by local autonomy, which is increasingly important in both the theory and practice of public policy and management.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Local government reforms are distinguished according to the institutional structure at which they are directed and local autonomy is assessed as a multidimensional concept. Drawing on a multilevel analysis of the Swiss case, this paper combines data stemming from a survey conducted at the local tier with secondary data from the regional tier.\nFindings: The main empirical findings are threefold. First, when local governments undertake managerial or political reform initiatives, their autonomy with respect to higher levels of government matters. Second, it is not local autonomy but rather the perception of structural problems that is the force driving territorial reforms. Third, it is not the autonomy enjoyed by local governments vis-a-vis local factors, but rather the pressures stemming from that context that may lead to reforms.\nOriginality/value: By adopting a comparative approach to local autonomy, this paper shows that local governments which have sufficient latitude for local policy making are likely to take initiatives to improve service delivery in accordance with local preferences.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International law applicable to urban conflict and disaster	[ "Human rights", "Disaster law", "Legal frameworks", "Urban emergency management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Populations living in urban areas are rendered vulnerable due to myriad inter-related factors including rapid and unplanned population growth, organised violence, environmental degradation, precarious livelihoods and resource pressures. These challenges are likely to grow given that the proportion of the world's population living in urban areas is projected to increase to 70 per cent by 2050 (IDMC and NRC, 2014; UNISDR, 2014). Over the past 40 years, the urban population in lower income and fragile countries has increased by 326 per cent and currently nearly one billion people or a third of the developing world's urban population live in slums (UNISDR, 2014). While urban vulnerability presents an enormous challenge, it is important to acknowledge that urban areas are growing at least in part because of the relative availability of economic, social and other opportunities vis-a-vis rural areas. Nonetheless, it is commonly agreed that there is a pressing need to reshape humanitarian and development interventions undertaken in the urban context so that they harness existing resources and work to support and transform these urban systems to prepare, withstand and recover from shocks and protracted crises (Knox Clarke and Ramalingam, 2012; Pantuliano et al., 2012).\n2. The application of IHL to urban violence and (Armed) conflict: IHL and IHRL are both prominent fields of public international law that concern and regulate inter alia the outbreak of violence. However, their approaches vary and so do thresholds and ensuing criteria of application. Applying both fields to urban man-made and \"natural\" disasters depends first and foremost on the level and nature of the violence and disaster. IHL originally emerged in the mid-nineteenth century to address quite different conflict environments, namely, officially declared wars between two or more belligerent states. These wars were fought by the armed forces of states, which were identifiable at first sight by their respective uniforms and emblems. The theatre of war was a defined battlefield, where the armed forces of hostile states fought to achieve military victory. While it is reasonable to doubt whether such a transparent scenario ever existed, it is evident that contemporary armed conflicts take different forms.\n3. IHRL and \"natural\" and technological disasters: Unlike the comprehensive body of international law that applies to armed conflict, international law pertaining to \"natural\" and technological disasters is considerably fragmented (Sommario, 2012, p. 324). Despite the obvious nexus between human rights and disasters, there are few explicit references to disaster settings in human rights treaties[1]. However, solid analyses have been undertaken on the application by UN supervisory bodies of human rights law in pre-, post and disaster proper phases (Hesselman, 2013; Cubie and Hesselman, 2015). Furthermore, the UN International Law Commission, developed draft articles on the topic of the protection of the person in the event of disasters. Included among its draft articles is Draft Article 5, which provides that \"persons affected by disasters are entitled to the respect for and protection of their human rights in accordance with international law\" (UN International Law Commission, 2016).\n4. Conclusion: The challenge of implementing the international legal framework within disaster settings has not adequately considered the particularities of urban crises. International legal frameworks such as IHL and IHRL provide important protections to vulnerable persons in both human-made and \"natural\" disaster settings. While the two bodies of law do not generally draw explicit distinctions between urban and rural settings, their various provisions, and indeed their silence on, crucial issues that would enhance legal protection in urban settings do merit greater attention. Against the supportive backdrop of significant international policy developments such as Habitat III's New Urban Agenda and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction, disaster management and humanitarian actors ought to be sensitive to the circumstances under which these bodies of law apply and their key provisions. A minimum threshold of violence and organisation of the non-state warring party must be reached before an internal armed conflict that triggers application of IHL can be deemed to exist.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the international legal framework governing urban crises arising from conflict, \"natural\" and technological disasters.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper deploys legal analysis to the most relevant bodies of international law pertaining to urban crises and systematically outlines the key legal issues arising.\nFindings: International humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) provide important protections to vulnerable persons in both human-made and \"natural\" disaster settings. While the two bodies of law do not draw explicit distinctions between urban and rural settings, their various provisions, and indeed their silence on, crucial issues that would enhance legal protection in urban settings merit greater attention.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper provides an overview of the sources of international law of most relevance to urban crises. Further research is required into how the urban environment influences their application concretely in urban settings.\nPractical implications: In an era when international law is being challenged from many sources and attention is turning to the increasing potential for urban violence and vulnerability, this paper serves to sensitise the disaster management and humanitarian community to the relevance of international legal frameworks to its activities in urban settings.\nOriginality/value: This paper considers the most salient international legal issues arising during crises and compares and contrasts how the different bodies of international law (IHL and IHRL) address each of the kinds of crises (conflict, \"natural\" or technological disaster), respectively.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When is it necessary to localise product packaging?	[ "Standardisation", "Packaging", "Localisation", "Choice behaviour", "Packaging cues", "Foreignness", "Brand likeability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Typical supermarkets in China are similar to those in Western countries in that they sell identical products from similar major international brands, such as Mars and Procter & Gamble. However, a difference with supermarkets in China is that the brand names and descriptions of products are often translated into Chinese. Anecdotal information from informal discussions with shoppers and store personnel in some Chinese supermarkets revealed that they had not seen or could not recall seeing, major international brands in English packaging.\nLiterature review: Support for packaging localisation\nMethods: China is a suitable non-Western country for this study. The national and official language of the country is Mandarin, and its vast consumer market ensures that major international brands are present in the country. The attractiveness of the market also ensures the abundant presence of competing brands, both foreign and domestic, to allow consumer choice.\nResults: Table III shows the mean values of the standard versus local packaging and the results of within-subject paired t-tests that compared the standard and local packaging. For packaging likeability of hedonic products, participants liked the standard packaging significantly more than local packaging. Even though some product categories are often bought by women, an independent t-test showed that there were no significant differences between gender for ratings of the packaging (p-values for all brands ranged from 0.07 to 0.89).\nDiscussion: Overall, the findings of this study show that indiscriminately localising the packaging of any products as they enter foreign markets may not be the most effective strategy for international marketers. Our study suggests that hedonic products, especially for well-known Western brands such as Coca-Cola and L'Oreal, do not benefit and may even suffer from localisation. For utilitarian products, the type of packaging does not make a difference. We confirmed these results by assessing both self-reported attitudinal measures and choice behaviour.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The common market practice by global consumer brands to create localised packaging for foreign markets conflicts with findings that cast doubt on this strategy. By examining the differential influence of standard (Western) and local (Chinese) packaging on Chinese consumers' perceptions and choice behaviour, this study aims to examine whether this strategy is effective or even necessary.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A pre-test first identified suitable products and brands. Using a multiple methods approach, online participants in China first rated the brands and packaging of hedonic and utilitarian products. The ratings were then validated by triangulating with the results of a discrete choice experiment that captured participants' choice behaviour.\nFindings: For hedonic products, standard packaging is rated more positively and chosen more often than local packaging. For utilitarian products, there are no differences in ratings and choice. For hedonic products, brand likeability is higher for standard packaging than for local packaging. For utilitarian products, brand likeability does not differ between the two packaging types.\nResearch limitations/implications: These findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of indiscriminate packaging localisation. International marketers need to rethink their approach, particularly in non-Western markets. Interviews with five brand managers in charge of major consumer brands in China revealed their actual market practice and further illuminate this study's findings.\nOriginality/value: This is first study to question the common market practice of packaging localisation and investigate the differential effects of standard versus local packaging of foreign products on consumers' perceptions and choice behaviour.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Visual service scape aesthetics and consumer response: a holistic model	[ "Aesthetics", "Servicescape", "Holistic model", "Consumer preference" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Aesthetics have been an important area of research in marketing for the past four decades. Interestingly, while marketing practitioners have recognized the need to consider aesthetic aspects across a wide variety of areas like product design, store interiors, mall environments, advertisement layouts, etc., the theoretical front is largely dominated by research on visual aesthetics related to physical goods (Leder and Carbon, 2005; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998). Research related to the aesthetic aspects in services in the form of various servicescapes and other components of physical evidence remains under-appreciated (Hightower et al., 2002; Turley and Milliman, 2000; Mari and Poggesi, 2013). Servicescapes, as part of the services marketing mix, are considered to be crucial in differentiating the service offer (Bitner, 1990), yet very little is known about the impact of the aesthetic aspects on the consumption experience (Ballantine et al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2013).\nConceptual framework: In many ways, servicescapes share similarities with landscapes - apart from the elements distributed in a three-dimensional space in both cases, both of them provide visual cues like spatial patterns, massing of elements, pathways and unique features to assist viewers' comprehension. Studies in architecture and interior design have determined that, like landscapes, built environments and urban scenes also provide information cues to satisfy individuals' need for understanding and exploration (Akbar et al., 2011; Dogu and Erkip, 2000; Scott, 1993). Hence, servicescape aesthetic evaluation from the consumer perspective using theories in environmental psychology offers a significant advance in the science of design of spaces where a consumer is served.\nVisual aesthetics and consumer responses: Affective responses towards the target are found to strongly influence judgement and decision-making (Pham et al., 2001). A consumer may perceive a servicescape to be varying in terms of the five visual aesthetics stimuli, namely, legibility, mystery, coherence, complexity and novelty, which, in turn, influence an observer's level of arousal, pleasure and preference. Aesthetic response is defined as a preference (like-dislike) elicited by a visual encounter with an environment (Ulrich, 1983). Since the study has made use of a single pre-experimental design, we have measured the affective responses (arousal and pleasure) and preferences, as the aesthetic response leads to approach behaviour in consumers (Ulrich, 1986).\nHedonic versus utilitarian service contexts: The service contexts - hedonic or utilitarian - may also influence consumer affective responses and preferences to visual servicescape aesthetics. Hedonic services are those that provide consumers with values such as excitement, playfulness and entertainment; whereas, utilitarian services are those that provide consumers with functional utilities to solve practical problems or which a consumer considers as work accomplishments (Babin et al., 1994; Jiang and Wang, 2006). Consumers in hedonic service contexts actively seek arousal and pleasure aspects or \"affective gratification\" (Kempf, 1999), as compared to utilitarian service contexts, where they look for more instrumental utility, and hence, rational approach predominates (Jiang and Wang, 2006). This distinction between hedonic and utilitarian services therefore point to the differential impacts of visual servicescape aesthetics on a consumer's affective responses and preferences. For instance, the consumer's evaluation of a hedonic service context will be based on how much affective gratification they gain - an aspect that may be absent from their evaluation of the utilitarian context.\nHypotheses: Influence of legibility\nMethodical approach: This study made use of a laboratory-like setting with a single treatment, where a single group of test units was exposed to the treatment, and then the measurements were taken (Malhotra, 2007). The usage of photographs of environments is gaining popularity in servicescape studies (Booms and Bitner, 1982; Godey et al., 2009; Griffiths and Gilly, 2012), and studies have shown that colour photographs will accurately reflect on-site responses (Stamps, 2004), thereby attesting to the ecological validity of this approach. Thus, photographs were used as the treatment.\nManipulation checks: Several tests were conducted to check whether the manipulations were effective. First, a series of analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests was undertaken to verify the mean scores of respondents assigned to high, medium and low conditions. In support of the manipulations, participant-perceived levels of the five variables were significantly different (p < 0.05) in all the three conditions (legibility: Mhigh = 5.399, Mmedium = 3.691, Mlow = 2.517, F(2,1397) = 1,300.81; mystery: Mhigh = 5.344, Mmedium = 3.728, Mlow = 2.038, F(2,1397) = 1,917.45; coherence: Mhigh = 5.578, Mmedium = 3.660, Mlow = 2.105, F(2,1397) = 2,226.17; complexity: Mhigh = 5.482, Mmedium = 3.665, Mlow = 2.118, F(2,1397) = 2,165.63; novelty: Mhigh = 5.202, Mmedium = 3.837, Mlow = 2.584, F(2,1397) = 1,282.13). Next, to test for any significant difference in the three dependent variables - arousal, pleasure and preference among the low, medium and high group scores for all five independent variables, another series of ANOVA tests was performed. The results, as given in Table I, indicate significant differences in responses for legibility, mystery, coherence, complexity and novelty. Again, to test whether each image had equal contribution in the analysis, a chi-square test was completed and the results (chi-square = 50.854; df = 59; p = 0.77) showed that the number of evaluations for each image do not significantly depart from the expected number of 23.33 (i.e. 1,400 responses/60 images) of evaluations, indicating that each image has an approximately equal contribution to the data on which analyses were performed. Then, to test whether all images elicited different responses for all eight variables, ANOVA tests across the images of two sub-sets of hedonic (30 images) and utilitarian (30 images) servicescapes were completed. The results (Table II) for hedonic and utilitarian services showed that each category elicited significantly different responses for all eight variables in both contexts. Also, a post hoc test using REGWQ procedure indicated that the servicescape images elicited at least six levels of responses for utilitarian services and at least four levels of responses for hedonic services. Finally, a Pearson chi-square test showed that different servicescape images were equally assigned to male and female participants (Pearson chi-square = 42.953, df = 59; p = 0.942).\nAnalysis: The participants ranged in age from 19 to 54 years, and more than 85 per cent were between the ages of 18 and 34 years. Relatively, more of the respondents were male (68.3 per cent) than female (31.7 per cent).\nDiscussion and implications: Theoretical implications\nLimitations and further research: The first limitation is that although the study results generally support the proposed model, the results may be limited to the context of the study (i.e. banks, hospitals, upscale restaurant and spa). Also, this study made use of discrete moderation by imposing categories a priori based on pre-testing on a separate set of respondents. Consumers may have varying levels of hedonic or utilitarian attitudes towards the same services. Furthermore, this study focuses only on the relationships between perceived visual servicescape aesthetics, affective responses and preferences. It does not consider consumers' cognitive and physiological responses. The study also has the limitation of non-probability sampling. Since cultural, educational and occupational aspects may not be fully represented, these factors may have influenced the results of the study. Future research may examine whether or not differences in findings across groups based on demographic and/or cultural factors exist. Another limitation is with regard to the age of the respondents, as 85 per cent of our respondents fall below the age of 34 years or are millennials. Though we did check for the difference in responses between millennials verses non-millennials by testing two different models and comparing the fit indices, and did not find much difference, it would be interesting for future research to confirm whether millennials evaluate servicescape aesthetics differently when compared to older generations and explore how.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to introduce subjective dimensions of appraising visual servicescape aesthetics and to empirically test their influence on the consumer's affective responses and preference, thus providing a holistic model to evaluate visual servicescape aesthetics from consumer's viewpoint. It also tests the moderating role of service contexts in the modelled relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data was collected from 350 respondents using a laboratory-like experimental design, with one-shot treatment using photographic surrogates of services capes in four different service contexts.\nFindings: Results indicate the visual servicescape aesthetics dimensions significantly and positively influence consumers' affective states of arousal and pleasure. Also, service context moderates the relationship between servicescape aesthetics and affective responses.\nResearch limitations/implications: As the subjective dimensions of visual servicescape aesthetics are borrowed from environmental psychology and introduced in marketing literature, it is likely to trigger a stream of research in service marketing domain.\nPractical implications: Findings provide marketing practitioners insights into servicescape design, evaluation and selection decisions to improve return on such investments.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to theory by introducing more appropriate holistic servicescape aesthetics variables borrowed from environment psychology and empirically establishing relationships between them, consumers' affective responses and preference to the servicescape.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What may lead you to recommend and revisit a hotel after a service failure instead of complaining?	[ "Gender", "Service recovery", "Complaints", "Service failures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: There has been a significant increase in the number of complaints in recent years. For example, between 2010 and 2012, the increase was up 11 per cent in the USA and 17 per cent in Canada (Better Business Bureau, 2013). Similarly, in Europe, there was an increase of 23 per cent between 2007 and 2012 (European Consumer Centre Network, 2013). In Spain, in 2010, there were 1,632,823 complaints, 15 per cent more than that in 2009. For the hotels and restaurants sector, 10,642 complaints were collected, which represents 1.54 per cent of the total received in all sectors (0.94 per cent in 2009) (Spain'Consumption National Institute, 2011).\n2. Conceptual framework: 2.1 Social cognitive theory\n3. Hypothesis development: 3.1 The influence of interpersonal justice\n4. Methodology: The methodology used for testing the hypotheses was an experimental design of four scenarios using a group of college students who had stayed in a hotel at least once during the six previous months. We decided to use this condition to select consumers who may be more involved and identified with the proposed experiment situation (a failure in the booking). Research about consumer complaint behaviour using an experimental design usually chooses a sample of people who have previously used the service under study, with the aim of obtaining better and more significant results (Smith and Bolton, 1998).\n5. Results: Bivariate correlations of the three dependent variables showed significant correlations among all dependent variables. To test the hypotheses, we conducted a MANOVA with the variables considered (dependent: WOM, third-party complaint and revisit intention; independent: interpersonal justice, prior experience, gender).\n6. Conclusions and implications for management: In this research, the level of interpersonal justice and prior experience were manipulated in an experiment that included four scenarios (interpersonal justice/no interpersonal justice, prior experience/no prior experience) for analysing its influence on WOM, intentions to revisit and intentions to complain to a third party. This study also examines gender differences in these variables.\n7. Limitations and future research: The limitations of the work, which also serve to suggest future research, are that the empirical study is limited to a particular sector that has a special research interest in service recovery, namely, hospitality. It would be interesting to perform the experiment in other settings (restaurants, medical appointments, flights) and compare the results between different populations. We also suggest replicating the study with a sample that could shed more light on this line of research, such as business men/women who, because of their jobs, use hotels services more frequently.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine how a failure in the treatment received by consumers influences their intention to revisit a hotel, to recommend a hotel or to complain to a third party. The authors analyse perceived interpersonal justice, the role played by past encounters and the influence of consumer gender in a hotel recovery process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using experimentation methodology applied to the hotel sector, the authors present four scenarios in a 2 x 2 (interpersonal justice/no interpersonal justice, prior experience/no prior experience) design with a sample of 352 consumers.\nFindings: The results obtained highlight the importance of interpersonal justice in a situation of service failure and the influence that prior experience and gender exert in the context of the hospitality industry. The study provides empirical evidence that, in a service failure setting, behavioural intentions (word of mouth, third-party complaints and intention to revisit) are conditioned by three different consumer characteristics, one affective (perceived interpersonal justice of the service provided), one cognitive (knowledge as a result of prior experience) and one socio-demographic (gender, important because of the differences between male and female consumer behaviour).\nOriginality/value: This study proposes using the social cognitive theory in a service recovery process within a hospitality industry context. This theory has been successfully exploited in different areas, but in marketing research (especially in studies about service failure and recovery), it has not been applied. However, its use in marketing is particularly interesting because, through the consideration of three variables (perceived interpersonal justice, prior experience and consumer gender), the service provider could obtain knowledge from consumers interactions to help develop a better and more successful recovery system.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Physician recruitment and retention in rural and underserved areas	[ "Management", "Staffing", "Recruitment", "Retention", "Quality management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many US physicians are reaching retirement age and new generations tend to have a different approach to medical practice, placing greater value on a work-life balance. The Office of the Inspector General cites physician scarcities; including obstetrics and family practice specialties, which are considered rural medicine's backbone and it is predicted that there will be a 20 percent physician shortage in the next two decades. This effect will be especially detrimental to rural hospitals. Rural hospital managers' ability to recruit and retain physicians affects their capacity to deliver essential medical care to rural communities (Cohn and Harlow, 2009). Unlike its urban counterparts, rural hospital managers have unique recruitment and retention challenges; i.e. it is estimated that 65 percent of rural US counties lack adequate health professional workforces. Physician distribution favors urban areas, which creates a barrier to healthcare for residents in rural areas, as they must travel further to see a physician compared to urban residents. Rural physician recruitment and retention remains a challenge and this problem affects access to healthcare for rural residents (MacDowell et al., 2010). Our purpose, therefore, is to identify the recruiting and retaining rural physician challenges, and to ascertain methods that make rural physician recruitment and retention more successful. There are studies that suggest rural roots is an important factor in recruitment, while others look at rural health exposure in medical school curricula, self-actualization, community sense and spousal perspectives in the decision to practice rural medicine.\nMethods: An extensive literature review was performed using the databases Academic Search Complete, PubMed and Cochrane Collaboration. Key words were rural, rural health, community hospital(s), healthcare, recruitment, recruiting, retention, retaining, physician(s) and primary care physicians (PCPs). Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed full-text articles written in English, published from 1997 to present and limited to USA and Canada. Articles from foreign countries were excluded owing to their unique healthcare systems.\nRural physician recruitment strategies: Healthcare manager's ability to recruit and retain physicians affects their capability to deliver critical healthcare needs to the communities they serve. Recruiting is difficult owing to increased physician-demand from a limited pool. Additionally, healthcare managers have difficult recruiting process requirements; a simple mistake in recruiting or a careless remark can drive potential candidates away (Cohn and Harlow, 2009). Recruitment strategies were identified to make physician recruitment and retention successful. The first strategy is to get the chief executive officer (CEO) involved in physician recruitment, who must: first, develop a recruiting team and meet the team at least quarterly to monitor progress and offer guidance; second, participate in developing marketing and recruiting strategies; third, interview all promising candidates; fourth, financially support the recruiting team's recommended financial incentives for physicians; fifth, hold the recruiting team members accountable by tying their compensation and advancement in the organization to their recruiting performance; and sixth, request the recruiting team to brief candidates regarding abrasive personalities on the existing medical staff (Cohn and Harlow, 2009).\nMedical education and rural roots: Sustainable rural healthcare is a challenge because rural communities suffer from a PCP shortage. Rural populations tend to be older, poorer, less educated and perceived as having lower health levels compared to urban residents. This notion is compounded by recruiting and retaining rural physicians, which is particularly troublesome. Numerous factors have been identified, including partners in practice, family concerns and recreation, and burdensome on-call schedules. Other deterrents to rural practice include low reimbursement for fee-for-service and low-volume emergency rooms. Physicians in rural settings are required to perform more procedures than their urban colleagues and this higher responsibility can stress rural physicians, especially in emergency situations (Curran and Rourke, 2004).\nSelf-actualization, sense of place and community engagement: Two-thirds of rural areas qualify as HPSAs - the ones most underserved (Hancock et al., 2009). Challenges recruiting and retaining staff continue to be a major problem; fewer than 4 percent of graduating medical students plan to practice in small towns, a percentage that is decreasing over the past 30 years (Hancock et al., 2009). There is little research examining rural physician retention; i.e. the community's role is important in retaining rural physicians and the factors that recruit physicians to the area are not the same aspects that retain them. The community's broader scope has an impact on retention, specifically location and support (Cameron et al., 2012). Even though retaining rural physicians is assumed to be poor, studies reveal that it is actually comparable to urban retention. Efforts at rural physician retention are increasing to offset the recruiting challenge. There is consistent evidence that practice-related and lifestyle factors play a role in rural physician retention than other factors such as rural roots, training and community service, including compatibility with the medical community or child parenting. Previous studies downplay the physician's environment, instead emphasizing physicians' personal characteristics. Two concepts overlooked are sense of place and self-actualization (Hancock et al., 2009); the former describes the emotional ties a person has with his/her community, providing identity, roots and attachment (Hancock et al., 2009). In addition to striving for a sense of community and place, individuals are motivated to lead happy and fulfilling lives; described as self-actualization in Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1968), which provide an applicable framework for administrators, policy makers and other stakeholders to understand what motivates physicians (Hancock et al., 2009).\nSpousal perspectives: Mayo and Mathews (2006) report many studies that support the critical role physician's spouses play in the decisions to practice and remain in rural areas. They used qualitative interviews to examine spouse experiences and perspectives to gain a better understanding from the spouse's satisfaction with rural living. Participants were from rural Canada; 15 physicians met the inclusion criteria and thirteen spouses agreed to the interview (Mayo and Mathews, 2006). Several rural living contentment and perception factors were identified, which were organized into two themes: direct and indirect; the former an immediate influence on contentment. Content spouses and their children are more likely to stay in rural areas. The two direct factors identified with a rural practice were physician workload and community integration. Children influence contentment with a rural community and physicians with young children were more prepared to stay in the rural community than those without children (Mayo and Mathews, 2006). Indirect spousal-contentment factors were licensing requirements, total physicians in the community, remuneration and community characteristics. Importantly, total physicians in the community affect the physician's workload; i.e. more physicians mean more time off that the physician has with his or her family. Income was not a primary consideration for rural practice. For those who were content, remuneration did not affect their decision to stay in the rural community (Mayo and Mathews, 2006).\nRural magnet hospitals: Another attractive feature is a rural hospital's magnet designation. Rural hospitals are nominated for magnet status because they offer superior patient care, often removing departmental boundaries. These designated facilities differ from traditional rural hospitals regarding structure, nursing practice and climate. Structural components include: open communication, decentralized decision making, administrative availability and responsiveness, personnel benefits, staffing and scheduling and diversification. Nursing offers professional growth, teaching, superior skills and current practice models. Climate is an overreaching category that extends beyond staff cohesiveness but also provides valuable resources to the community (Fuszard et al., 1994a).\nCochrane Collaboration: A Cochrane Collaboration team conducted a study to assess the effectiveness for interventions focussed on increasing the health professionals working in rural and other medically underserved areas. Databases searched included the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group register (up to July 2007), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (up to July 2007), MEDLINE (1966 to July 2007), EMBASE (1988 to July 2007), CINAHL (1982 to July 2007) and LILACS (up to July 2007). The authors also searched publication reference lists and relevant reviews. Also, authors were contacted regarding any further published or unpublished work. The selection criteria included randomized controlled trials, controlled trials, controlled before-after studies and interrupted time series studies that evaluated popular interventions' effects including educational, financial or regulatory strategies on health professionals' recruitment and/or retention in medically underserved areas. A total of 1,844 studies and abstracts were reviewed and no study met the inclusion criteria (Grobler et al., 2009).\nConclusion: It is well known that rural Americans are under-represented when it comes to healthcare. There are numerous articles that call for special measures to recruit and retain physicians in rural areas, though there is an overall research-dearth. Some authors outlined rural roots' importance for physicians returning to rural practice. Others argue that early and repeated exposure to rural medicine in the medical school curriculum brings in rural physicians. Also, there is the human dynamic where spousal perspectives and raising young children always plays a role in practice location. Financial incentives, such as loan forgiveness, have been identified, but there has not been much emphasis on remuneration as a factor in retention efforts. Finally, while some recruitment and retention strategies represented in these papers hold promise, the Cochrane review found no well-designed studies to determine, with scientific evidence, that any strategy is efficacious for recruiting and retaining rural physicians. This review has identified several articles that suggest recruitment and retention techniques. There is a need for a research agenda that includes valid, reliable and rigorous analysis when formulating and implementing strategies. With techniques in place, perhaps rural Americans will have better access to healthcare because more physicians will gravitate to rural medically underserved areas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges when recruiting and retaining rural physicians and to ascertain methods that make rural physician recruitment and retention successful. There are studies that suggest rural roots is an important factor in recruiting rural physicians, while others look at rural health exposure in medical school curricula, self-actualization, community sense and spousal perspectives in the decision to practice rural medicine.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review was performed using Academic Search Complete, PubMed and The Cochrane Collaboration. Key words were rural, rural health, community hospital(s), healthcare, physicians, recruitment, recruiting, retention, retaining, physician(s) and primary care physician(s). Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed full-text articles written in English, published from 1997 and those limited to USA and Canada. Articles from foreign countries were excluded owing to their unique healthcare systems.\nFindings: While there are numerous articles that call for special measures to recruit and retain physicians in rural areas, there is an overall dearth. This review identifies several articles that suggest recruitment and retention techniques. There is a need for a research agenda that includes valid, reliable and rigorous analysis regarding formulating and implementing these strategies.\nOriginality/value: Rural Americans are under-represented when it comes to healthcare and what research there is to assist recruitment and retention is difficult to find. This paper identify the relevant research and highlights key strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The development of an apparel industry business model for Canada	[ "Business model", "Small to medium-sized enterprises", "Clusters", "Canadian apparel industry", "Collaborative partnerships", "Evidence-based strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: An earlier paper (Campaniaris et al., 2011) explained that because the Canadian apparel industry was already under threat from imports from low-wage countries and competition for its export markets, even before trade liberalisation began in 2005, the lack of competitive advantage for Canada as an apparel manufacturing nation and the subsequent rapid decline of its apparel industry pointed to the need for a strategic response from the Canadian apparel industry, particularly from its small- to medium-sized enterprises (SME). The Apparel Human Resources Council (2011), which no longer exists as part of Human Resources Canada, correctly identified the need to re-define the industry to one that includes domestic producers, wholesalers/distributors of offshore sourced products and retailers who not only undertake their own product development but also source garments offshore.\n2. Development of the business model: Any business model designed to address the current requirements of the Canadian apparel industry in the post trade-liberalisation period needs to ensure that the choices that are open to an apparel supplier (about what role to play in the retailer/supplier relationship) are made clear.\n3. Considerations in the development of a collaboration-based strategy: The repositioning of retailers to the dominant role in the supplier/retailer relationship since trade liberalisation points to the increased value of direct vertical relationships between individual apparel suppliers and retailers. Instead of strategies dependent on clustering between apparel suppliers in Canada, attention should be directed instead to individual vertical collaborative partnerships between apparel suppliers and retailers, with the retailers taking the lead role.\n4. A collaborative business model for the apparel industry: According to Nayar (2009)\n5. Planning for collaboration: Successful collaboration has to be built on a willingness to collaborate, perhaps generated by improved profitability that has been identified along the value chain for each stakeholder that can be better achieved by forming a closer business relationship; alternatively, it may be that because of business circumstances, there is no other option but to collaborate. Planning can then follow a step-by-step process, one which is, however, unique to the particular stakeholders that are either entering or are already part of a collaborative relationship.\n6. Summary and conclusion: The transformation from a manufacturing to a service-focused industry, that began within the Canadian apparel manufacturing and supply industry following trade liberalisation, whereby retailers have taken much stronger control of the supply chain, points to the increased value of direct vertical relationships between individual apparel suppliers and retailers. There is little evidence of a cluster strategy (which relies on cooperation between supplier companies and close location to Canadian retailers) being applied by Canada's apparel supply companies, not least because of an unwillingness amongst apparel supply companies to cooperate with each other. An alternative, evidence based, collaborative strategy built on individual vertical collaborative partnerships between apparel suppliers and retailers, is therefore proposed as an alternative to clustering. The proposed strategy, Apparel 2.0 should be able to provide Canadian apparel SMEs with significant advantages from their close location to Canadian retailers, without relying on cooperation between supplier companies for success.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Earlier attempts to develop a strategy for the apparel industry in Canada to counter the adverse effects of trade liberalisation on Canadian apparel suppliers have been based on the concept of clustering. However, despite the support from government-supported industry bodies, clustering has not been forthcoming and this situation has created a pressing need for the development of an alternative to the clustering strategy. A study by the Canadian Apparel Human Resources Council offered up several different strategies including clustering, that the Canadian apparel industry might pursue, but these have not been taken up. Evidence gained from government reports on the industry and its performance, industry case studies, an experience survey and questionnaire reported earlier, leads to a radically different alternative with a more direct relationship between Canadian apparel suppliers and retailer. The purpose of this paper is to report and construct an evidence-based collaborative strategy together with its accompanying apparel industry business model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The evidence gained from case studies of Canadian apparel businesses, a secondary data search, an experience survey and an online questionnaire has been followed and combined with retailer requirements from apparel suppliers.\nFindings: The information gained from apparel industry representatives, government sources and industry reports has enabled step-by-step construction of an evidence-based business model centred on the formation of collaborative partnerships between apparel suppliers and retailers.\nOriginality/value: The model reflects the fact that Canadian apparel retailers have taken the leading role in the supplier/retailer relationship and shows how Canadian apparel suppliers might better position themselves to combat competition from offshore suppliers through the formation of closer links with retail partners. It points not only to a requirement for Canadian apparel suppliers to become integrated into their retail partner's retail management systems and technology, but also demonstrates the need for the formation of strong alliances through collaborative partnerships between supplier and retailer to address the needs of the apparel market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing adoption barriers in integrated banking services	[ "Banking", "Innovation", "Market segmentation", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "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.\nEmpirical study: Description of the data\nDiscussion: The results of our study suggest that the inclusion of barriers to adoption can significantly enhance the effectiveness of customer segmentation and targeting efforts. Though we used data from integrated banking services, our main goal is to provide some empirical support of a more general approach that involves managing adoption barriers for successful service innovations. We show that marketers can benefit from incorporating perceived barriers besides looking into consumer demographics. Adding barriers to adoption in the segmentation analysis helped to uncover the unexplained heterogeneity and in turn resulted in improved fit as measured by intention to adopt. The proposed approach not only produced a managerially relevant set of consumer segments with distinct barriers and demographic characteristics, but also significantly improved predictive ability, as demonstrated by the model's application to a hold-out sample.The implications of barrier segmentation for managers concern the selection of customers or prospects for targeting promotional efforts, the nature of those efforts (e.g. which barrier(s) to focus on), as well as the basket of products that should be offered to each segment as part of the integrated banking service offering. Different segments would likely prefer not only different products but also different contact channels, for example, traditional media, internet, telemarketing, etc. (Peltier et al., 2003). As pointed out by previous researchers, segments as small as one could be efficiently reached using web-enabled interactive technologies driven by customer database-driven segmentation models (Peltier et al., 2003).Prior researchers have shown not only that customers can be effectively segmented into groups with different probabilities of response, but that segments with higher probabilities may warrant more resource-intensive or long-term, step-by-step promotional efforts (Kestnbaum et al., 1998; Fain and Roberts, 1997). Segments with higher projected lifetime values have implications for the timing, context and extent of communication efforts, and product offerings (Blattberg et al., 2001). Prior segmentation research applied to the retail banking context has linked results to cross-selling profitability (Peltier et al., 2002b). Further research in this area should attempt to measure potential segment profitability for actionable results. Another set of barriers that this research does not address is that of organizational barriers (Sciulli, 1998), such as the determination of which bank unit receives lower profit margins when a reduced price is offered to reward integrated banking customers for signing up for another service (Shevlin et al., 2005).We note that the present conclusions, while based on a relatively large sample (n=2,702), are nonetheless limited in that they are based on a sampling of European consumers, who may differ in their adoption patterns from consumers in other parts of the world. In addition, the present research is limited in that we have not discussed the flexibility and co-creation of such services in driving marketing strategies. Our study requires replication across other industries with other types of product and service innovations for additional support. Future research could further build upon the current findings if conducted in alternative markets such as in the domain of business-to-business marketing or the marketing of professional services.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Service organizations such as retail banks are attempting to increase their customers' lifetime value through the introduction of service innovations such as integrated banking. To date, these efforts have met with mixed success. This research proposes that strategic consideration of barriers to adoption can significantly alter and enhance the effectiveness of segmentation and communication efforts for service innovations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper utilizes a latent class regression with concomitant variables on a large-scale multinational consumer survey (n=2,702).\nFindings: - The results demonstrate that incorporating barriers to adoption significantly alters the segments into which customers are classified, resulting in improved model fit and out-of-sample prediction.\nOriginality/value: - Future innovations will present other types of barrier. The authors show here that marketers can benefit from managing perceived barriers instead of directly analyzing consumer demographics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emerging financial risks from climate changes on building assets in the UK	[ "Project management", "Climate change", "Risk management", "Facilities management", "Building", "Assets", "Asset management", "Building life cycle", "Financial risk", "Emerging risks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The theories behind the emergence of climate change are mainly attributed to the increase of human activities on the earth, especially during the beginning and continuation of the industrial era, which is responsible for the production of huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (McMullen and Jabbour, 2009; Woodward, 2008; Hertin et al., 2003; Changnon, 1995). These drivers have significantly contributed to the different ways in increasing the frequency of climate change scenarios (CCS) during recent decades (De Wilde and Coley, 2012; Steenbergen et al., 2012; Garvin et al., 1998; Pretlove and Oreszczyn, 1998). Increases in severity and the frequency of extreme events of CCSs is also owing to the changes in the temperature of the sea's surface (Solomon et al., 2007). Climate change has become a global phenomenon, and its threats have a huge variety of risks and impacts across all aspects of life, including the building sector. There is evidence to suggest that climate change will influence several sectors economically because of changes in temperature, which will increase the possibility and severity of flood and the extreme events of climate change, resulting in different levels of economic consequences (Midgley et al., 2005; Berz, 1997). LCCP (2002), stressed that the changes of temperature and extreme climate events, including flooding, are considered the key threat to the economy and business activities. The report went on to point out that most economic and social losses in the building sector come as consequences of various changes in the frequency and severity of the several CCSs, such as temperature changes and flooding, along with extreme climate change events (Steenbergen et al., 2012). Climate change will exacerbate economic losses, such as a high rate of population migrating to stay away from the affected areas, which increases living standard costs, and a large concentration of population in urban areas, which increases the pressure on services and resources (Roaf et al., 2009). Dailey et al. (2005) argued that the level of financial risks is based on both factor location and the condition of the markets of the building sector. These factors affect administrative and operational expenses along with associated taxes. The construction process might also be affected through delay in the supply of materials or in construction work, which will ultimately increase financial losses, including overheads and financing (Szyman and McNamara, 2008). Buildings are recognised as a safety valve in the value of real estate investment. Extreme events of CCSs result in structural damage to buildings and cause extensive risks (Steenbergen et al., 2012). The influence of climate change may reduce the level of their attraction in terms of rents and value generation (Szyman and McNamara, 2008). In the building sector, the return/profit is recognised as a cornerstone of investment in this sector. For example, buildings using energy-saving methods are more attractive to stakeholders than normal buildings (Huovila et al., 2007). Other economic tools and incentives cannot be neglected, as these impact buildings economically, such as through tax rates and increased rates of profit from investment return (Huovila et al., 2007). According to LCCP (2002), it is highly projected that the risks of climate change will alter occupants' attitudes (Grossman, 2012). For instance, according to Bigano et al. (2008), the tourism industry is an important income source for most countries in the world, and climatic conditions play a very influential role in the industry. Hence, understanding and establishing the separate and collective risks emerging from climate change patterns (CCPs), and the impacts they have on buildings, are essential for the design and optimal timing of policies, systems and procedures strategies, all of which help assets to deal with and manage such emerging risks and to avoid their impacts and threats.\nTheoretical background: Risks emerging from CCPs have become a global problem, and their impacts are reported widely (Woodward, 2008). According to Twigger-ross and Orr (2012), in the building sector, the term risk is used to refer to \"the likelihood an event will occur with the magnitude of its outcome\". The author went on to suggest that climate change risks lead to damage in buildings and real estate, which result in financial losses; these can be measured from an economic perspective by evaluating the costs of the damages. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society describes climate risk management (CRM) as a subject which includes multiple disciplines \"early-response systems, strategic diversification, dynamic resource-allocation rules, financial instruments, infrastructure design and capacity building\". The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2009) used risk management processes to define CRM as a topic that requires the following activities:\nMethodology: This study is designed to investigate the emerging financial risks in the real estate sector because of climate change. This research uses questionnaire to assess the likelihood of climate change risks appearing in the industry. The selected financial risks were extracted from the literature review, where 23 financial risks were identified. The scope of the research is centred on investigating and identifying the various potential emerging financial risks and their timeframe of occurrence as a result of CCSs on real estate. This is achieved by considering several steps: first, investigating the causes of climate change and establishing the possible scenarios that might affect the building sector; second, identifying the potential risks emerging from CCS that could have a direct impact and might induce damage on real estate; third, clustering the identified emerging risks in a systematic and practical way.\nResults and analysis: Profile of the respondents\nDiscussion: Climate change and its potential impacts are becoming global issues, as this can impact many sectors and levels of society across the world (Midgley et al., 2005; Brown et al., 2011; De Wilde and Coley, 2012). However, fundamentally, the impacts and effects from CCSs on real estate are crucial and more serious (Capon and Oakley, 2012; De Wilde and Coley, 2012; Steenbergen et al., 2012). Financial risks are the emerging risks related to the cost of other emerging risks on buildings and real estate, such as physical, operation and reputational risks. The literature review in this study claims that the financial risks emerging from climate change will have both direct and indirect emerging risks, impacting buildings and real estate. The direct risks include costs of the repair of damage or the replacement of key components (Graves and Phillipson, 2000; Gill et al., 2004; ABI, 2005). Indirect emerging financial risks, on the other hand, are those related to occupant and employee productivity (Capon and Oakley, 2012) and insurance problems (Graves and Phillipson, 2000; Tubb et al., 2003; CCRA, 2012; Repetto, 2012). The absence of the determinants of such risks and forecasts of the future CCSs would ultimately exacerbate the problem in the building sector. This study had endeavoured to discover the emerging financial risks related to real estates. This study observed that the financial emerging risks are highly likely to have an influence on the building sector, where around 40 per cent of the participants in this study indicated that around one-third of the total identified financial risks (23 factors) would emerge within 5-10 years, where the two most important factors are increased insurance excess and additional expense in insuring buildings in flood risk zones, whilst the two least important financial risks are inability to repay debts and un-insurability because of climate change. The level of financial emerging risks is based on several drivers, such as severity and magnitude of the CCSs' impacts on property and the level of vulnerability of buildings to such impacts and risks. Furthermore, across all groups of respondents, the emerging financial risks were given a significant degree of significance - especially in private organisations and for facility and risk managers. The implications of financial emerging risks on assets will have significant impacts - especially on owners and investors, as well as occupiers. This view is supported by Szyman and McNamara (2008), who point out that real estate that is suffering from financial emerging risks will become less attractive to occupants, owners and investors because of their energy consumption, increased costs for resources and the materials required for maintenance or repairs. In addition, one strategy that may reduce the vulnerability of assets to emerging financial risks from CCS is to periodically maintain property, as well as assess each other's risk factors arising in terms of their costs. The challenge facing this strategy is that the owners and investors are looking to achieve higher level of profit from their buildings - even with low-quality solutions for such risks, which will exacerbate the financial problems; the managers responsible for providing practical and effective solutions, as well as improving buildings' adaptability to emerging risks, help to minimise the impacts of financial risks.\nConclusion: This paper's aim was to discover the impact of the emerging risks because of climate change on building assets. It identifies that there are several emerging risks, which have the ability to impact the finances of building assets in an incremental manner. The study observed that \"increased insurance excess\" is the most likely risk factor to arise across buildings and real estate because of threats of CCP, which is likely to occur in 5-10 years' timeframe. Second is \"additional expense in insuring buildings in flood risk zones\" whose effect could arise between 5 and 10 years. Third was \"increase costs to purchase\", which is expected to impact negatively on buildings and real estate within zero to five years for the majority of sampled organizations. Fourth was \"increase in administrative expenses\" on the building sector, which is likely to occur in zero to five years according to charity organizations and varied for the rest. Considering these emerging risks during the operation phase of property assists in avoiding disruption and decreasing necessary maintenance, which could result in reduced financial losses. Asset owners must incorporate into their asset management strategy and decision-making processes, as well as climate change consequences, to create business models that are robust. This will ensure that the asset management strategies are resilient to climate change and founded on sound business strategies for pursuing new opportunities from climate change consequences while minimizing the impact of emerging risks. This research provides a starting point for wider research that is required to endeavour further investigation on both the risks emerging from CCS and the timescale of their emergence - especially across different types of building and real estate - demonstrating them in parallel with potential conditions of climate change on the building sector in different areas and regions. There is still a lack of research on climate change risk management approaches and strategies, which might be considered a road map for facing and dealing with these different risks emerging from CCPs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The different scenarios of climate change, such as floods, temperature change and storms, are considered the main drivers influencing the building sector. Understanding how and when these climatic risks will emerge, specifically financial risks, is pivotal in dealing with these risks and applying the adaptation and mitigation strategies so as to minimise the effects and damages. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to discover the financial risks emerging from climate change impact on the building sector and determine the timescale of occurrence for such risks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research methodology formulated in this study is founded on a systematic literature review and statistical analysis. Built on this, the potential financial risks emerging from climate change scenarios (CCS) were identified and designed as a questionnaire to collect data from UK expert professionals. Statistical methods were used to rank and compare the outcomes of the survey.\nFindings: The research observed that around 40 per cent of the participants in this study indicated that one-third of the total identified financial risks (23 factors) would emerge within 5-10 years. The most important factors are increased insurance excess and additional expense in insuring buildings in flood risk zones, whilst the least important financial risks are inability to repay debts and un-insurability because of climate change.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study is limited to the UK, and regional implications are not covered. However, it is a starting point.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution of this research project is establishing and developing clusters of the potential risks emerging from CCS, which can assist professionals in the building sector in the management and development of strategies to cope with these emerging risks.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Making leadership development more effective: Psychological changes have implications for training programme design	[ "Transformational leadership", "Leadership training", "Individual behaviour", "Affective psychology" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: More than $45 billion is spent on leadership training every year - and a lot of that money is wasted. A sizeable number of people actually become less effective leaders after being exposed to this sort of training - so there is a strong financial incentive to find out how this happens. Is it something about the training content, the way it's delivered - or something about the individual?\nWhat is transformational leadership?: Transformational leaders:\nThe process of changing leadership behavior: Reactions to training are linked with individuals' psychological attributes. According to social cognitive theory, personal characteristics, behavior and the environment all interact with one another. Three things are likely to determine whether or not transformational leadership behaviors are improved by training:\nPsychological change and leadership behavior: So instead, researchers set out to explore leaders' psychological reactions to training. They investigated how individuals' psychological reactions varied after a training intervention and if this was related to changes in their leadership behavior.\nThe implications are far-reaching: Change in positive affect was the measure most reliably associated with change in behavior. This is consistent with the broaden-and-build theory, which suggests that positive emotions promote change, encouraging the individual to explore new approaches and develop social relationships.\nMaking leadership training more effective: What was clear from this study was that transformational leadership development training affected participants' psychological well-being, with interrelated psychological and behavioral reactions. The psychological changes that leaders experience during training are associated with the amount of improvement or decline in their transformational leadership behavior.\nComment: This review is of \"Transformational leadership development\" by Claire Mason, Mark Griffin and Sharon Parker. Their study reveals that leaders' reactions to transformational leadership training include psychological as well as behavioral changes. It draws attention to the importance of considering leaders' psychological well-being when attempting to promote change in leader behavior and suggests directions for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: To explore the connection between individuals' response to transformational leadership training and their psychological makeup.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Investigates leadership performance before and after training according to participants' self-evaluation and that of their supervisors, peers and team members. Analyzes this in connection with their assessment of their psychological attributes of positive affect, perspective-taking and self-efficacy.\nFindings: More than $45 billion is spent on leadership training every year - and a lot of that money is wasted. A sizeable number of people actually become less effective leaders after being exposed to this sort of training - so there is a strong financial incentive to find out how this happens. Is it something about the training content, the way it's delivered - or something about the individual?\nPractical implications: Shows that behavioral and psychological reactions to leadership training are strongly linked. Suggests that positive affect may provide a pathway for improving the effectiveness of leadership development interventions.\nSocial implications: Highlights the importance of considering the impact of leadership training on individuals' psychological well-being.\nOriginality/value: Focuses on the processes underlying change in leader behavior.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Self-efficacy and workplace well-being: moderating role of sustainability practices	[ "India", "Self-efficacy", "Sustainability practices", "Workplace well-being", "Manufacturing organizations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The environmental, social and economic changes of the twenty-first century have impelled organizations to think seriously about their own sustainability and that of the wider world as well. The challenge lies ahead for institutions, leaders and corporations with the reality that the world's natural resources and people are at risk. Hence, a sustainable organization with good human capital is the need of the hour. The most popular definition of \"sustainable development\" was put forward to the United Nations (1983) by the Brundtland Commission as to \"meet the needs of the present and future without compromising the ability of future generations.\" Due to increased human activity, the earth has destroyed the very existence of species diversity and habitation. Hence, today's organizations are considerably focusing on and practicing long-term sustainable practices that may help to retain well-being in the workplace and to realize the creation of a distinct and successful corporate identity (Tvaronaviciene, 2014).\nLiterature review and hypothesis development: Self-efficacy and workplace well-being\nResearch methods: Sampling and data collection\nMeasures: Self-efficacy\nAnalysis and results: At the very beginning, descriptive analysis along with internal consistency and inter-correlations of the variables were computed through SPSS 20.0. Second, one of the simplest and widely used techniques - Harman's single-factor test (Iverson and Maguire, 2000) - was carried out using analysis of moment structures (AMOS 20.0) to test the bias associated due to common method variance (CMV). A principal limitation of this diagnostic test is that it examines the extent of CMV that is influencing the data set; however, the method is not prescriptive so far as to control the effects statistically. To overcome this limitation, we carried out multiple factor model tests through CFA to check the significant differences associated between the multiple factor test and Harman's single-factor test. For examining our proposed hypotheses, hierarchical regression was carried out to study the extent of incremental variance observed by each predictor variable.\nDiscussion: The present study has tested our assertions through three hypotheses: we empirically examined the relationship between self-efficacy and workplace well-being; we also investigated the association between sustainability practices and workplace well-being; and in addition, the moderating role of sustainability practices was examined between the construct of self-efficacy and workplace well-being. The findings of the study are in line with our predictions. Precisely, the study has revealed a positive relationship of self-efficacy (H1) and sustainability practices (H2) to workplace well-being. Besides that sustainability practices significantly moderated the relationship between self-efficacy and workplace well-being (H3), proving that executives perceiving both self-efficacy and sustainability practices will feel better workplace well-being. Moreover, during times when executives identify poor self-efficacy having a better perception on organizational sustainability practices will demonstrate higher workplace well-being than those executives with a lower perception of sustainability practices.\nConclusion and Scope for future research: Future research is expected to examine the role and effects of some additional measures. First of all, the sample size taken in the present study is very small, while generalizing the findings this should be kept in the mind. Future research may carry out longitudinal study to understand the trend of relationships examined in the present study over an extended period of time for better results. The results of this study can be taken as a base for further development of theory building and conceptual development within the interdisciplinary field of positive psychology, organization sustainability, innovation and performance. This survey was validated to a great extent with the above study; however, a validation study before the survey may produce a good fit to our hypothesis at the construct level. Future research may be taken in other geographic regions with sufficiently large sample sizes to produce a reliable comparison. Our study suggests that employee-friendly policies and sustainable practices help toward well-being of the employees within the workplace. We are optimistic that future research can extend these findings and provide more meaningful, practical advice to managers on how these sustainable practices support success in business and well-being in the workplace, whereby creating a better living place in this world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: How psychological variables especially self-efficacy plays significant role to attain workplace well-being is yet to be explained. The extant literature calls for further research works in the field of sustainability practices to bridge the gap between self-efficacy and workplace well-being. The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature of workplace well-being while scientifically examining the moderating role of sustainability practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study collected data from 527 full-time executives of Indian public and private manufacturing industries. The authors performed moderated regression analysis through a series of hierarchical models to test the hypotheses of the study.\nFindings: The result indicates positive relationship between self-efficacy and workplace well-being. Furthermore, the result suggests that the relationship between self-efficacy and workplace well-being was stronger among executives with high level of sustainability practices and vice versa.\nResearch limitations/implications: The cross-sectional sample of executives employed in Indian manufacturing organizations limits the generalizability of the findings.\nPractical implications: HR functionaries and senior management may benefit by closely examining their sustainability practices along with their employees perceived ability to address workplace well-being.\nOriginality/value: The study contributes to extend the literature on self-efficacy and workplace well-being. This research work is one of the first few studies to examine the moderating effect of sustainability practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) for ethical corporate identity management: Framing CSR as a tool for managing the CSR-luxury paradox online	[ "Luxury industry", "CSR communication", "Corporate identity", "Corporate social responsibility", "Corporate branding", "Framing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an integral part of corporate marketing strategies due to its ability to strengthen corporate identity (Hildebrand et al., 2011; Powell, 2011). CSR holds the potential to enhance the connection between organizations and their stakeholders if organizations share their beliefs about the values that underpin their corporate identity (Bravo et al., 2012). However, companies face an intriguing challenge when the core values of CSR are at odds with the core values that represent the central aspects of corporate identity, such as those faced by companies in the luxury sector.\nLiterature review: CSR and its communication\nMethod: A qualitative frame analysis was conducted to create detailed frame matrices for each dimension of CSR message content, followed by a quantitative content analysis to establish the extent of usage of these frames.\nFindings: Five emergent frames were derived from the inductive framing analysis. These included: the environmental frame, used to frame the CSR issue; the standardization, partnership, and nascent frames, used to frame CSR commitment; and the abstract impact frame, used to frame CSR impact.\nDiscussion: This study explored the role of CSR in engendering an ethical corporate identity, especially the framing strategies employed when companies are confronted with the challenge of conflicting values between CSR and the core values that represent the central aspects of their identity, such as those in the luxury sector. Overall, findings revealed how luxury brands drew upon CSR associations to craft and communicate an ethical corporate identity that is resonant with the core brand associations of luxury. The luxury brands used broad strokes to frame their CSR efforts across issues. Their use of importance, commitment, impact, motives, and fit reflected a sophisticated understanding of both communicating to a new socially and environmentally conscious demographic and aligning with the central, enduring, and distinctive characteristics of luxury. Luxury brands predominantly framed their CSR efforts as going beyond what is required (discretionary), driven by purely good-hearted, altruistic motives. This discretionary frame foregrounded the brand over the social issue, by highlighting their substantial input of resources into CSR efforts consistently over a period. The frame emphasized that supported programs were highly congruent with their core business values and conveyed impact of CSR programs in abstract terms evoking emotions over logic.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the framing and rhetorical devices employed by luxury brands to build CSR-based, ethical corporate identities while managing complexities of the CSR-luxury paradox, the perceived clash between the self-transcendent values of CSR, and the self-enhancement values of luxury.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Qualitative frame analysis was conducted to create detailed frame matrices for each dimension of CSR message content, followed by quantitative content analysis to establish the extent of usage of these frames across 43 luxury brand websites in the apparel, beauty, jewelry, and watch categories.\nFindings: Luxury brands predominantly framed their CSR efforts as discretionary, driven by altruistic motives. They foregrounded brand over social issue and highlighted substantial input into CSR efforts consistently over a period. CSR efforts were put into programs that were congruent with the brands' business and that conveyed impact in abstract terms, evoking emotions over logic. Such framing across the CSR message-dimensions of issues, motives, importance, commitment, fit, and impact reflected a sophisticated understanding of communicating to a socially and environmentally conscious demographic while simultaneously aligning with the central, enduring, and distinctive characteristics of luxury.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to emerging empirical work on CSR as a tool to build ethical corporate identity. This study also adds to the literature on identity management and CSR communication in the luxury industry, a sector that exceeded EUR1 trillion in retail sales in 2016.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The relationship between cost stickiness and financial reporting quality in Tehran Stock Exchange	[ "Financial reporting quality", "Distribution and sales cost stickiness", "Administrative cost stickiness", "Cost stickiness", "Material-labor-overhead" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today, accounting information systems play a very important role in operational circles of organizations; they also play an important role in economic environment of the countries. Many of economic decisions are significantly made based on extracted information from these reporting systems, and a major degree of securities and bounds exchanges are dedicated for buying and selling companies' stocks, which, in turn, can be influenced by the figures and accounting information. Any research about how accounting information influences the wide range of stakeholders' decision about the companies will help having a better understanding about role of this information and the need for more and higher disclosure (Alfred, 2014). The predictive role of the cost structure at the firm level is studied in the managerial accounting literature (Banker and Chen, 2006; Weiss, 2010). However, the role of cost behavior in predicting the microeconomic indicators at firm level is paid little attention. In this paper, we explore the effect of cost stickiness in financial statements on financial reporting quality.\n2. Theoretical framework: When the cost stickiness phenomenon is raised, some experts refer it as an alternative to cost behavior (Anderson et al., 2003). In accounting literature, cost stickiness is the difference between costs which will change automatically with changing the volume of activities and costs which are occurred by management through resource consuming. The cost sticky behavior of management refers to managers' decisions which are made deliberately to use resources of the organization inappropriately. In other worlds, inappropriate usage of resources by the organization arises due to the reduction in the volume of firm's activities (Venieris et al., 2015). Cost sticky behavior of management can take place in different classifications such as manufacturing and trading costs (Chen et al., 2012; Kama and Weiss, 2013).\n3. Related literature and hypotheses development: Recent literatures including Cook et al. (2017) imply that prior research provides evidence that a firm's sales and general administrative expense is negatively correlated to its capital structure and earning quality, and yet positively correlated with its stock returns. They suggest that these results are driven by the effect of a firm's operating leases on its asset volatility. Using Merton's model, they extend these effects to the pricing of corporate debt. As a result, not only they provide an overlooked rationale for the above correlations, but also a different way of understanding the effects of similar difficult to terminate contracts (e.g. union contracts) on the stock and bond prices of a firm. Banker et al. (2016) suggest that a decrease in sales shows more effect on earnings than sales increase which is a consequence of cost stickiness; in this regard, they hypothesize that the correlated omitted variable constitutes a confounding effect in standard asymmetric timeliness models. Controlling for a piecewise linear effect of sales changes in these models decreases the measured asymmetric timeliness significantly and changes inferences about the average level of conservatism and the extent of cross-sectional variation in conservatism. Validation tests confirm that the asymmetry for sales changes is consistent with sticky costs and is distinct from conditional conservatism. Ibrahim (2015) examines whether costs respond asymmetrically to demand change, and examines the influence of economic growth on cost stickiness, in the pre- and post-2008 financial crisis periods in Egypt. He uses multiple regression models to investigate the behavior of three costs: selling, general and administrative (SG & A), cost of goods sold (COGS) and operating costs (OCs) for the 2004-2011 period. Moreover, he compares cost stickiness during the economic prosperity period (2006-2008) with cost stickiness during the economic recession period (2009-2011). His study results reveal that SG & A increased by 0.38 percent but decreased by 0.08 percent, and COGS increased by 1.02 percent but decreased by 0.57 percent for a 1 percent demand change, which proves cost stickiness. However, OC increased by 0.91 percent, but decreased by 1.03 percent for a 1 percent demand change, which proves cost anti-stickiness. COGSs were sticky in both periods; however, the extent of cost stickiness is larger in the prosperity period. In contrast, OCs were statistically insignificant in both periods. Banker and Byzalov (2014) formulate an integrated framework of asymmetric cost behavior and review the empirical evidence in support of this framework and its implications for both cost and financial accounting research. They clarify empirical issues and show that recent contrary claims about the validity of findings in the literature are unwarranted because of econometric errors. They present new comprehensive evidence from Global Compustat, which demonstrates that asymmetric cost behavior is a pervasive global phenomenon. Mahlberg et al. (2013) study the relationship between the age structure of employees, labor productivity and wages. Their findings indicate that firm productivity is not negatively related to the share of older employees it employs. They also suggest no evidence for overpayment of older employees and the results do not show any association between wages and the share of older employees. Furthermore, they find a negative relationship between the share of young employees and labor productivity as well as wages, which is more prevalent in the industry and construction sector. Yasukata (2011) use sales forecasts issued by managers as a proxy for managers' prospect of future sales and examine the hypothesis that costs stickiness is the results of the deliberate decision of managers by empirically testing whether the managers' sales forecasts have an impact on costs stickiness. They find that the prospect of future sales is related to current level of costs stickiness. They document that strong evidence that costs stickiness is the results of deliberate decision of managers. Aktas and Kargin (2011) design a study to investigate the effects of sector, reporting type and income on firms' timely annual financial reporting practices listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange. They examine the effects of sector (financial and non-financial firms), financial statement type (consolidated-non-consolidated firms) and income (positive-negative income) for the years from 2005-2008. Their results reveal that sector, financial statement type and income have significant impact on timely reporting financial statements of selected firms. The coefficient estimates for sector, financial statement type and income are statistically significant. Effects of sector and financial statement type on lead time are positive while income is negative. Based on the results, non-financial firms publish their financial statements later than others. Similarly, consolidated firms report their financial statements later than non-consolidated firms. Finally, firms that report positive income release financial statements earlier than others. Homburg and Nasev (2010) interpret cost stickiness, i.e. the manager's decision to bear the costs of unutilized resources when the sales decline, as a risky project and examine its impact on conditional conservatism. They show that cost stickiness increases the asymmetric timeliness of earnings by weakening the timeliness of earnings for good news firms and, at the same time, intensifying the timeliness of earnings for bad news firms. Additionally, their findings suggest that the asymmetric timeliness of earnings for cost sticky firms is more strongly driven through accounting factors, as reflected in accruals than through non-accounting factors, as reflected in cash flow. Our results imply that cost stickiness is costlier due to conditional conservatism and that the market separates the efficient from the inefficient cost sticky firms, indicating that information asymmetry is low. Weiss (2010) examines how firms' asymmetric cost behavior influences analysts' earnings forecasts, primarily the accuracy of analysts' consensus earnings forecasts. His results indicate that firms with stickier cost behavior have less accurate analysts' earnings forecasts than firms with less sticky cost behavior. Furthermore, he finds that cost stickiness influences analysts' coverage priorities and investors appear to consider sticky cost behavior in forming their beliefs about the value of firms.\n4. Research design: The purpose of the research methodology is to dedicate which statistical method is appropriate to examine the subject matter. This is a practical research in terms of purpose. The objective of a practical research is implementing applied knowledge in a particular background and putting more emphasis on the most influential elements; on the other hand, it does not take detailed reasons into full consideration. In a descriptive study, regardless of the events' foundations, only how events really act and their intensity is taken into consideration. But in correlational studies, the primary purpose is to dedicate whether is there any relationship between two or more variables, and, if so, how intensified is this? The present research is based on the liner correlation due to the time interval over a period of six years, and it can be categorized as post-event (based on prior information) type in accounting literature because the applied data are real and historical.\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Descriptive statistics\n6. Conclusion: The aim of this study is to investigate the association between financial reporting quality and cost stickiness in Tehran Stock Exchange. We use an equation to test all hypotheses. Our sample consist the companies' list of Tehran Stock Exchange for the period 2010-2016. We excluded from a list of all companies with untraded stocks, banks and financial service firms due to their difference in asset structure, which is in accordance to what has been done in previous research as well (Alexeyeva, 2012). The current study attempts to provide empirical and statistical evidences about the effect of firms' operational factors on predicting financial quality reports. Therefore, this investigation is aim to indicates the role of comprehensive operational factors on the level of qualitative features. The results of examining the first and second hypothesis suggest that administrative and sale costs are sticky; means that the reaction of costs is not proportional to the changes of sales and the amount of economic activities. In other words, when sales are increased, the amount of administrative and cost increase, but in the case of decreasing sales, the amount of decrease in cost is not as same as the increase in sales. These results are related to link between administrative, general and sales costs and various aspects of management strategies and the characteristics of companies which are consistent with the results of Venieris et al. (2015) and Chen et al. (2012). These results show that, in fact, in the long run, managers with the hope of generate earning in future try to maintain their resources, due to preventing the deprivation of future possible earnings. Therefore, this issue cause that when the firm's sale decrease, managers do not decrease the cost proportionally. As a result, when the stickiness of administrative cost is intensified, the quality of financial reports increases and vice versa. The results of this study also suggest that the manager's positive expectations about the future company's condition modifies the effect of incremental or decreasing sales on the asymmetric cost behavior, which means that when the manager has a positive expectation toward the continuation of the increase in sales, the decrease in sales of the past period is less effective in the symmetry of cost behavior, while the manager's negative expectation toward passing sales volatility leads to more symmetry of cost behavior when the company experienced an increase in sales in the past period. These findings are consistent with findings of Anderson and Lee (2016) and Banker and Byzalov (2014). In general, considering the trading cost stickiness, it is concluded that the investment of Iranian companies in OCs is more likely to be for future sales and less attention is paid to reducing cost of future sale. A possible interpretation could be extra attention of Iranian managers to marketing. In this sense, managers of Iranian companies pay more attention to investing in marketing and sales than in optimizing processes and increasing operational efficiency; moreover, they consider investing in OCs with the aim of increase of selling in future. In other words, the positive impact of investing in sales, general and administrative activities is only recognized in companies that, first, their OC is managed efficiently and, second, has plenty of opportunities to improve their manufacturing processes. The related hypotheses to the impact of material, labor and overhead costs stickiness on financial reporting quality are still unexplored. But, generally, the results of these hypotheses show that most of shareholders in Tehran Stock Exchange, due to their long-run prospective, manage a company's investments in an efficient manner and plays the monitoring role in reducing the agency's costs. It is not possible to make sensible economic decisions to allocate limited resources optimally to superior activities without timely and reliable information. Prior studies show that companies with better performance present their reports timelier. So that the more the companies can make more return in applied assets, the more quickly they state reports. According to the results of this research, managers consider the sticky behavior of costs in making decisions for maximizing the company's profit in the long run. Our results are consistent with the results of Gaynor et al. (2016), Gomariz and Ballesta (2013), Ramalingegowda et al. (2013), Shehu (2012), Aktas and Kargin (2011), Homburg and Nasev (2010) and Weiss (2010).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data of all Iranian manufacturing listed companies gathered for testing hypotheses during 2010-2016 and R statistical software are employed in order to analyzing data.\nFindings: The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between administrative, sale, material, labor and overhead costs and the financial reporting qualities of the companies under study.\nOriginality/value: The study focuses on relationship between financial reporting and cost stickiness in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange, which is the first study of its type in Iran.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integrated framework for earthquake consequences management	[ "Earthquake consequence model", "Earthquake loss estimation", "Earthquakes", "Natural disasters", "EQ risk mitigation", "Risk management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Earthquakes cause wide destruction in structures, lifelines, and other facilities for prepared and less prepared communities, regardless of preparedness and mitigation efforts. Therefore, there is a need to establish guidelines that help decision makers to set priorities for prevention, reduction, compensation for their cities, regions, and countries. Disaster recovery activities after earthquakes deprive communities from their daily services and resources which could be used for development. Therefore, it is important to effectively and efficiently implement measures, policies, plans to deal with this phenomena regardless for its natural or man-made causes such as dam failure or nuclear explosion. Government and public preparedness could play vital role in reducing human and monetary losses due to earthquakes if decision makers are able to understand their roles and what could be done ahead of time to reduce these losses. Take into consideration the uncertainty in earthquake scenarios for a study area allow decision makers to deal with experts judgment who could know the area and give reasonable assessment for potential earthquake consequences. Fournier d'Albe (1982) formulated a conceptual basis for regarding earthquakes as a problem of social and economic risk which is part of everyday life, rather than regarding them as \"acts of God\" and it is important to deal with such risk rather than overlooking it. Skidmore (2001) examined savings behavior in a life-cycle model that is extended to include the probability of a future economic loss arising from a natural catastrophe. In his research, he used cross-country variation in damages caused by natural disasters to estimate the effects on household saving rates. Moreover, he found that higher damages from geologic and climatic catastrophes are significantly correlated with household saving rates.In a study of Anderson (2003) to investigate the challenges for managers and policy makers to deal with risk in rural development he found that the rural poor are exposed to many risks while often lacking instruments to manage them adequately, and so are highly vulnerable. Noy (2009) found that countries with more foreign exchange reserves, and higher levels of domestic credit, but with less open capital accounts appear more robust and better able to endure natural disasters, with less adverse spillover into domestic production. Additionally, he argues that countries with a higher literacy rate, better institutions, higher per capita income, higher degree of openness to trade, and higher levels of government spending are better able to withstand the initial disaster shock and prevent further spillovers into the macro-economy. Hallegatte and Ghil (2008) found that larger economic flexibility allows for a more efficient and rapid response to supply-side shocks and reduces production losses. On the other hand, too high a flexibility can lead to vulnerability phases that cause average production losses to soar. Hallegatte and Dumas (2009) suggested that disasters might have positive economic consequences, through the accelerated replacement of capital. Furthermore, a better but slower reconstruction amplifies the short-term consequences of disasters, but pays off over the long term. Toya and Skidmore (2007) in a study for the economic development and the impacts of natural disasters found that countries with higher income, higher educational attainment, greater openness, more complete financial systems, and smaller government experience fewer losses. In order to understand the interaction of nature and political economy for earthquakes Anbarci et al. (2005) developed a theoretical model which offers an explanation as to why, in some environments, different segments of society prove incapable of arriving at what all parties perceive to be an agreeable distribution of burden of the necessary collective action, causing the relatively wealthy simply to self-insure against the disaster while leaving the relatively poor to its mercy.There were several studies to model earthquake risk losses with the intention to prevent and/or reduce future human and monetary losses. For instance, Fischer et al. (2002) formulated and constructed an integrated model for earthquake risk assessment of buildings in seismic regions. Results from this study showed that the model is capable of discriminating different foundation soils, earthquake performance of shear wall and frame buildings, asymmetries in height and plan, and between conventional and seismically isolated structures. Moreover, Ellingwood (2001) reviewed the difficulties experienced in implementing probability-based limit states design criteria for earthquake and highlighted the limitations of using current deterministic approaches for post-earthquake building condition assessment. While Choun and Elnashai (2010) reviewed the uncertainties that affect earthquake loss estimation and proposed a simple framework for probabilistic uncertainty assessment suitable for use after obtaining impact results from existing software, such as HAZUS-MH. Additionally, Ergonul (2005) used a model for earthquake loss estimation in Adapazari City of Turkey through using a probability distribution and variability. With advances in information technology applications some researchers explored using Geographic Information System (GIS) as a platform for earthquake loss estimation methodologies such as HAZUS-ME which was developed through The Federal Emergency Management Agency. The methodology require large multidisciplinary databases with different quality. Meeting such demand is time consuming and very expensive which could not be affordable for developing countries. HAZUS methodology was developed and calibrated based on California earthquake history and using it for other states or countries contains a lot of uncertainties. In a sensitivity analysis for earthquake scenarios for San Francisco County by using HAZUZ, a factor of 10 for losses estimation for earthquake scenarios was obtained. This factor could be multiplied by a factor of 1 or 2 if the default parameters within the methodology is changed. Furthermore, forecasting of unknown accuracy of earthquake loss estimation is of limited use and can be very misleading to stakeholders (Al-Momani and Harrald, 2003). Moreover, Tang and Wen (2009) capitalized on GIS and Artificial Intelligence to identify the weakness of the structure system in pre-earthquake conditions, quickly assess earthquake damage and make an intelligent emergency response for the public and government during the earthquake and post-earthquake. Furthermore, Anagnostopoulos et al. (2008) developed regional damage and loss estimation due to earthquakes model which is based on GIS and called SEISMOCARE.Earthquake losses could be due several natural and man-made factors such as engineering risk factors (direct and indirect), geological risk factors (ground shaking and ground rupture), public and governmental preparedness, socio-economic ones. Landslide can result in enormous causalities and huge economics losses in mountainous regions. Dai et al. (2002) developed a framework for landslide risk assessment and management by which landslide risk can be reduced. Also, Miles and Keefer (2009) developed comprehensive areal mode for earthquake-induced landslide which provides an integrated framework for modeling all types of earthquake-induced landslides using fuzzy logic systems and GIS. Bird et al. (2006) introduced a framework for modeling liquefaction-induced building damage in earthquake loss estimation where large variations in building stock and ground conditions must be considered. Chemical and industrial facilities could contribute to environmental, monetary, and mortality losses. Antonioni et al. (2009) developed a framework for the risk assessment of natural-technological \"Na-tech\" accidental events. He used specific methods and models to allow the quantitative assessment of risk caused by two categories of \"Na-Tech\" accidents: accidents triggered by earthquakes and accidents triggered by floods. In another research, Salzano et al. (2009) investigated risk assessment and early warning systems for industrial facilities in seismic zones. This research deals with seismic risk analysis of industrial facilities where atmospheric storage tanks (anchored or unanchored to ground), horizontal pressurized tanks, reactors, and pumps are installed. Tsai and Chen (2010) focussed on earthquake disaster risk assessment and management for tourism industry through developing earthquake disaster management mechanism based on risk assessment information for the tourism industry with a case study from the island of Taiwan. Cinicioglu et al. (2007) developed an integrated earthquake damage assessment methodology which incorporates a literature-derived probabilistic assessment of damage causation, and is interpreted and presented as single numbers deemed \"damage grades.\" These damage grades augmented by professional experience and judgment in order to determine potential damage to a particular structure at a particular location.The suggested integrated framework capitalized on the above related models and frameworks with the intention to develop a tool that decision makers could approve or deny budget allocation based on the protection level achieved. Giving the flexibility in its implantation encourage its use for donor agencies and international monetary fund's to set their funding priorities which are related to natural hazard protection. The suggested framework could be expanded to cover other natural and technological risks sources through changing the core model, which is Earthquake Consequences Model (ECM), to the desired one such as flood consequences model or even to develop a comprehensive one that cover several types of disasters.\nMaterials and methods: In this paper we introduced an integrated framework for earthquake consequences management. The proposed framework capitalizes on the above researches and presents earthquake losses in one model that could be understood by decision makers regardless of their practical and academic backgrounds. The integrated framework consists of the following (Figure 1):* Socio-economic: it is important to consider the social and economical situation for the study area in order to determine the community resilience for disasters such as earthquakes. This will help decision makers identify mitigation and preparedness priorities which could facilitate response and recovery from future earthquakes.* ECM: in this model ECM will be used to measure potential earthquake consequences. Decision makers will value his options to reduce earthquake consequences through implementing policies, plans, procedures.* Value analysis for mitigation options: this model present to the decision makers overall picture of potential earthquake consequences for the study area and what options could be implemented to manage earthquake risk. Mitigation and preparedness options are based on available time, budget, and human, as well as monetary assets which need to be protected.* Dynamic integration: this model consist of web-based shared information by decision makers (such as mayor) for the study area and representative officials for the same study area which his organization will play role in reducing earthquake losses (such as civil defense, police department, water authority).Socio-economic\nGeneral approach for ECM application: We suggest step-by-step approach to show how we could use the ECM within the proposed integrated framework for earthquake consequences management for a study area:(1) Convince decision makers and strategies planners with the need of understanding the potential earthquake consequences for their areas.(2) Conduct a national workshop to present the model and discuss the suggested weights in order to add, or eliminate, or amend what the participants agree on. The suggested model parameters and allocated points are the author own judgment and they could be changed without amending the model structure of use.(3) Measure the EDPI through the following:* Distribute the public survey to representative sample for the study area which could be chosen by applied statistics or sociologists.* Distribute the government survey to all governmental and non-governmental institutions within the study area. Decision makers for these institutions should be careful in assessing their institutions preparedness and hold liable if they claim what is not in place, such as having emergency response plan.(4) Measure the EDRI through the following:* Conduct national workshop for experts in geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineers, fire engineers, dam engineers, planning engineers, civil engineers, to approve the EDRI components and the allocated weights.* Reach a consensus about the EDRI parameters and weights.* Distribute the expert survey to measure the EDRI.(5) Collect the surveys and analyze the results.(6) Make decisions to reduce the potential earthquake consequences by either reducing earthquake risk, or increasing public and government preparedness, or both.Previous studies have been conducted to measure earthquake risk in Jordan. These studies used either probabilistic or deterministic approaches to identify earthquake risk in Jordan. Al-Momani (2009) used ECM to measure the potential earthquake consequences from future earthquake occurrences in Jordan. Different surveys for public, professionals, and government and civil societies are used to measure the model components. As shown in Figure 4, the total points for EDRI were 55 out of 100 points and the total points for EDPI are 60 out of 100 points. The potential consequences from earthquake occurrences in Jordan are dangerous.Value analysis\nConclusion: Earthquakes could have disastrous effects for cities and communities which need implanting proper disaster risk management measures (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery) to prevent and reduce human and monetary losses. Dynamic aspects of earthquake risk require an integrated dynamic approach for its management such as the proposed model which considers earthquake risk, socio-economic conditions, values analysis to reach a better decisions that could be integrated in strategies, plans, and procedures. The framework could be implemented effectively and efficiently for a study area after careful evaluation of its component and top management direct involvement.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - There are several researches which addressed earthquake probabilistic and deterministic risk assessment without linking the decision-making process in order to implement policies, plans, and procedures to prevent or reduce human and monetary losses. This paper aims to address this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study suggests an integrated framework for earthquake consequences management. The framework consists of earthquake consequences model, value analysis, and socio-economic analysis, as well as dynamic integration for implementing strategies, policies, and plans.\nFindings: - The developed integrated framework for earthquakes consequences management could be used for a study area especially in developing countries in which human and capital resources are limited.\nResearch limitations/implications: - There is a need to have different case studies to demonstrate how the integrated framework for earthquake consequence management could reduce human and monetary losses due to earthquakes for a study area.\nOriginality/value: - It is important to consider earthquake risks as part of strategic planning for societies that are vulnerable to future earthquakes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring online live streaming of perceived servicescape: Scale development and validation on behavior outcome	[ "Uses and gratifications theory", "Media engagement", "Servicescape theory", "Social presence theory", "Online live streaming perceived servicescape", "Media richness theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The concept of the fifth generation of mobile telecommunications (5G) represents a next-generation mobile network that enables innovation and supports progressive change across all vertical industries and society in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable technology, smart homes and new digital media (5G PPP, 2017; Forge and Blackman, 2017). It offers new business opportunities on a global level through enhanced performance, flexibility and individualization. Many online live streaming platforms have been developed, such as Twitch, Periscope, MeerKat, IOC, LIVEhouse.in, 17.live, YY LIVE, as well as other social media live streaming platforms, such as YouTube Live, Facebook Live and Instagram (Oliver and John, 2017). Community interactions have evolved from simple graphic chats to video transmissions and even into the real-time and direct live streaming of audio and video. In online live streaming, individuals can see other users who are viewing the same channel concurrently and can directly chat with them or web broadcasters through chat room functions, thereby greatly increasing interactivity and instantaneity (Hamilton et al., 2014).Online live streaming offers real-time and interactional activities. Its real-time aspect can satisfy the audiences' thirst for knowledge, while its interactional aspect enables the audiences to comment and communicate with each other via text-based chat room functions, thus creating scape together and providing opportunities for socialization among broadcasters and other audiences. Hence, the key to contemporary online live streaming is connection, which combines content, community and applications to create more value.The concept of online live streaming is relatively new. Past studies regarded the media of live streaming as a form of social TV. The available literature focuses on user interaction, video and audio content selection and the attitudes and intentions of using social TV (Shin, 2013, 2016; Shin et al., 2013; Hwang and Lim, 2015; Shin and Kim, 2015; Lim et al., 2015; Lin et al., 2016a, b, c; Lin and Chiang, 2017). Most studies have explored the technological approach to optimizing streaming network systems or demonstrated the characteristics of streams on popular platforms (Barekatain et al., 2015; Pires and Simon, 2015). On the other hand, several studies have emphasized why audiences continuously watch video games in online live streaming. For instance, the users' motive and attitude of using the online live streaming platform Twitch focus on the continuance intention (Lee et al., 2015; Sjoblom; Hamari, 2017; Hamari and Sjoblom, 2017; Hu et al., 2017; Payne et al., 2017).The \"servicescape\" framework was coined by Bitner (1992) to explain the influence of a service company's physical environment on its customers' and employees' emotions and behaviors. Based on the concept servicescape, some studies have shifted the research focus from a physical servicescape to a virtual one (Mari and Poggesi, 2013). The conceptualization of an e-servicescape was presented by Harris and Goode (2010) as comprising the three dimensions of esthetic appeal, online layout and functionality, and financial security. Empirical evidence to date suggests that e-servicescape helps to explore a broad range of products and product attributes on the Internet. Although prior studies have investigated dimensions of the physical/virtual environment as well as the influence of internal response on external behavior on servicescape and e-servicescape framework, only limited attention has been paid to explore the perception of physical/virtual environment, namely, the perceived servicescape in the servicescape framework. Jeon and Jeong (2009) found that perceived virtual servicescape quality influences the intention to use. Thus, building on the conceptualization of an OLSPS and validating measures through a multi-study approach across different contexts could be helpful to explain online live streaming e-servicescape.This paper is organized as follows. It first conceptualizes the construct of OLSPS based on the literature concerning online live streaming. It then describes the four-phase procedure of the OLSPS scale development, including item generation, item purification, scale validation, measure application and hypothesis testing. Lastly, it presents a discussion of the implications, practice and limitations of the study and proposes suggestions for future research.\n2. Conceptual background: 2.1 Servicescape theory and e-servicescape\n3. Development of the OLSPS scale: This study followed a structured scale development procedure that has been suggested by numerous researchers (Hoehle and Venkatesh, 2015; Karpen et al., 2015; Lin et al., 2016a, b, c; Garg et al., 2017; Neeraj and Purnima, 2019). The procedure comprises four phases, as shown in Figure 2. 3.1 Phase 1: conceptualization and item generation\n4. Research model and hypothesis development for measure application: 4.1 User's OLSPS predicts channel trust and channel commitment\n5. Methodology: 5.1 Sampling and data collection\n6. Results: This study applied partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the collected data. PLS-SEM has been frequently used to test and validate hypothesized relationships for exploratory models at the theoretical level (Karpen et al., 2015; Lin et al., 2016a, b, c) and in the context of live streaming (Sjoblom and Hamari, 2017; Hu et al., 2017). This research approach allows researchers to simultaneously assess the measurement model and structural path coefficients. It is less susceptible to data non-normality and small sample size and is applicable for testing both formative and reflective measurements. It can also handle the contents of complex predictive models (Hair et al., 2013). Based on the above, the evaluation of a conceptual framework using SmartPLS 3.0 analysis contained two steps. The first step included the evaluation of the measurement model, while the second step involved the evaluation of the structural model. In addition, this study computed the t-values using 5,000 bootstrap samples to establish the significance value for each path coefficient. 6.1 Measurement model assessment\n7. Conclusions and implications: This study developed and validated an online live streaming perceived scape conceptualization and survey instrument following four phases of a 12-step procedure. The OLSPS scale consisted of 35 items classified under eight dimensions and was consistent both internally and across the requisite samples in all three studies. The scale also passed several reliability and validity tests.The empirical study validated most of the proposed hypotheses in this study. First, OLSPS was found to be positively associated with CT and COMT and also indirectly affected ST and RB. Second, the current findings enhanced the understanding of the moderating effect of PSIE with users' CT and COMT. PSIE showed a positive moderation on CT. The results of this study are consistent with previous social media studies, which found that parasocial relationships provide an experience of friendship and are influenced by social interactions (Chung and Cho, 2014; Shin and Kim, 2015; Shin, 2016). However, PSIE did not show any moderating effect between OLSPS and COMT. This is possibly because the audiences' trust in livestream broadcasters was stronger than in live streaming platform channels. This is an important issue for live streaming platform service providers since COMT is a precedent for the positive outcome of live streaming programming. These findings implied that online live streaming channel commitment could change when audiences feel an illusion of intimacy with livestream broadcasters rather than live stream platforms. Third, this study compared social platforms and native platforms and confirmed that OLSPS is suitable for verifying different online live streaming platforms. Hence, the present research could enrich the existing literature by the development and validation of the OLSPS scale. The strong empirical investigation also ensured the robustness of the developed scale. Finally, most previous studies adopted Harris and Goode's (2010) proposed dimensions of e-servicescape to assess users' perceived quality in the cognitive, emotional and physiological dimensions, which can be improved with the presence of the physical appearance of a website (Jeon and Jeong, 2009). Online live streaming combines content, community and applications to create more value. This study extended the eight dimensions to measure the overall perceived scape of online live streaming. 7.1 Implications for research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aimed to develop and validate an online live streaming perceived servicescape (OLSPS) scale that can help platform service providers to develop strategies for new live streaming channel promotions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study conceptualized the construct of OLSPS and the four-phase procedure of the 66-item OLSPS scale development, including item generation, item purification, scale validation, measure application and testing of hypotheses. It also provided a research framework to assess audiences' cognition and behavioral intention, and an online survey on 420 live streaming users (social platforms, n = 210; native platforms, n = 210) was conducted.\nFindings: This study developed and validated a 35-item OLSPS scale with eight dimensions. The results of the empirical model showed that OLSPS is positively correlated with the audiences' cognition and behavioral intention. Furthermore, parasocial interaction experience showed a positive moderation on channel trust.\nOriginality/value: This study is a pioneering effort to develop and validate an OLSPS scale. The results could be helpful for researchers in building OLSPS and for managers in assessing and promoting users' acceptance of online live streaming platforms.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of digital technologies on vocational education and training needs: An exploratory study in the German food industry	[ "Qualitative research", "VET", "Digitization", "Dual system", "Machine and plant operator" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and research question: In recent years, digitalization has become a hotly debated topic[1]. While some applaud the opportunities created by advancements in digital technologies, others are worried about the resulting societal changes and impacts on the labor market - sometimes because they simply lack understanding of how digitalization might impact them. Those who have a more positive view toward digitalization stress, for example, its potential for creating new business models (e.g. OECD, 2016) as well as for overcoming discrimination among previously disadvantaged groups in the labor market, such as women and disabled people (e.g. Sorgner and Krieger-Boden, 2017). Critical voices argue that digitalization could make many types of employee redundant, counteracting the achievements of the social market economy (e.g. Jurgens et al., 2017). These fears were triggered not least through a study by Frey and Osborne (2013), who expect a reduction of 47 percent in the US workforce as a result of digitalization. In Europe, this study fueled a heated debate as to how transferable Frey and Osborne's scenario might be to different European countries. In Germany, there appears to be some hope that the existing vocational education system could buffer much of the predicted reduction; the argument made is that occupations tend to be more complex, demanding personal interaction and creativity, which cannot be easily replaced by digital technology (e.g. Pfeiffer and Suphan, 2015). Wolter et al. (2016) expect that while 1.5m jobs might be lost due to digital technologies, a similar number of jobs might be created, mainly within the service sector. A recent study finds that a majority of companies in Germany expect digitalization to have no negative effect on their employment numbers, and 23 percent expect to hire additional staff (DIHK, 2014). However, it appears reasonable to assume that increasing implementation of digital technologies will have more of a negative impact on low-skilled labor than on high-skilled jobs (OECD, 2016). At the same time, the remaining jobs might become more interesting and demand higher qualifications, as they require the capacity to handle a higher level of complexity.\nDigitalization of work: Digital technologies per se are not new to organizations. For at least two decades, companies have faced technological developments that have changed their use of data and information, economic transactions and customer interrelations. What is new is the huge and previously unknown potential of digitalization for many different industries as well as the ease with which companies are able to exchange and interlink information across different units (e.g. Kane et al., 2015). Nonetheless, to date, companies have very different degrees of digital maturity, while some are still in the process of digitizing individual work processes, others have already changed their entire business models (cf. Fitzgerald et al., 2014). The implementation of \"cyber-physical systems\" (CPS) falls into the latter end of the spectrum. CPS refers to the information technology interaction between physical systems with embedded software and global data network systems with distributed, interactive application systems (Hirsch-Kreinsen, 2016, p. 2).\nImpact of digital technologies on education and training needs: According to Windelband (2014), the future of qualified, industrial work is still unclear. On the one hand, simpler qualified work tasks might be replaced by digital technologies. On the other hand, industrial work might also become more highly qualified if more complex or interdisciplinary tasks are added. In a survey conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute, 80 percent of German companies state that they believe that employees within production would need more training to be better qualified for future demands (Spath et al., 2013). Thus, there is a dichotomy between assumed demands on tasks and qualifications between, on the one hand, an upgrade and, on the other hand, a polarization of qualifications (Ittermann et al., 2015).\nThe context: VET in Germany: Germany is the homeland of the so-called \"dual system\" of vocational education and training (VET), which has been copied in different parts of the world (Deissinger, 2004, p. 77). The VET system is often praised as a major reason for the country's high level of innovativeness (e.g. Pfeiffer, 2016). It is an apprenticeship model, in which apprentices attend a 2-3.5 year long education in two different learning sites - split between more theory-oriented periods at a vocational school and more practice-oriented periods at a company where they are employed for the entire period of the apprenticeship. Busemeyer and Trampusch (2012) characterize the dual system as a \"collective skill formation system,\" which emphasizes the strong commitment of the so-called \"four benches\": the federal government, state ministries, employer associations and labor unions. This commitment and common endeavor is regulated by the Common Protocol of Negotiations (\"Gemeinsames Ergebnisprotokoll\") of 1972, forming part of the 1969 Federal Law on VET, which was renewed in 2005 (Weber and Achtenhagen, 2017). According to these regulations, the Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) leads the negotiation processes between the four stakeholders, following a standard for identifying and coping with the new (mainly technological and market driven) needs of an occupation. Employer associations and labor unions play an important role in defining content, standards and requirements for each occupation, which are then formulated in specific educational regulations. The involvement of employer associations as representatives of companies in this process is to ensure that vocational education develops skills and competences that are needed in practice. The role of labor unions as representatives of employees is to ensure the interests of apprentices during their vocational education and regarding their future employability (cf. Deissinger and Gonon, 2016). State involvement secures that all companies follow clearly established rules in offering vocational education, maintaining a certain quality standard across companies and ensuring that competences are taught that are not only relevant for one company but for the industry in general and are recognized in all of Germany. This allows nation-wide mobility between companies for those who have completed their vocational education (cf. Ebner and Uhly, 2016). There are a large variety of vocational occupations - 330 occupations as of 2017 (BIBB, 2017). Recently, the need for reform of the dual system in Germany has been highlighted (e.g. Deissinger and Hellwig, 2005; Baethge and Wolter, 2015) to respond to the trend that young people increasingly want to study at higher education institutions instead of pursuing a vocational apprenticeship (Pfeiffer, 2016).\nMethod: The aim of this study is to explore how increasing levels of digitalization impact the working tasks that are characteristic of an occupation and whether these require new or different competences from employees. Further, we address the question of whether companies employing people within certain occupations perceive that the VET for this occupation needs to be adjusted to match these competence needs.\nFindings and discussion: The studied companies differ in terms of their digital maturity (cf. Fitzgerald et al., 2014), i.e., their current degree of digitalization. All companies make use of programmable logic controlling and have implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, through which applications and data can be compiled in a central data base. However, the scope of tracked information and their linkages to and sharing with other sources of information differ across companies, from coupling individual machines to the ERP system to integrating all parts of the corporate value chain.\nConclusions and outlook: The current hype around digitalization, including Industry 4.0 for manufacturing industries, does not always adequately address the challenges that companies face in their transformation. Instead, our study illustrates that the implementation of digital technologies can take a rather long time to complete, as it is costly to purchase new machines, they take up a great deal of space, and it only makes sense for a company if other companies in the same niche are moving in that direction.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Currently, the hype surrounding digitalization proclaims that the way in which companies create and capture value will change dramatically. Companies that adjust their business models to embrace digital technologies will need different skill sets and competences. Current research tends to focus on the impact of digital technologies on corporations or more generally the labor market, but the authors lack detailed insights into how companies perceive this development to influence their needs regarding employee qualifications. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how companies perceive the impact of digital technologies on the education and training needs of current and future employees.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study draws on eight case studies from the food industry. It focuses on one occupation certified within the German \"dual system\" of vocational education and training (VET), the machine and plant operator with focus on food technology.\nFindings: The findings suggest that the impact of different digital technologies on employees' job positions, working tasks and training needs is carefully considered in decisions regarding the implementation of digital technologies. Despite some company-specific contingencies, the perceived implications for VET needs are largely similar across the sample.\nOriginality/value: This study draws attention to the importance of reviewing VET needs in relation to the decision of implementing digital technologies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Efficiency and productivity of hospitals in Vietnam	[ "Process efficiency", "Productivity rate", "Hospitals", "Data analysis", "Indexing", "Vietnam" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Efficiency improvement in the provision of health care has been a major issue facing the health system in Vietnam. The demand for health care is large and increasing over time due to a growing and an ageing population. However, resources for health care provision are limited and the government has inadequate resources to finance the rising demand for increased and better quality services. The constrained ability to adequately meet health care needs was exacerbated as the economy was transformed from a centrally planned one to a market-based one in the end of 1980s. This has led to deficiencies and inefficiencies in the health system, especially within hospitals. Therefore, since the 1990s a series of structural and institutional reforms has been being introduced, whose main objectives were to meet the increasing demand of health services and boost the efficiency and productivity of the health system in general, and hospitals in particular.Despite the extensive body of literature dealing with the efficiency and productivity of service provision in health care, few empirical analysis in developing countries during the reform process exist. A number of recent surveys of Hollingsworth et al. (1999), Hollingsworth (2003), and Worthington (2004) have provided an overview of efficiency literature in hospitals. Most of the studies identified in these review papers are on the efficiency and productivity of developed countries, for example, out of 188 studies reviewed in Hollingsworth (2003), only one study of Zere et al. (2001) investigated the efficiency and productivity of hospitals in a developing country, South Africa. However, recently, there are also some more studies on hospital efficiency and productivity of developing countries such as Osei et al. (2005) on Ghana's hospitals, and Pilyavsky and Staat (2008) on Ukraine's hospitals.Inspired from an empirical literature, which has investigated the efficiency and productivity of hospitals under the structural change circumstances, it is important to analyse whether the Vietnamese hospital sector is able to keep up its productivity by adapting to these changes. The study, therefore, aims to measure the relative efficiency and changes in productivity of hospitals during the health reform process from 1998 to 2006, and then highlight possible policy implications of the results for policy makers.This paper is organised as follows. Section 2 gives a brief overview of the healthcare system in Vietnam. Section 3 reviews the existing literature on hospital efficiency and productivity. Section 4 presents the selection of the estimation techniques used and the data set. Section 5 details the analysis and the efficiency and productivity results, which are then summarised in the conclusions in section 6.\n2. The system of healthcare in Vietnam: Before the reform initiatives in the 1990s, the Vietnamese health system could be considered a universal health system, where the government was responsible for the provision of health services to all of the population and entirely financed health care programmes and the operations of health facilities (Bloom, 1997). All health facilities, especially hospitals, were state-owned, entirely funded by the government, and provided free medical services to the entire population. These public hospitals also had to follow state-led targets, which focused on the volume of health services delivered. Meanwhile, private health care facilities did not officially exist. Accordingly, the health system was characterised by the shortage of health service provision, under-funding and inefficiency (Chen and Hiebert, 1994; Hoi et al., 2000). Since the 1990s, therefore, a series of structural and institutional reforms has been introduced across different sections of the healthcare system in order to meet the increasing demand for health services and to boost its efficiency and productivity.Following these structural change programmes, the health system has basically changed from a state-led system providing free-of-charge health care into a mixed, fee-for-service based care system. The health reform programmes have called for, for example, liberalisation of the pharmaceutical industry, legalisation of the private provision of health services, and the deregulation of the retail trade in drugs and medicines. The most important change of the health care reform programmes has been the restructuring of the public hospital sector. In particular, the restructuring programme in the hospital sector has emphasised financial and managerial regulatory changes via the introduction of user fees, the implementation of health insurance schemes, and the granting of autonomy for public hospitals (Sepehri et al., 2005; World Bank, 2005; Sepehri et al., 2003; Ladinsky et al., 2000).Health care services are now carried out by both private and public health providers in the Vietnamese healthcare system. The public health providers include health care centres and public hospitals. The private health providers consist of private clinics and private hospitals. Among these public and private health care providers, hospitals play important roles in the health system, especially in the improvement of the overall health of the public. There are 1,053 hospitals with 143,999 beds activate in the healthcare system, including 1,002 public hospitals and 51 private hospitals. The public hospitals are vertically divided into first three tiers of national administrative structure: central, provincial, district. These hospitals are closely related to each other, with the central and provincial hospitals assisting the district ones in terms of providing professional medical operations and techniques. The private hospitals mainly provide health services on demand of middle- and high-income people.Vietnam has been spending a significant proportion of its wealth on health, approximately 5.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) per year. Currently, the health care finance comes from two sources, public and private ones. The former source consists of revenue from direct and indirect taxes and the latter source consists of direct payments from patients and health insurance schemes. Of these two sources, health care expenditure has been increasingly financed by the private sources. During the period 1990-2005, the total private spending on health has increased 2.7 times in nominal terms, from US$ 0.76 billion to 2.06 billion. This means that the private percentage of health expenditure has risen from 67.3 per cent of total health expenditure in 1998 to 77.4 per cent in 2005. Meanwhile, the role of the government in financing the health sector has gradually decreased, from 32.7 per cent of total health expenditure to 22.6 per cent, respectively.Most of the public funds and a large part of the private funds are spent on public health facilities, in which public hospitals consume approximately 40 per cent of the total health expenditure. The structure of financial sources for public hospitals, as presented in Figure 1, therefore, can partly illustrate both the public and private expenditure on health. It can be observed in the figure that public hospitals have four financial sources: the state budget, reimbursement from health insurance; direct patient payments (user fees), and domestic or foreign aid. The figure also shows that the government budget is still an important financial source for public hospitals during 1994-2006. However, the proportion provided by the government budget in terms of the total financial sources of public hospitals has considerably declined from 68.4 per cent in 1994 to 32 per cent in 2006. The most important financial source - although only by a small margin - is now direct patient payments. The percentage of user fees in financing hospitals has increased over time, from 23.2 per cent of total revenues of public hospitals in 1994 to 33 per cent in 2006. The percentage of revenue coming from health insurance reimbursement has also gradually increased from 7.2 per cent to 28 per cent, respectively.Among the health service providers in the Vietnamese health system, public hospitals play the most crucial role, and their performance has a significant effect on the well-being of the Vietnamese people. Therefore, there is a need for empirical analysis measuring hospital efficiency and productivity under the ongoing structural change circumstance. This is the focus of this paper.\n3. Hospital efficiency: literature review: There has been an extensive body of literature examining the performance of the health care sector. Studies, which focus on efficiency and productivity using frontier techniques, have been undertaken in all areas of the health sector: from primary care to secondary care, tertiary care to nursing home care, as well as from the overall health system to health care providers, administration bodies, and subgroups in health care providers such as departments and professionals. Of the empirical studies on efficiency in the health care sector, many have investigated the efficiency and productivity of hospitals under the health reform process. These empirical studies focused on the efficiency and productivity of hospitals in Turkey, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, and Ukraine among others.In Turkey, two studies were conducted to examine the technical efficiencies of hospitals: one analysed the acute general hospitals (Ersoy et al., 1997) and the other considered the Ministry of Health public hospitals (Sahin and Ozcan, 2000). Ersoy et al. (1997) used the DEA method to examine technical efficiency and found that over 90 percent of Turkish acute general hospitals were inefficient. They indicated that the inefficient hospitals used far more inputs and produced fewer outputs than their efficient counterparts. To be specific, the inefficient hospitals, on average, utilised 32 per cent more specialists, 47 per cent more primary care physicians, and had 119 per cent more staffed bed capacity, whilst producing 13 per cent less outpatient visits, 16 per cent less inpatient hospitalisation, and 57 per cent less surgical operations than the efficient ones. The findings of Sahin and Ozcan (2000) were found to be in agreement with the results obtained in Ersoy et al. (1997). According to Sahin and Ozcan (2000), more than half of public hospitals (55 per cent) were inefficient. The inefficient hospitals could save over 600 million dollars over five years if they reduced the number of unused beds, the excessive number of specialist and other health labour, and the overspent revolving funds.In South Africa, Zere et al. (2001) measured the technical efficiency and productivity of 86 hospitals using the DEA model, and subsequently examined the impact of some hospital characteristics on hospital efficiency and productivity using the Tobit and OLS regression models. The authors found that a large number of hospitals (87 per cent) were inefficient, in which the level of pure technical efficiency was the same whilst the degree of scale efficiency was different across size-groups of hospitals. The decline of hospital productivity over the period studied was explained by technical regression. Furthermore, it was shown that occupancy levels and the number of outpatient visits as a proportion of inpatient days were significantly positively significantly related to efficiency.In Kenya, Kirigia et al. (2002) used two basic DEA models, constant returns to scale and variable returns to scale, to examine the technical efficiency of 54 public district hospitals in the financial year 1998/1999. Due to a plenitude of information from the database of the Ministry of Health, 12 input and eight output measures were employed. The results showed that 74 per cent of the total public hospitals were technically efficient and 70.5 per cent achieved scale efficiency.The relative technical efficiency and scale efficiency of public hospitals and health centres in Ghana was evaluated by Osei et al. (2005). In the study, the sample of 21 public hospitals and 17 health centres was chosen by the simple random sampling technique. Of the total number of hospitals and health centres investigated, 47 per cent of hospitals and 70 per cent of health centres were found to be technically inefficient and the number of scale inefficient hospitals and health centres accounted for 59 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively. The findings indicated that the hospitals could improve their efficiency by reducing their current number of medical officers/dentists, technical staff, subordinate staff and beds, or increasing numbers of maternal and child care visits, deliveries and discharges. Health centres could become more efficient by increasing maternal and child health visits, deliveries, fully-immunised children, and outpatient curative visits.In Namibia, Zere et al. (2006) investigated the technical efficiency of Namibian hospitals based on a sample of 26 district hospitals during the period 1997-2001. The input-oriented DEA model was employed and the robustness of the DEA technical efficiency scores was tested. The authors reported that more than half of the district hospitals were inefficient and the inefficiency was due to both pure technical inefficiency and scale inefficiency. It was also indicated that the prevalent inefficiency was due to the increasing returns to scale. It would be possible for the hospitals to become efficient by reducing their excess inputs used by 26-37 per cent or by merging some small hospitals after expanding the primary care units.In Ukraine, Pilyavsky and Staat (2008) conducted a study to investigate technical efficiency and efficiency changes of hospitals and polyclinics. The DEA and Malmquist productivity index methods were employed upon the data set for the five-year period 1997-2001. It was found that most hospitals analyzed were efficient; however, a large number of polyclinics were inefficient. Furthermore, the findings revealed that productivity does not almost change over the period under consideration.As mentioned in the introduction, although there are some studies on efficiency and productivity of hospitals under the reform process, there is no research regarding to productivity of hospital sector in Vietnam. This paper, therefore, uses a complete time-series to examine the changes in efficiency and productivity of public hospitals.\n4. Estimation techniques and data set: Estimation techniques\n5. Results: Efficiency results\n6. Conclusions: This study is an attempt to provide an empirical picture of the efficiency and productivity of Vietnamese hospitals during the period of reform process. The findings showed that there are a considerable room for the efficiency improvement in the Vietnamese public hospitals as the average overall and pure technical efficiencies were 66.4 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively. These results, to some extent, are similar to those found in some studies on hospital efficiency in other developing countries such as the Ukraine and Namibia. These results could be attributed for the impact of the structural changes in the public hospital sector since the 1990s. It also showed that the efficiency of hospitals have improved over the sample period. The provincial hospitals were found to outperform their central counterparts and hospitals located in different regions were also found to perform differently. Furthermore, the results of the Malmquist productivity indices showed that the total factor productivity progressed over the sampled period of 1.4 per cent per annual. This progress of average productivity was mainly due to the technical efficiency improvement of 2.2 per cent per year and the worsening of technological change of 0.8 per cent per year.The most striking results of this study of the efficiency and productivity in Vietnamese public hospitals suggest that the structural regulatory changes in the public hospital sector during the health reform process may have affected the technical efficiency and productivity of the public hospitals. However, the findings also implied that these regulatory changes might not have created any improvement in technology. This may be due to some constraints such as the lack of financial resources for new technologies, the limited ability of staff in acknowledging and applying new medical techniques, and the insufficient attention of hospital managers to technological development in public hospitals. In order to improve the performance of public hospitals, the regulators in the health sector may need to provide policies to solve these constraints.Overall, this paper provides an insight of the performance of public hospitals during the reform process, which can then assist policy makers in choosing the best regulatory framework for the ongoing health sector reform process. This analysis also shows that not only reform programmes but also hospital operating characteristics such as location and hospital types can affect the performance of hospitals.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative efficiency and productivity of hospitals during the health reform process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data envelopment analyses method (DEA) with the input-oriented variable-returns-to-scale model was used to calculate efficiency scores. Malmquist total factor productivity index approach was then employed to calculate productivity of hospitals. Data of 101 hospitals was extracted from databases of the Ministry of Health, Vietnam from the years 1998 to 2006.\nFindings: - There was evidence of improvement in overall technical efficiency from 65 per cent in 1998 to 76 per cent in 2006. Hospitals' productivity progressed around 1.4 per cent per year, which was mainly due to the technical efficiency improvement. Furthermore, provincial hospitals were more technically efficient than their central counterparts and hospitals located in different regions performed differently.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides an insight in the performance of Vietnamese public hospitals that has been rarely examined before and contributes to the existing literature of hospital performance in developing countries\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Responses to other similar customers in a service setting - analyzing the moderating role of perceived performance risk	[ "Perceived risk", "Customer-to-customer-relationship", "Mere presence", "Similarity effect" ]	[ { "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.\n1. Introduction: Similarity effects within a service context have been found to have an important influence on customers' attitudes and actions. But until now they only have been studied in respect of the relationship between salesperson and customer (Woodside and Davenport, 1974; Jiang et al., 2010). But, as Baker (1987) points out, the social factor within a service setting contains customers and employees, and the customer's experience is influenced by the contact not only with personnel but also with other customers (Bateson, 1985). Other customers influence individuals not only by their interaction with each other but also through their mere presence. Researchers have shown that the mere presence of strange others affects the customer's emotions (Argo et al., 2005), as well as the evaluation of and attitude to a retailer (Soderlund, 2011), together with the service quality perceptions (Brocato et al., 2012).\n2. Conceptual framework and development of hypotheses: 2.1 Similarity in a customer-to-customer-relationship\n3. Method: 3.1 Design, procedure and participants\n4. Analysis and results: 4.1 Manipulation check\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Summary of main results\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the effect of similarity in a customer-to-customer-relationship and of perceived performance risk as a boundary condition in a service setting.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following theoretical methodology, hypotheses were developed in order to analyze the effect of similarity as well as perceived performance risk. An experimental scenario-based design was used to manipulate similarity and performance risk and to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: The analysis reveals that similarity is an important dimension in the customer-to-customer-relationship. Positive similarity effects are shown in relation to subjects' willingness to interact with present customers, joining and recommending a service provider, and subjects' evaluation of the service provider. A mediating effect of positive emotions (joy and interest) on the link between similarity and willingness to interact with customers present is shown. Performance risk is also discovered as a boundary condition under which the predicted relationships are weakened.\nPractical implications: This study suggests that similarity in the customer-to-customer-relationship leads to positive effects. If managers take this into account, their business may benefit from these positive effects. The study offers suggestions on how to \"manage\" customers' similarity.\nOriginality/value: As this study is one of the first empirical studies to concentrate on the effect of similarity in a customer-to-customer-relationship, it is meaningful. Moreover significant effects are shown; further research ideas are developed and management implications are proposed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.