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Critical success factors, challenges and obstacles in talent management	[ "Critical success factors", "Talent management", "Barriers and challenges" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Global changes and transformations have caused a lot of complications and movements in business areas, so organizations should recognize their core competencies and develop management systems to create utility, and to maintain economic value and gain sustainable competitive advantage. Intensive competition has made it difficult to keep the competitive advantage for a long time. On the other hand, the short life cycle of new products and models of business requires continuous innovations. In addition, changing problem-oriented approach into vision-oriented approach involves recognition of talents and capabilities and its application. For example, when due to some reasons like retirement or resignation an organizational post is left unoccupied, the senior managers find that there are few people fitting for that vacancy within their organization, and they are not completely qualified for that job. Thus, they often have to outsource their needs, instead of inside promotion; this not only imposes much time and cost on the organization, but also there is a risk of not adapting to organizational culture. In this research, the literature of talent management is studied, and success factors, barriers and challenges of talent management implementation are identified. In recent years, human resource development issue has been addressed in many Iranian firms and numerous organizations have conducted studies on talent management and succession planning; however, they have not been able to implement it completely. The aim of this study is to identify the problems of talent management in automotive companies. The main research questions are:\nLiterature review: Michaels et al. (2001) believe that talent is a code or a word for effective leaders and managers that can help an organization to reach its goals. Managerial talent is a combination of a sharp strategic mind, leadership ability, emotional maturity, communicative skills, and the ability to attract and inspire other talented people, entrepreneurial instincts, functional skills, and the ability to deliver results (Michaels et al., 2001). According to Williams (2000), talented people are those who have exceptional abilities and they are successful in a range of activities or in a specific field. The literature review shows that there are a variety of definitions about talent management. From Schweyer's view, talent management includes all the processes of human resource activities, and usually refers to the sourcing, selection, deployment, socialization, maintenance and development of talented staff. It has a cycle that includes three main fields: talent identification and absorption, talents maintenance and talents development (Schweyer, 2004). Strategic talent management is a process that includes systematic identification of key positions which differently contribute to the organization's sustainable competitive advantage. Development of a talent pool of high potential and efficient incumbents to fill these roles, and development of a differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents to ensure their commitment to the organization (Collings and Mellahi, 2009).\nResearch methodology: This research was a kind of qualitative study which was done by coding methodology of qualitative data. In accordance with the methodology and the purpose of the research, semi-structured interviews with experts and informed specialists have been done. Therefore, qualitative data were collected, studied and sorted according to the coding approach and content analysis. The research population includes managers, specialists and experts from the human resource area that are fully familiar with the talent management in automotive industry. The number of interviewees was selected by theoretical saturation method. The sample of this study consisted of 15 interviewees, out of which ten were human resource managers. We studied their perspective to introduce the main talent management's barriers, challenges and success factors. Through the analysis and conclusion of data, concepts and categories were defined and categorized into structural, environmental, behavioral and managerial challenges and barriers. Finally, the conceptual model of talent management including barriers and challenges and success factors were compiled.\nResearch findings: After analyzing and coding of qualitative data, we identified the most important barriers and challenges of talent management in automotive industry and categorized into structural, environmental, behavioral and managerial challenges and barriers. The structural challenges and barriers include all elements, factors and physical conditions in an organization. These interdependent factors can be categorized as \"hard\" organizational elements. Therefore, when all tangible and information sources are leveraged across the organization, they will be considered as structural components which are nonliving organizational factors. The environmental challenges are related to the external forces that exist outside an organization which surround it. They are largely beyond the management's control, but influence organizational performance, and the organizational development depends on them. The behavioral challenges and barriers of human relations in organizations include unofficial relationship that constitutes the main content of organization. These factors are categorized as \"soft\" organizational elements which are less tangible organizational factors. The managerial challenges and barriers can be considered as a subset of behavioral challenges, but since managers' attitude and participation has a decisive role in implementing talent management, this category is considered separately. As mentioned in the results the most important barriers and challenges of talent management are divided into four categories such as structural, environmental, behavioral and managerial factors. Several factors have been identified for each barrier and challenge categories shown in Table I.\nConclusion: The literature review shows that managers and human resource experts define human talent in relation to current and future organizational strategic goals and programs. For instance, when an organization selects diverse and innovative strategy, human talent refers to those who have prominent actual or potential capabilities in creativity and innovation. According to organizational evidence, documents and results gained from interviews, Iranian automotive companies use competency model to indicate talented people who have better performance. Competency is defined as a combination of knowledge, personal attributes, interests, experiences and capabilities related to the job which enables their owners to play a role above the average level. The literature review and definitions presented by interviewees showed different definitions of talent management. Talent management ensures managers that competent people with right skills located suitable vacancies to reach desired business objectives. In fact, talent management includes a complete set of processes in order to identify, employ and manage individuals to implement business strategy successfully. These processes are categorized into talent acquisition, talent development and talent retention.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the obstacles and challenges of talent management as well as its success factors in Iranian automotive industries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research is a kind of discoverer research done by qualitative approach. The methodology to data collection was interview and research sample was 15 manager in automotive industries. Data analysis was carried out by the coding method, and concepts, minor and major contexts were extracted and lastly the conceptual framework was formed.\nFindings: Based on the findings of the research, framework of obstacles and challenges in talent management was classified into four categories that are structural challenges and barriers, environmental challenges and barriers, behavioral challenges and barriers and lastly managerial challenges and barriers. In addition, the framework of talent management success factors were categorized into three main sections that are structural success factors, environmental success factors and finally managerial success factors.\nOriginality/value: Problem finding of talent management in automotive industry and identifying obstacles, challenges and success factors in talent management with qualitative approach through interviews with experts from the Iranian industries is the research value.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Detangling consumer attitudes to better explain co-branding success	[ "Cognition", "Affect", "Co-branding", "Brand fit", "ABC model of attitude", "Product fit" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Although many co-branding products are available in the market, this study examines the specific category of co-branded products arising from the alliance between high-tech products and luxury brands, which we refer to as \"high-tech luxury co-branded products\" (HLCPs). Some examples of HLCPs are Samsung Armani cell phone, LG Prada cell phone, Asus Lamborghini laptop and Segway Chanel personal transporter, among others. Co-branded products are increasingly being introduced into the market. The success of these initiatives is indirectly demonstrated by the release of new versions of the same HLCPs. For example, the first LG Prada cell phone was launched in 2006, and in 2012, LG released the newest generation, LG Prada 3.0. Thus, HLCPs seem to attract consumers' attention and favor.\n2. Literature review and hypotheses: Co-branding is one of the possible forms of a brand alliance strategy (Simonin and Ruth, 1998; Rao et al., 1999; Geylani et al., 2008; Cunha et al., 2015), or a specific arrangement within brand extension possibilities (Washburn et al., 2000). Geylani et al. (2008) define co-branding as a combination of two existing brand names to form a separate and single product with a composite brand name.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Data collection process and measures\n4. Analysis of results: 4.1 Measurement model\n5. Conclusions: 5.1 Discussion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine consumer attitude toward a new type of co-branded products, which encompass attributes of high-technology and luxury. The authors named these kinds of co-branded products as \"high-tech luxury co-branded products\" (HLCPs). Current theoretical approaches used to study co-branding strategies cannot completely explain consumer attitude toward HLCPs. In this study, the authors apply the ABC (affect-behavior-cognition) model of attitudes (as opposed to attitude as a whole) to explore how affect and cognition drive consumer behavior toward HLCPs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were used and the respondents totaled 483 in period 1 and 331 in period 2. Respondents were collected using convenience sampling technique in one university in Spain and analyzed using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The authors finding revealed that consumers use both affect and cognition simultaneously when forming an attitude toward HLCPs. Also, consumers' perception of product fit represents a more relevant driver of consumer behavior with respect to brand fit. Appropriate theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these results.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the understanding of consumers' preferences toward high-tech luxury co-branded products.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of working capital behavior: evidence from Egypt	[ "Egypt", "Panel data", "GMM", "Working capital management", "Cash conversion cycle" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Firms have focused greatly on investment and credit policies due to the 2008 global financial crisis and the consequences of the economic recession that followed it. Reports have indicated that two years after the crisis, US firms were keeping about $2 trillion in the form of cash holdings. This amount represents a 40 percent increase in cash balances compared to revenues reported two years prior to the crisis. This rapid growth in cash holdings during the period from 2008 to 2010 implies that US financial managers were seeking to shrink costs and liberate cash tied in operations (American Productivity and Quality Center, 2011). This desire could only be realized through efficient management of working capital and its various components. Practically speaking, financial managers dedicate about 60 percent of their time to working capital management (WCM), which reflects the importance of WCM for maximizing shareholders' wealth and firm survival (Deloof, 2003; Gitman and Maxwell, 1985).\n2. Literature review: The literature on WCM determinants can be classified into two broad categories (see Table I). Studies in the first category have measured working capital through either or both NLB and WCR[1]. In this context, Chiou et al. (2006) explored the determinants of WCM in Taiwanese firms. Their results showed that NLB and WCR are affected by only firm-level factors, with no direct impact of business cycle and recession on working capital behavior. However, Narender et al. (2008) found that the business cycle has a significant negative impact on NLB and WCR. Moreover, Ali (2013) and Ali and Khan (2011) showed that the factors affecting NLB and WCR behavior vary across industrial sectors.\n3. Hypotheses development: 3.1 Operating cash flow\n4. Data and methodology: 4.1 Data and sample\n5. Empirical results: 5.1 Descriptive and correlation statistics\n6. Conclusion: WCM holds a vital role in determining firm value, risk and performance because the efficient management of working capital and its components is one of the main building blocks for organizations' strategies in maximizing shareholders' wealth and sustainability (Deloof, 2003). Hence, the success of firms largely depends on the ability of financial managers to attain optimal levels of working capital that fulfill the desired balance between liquidity and profitability. Prior studies explored the impact of different internal and external factors on the efficiency of WCM. Firm-level factors such as firm characteristics, governance mechanisms and ownership structure showed a significant influence on working capital behavior, whereas industry-level factors such as industry practices, level of competition and industry concentration reflected significant differences in WCM across industries. Macroeconomic factors also have a direct impact on working capital levels because these levels vary according to the dynamic movement of the overall economic cycle.\n7. Limitations and future research: This study was limited to the panel data analysis of 68 industrial firms listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange for the period 2000-2010. The study sample (Table II) represents about 72 percent of all industrial listed firms in Egypt, and this can ensure a reasonable generalizability of the results. However, the current study did not take into account the determinant of working capital behavior in nonindustrial corporations. Hence, we recommend that future studies expand the sample by adding firms operating in the service sector to explain how the determinants of WCM might vary across sectors.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze and identify key factors affecting working capital behavior of companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Working capital requirement and cash conversion cycle were used to proxy working capital behavior. The study explored nine main factors widely discussed in previous research to explain working capital behavior: operating cash flow, growth opportunities, performance, firm value, age, size, leverage, economic conditions and industry type. The study employed a panel data analysis for 68 listed Egyptian industrial firms for the period 2000-2010. Different techniques of the generalized method of moments were used to test the validity of the research hypotheses.\nFindings: The results show that working capital behavior is affected by various factors related to firm characteristics, economic conditions and industry type.\nOriginality/value: This study provides financial managers with a better understanding of the impact of different internal and macroeconomic factors on working capital behavior in an emerging market, such as Egypt's.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transaction costs incurred by construction owners	[ "Transaction costs", "Contracts", "Project delivery systems", "Procurement methods", "Construction owners" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A transaction occurs when a good or service is transferred across a technologically separable interface (Williamson, 1985). In addition to the cost of production, there are also transaction costs to be considered (Winch, 1989). While production costs are the costs of transforming inputs into outputs, transaction costs arise from economic exchange. The costs incurred by activities such as preparing a bid document, estimating, drawing up a contract, administering the contract, and dealing with any deviations from contract conditions are also important. These costs are known as transaction costs in the study of economic organizations (Coase, 1937). However, it is not clear whether transaction costs can be reduced, mainly because they are not defined systematically (Li et al., 2013). Also, it is not clear whether transaction costs are higher at the pre- or post-contract phases of a construction project, in private or public projects, in different project delivery systems, and different types of contracts. Clarity has to be brought to these issues.\nResearch methodology: According to transaction cost economics, it is the inter-relationship between human and environmental factors that should ideally determine the eventual nature and governance structure of the transaction (Greenwood and Yates, 2007). Human factors involve organizations, relationships, roles, responsibilities, and the expectations of the owner and contractor. Environmental factors involve the manner in which the contract and construction are carried out. In other words, the characteristics of the transaction environment and of the efficiency of project management have significant impact on transaction costs (Li et al., 2013).\nAnalysis of the survey data: Characteristics of the respondents and projects\nConclusion: The construction project is performed in a complex and high risk environment. In such an environment, questionable decisions can be made in the planning and design phase, and disagreements, conflicts, disputes, change orders, and claims can occur in the construction phase. These problems contribute to an increase in transaction costs. But the inconsistency in defining \"transaction costs\" results in inconsistency in the collection of data, and makes the analysis and interpretation of the data difficult (Farajian, 2010). In addition, there are many problems in terms of accessing data on transaction costs due to the limitations of the current accounting systems used in the construction industry. Furthermore the concept of transaction cost is not universally accepted by all participants in the construction industry. There have been only a few studies attempting to quantify transaction costs in online buying behavior (Teo and Yu, 2005), and supply chain management (Grover and Malhotra, 2003). As to empirical research related to construction project transaction costs, only a few studies can be referenced such as the ones by Dudkin and Valila (2005), Solino and Gago de Santos (2009), Farajian (2010), and Li et al. (2013). In this study, a questionnaire survey was administered to construction owners to seek their opinions about transaction costs and factors that affect transaction costs. Transaction costs were classified into pre-contract and post-contract transaction costs and the findings were discussed relative to the owner's and contractor's positions relative to transaction costs, project management efficiency, and the transaction environment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Transaction costs arise from economic exchange rather than production activities. However, the term \"transaction cost\" is not consistently defined in the construction industry because the concept of transaction cost is not universally accepted by all stakeholders in construction projects. As a result, empirical studies are few and conflicting because accessing data on transaction costs is problematic, and the interpretation of the data is difficult. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the transaction costs borne by the owner in a construction project from the perspective of transaction cost economics and construction project characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was administered to construction owners. The factors that impact transaction costs were analyzed in the context of human-related issues (the owner's and the contractor's positions in the transaction), and environment-related issues (the transaction environment, and project management efficiency). Statistical analyses were conducted to compare the transaction costs incurred in the pre- vs post-contract phases of a project relative to the private vs public sector, different project delivery systems, different procurement methods, and different types of contracts.\nFindings: The owners surveyed believe that transaction costs may be reduced if the owner and the contractor follow some basic guidelines (e.g. experience in similar projects, prompt payment, good relationship with project participants, no irregularities in bidding, and only few material substitutions and claims), if the project is well-run (e.g. technical competency, strong leadership, prompt decision-making, effective communication, and fair/speedy conflict management), and if the transaction environment is favorable (e.g. fair risk allocation, early contractor involvement, and complete design documents). The findings of the survey also indicate that post-contract transaction costs are much higher than pre-contract transaction costs expressed as percent of project value and that transaction costs are affected by the owner (public vs private), the procurement method, the project delivery system, and the type of contract.\nOriginality/value: The primary contribution that this research makes to the body of knowledge is a better understanding of transaction costs incurred by construction owners in the USA. The highest transaction costs are to be expected in the post-contract phase of public projects awarded on a unit price basis, but can be reduced, hence reducing overall project cost.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Strengthening access to finance for women-owned SMEs in developing countries	[ "Gender", "Entrepreneurs", "Finance", "Developing countries", "Women-owned SMEs" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nRationale: The rationale for highlighting the issue on the access to finance of women entrepreneurs (WE) is that while there are about 8-10 million formal women-owned small-, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)[1] in emerging markets (representing 31-38 per cent of all SMEs in emerging markets), the average growth rate of women's enterprises is significantly lower than the average growth rate for SMEs run by men (Bardasi et al., 2011; Nichter and Goldmark, 2009; Mead and Carl, 1998). Access to finance is repeatedly identified as a major constraint to WE (Bardasi et al., 2011; Blanchard et al., 2005), and, therefore, the issues involved in improving access to finance for women-owned businesses is the central issue highlighted in this paper. It also aims to identify scalable financing models that can be replicated in emerging countries looking to increase the opportunities of women-owned businesses as those nations further develop their private sector.\nWhy WE matter: WE make significant contributions to their economies. In developed and developing economies, women are starting businesses at a faster rate than their male counterparts and are making significant contributions to job creation and economic growth. It is estimated that there are about 8-10 million formal SMEs with at least one woman owner in developing countries (International Finance Corporation (IFC), 2011). Although these numbers are impressive, WE are constrained by barriers such as limited access to finance, which impedes both growth and development. In addition, women tend to face issues of rights and voice. Such barriers create distortion and often result in a situation where women's economic activities are under-resourced and undercapitalised, thereby reducing the overall aggregate output and inhibiting economic growth. Understanding the barriers women's businesses face and providing solutions to address them is necessary for countries to further leverage the economic power of women in order to promote growth and the attainment of development goals.\nImportance of WE access to finance: Access to and cost of finance is often ranked as one of the most constraining features of the business environment by SMEs (Beck, 2007). Several recent studies find evidence that minority- and women-owned businesses face discrimination in loan approval and interest rates (Asiedu et al., 2012; Blanchard et al., 2008; Blanchflower et al., 2003). It is also suggested that women are being asked for more collateral than men for loans, being charged higher interest rates, and being refused loans more frequently than men (Hertz, 2011).\nFinancial barriers to the access of WE to finance: The businesses of WE appear restricted in their growth paths. Among the characteristics of WE and their enterprises are:\nThe way forward through innovative approaches: Too often, financial institutions in less developed and less competitive markets do not know enough about the market opportunities that low-income clients and WE could present to them. The following highlights successful ways of targeting WE and the potential markets they represent. Examples include:\nSuggested actions and policy recommendations: To ensure that the access of WE to finance is given due attention within the broader SME financial agenda, a threefold action plan is set out:\nConcluding remarks: The study reveals that funds are not easily available to WE. This is in line with many studies of WE in developed and developing nations (e.g. Coleman, 2002; Carter et al., 2006; Roomi and Parrott, 2008; Ahmad, 2011). Financial institutions should not discriminate against women business owners solely because they are women. Specific requirements for eligibility and procedure for application and approval of financial assistance need to be reengineered to encourage and promote the development of the businesses of WE. There is a major need for structural reform to create a situation where flexibility exists. The issue can be reduced by establishing good rapport and proper coordination among WE and financial institutions. This indicates that the role of interpersonal behaviour could be significant in dealing with such issues. Building an environment of business and personal networks, awareness, and trust is necessary to make progress in this regard.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight key trends, challenges, and opportunities for advancing women's entrepreneurship and increasing their access to finance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Due to their high-growth potential, women-owned SMEs in developing countries are of particular interest. The International Financial Corporation and McKinsey built a detailed database for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. The data derived from the readily available global data sets provide coverage of a large number of countries and national statistics.\nFindings: Since financing is an important means by which to pursue growth opportunities, addressing the specific needs of women entrepreneurs (WE) in accessing finance must be part of the development agenda.\nPractical implications: This paper offers valuable practical insights to policy makers to establish a supportive, enabling environment that will facilitate access to financial services for WE in their respective countries; lead efforts to identify, evaluate, and support the replication of successful models for expanding financial services to WE; and lead efforts to gather gender-disaggregated data on small-, and medium-sized enterprise finance in a coordinated fashion.\nOriginality/value: The value of this paper is that it offers insightful information about key trends, challenges, and opportunities for advancing women's entrepreneurship and increasing their access to finance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Preferences for working hours over life course among Japanese manufacturing workers	[ "Japan", "Job satisfaction", "Automotive industry", "Working patterns" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In this study I investigate the pattern of time allocation to work and private life that Japanese workers consider ideal in different stages of life. Specifically, I will address the following three questions:1. Do contemporary Japanese workers prefer to spend more time at home than at work? If given a choice, what kind of balance would they prefer to strike between work, family, and leisure?2. Does the pattern of ideal time allocation for Japanese vary depending on the stage in their life?3. If a balance between work and life is becoming important for Japanese, to what extent are they willing to reduce the time they spend in paid employment?Recent studies show that an increasing number of Japanese men and women feel it is important to strike a balance between work, family and leisure. It seems that the long-standing assumption that work and private life are distinct domains is now being challenged, as these competing forces disrupt the legitimacy of what was perceived to be the \"normal\" way of doing things. However, two questions still remain: to what extent do Japanese prefer to reduce the time they allocate to work, and spend more time for family and leisure? How do Japanese want to integrate work and life over life course? These are simple but important questions that deserve close scrutiny to understand whether a career perspective over life course is changing in today's Japan.\nBackgrounds: Time and work\nMethod: Data\nResults: Ideal time allocation to work throughout life course\nSummary and conclusion: I started this study by asking whether Japanese workers prefer to reduce the time they allocate to work, and spend more time for family and leisure. An analysis of data collected among automotive manufacturing workers in Japan show that the majority of workers, regardless of their age and job type, perceive it is ideal that they proportionately allocate their time to work and non-work domains of life. Yet, many of the respondents still espouse the traditional male model of occupational career, in which the same proportion of time is constantly allocated to paid work across all stages of life. Findings indicate that Japanese workers, in general, feel it is important that they strike a balance between employment and their life outside of it. But at the same time they show a strong preference for \"constant working\" without making major career disruptions between ages 20 and 60. Then at age 60 after job retirement, they prefer to reduce drastically the time spent in paid work. The analysis also revealed that a majority of respondents feel it is nearly impossible to take even a short length of leave. Fear for jeopardizing promotion and pay raise and the sense of financial provider responsibility seem to underlie this reluctance for leave taking.These results imply that at least at present the significant reduction in hours of work in multiple stages of life, in order to work shorter hours at each stage but until later years in life, is unlikely to be welcome as a feasible option for Japanese workers in automotive industry. These altogether suggest that although more Japanese today recognize the importance of integrating work and private life, deviation from the \"normalcy\" in traditional work life, or constant working over life course, is still unlikely to be welcome, and that their life-long career perspectives remain mostly unchanged, or very slowly changing at best.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper sets out to explore how Japanese workers want to allocate their time to work and private life in different stages of life. To examine whether they prefer to reduce hours in paid work and spend more time on family and leisure.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A statistical analysis was conducted using data from a survey conducted among 3,800 Japanese automotive workers in 2000. Analysis consists of mean comparisons of ideal proportion of work across different stages of life, and comparison of attitudes toward taking leave by age and job type.\nFindings: - The results of this paper show that a majority of Japanese workers, regardless of age and job type, have a strong preference to work constantly without major career disruptions between ages 20 and 60, then reduce drastically the time spent in paid work after job retirement at age 60. The results suggest that, although Japanese today increasingly recognize the importance of integrating work and private life, deviation from the \"normalcy\" of work life, or constant working over life course, is still unlikely to be welcome.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Data used in this study were collected only among automotive workers. Caution should be used when generalizing the results to a broader range of industries in Japan.\nOriginality/value: - This study addresses a simple but important question whether and how Japanese want to integrate work and private life over life course. This question deserves a close scrutiny to understanding whether a career perspective over life course is changing in today's Japan.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Labour productivity in Iranian construction projects: Perceptions of chief executive officers	[ "Iran", "Human resources", "Construction industry", "Management", "Productivity", "Road projects" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Low productivity is still a major issue for the construction industry in many countries (Fulford and Standing, 2014), including Iran (Ghoddousi and Hosseini, 2012). Evidence suggests that low productivity rampant in the construction industry in developing countries could be attributed to poor labour productivity due to the labour-intensive nature of construction activities in these countries (Kazaz and Ulubeyli, 2004; Jarkas et al., 2014). Therefore, identifying the pertinent factors affecting labour productivity is a prerequisite for any attempt to increase productivity in the construction industry (Ghoddousi and Hosseini, 2012). Further, it is imperative to undertake studies to identify these factors as according to Khaled and Remon (2014) and Jarkas et al. (2014), construction field is still in need of further inquiries on factors affecting productivity.\n2. Background literature: 2.1. Definitions\n3. Conceptual framework: Based on an integrative literature review, the three aspects below were identified as the umbrella themes for factors affecting labour productivity on construction sites:\n4. Research methods: The questionnaire was divided into four sections comprising the demographics and 32 items in three factors: motivation (12 items), project nature and working environment (eight items) and management policies and leadership strategies (12 items). The respondents had to indicate their perception in respect to the level of effects of items defined in Figure 1 in affecting the productivity of road construction projects on a five-point Likert rating scale where very high effect=5, high effect=4, moderate effect=3, low effect=2 and very low effect=1.\n5. Results and discussions: The results of ranking the items within the three factors are captured in Tables II-IV.\n6. Conclusions: As inferred from the results (see Table V), CEOs of Iranian construction companies, deemed the items associated with motivation and managerial policies of most importance as opposed to, the project nature and working environment which were of low salience in their views. Additionally, it was revealed that CEOs regard major aspects of HRM as the most effective factors to increase productivity in construction projects. Likewise, monetary features of HRM such as amount and timeliness of payments and remuneration and intrinsic aspects, e.g. satisfaction, ethical behaviour, promotion, individual relationships and job security were among the factors perceived by CEOs as the most influential determinant of productivity in road projects in Iran. This shows that stance of CEOs in terms of managerial and financial aspects are in consistency with findings outlined in the literature. It is noteworthy of mentioning that such an insight is also in agreement with perception of construction practitioners in other levels such as project managers and workers as observed in previous studies in Iran.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to highlight the main factors and items affecting the productivity of construction projects, based on the perceptions of CEOs in construction companies in Iran. Second, the study compares the elicited CEOs' perceptions against the findings of studies based on the views of such as project managers, middle managers and employees in other levels.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study drew upon literature on construction work to develop a conceptual model. Further, a total of 60 CEOs from road construction companies were surveyed using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to generate the data. The collated data were categorised and ranked according to the CEOs perceived level of importance using the relative importance index.\nFindings: The findings highlight the main factors and items affecting labour productivity in construction projects in Iran as perceived by CEOs, which are mainly of human resources management nature and could be attributed to motivation and managerial policy aspects. The study also recognises that factors associated with the working environment particularly safety and health are perceived as insignificant by Iranian CEOs which could be a concern for the Iranian construction industry. The discussions shed some light on the discrepancies between the perceptions of CEOs and previous studies in regards to major determinants of productivity in the construction context.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first study aiming at discussing the perceptions of CEOs of construction companies active in construction projects in Iran. As such, the study highlights the standpoint of the main decision makers in construction companies in regards to labour productivity in the construction sector. Thus, the key contribution of the present study is providing insight into the perceptions of CEOs, who play the most vital role in strategic development of construction companies whereas previous studies have mostly focused on project or middle managers having a lower influence in determining the strategic plans of companies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does location in a science park really matter for firms' intellectual capital performance?	[ "Intellectual capital", "Firm performance", "Value added", "Business incubator", "Science park" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the last decades and parallel to the rise of the knowledge-based economy, intellectual capital (henceforth: IC) has replaced the physical capital as the most important key success factor in determining firms' performance and sustaining their competitive advantage (Drucker, 1985; Grant, 1991; Foray, 2004; Guthrie et al., 2004; Kozak, 2011). A very common wisdom is that the value creation process of a firm is strongly related to certain firm-specific characteristics, such as its relational aptitudes, brand name, technological capital, organizational structure, and the knowledge education and skills of its employees (Bontis et al., 2000; Kujansivu, 2009). This is particularly true for those firms operating in knowledge intensive industries (e.g. aerospace, pharmaceuticals, accounting and computing machinery, and scientific instruments) (OECD, 2011a).\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: This section reviews prior literature about the economic impact of SPs at firm level (sub-section 2.1) and IC (sub-section 2.2), and contains the development of research hypotheses. Specifically, the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) (e.g. Penrose, 1959; Barney, 1991) is the theoretical framework of the present paper. The key assumption of this theory, indeed, is that corporate resources might support the growth and competitive advantage of firms. Of course, various conditions (e.g. resources rarity, value, inimitability, not substitutability) should apply in order to provide firms these positive effects (Barney, 1991). Many scholars in the field of IC adopted RBV (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; Riahi-Belkaoui, 2003). This framework is useful for the present research as it provides a logical explanation of what should happen (as argued below) to IC and performance of tenant firms located within SPs: the location of such firms within SPs, in which they have easier and almost costless access to a number of valuable tangible and intangible resources improving constantly corporate IC, provides them, as consequence, critical benefits in terms of performance.\n3. Empirical analysis: 3.1 Sample\n4. Empirical results: Table III reports the t-test on some variables used in the analysis: the authors find that tenant firms are younger (on average they show an age of 14.4 years vs 18.1 years for non-tenant firms), show a higher percentage of intangible assets compared to total assets and, consistent with their prediction, a higher IC-based performance (see VAIC variable t-test). Else, compared to non-tenant firms they show no significant difference in terms of leverage and size.\n5. Discussion and concluding remarks: This study evaluates whether location in a SP produces favorable effects on a firm's competitiveness. The authors delve more deeply into this topic than previous studies by using an IC-based performance indicator (i.e. the VAIC), which, as suggested by various studies (e.g. Pulic, 2000), is particularly effective in knowledge-based organizations. While controlling for other determining factors of a firm's performance (size, leverage, and age), the authors show that SPs play a fundamental role in increasing the IC-based performance of a firm. That is, the services provided by SPs are useful to improve IC performances of firms. These results are resilient to robustness tests performed to check for measurement errors, which can be a problem when assessing a firm's IC performance, and endogeneity concerns.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of being located in a science park (SP) on the level of a firm's intellectual capital (IC) performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using a sample of 183 Italian firms (i.e. 61 tenant and 122 non-tenant firms), and through the GLS technique, the authors regress the firms' IC performance across various explicative variables including a dummy that discriminates tenant and non-tenant firms.\nFindings: Consistently with expectations, the results show that the location of a firm in a SP leads to improved IC performance. Moreover, the authors find that some other firm characteristics, such as size, age, and leverage, are important predictors of its IC-based performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The sample is small and the impact on performance might be biased by factors related to the regional context (e.g. level of industrialization, quality of education, and science system).\nPractical implications: Implications for policy makers: support the growth of firms in SPs especially in those industries full of firms with scarce performance in IC. Implications for SP managers: they could \"sell\" (in terms of marketing) to both entrepreneurs to attract and policy makers this result. Implications for institutional investors: they should look at SPs with greater interest to find high-quality firms and improve their screening activity.\nOriginality/value: This paper aims to extend literature about factors explaining the level of a firm's IC performance and the current understanding of the impact of SPs at firm level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Employers need to get to grips with social-media risks: Two key policies required to cover all the bases	[ "Social media", "Corporate governance", "Training", "Risk management", "Human-resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The use of social media is growing rapidly around the world. According to CompliSpace, a provider of governance, risk and compliance programs and services, every minute of every day 100,000 tweets are sent, 684,478 pieces of content are shared on Facebook, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube, 47,000 apps are downloaded from the App Store, 3,600 photos are shared on Instagram and 571 websites are created.\nFocus on the key deliverable: The concept of a stand-alone social-media policy is a misnomer. The overall design of your organization's social-media personal-usage policy will depend on the overall quality of your corporate governance and human-resource infrastructure. For example, in an organization with a robust corporate governance and human-resource infrastructure, its social-media personal-usage policy will most likely refer to key documents such as the employment contract, as well as other key policies and procedures, including:\nIndividual authorizations will need to be tied to particular forms of social media: The first dilemma you will come up against is that each form of social media has different attributes that potentially require different authoring and publication skills. For example, publications on Twitter tend to be high-volume and conversational. Blogs, on the other hand, tend to be published less frequently, require a higher level of authoring skill, and will often provide advice or opinion.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Highlights the risks employers face when employees use social media.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Considers types of risks and suggests how they could be mitigated.\nFindings: Reveals that employers need two policies to manage risks associated with the use of social media; a policy covering business use of social media and another covering employees' personal use of social media.\nPractical implications: Guides managers in assessing the exposure of their organizations and clients to the risks identified.\nOriginality/value: Raises the issue of organizational awareness and preparedness to undertake challenges posed by social media.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning for renewal; learning in a trade union practice	[ "Trade unions", "Learning", "Problem solving" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Swedish trade unions for blue-collar workers have about 1.4 million members. The rate of unionization is among the highest in the world (Kjellberg, 2002) and in 2008, 71 percent of the workers were members of a trade union (Kjellberg, 2009). Contemporary changes in working life present new challenges to the Swedish trade unions, and especially to the trade union units in the workplaces as changes in labor legislation and decentralization in the Swedish trade union movement have increased local responsibility and resulted in more issues being handled independently by local trade unions. There is a need to develop trade union competence and practice at the workplace level. Local trade union boards and representatives are expected to carry out learning on their own. How do they handle this trade union decentralization and stance towards trade union learning? This is an issue concerning conditions of work and learning but also of the capability to claim the right and interests of the trade union members. This paper is based on two case studies of local trade union board work and analyzes an experienced local trade union board's efforts to tackle the challenges of today and develop the competence needed.1.1 Swedish trade unions and challenges of today\n2. Result: learning in an experienced local trade union board: 2.1 Three kinds of problem-solving situations\n3. Discussion: 3.1 Too extensive demands on learning?\n4. Final conclusions: Local trade union work and learning in a workplace has not been studied in this way before. The ethnographical case studies (Kopsen, 2003, 2008) make visible conditions for decentralized trade union work and independent learning on a local level of the Swedish trade unions for blue-collar workers. The final conclusions for the result concerning an experienced local trade union board analyzed in this paper are:* the learning needs for the complex kind of problem-solving situation characterizing the new and current challenges of today's working life are too demanding for the local trade union board to tackle on its own;* different kinds of interactions and relations with other trade union units enable and facilitate learning; and* the reigning stance of trade union decentralization and independent learning does not adequately support local trade unions' learning to successfully manage the contemporary and crucial issues.The paper shows that on its own the experienced trade union board can develop the competence for handling issues that are new to the board but in some way familiar. The issues are distinctly defined and clearly described in legal documents or other textual artifacts and there are models of solutions to copy, i.e. knowledge to find. If the board lacks experience and has no suitable routines, the board members manage to independently search for solutions for this kind of issue in textual artifacts or get in touch with other trade union representatives or officers, outside the local workplace, who have the experience needed. In other words, the local trade union independently manages these demands and conditions for learning. However, the trade union board does not independently handle the need to learn when it comes to issues that are complex and require knowledge in new areas as well as skills to formulate solutions for acting strategically and wisely. Thus, the trade union board, although experienced, is unable to develop on its own the competence and trade union board practice needed to provide it the abilities and power to handle the important issues of today's working-life, e.g. effects of globalization, new technology and production systems and business decisions. In contrast with the situations mentioned above, when the board manages to develop competence, the board members studied do not search for knowledge and solutions either in textual artifacts or from external trade union representatives or officers. One conclusion is that the learning needs for this complex kind of problem-solving situation characterizing the new and contemporary challenges are too demanding for the local board to tackle on its own. There are far-reaching demands on changing the activities and routines of the trade union board work, i.e. learning for renewal of the trade union practice. In the study, boundary processes, meaning interactions with other local trade union units or trade union representatives or officers, either in trade union courses or informally by phone or internet, are found to have a significant impact on the processes of learning. Another conclusion is that the reigning stance of trade union decentralization and independent learning does not adequately support local trade unions' learning to successfully manage the contemporary and crucial issues that might be hard for a local trade union board to identify, describe and communicate on its own. An educational strategy including active guidance to local trade union units, and a new kind of organizational structure in the trade union movement that encourages relations and interwork between local trade union units as well between different levels of the trade unions could probably improve the conditions for local trade unions' learning - and the power of local trade unions in the workplace.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to analyze learning in a Swedish trade union board in a workplace, according to contemporary challenges in working life and conditions, of decentralization and local independency of trade union work and learning.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on ethnographic studies of two Swedish local trade union boards. The aim is to investigate the everyday activities of the board and the learning processes that were generated. This paper focuses on the study of an experienced trade union board. Theory stressing the situated character of learning is used to understand the changes in participation and the trade union practice. The trade union board's practice is interpreted as solving problems with reference to pragmatism.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the experienced board is competent and manages to independently solve unfamiliar but traditional problems, processes of learning are generated, but it fails to develop the competence and update the practice required for the complex and challenging problems of today on its own.\nPractical implications: - The local trade union board does not manage to develop the competence giving it the power to independently handle the trade union issues significant for the future of the trade union members and the workplace on its own.\nOriginality/value: - This context of learning has not been studied before. It is a type of workplace learning, but part of a social movement.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Non-linear effects of relational capital on supply-side resilience: The moderating role of boundary spanners' personal ties	[ "Relational capital", "Buyer–supplier relationships", "Supply-side resilience", "Boundary spanner", "Tie diversity", "Tie strength" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Trends such as global outsourcing, lean and supply base reduction have not only increased firm exposure to supply chain disruptions, they have also magnified the consequences (Brandon-Jones et al., 2014). The potential for substantial losses has motivated many organisations to enhance their supply chain resilience, including through greater inter-organisational collaboration (Scholten and Schilder, 2015), particularly with first-tier suppliers (Business Continuity Institute, 2017). The threats upon which we will focus, therefore, are upstream (supply-side) disruptions. Buying firms, realising that upstream events can have negative consequences, are now focussed on building resilience in order to be alert to, adapt to, maintain and quickly respond to changes brought about by a supply-side disruption (Dabhilkar et al., 2016).\n2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development: 2.1 Relational capital (RC) and supply-side resilience\n3. Research method: 3.1 Survey instrument development and data collection\n4. Data analysis and results: 4.1 Analytic strategy: latent moderated structural equation (LMS) approach\n5. Discussion and conclusions: 5.1 Implications for research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Prior studies have largely overlooked the potentially negative consequences of a buyer's relational capital (RC) with a supplier for supply-side resilience, assuming a positive linear relationship between the constructs. Meanwhile, the focus of research has been at an organisational level without incorporating the role of boundary spanning individuals at the interface between buyer and supplier. Drawing on social capital and boundary spanning theory, the purpose of this paper is to: re-examine the relationship between RC and supply-side resilience, challenging the linear assumption; and investigate how both the strength and diversity of a boundary spanner's ties moderate this relationship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Survey data are collected from 248 firms and validated using a subset of 57 attentive secondary respondents and archival data. The latent moderated structural equation method is applied to analyse the data.\nFindings: An inverted U-shaped relationship between RC and supply-side resilience is identified. Tie strength in particular has a positive moderating effect on the relationship. More specifically, the downward RC-supply-side resilience relationship flips into an upward curvilinear relationship when boundary spanning individuals develop stronger ties with supplier personnel.\nResearch limitations/implications: A deeper insight into the RC-supply-side resilience relationship is provided. Findings are based on Chinese manufacturing firms and cross-sectional data meaning further research is needed to determine their generalisability.\nPractical implications: In evaluating how to enhance supply-side resilience, buying firms must decide whether the associated collaborative benefits of developing RC outweigh the potential costs. Managers also need to be concerned with the impact of developing RC between organisations and enhancing the tie strength of individuals simultaneously.\nOriginality/value: The paper goes beyond the linear relationship between RC and supply-side resilience. Incorporating the moderating role of boundary spanners identifies a novel phenomenon whereby the RC-resilience relationship flips from an inverted to a U-shaped curve.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Evaluating impact of 5S implementation on business performance	[ "Competitiveness", "Lean manufacturing", "5S", "Manufacturing organizations", "Manufacturing performance", "Waste reduction" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the competitive world of manufacturing, the organizations are facing challenging problems such as quality losses, production downfall, material wastage, safety, and employee-related issues (Golroudbary and Zahraee, 2015). These problems effectively weaken the growth of organizations in the manufacturing world. The two significant challenges, competitiveness and efficiency of firms, have impelled the number of manufacturing organizations to implement innovative management strategies (Zahraee, Golroudbary, Hashemi, Afshar and Haghighi, 2014). Lean manufacturing (LM) has been envisioned as a significant strategy for attaining the enhanced sustainability of manufacturing organizations in the competitive global market (Zahraee, Hashemi, Abdi, Shahpanah and Rohani, 2014). The lean was first developed by the Toyota Company in Japan. Since 1960s, lean initiatives have proved to be more significant manufacturing strategies for the development of the organizations in every sector (Rinehart et al., 1997). Lean basically means production without wastage. Its ultimate goal is to achieve highest quality of production at the minimum cost (Maguad, 2007).\n2. Literature review of 5S: 5S is comprised of five different elements. Each one starts with letter \"S\" in the Japanese language: Seiri (organization), Seiton (neatness), Seiso (cleaning), Seiketsu (standardization), and Shitsuke (discipline). In the early 1980s, Takashi Osada was the first person who developed the 5S technique in Japan. 5S technique has been widely implemented and practiced in many Japanese firms not only for improving the physical environment, but also developed the thinking process (Ho and Cicmil, 1996). The Toyota Production System (TPS) was the first organization which is continuously practice the 5S technique from its evolution time period having first 3S elements (Seiri, Setion, and Seiso) to nowadays 5S elements (Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke) (Ohno, 1988).\n3. 5S in the Indian context: The literature reveals that 5S methodology has enormously contributed toward the growth and development endeavors of Japanese and western organizations. Since early 2000, the Indian manufacturing organizations have been focusing on the practices of 5S technique for attaining the significant achievements in every department of organizations (Farooquie and Mohapatra, 2009). From the comparison between the World Competitive Report (2001) and World Competitive Report (2007), it has been identified that Indian organizations have considerably improved its ranking from 49 to 27 out of 55 nations through the implementation of various Japanese process improvement techniques (Khanna, 2009).\n4. Methodology: The research study has been accomplished in the manufacturing organizations of medium and large scale that have successfully imbibed the 5S technique or are in the process of implementing 5S initiatives alone or along with other LM practices. The study has been conducted in 92 manufacturing organizations situated at different geographical locations of India.\n5. Evaluation of 5S implementation in the Indian manufacturing industries: The present study portrays the outcome of the elaborated survey of 5S implementation in the Indian manufacturing industries. The objective of the study is to evaluate the detailed contributions of 5S methodology deployed in the Indian manufacturing industries. The various 5S input attributes considered in the present study include: top management involvement issues, employee involvement issues, quality organizational involvement issues, basic 5S issues, and each 5S element issues effectiveness issues. The 5S Questionnaire also covers the wide range of aspects catering to impact of various 5S initiatives on business performance to project the essential data to achieve the purpose of the study. The questionnaire has been designed to effectively capture the significant achievements accrued through 5S implementation, namely, overall organizational achievements, production-related achievements, quality and continuous improvements, cost optimizations achievements, employee-related achievements, effective workplace achievements, and safety-related achievements. The various 5S practice-related issues and responses from the manufacturing organizations evaluated through questionnaire are elaborated here.\n6. Impact of 5S implementation on the improvement of business performance in Indian manufacturing industries: The successful implementation of 5S techniques has contributed toward significant enhancements in manufacturing performance in the organizations. The practice of 5S brings considerable melioration in the various outcomes such as overall organizational achievements, production-related achievements, quality and continuous improvements, cost optimizations achievements, employee-related achievements, effective workplace achievements, and safety-related achievements of manufacturing organizations.\n7. Conclusions: The practice of 5S has turned out to be a significant contributor in the strengthening the performance of manufacturing organizations from their earlier not so encouraging and unimpressive performance levels. This research has investigated 92 different manufacturing industries of medium and large scale from geographical locations in India which have successfully implemented the 5S principles. A survey has been conducted through nine input factors and seven outcome factors. A total of 16 critical factors have been evolved from this study to depict the success of 5S implementation and its elaborated contributions in Indian manufacturing industries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to evaluate the contributions of 5S implementation in the Indian manufacturing industries and its impact on the enhancement of their business performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research study has been accomplished in the large number of manufacturing organizations that have successfully imbibed the 5S technique or are in the process of implementing 5S initiatives alone or along with other lean manufacturing practices. An elaborated \"5S Questionnaire\" has been designed to determine the contextual factors and their impact on the enhancement of business performance.\nFindings: The results reveal that the majority of organizations have shown total commitment toward the implementation and objective realization of 5S quality policy at all levels in the organizations. The implementation of 5S has facilitated manufacturing organizations to accrue significant benefits such as improvement in overall organizational, productivity, quality, safety, employee morale values, effective workspace utilization, and cost optimizations. The results also show the elimination of serious chronic manufacturing system problems such as delays, breakdown, demoralized employees, declining profits, and dissatisfied customers through holistic 5S implementation.\nResearch limitations/implications: The limitation of the study is that it encompasses only the manufacturing organizations, while a similar study can also be conducted in services sector also.\nOriginality/value: The study highlights the detailed contributions of 5S principles in the development of manufacturing organizations and its impact on the enhancement of business performance for remaining competitive in global market world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital performance in the case of Romanian public companies	[ "Performance", "Romania", "Management", "Measurement", "Intellectual capital", "VAICTM" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The field of intellectual capital (IC) is multidisciplinary, covering among others: economics, strategy, accounting, finance, marketing, human resource. Consequently, the concept of IC means different things to different people, being defined and classified in several ways by researchers due to the different backgrounds and perspectives taken (Stanciu, 2008; Feleaga et al., 2011; Morariu, 2011). When it comes to IC measurement, it is considered to be a demanding, lengthy and time consuming process in practice: complexity of the process; difficulty to identify the relationships between resources; activities and company performance; overburdening of companies' departments; novelty of using non-financial indicators; ambiguity in the interpretation of the IC indicators as well as the subjectivity of their calculation; collection and processing data to calculate the indicators (Chiucchi, 2013). But, these barriers are overridden by the various benefits of having IC measured: it provides information to govern company's value creation dynamics; allows to acknowledge the strategic position knowledge resources play in company's value creation dynamics; allows to align strategic objectives with knowledge asset management initiatives; explains the cause-and-effect relationships linking the development of organizational knowledge domains with the achievement of targeted strategic performance objectives; makes a company more transparent in terms of its own assets, competencies and growing capabilities; supports a better estimation of a company during mergers and acquisitions; influences shares value and its volatility; is at basis of company's internal and external benchmarking; is at the cornerstone of the development of new business models (Lerro and Schiuma, 2013; Lerro et al., 2012; Schiuma and Lerro, 2008).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 IC models\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Sample selection\n4. Results and analysis: 4.1 Descriptive statistics\n5. Discussions and conclusions: The results show a significant negative association between the VAIC and MB indicating that although some entities were generally more effective in managing/creating value from their intellectual, physical and financial resources, they are not appreciated by the capital market. Additionally the results indicate a non-significant association between the VAIC, company size and companies' profitability, measured in ROE terms. In fact, it looks that, in the case of Romanian companies, none of the independent variables (capital employed, SC, human capital, company size) explain the variation in entity's profitability. This could be due to the limited depth and maturity of the market as well as by the particularities of the analysed period in the context of the international turmoil.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the intellectual capital (IC) performance of the Romanian companies, to empirically examine the association between IC performance and traditional corporate performance and to analyse the relative importance of various components of IC on the company's performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Value Added Intellectual Coefficient model (VAICTM) is applied to measure IC performance. Traditional corporate performance is measured through profitability, productivity and market value. In total, 12 null hypotheses are tested using multiple regression analysis where another two control variables (firm size and industry type) are generally included.\nFindings: Entities creating value from their intellectual, physical and financial resources are penalized by the capital market. Capital employed has an insignificant role in both value creation and in reducing company's production costs. Market value is not necessarily improved by a properly managed structural capital but is influenced by company size. Human capital plays a major role in productivity variation.\nResearch limitations/implications: Results related to the impact of control factors are mixed and sometimes not significant. Additional research could introduce other control factors, may investigate paper's hypotheses across time, revisit some of the basic assumptions of the VAICM and assess their potential consequences for the validity of empirical testing and results.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study that replicates VAICTM in the case of Romanian companies. It provides valuable insights about corporate performance in an emerging economy and into the association between IC and traditional corporate performance. It enriches both IC and management literature with new empirical evidence and provides a basis for comparison with other studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A test of three basic assumptions of Situational Leadership(r) II Model and their implications for HRD practitioners	[ "Leadership styles", "Employee work intentions", "Intent to leave", "Leadership style fit", "Situational Leadership® II", "Trust in leader" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Since the groundbreaking meta-analysis study by Judge et al. (2004), there has been a revival in the study of the two traditional leadership behaviors of initiating structure and consideration. Their meta-analysis, which examined 163 independent correlations for consideration and 159 correlations for initiating structure, revealed that both consideration (0.48) and initiating structure (0.29) had reasonably strong, nonzero relations with leadership outcomes (Judge et al., 2004). Judge et al. (2004) suggested that most researchers considered these two leader \"behaviors to be outmoded\" (p. 37), and \"in danger of being viewed as historical artifacts in leadership research\" (p. 44) in favor of the emerging constructs of transformational and full-range leadership. Thus, Judge et al. (2004, p. 36) referred to consideration and initiating structure as \"forgotten\" leadership constructs.\nInitiating structure and consideration: historical inquiry and inconsistencies: An examination of existing literature on initiating structure and consideration reveals that researchers had primarily examined the concepts as two separate variables. Fleishman and others repeatedly looked at the independence of initiating structure and consideration when determining the impact on desirable outcomes such as grievances, turnover and effectiveness ratings (Fleishman and Harris, 1962; Fleishman and Simmons, 1970; Fleishman, 1998; Korman, 1966). There had been very little study of the interactive effects of initiating structure and consideration on outcomes (Bass, 2008, p. 570). Furthermore, previous research showed few consistent correlations between initiating structure and consideration, and various impact measures (Fleishman, 1998; Korman, 1966). Two other findings also emerged from our review of the literature. The independence of initiating structure and support was questioned, and a revealing analysis using various measures for the constructs provided different results concerning their independence and the impact of these two constructs on various outcomes (Fleishman and Harris, 1962; Fleishman and Simmons, 1970; Weissenberg and Kavanagh, 1972). Weissenberg and Kavanagh, (1972) presented an analysis of 72 studies using two instruments: the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire (LOQ) and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ). The LOQ, used in 24 of the authors' studies of managers' self-perceptions of the use of initiating structure and consideration, showed very little correlation between the constructs. On the other hand, the LBDQ, used in 48 studies to measure direct reports' perceptions of their leader's use of initiating structure and consideration, revealed that the two constructs were correlated in 75 per cent of the studies analyzed (Weissenberg and Kavanagh, 1972, p. 124). Therefore, results from the Weissenberg and Kavanagh (1972) study and earlier studies left the empirical orthogonality of initiating structure and consideration in question.\nInitiating structure and consideration: recent studies: Many researchers have called for continued and detailed research on the use of initiating structure and consideration. DeRue et al. (2011), in their meta-analysis, found that, compared to leader traits, leader behaviors accounted for more variance in leadership effectiveness. However, the authors noted as a limitation of their meta-analysis, that situational factors, which may have a moderate effect on the traits-behaviors relationship, were not examined. Thus, the effective investigation of initiating structure and consideration is dependent on including relevant situational variables. Additionally, Fleishman (1998), in a 26-year post hoc analysis of his 1962 study, called for more research involving the prediction of leadership performance by breaking down the \"specific skills inherent in initiating structure and consideration such as problem identification, planning, solution evaluation, and social problem solving\" (p. 832). However, recent studies (DeRue et al., 2011; Judge et al., 2004; Schurer-Lambert et al., 2012) continued to examine initiating structure and consideration at a high level; they did not break the two concepts into their corresponding, specific behaviors (e.g. goal setting, showing and telling how, listening and facilitating problem-solving). Thus, the study of initiating structure and consideration could still benefit from including contingency models of interest and using new approaches to measuring the concepts, including choosing a level of abstraction that enables researchers to examine each concept's subdivisions of corresponding leadership behaviors.\nAn overview of the Situational Leadership(r) II Model and relevant research: The situational leadership model has been one of the most long-standing, widely recognized and popular leadership models (Bass, 2008; Meirovich and Gu, 2015; Northouse, 2012; Thompson and Glaso, 2015). It appears that, based on the literature that has emerged over the years, both Hersey and Blanchard have proposed slightly different models (Blanchard and Hersey, 1996; Blanchard et al., 1993; Bass, 2008; Graeff, 2000; Hersey et al., 2001; Northouse, 2012; Thompson and Vecchio, 2009). Several expositions exist on the Situational Leadership(r) Model (Hersey and Blanchard, 1996; Hersey et al., 2001) and the Situational Leadership(r) II Model (SLII) (Blanchard et al., 1985, 2013). For an explanation of the conceptual differences, see Blanchard et al. (1993), Blanchard and Hersey (1996) and Hersey et al. (2001)[1].\nPurposes of the study and hypotheses: In summary, this study offers four notable contributions to the literature. First, more could be learned about followers' perceptions of initiating structure and consideration. Second, fit matters regarding the employees' perceptions of what leadership style is offered and the employees' perception of what leadership style is needed. Third, previous literature has called for the examination of a wider range of leadership effectiveness outcomes for initiating structure and consideration. Finally, the study of combinations of initiating structure and consideration needs to be further pursued, as this may allow for greater understanding of the impact of the four distinct leadership styles on employee outcomes.\nFit as measured by followers' perceptions: The concept of \"fit\" can be studied from the leader's perspective or from the follower's perspective. As already noted by Weissenberg and Kavanagh (1972), the source of the data (either managers' self-report or direct reports') has a great deal to do with the orthogonal aspects of the measurements used. In this study, both needed and received leadership styles, as well as the degree of fit, were studied using survey responses from the follower. This study builds upon the suggestion of Vroom, who believed that one of the contingents that should be studied is the wishes and expectations of the follower (Korman, 1966). This study also builds on the work of Schurer-Lambert et al. (2012), who examined the degree of fit between the follower's perceived need and the received leader behaviors of initiating structure and consideration. The concept of fit as studied by Schurer-Lambert is deeply embedded in the concept of person-environmental fit, and that theoretical approach focuses on psychological need fulfillment, which results from congruence between psychological needs and what the environment offers. Fit occurs when what the environment offers matches the self-perceived psychological needs of the employee (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005).\nWhy the Situational Leadership II Model: We chose to examine SLII in this study for four reasons. The first reason that the SLII framework was used in this study is that the genesis of the framework evolved from the historical models that preceded it (Blanchard et al., 1993). Blanchard et al. (1993) used the initiating structure and consideration concepts of the Ohio State studies, as did other contingency leadership models at that time (Feidler, 1967; House, 1971). SLII, along with the Hersey model of Situational Leadership(r) (Hersey and Blanchard, 1969b; Hersey et al., 2001) and the Reddin 3-D Management Style Theory (Reddin, 1967), put initiating structure and consideration into a quadrant diagram, thereby inviting the exploration of leadership styles based on the frequent or the infrequent use of the two leader behaviors in combination. In the SLII model, Blanchard et al. (1985, 1993) reframed initiating structure and consideration as directive and supportive behaviors rather than a single autocratic/democratic continuum. Thus, SLII reflects the rich history and evolution of the initiating structure and consideration constructs.\nMethods: The following section includes a discussion of the participants, procedures, measures and data manipulations.\nResults: Needed and received leadership styles\nDiscussion: Regarding H1, the proportional breakout for received leadership styles (Table I), only 3 per cent of employees reported receiving S1 (high direction/low support), while 33 per cent reported receiving S2 (high direction/high support), 22 per cent reported receiving S3 (low direction/high support) and 42 per cent reported receiving S4. Therefore, three out of the four leadership styles were used frequently by managers. Thus, we note the lack of reported use of direction without an accompanying frequency of support behaviors. It seems that the sole use of high amounts of directive (task) behavior occurs, but very infrequently. This is in keeping with the findings of Schurer-Lambert et al. (2012) that showed adverse effects when the amount of directive or task behavior exceeded the perceived need of the respondent, although they found this was not the case when support or consideration exceeded the respondent's perceived need. It is possible that managers are very sensitive to the sole use of directive behaviors.\nLimitations and future research: Although the use of follower self-report data was necessary to gather ratings of needed versus received situational leadership behaviors, future work should aim to capture outcome variable data through more than one source (e.g. manager ratings). Also, the sample was cross-sectional, limiting the ability to claim causal effects between perceived fit versus non-fit and organizational outcomes; it may instead be that the quality of such organizational outcomes for followers also influences perceptions of fit. Longitudinal data could, in future work, help clarify causal ordering of phenomena of interest here. Additional research could explore the degree to which followers' reported fit between needed and received situational leadership behaviors leads to more or less favorable performance on organizational outcomes not examined in this study. Also, the degree to which results are generalizable to other populations is questionable, as respondents were accessed through a database of emails of professionals housed by a consulting firm. Most respondents were managers from North America, so future work should test conclusions from this study in other populations. Perhaps, employees from different cultures or employees representing different levels of management responsibility could be studied in future work on this topic.\nImplications for HRD practitioners: At least three implications for HRD practitioners can be garnered from this research. First, if an employee receives a perceived needed leadership style, their affect toward the job, trust in their manager, intent to remain, willingness to endorse their leader, perform at a higher than average level and be an organizational citizen will likely be significantly higher than employees who do not receive the leadership style they perceived they need. When HRD practitioners purchase and present programs training desirable leadership behaviors, it would behoove them to consider programs that encourage the dialogue between direct reports and their managers that could result in a congruence between what leadership style is needed and what style is received. At minimum, it might be helpful if managers seek to understand what their direct reports perceive as needed leader behaviors. If conscious efforts could be made to increase the fit between needed and received leadership behaviors, the work environment would become more emotionally enjoyable and productive. Also, this study's findings emphasize the importance of 360deg feedback or, at minimum, the benefits of gathering precise feedback from direct reports.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to test the following three assertions underlying the Situational Leadership(r) II (SLII) Model: all four leadership styles are received by followers; all four leadership styles are needed by followers; and if there is a fit between the leadership style a follower receives and needs, that follower will demonstrate favorable scores on outcome variables.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For the first and second assertions, a proportional breakdown of the four leadership styles observed within a sample of working professionals is presented and discussed. Regarding the third assertion, for ten outcome variables, multiple one-way analyses of variance tested mean differences between followers who experienced leadership style fit (i.e. a fit between received and needed style) and followers who did not experience fit (n = 573). Subscale scores from the Leader Action Profile, the Work Intention Inventory, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and an adapted form of the Affective/Cognitive trust scale (McAllister, 1995) were used as study measures.\nFindings: Three of the four leadership styles of the SLII framework were reported as frequently received. All four of the leadership styles were reported as needed. This study also found that follower-reported fit between one's needed and received leadership style at work resulted in more favorable scores on nine of the ten employee outcomes, as compared to follower-reported misfit.\nPractical implications: As human resource development practitioners seek to educate and train their leaders on how to be more effective with their direct reports, this research provides evidence that all four styles are needed and received, although there were lower instances of reporting the S1 style to be needed or received. Also, the findings demonstrated that when followers view a fit exists between the leadership behaviors they need and the leadership behaviors they receive, greater positive job affect, lower negative job affect, increased cognitive and affective trust in the leader and higher levels of favorable employee work intentions were evident.\nOriginality/value: This paper builds on the resurgence of studies examining initiating structure and consideration as leader behaviors. This is one of very few recent studies that, by combining initiating structure and consideration, reinvestigates the four leadership styles established by past contingency theories. Specifically, the authors used the SLII framework as a foundation for analysis. Overall, the study supports three of the major assumptions of the SLII framework.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Towards an approach to signage management quality (SMQ)	[ "Signs", "Servicescape", "Wayfinding", "User service quality", "Digital signage", "Attractive quality", "Customer services quality", "User satisfaction", "Personal needs" ]	[ { "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: Signage is the whole of all the information that helps users orient themselves in the servicescape (Bitner, 1992). It contributes to development of wayfinding, defined as \"a spatial problem solving process\" (Arthur and Passini, 1992): through which users may comprehend, on cognitive and behavioral levels, the components present in the environment in order to surf inside it and reach a certain destination (Lynch, 1960; Passini, 1984; Rovine and Weisman, 1989; Prestopnik and Roskos-Ewoldsen, 2000).\nSignage management in literature: Identification of papers providing significant insights on the theme of signage management in a service quality perspective was a laborious task. This issue is mostly new in service literature: specific studies on the theme of signage management have not been carried out if we exclude research not published in international journals (Filosa Martone and Ippolito, 1995; Ippolito, 1996; Iori, 1997).\nNeeds of the user when using signage: The existence of different types of signage emerges from the literature review. Each of these can satisfy different levels of needs sought by the users. This result is the starting point for thorough analysis of users\nA conceptual framework on user assessment of SMQ: The quality of service perceived by users also depends on the presence of signs (Callan and Kyndt, 2001) and expectations related to use of signage affect the perception of the service quality (Fodness and Murray, 2007). Signage, in addition, is one of the must-be elements that contributes to making the user satisfied (Cheng, 1998).\nManagerial implications: For the purpose of making SMQ users satisfied, service managers may act during design and management stages at both expectations and perception levels: they may consider users\nLimitations and future research: Several limitations concern this paper. All the ideas are conceptually developed and lack empirical validation. This study does not pretend to be thorough in any way. It leaves several questions open for future research. In particular, five possible directions for future research are proposed below.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to go through signage management from the standpoint of the user in a service quality perspective and by three principal means. First, it gives a literature review on the theme. Second, it identifies the needs that users expect to be satisfied when using signage. Third, it proposes a conceptual framework that encompasses user assessment determinants on signage management quality (SMQ).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Conceptual analysis is based on extensive research through literature on signage management contained in contributions on the theme of physical surroundings, atmospherics and servicescape.\nFindings: Users, when they enjoy use of signage, may find satisfaction of implicit, expected and unexpected needs. User assessment of SMQ depends on the discrepancy between expected and perceived wayfinding. In particular, personal needs (cognitive-rational and psycho-emotional) affect expected wayfinding. User interactions with servicescape components, including signage, impact on perceived wayfinding.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper is conceptually developed, but lacks empirical validation. This study does not pretend to be thorough in any way. It leaves several questions open for future research.\nPractical implications: Service managers must understand, from user behavior, how the signage is used, where users make their decisions and where the key points in the servicescape are located. The goal is to permit the user to develop a wayfinding process through the signage components he encounters in the servicescape. Signage should be designed and managed from the standpoint of attractive quality.\nOriginality/value: Previous research has essentially analyzed signage in terms of design. Signage management has received little and fragmented consideration in a service quality literature. The paper fills this gap. It is one of the first attempts to analyze signage management in a service quality perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Hambrick and Mason's "Upper Echelons Theory": evolution and open avenues	[ "Co-evolution", "Decision making", "Executives", "Leadership", "Strategic management", "Upper Echelons" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: How has Upper Echelons Theory (UET) (Hambrick and Mason, 1984) been evolving over time? Through our critical historical discussion in this article, we aim to provide an updated - and also innovative from some aspects - big picture on this famous approach to strategic management.\n2. The upper echelons evolving streams of research: Mainly because of its historically evolving - and cross-fertilizing - basis, over time UET has been connected to a number of research fields inside and outside the management domain (Wren and Bedeian, 2017). For example, apart from UET, Simon's bounded rationality (1947) is at the basis not only of agency theory (Bendickson et al., 2016) but also of more recent streams of research, such as behavioral strategy and neurostrategy (Cristofaro, 2017a). The common advancements in these research avenues lie in the investigation of human behavior under all its facets (e.g. personality and emotions), which constantly grows after the initial proving of the fallacy of economic models entirely based on expected utility axioms. In particular, the breakthrough work in this direction is that by Tversky and Kahneman (1973), who demonstrate the use of mental shortcuts by economic agents while making financial choices. This evidence opens the floor to the entire reconsideration of the antecedents behind economic behavior, with Kahneman and Tversky (1979) thus suggesting adding the study of psychological variables to fully understand human choices under risk.\n3. Implications: More recently, UET has developed into strategic leadership theory, which:\n4. Conclusions: In this article, have discussed the conceptual and methodological developments of UET over time, focusing on the evolving contribution of UET to what we know about strategic leadership. Much of our discussion (and associated implications for future research) is summarized here.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: How has upper echelons theory (UET) (Hambrick and Mason, 1984) been evolving over time? Through the historical discussion, this paper aims to provide an updated - and also innovative from some aspects - big picture on this famous approach to strategic management. In fact, after more than 30 years since its original conceptualization, the authors believe that the UE field is mature enough for a critical attempt to provide all those scholars and practitioners interested in strategic leadership with a comprehensive ground for future analyses, a ground which, to the authors' knowledge, is still missing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors mostly use a historical narrative to offer a critical account of the conceptual and methodological developments occurring under UE lenses over time. The authors believe that the historical approach can be particularly useful because it can help understand and explain why and how these developments have been conjectured and implemented.\nFindings: Two mainly intertwined insights emerge from our analysis: on the one hand, the developments subsequent to the seminal 1984 UE model have gradually, although constantly, reduced its strongly voluntarist assumptions on strategic leadership toward more moderated co-evolutionary lenses; on the other hand, the emerging psychological and cognitive moderators of UE variables are presently reinforcing the centrality of dominant coalitions, in that they affect their decision-making processes and strategic choices.\nOriginality/value: From the critical discussion, a possible updated UE model based on co-evolutionary lenses finally emerges. Prospective research avenues in this management field are also provided.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Privacy concern and online transactions: the impact of internet self-efficacy and internet involvement	[ "E-commerce", "Internet involvement", "Internet self-efficacy", "Online transactions", "Privacy concern" ]	[ { "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.\nConceptual model: From a consumer's perspective, the experience of conducting online transactions is psychologically and procedurally different from other internet-related activities such as exchanging emails, sharing pictures, or reading newspapers. One of the requirements for conducting online transactions is that consumers need to share personal and financial information with the firm, which raises concern about privacy and the misuse of personal information (Biswas and Biswas, 2004). While the release of personal and financial data can compromise privacy, it is also up to the consumers to decide how much and with whom they share the information on the internet. Thus, they can control the type of information they provide, how they provide them, and to whom they provide them.\nHypotheses: Internet self-efficacy and privacy concern\nMethod: LISREL 8.8 was used to test the hypothesized relations in the proposed model. The data to test the hypotheses was collected through a survey questionnaire mailed to 5,000 randomly selected internet subscribers in the Midwest region of the US. The total number of responses received was 1,190 (see Table I for sample demographics - age, education, and income). A covariance matrix, which is recommended for the LISREL statistical procedure, was used to test the structural and measurement parameters (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996). We discuss next the measurement of the three latent constructs (internet self-efficacy, internet involvement, and privacy concern) and one non-latent construct (the frequency of online transactions) used in the model.\nConclusions: Theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of internet self-efficacy and internet involvement on privacy concern and the effect of privacy concern on the frequency of online transactions. The study also seeks to examine the direct effect of internet self-efficacy and internet involvement on the frequency of online transactions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A structural equation model was developed to test the hypotheses. The model was tested using the LISREL 8.8 software and both structural and measurement parameters were estimated.\nFindings: Findings suggest that internet self-efficacy and internet involvement affect privacy concern negatively; and privacy concern, in turn, affects frequency of online transactions negatively. Findings also indicate that the direct effect of internet self-efficacy and internet involvement on the frequency of online transactions is positive. All parameters are significant and in the hypothesized direction.\nPractical implications: Findings highlight the significance of internet self-efficacy and internet involvement in explaining both privacy concern and online transactions. The negative impact of privacy concern shows strategically why businesses should take measures to protect privacy of consumers and assure them that the information they provide is protected and secure.\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the debate on privacy concern and adds to the growing body of literature on the impact of privacy concern on online transactions. Both antecedents and consequence of privacy concern are examined in the study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Consumer attitudes toward counterfeits: a review and extension	[ "Attitudes", "Consumer behaviour", "Counterfeiting", "Risk assessment", "Brazil" ]	[ { "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: Counterfeiting is a significant and growing problem worldwide, occurring both in less and well developed countries. In the USA economy, the cost of counterfeiting is estimated to be up to $200 billion per year (Chaudhry et al., 2005). Considering the countries worldwide, almost 5 percent of all products are counterfeit, according to the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC, 2005) and the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI, 2003).A number of definitions have been used for product counterfeiting. In this paper, we use the one given by Cordell et al. (1996) and also used by Chaudhry et al. (2005): \"any unauthorized manufacturing of goods whose special characteristics are protected as intellectual property rights (trademarks, patents and copyrights) constitutes product counterfeiting.\"Actions to limit counterfeits can arise from both supply and demand side, considering the tactics companies employ to deter counterfeits (Chaudhry et al., 2005) and the motivations that make a counterfeit an interesting option for some customers (Huang et al., 2004; Ang et al., 2001). Because research addressing counterfeit purchasing from the consumer's perspective is still incipient, especially considering the antecedents of the construct \"attitudes toward counterfeits\", this study focuses on the demand side. The aim is to propose and to test a model that deals with the main predictors of consumer attitudes toward counterfeits and their intentions to buy such products, integrating the main findings existing in the literature.The article is presented in five parts. First, a brief review of the main antecedents and consequences of the consumer attitudes toward counterfeits were examined, resulting in a conceptual model to be tested. Second, valid scales for the constructs considered in the model were identified in the literature. Third, the conceptual model was tested by means of the structural equation modeling. Fourth, a discussion of the main results is presented, comparing findings with previous studies. Finally, the conclusions are presented, including the main contribution of the study and strategies managers can use in order to reduce consumer attitudes toward counterfeits.\nTheoretical background and conceptual model: Consumer attitude toward counterfeits\nBehavioral Intentions: The link attitude-behavioral intentions has been extensively examined in the marketing literature. According to the Theory of Reasoned Action, attitude is positively correlated with behavioral intentions, which in turn is an antecedent of the real behavior (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Indeed, research has found support on this relationship (Kim and Hunter, 1993). In the context of counterfeits, it is expected that:H8: Consumers with more favorable (unfavorable) attitudes toward counterfeits will have more favorable (unfavorable) behavioral intentions toward these products.\nConceptual model: Based on the theoretical background just presented, Figure 1 shows the model proposed and submitted to empirical test.\nMethod: A survey was conducted among consumers in two big Brazilian cities. They were interviewed in the streets close to the points where counterfeited products were being sold. Interviewers were trained by the authors in administrating the survey instrument and were instructed to include in the sample people with different profile, considering age, gender, education and income. A question concerning whether participant had already bought a counterfeited product was also included in the instrument. Data collection was performed both on week and weekend days. A total of 400 individuals answered the survey instrument and were used in the data analysis.Based on the literature, the authors built the survey instrument, using scales that were already validated in previous research. Table I summarizes the items used for each construct, as well as the authors used as reference. Participants answered these items using Likert scales varying from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). Only the scale of behavioral intentions used a different format, with anchors varying from 1 (very unlikely) to 7 (very likely). In this study it was not specified any counterfeited product in particular. Questions considered the expression \"counterfeited products\" in general because the aim at this moment was to assess consumer attitudes toward counterfeited products overall.After data collection, the analysis followed these steps:* descriptive statistics for the scale items and for the demographic variables;* missing values and outliers detection;* linearity between the scale items;* dimensionality using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA);* reliability and validity of the scale items using internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's alpha), as well as composite reliability and average variance extracted as suggested in the measurement literature (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Gerbing and Anderson, 1988); and* estimation of model parameters and interpretation.\nResults: Descriptive analysis\nDiscussion: Although gray market has grown worldwide, research from a demand perspective remains scarce as emphasized by Huang et al. (2004). In order to fill this void, this paper aimed to investigate the key antecedents of consumer attitudes toward counterfeits, as well as the influence of this attitude on the behavioral intentions toward these products. Based on recent marketing literature, this article integrates two conceptual models, one proposed and tested by Huang et al. (2004), who considered price-consciousness, price-quality inference and risk averseness as antecedents of consumer attitudes, and the other proposed by Ang et al. (2001), who considered social factors (i.e. informative susceptibility and normative susceptibility) and personality factors (i.e. value consciousness, integrity and personal gratification) as antecedents of consumer attitudes.The study presented here considered as antecedents a combination of these factors presented above. Two constructs are similar in content when comparing these two models: price-consciousness and value consciousness, meaning the concern for paying lower prices, subject to some quality constraint (Lichtenstein et al., 1993). In their study, Ang et al. (2001) found that consumers who were more value conscious had a more favorable attitude towards piracy than less value conscious consumers. On the other hand, in Huang et al. (2004)'s study, the price-consciousness construct was not significant. In the present research, this construct was not included. It remains, however, as an interesting relationship to be tested in future research. In the sense of combination of factors from both models, subjective norm was considered as representing the social influence. The authors also included a new construct in the model in order to better explain the risk component, which was the risk consumers perceive when they buy a counterfeit. This variable was not considered in either of the two models presented above. Perceived risk is more specific than risk averseness because the former deals with how much risk consumer perceive when s/he buys a counterfeit while the latter indicates only the consumer propensity to take risks overall.Although some constructs had a relative small average variance extracted (e.g., risk averseness) and some of the fit indexes obtained in the model only approximate the desired level (e.g. GFI should be higher than 0.9), 82.5 percent of the variance in the behavioral intentions and 64 percent of the variance in the attitudes could be explained by the variables in the model (i.e. considering Squared Multiple Correlations, SMC for these constructs). These values are rather considerable, especially considering previous research (e.g., in the study by Ang et al., 2001, adjusted R2 was equal to 0.44 for the model predicting purchase intentions).Results from this extended model revealed that perceived risk was the most important variable to predict consumer attitude toward counterfeits, followed by the fact that he/she have bought a counterfeit before or not, subjective norm, integrity, price-quality inference and personal gratification. Consumers who perceived more risk in the counterfeits had unfavorable attitudes toward them, in line with previous research dealing with perceived risk (e.g. Dowling and Staelin, 1994). Those consumers who had already bought a counterfeit had favorable attitude toward it. Those consumers whose relative and friends approve their decision to buy counterfeits have more favorable attitudes, a result convergent with the predictions of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Consumers who considered important values as honesty, politeness and responsibility tended to have a negative attitude toward counterfeits, in accordance with previous research (e.g. Ang et al., 2001, Cordell et al., 1996), but those who seek to have a sense of accomplishment have positive attitudes, different from Ang et al.'s study, which found a positive but non significant effect. Finally, those consumers who considered the price as an indication of quality had more favorable attitudes toward counterfeits, which is contrary to the results found by Huang et al. (2004) and the prediction made in H1. In this case of the price-quality inference, it was hypothesized that consumers considering \"high price, high quality\" and \"low price, low quality\" would have unfavorable attitudes toward counterfeits because of its inferior price. Results suggested that this was not the case, or at least that consumers who are used to buy counterfeits may apply this rule to the gray market in itself (i.e. those counterfeits of inferior price are perceived as low quality and those ones of higher prices as higher quality). This can be an important alternative explanation especially if one considers that 70 percent of the respondents in this study had already bought a counterfeit.Only the construct risk averseness did not have a significant influence on attitudes, which is different from the result presented by Huang et al. (2004). This finding is interesting if one considers that perceived risk was the most important predictor. A possible explanation is the difference in meaning between them and also the easiness with each respondents probably related the perceived risk items to the context of the research, maybe having difficult to do so in the risk averseness items. This difference, however, should be considered in future investigations.Because previous research reviewed did not mention the direct effect of the antecedents of attitudes on purchase/behavioral intentions, one important contribution of this paper is also to show that the significant predictors of attitudes presented above do not have a direct influence on consumer's behavioral intentions, even though attitudes and behavioral intentions are highly correlated in this study. This is an evidence of the mediator role of attitude: the key constructs affect attitudes, which in turn affect behavioral intentions.The relative importance of these predictors can also contribute to the policy makers or managers of international brands who should use the perceived risk as the main appeal in the messages intended to discourage consumption of counterfeits. Another important point is that those consumers who have bought a counterfeit have more favorable attitudes when compared to those who have not. This is a real threat for the original brands, because once consumers experiment the counterfeit, they tend to have a favorable attitude and then have a positive behavioral intentions. The results suggested, however, that this experience does not have a direct effect on behavioral intentions. In this way, it is possible to influence attitudes consumers have toward counterfeits through other variables, for example, by influencing the (negative) perceived social acceptance consumer will have when buying a counterfeit. This would be the practical implication of the significant effect of the construct subjective norm. Another alternative could be trying to influence consumer personality, such as integrity, although this one is more difficult to change, encouraging consumers to consider values as responsibility and honesty in their life. It was found that consumers who attempt to have a sense of accomplishment had more favorable attitudes toward counterfeits. These consumers may consume counterfeits as an opportunity to experiment a product innovation, which can be more salient for electronic products. This could be even more significant for low-income consumers, which can be investigated in future research.In terms of demographic variables, results are convergent with previous research when finding that consumers of counterfeits have more favorable attitudes and behavioral intentions (Ang et al., 2001). This might be a problem for those trying to reduce the counterfeit consumption, because if these consumers are satisfied with the performance of the pirated product, there will be more resistance for attitude change. It was also found that these consumers:* do not use price as a reference of quality;* consider that the reference groups approve their decision to buy counterfeits, which can be viewed as a strategy to reduce cognitive dissonance; and* are not afraid that the counterfeit will not work properly.\nConclusions and suggestions: This research contributes to the existing literature by extending and testing the key antecedents of the consumer attitudes toward counterfeits. It also identifies the relative importance of each antecedent in predicting attitudes. It is argued that these attitudes act as mediator in the relation between the constructs considered and the behavioral intentions. Another contribution is related to the practical implications of this paper, when it considers the strategies managers can use for dealing with the problem of consumers loosing loyalty in the brands and turning into counterfeits.As suggestions for future research, one could test the model presented here in different product categories (e.g. CDs, DVDs, clothes, toys etc) and check for possible differences. It is also recommended that new important variables be included in the model, which can be done by searching for moderators and boundary conditions. This might be the case of consumer involvement with the product, for instance. It should be expected that when consumers are more involved with the product, he/she should be more worried about the buying decision and have a higher risk aversion.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this research is to propose and test a model that integrates the main predictors of consumers' attitude and behavioral intentions toward counterfeits; to help companies understand the main factors influencing consumer behavior toward counterfeits and create effective anti-piracy strategies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - An integrated model is proposed following the studies by Ang et al. and Huang et al. A survey with 400 consumers was conducted in the Brazilian market and the Structural Equation Modeling technique was used to test the hypothesized relationships.\nFindings: - The main contribution of the paper is to show that consumer intentions to buy counterfeited products are dependent on the attitudes they have toward counterfeits, which in turn are more influenced by perceived risk, whether consumers have bought a counterfeit before, subjective norm, integrity, price-quality inference and personal gratification. The paper reinforces the mediator role of attitude in the relationship between these antecedents and behavioral intentions. Moreover, previous experience with counterfeits consumption does not have a direct effect on behavioral intentions, but only an indirect effect through attitude.\nPractical implications: - The paper contributes to inform policy makers and managers of brands about the main predictors of consumer's attitudes toward counterfeits. In this way, ads intended to discourage consumption of counterfeits could use the perceived risk as the main message appeal.\nOriginality/value: - This paper investigates the key antecedents and consequences of consumer attitudes toward counterfeits by integrating and testing two recent models dealing with this subject in the marketing literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Snapshots in time: using real-time evaluations in humanitarian emergencies	[ "Risk management", "International aid", "Disasters", "Aid agencies", "Best practice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nSummary: One of the constraints facing international aid agencies is how to monitor and evaluate within the context of humanitarian emergencies, especially those that are of rapid onset. Given the changing nature of the environment in which agencies work, summative or impact evaluations are often carried out too late for important changes to be made to the programme. Baseline data are often missing or unreliable. The real time evaluation (RTE) has proved to be a critical tool for carrying out a process evaluation during the early days after a disaster has occurred. Although there are several risks associated with the methodology, these are outweighed by the advantages, both immediate and longer-term. This paper looks at the information resulting from a small online survey carried out among evaluation interviewees as well as a desk study commissioned to extrapolate good practice and learning points from nine evaluations carried out by one international organisation over the past three years.\nBackground: A humanitarian emergency has been defined as \"an event or series of events which represents a critical threat to the health, safety, security or wellbeing of a community or other large group of people, usually over a wide area\". Among international humanitarian organisations, it is common to distinguish between natural disasters such as earthquakes (with or without a tsunami), flooding, typhoons, hurricanes and volanic eruptions and complex emergencies that tend to be related to armed conflict and internal or external displacements.A rapid onset humanitarian crisis is often difficult to both monitor and evaluate as the situation changes quickly and it is imperative to address the immediate needs of the affected population. Programme staff will be preoccupied with implementation and lack the time to review progress. Baseline data are often missing or are unreliable. If an evaluation does take place, it is often either ex-post or carried out some time after the immediate implementation when mistakes may have already been made, and it is too late to make changes or to rectify omissions. If an evaluation does take place ex-post, it is often difficult to reconstruct what actually happened, there may be poor documentation and key staff may have already left the programme and may not be contactable (TEC, 2005). Thus there was an obvious gap for a more process-oriented evaluation that would influence programme implementation in \"real time\", as well as contribute to organisational and the wider humanitarian sector learning.Process evaluation has been defined as gathering information on the use of resources (inputs) in a programme, the progress of activities and the way these are carried out (Gosling and Edwards, 2003). It is \"concerned with documentation of project implementation in order to understand how objectives have been achieved and to assist in interpretation of the project outcomes and improvement of project planning\" (Walden and Baxter, 2001). Patton (1986) stresses the use of findings of evaluations and argues the point that evaluation results need to be utilised, otherwise limited time and resources are wasted. The real time evaluation methodology can be considered a type of process evaluation during rapid onset emergencies, having been defined as an exercise \"carried out whilst a programme is in full implementation and almost simultaneously feeds back its findings to the programme for immediate use\"(Sandison, 2003).The concept of Real Time Evaluations (RTEs) became popular in the 1990s with several UN agencies adopting the methodology: UNHCR in 1999 after criticism of their response in Kosovo introduced \"rapid analytical evaluations\" in the early stages of a response. The same year the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/Development Cooperation Directorate (OECD/DAC) recommended carrying out an evaluation during the early response to an emergency in order to assess and to make adjustments accordingly. In 2004, Oxfam carried out the first so-called RTE in Darfur and Chad. An evaluation audit run on these two RTEs found that a more consistent methodology was needed if comparisons were to be made across programmes and a system for learning was to be put in place.As UNHCR has pointed out, an RTE is not \"simply a cut-down version of a conventional humanitarian evaluation\" (UNHCR 2002). It is supposed to be more interactive and should provide instant input into an ongoing programme: the so-called \"snapshot in time.\" The characteristics of an RTE are that it takes place early on during a response; it is usually of about ten days duration; evaluators are often drawn from within the organisation as opposed to external consultants and results are made available before the evaluation team leaves the country during a day of reflection. Limited use is made of secondary data and the emphasis is on process and lesson learning rather than impact. One of the hallmarks of a RTE is that there is a set of pre-determined criteria or benchmarks; against which progress is measured. The five benchmarks used by Oxfam have been adapted from various sources including UNHCR:1. The speed and timeliness of the response will be good relative to other actors, with consideration of emergency preparedness measures in place.2. Relief provided is appropriate to the context, of a quality and scale that would be expected of Oxfam's capacity, and is valued by affected population.3. An effective management structure is in place, and providing clarity and well-communicated decision-making and direction.4. Key support functions are sufficiently resourced, being effectively run. Risks that are being taken are being calculated and documented.5. Relationships are productive and well coordinated, and the organisation is having a positive influence on others.The accepted methodology is that a team of two to four people drawn from different departments within the organisation visits the disaster affected area and carries out interviews with individuals and groups from organisational staff, local partners (non-governmental organsations, local authorties or occasionally other international organisations) as well as, as many representatives of the affected population as possible. The opinions of women and marginalised groups such as ethnic minorities are especially sought even if this means making an extra effort to set up meetings in a venue and at a time that is convenient for them. The findings and conclusions are presented at a day or reflection held in country where staff and occassionally partners are invited to discuss findings and to agree on reccomendations: the so-called results consensus approach (Guba and Lincoln, 1989). The ideal follow-up is for the evaluators to make contact with a programme after several months to find out what use was made of recommendations and which changes were made.The advantages of a RTE over a conventional evaluation are the timing, the usefulnerss and the level of interaction. The timing is the essence as changes to implemmentation need to be made quickly if they are to have an impact. One of the risks with an RTE is that there are limited opportunities for wider consultation especially with representatives of the affected population and important issues can easily be missed. Especially when access is difficult, it is easy to assume that the views of most vocal members of the affected poulation are a true reflection of the whole. It takes a skilled evaluator to ensure that this either does not happen or that the risk is minimised. As the emphasis is on change and internal learning, wider sectoral issues can easily be overlooked. Unlike more conventional summative evaluations, the RTE evaluator should be more facilitative in approach, working along side organisational staff and partners to assist them in making sense of the situation and identifying mutually accepted improvements.This paper looks at one non-governmental agency's experiences with real time evaluations over the past three years using the results from a desk study and an online survey.\nMethodology: The desk study examined all internal RTEs reports from the past three years using the five benchmarks to explore and document commonalities and the enablers and constraints. Only those RTEs that had used the benchmarks were included. At the same time, an online survey was conducted using surveyshack.com. The questionnaire was sent to 50 staff members selected for their participation in an evaluation as interviewees. The response rate was 48 per cent of whom 75 per cent were programme managers. This is important given that these are the people who are responsible for taking up recommendations and for making sure lessons learnt are disseminated widely. It would have been useful to include partner organisations such as national aid agencies but this approach was not possible due to time constraints and the fact that not all of them have internet access.\nFindings: The real time evaluations carried out in the last three years and reviewed in the desk study are as shown in Table I.The online survey\nDiscussion: Real time evaluations have quickly become a favoured tool in the world of emergency response. It could be argued that the advantages outweigh the constraints. However, there is a real danger that other methodologies are dropped in favour of this one tool and it becomes the magic bullet that will be seen to solve all evaluation problems in emergencies.However, the overall conclusion from the desk study was that \"the RTEs have provided a good basis for assessing Oxfam's recent performance in responses to rapid onset emergencies. Furthermore, despite the diversity of circumstances and interventions assessed, the benchmarking approach has allowed the RTEs to paint a fairly consistent picture of strengths and weaknesses in Oxfam's interventions\".The full range of consultation possibilities remains a dilemma. There was little survey consensus as to whether the consultation process was sufficient to gain complete insight into what had happened. Although it was generally felt that \"the methodology is basically sound\", the question was more around \"whether they (methods) cover all the issues that affect the choices.\" Some interviewees felt that more time should be spent with organisational staff before going out to interview members of the affected population so that by first having a \"clear picture\" from the staff, the evaluation team would \"be able to understand why certain things happen one way and not in another way\". This comment highlights the chances of bias being introduced if a less- experienced evaluator is pressured into putting more weight on the opinions of a particular group. Unlike a summative evaluation using randomized groups and a calculated sample size, an RTE relies on the integrity of the implementation team and the evaluators not to introduce deliberate bias. It is very easy for an inexperienced facilitator or indeed any facilitator faced with one or two extremely vocal community members to assume that their opinion is that of the general crowd. Even staff interviewees can repeat gossip or rumours that may be difficult to substantiate.Although there were examples given of changes being made to improve the programme, there was also the feeling that in several cases the RTE was carried out too late in the programme to make much difference. Timing is crucial and the ideal time seems to be around the four-week mark after the disaster has occurred.The day of reflection appears to be the critical component of the RTE methodology considered to be useful by all those involved. In many ways the report becomes secondary - it is a useful documentation of the findings - but the success factor is in the ownership of the findings by the programme team and the commitment to act on them. One difficulty is in the practicalities of having a diverse enough audience if the actual event is held away from the response site as for example in the capital city to maximize the presence of decision-makers. The question of whether to involve local organisations partnering Oxfam has yet to be solved. Although this had happened in one evaluation in Central America, the partner involved was a non-respondent during the online survey and an opportunity to gain a partner perspective on this issue was lost.Involving members of the affected community in the day of reflection was not mentioned by any of the survey respondents as either happening or as desirable for the future, making it possibly too radical a move for most staff to adopt at this moment. One method for mitigating this lack of formal involvement is \"rolling feedback\" with RTE teams giving a rapid debrief of findings to stakeholders in the field before moving on to the next location. This is more than simple courtesy (in an exercise that by its nature can be very extractive) as it gives the team a chance to check findings with informants, and afford them the opportunity to make final comments and offer suggestions for improvements. Indeed anecdotal evidence has shown that stakeholders (especially staff) find the evaluation a good opportunity to take time out from their hectic working day to either give their opinion or simply to \"unload\" some of the frustrations that they feel.\nConclusions: The real time evaluation methodology has proved to be a reliable and useful tool for process evaluation during first stage rapid onset emergencies. However, it is clear, if it does not take place within in the first two months the chances of programmatic changes being made are minimal. There is still the issue of taking organisational learning forward and ensuring that lessons learnt from one response are taken forward in future programmes. It is strongly recommended that a follow-up day of reflection be held four to six months after the RTE in order to assess progress on recommendations and action points. As an RTE does not evaluate impact, an ex-post or summative evaluation is also proposed especially in programmes of a longer duration. A desk study every two years is an invaluable way of comparing results across responses and for keeping alive recurring constraints or recognising those that appear to have seen progress or resolution.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper's aim is to assess the usefulness of the real time evaluation methodology in rapid-onset humanitarian emergencies and to document recurring constraints and lessons learned.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A small online survey was carried out among evaluation interviewees and a desk study was commissioned to extrapolate good practice and learning points from nine evaluations carried out by one international organisation over the past three years.\nFindings: - Given the changing nature of the environment in which agencies work during rapid onset humanitarian emergencies, impact evaluations are often carried out too late for important programme changes to be made. The real time evaluation methodology has proved to be a reliable and useful tool for process evaluation during rapid-onset emergencies. However, it is clear, if it does not take place within the first two months the chances of programmatic changes being made are minimal. There is still the issue of organisational learning and ensuring that lessons learned from one response are taken forward in future programmes. Although there are several risks associated with the methodology, these are outweighed by the advantages, both immediate and longer-term.\nPractical implications: - The findings from these studies has been of value to the organisation but they are also of interest to the wider humanitarian sector struggling with the practicalities of process evaluations in a challenging environment.\nOriginality/value: - Although there are several publications about real time evaluation methodology, this paper is one of the first attempts by a non-UN organisation to critically review evaluation reports and to document the staff opinions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Fusion merges bits of employee down-time into useful blocks: Software enables contact-center workers to help with back-office tasks	[ "Call centres", "Computer software", "Employee development", "Productivity" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Contact-center employees are helping out their back-office colleagues during quiet times of the day when fewer customers are calling.\nWork allocated according to priorities and skills: The work is allocated to an advisor based on the priorities of the outstanding work and the skills of the individual. This ensures that the right work is being done by the right people at the right time.The system also provides the opportunity for contact-center advisors to gain access to the records of outstanding back-office work, while on a call to a customer. This enables them to provide accurate information on where their case is in the process, and when it is likely to be completed. They can even complete it themselves. This improves the customer's experience by managing his or her expectations and reducing future demand.Through the development of the enhanced \"blended environment\" contact-center advisors have more structure in the way that their down-time is managed, and an improved understanding of business requirements and priorities. Identifying this capacity has meant that Fusion can also use the time for training modules to be delivered to the advisor at his or her desk.In addition, turnaround times have improved and an increase in the overall volume of work has been absorbed without the need to recruit more employees.\"The back office is often perceived as a very complex environment to many organizations, as work can arrive through a range of channels to start and feed into multi-stage processes,\" said an eg solutions spokesman. \"Our back-office workforce-optimization tools are designed to handle this complexity, enabling agents to process work in priority order, to achieve service-level agreements irrespective of how or when work arrives. This functionality essentially provides similar capability to that of the automatic call-distributor in contact-center environments, providing a single view of all work to be done, which can then be routed to advisors based on their availability and skills.\"\"The eg solution was the best fit for our requirements and has provided the governance to keep control of the work we deliver both to our back-office and front-office advisors across our three UK sites,\" David Thompson explained.\"The benefits have met our expectations and we have achieved further efficiencies by sending work to advisors who have available capacity. This has helped to reinforce our goal of making all advisors multi-skilled to help to maximize first-contact resolution rates to drive increased customer satisfaction.\"\nDevelopment program for first-level line managers: In a further move designed to improve the management of call-center teams, Fusion recently launched Just ... Leading Our People, a development program for its first-level line managers.The five-month program, designed in-house, comprises workshops, seminars and e-learning. Also, for the first time, Fusion brought in professional actors to help to train team leaders through role-play in such challenging workplace scenarios as how to handle difficult customers and sensitive staff conversations.A further part of the program sees each participant receiving structured feedback from his or her peer group and team, as well as regular mentoring sessions from a senior business manager.Each group is given a business challenge to complete by the end of the program.Dyfrig Jenkins, Fusion's senior manager for training and development, said: \"Just ... Leading Our People provides a framework where line managers can learn and develop their skills. They begin by building strong foundations in self-awareness and then become better skilled at leading the performance of their team, effective coaching and key HR people skills.\"Della Garmory, associate director of Fusion HR and training and development, commented: \"This stretching development program for all our first-level managers is a great opportunity to expand existing skills and capability to help to drive improved performance in line with our business goals.\"Feedback is already very encouraging; everyone is getting something from it. Typical comments from participants include, 'I was unsure what I was going to learn but it has exceeded my expectations' and 'It really allowed me to think about how I influence my surroundings.'\"Established more than 20 years ago, BGL Group has become one become one of the UK's largest personal-lines insurance groups. It provides administration and contact-center services not only for its own brands, but also on behalf of other well-known insurance companies.\nNote: David Pollitt, Human Resource Management International Digest editor, wrote this article.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to describe a computerized system at Fusion, part of the BGL Group, which enables contact-center employees to help out their back-office colleagues during quiet times of the day when fewer customers are calling. It explains that, in a further move designed to improve the management of call-center teams, Fusion recently launched Just...Leading Our People, a development program for its first-level line managers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - It explains the reasons for the two developments, the form they take and the results they have achieved.\nFindings: - It reveals that contact-center advisors have more structure in the way that their down-time is managed, and an improved understanding of business requirements and priorities. In addition, turnaround times have improved and an increase in the overall volume of work has been absorbed without the need to recruit more employees.\nPractical implications: - The paper observes that the back office is often complex, as work can arrive through a range of channels to start and feed into multi-stage processes. It reveals that the software Fusion is using is designed to handle this complexity, enabling agents to process work in priority order, to achieve service-level agreements irrespective of how or when work arrives.\nSocial implications: - It demonstrates how software can help companies to get the most from their existing employees and so, perhaps, avoid having to take on more workers when the volume of work increases.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides the inside story of how two initiatives are helping to improve productivity and efficiency at Fusion.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Financial crisis, oil shock and trade in Asia	[ "Financial crisis", "ARDL approach", "Oil shocks", "Trade flow" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Due to the recent financial crisis, global economic output fell by 0.8 percent in 2009, and national income in the advanced economies dropped by 3.2 percent over the same year (IMF, 2010). The consequent severe downward shift in demand affected the flow of international trade and bore special burden to developing countries (DC), whose export flows were primarily directed toward the advanced and developed economies. According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), levels of international trade fell roughly by 15 percent in 2009 compared to 2008 (McKibbin and Stoeckel, 2009). Not since the Great Depression had such an abrupt decline in trade flows occurred (Cheung and Guichard, 2009). Exports from emerging, oil exporting and other DC dropped by 12 percent in 2009 (IMF, 2010).\n2. Related literature: 2.1 Trade and financial crisis\n3. Methodology: A measure of trade flow is anticipated to be a function of real exchange rate and real foreign output (Y\n4. Empirical results: Yearly data over 1980-2008 period were used to estimate Equation (3) for seven the selected East-West Asian countries namely China, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey regarding their data availability. Data definition and sources of data are cited in the Appendix 1. All the series in Equation (2) appear to contain a unit root in their levels but stationary in their first differences, indicating that they are integrated at order one, i.e. I(1) and visual inspections show no structural breaks in the time series[3].\n5. Conclusion: In this paper we tested the hypothesis in which a complementary relationship between financial crisis and the world oil price would affect Asian countries' trade flows. Accordingly, yearly data over 1980-2008 period were used to estimate export equation based on ARDL approach for seven selected East-West Asian countries, namely China, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In this paper the authors address the questions whether global financial crises cause oil shocks worldwide, then whether such shocks affect trade flows of both oil importing and oil exporting countries of East-West Asia. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore such effects by specifying basically a dynamic export model using data of the Asian economies countries over the period 1980-2008.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An ARDL specification is applied to show the dynamic effects of main determinants, including financial crisis and the world oil price, on the export flows of each country in the sample. The data for financial crisis have been compiled by Hatzius et al. (2010).\nFindings: The results, as a whole, imply that both financial crisis and oil price have a cross-effects on Asian trade flows in the short run, while this effects could not occur in the long run.\nOriginality/value: The goal is to estimate an econometric model of exports to examine how recent crises affect export flows in the selected Asian countries. Different from previous studies in the literature, this paper first explores the interaction between financial crisis and oil shocks and second uses an extended and dynamic export model, based on ARDL approach. The core of the study relies on the question whether a cross-relationship between oil price and financial crisis affects the export flows of the Asian countries: China, Japan, Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Turkey which are both oil importing and exporting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Art galleries in the library	[ "Libraries", "Artists", "Art", "Communities", "Sponsorship", "Galleries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the USA, the federal agency known as the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) defines its mission as follows:\nConnecting with artists in the community: \"The library is an easily accessible community gathering place which makes it an ideal public venue for displaying art\" (Heights Libraries, 2016). Collaborations between libraries and artists will often result in greater visibility for both the library and the artist, and therefore can be translated into an increased user base for libraries in their efforts to expand on traditional services. To further this aim, as in a conventional gallery opening, the library can build into its collaboration with local artists multiple means of publicity, an opening night reception for the artist and multimedia support displays including virtual and augmented reality enhancements to their art exhibits. Using the library's marketing department (or an individual in a smaller setting) and the artist's many connections, the gallery opening and exhibit could potentially draw visitors who have never paid a visit to the library with an opportunity to do so, potentially garnering greater interest in other library programs and services.\nA development opportunity: Sponsorship for an art gallery in the library offers another form of external collaboration that can potentially generate needed financial donations to the library. There are many examples of art galleries in libraries that have been endowed with sponsorship either from individual or corporate donors, thus achieving a funded gallery whose space can be supported well into the future. Such sponsorships can be found in many public and college libraries and can also inspire other donors to give the gift of artworks in all media to serve as a permanent collection that can subsidize the many limited rotating collections on view for a designated period of time. For example, the University of South Alabama hosts the Mary Elizabeth and Charles Bernard Rodning Gallery of Art which is described as:\n\"Open and free to the public\": The wording, \"open and free to the public\" is an important notion in that, at a period in time where many art museums are requiring a steep entry fee, the library can serve the larger community as a free venue for all who wish to view artworks that are not only created by their neighbors, but often, whose subject matter centers around their community, leading to an enhanced level of familiarization and understanding. The library (and in the larger systems, its branches) will be well-aware of its connections with its various communities, and they can tailor its art exhibits accordingly. A general \"call to artists\" can be periodically distributed to the artist community inviting applications to exhibit at the library and ensuring that criteria for exhibiting is provided so that when artists apply, they can be thoroughly familiar with the gallery guidelines for exhibiting.\nSummary: The Brand Library, a public library in Glendale, CA, presents its statement regarding the importance of its art gallery to the community by stating:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to report that the library has recognized the benefit to the community of including art gallery space in the library.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is a literature review and commentary on this topic that has been addressed by professionals, researchers and practitioners.\nFindings: Exposure to art in the library can open and expand worlds that might never have been available to some and can provide the populace with greater access directly in their own community.\nOriginality/value: The value in exploring this topic is to provide libraries that may not have considered including an art gallery in their libraries to consider the possibility of doing so.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The secret weapon in building customer strategy: the Chief Customer Officer	[ "Customer loyalty", "Customer orientation", "Customer satisfaction", "Competitive advantage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nSummary: The Chief Customer Officer is rapidly becoming a powerful force in leveraging unified customer strategies to drive profitable customer behavior and create customer-centric company cultures. Over the past six years the ranks of the CCOs have swelled from 30 to over 300, 25 of which are from Fortune 500 companies such as Oracle, Campbell Soup, Cardinal Health, Cisco, and more. This article shows how to make the CCO successful in your company.\nIntroduction: Customers are savvier and more demanding than ever. Competition is increasing and competitive advantage is fleeting. Once-strong relationships have weakened, and customers faced with an exploding array of choices are easily swayed by competitive offerings at lower prices. How can you possibly stay ahead of this juggernaut? The answer lies in a clear and concise customer strategy, led by a Chief Customer Officer.Customer strategy is the means by which you align yourself with your most profitable customer segments and maximize the value you deliver to and derive from each customer. It incorporates satisfaction, loyalty, and customer experience as tools that can be used to varying degrees with each desirable customer segment. A customer strategy cuts across functional boundaries and examines customer needs and behaviors holistically across all touchpoints. To be effective, it requires an executive-level customer champion.Just like the CEO, CMO, and COO are uniquely accountable for shareholder value, market awareness, and operations, the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is uniquely accountable for driving profitable customer behavior and creating a customer-centric culture by leveraging in-depth customer insight to drive corporate strategy.Based on conversations with more than 50 Chief Customer Officers from around the world over a six-year period, it is clear that the CCO role is gaining traction and fast becoming a powerful force. CEOs and the boards of companies large and small hire a CCO for three primary reasons:1. address chronic customer crises;2. create sustainable competitive advantage; and3. protect and retain existing customers.There are an increasing number of different types of CCOs, each with different objectives, measures, and deliverables that must be considered before hiring a CCO.Over the past six years, a number of CCOs have been hugely successful, whereas others have not. This research identifies the most critical success criteria and resources that must be in place for the CCO to be successful.\nEvolution of customer strategy: The notion of \"customer focus\" is evolving from being \"nice to have\" to mission-critical. Past literature is replete with companies punished for developing products in a vacuum without customer input and which ultimately failed Many (but not all) companies now regularly incorporate customer feedback in product development.Customer focus as triage\nThe evolution of the CCO: Six years years ago there were fewer than 20 people in the world with the relatively obscure title of Chief Customer Officer. These included a small handful of trailblazers including Marissa Peterson of Sun Microsystems, Doug Allred of Cisco, and Jeff Lewis of Monster.com. Since then, Predictive Consulting Group has been publishing a semi-annual report of Executive Level Customer Champions that summarizes roles, responsibilities, and key success metrics and has been instrumental in the definition, selection, and success of numerous Chief Customer Officers.There are now more than 300 officially titled Chief Customer Officers in the world and hundreds more serving the same purpose but without the formal title. The role is evolving dramatically and spectacularly, with some particularly impressive results.In 2008, the Predictive Consulting Group began interviewing these CCOs, and this article is based on more than 50 direct interviews of CCOs from companies like Oracle, Cisco, SAP and numerous other mid- and small-cap companies.CCO role is crucial to customer strategy\nExamining the CCO role: Within the C-Suite, each executive is uniquely accountable to a specific audience and for specific, measurable results. The CEO is accountable for shareholder value, the CFO for financial performance, the CMO for marketing awareness and VP of Sales for quarterly revenue. In this traditional model, there is no accountability for increased customer value - nobody owns customer relationships, nor does anyone own the task of growing the value of the customer franchise. In the absence of ownership and accountability, it becomes nobody's job.Jeff Lewis, the former CCO of Monster.com said, \"To be successful in delivering real customer value, a company needs to hold accountable a senior executive who can affect operations and strategy across operational silos\".The CCO role defined\nDifferent types of CCOs: The CCO role has matured significantly in the past six years. CCOs used to have discrete job functions and could be classified into one of three types:1. Service Driver, measured according to service revenue and customer retention efforts;2. Sales Driver measured on revenue/new account growth; and3. Generalist, with a dual focus on both acquisition and retention.In recent years the role has become more complex. The demarcation between the discreet types is blurring, with more CCOs leveraging customer insight to drive unified customer strategy through both acquisition and retention efforts. CCOs can be classified according to two axes as shown in Figure 1. The horizontal axis represents the split of responsibility between customer acquisition and retention activities, particularly those measured by the specific performance indicators they are held accountable for. The vertical axis classifies type of positional and organizational authority.Line authority\nCreating the Chief Customer Officer: There are a number of considerations a CEO and Board must make in creating the CCO role, namely the type, reporting structure, and support necessary for success.Determining the right type of CCO\nConclusion: The Chief Customer Officer is a powerful asset that can help resolve chronic customer issues, create sustainable competitive advantage, help retain profitable customers, and drive profitable customer behavior through the effective customer strategy. The CCO is also the most well suited to create customer-centric culture. Creating the role is a serious undertaking and executives must be firmly committed to supporting the role vocally and visibly to ensure the CCO has the authority and credibility that is necessary for success. May we all enjoy greater customer success that results in pronounced business growth.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper articulates the significant value of the role of the Chief Customer Officer, namely in the CCO's ability to create and leverage customer strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper offers a view of the evolution of the CCO over six years based on recently completed in-depth interviews with more than 50 CCOs at Fortune 500, mid-cap, and smaller companies.\nFindings: - The article describes the three most common reasons why CEOs hire Chief Customer Officers. The CCO role is evolving and rapidly increasing in complexity, defying simple categorization that was possible six years ago. CCOs can be classified in two dimensions according to their customer accountability and the organizational authority of their role. CCOs share three common goals: drive profitable customer behavior, create a customer-centric culture, and driver corporate and customer strategy. Also discussed are the most critical factors that must be in place to ensure CCO success.\nResearch limitations/implications: - While the sample size of 50 out of 300 is representative, the CCO role is evolving quickly and is adapted as necessary within each company to fit the specific organizational needs.\nOriginality/value: - The majority of the material is new. This research begins to codify the most critical factors in the CCO role to provide structure for CEOs and Boards considering installing a CCO. CCOs should evaluate their key performance indicators to ensure they are tied to profitability so as to better justify and defend their value. Growth companies must bear in mind the need to migrate the CCO from line ownership to process ownership to properly manage complexity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The careers of university professional staff: a systematic literature review	[ "HPWS", "Higher education", "Systematic review", "CSMB", "Hybrid careers", "Professional staff" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It has been suggested that globalisation has led to a move from a paternalistic society towards an individualised society where risk is now distributed to individuals and where individuals are required to embrace it as part of what Rawolle et al. (2017) refer to as \"responsibilisation and individualisation\". Rawolle et al. (2017) argue that responsibilisation is now connected to contractualism in higher education (HE) as a governance mechanism for mediating risk through three forms of contract: paternal, market and relational. The market form has been a driving force for recent changes in HE in western countries. New-public management introduced in the 1980s led to cuts to university grants and predicted changes in management structures due to a loss of confidence in professional and local accountability (Temple, 2014). Consequent changes to funding models, increased marketisation and governments' desire to increase participation to the 50 per cent mark have had a significant impact on HE employee relations, including a reduction of the power of campus unions, poorer terms and conditions and the opening of the labour market (Roper et al., 2010).\nCareers: A career is \"the individually perceived sequence of attitudes and behaviors associated with work-related experiences and activities over the span of the person's life\" (Hall, 1976, p. 12). Technological innovations, organisational restructures, financial crises and myriad other changes have all had a significant impact on the context in which careers are enacted. In a time when there is increasing diversity in approaches to careers, and evidence of \"new career orientations\" (Kostal and Wiernick, 2017, p. 520) which focus on individual agency, questions remain about the interface between individual aspirations and organisational offerings (Akkermans and Kubasch, 2017). Individual agency, by definition, must be constrained by the organisational context. New patterns of careers - post-corporate, nomadic, kaleidoscopic and portfolio - have been the subject of recent reviews (Baruch et al., 2015), but the work of Baruch and Vardi (2016) and others (e.g. Clarke, 2013) suggests that there is still room for the traditional career. While individuals may be becoming more protean (Hall, 1976), and career systems boundaryless (Tolbert, 1996), it appears that individuals still look for security and stability, and some organisations still seek to manage careers systematically. Better understanding of contemporary career patterns within particular contexts is needed if we are to understand the impact of commonly researched career topics, including career success, career decision making, employability and career attitudes (Akkermans and Kubasch, 2017).\nApproach: There are relatively few systematic literature reviews (SLR) in the field of careers in management journals (see e.g. Baruch et al., 2015), although they are becoming more common in the last few years (see e.g. Baruch and Rousseau, 2019). A recent meta-analysis undertaken by Kostal and Wiernick (2017) specifically focussed on demographic differences in career orientations, across 74 samples, contributing a unique perspective to the literature, while adding to the understanding that more research is required.\nData analysis: Before data analysis, a quality assessment was undertaken using a modified version of the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP, 1998). This tool includes questions such as \"is the [...] methodology appropriate to the research aims/questions?\", and \"was the data analysis sufficiently rigorous?\" Quality assessments were recorded for all 23 articles and considered part of the analysis, although articles were not excluded based on this assessment alone (see Table I).\nProfile of included articles: Geography\nEnablers and barriers - institutional and individual: Rigorous thematic analysis, including clustering of subthemes and cross checking of terms and concepts between authors, identified a series of enablers and barriers that influence career development and progression. Career enablers were conceptualised as structural opportunities put in place by the institution at policy or developmental level. At the individual level, enablers were deemed to be practical- and self-management skills employed proactively for career management including setting goals and objectives or becoming a mentee. Career barriers were considered to be social factors that have an impact at either institutional or individual levels. Table II provides a summary of these, including examples of where these themes appear in the articles included in this review.\nDiscussion: In the HE sector, there is an intersection between HPWS and CSMB at which a reciprocal relationship must operate in order to meet the needs of the hybrid career - where elements of both traditional and contemporary career needs are met.\nLimitations and future research: Literature reviews are never complete and we are never completely objective in the choices in the search, inclusion and exclusion criteria, although the systematic procedure seeks to reduce this subjectivity (Pickering and Byrne, 2014). We acknowledge that only articles in English were included in the final selection leading to a bias, considering, for example, the extensive HE system in China that is very different from a UK, USA or Australian perspective. Even within our results, there was only one article from a country with an HE system different to the contexts described in all of the other papers (Turkey), therefore the conclusions drawn here may not be applicable to this jurisdiction. The inclusion of so many papers from the USA may lead to a question of the generalisability of results. Additionally, we have possibly missed interesting sources of data such as dissertations and conference papers restricting our search to journal articles. The use of some keywords, especially related to the participant cohort we were interested in, could have resulted in missed papers due to different terminology.\nConclusion: This paper addresses a call by Akkermans and Kubasch (2017, p. 612) on the \"comeback\" of context and presents the first SLR examining the careers of professional staff in universities. Specifically, it has identified that the particular labour market operating within HE influences the opportunities for upward mobility, thereby necessitating institutions to take responsibility for developing initiatives to support internal career pathways.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Human capital is a key component of the success of organisations, and career development of staff is a vital component to both increasing and retaining human capital. Universities are no different, their people are key to their mission. There has been limited rigorous study of the careers of professional staff in the academy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review methodology resulted in a review of 23 articles dedicated to research on careers of professional staff in higher education (HE). Thematic analysis identified a series of enablers and barriers that influence career development and progression.\nFindings: Career enablers and barriers have been found to exist at both the institutional and individual levels. Within the HE context, professional staff have a hybrid career mindset, desiring traditional and more contemporary career factors, leading to a reciprocal relationship between the organisation and the individual.\nResearch limitations/implications: There is a need for future research to investigate the hybrid career mindset, and the reciprocal relationship, both to add depth to understanding of careers for professional staff in universities, and to examine this in other settings.\nPractical implications: Universities may need to consider ways to integrate institutional support for high performance work systems (HPWS) with opportunities for professional staff, while individuals may need to consider adopting career self-management behaviours (CSMB) to fit their hybrid mindset.\nOriginality/value: This review has highlighted organisations and individuals will benefit if the relationship between HPWS and CSMB is better understood for the hybrid career mindset.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Who is applying for this job? The pros and cons of anonymous applications	[ "Gender", "Anonymous job applications", "Managers", "Discrimination" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nWhen first impressions do not count enough: In many walks of life, opening impressions remain hugely significant. Perceptions formed at the outset often go a long way to determining what follows. Almost without exception, people naturally strive to create a positive initial impact on others.\nGender inequality and recruitment: Evidence suggests that the position of women is especially precarious in these situations. For sure, female applicants might boast the right credentials for the specific job. But this can count for little in the face of the gender stereotypes which continue to influence how a number of recruiters think. Various assumptions continue to prevail whereby women are perceived for their nurturing qualities and hence ideally suited to family responsibilities. In contrast, their competence and dedication in the workplace is often doubted.\nAre anonymous applications the way forward?: On the face of things, anonymity in this context represents a massive step in the right direction. Taking overt identity cues out of the equation should ensure a level-playing field for all job applicants. Somewhat intriguingly though, the move thus far appears to have generated mixed results. Certain studies have found women's prospects to increase, while concealing gender has made the situation worse for them in other cases. And in a trial held in France, plans to enforce anonymity requirements were reversed when minorities were found to be seriously disadvantaged.\nComment: The review is based on \"Does anonymising job applications reduce gender bias?: Understanding managers' perspectives\", by Foley and Williamson (2018), published in Gender in Management: An International Journal. Use of gendered stereotypes continues to impede the progress of women in the workplace. Many firms have addressed the issue by making job applications anonymous. However, desired effects are not always forthcoming and biases can become even likelier to emerge.\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: Use of gendered stereotypes continues to impede the progress of women in the workplace. Many firms have addressed the issue by making job applications anonymous. However, desired effects are not always forthcoming and biases can become even likelier to emerge.\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" } ]
Media analysis: what is it worth?	[ "Information media", "Pricing", "Professional services" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Many organizations routinely scan the media to discover what is being said about them. Because these media reports are often accompanied by only a minimal explanation of what this means, managers are left wondering what to do with the information. The clips circulate through top management to be \"seen and noted\" before being ignored. Thus, many users and service providers undervalue the potential contribution that good media analysis can provide.\nProblem and solution media analysis: Media analysis targeted to understanding a particular problem can help to save costs, protect revenues, and provide insights into the effectiveness of marketing and public relations campaigns. The data we use to illustrate these effects are four case studies. In each case the basic facts are accurate but the company's name and other circumstantial details have been changed in accordance with the non-disclosure agreements that the second author's media analytics firm has with its clients.BevCo and financial reporting\nThe value of media analysis: Each of the case studies suggests that the value derived by the client is likely to be considerably higher than the costs of the service provider. For example, benefits include:1. 1 For BevCo, the influential analysts:* Identification of the key opinion leaders;* substantial savings of time and direct costs from briefing fewer analysts;* a better appreciation of how the company's \"PR speak\" affected confidence and expectations of the key opinion leaders about the company; and* increased confidence of the communications and treasury managers that they were working smarter rather than harder.1. For ElecCo, the feral salespeople:* reaffirmation of the quality of the two new products and the effectiveness of the launch marketing campaign such that unnecessary expensive changes were not made; and* a better appreciation of the how stock levels and salesperson commission plans can derail the success of a \"better\" new product; a significant increase in sales.1. For FinCo, a new market position where:* millions of dollars of financial value was created with this IPO and even if the new position of the company played only a minor role in this, it would still be worth many tens of thousands of dollars; and* the career prospects and \"bragging rights\" of the managers involved in this very successful IPO would be considerable.1. For eStockCo, media analysis informs survey results:* because trust is one of the key success factors for an internet company, understanding how this can be undermined and restored is vitally important to attaining and retaining customers;* limitations of the current customer sentiment surveys were highlighted; and* an opportunity was identified for the company to position itself as a \"thought leader.\"What is interesting about all the outcomes and financial value created through this problem and solution analysis is that they would persist over a number of years. And, the reputations of the managers involved in these projects would also be enhanced. Thus, there was considerable corporate and personal value created for the companies and their managers. The challenge for media analytics companies conducting this type of research is to capture more of this value through its pricing. The benefit to the buyers of giving some of this value to these firms is that they will innovate to improve this type of service.Problem and solution media analysis stands in contrast to the more routine varieties of salience and sentiment and theme and contradiction analysis. When organizations compete by having a high profile then measures of salience and sentiment are valuable, especially when compared to one's competitors. When organizations rely on the media to lead opinion about their products, services or capabilities, then measures of communication themes and contradictions are valuable to guide future communication. Unless each type of analysis is accompanied by an insightful commentary from the analyst (as opposed to a clippings file), neither type of media profile readily supports a value-in-use pricing approach.As noted earlier, a good way to look at the value of any type of media analysis is through the lens of pricing. That is, how much should the service provider charge for this analysis? And, what is the maximum amount that the client should be prepared to pay for the insights provided? With hindsight both questions are easier to answer than at the time of engagement. However, even at this time a couple of pricing principles are operative.First, the service provider needs to make a profit. Second, the client should be prepared to pay something less than the risk-adjusted value created. At the time of engagement, the commercial value of potential new insights, cost savings or revenue opportunities will need to be discounted by the likelihood that the analysis will find something that helps the client deal with their problem. This discount rate will be a function of the past track record of the analytics company and the rigor of their methodology.This pricing approach is known as \"economic value to the customer\" or \"value-in-use\" pricing. Interestingly, for most business-to-business products and services it is not used. Rather, some form of cost-plus and/or competitor-oriented pricing is the norm (Lilien and Rangaswamy, 2003). Pricing experts argue that when the value created by the buyer from the product or service acquired is not factored into the price of what is sold, money is left on the table by the seller (see, for example, Holden and Burton, 2008). Why this frequently occurs for sellers is that cost and/or competitor style pricing is simple to devise, easy to implement, safe to use, and perceived as fair by many customers. Also, it puts fewer burdens on the sales people to know the value they are creating for their customers or to be good negotiators. Many buyers also like it because they are better negotiators than the service provider.In the field of media analytics, cost-plus pricing is common. Over the last decade, to maintain reasonable gross margins, many firms now heavily rely on text analysis computer software to analyze their media feedstock. And, when buyers know the prices of similar work from other media analytic firms, the argument prevails that it is too hard to use value-in-use pricing. With this mindset, much of the routine media analysis bought by companies around the world is effectively commoditized, and then treated as such inside the client organization.However, the problem with chasing margins through the use of more and more computer automation is that no computer program can really understand the nuances of the human language. Yes, it can identify the relative amount of positive and negative sentiment, but not what was really meant by the author. Smart humans are needed for this. And smart human analysis of anything is not a commodity to be priced at cost-plus.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Now more than ever, businesses need to understand what the media is saying about them. The authors describe three types of media analysis: salience and sentiment analysis; theme and contradiction analysis; and problem and solution analysis, the first two of which are routinely commissioned by many companies. Using four case studies the authors describe how problem and solution analysis can be used to save costs and increase revenues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Four case studies are used to illustrate the financial value that problem and solution media analysis can play in understanding and solving a range of business problems.\nFindings: - The authors show how the analysis of media commentary helped a public company to identify its most influential investment commentators; helped an appliance manufacturer to change its sales force compensation scheme; helped a financial services company to position its IPO; and helped an internet-based share trading company to understand some conflicting research results. The financial value of these outcomes often far exceeded the price paid.\nOriginality/value: - The authors compare and contrast three styles of media analytics. The review suggests that the problem and solution analysis technique is novel and financially valuable in situations where media coverage creates problems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Information and experience, a dialogue	[ "Cognition", "Philosophy", "Aesthetics", "Literature", "Experience", "Epistemology", "Phenomenology", "Philosophy of Information" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: On the heels of calls for further research into the outcomes of information seeking (Case and O'Connor, 2016; Kari, 2007), scholars within information science have, in recent years, become interested in information experience (Bruce et al., 2014; Latham, 2014). However, it remains unclear how research into information experience fits within the broader disciplinary structure of information science and consequently how findings from information experience can further the aims of information science.\nA lunchtime encounter: Epistemologist: What's that you're reading?\nTwo kinds of truth and knowledge: E: But that's not information. It's emotion - feeling.\nAesthetics, understanding and information: E: And you think you've got a way to, well, uncover it, as it were? This baked-in-ness?\nThe value of studying experience: E: That's all well and good, philosophically. But what's the point of it for information science? They're very practical people, information scientists. They've got no patience for idle philosophizing. I mean, epistemology - there's a very clear link there: Information contributes to knowledge (or understanding, if you like). Information science is interested in knowledge as it is externalized, classified, organized. But aesthetics? This notion of experience?\nApproaching aesthetic inquiry: E: So, how would you propose to make an analogous kind of discovery for information science?\nA sense of an ending: A: Speaking of quantification - which relies on the reduction of whole into parts - I'm reminded of an essay the author Mario Vargas Llosa (2001) wrote. It relates back to what I said earlier, about novels enriching life. It's nonfiction, so perhaps you'd like it. Vargas Llosa argues that the wholeness of literature is the perfect antidote to the increasing specialization and fragmentation of modern science, technology and scholarship, precisely because of the role of human experience in literature. It instills in us empathy and allows us to experience other lives. Literature is radical, and it allows us to ask radical questions about our society - the radical of change. For instance, reading about splendor within literature can make us dissatisfied with our menial lives and give us the courage to effect change to enact that splendor in reality.\nConclusion: Over the course of this discussion, the Epistemologist and the Aestheticist have discussed many topics germane to information science: truth, which is an element of Floridi's (2011) definition of information; knowledge, which has long been taken as the epistemic aim of information (Bosancic, 2016); understanding, which has been proposed as an alternative epistemic aim of information (Bawden and Robinson, 2016); human experience, and more. Though E and A belong to what might be called opposing camps, the two seem to have found a common framework in which to conceptualize their diverse projects of inquiry in information science: The key is in recognizing the pathic, emotional and inceptual (Van Manen, 2014) side of truth, information and knowledge; and that it is the concept of understanding that brings together the gnostic and the pathic. This provides a concrete grounding for further study into the human experience of information, and it gestures toward a path for that research to move the field as a whole forward.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Scholars in information science have recently become interested in \"information experience,\" but it remains largely unclear why this research is important and how it fits within the broader disciplinary structure of information science. The purpose of this paper is to clarify this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The discussion unfolds in the form of a philosophical dialogue between the Epistemologist, who represents the traditional and majority epistemological viewpoint of information science, and the Aestheticist, representing the emerging paradigm of experiential information inquiry.\nFindings: A framework emerges that recognizes dual conceptualizations of truth (veritas and aletheia) and consequently information and knowledge (gnostic and pathic). The epistemic aim of understanding is revealed as the common ground between epistemology and aesthetics.\nOriginality/value: The value of studying human experiences of information is grounded in work spanning philosophy, psychology and a number of social science methodologies, and it is contextualized within information science generally. Moreover, the dialogic format of this paper presents an opportunity for disciplinary self-reflection and offers a touch of heart to the field.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Facilities management service and customer satisfaction in shopping mall sector	[ "Facility management service", "Customer satisfaction", "Service quality", "Shopping mall", "Shopping centres", "China", "Shops (buildings)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Facilities management (FM) is a term that encompasses a variety of activities to effectively manage built assets and deliver services (Amaratunga, 2000). Early FM emphasises \"hardware\" such as buildings, furniture, and equipments (Becker, 1990), and neglects strategic orientation and \"bottom-line emphasis\" (Nourse, 1990). However, later researchers come to realize that FM should also include \"software\" such as environment, space, human resource, support services, health and safety (Alexander, 1996; Then, 1999). Researchers also recommend that FM should be operated strategically and use multi-faceted approach to enhance FM suppliers' performance (Nutt, 2000; Tay and Ooi, 2001). On the other hand, good property management service has a significant and positive relationship on property prices (Hui et al., 2011)FM performance assessment is important for FM suppliers to refine their market strategies. Traditionally, FM uses cost as the only indicator to measure service performance (Tranfield and Akhlaghi, 1995). Pitt and Hinks (2001) point out that FM is usually entertained as a management of cost-efficiency rather than an art to achieve multi-dimensional enhancement of competitiveness (see also Noor and Pitt, 2009). Using cost-only approach to assess FM service performance may lead to the consequence that FM simply becomes a commodity service bought at the lowest price from non-differentiated suppliers (Loch, 2000). This measurement method only pays attention to the competitive positions of FM suppliers but ignoring the unique needs of customers (Shaw and Haynes, 2004). Researchers argues that FM service should be reformed to be customer-focused and be able to provide high-quality and cost-effective service to support customers in meeting their core objectives (Shaw and Haynes, 2004; Rondeau et al., 2006). It is now widely accepted that service quality and customer satisfaction are two core concepts that are central to marketing theory and practice (Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). Service quality and customer satisfaction are two relative but distinct concepts. Van Ree (2010) clarifies that service quality is a long-term overall evaluation, whereas customer satisfaction is a transaction-specific assessment, he further argues that service quality is an antecedent of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction could reflect the difference between perception and expectation of service quality. Therefore, a higher level of perceived service quality would lead to a higher level of customer satisfaction (see Parasuraman et al., 1988 and Van Ree, 2010).In today's world with high competition, the key for service companies to maintain sustainable competitive advantage and customer loyalty is to deliver high quality service and achieve customer satisfaction (e.g. Shemwell et al., 1998; Shaw and Haynes, 2004). The same can be applied to FM suppliers, who also face the challenge of high competition in current market. Hong Kong is characterised by service based economy with the service sector accounting for more than 90 per cent of Hong Hong's GDP (HKRMA, 2001). Hong Kong is also well known as a shopping paradise. Retail industry is the most important service industry in Hong Kong and it contributes to about 28 per cent of Hong Kong's GDP in 2010 (HKRMA, 2001). It is conceivable that the shopping mall sector becomes essential and vital in Hong Kong by providing space and facilities for retail transaction activities. Besides, excellent service is one of the most important attributes of Hong Kong's retail industry, and the quality of service depends on both direct service provided by each shop and indirect service delivered by FM companies. In order to successfully attract retailers and satisfy consumers, high quality facility management should be provided in the shopping mall sector to create a good shopping environment. This study aims to investigate how overall customer1 satisfaction is influenced by perceived FM service quality regarding the shopping mall sector in Hong Kong.In this study, questionnaire surveys are continuously conducted from 2006-2010 in five large shopping malls to evaluate customers' satisfaction level on FM service in terms of nine dimensions as well as their overall satisfaction level toward FM service. The data are analysed by hierarchical regression analysis method. This study delivers useful implications for FM companies who are willing to provide higher service quality and improve customer satisfaction. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The next section presents a brief review of service quality, customer satisfaction and FM studies regarding the two issues. Section 3 describes the questionnaire survey and data set. Section 4 discusses the estimation results of panel regression and stepwise regression of the survey data. The last section concludes the paper.\n2. Literature review: Service quality\n3. Data collection and description: In this study, we aim to capture the performance of FM service in both cross-sectional and longitudinal dimensions. This research fills the gap of existing literature which looks at FM service with only cross-sectional data. To enlarge the sample size, we selected five large shopping malls (coded as A, B, C, D and E) with over 650 shops of different retail business types (see Table I). These five shopping malls are among the most representative malls, in terms of size and shop profile, in Hong Kong. Therefore, potential selection bias is controlled and it is feasible to synthesize scores of different dimensions. Specifically, questionnaire surveys were conducted annually for those five shopping malls during 2006 to 2010. The questionnaire was pilot-tested to verify the validity of the questions being used and gauge the likely feedbacks from respondents (i.e. stakeholders, facilities managers and tenants). For each of the past five years, a full scale survey was conducted covering all tenants of the selected shopping malls.Specifically, the questionnaire contains 37 regular questions, which assess satisfaction level toward nine dimensions of FM service (please refer to the list in the Appendix for details about this questionnaire). These nine satisfaction dimensions are specified as follows: Property Management Officers (PMO), Management and Maintenance of Communal Facilities (MMCF), Cleaning Staff and Cleanliness (CSC), Wash Room (WR), Promotion (PRO), Property Management Services (PMS), Security Guard (SG), Security Services (SS), Management of Common Areas (MCA). One extra question (i.e. Overall Property Management Services, OPMS) is introduced to gauze the overall satisfaction of FM service4. All the questions are rated on one to five-point scale (i.e. very unsatisfactory, unsatisfactory, average, satisfactory and very satisfactory respectively). A total of 3204 self-administered questionnaires were sent to all tenants of five selected shopping malls in Hong Kong during 2006-2010. The demographic profiles of the shopping malls are shown in Table I. Self-addressed Business Mail return envelopes were provided to the respondents for returning the completed questionnaires. 1352 of questionnaires were completed and returned. The overall response rate is around 42 per cent. Details of the response rate for each year are illustrated in Figure 1 and Table I. Table II briefly demonstrates the overall customer satisfaction level of each shopping mall. Generally, the integrated scores of customer satisfaction are centralized at around 4.0. It is worth noting that the overall satisfaction rates continuously increase each year at an average rate of 2.94 per cent. Due to the limited observations of each year, we first calculate the average scores of each dimension in every questionnaire, and we further use these average scores to estimate the coefficients between OPMS and other dimensions. This process will also reduce the heteroscedasticity of variables to some extent. Table AI in the Appendix provides the Pearson correlations between OPMS and the nine specific dimensions for each year, which confirms the significant and positive relations between OPMS and the nine dimensions.\n4. Stepwise multiple linear regression: Stepwise multiple linear regression method is employed to identify which dimensions of FM service have the most significant impact on overall customer satisfaction. Stepwise regression excludes variables that have insignificant impact on the dependent variable as well as identifies variables that exert significant influence on the dependent variable. Technically, stepwise regression starts with selecting the variable that has highest correlation with the dependent variable. Then it follows the principle that variables producing the greatest R2 change with suitable significance level (generally lower than 0.05) are added to the regression equation, and variables producing smallest R2 change are removed if the significance level is higher than 0.10 (Stern, 2010). In this study, five rounds of stepwise regression are separately conducted to analyse the longitudinal survey data.\n5. Results: In this study, estimations of multiple regressions for each year are performed with SPSS software. The results summarised in Table III indicate that critical FM service dimensions with regard to OPMS vary largely from year to year. Specifically, in 2006, dimensions of PMO, MMCF and CSC significantly contributed to OPMS and accounted for 45.2 per cent variance of OPMS. It is noticed that overall customer satisfaction was sensitive to more dimensions in the following two years of 2007 and 2008. In 2007, four dimensions (i.e. MMCF, WR, PRO and PMS) were identified to be critical to OPMS and they explained 55.5 per cent of variance for OPMS. In 2008, up to five dimensions (i.e. MMCF, PMO, SS, PMS, and PRO) were found to significantly impact OPMS and they together account for 55.9 per cent of variance for the dependent variable. Then in 2009, only 41 per cent of variance was explained by three critical dimensions of MMCF, WR and MCA. When it came to 2010, four significant dimensions (CSC, PMS, WR, MMCF) were identified and accounted for 43.1 per cent of variance for OPMS.Figure 2 provides a visual comparison regarding the time-varying impact of each dimensions on overall satisfaction. Though critical FM service dimensions change every year, several dimensions are frequently identified to have significant impact on OPMS. Therefore, quality of those service dimensions should be particularly emphasised in order to improve overall customer satisfaction on FM service delivery. It is noted that MMCF is a critical service dimension to OPMS in each of the five years. It is also the most significant dimension showing the highest path coefficient with OPMS in two years (i.e. 0.347 with p<0.001 in 2007; 0.323 with p<0.001 in 2008). The dimensions of WR and PMS exert significant impact on OPMS in three years. For PMS, the path coefficients show an increasing trend of in recent years (i.e. from 0.114 with p<0.05 in 2007 to 0.223 with p<0.01 in 2010). Besides, PMO, CSC, and PRO are identified to be critical dimensions in two years.\n6. Implications: The results from longitudinal comparison provide useful implications for FM firms in delivering their services to shopping malls and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. First, FM firms should ensure that communal facilities (e.g. elevators, escalators, central air-conditioning system, and supply of electricity) are well managed and maintained to avoid causing any inconvenience to customers. Second, FM firms should pay attention to the environment of washrooms. This study shows clear evidence that customer satisfaction is highly associated with management of washrooms in terms of cleanliness, security level, usability of washroom facilities, etc. Third, FM firms should provide adequate communication channels to customers so that customers can easily express their opinions. Considering end users' needs is always the key to maintain high customer satisfaction. Fourth, property management officers should show good manner in dealing with customers' requirements. For instance, they should be courteous to customers, respond quickly to tenants' requests, and handle complaints in an effective and efficient way. Fifth, FM firms should ensure a clean and comfortable environment in the shopping malls, e.g. the floor is regularly waxed, and pest control is performed in the common areas. Regarding their cleaning staff, suitable occupational health and safety training could be provided to them so that they would work properly. In addition, FM should attach much importance on the quality of promotion (e.g. festival decoration, promotion events). This is because suitable promotion plays an important role in attracting consumers, who are vital and essential to tenants' business.\n7. Conclusions: FM is a relatively new and fast developing profession in the service industry. The quality of FM service plays an important role in the overall service performance of shopping mall. This study empirically investigates the relationships between overall perceived customer satisfaction and satisfaction concerning nine FM service dimensions with a five-year longitudinal survey, which aims to reveal how the variations of the overall satisfaction can be attributed to different variations in the satisfaction of each specific dimension. It is worth noting that the average customer satisfaction scores increase continuously from 3.85 (2006) to 4.05 (2010) with an annual growth rate of 2.94 per cent. This result suggests that the FM companies are successful in fulfilling clients' satisfaction, which is crucial for service based business. In addition, we identify that FM service dimensions contributing to OPMS change over the years. We also identify several critical dimensions to which the overall customer satisfaction of FM service is sensitive. These results imply that FM providers could effectively improve customer overall satisfaction by enhancing the satisfaction level of those critical dimensions. In addition, this longitudinal study offers valuable FM findings for shopping malls, and complements other previous studies on the residential sector in Hong Kong (e.g. Hui and Zheng, 2010). This research offers implications for research and practice in many ways. First, it can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the customer services by the Facilities Management Department. Second, it also helps formulate strategic plans and tactics to improve customer services of the Department in particular, and similar/relevant organisational practices in a wider context, according to the results rendered by the study. Finally, the research findings shed light on benchmarking customer services in various groupings locally and internationally.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze crucial facilities management (FM) service dimensions that affect customer satisfaction with regards to the shopping mall sector, and provide useful implications for FM companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is based on a five-year longitudinal customer satisfaction survey conducted in five selected shopping malls in Hong Kong. The authors first use stepwise multiple regression method to estimate the relationship between overall customer satisfaction level and nine specific dimensions of FM service for each year, and then compare regression results of five years to identify crucial dimensions.\nFindings: - The research reveals that: management and maintenance of communal facilities is the most crucial dimension with regard to the overall customer satisfaction; the condition of a washroom is another important dimension for customer satisfaction; communication efficiency and efficacious promotion events are also important for maintaining customer satisfaction.\nOriginality/value: - This paper presents a longitudinal quantitative survey regarding shopping mall FM service satisfaction and identifies several critical dimensions affecting customer satisfaction, which deliver useful information for FM managers who intend to fulfil customer expectations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Food scares: a comprehensive categorisation	[ "Risk reduction", "Classification", "Food safety", "Consumer risk", "Contamination" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: During recent decades the food supply chain providing urbanised Western consumers has become increasingly industrialised. Where once food was a localised system of household or community relationships, developments in agricultural practices, production, storage, preparation and distribution have transformed the system (Godfray et al., 2010). The food sector has now become a global market with products sourced from all over the world to meet a growing demand for variety and consistency of products, regardless of seasonality. The resultant long and complex supply chains limit traceability and often involve multiple, specialised actors who generally do not have detailed knowledge of each other's processes and procedures (Sivadasan et al., 2006). Thus when a problem arises or is suspected at some point in the supply chain, identification of the source is frequently problematic, and the ability of actors to quickly and efficiently address the problem is often limited. Hence the probability that a threat to food safety (whether serious or trivial, real or just suspected) will escalate into a food scare has increased, causing a dramatic increase in the number of food scares reported (Knowles et al., 2007; RASFF, 2014).\n2. Research methodology: The aim of this research was to review existing categorisations of food scares and, if none of those found were agreed to be comprehensive and of use to industry experts in tackling food scares, to develop a new categorisation. The research methodology therefore consisted of two main stages: a desktop study, followed by collaborative work with industry experts. These are explained in turn below.\n3. Results and discussion: The results of the desktop study and collaborative work are presented in Sections 3.1 and 3.2, respectively.\n4. Conclusion: A useful starting point for the development of effective and efficient strategies to combat food scares is a categorisation of types of food scares. This study found, however, that a single comprehensive, robust and usable categorisation did not previously exist, and therefore a new categorisation was developed to fill this gap.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a comprehensive categorisation of food scares.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Following an initial desktop study, the categorisation was developed collaboratively with industry experts through a workshop and series of semi-structured interviews.\nFindings: The new categorisation developed is in Venn diagram format allowing overlapping categories. It is organised around the two major types of contamination (biological, and chemical/physical contaminants) and the two major causes of contamination (wilful deception, and transparency and awareness issues).\nPractical implications: The long and complex supply chains characteristic of current food production systems have resulted in a rising number of food scares. There is thus an increased emphasis on developing strategies to reduce both the number of incidents of food scares, and their associated economic, social and environmental impacts. The new categorisation developed in this study enables experts to address categories of food scares. Inclusion of the cause of contamination is particularly important as the method through which contamination occurs is key in devising food scare prevention strategies.\nOriginality/value: The new categorisation, unlike previous categorisations, enables food scares to fall into multiple categories, as appropriate. Also, again in contrast to previous categorisations, it takes into account not only the physical problem of a food scare but also the mechanism through which it arises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Manufacturing excellence through TPM implementation: a practical analysis	[ "Cellular manufacturing", "Maintenance", "Operations management", "Maintenance programmes", "Preventive maintenance", "World class manufacturing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In this age of agile manufacturing the global competition characterized by both technology push and market pull had forced the companies to achieve world-class performance through continuous improvement in their products and processes. Today, various innovative techniques and management practices such as total preventive maintenance (TPM); total quality management (TQM); business process reengineering (BPR); materials requirement planning (MRP); enterprise resource planning (ERP) and just in time (JIT), etc. are becoming popular among the business houses (Ljungberg, 1998; Jonsson and Lesshammar, 1999; Nikolopoulos et al., 2003; Leem and Kim, 2004; Rodney and Galloway, 2005; Chou and Hsu, 2005). With increased competition, demands on products with higher quality, faster delivery time had forced the managers to convert conventional manufacturing practices to computer controlled manufacturing practices such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and computer integrated manufacturing systems. The trends are apparent from concepts such as CIM, CAD, CAM, JIT, and FMS. Significant improvements in inventory levels, space requirements, lead and cycle times, scrap and yield rates and other quality measures have been reported from numerous studies (Tajiri and Gotoh, 1992; Raouf, 1994; Jostes and Helms, 1994; Ben-Daya and Duffuaa, 1995; Bateman, 1995; Ljungberg, 1998; Agbasi et al., 2004) But the troubled free operation of systems had not been completely ruled out. For instance, in a highly integrated manufacturing system such as an FMS, machinery is integrated with complex computer network (CNC or DNC). Each machine in an FMS is a combination of many sub-assemblies, where each sub-assembly is itself complex and consists of many dissimilar interdependent components (mechanical, electronic, hydraulic, software). Owing to their complexity the systems are vulnerable to various kinds of disturbances, the nature and number of failures and the time required to locate them. It is quite evident that the traditional maintenance activities based on fire-fighting approach (fix it, when breaks) called reactive maintenance will no longer satisfy the needs of modern manufacturing systems. Therefore, the development, adoption and practice of new maintenance strategies with a focus on how to increase the productive time by maximizing availability and how to avoid unplanned breakdowns, had become essential. The management of many companies (such as Procter and Gamble, Dupont, Ford and Eastman chemicals) have looked towards adoption of effective and efficient maintenance strategies such as condition-based maintenance (CBM); total preventive maintenance (TPM) and reliability centered maintenance (RCM) over the traditional firefighting reactive maintenance approaches (Tajiri and Gotoh, 1992; Coettzee, 1999; Swanson, 2001; Tsang, 2002; Wayenbergh and Pintelon, 2002).In the area of mathematical modeling and optimization the literature is extensive. Various algorithms and models related to loading and scheduling problems of FMS have been developed (Cho and Parlar, 1991; Chaturvedi, 1993; Paulli, 1995; Liu and McCarthy, 1997; Prickett, 1997; Lawrence, 1999; Chan, 1999; Gamila and Motavalli, 2003; Somlo, 2004; Das and Canel, 2005). But very little effort has been made on analysis and development of maintenance strategies in this area. Bateman (1995) discussed the impact of reactive maintenance strategy on production. He concluded that overall maintenance cost increases because of increase in down time, scrap rate and deterioration of quality. McKone and Wiess (1998) identify significant gaps between industry practice and academic research and emphasize the need to abridge these gaps. Canel (1997) discussed the need for development of information systems for successful operation of FMS so that the problems of idle time can be taken care of. Today as more and more factories are going to employ this new technology, the subject of maintenance management becomes crucial because the failure of even a single component can not only idle the machine/facility but also the failure can quickly idle an entire production system. The failures may come from lack of maintenance, improper or intensive operation, unstable operating environment, and so on. These failures not only add to downtime but also additional operation and maintenance costs. Quickly finding out the cause(s) of failure(s) and taking appropriate remedial actions is very important. So the need to design and implement a company wide maintenance planning system which not only investigates the causes of failures but also integrates the resources, i.e. man, machine and materials is felt. In this respect the paper attempts to provide an in-depth, case-based approach to implement TPM in a semi-automated cell of a company. This will not only help in identification of the nature failures, their documentation and analysis but also help maintenance managers/practitioners to understand the reality of failures, their nature and to reduce their effect by adopting suitable repair/replacement strategies.The paper is organized as follows. Starting with introduction in Sections 1 and 2 briefs about the evolution of maintenance concept and characteristics of FMS with description of types and nature of failures in FMS. Section 3 presents in brief the literature review regarding the development of TPM and OEE (a measure of TPM). Section 4 discusses the procedure for detailed TPM implementation in the cell with greater emphasis on data collection and failure analysis. Section 5 demonstrates the tangible and intangible benefits obtained after the TPM implementation and recommendations for companies going to adapt and practice TPM. Finally, Section 6 presents the results and conclusions.\n2 Evolution of maintenance concept: Effective maintenance not only helps to retain equipment/facility in proper condition but also extends its life and improves availability. On the other hand poorly maintained equipment/facility may lead to more frequent failures, poor utilization resulting in production delays. Traditionally many companies employed fire-fighting approach called reactive maintenance for maintenance activities, which means that as and when equipment fails to perform, repairs are carried out. This practice not only increases the total down time but also hampers the production. With the advancement in technology, this strategy has been replaced by proactive and aggressive maintenance strategies. A proactive approach calls for preventive and predictive maintenance to prevent sudden sporadic or chronic failures. In present times because of automation and large-scale mechanization, higher plant availability, better product quality and long equipment life had assumed considerable significance. In order to meet the above challenges, adoption of a suitable maintenance strategy has become essential for organizations to survive. While these newer maintenance strategies require greater commitments in terms of training, resources and integration, they are also expected to provide higher levels of equipment and plant performance (Ljungberg, 1998; Jonsson and Lesshammar, 1999). Since 1930s the evolution of maintenance can be traced with in three-time perspectives (Wayenberg and Pintelon, 2002):1. First time perspective. It covers the period up to World War II. During this period the industry was not mechanized and equipment was simple. Hence, the maintenance task was easy. The concept of \"Fix it when breaks\" emerged.2. Second time perspective. Large-scale industrialization in Europe and America lead to increased mechanization as a result of which complex machines were evolved. Machine downtime became significant aspect. Hence, the concept of preventive maintenance (PM) was introduced, i.e. \"I operate - You Fix\". In 1960s, this consisted of mainly equipment overhauls at regular periodic intervals of time.3. Third time perspective. Since the mid-1970s, the changes in industry have gathered momentum. Owing to automation and mechanization reliability and availability became key issues. Conventional PM methodology fails to fulfill the challenges put forward by modern, complex manufacturing systems. So, the need to develop decision support systems, new maintenance management techniques was felt.To improve the asset performance at reduced cost strategies like DBM, DOM, TPM, CBM, and RCM evolved with passage of time. Recently with recognition of maintenance as a profit generator the concept of outsourcing (external partnerships) has emerged. Table I.presents the evolution of maintenance concept in brief.2.1 Maintenance characteristics of FMS\n3 Literature review: 3.1 Origin and development of TPM\n4 TPM implementation - a case: The industry selected for TPM implementation is a leading supplier of critical assembly spares for diesel and electric locomotives. The components are supplied to regional loco sheds as well as to South East Asian countries. The management of the company observed that maintenance costs increased for 20-30 percent of the production costs and emergency repairs were three times more expensive than the same job done in pre-planned manner. To improve the quality of the products and to reduce operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, company plans to introduce and implement TPM program. As a part of company's strategic plan, the semi automated assembly cell was selected for carrying out feasibility study. The cell consists of four workstations and four machining centers with individual on board computer control panels. Manual operations include loading/unloading of parts, final visual inspection and packaging. The four stages/phases of TPM implementation are shown in Figure 3. The elements involved in each stage/phase of TPM implementation are presented in Table AI shown in the Appendix.4.1 Stage 1. Preparatory stage\n5 OEE measurement: The data related to production (set up time, cycle time (actual and ideal both)) and maintenance parameters (repair or down time) was collected for the period two years (1999-2000) before TPM implementation and after two years of TPM implementation (2001-2002). To measure the OEE of the cell one-month data before implementation and after implementation as shown in Table VI was used, the calculations for machine availability, performance efficiency and the rate of quality were done according to the equations (1)-(4).The OEE measurement for cell found to be 39 percent (before TPM implementation) and 69 percent (after TPM implementation).In order to determine up to what level the targets/goals set up by the TPM office were achieved? The assessment of the potential benefits (both tangible as well as the intangible benefits) of TPM implementation is carried out. The critical measures used to assess tangible benefits were defined as:* scrap percentage;* rework percentage;* availability of equipment; and* maintenance costs vs production costs.The data related to these measures were collected and presented in form of Figure 9(a)-(d). Figure 9(a) and (b) show that earlier scrap and rework percentage was about 30-35 percent, and 25-30 percent, which was mainly because of sudden failures of equipment and improper maintenance actions. Starting from year 2001 and up till the mid of 2002, timely regular maintenance interventions performed by both AM and FI teams had helped in achieving considerable reduction in both scrap and rework which was about 12-15 percent at the end of year 2002. Figure 9(c) shows the percentage availability of the cell. During the period 1999-2000 it was about (50-60 percent). But after promotion of AM, PM and FI activities a considerable improvement in the availability level of cell was achieved. Figure 9(d) shows a considerable reduction (approx.10 percent) in the ratio of maintenance costs with respect to production costs after initiation of TPM activities.5.1 Intangible benefits from TPM implementation\n6 Results and conclusions: It is observed from Table VII that considerable improvements in availability, performance efficiency and quality rate were obtained after implementation of TPM program. The availability of cell improved by 17 percent, performance efficiency by 8 percent and quality rate by almost 20 percent. The OEE measure had increased from 39 to 69 percent. Thus, in order to achieve or reach close to world-class performance level with OEE 85 percent the cell needs to continue with its TPM implementation efforts primarily focused on loss minimization. It was observed that increase in equipment availability had reduced the buffer inventories and reduced buffer inventories had lead to decreased lead times, since jobs were not waiting as long as in queues. This capability of shorter lead-times had improved the firm's competitive position in terms of delivery and flexibility since it is easier to deliver multiple products or versions of products. Increases in the performance efficiency (from 81 to 89 percent) had reduced the need for buffer inventories. Increases in the rate of quality (from 75 to 95 percent) products means less scrap and rework, which had not only reduced the costs (O&M), but also yielded a higher rate of quality.It is concluded from the study that OEE parameters seeks to encourage the setting of ambitious, but attainable, realistic goals for raising the OEE by focusing on the losses related to availability, performance and quality of a system. It prepares the plant to meet the challenges of competitive manufacturing by adopting and implementation of a well-conceived plan with the help of AM and FI teams for effective equipment maintenance. Results obtained from TPM implementation show that not only equipment effectiveness in the cell had improved but also advantages in other areas such as employee friendliness (by setting up of cross-functional teams) and quality consciousness had improved a lot. It is concluded from the study that for the plants/units can meet the challenges of competitive manufacturing in twenty-first century by adopting and practicing TPM as a maintenance strategy. The main objectives of TPM implementation, i.e. high availability, production efficiency and better quality could be achieved by:1. increasing operator involvement and ownership of the process;2. improving problem-solving skills of operators;3. refining preventive and predictive maintenance activities;4. focusing on reliability and maintainability aspects;5. using cross-functional teams consisting of operators, maintainers, engineers and managers to improve individual employee and equipment performances; and6. adopting improved procedures (in form of kaizens) for:* change-overs and set-ups;* carrying out maintenance tasks; and* better training of operators and maintainers.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To examine the need to develop, practice and implement such maintenance practices, which not only reduce sudden sporadic failures in semi-automated cells but also reduce both operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A case-based approach in conjunction with standard tools, techniques and practices is used to discuss various issues related with TPM implementation in a semi-automated cell.\nFindings: - The findings indicate that TPM not only leads to increase in efficiency and effectiveness of manufacturing systems, measured in terms of OEE index, by reducing the wastages but also prepares the plant to meet the challenges put forward by globally competing economies to achieve world class manufacturing (WCM) status.\nOriginality/value: - The paper presents an interesting investigation of TPM implementation issues which may help the managers/practitioners to prepare their plants/units to meet the challenges of competitive manufacturing in twenty-first century by adopting and implementing TPM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Investigating the influence of performance measurement on learning, entrepreneurial orientation and performance in turbulent markets	[ "Performance measurement", "Entrepreneurial Orientation", "Market-focussed learning", "Market-turbulence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Directed by demands for superior evaluation of the market and competitive business environment, hospitality and tourism organisations devote considerable resources to measuring performance. Focus typically centres on improving and assessing organisational learning, innovation, and risk indicators, and developing performance measurement systems (PMSs), which in-turn may influence firm performance (Homburg et al., 2012). While Magno et al. (2017) studied the importance of performance measurement and knowledge-use in hospitality and tourism firms in developed markets, little research acknowledges the relationship between performance measurement, market-focussed learning (MFL), entrepreneurial orientation, and the performance of organisations situated in turbulent markets. Thus, this study aims to explore the relationship between these variables in a developing, under-researched context: Iran.\n2. Theoretical model and hypotheses development: 2.1 Performance measurement\n3. Research method: 3.1 Sample and data collection\n4. Results: 4.1 Common-method variance\n5. Discussion: The adoption of appropriate performance indicators is vital in hospitality management. Given the diverse empirical evidence and repeated calls for better evaluation of performance measurement and firm performance in current discourse (Sainaghi et al., 2017), the results demonstrate how CPMS, MFL and entrepreneurial orientation contribute to travel agency performance. This study compared HMT and LMT in relation to the effects of CPMS on MFL, entrepreneurial orientation, and firm performance. Here, MGA results reveal significant differences between HMT and LMT regarding the direct relationships between CPMS, MFL, entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance; each was significantly higher for HMT than LMT (Table V).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine how comprehensive performance measurement systems (CPMS) influence entrepreneurial orientation, market-focussed learning (MFL) and employees' perceptions of firm performance within a service-provision context. It also considers the moderating effect of low and high levels of perceived market-turbulence (low-turbulence environments [LMT] vs highly turbulent environments [HMT]) on the relationships between these concepts.\nDesign/methodology/approach: PLS-SEM was used to test the hypothesised relationships using survey responses from 198 employees of a leading multi-branch travel agency in Iran.\nFindings: The findings demonstrate that CPMS positively influence MFL and, in doing so, have a positive effect on perceptions of firm performance. However, the findings also suggest that CPMS negatively influence entrepreneurial orientation, and therefore can also negatively influence perceptions of firm performance. Further, the relationships between CPMS, entrepreneurial orientation, MFL and firm performance are stronger for HMT when compared to LMT for all relationships.\nPractical implications: Industry managers should adapt their CPMS to include measures specific to intra-organisational entrepreneurship and innovation and should pursue greater understanding of changing customer preferences.\nOriginality/value: This study highlights the importance of MFL as a means of avoiding the negative impact of underdeveloped market research on performance in the turbulent Iranian context. Contrary to previous literature, it provides an example of how CPMS can negatively influence entrepreneurial orientation in such environments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Report of an international forum on managing diversity	[ "Equal opportunities", "Workplace", "Education", "Organizational structures", "National cultures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Saint Joseph University (Beirut-Lebanon) and University of Antwerp (Antwerp-Belgium) prepared the 12th International Forum of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools which was to be held on July 16-19 with the participation of the Association's members and guests. Participants were to present research studies conducted in their institution concerning the role of diversity and its consequences on education or the experience of their company in managing diversity. The Forum was cancelled on the eve of the opening session due to the violence that erupted in July 2006 in the Middle East and this report summarizes some of the papers that were to be delivered during the Forum.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose is to report an International Forum on managing diversity organized by the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools (IAJBS).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The report is a summary of the papers presented for the Forum that was cancelled on the eve of the opening session due to the violence that erupted in July 2006 in the Middle East.\nFindings: - Diversity management is becoming a priority in most countries in both the workplace and higher education institutions.\nOriginality/value: - Some of the papers revealed the role of diversity in enriching group work and identified the potential sources of misunderstanding and possible conflicts\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Motives and barriers of organic food demand among Polish consumers: A profile of the purchasers	[ "Barriers", "Motives", "Organic food", "Polish consumer" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The quality in agriculture is an important tool of common agricultural policy of the European Union countries, which is systematically promoted through specialized campaigns (Sangkumchaliang and Wen-Chi, 2012). The mode of agricultural production, which determines the influence on agricultural environment, is determined by food production, especially products of organic nature (Godfray et al., 2010; Tomlinson, 2011).\nMethodology: A diagnostic survey method with authors' questionnaire was used in the studies to examine 3,436 respondents from all over the Poland. The questionnaire includes six research questions, of which three were used in the presented studies due to the ongoing research objectives. The studies were conducted in 2015. After the use of construction and validation procedures, a five-point Likert scale was applied to measure the attitudes. An indicator of scale reliability was calculated where Cronbach's a was 0.85. The education was a criterion that divided respondents into study groups. The applied criterion was established at the stage of creating a research tool.\nResults: While selecting organic food, Polish citizens, to the greatest extent, paid attention to health issues as this type of products lacked harmful substances. These motives received the highest values of classification in the created model of discriminant function. Considering both motives, significantly at p=0.009 and p<0.001, respondents with higher education presented higher declarations than those with secondary, primary or vocational education.\nDiscussion and conclusion: The assumed aims of studies that were taken into account by Polish adults when buying products of organic origin were associated with health and the lack of harmful substances in such products. Williams and Hammitt (2001) also emphasize such aspects as health and in particular the lack of harmful substances in organic products, similarly to declarations of Polish consumers. It has been shown that education of respondents plays a very important when choosing organic food (Polat, 2015), which undoubtedly is associated with higher consciousness of buyers on health values of such products.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify the intentions and behaviors of consumers of the Poland which recently puts emphasis on the promotion of organic food, healthy diet of its population and shows concern for the protection of natural environment. The conducted studies aim to identify types of products and determine motives that Polish adults take into consideration when buying organic food. The studies have been also conducted to indicate the most common barriers that appear when purchasing this type of products. The above-mentioned aims are carried out in the context of a level of education among consumers of organic food.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A diagnostic survey method with authors' questionnaire was used in the studies to examine 3436 respondents from all over the Poland. The studies were conducted in 2015. After the use of construction and validation procedures, a five-point Likert scale was applied to measure the attitudes. An indicator of scale reliability was calculated where Cronbach's a was 0.85. The education was a criterion that divided respondents into study groups.\nFindings: The population was divided taking into account the place of residence: villages, towns up to 30 thousand inhabitants and towns over 30 thousand inhabitants. In the next stage of sample selection, respondents were proportionally divided according to their sex. Women constituted 51.3 percent, while men 48.7 percent. All respondents were of legal age. These methodological procedures allowed calculating a size of sample, where the level of confidence was set at 0.95, the estimated size fraction at 0.50 and the maximum error at 0.05.\nOriginality/value: There is a need for increased education on the importance of organic food and its influence on human health, especially among the young generation of Polish consumers. The conducted education should be aimed at encouraging producers and in particular sellers to promote sale of organic food in their stores, and thus to label it appropriately for easier identification by consumers. The barriers and motives presented in this paper which occur when buying organic food are identical to those that occur in developed and developing countries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Remittances and informal work	[ "Migrant workers", "Remittances", "Transition economies", "Informal work", "Two stage residual inclusion", "F24", "J46", "J61", "R23", "O17" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: International migration and informal employment are salient features of the labour markets across the world. It is estimated that 3.2 per cent of the world population live outside their country of birth (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) & OECD, 2013) and a further 13 per cent of the world's adults would like to emigrate (Clifton, 2013). Migrant remittances have been growing steadily over the last 20 years, showing resilience to the global economic crisis and reaching US$435 billion in 2014 (World Bank, 2014). At the same time, 60 per cent of the global workforce do not have formal job contracts (OECD, 2009). Both informal employment and remittances are important, and controversial, policy variables: despite their ability to alleviate poverty and sustain livelihoods for millions of households, informality reduces tax revenues and undermines the rule of law, while migration deprives countries of the valuable human capital.\n2. Remittances, unemployment and informal work: insights from the literature, theoretical channels and hypotheses to be tested: A well-established literature has proposed a number of theoretical channels through which remittances can affect the remittance receivers' participation in the labour market. First, a standard neoclassical argument suggests that remittances raise people's reservation wages and discourage their participation in the labour market (Drinkwater et al., 2009; Justino and Shemyakina, 2012). Second, assuming there is a lag between emigration and time when remittances start flowing in, the departure of a migrant may force the remaining family members to work more to compensate for the lost labour and income (Binzel and Assaad, 2011; Gagnon and Khoudour-Casteras, 2011). Migrant family members may also choose to work more to defray the incurred migration costs (Justino and Shemyakina, 2012; Posso, 2012). Third, remittances can help people pay for child and elderly care and enable carers, especially women, to participate in the in labour market. However, it can also be argued that higher reservation wages resulting from remittances encourage people to switch from waged to household work (Gagnon and Khoudour-Casteras, 2011). Fourth, remittances can provide the necessary capital to start a small business or work as self-employed, thus increasing employment in the migrant household and beyond (Posso, 2012); sending a migrant abroad can indeed be viewed as a household strategy for raising capital in the presence of imperfect credit markets (Stark, 1991). Finally, remittances can encourage the neighbouring non-migrant households to work more in order to help household members migrate after they become aware of the benefits of remittances (Posso, 2012).\n3. Data and variables: 3.1 Data\n4. Estimation strategy: The model to be estimated can be expressed as follows:\n5. Results: 5.1 Remittances and the labour market status of remittances receivers\n6. Discussion and conclusion: This paper has studied the effects of receiving migrant remittances on the likelihood of informal work among the members of the remittance-recipient households, as well as the local-level effects of remittances on the likelihood of informal work among the non-migrant households. Using a large survey from six transition economies, I found that people receiving remittances are more likely to work informally than people with similar characteristics but not receiving remittances. The instrumental variable analysis confirmed that remittances have a positive effect on informal employment. Two explanations for this finding are: remittances provide the household with a capital to start a new business or become self-employed - a type of employment which is often informal - and remittances represent a safety net encouraging remittance-receivers to choose less secure, but often more lucrative, informal work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of remittances on informal employment in the migrants' countries of origin, looking both at the remittance-receiving and non-migrant households.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using data from a large survey conducted in six transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the determinants of three labour market outcomes - not working, working formally and working informally - are estimated in a multinomial probit model. The endogeneity of remittances is dealt with instrumental variables following the two-stage residual inclusion technique. To assess possible impact of remittances on non-migrant households, conditional correlations between the labour market outcomes of non-migrant households and the region-level share of remittance receivers are obtained.\nFindings: Both correlational and instrumental variable analyses suggest that that receiving remittances increases the likelihood of working informally. At the regional level, high prevalence of remittances is associated with a higher likelihood of informal work among the non-migrant households. Migration and remittances may thus be contributing to informal employment in migration-sending countries.\nResearch limitations/implications: The empirical analysis is based on cross-sectional data, which do not allow isolating the effects of unobserved respondent heterogeneity. To deal with this issue, future research could use panel data.\nOriginality/value: The study explicitly considers the effects of remittances on formal and informal employment of remittances receivers as well as people who do not receive remittances. It advances the understanding of what drives informality in developing and transition economies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing broadband in frontier markets: opportunities and challenges in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq	[ "Broadband networks", "Competition", "Middle East and North Africa", "Economic diversification", "Kurdistan region of Iraq", "Submarine cables" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is a federal and semi-autonomous region in Iraq whose economy is highly dependent on the oil sector (World Bank Group, 2016a). The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has developed a set of objectives in its 2020 vision to ensure that \"all people will enjoy the benefits of freedom, health, welfare, and economic security and opportunity\" (Ministry of Planning, 2013). At its core, the vision aims to deliver the necessary social and physical infrastructure and develop a diversified economy relying on the private sector.\n2. ICT sector, an enabler of economic development and diversification: There is a considerable body of evidence that links digital technologies, and the internet in particular, to economic growth and welfare. At the micro level, digital technologies help market players overcome information barriers and lower the cost of market and non-market transactions among businesses, people and the government. Access and diffusion of broadband services expand markets for businesses and present new income and job opportunities for individuals. Extensive adoption of digital technologies increases the efficiency and, therefore, the competitiveness of the private sector. ICT also fosters enhanced government services and, therefore, increases the level and efficiency of citizen participation in decision-making (World Bank Group, 2016b). All of these micro level changes lead to a significant aggregate impact on the economy and contribute, directly and indirectly to economic growth, job creation and trade expansion.\n3. Broadband market: Since the establishment of the KRG in 1992 and until the ratification of the new Iraqi constitution in 2005, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MoTC) was the sole provider of telecom services in the KRI. During this period, KRI had two separate administrations and, consequently, separate telecom markets, one in Erbil and Dohuk governorates and another in Sulaymaniyah. However, even after the unification of the KRG administration in 2005, the market remains fragmented. For instance, following the partial privatization of the fixed networks, MoTC created two companies, Allai Newrooz (also known as Newrooz or Noortel) in Erbil and Dohuk and Kurdtel in Sulaymaniyah. The two companies have monopoly rights over physical infrastructure within cities in their respective governorates.\n4. How does the Kurdistan Region of Iraq compare in broadband services?: The diffusion of broadband services in the KRI is higher than in the rest of Iraq. However, compared to regional and similar income countries, KRI has yet to catch up in the take up and affordability of higher speed mobile and fixed broadband services. Mobile penetration in the KRI is at par with MENA and the world average and stood at around 137 per cent in 2015. Yet, the take-up of mobile broadband ranks low in comparison with other countries. According to the MoTC, the penetration of 3G services is estimated at around 27 per cent of the population, and 4G penetration is lower and stood at 2 per cent. Compared to countries in the region with 3G networks, KRI ranks 16 out of 20 countries in 3G penetration, with Iraq, Syria and Yemen at the bottom (Figure 5)[4]. Fixed broadband service take-up is also among the lowest in the region. The fixed broadband market is not well developed in the KRI; in particular, technologies that enable higher speed broadband services such as fiber access networks are almost non-existent. DSL household penetration is estimated at 19 per cent, and fiber connections are a mere 0.2 per cent of households, comparing poorly to the region (Figure 6)[4].\n5. International connectivity: The KRI is linked to the global internet network via south of Iraq, Turkey and Iran. Previously, KRI was connected solely via Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC), the incumbent network operator in Iraq through submarine cables landing in Al-Faw on the Persian Gulf. However, the KRG recently licensed four operators to provide terrestrial international connectivity independently of ITPC, linking network nodes in major cities to the international network via two crossings in Turkey and one in Iran (Table V)[9].\n6. Challenges and opportunities: The relatively independent policies in KRI have enabled the region to adopt new technologies and services and achieve faster development of the sector compared to the rest of Iraq. However, there are key structural and regulatory constraints that the KRG has to address to unlock the full potential of the broadband market and reap the social and economic benefits brought about by increased connectivity and use of digital technologies. These constraints are as follows:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore how the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) can leverage broadband, as a frontier emerging market, to diversify the economy and promote growth, job creation and productivity. The objective is to analyze the challenges and opportunities of the broadband market and propose policies to boost its development and achieve medium to long-term economic benefits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses qualitative and quantitative tools to study the legal and regulatory environment, market structure, competitive dynamics and available services and infrastructure in the KRI. The data and information analyzed were obtained through field research, primary data collection and consultation with government institutions, telecom operators and IT companies.\nFindings: Obstacles to broadband development in the KRI are barriers to competition, the need for clearer and more transparent policies and regulations and a fragmented market. However, when the right conditions are in place, KRI has the potential to emerge as a regional hub for international broadband connectivity and significantly expand local broadband access.\nOriginality/value: This paper presents a first-of-its-kind baseline analysis of the telecom sector in the KRI. Very little information is available on the KRI market, which also has not been previously studied separately from the Iraqi market. Based on the fieldwork, the paper relies on region-specific data to analyze the particularity of the market and identify reforms within the prerogative of the regional government.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enhancing customer brand experience and loyalty through enterprise microblogs: Empirical evidence from a communication framework perspective	[ "Behaviour", "Virtual community", "Structural equation modelling", "Computer-mediated communication (CMC)", "Brands" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Microblogs have gained immense popularity among various social network platforms (Zhang et al., 2015) during the recent years. Twitter's user base, for example, grew to 645 million by 2015 (Statistics Brain, 2015). Consumers are now increasingly using social media for learning about brands (Newman, 2011). Knowledge Networks (2011) reports that 23.1 million people (up 22 percent from 2010) in the USA discovered new brands or products through social media, and 17.8 million (up 19 percent from 2010) were strongly influenced in their purchase decisions by the contents in social media. Consumers' participation in social media has also increased their visit frequency to the stores (Rishika et al., 2013) as well as improved firms' performance (Luo et al., 2013). The rise in social media's consumer base has prompted a number of companies or brands (such as Starbucks, KFC and BMW) to create their own enterprise microblog accounts for disseminating product information to their customers (Vernuccio, 2014) as well as communicating with them (Zhang et al., 2015). In China also, SinaWeibo (the most popular microblog platform) has seen its registered user base grew to 0.3 million by 2012 (iResearch, 2013). Considering such widespread adoption of microblogs, it is worth investigating how companies can leverage microblogs for better communicating their brands to their customers.\n2. Literature review: We review the literature on company-consumer interaction as well as on the influence of these interactions on a consumers' BE and brand loyalty. Sheth's (1976) communication framework and its wide application in company-customer communication in different scenarios provide the basis for examining company-consumer interactions.\n3. Research model and hypothesis: 3.1 Communication tactics used by enterprise microblogs\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Data collection and scale validation\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Key findings and contribution\n6. Limitations and conclusion: 6.1 Limitations\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: As the social media platform becomes an ever more important communication channel between company and customer, companies are learning how they can best utilize social media to better communicate their brands with customers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the communication tactics adopted by the enterprise microblogs using a communication framework. Further, the authors hope to find out how these communication tactics influence customer brand experience (BE) and subsequently brand loyalty.\nDesign/methodology/approach: First, to identify the communication tactics used by enterprise microblogs, the authors recruited six active microblog users and listed all possible characteristics of enterprise microblogs that could increase customers' fondness for the brand. Second, based on the listed 19 characteristics and existing theories, the authors pre-classified and conceptualized the content and style tactics categories. The authors also followed a sorting procedure to verify our classification. Finally, based on the sorted characteristics and previous research, the authors designed a questionnaire and 459 sets of valid data were collected from enterprise microblog users.\nFindings: The communication tactics are classified into two dimensions, namely content tactics and style tactics. The content tactics include content diversity, content accuracy and content timeliness, and the style tactics include impression enhancement style and interactivity enhancement style. The results reveal that the communication content and style tactics significantly enhance overall customer BE and further brand loyalty. The study results also show that style tactics exert more influence on BE than content tactics.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the company's important role in company-customer communication on social media, and categorizes the effective communication tactics used by the enterprise microblog within a communication framework. Companies could build brand loyalty by enhancing users' BE using effective communication. The communication perspective and measures of the communication tactics in this study provide an ideal background for future research on IT-based company-customer interaction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Training patients to ask information verifying questions in medical interviews	[ "Patients", "Canada", "Customer satisfaction", "Interviews", "Communication processes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Butow et al. (1994) identified three types of patient communication skill training: information seeking (Robinson and Whitfield, 1985; Roter, 1977; Socha and Cegala, 1998; Thompson and Nanni, 1990), information provision (Fredrikson and Bull, 1995; Lewis et al., 1991; Weinman, 1996), and information verifying (Anderson et al., 1987; Cegala et al., 2000; Kim et al., 2003). The third type of patient training greatly contributes to the success of physician-patient communication but it has received little attention in the field. To fill this gap, the present study focused on information verifying - training patients to ask the physician to clarify, repeat, reformulate, explain or repair a preciously elicited piece of information during medical consultation, thus improving information communication, and ultimately increasing patient satisfaction.Medical conversation, like any form of face-to-face communication, is evanescent, and requires on-line monitoring and quick response (Clark and Krych, 2004; Clark and Schaefer, 1989; Clark and Schaefer, 1989; Clark and Wilkes-Gibbs, 1986). To be effective, it is essential for interlocutors to keep track of their common ground and its moment-by-moment changes (Clark and Brennan, 1991; Clark and Krych, 2004). For example, a physician delivers a diagnosis or a treatment plan which the patient does not fully understand. Instead of asking for clarification, the patient offers \"yes\" or \"ok\" or a head nod. The physician is not a mind reader; he or she takes the patient's response as understanding and proceeds to the next task. While the patient is still perplexed with his or her inadequacy, the physician gives instructions for a new medication. The patient comes out of the consultation room dazed, puzzled and unsatisfied. Instead of answering \"yes\", the patient could have requested the physician to repeat or explain what he or she had just said by asking simple questions such as 'Could you explain this a bit more?' Sacks et al. (1978) described the purpose of this type of request as \"repairing the repairable\" (p. 363). Depending upon how satisfied the patient is with the response by the physician, the patient may allow the physician to get on to the next utterance by indicating understanding, or he/she may ask for further information.The process of making requests for clarification of a previously elicited piece of information is known as conversational grounding, which is a central process in everyday conversation (Clark and Brennan, 1991; Clark and Schaefer, 1989). Conversational grounding has been found to facilitate listener understanding (Schober and Clark, 1989) and information recall (Ley, 1988; Li, 1999a, b). Li video-taped and micro-analyzed 40 simulated physician-patient interviews and found that Grounding and listener recall scores were highly correlated.Wallston et al. (1978) had patients view a videotape in which a model \"patient\" asked questions for a physician to clarify a confusing presentation about symptoms, causes and consequences of hypertension. Patients were instructed to do the same if confused in medical interviews. Patients who watched the videotapes demonstrated a significant increase in overall patient participation in the subsequent medical consultations. Using a similar video-tape and a similar procedure, Anderson et al. (1987) reported that trained patients showed a significant increase in overall patient participation and question asking in subsequent medical consultations.Robinson and Whitfield (1985) demonstrated that using a simple written message instructing patients on how to check understanding could significantly increase overall patient participation and patient question asking in subsequent medical consultations. Trained patients also showed a significant increase in information recall.McGee and Cegala (1998) face-to-face trained patients to ask questions for the physician to be clearer or more specific in the three phases of medical consultation: history-taking, examination and conclusion. Patients were also told that they were there not only to provide information for their physician but also to seek information from their physician. It was found that trained patients showed a significant increase in overall participation, overall question asking, requests for clarification, and information recall.Cegala et al. (2000) administered a 14-page booklet instructing patients to provide, seek, and verify information in the medical consultation. The information verifying section was designed to train patients to check understanding by asking the physician to repeat or clarify what the physician had just said. To facilitate the learning process, patients were also offered examples. It was found that trained patients asked more questions to verify what was said and their questions were more sophisticated in comparison with untrained patients.Kim et al. (2003)) initiated a program called \"smart patient coaching\" in which part of the training consisted of instructing patients to ask the provider for clarification when the patient did not understand something during the consultation. It was found that trained patients asked more overall questions, expressed more concerns, but did not ask more clarifying questions in comparison with the untrained group.In a recent review of literature, Harrington et al. (2004) found that patients who received communication skill training, regardless of the type of training, showed a consistent increase in requests for clarification. They argued that patients may feel more comfortable to ask questions for clarification than to initiate questions of their own. Clarifying questions are based on the content of the on-going conversation, thus perceived as appropriate for patients to ask.From the above literature review on a handful of studies training patients to verify information during medical consultation, it seems that patient satisfaction was seldom measured. The present study used four aspects of patient satisfaction to measure the effectiveness of training on information verifying. These four dimensions are overall satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, communication satisfaction and expertise satisfaction.The present study explores:1. whether trained patients would score higher in the above-presented four aspects of satisfaction (RQ1);2. whether male patients would score differently than female patients on satisfaction scales in the trained and untrained groups respectively (RQ2);3. whether patients' demographic variables such as age, education level and health status would influence their score on the satisfaction scale in the trained and untrained groups respectively (RQ3).The rationale to emphasize the relationship between patients' gender and satisfaction was (RQ2) to explore whether male and female patients should be trained differently in future training programs since they seem to communicate differently in the medical consultation (Brink-Muinen et al., 2002; Clark et al., 1991; Hall et al., 1994). The rationale for RQ3 stemmed from a notion by Harrington et al. (2004)) that few studies have examined the relationship between patients' demographic variables and outcome measures such as patient satisfaction.\nMethod: Procedure\nResults: The means of the four patient satisfaction variables (overall satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, communication satisfaction and expertise satisfaction) by group (experimental group vs control) are displayed in Figure 1. As indicated by Figure 1, the experimental group demonstrated higher scores than the control group on all four dimensions of satisfaction.MANOVA was used to examine the first two research questions stated previously:1. Whether patients in the experimental group had higher satisfaction scores than the patients in the control group.2. Whether there was a significant difference between the male and female patients in their means of satisfaction scores in the experimental and control groups respectively.To test for group (experimental vs. control) main effects, gender main effects and group by gender interaction, a 2 by 2 MANOVA was conducted. The analysis showed a significant group effect, F (4,107) = 40.31, p < 0.0001, Wilks' Lambda = 0.39, e2 = 0.61, a significant gender effect, F (4,107) = 4.61, p < 0.005, Wilks' Lambda = 0.85, e2 = 0.15, but no significant group by gender interaction.ANOVA indicated that patients in the experimental group scored significantly higher (more satisfied) than patients in the control group on overall satisfaction, F (1, 112)=118.36, p < 0.0001, on relationship satisfaction, F (1,112)=107.02, p < 0.0001, on communication satisfaction, F (1,112)=112.69, p < 0.0001, and on expertise satisfaction, F (1,112)=116.37, p < 0.0001.Within the experimental group, ANOVA showed a significant difference between the mean scores of males and females on relationship satisfaction, F (1,55)=5.4, p < 0.05, females having higher scores than males. Males and females did not differ significantly in the other three dimensions of patient satisfaction.Within the control group, ANOVA did not show any statistically significant difference between the mean scores of males and females on the four patient satisfaction dimensions. Table I shows the mean scores of males and females in the experimental and control groups respectively.Patient satisfaction and patient demographic variables\nDiscussion: The data has generated several intriguing findings. Each will be discussed in light of its contribution to the field and implication for future training and research.Patient training and patient satisfaction\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The main purpose of the paper was to examine whether a short patient training session on various ways of requesting physicians to clarify a piece of previously elicited information during medical consultation would improve information communication, thus increasing patient satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A total of 114 adult patients voluntarily participated in the study which was carried out at a clinic in Canada. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to the experimental group and half to the control group. Males and females were evenly distributed in both experimental and control groups. Prior to their medical visits, participants in the experimental group received 10-15-minute face-to-face training, whereas the control group did not receive any training. The purpose of the training was to facilitate information transmission, with the intention to increase communication effectiveness and patient satisfaction. Immediately after their medical visits, all participants filled out a patient satisfaction questionnaire.\nFindings: - On all four dimensions of patient satisfaction (i.e. overall satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, communication satisfaction and expertise satisfaction), patients who received training scored significantly higher (were more satisfied) than patients who received no training. No consistent gender differences were found in patient satisfaction in both experimental and control groups.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study applied a psycholinguistics theory, conversational grounding, to the field of patient education and achieved positive results.\nPractical implications: - The success of the short training session provides health practitioners with a new method to help patients communicate more effectively, thus increasing satisfaction in medical interviews.\nOriginality/value: - Focuses on a means to elicit information from patients in medical consultations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Does teaching experience increase teacher effectiveness? A review of US research	[ "Teacher development", "Teacher quality", "Professional environment", "Returns to experience" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent years, much research and policy making in the USA has been guided by an assumption that teachers' experience has little bearing on a teacher's effectiveness after about two or three years at the beginning of the career (Gates, 2009; Henry et al., 2011; Rice, 2013; Rivkin et al., 2005). For example, a policy brief published in 2010 summarizing the benefits of teaching experience in US schools noted that \"[t]eachers show the greatest productivity gains during their first few years on the job, after which their performance tends to level off\" (Rice, 2013, p. 1). Quite often, this leads to the presumption that there is little advantage to policy efforts that might seek to keep teachers in the classroom longer. Although there is consensus in the research and policy communities that teachers improve quickly early in their careers (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, Rockoff and Wyckoff, 2008; Harris and Sass, 2011; Kraft and Papay, 2014; Ladd and Sorensen, 2017; Staiger and Rockoff, 2010), there is debate about whether or not teachers continue to learn as they gain additional experience in the classroom. In contrast to the 2010 policy brief, a more recent study noted:[W]e find that teachers experience rapid productivity improvement early in their careers. However, we also find evidence of returns to experience later in the career, indicating that teachers continue to build human capital beyond these first years.(Papay and Kraft, 2015, p. 105)\nTheories of experience and effectiveness: The economic literature provides several models of human capital that may bear on the relationship between teaching experience and effectiveness. Becker (1964) argued that more experienced workers are more effective employees because they acquire more knowledge about how to perform their work effectively over the course of their careers.\nMethodology: We are interested in addressing the following two research questions:\nResults: The relationship between experience and student achievement gains\nDiscussion: These research findings show the benefits of more experienced teachers for both students and schools. As teachers gain experience - both within their first few years in the classroom as well as later in their careers - they are better able to foster student learning. Taken as a whole, the large and growing body of research, especially when it applies methods that include teacher fixed effects, provides support for the conclusion that teachers become better able to support student learning as they gain experience, and that gains from experience can continue well into the second and, often third decades of their career. The assumption alluded to earlier that teachers reach a plateau soon after their initial years in the classroom, after which additional experience has no benefit for student achievement, finds little support in newer research, particularly among those studies that examine teaching experience beyond seven years and apply methods to examine \"within-teacher\" returns to experience.\nConclusion: The studies included in this review necessarily vary in their selection of target population data (e.g. grade level, subjects, geography) and in their methods. However, this body of studies - each of which analyzes the effects of teaching experience on student achievement employing several different approaches - provides a more optimistic answer than was once offered to the question of \"Do teachers continue to improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession?\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to summarize the key findings from a critical review of relevant US research to determine whether teachers, on average, improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the authors' review of 30 studies published since 2003 that analyze the effect of teaching experience on student outcomes in the USA.\nFindings: The authors find that: teaching experience is positively associated with student achievement gains throughout much of a teacher's career; as teachers gain experience, their students are more likely to do better on measures of success beyond test scores; teachers make greater gains in their effectiveness when they teach in a supportive, collegial environment, or accumulate experience in the same grade, subject or district; and more experienced teachers confer benefits to their colleagues.\nOriginality/value: A renewed look at this research is warranted due to advances in methods and data systems that have allowed researchers to examine this question with greater sophistication.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of entrepreneurship programmes on university students	[ "Entrepreneurial intention", "Entrepreneurship", "Higher education", "Entrepreneurship education programmes", "Social environment", "Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In recent times entrepreneurship has been considered a key element of development, and even part of the solution to the current economic situation (White and Reynolds, 1996; Storey, 1999; Audretsch and Thurik, 2001; Reynolds et al., 2002). Entrepreneurship has become a driving force behind economic and social development, as well as productivity, and, in certain environments, innovation. Given this scenario, international policy concentrates some of its efforts on promoting entrepreneurship, but particular importance is placed on preparing entrepreneurs, whose activity will support economic sustainability (Porter, 1990; Wennekers et al., 2005).\nLiterature review: Entrepreneurship can be considered a driving force for the competitiveness of the economy, as is confirmed by the various government decision-making bodies and their strategies, plans and programmes aimed at supporting and encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit at an international level. The European Commission, and, in recent years, institutions of higher education, take a clear stance on this, thus creating a favourable environment for entrepreneurs. Many studies have demonstrated the relationship between the economic development of a country and its capacity to create new companies and jobs (Holgrem and From, 2005; Wennekers et al., 2005; Van Praag, 2007; Amoros and Bosma, 2014). Given the general agreement on the matter, it is necessary to define the concept of entrepreneurial initiative more clearly. Taking a comprehensive approach, it refers to the capacity to discover new opportunities in the market (Kirzner, 1979), the creation of new companies (Gartner, 1985) or new and innovative projects (Casson, 1995). By extension, entrepreneurs will always be involved in the creation of businesses; taking on responsibilities, exploiting opportunities present in their environment, dealing with risk, and making their projects successful, demonstrating a level of novelty and innovation that allows them to survive and remain in the market (Johnson, 2001). Nevertheless, entrepreneurship is a process that happens over a period of time, and its first phase is an entrepreneurial attitude (Asenjo and Barbera, 2013). This attitude is the result of a way of thinking and behaving (personality), together with external variables (situational and social) and these form the basis of models to predict entrepreneurial behaviour (Krueger et al., 2000). The aforementioned study is based on the belief that EEP foster, to a certain extent, an inclination towards entrepreneurship.\nMethodology: Measures and instrument\nResults and analysis: Descriptive analysis: general demographic\nDiscussion and conclusions: The study has concentrated on investigating the perception of entrepreneurship in the eyes of students at Malaga University and, consequently, their orientation towards entrepreneurship in the medium term. The perception of risk, of knowing the steps, procedures, and the reality of being a business owner with all its pros and cons are some of the issues we have analysed using a well founded and often used model, Azjen's (1991) TPB. The model is based on three dimensions: PA, SN and PBC and these are the elements which explain the EI of this group. Although the correlations and regression analysis support the hypotheses, in the case of the university students, not all the dimensions play the same part in the intention to start one's own business. While PA and PBC have great influence, on closer analysis SN appeared to contribute to decision making but not as a determining factor. These results are very much in line with results obtained in other studies which used the same model (Gasse and Tremblay, 2011; Dewi Astuti and Martdianty, 2012; Iqbal et al., 2013).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurship in Malaga University based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour model. There are two objectives: to analyse the influence of the main elements of orientation to entrepreneurship and to evaluate the efficiency of education programmes in the university system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors have chosen Ajzen's influential model (1991) for analysing entrepreneurial intention as the basis for the analysis of a sample of 392 students at Malaga University.\nFindings: The results suggest that the students' predisposition to entrepreneurship is moderate because perceived risk and ideas about their own abilities hinder their decision to start up a business.\nPractical implications: This research has practical implications for universities involved in designing programmes aimed at business creation.\nSocial implications: This research provides interesting insights which could help new companies to be created, thus alleviating the unemployment resulting from the economic crisis.\nOriginality/value: With the help of this widely used theoretical model to study, the authors analyse the impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programmes in higher education. It is only a starting point from which to evaluate which elements should be reinforced in entrepreneurship programmes if they are to achieve effective results.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Decoding training effectiveness: the role of organisational factors	[ "Training transfer", "Training effectiveness", "Pre-training factors", "Training assessment", "Training awareness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organisations invest significant amounts of resources in terms of time and money into training to enhance employees' knowledge, skill and attitude (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009; Miller, 2012). In the USA alone, organisations spend upwards of $60bn per year on training, with an average of around 30h of training per employee per year (Noe, 2002). The average spending was around $75-100 per person per year in 1991, which increased to $761 in the year 2001 and around $1,208 in 2014. (Wexley and Latham, 1991; Green and McGill, 2011; ASTD[1] report 2002, 2015). In India too, the training expenditure amounted to a huge sum of 30m per year (Pareek and Lynton, 2011). Yadapadithaya and Stewart (2003) highlighted that Indian companies spend around 1.2 per cent of their payroll on training annually. This clearly points out that there is a continuous rise in training investment. Organisations invest with a hope that this will result in an increase in productivity and ultimately firm performance (Huselid, 1995; Kitching and Blackburn, 2002). However, training investment initiatives pays off only when employees actually transfer the content learned during the training into practice (Hutchins et al., 2010).\nTraining transfer: Training transfer is defined as \"the degree to which trainees effectively apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in a training context to the job\" (Baldwin and Ford, 1988). Blume et al. (2010) defined training transfer as the extent to which knowledge and skill acquired in a learning setting can be applied at the workplace and maintained over time. The transfer is a behavioural measure of training evaluation and is one of the most important among all training effectiveness criteria (Saks and Haccoun, 2004, 2007; Park and Wentling, 2007). However, among all the studies, Baldwin and Ford's (1988) model is the most cited work in the transfer literature (Blume et al., 2010). This, along with various other research studies (Ford and Weissbein, 1997; Burke and Hutchins, 2007; Baldwin et al., 2009; Grossman and Salas, 2011), has projected training transfer as one of the most important and active areas of training research. In addition, Holton's (2000) research work in the form of Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) model adds great value in the transfer of training literature.\nOrganisational factors: Training transfer climate\nMethodology: Sample: Participants included 145 managers employed in a large public sector organisation operating in India. Of these respondents, 22 did not complete a post-training survey, providing a final sample size of 123 managerial-level personnel working at various management positions within the organisation (e.g. production, finance, human resources, administration, etc.). Of these, 81 per cent of the participants were male, and the average age was 42. The average job tenure with this organisation was 8.25 years.\nMeasures: To test the hypotheses of this study, respondents completed a self-report pre-training survey, measuring training awareness, training transfer climate, training participation and involvement and training assessment/evaluation. After 30 days (after the programme was over), trainees were approached for another self-report measure assessing perceived training transfer. Respondents who completed the pre- and post-training survey assessing perceptions of training transfer were only used for analyses. The measures used for the study are described further in the study.\nResult: Table I presents the mean, standard deviation and inter-correlations of the study variables. Training assessment mechanism was found to be weak, as the respondents reported that, overall, rarely to sometimes training programmes are evaluated in their organisation (M = 2.81). Perceived training transfer was found to be positively and significantly related to all the independent variables at p < 0.001. Among all the independent variables, training transfer was found to be strongly related to training transfer climate. This confirms H1, H2, H3 and H4.\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study hypothesised that the training awareness, training transfer climate, training participation and involvement and training assessment mechanism would be positively correlated with perceived training transfer. The result clearly supports all the four hypotheses. Training transfer climate and training participation and involvement were indeed significantly correlated with training transfer. Similarly, the results also revealed that training assessment and training awareness were positively related to perceived transfer of training, though training awareness explained only 10.3 per cent variance in the training transfer. The results of this study are in tune with the previous research studies (Baldwin and Magjuka, 1991; Rouiller and Goldstein, 1993; Tracey et al., 1995; Xiao, 1996; Sofo, 2007; Blume et al., 2010; Salas et al., 2012).\nManagerial implications: The purpose of this study was to understand the role of various organisational factors on training transfer. Organisational factors were chosen for this study, as they are under the control of management as compared to most of the individual factors. If organisations are aware about antecedents of motivation to transfer, then they can facilitate the training transfer better (Gegenfurtner et al., 2009), as well as are able to maximise the benefit of training programmes (Laker and Powell, 2011). Organisations can plan well in advance to have these factors in place and can enhance training transfer, which is currently around 10 per cent (Holton and Baldwin, 2000).\nStudy limitations: Although we cannot completely rule out the possibility of method bias, we tried our best to minimise any such error in our study. The survey was conducted with the help of personal interaction with each of the respondents, and their identity was kept completely confidential. Another limitation of this study was the use of single respondents; this method has been found to contain measurement errors. However, this is less likely when knowledgeable respondents are used for the study purpose (Wright et al., 2001). In our study, the participants were managerial-level personnel from various departments with considerable experience in their respective position and organisation.\nFuture research directions: Future research might investigate the extent to which not only trainees but also other training stakeholders, such as trainers and supervisors, feel accountable and responsible for training and its transfer. This would provide a stronger test of the accountability hypothesis. It would also be worthwhile to study what type of evaluation/assessment mechanism would be more appropriate for training transfer. Probably, the relationship between training assessment and training transfer might be better if the assessment is accompanied with rewards and recognition, as highlighted by Taylor et al. (2005). Thus, future research should explore the effects of assessment on training transfer when it is combined with rewards or recognition. Future research studies may also look at the role of evaluation/assessment feedback in training transfer. Finally, the mediating or moderating role of some of the organisational factors can also be considered for future research work.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Organisations invest heavily in training and development initiatives (Miller, 2012). However, a small percentage of what is learnt by the trainees from training gets transferred to the job (Mackay, 2007). The purpose of this study is to extend previous findings and examine various organisational factors, which have not been studied sufficiently, that influence training transfer.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A conceptual model based on previous research work is hypothesised and tested. The sample included 123 full-time employees working at one of the major public sector organisations operating in India.\nFindings: The result suggested that training transfer climate, training awareness, participation and involvement in training decision and training assessment mechanism were found to be positively and significantly related to perceived training transfer.\nResearch limitations/implications: Typical limitations consistent with self-report measures (e.g. social desirability) apply to this study as well. Another limitation was the small sample size. Future studies should assess a large sample size. Future research may assess the extent to which not only trainees but also other training stakeholders, such as trainers and supervisors, feel accountable and responsible for training and its transfer. This would provide a stronger test of the accountability hypothesis. It would also be worthwhile to study the type of evaluation/assessment mechanism that would be more appropriate for training transfer.\nPractical implications: Organisations should take care of these organisational factors for increasing the transfer of training at the workplace. Organisations can have better control over these factors compared to individual-related variables. Future research studies may also look at the role of evaluation/assessment feedback in training transfer. Finally, the mediating or moderating role of some of the organisational factors can also be considered for future research work.\nOriginality/value: This study is an attempt to add value to the present literature on training transfer by focusing on organisational factors. Most factors studied were neglected by previous research studies. Hence, this is a moderate attempt to add to the transfer of training literature.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Dynamics of social influence: an evolutionary approach	[ "Culture", "Politics of identity and difference", "Public choice", "Rational choice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nI. Introduction: This paper's objective is to put forward an equation suitable for modelling the changes in population proportion of types. Types are defined based on the heterogeneity of agent preferences or behavioural rules, as is the manner in economics. An increasingly popular method of analytically treating this class of questions is to use the evolutionary population dynamics termed the replicator equation. The qualitative and quantitative conclusions that stem from the replicator equation are sensitive to the specification of its fitness function. The contribution of this paper to existing literature is to propose a parametric formulation for fitness function that adequately matches mechanisms behind replication in social contexts and proposing an amended version for the equation. The proposed version is constructed by incorporating the components of social influence into its original formulation.\nII. Introducing behavioural replicator equation: This section begins with an introduction to the original formulation of the equation and builds stepwise into the behavioural version.\nIII. Possible patterns: I begin with formally defining the key terms followed by analyzing dynamic behaviour of the equation, as well as classifying its main patterns as a function of parameter values.\nDefinition 1: Type-attribute is the feature with respect to which the population is heterogeneous.\nDefinition 2: A type-attribute is said to be fitness-neutral if it does not procure an actual advantage or cause an actual disadvantage to agents endowed with it or adopting it subsequently. The physical payoff function (x\nDefinition 3: A type-attribute is said to be unfit if it causes an actual disadvantage to agents endowed with it or adopting it subsequently. The physical payoff function (x\nProposition 1: The behavioural replicator equation can be hill-shaped.\nProposition 2: For all values of g and any initial condition the proportion of the agents carrying the type-attribute under consideration will not decrease unless the parameter f is a constant smaller than unity.\nCorollary 2.1: For all values of g and any initial condition, complex dynamic behaviour may emerge if and only if the type-attribute under consideration is unfit.\nProposition 3: The curve resulting from the equation of a fitness-neutral type-attribute can be hill-shaped.\nProposition 4: For all values of g and any initial condition, the proportion of the agents carrying a fitness-neutral type-attribute will never decrease.\nCorollary 4.1: Period cycles or complex dynamic behaviour cannot emerge if the type-attribute is fitness-neutral.\nProposition 5: There are three fixed points for a fitness-neutral type-attribute, {0, 1/2, 1}.\nCorollary 5.1: All fitness-neutral type-attributes will achieve a proportion at least equal 1/2.\nProposition 6: There is a threshold value of g such that a minority fitness-neutral type-attribute can converge to common consensus for any initial condition satisfying x\nProposition 7: The critical interval [x\nIV. Conclusion: This paper examined the use of the replicator equation in modelling socioeconomic dynamics. I proposed a parametric fitness function incorporating the components of social influence, namely conformity and status seeking, as an amendment to the original version of the equation. This proposed equation, takes care of the imperfection of the analogy between evolution in biological systems and social systems. The amended version of the equation (named behavioural replicator equation) can be used to model the evolution of preferences, behavioural rules and social norms, as well as information propagation. I derived a subset of patterns generated by the proposed equation as a function of parameters, and I discussed how the predictions seem to agree with intuition and empirical observation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper aims to propose an analytical framework for social influence and mathematical formulation for its main components: conformity and peer-pressure. The framework is conceived to explain why certain behaviours and beliefs propagate in a society and some others disappear. It can also be used to study the emergence and the evolution of the status of the norms in terms of their adoption by the population.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is theoretical, making use of economic quantitative methods. The author proposes a new formulation for the evolutionary dynamics, increasingly borrowed by social scientists. Then, mathematically treating the equation, the author draws general conclusions in form of lemmas, which are proved.\nFindings: The author's main contribution is to show that even behavioural rules and beliefs that emerge in a minority subset of the population, do not procure any benefit for the agents adopting them can under certain conditions, evolve into the consensus of a society, become a norm.\nResearch limitations/implications: More general conclusion (theorems and lemmas) could be stated and proved. But given that the main contribution of the paper is to the fields of social and behavioural economics, along a number of disciplines less mathematical than economics, the author kept the analysis that required fairy advance mathematics for later.\nPractical implications: The paper contributes to the evolutionary game theory, evolution of preferences, and evolution of beliefs and social norms. More precisely, the equation proposed in the paper can be used in the contexts the patterns of heterogeneity in a population are affected or caused by social influence. Or in the contexts, the social institutions are susceptible to affect an agent's sense of identity (e.g. voting, fashion industry, marketing).\nOriginality/value: In this paper, for the first time, a mathematical formulation is proposed for the social influence and its main psychological components (conformity and status seeking). Using the above, the author proposed a new parametric fitness function for the evolutionary dynamics. The author believes the paper matters to a multidisciplinary public. It answers a question that challenged and puzzled the economists (as well other social scientists): the reasons behind the emergence and the prevalence of social norms do not positively contribute to the utility or payoff of the agents adopting them (and at times they are costly).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Effects of third-party certification on patrons' service quality evaluation in the luxury-restaurant industry	[ "Service quality", "Food quality", "Attention to social comparison information (ATSCI)", "Education level", "Luxury restaurant", "Third-party certification" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Restaurant customers are exposed to a certain degree of uncertainty or risk because they cannot ascertain the quality of food and services provided by restaurants before or even after consumption (Dimara and Skuras, 2005). This perceived uncertainty or risk comes from the fact that customers have less information with which they judge food and service quality of the restaurant (Anderson, 1994; Orth and Krska, 2002; Singh and Sirdeshmukh, 2000). Restaurant owners have information on the entire food preparation process, but customers cannot easily access such information. This phenomenon is called \"information asymmetry\" (Martin, 2004). Information asymmetry makes it hard for customers to accurately determine the food and service quality of various restaurants, exposing them to adverse selection risk. Taking advantage of customers' informational deficiency, low-quality providers may attempt to deceive customers into believing that they provide high-quality products or services. In particular, consequences of adverse selection may be more serious in luxury restaurants because of higher transaction costs for luxury restaurants than other restaurant segments (e.g. quick/casual service restaurants).\nLiterature review: Theoretical background: information asymmetry and third-party certification\nMethods: Data collection\nResults: Demographic characteristics\nDiscussion and implications: The results indicate that customers' awareness of third-party certification had a significant effect on their perception of food and service quality and on their trust, which in turn influenced their WOM intentions. In addition, perceived service quality had a significant effect on trust. Both ATSCI and the education level had moderating effects on the relationship between customers' awareness of third-party certification and their trust. However, there was no significant effect of perceived food quality on WOM intentions.\nConclusion: This study aimed to understand the role of third-party certification in promoting customers' trust and loyalty-related behaviors. Specifically, third-party certification was found to have positive effects on the customers' perceived restaurant service quality and trust in the restaurant, which in turn favorably affected WOM intentions. Although customers' perceived food quality had significantly positive impacts on trust in a restaurant, such perceptions did not have significant impacts on WOM intentions. The findings of this study also confirmed the risk-reducing effect of third-party certification, which minimizes customers' uncertainties about restaurant products' quality. Based on the findings, this study suggests that both restaurateurs and customers can benefit from presence of third-party certification.\nLimitations and future research: This study has four major limitations: First, the study targets the luxury-restaurant segment. Therefore, this study's research model may yield different results for different restaurant segments. In this regard, future research should apply the proposed framework to other restaurant segments such as casual dining and fast-food restaurants to verify the results. Second, the study investigates the effects of third-party certification on food and service quality and customer trust. The perceived reliability of the organization issuing this certification may influence these relationships, and therefore future research should examine the moderating role of third-party organizations' reliability perceived by customers. Third, high levels of education and income were overrepresented in the sample in comparison to the overall US demographic profile. In this regard, future research should employ a more diverse sample reflecting the overall US demographic profile. Fourth, the empirical data for this study was collected through an internet-based online survey. Many luxury-restaurant customers may not be familiar with internet-based web surveys and thus may not respond to an online survey. For this reason, future research may be required to further verify the proposed research model using empirical data collected by different methods (e.g. mailing survey method, face-to-face interview survey).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to incorporate third-party certification to test a theoretical model that demonstrates the effects of third-party certification on perceived food quality, perceived service quality, and trust and the effects of these factors on word of mouth (WOM) intentions in the context of luxury restaurants. It also investigates the moderating roles of attention to social comparison information (ATSCI) and the education level.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An online survey sent to customers who are patronizing luxury restaurants in the US 317 empirical data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Third-party certification facilitated patrons' positive evaluation of food and service quality. In addition, this positive evaluation fostered trust in the restaurant. Finally, ATSCI and the education level had significant moderating effects on the relationship between third-party certification and patrons' trust in the restaurant.\nOriginality/value: This study proposes risk-reducing effect of third-party certification on the luxury-restaurant business. Third-party certification is employed as a mechanism for communicating restaurant quality in food and service to patrons. Both stakeholders and patrons in the restaurant industry can obtain benefits from the third-party certification because it minimizes uncertainties and information asymmetries in luxury restaurants' quality and service, and thus generating likelihood of WOM intentions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Case study of improvement schemes of public housing in the Slovak Republic	[ "Housing", "Residential property", "Energy consumption", "Cost reduction", "Slovakia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Currently, there are 1.7 million apartments registered in the Slovak Republic, and approximately 50 percent of these are situated in residential buildings (blocks of flats). The majority of the buildings were built between 1945 and 1993. In an endeavour to satisfy accommodation needs as fast as possible, building companies sought construction methods that were fast, cost-effective and affordable to a wide spectrum of residents. As a result, large-scale housing estates came into existence, all built on the basis of panel structure elements. The method of panel housing construction was used to build approximately 650,000 apartments under various construction systems. Apart from many other shortcomings, the most serious problem of this type of building is their high energy consumption, caused mainly by the less strict thermo-technical criteria stated at the time for cladding and roofing structures, windows, entrance doors, etc.The adverse effect of the Government's policy at that time should be looked at in this context. Until 1989 the Government made every effort to maintain the costs of energy and water artificially at a very low level, which resulted in excessive energy and water consumption and waste. There were minimal efforts by building operation/administration managers to solve problems related to the rationalization of energy and water consumption.Since 1989, the efficiency of heat production has increased remarkably, and heat and water consumption have decreased significantly. This is largely due to the liberalization of prices (within 15 years heating prices have increased 25 times, and water charges have increased 50 times), legislative changes and the improved quality of administration of residential buildings.\nDevelopments in heating and water charges after 1989: Up until 1992 the price of heating supplied to residential buildings from centralized heating and hot water production sources was constant at SKK 21.00/GJ. Since 1993 it has been rising gradually, and now it is SKK 560.00/GJ (SKK - Slovak crowns; EUR1[?]38 SKK)> The trend in heating prices from 1992 to 2005 is shown graphically in Figure 1. The graph shows both the development of prices controlled by the state, set on the basis of economic costs, and the development of maximum prices that were paid by residents in residential buildings. This means that until 1999 the state subsidized heating supplies for its citizens.From 1992 to 2005 there was a sharp increase in drinking water charges. The development of prices in this period is shown in Figure 2.It is worth mentioning that there were some important legislative measures taken by the state in the aforementioned period (acts, decrees and directives) that were aimed at cutting the energy consumption of buildings, residential buildings included. Moreover, the Government, within its financial possibilities, in order to mitigate adverse economic effects on residents, has been supporting and subsidizing solutions for the reduction of energy consumption in residential buildings.\nReduction of heat and water consumption in residential buildings: On the basis of detailed analyses of housing estates it can be concluded that their physical condition, due to various structural defects and technical shortcomings, poor workmanship and neglected maintenance, is worse than that corresponding to their age, particularly in panel housing estates. Structural, hygienic and operational defects are found (Sternova, 1999). However, there is a high potential for a reduction in energy consumption. The reduction in energy consumption in existing housing estates can be achieved mainly by taking the following measures.Measures for a reduction in energy consumption in existing housing estates\nEconomic effectiveness of reduction measures for energy consumption in residential buildings: The reduction in energy consumption in residential buildings can be achieved effectively only in terms of real economic parameters. Artificially maintained low energy prices did not motivate residents to reduce heat or water consumption.Now that prices have been brought closer to those in other EU countries, the economic effectiveness of rationalization measures for reducing heat costs in heating residential buildings can be evaluated more objectively.As an example, the effectiveness of the hydraulic regulation of heating systems in house construction system T 06 B can be given (Dahlsveen and Petras, 1999). Table I shows the amounts of heat consumed for heating of selected residential buildings (RB) from 1994 to 2003.Calculations of economic effectiveness\nConclusions: Rationalization measures aimed at reducing energy consumption have proved successful. Building administration associations have transformed to a great extent. Some associations' effective management of housing estates has achieved such a level of production and supervision that they can also be an inspiration for advanced countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Since 1989, the efficiency of heat production has increased remarkably, and heat and water consumption have decreased significantly. This is largely due to the liberalization of prices (within 15 years heating prices have increased 25 times, water charges 50 times), legislative changes and the improved quality of administration of residential buildings. The purpose of this case study is to describe actual interventions and experiences from Slovakia's older residential houses. Some associations' efforts in relation to building management of housing estates have achieved such improvements, which are also instructive to advanced countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper utilises a case study approach.\nFindings: - On the basis of detailed analyses of housing estates it can be concluded that their physical condition, due to various structural defects and technical shortcomings, poor workmanship and neglected maintenance, is worse than that corresponding to their age, particularly in panel housing estates. A reduction in energy consumption in existing housing estates can be achieved mainly by taking the measures outlined. A reduction in energy consumption in residential buildings can be achieved effectively only in terms of real economic parameters. Artificially maintained low energy prices did not motivate residents to reduce heat or water consumption. Now that prices have been brought closer to those in other EU countries, the economic effectiveness of rationalization measures for reducing costs in heating residential buildings can be evaluated more objectively. Rationalization measures aimed at reducing energy consumption have proved successful. Building administration associations have transformed to a great extent.\nPractical implications: - The paper is a very useful source of information and impartial advice for associations wishing to achieve a necessary level of production and supervision.\nOriginality/value: - This paper fulfils an identified information/resource need and offers practical help for the effective management of housing estates.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emic vs etic frame of reference personality assessment in the prediction of work-related outcomes	[ "Personality", "Assessment", "Organizational behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over the past decades, personality researchers have focused on organizational behaviors and performance, showing that personality factors like conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion are related to job performance (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Motowidlo et al., 2008; Salgado, 1997) and other work-related outcomes such as job satisfaction, turnover intentions and counterproductive work-place behaviors (David and Holladay, 2015; Judge et al., 2002).\nThe present study: In this study we test whether personality factors that contain a frame of reference predict organizational behaviors over and above what is predicted by non-contextualized personality factors. Moreover, we investigate if emic contextualized personality factors predict organizational behaviors over and above etic contextualized Big Five personality factors.\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: Taking into account that this is a cross-sectional research based on self-reports we first tested for common method variance. We specifically tested for an unmeasured latent methods factor using structural equation modeling (Podsakoff et al., 2003). This approach allows items to load on their theoretical construct, as well as on a latent common methods variance factor. The significance of the estimated parameters is inspected both with and without the latent common methods variance factor in the model. First, we ran the model with the latent common factor and investigated the standardized regression weights of all items on their theoretical constructs. Second, we ran the model without the latent common method factor. We computed the difference between the standardized weights from the model without the common latent common method factor and the standardized weights from the model with the common latent method factor. Since standardized weights from the model without the common method factor include the common variance accounted by the common latent factor, they are usually greater than those from the model with the common method factor. We used a difference threshold of 0.20 in order to judge on the existence of common method variance. The results showed that none of the standardized weights were characterized by a difference greater than 0.20 which indicates that common method variance is unlikely to affect our results.\nDiscussion: Etic contextualized big five personality factors and organizational outcomes\nTheoretical and practical implications: The importance of the various etic and emic contextualized personality factors in predicting organizational outcomes was supported by the results of the relative weight analysis. These findings show that etic and emic contextualized factors had a significant individual contribution in explaining variance in the case of several organizational outcomes. For example, in the case of job satisfaction, turnover intention and absenteeism, the only individual predictors were etic and emic contextualized personality factors such as emic irritability, dynamism and etic contextualized neuroticism. These organizational outcomes are usually predicted by affective personality factors (Timmerman, 2006). In light of our findings, it seems that personality factors that are related to affectivity and temperament, such as extraversion and neuroticism, may be more dependent on the situational and cultural context. These results are in tone with previous research findings. For example, it is well-known that extraversion and neuroticism are among the most heritable personality factors (Vukasovic and Bratko, 2015). However, recent research showed that situational and cultural factors, such as religiosity, reduce the genetic activation and expression of disinhibitory personality factors (Boomsma et al., 1999). Jang et al. (2005) showed that contextual factors like parental bonding, family functioning, and traumatic events, impacted genetic and environmental influences on emotional stability by enhancing the impact of non-shared environmental factors. These findings support the idea that affective personality factors, despite having strong biological roots, are influenced by situational and cultural characteristics. As a consequence, in terms of assessment, when using emic measures that take into account the cultural aspects of one's personality, the predictive power of the personality factors for various behaviors should be higher due to the avoidance of construct-irrelevant variance (Haladyna and Downing, 2004).\nLimitations: Our study has a number of limitations. First, our sample contained participants recruited from a low number of professional areas (human resources, sales, marketing and administration), stemming from a collectivistic national culture. As a consequence, caution is advised when generalizing the findings to other cultural contexts and other professional areas. Second, the sample consisted mostly of women, and relying on unbalanced samples may lead to construct irrelevant variance (Haladyna and Downing, 2004). Further studies may consider more balanced samples in order to replicate and to extend the findings of this study. Second, a brief measure was used to assess the emic contextualized personality factors (32 items) compared to the etic measure (44 items). Being known that a measure's reliability is affected by the number of items (Urbina, 2014) this may have influenced the validity of several emic factors in predicting the organizational outcomes.\nConclusions: Our study showed that, in the case of personality assessment, using a double form of contextualization, frame of reference and culture, an increment in the prediction of organizational behaviors can be obtained. These finding may have important practical implications for various personnel selection and organizational development settings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of both work-related and emic contextualization of personality measurement in the prediction of work-related outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 224 employees completed work-contextualized and non-contextualized Big Five model measures, as well as contextualized emic personality measures, together with a number of measures for work-related outcomes.\nFindings: Results showed that, after controlling for demographic variables and non-contextualized etic factors, etic contextualized factors predicted occupational stress, work engagement, job satisfaction, work frustration, turnover intention, career satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. After controlling for demographic variables, non-contextualized etic factors and contextualized etic factors, emic contextualized personality factors predicted work engagement, job satisfaction, absenteeism, counterproductive workplace behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study has a number of limitations. First, the sample contained participants recruited from a low number of professional areas. Second, the sample consisted mostly of women, and relying on unbalanced samples may lead to construct irrelevant variance.\nPractical implications: By using a combination of etic personality measures and contextualized emic personality measures, organizations can better predict a number of organizational outcomes related to extra-role performance, such as those considered in the present study.\nOriginality/value: This research showed that, in the case of personality assessment, using a double form of contextualization - frame of reference and culture - an increment in the prediction of organizational behaviors can be obtained.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The importance of power and ideology in communities of practice: The case of a de-marginalized user interface design team in a failing multi-national design company	[ "Change management", "Design", "User interfaces", "The Netherlands" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Community of Practice (CoP) theory has sparked a number of discussions in recent years. The concept is eclectic (implying both functional and interpretive perspectives), and it is used in various ways: as a description of a joint enterprise within an organization or as a prescription for organizational development and knowledge management.Some authors have apparently concluded that, although its explanatory power is strong, the theory also has blind spots (such as its treatment of the issue of power relations). This paper will discuss these underdeveloped issues and reflect upon them on the basis of empirical material that resulted from a case study that we conducted within a large Dutch organization.The main research questions we investigated concerned how processes of (unplanned) community development evolve in relation to the surrounding dynamic power-context, the ways in which community development can affect the life-world of an organization, and the consequences of these changes on the boundaries between the community and other stakeholders in the life-world of the organization.We first describe the background of CoP theory and identify its underdeveloped aspects. After describing several methodological issues, we present the case study, focusing on the development of a community of practice (the User Interface Design Community) in relation to its environment (the Design Company).In the concluding section, we discuss the results of the case study while reflecting back on the theory, and we illustrate the advantages of considering the blind spots in CoP theory.\nBackground of the CoP concept: Wenger (1998) describes the communities of practice (CoP) concept as a joint enterprise, as understood and continually renegotiated by its members. Central characteristics of this concept are the mutual engagement that binds members together into a single social entity and the shared repertoire of communal resources that members have developed over time. A community of practice is distinct from (more or less) formal groups, because membership is based on participation, rather than on official status, and it is not bound by organizational affiliations (Wenger, 1998, p. 3). A CoP thus follows a cultural dimension of organizational life and pinpoints issues of identity, meaning, and organizational artifacts (practice).The notion of CoP is eclectic, in the sense that it connects a functional perspective on social relations, culture, and identity to an interpretive view that takes the subjective (and dynamic) construction of meaning for granted. These dual roots also emerge in the normative discussions surrounding the use of communities of practice in processes of organizational change. The \"CoP approach\" is (often) presented as an answer to one-sided, rational notions of planned change, in which a central stakeholder defines new realities for organizational parties and raises awareness of processes of meaning and attachment (Burke, 2004). It suggests a developmental, \"bottom-up\" model, in which CoPs are seen as functionalized learning entities that are designed to meet organizational goals (see Wenger, 1998, p. 5; Bate, 2004).This section presents the foundations and normative background of the CoP concept. We argue that, while current notions of CoPs have made a fruitful contribution to the discussion of identity processes within organization, they entail several theoretical blind spots, especially with regard to issues of power, ideology and boundary objects. This discussion addresses these underdeveloped issues and reflects upon them on the basis of empirical material that is presented in the case of the User Interface Design (UID) community.Foundations of CoP theory\nMethodological issues: Our analysis concentrates on a community of practice, the surrounding stakeholders, and their boundary objects. Issues of power, ideology, and conflicts are investigated in this context. We propose a qualitative approach for exploring these issues.Gaining insight into the life-world of an organization implies a preference for information that has been gathered, through the relatively long, detailed method of studying cultural differentiation over the random indications that are yielded by surveys or questionnaires. The intensity of the context is not the only argument in support of an intensive approach. Perhaps even more important is that the object of study when using ethnographic methods should always be the \"way things normally go\" in an organization, at least to the extent that such is possible. The number of formalized research methods is severely limited, and researchers using ethnographic techniques must strive for optimal maintenance of the reality of the organizations they study (see Veenswijk, 2001, p. 78).This research employed a triangulation of techniques, consisting of observations, document analysis, and interviews. Although most of the empirical references were collected through a process of ethnographic reconstruction that involved three months of intensive participant observation, 20 stakeholders were also interviewed (members of the design team, designers from SAG and engineers from the Production department). Two researchers' participated1 in the study of the UID community. This implied the participation of the researchers one full working day a week in the practices of the UID community. This approach allowed the researchers to perform observations in a large variety of settings: UID working place, UID meetings, UID meetings with the people from other departments (in order to present or discuss their approach to design), UID lunch and coffee breaks. The documents analyzed were documents related to:* The work of the design team (the design process they used, task analysis documents produced by the design team during the time of the study, documents produced by the users, design proposals for the new tools to be developed in the machine's interface).* The organization (internet, intranet and newspapers documents about the specific of organization. The financial state and history of products development in the organization, the development of market position of the organization, the list of declarative cultural values, the organigram, descriptions of the other departments such as Production and Marketing).During the week, a close contact was kept with the UID community by e-mail and telephone. Diaries were also kept, that recorded and documented the UID working practices, and their evolving situation. In this way, the researchers were up-to-date with all the changes in the UID community situation. A gradual acceptance of the researchers in the team and in the company took place. Finally, the researchers were seen as part of the UID community and they were granted the same trust as to any member of the company (for example the researchers were allowed to take pictures in the company; this was not admitted in the beginning). In the research was used the snowball method (membercheking). Snowball method relies on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects. The researchers followed the network of relations of the UID members with people from SAG and Production department in order to extend the study. The two researchers discussed the observations and associated interpretations. This supported the reliability of the study.\nThe general context of the Design Company (DC): The case study was conducted, within a large Dutch company. In the sections to follow, we will refer to the company as the Design Company (DC). DC has approximately 8,000 employees and is located in 16 countries. The company has several departments, including software system development, marketing, customer support, and product development. The company is one of the few of its kind in the world and its products are sold in three continents: Europe, North America, and Asia. The company maintains its headquarters in The Netherlands and has two main offices in the USA and Asia.The company was established in 1984. A period of accelerated growth took place between 1999 and 2000. In this period, the market for products manufactured with the help of the company's machines was favorable, with an upturn in the second half of the year.The record sales that followed this upturn were accompanied by substantial growth in the number of employees (the company increased its personnel by a third). The number and diversity of customers (they increased their market with client companies from other continents, including Asia); and the diversity of their products (they invested in research and development and produced new and improved types of machines). This growth made the company one of the most important companies in its industrial sector, securing its position as a market leader.The situation changed drastically in 2001, as the market turned sharply, downward and entered a severe recession. Orders fell to a very low level, and company sales dropped accordingly, causing losses of one hundred million euro. This extreme situation led the top managers to change the company's strategy from one of growth to one of restructuring existing resources. One of the measures was financial and required each group within the organization to try to stabilize its budget. The company further introduced salary control measures and bonus cancellations. The situation deteriorated despite these measures, however, requiring the lay-off of more than 1,000 employees.Other measures within the change strategy called for a sharp focus on the needs of customers, investing in cutting-edge technology and investing in employees. The first measure is the most relevant to this paper. The focus on customers' needs forced top management to address a problem that had confronted them for some time, but which had been of low priority: increasing the usability of the machines' interface. Solving this problem was included in the official list of action items and took the form of a project for the community in practice that represents the focus of our research - the UID (User Interface Design) team.Although the project was not intended to foster the cultivation of the UID community in the organizational setting, it was clearly an enabling factor in its development. The project represented a favorable context that allowed the UID community to take actions toward its own development, to grow, to assert its ideology, and even to succeed in effecting change in the organizational setting.\nThe UID community in the context of the power arena: Several stakeholders within the company were involved in the process that we will describe and analyze: the User Interface Design (UID) community, along with the researcher's team, the managers, the members of the department in which the UID was located (Software Architecture Group), and the users of machines (especially the production engineers' department).UID community\nUID community as change agent: This section presents an analysis of the change process, emphasizing its relevant phases and the stakeholders involved in them.The project given to the UID team opened the gate to de-marginalization by providing them the access to different types of stakeholders. Although during the first weeks there were divergent ideas within the community regarding which is the best way to take advantage of this situation (i.e. which experts to contact to improve the community knowledge pool, what meetings should be organized, who should be invited and what would be the best way to persuade other stakeholders to participate) the members agreed upon a joint line of action. The participants decided that is was more important to stick to the common goal they were fighting for and within two months, they formed a unified block. The first successes the UID community achieved, made them even more confident in their approach.External context of the organization: customer complaints and onset of the usability project\nDiscussion of findings: The findings of this case study show how a community of practice de-marginalizes itself in a situation holding favorable factors. The fact that the company's customers complained about problems in using the machines induced the managers to take action in this respect. For the members of the UID community, the project with which they were entrusted represented an opportunity to start the process of development and change. Although the project was not intended to foster the community, they took advantage of it.The conflict of ideologies between the UID community and the other stakeholders (managers and engineers), along with the low position of the UID within the organizational life-world motivated the community to proceed through a process of development. Emotional factors (e.g., feelings of frustration at the lack of acknowledgement by the other stakeholders) played an important role. A number of external conditions constituted a favorable context for UID to take action. The development of the CoP can be analyzed in terms of internal and external empowerment of the CoP.Internal empowerment\nConcluding remarks: The case study we have presented indicates the relevance of considering such concepts as power, conflict, and ideology to CoP theory. Enriched in this way, CoP theory can account for both the internal and external development of communities (in terms of empowerment), as well as the conditions that constitute a favorable context for such development. It can also explain how the bottom-up process of change that was induced by the UID community took place within the organizational life-world. Although these findings do not represent generalizations, they still give a valuable insight in the relevance of the phenomena investigated in a particular situation.Reflecting back on Wenger (1998) theory of CoP, the aspects of internal and external empowerment resemble, at least to some extent, the concepts of (internal and external) re-configuration of a community. Wenger, however, does not develop these concepts further, as we do in this research. The development of the UID community had an important impact on the life-world of the organization. The UID community engaged in a process of changing their environment and successfully.The sociology of translation proposed by Fox (2000) can be used to analyze how the process of change that the UID community conducted in the organizational life-worlds developed from the bottom up. Empowered by internal development, the UID community began to problematize the fact that technology is not designed according to UCD philosophy. They succeeded in making the other stakeholders accept this as a problem and showed that they had the solution: the new design approach (imported from the researchers' team). The UID community further succeeded in interesting the other stakeholders and enrolling them in the change process. To accomplish this, they used both direct and indirect strategies. They used several means of persuasion to show the other stakeholders that following an UCD philosophy of design was in the common interest of them all. Having secured the commitment of the other stakeholders, the UID community was finally able to mobilize these allies (i.e. the engineers from the production department) to spread the change into the organizational life-world.The results of this research illustrate how a community of practice (with an ideology different from other stakeholders) can take advantage of certain external conditions and engage in a process of internal and external development, thus changing its position and identity within the organizational life-world. Moreover, the community also engaged in a process of changing the very organizational life-world in which they were functioning. The insights provided by this research may have the potential to enrich the body of knowledge surrounding CoP theory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss some underdeveloped issues in Community of Practice theory and their practical implications for the study of the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper shows that, in order to achieve this goal, first the blind spots are identified (such as power issues and the relation of the community with its environment) based on a literature review. Then, a case study is presented, carried out in a large Dutch organization (referred to as the Design Company), which designs and produces complex technology. The focus is on one community of practice (The User Interface Design Team) and the process of its development (internal and external) within a particular environment. The consequences of this development on the environment are examined. The methodology employed is mainly ethnographical observation and qualitative interviews.\nFindings: - The paper finds that the case study demonstrates the relevance of considering such concepts as power, conflict, and ideology in CoP theory. Enriched in this way, CoP theory can account for both the internal and external development of communities (in terms of empowerment), as well as the conditions that constitute a favorable context for such development. It can also explain how the bottom-up process of change that was induced by the User Interface Design community takes place within the organizational life-world.\nOriginality/value: - The paper reveals that the insights provided by this research have the potential to enrich the body of knowledge surrounding CoP theory. The results of this research are considered to be useful for organizations that present similar conditions to the one presented in this case study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk measures computation by Fourier inversion	[ "Risk management", "Value-at-risk", "Expected shortfall", "Entropic value-at-risk", "Expectile risk measure", "Fourier transform" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Risk management is crucial for the sound functioning of the financial sector as highlighted by the recent subprime crisis and credit crunch. Therefore, an efficient computation of risk measures associated with a given loss distribution is a major concern in risk management. This is driven by the increasing complexity of financial instruments as well as reduced timelines for calculating risk measures which is motivated by the need to manage the risk of financial positions in real time.\n2. Literature review: Fourier transform methods are popular in risk management and option pricing. One of their main advantages is computational efficiency. Much of their popularity is also attributed to their analytical tractability and flexibility. As a result, numerous studies have considered Fourier transform methods for computing risk measures on a portfolio level. In an early contribution, Duffie and Pan (2001) develop an analytical approximation for the portfolio VaR under heavy-tailed and a skewed return distribution model. They also show that the approximation provides a substantial reduction in computational effort compared to the Monte-Carlo simulation. Glasserman et al. (2002) focus on the portfolio VaR in the presence of heavy tails in the return distribution. Their method is based on the Fourier inversion of the characteristic function. Albanese et al. (2004) introduce a new Fourier transform method for computing VaR for derivatives portfolios and for heavy-tailed return distributions. They work under the assumption that the characteristic function is not known explicitly. Siven et al. (2009) also consider computation of VaR using Fourier transform method. The main focus of their study is on the choice of parameters to perform numerical integration of the characteristic function with a given error tolerance. Yueh and Wong (2010) use Fourier transform method to compute VaR and ES. Assuming that the risk factors are multivariate Gaussian, they derive closed-form formulas for these risk measures. Ortiz-Gracia and Oosterlee (2014) present four numerical methods for computing VaR and ES for derivatives portfolios that are based on either wavelets or Fourier cosine approximations. We note that all these studies adopt the delta-gamma approximation to the changes in the portfolio values to capture the nonlinearity in the portfolio values.\n3. Methodology: Let Pt denote the portfolio value at time t. We define the loss of the portfolio between days t and t+1 as Lt+1 = -(Pt+1 - Pt). In general, financial risk is quantified by means of a risk measure, which is a mapping from the set of portfolio losses to the set of real numbers. There are some desirable properties of a risk measure such as coherence, comonotonicity and elicitability. The notion of a coherent risk measure was introduced in Artzner et al. (1999). A coherent risk measure should satisfy the monotonicity property, the positive homogeneity property, the sub-additivity property and the translation invariance property. Each of these properties can be summarized as follows:\n4. Results: In this section, we report results for EL, SD, SV, VaR, ES, EVaR and expectile risk measure. We consider a portfolio of 1,000 Euros equally divided among Warsaw Stock Index (WIG), Russian Trading System Index (RTS), Prague Stock Exchange index (PX) and Budapest Stock Exchange Index (BUX). This portfolio is exposed to eight risk factors: four stock market indices and four exchange rates.\n5. Conclusion: In this paper, we have considered the efficient computation of risk measures such as value-at-risk, expected shortfall, entropic value-at-risk, expectile, mean loss, SD or SV. Assuming that the characteristic function of the return model is known, we have used Fourier transform technique to compute these risk measures with little computational effort. The algorithms presented in this paper can be used for single instruments as well as portfolios. We have tested these algorithms on a portfolio exposed to multiple risk factors and find results consistent with the theory predictions. Finally, we have provided an example of validating the modelling assumptions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the method for efficient computation of risk measures using Fourier transform technique. Another objective is to demonstrate that this technique enables an efficient computation of risk measures beyond value-at-risk and expected shortfall. Finally, this paper highlights the importance of validating assumptions behind the risk model and describes its application in the affine model framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The method proposed is based on Fourier transform methods for computing risk measures. The authors obtain the loss distribution by fitting a cubic spline through the points where Fourier inversion of the characteristic function is applied. From the loss distribution, the authors calculate value-at-risk and expected shortfall. As for the calculation of the entropic value-at-risk, it involves the moment generating function which is closely related to the characteristic function. The expectile risk measure is calculated based on call and put option prices which are available in a semi-closed form by Fourier inversion of the characteristic function. We also consider mean loss, standard deviation and semivariance which are calculated in a similar manner.\nFindings: The study offers practical insights into the efficient computation of risk measures as well as validation of the risk models. It also provides a detailed description of algorithms to compute each of the risk measures considered. While the main focus of the paper is on portfolio-level risk metrics, all algorithms are also applicable to single instruments.\nPractical implications: The algorithms presented in this paper require little computational effort which makes them very suitable for real-world applications. In addition, the mathematical setup adopted in this paper provides a natural framework for risk model validation which makes the approach presented in this paper particularly appealing in practice.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to consider the computation of entropic value-at-risk, semivariance as well as expectile risk measure using Fourier transform method.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing employers' requirements in construction industry: Experiences and challenges	[ "Employers", "Manufacturing resource planning", "Procurement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Facing increased competition, greater project complexity and demands for higher quality requirements, the construction industry is constantly seeking ways to gain client satisfaction and improve project performance. Requirements are the basis for every project, defining what the stakeholders need from it and also what the end product must meet in order to satisfy that need. Requirements therefore form the basis for project planning, risk management, acceptance testing, trade-off and change control (Hull et al., 2005). They are the essential elements of the briefing process as well as the whole development process. The briefing process in construction is the process through which a client informs others of his or needs, aspirations and desires for a project (CIB, 1997). Previous research reveals that there is a lack of identification, management and traceability of the requirements during the project development process in construction projects (Newman et al., 1981; Kelly et al., 1992; Barrett and Stanley, 1999; Kamara and Anumba, 2001; Yu et al., 2005, Arayici et al., 2006). Thus the management of requirements in the whole development process in the construction industry is inadequate.Research on Requirements Management (RsM) in the construction industry is very limited in comparison with Requirements Engineering (RsE) in the system and software world. Thus, the aim of this paper is to summarise the challenges, problems, and solutions of managing Employer's Requirements in the traditional procurement systems of construction projects. Further, a vision for future research directions on RsM is also provided. This research is likely to be of significant value to professionals and academics in the construction industry for improvement of RsM processes in traditional procurement systems of development projects.\nWhat are requirements?: A requirement is a necessary attribute in a product or system, a statement that identifies a capability, characteristic, or quality factor of a product or system in order for it to have value and utility to a client or user (Young, 2004). It is a statement of need, something that some classes of clients, users or other stakeholders' want (Alexander and Stevens, 2002) \"Requirements\" in the computer engineering world are defined during the early stages of a system development as a specification of what should be implemented (Sommerville and Sawyer, 1997). They are descriptions of how the system should behave, application domain information, constraints on the system's operation, or specifications of a system property or attribute (Kotonya and Sommerville, 1998). Requirements are the foundations of any development project. Good requirements are complete, unambiguous, consistent, feasible, solution neutral, traceable, necessary, not used for wrong purpose, concise, correct and verifiable (Kamara and Anumba, 2000; Young, 2004; Zielczynski, 2008). The importance of good requirements and the underlying dynamic nature of the requirements processes means that it is necessary to investigate and implement a systematic approach to understand and practice RsM for any project.In the construction industry, there are different types of project requirements (Kamara et al., 2002):* Client requirements. Requirements of the client which describe the facility that satisfies his or her business need. These incorporate Employer's Requirements, developer's requirements, user requirements and the lifecycle requirements for operating, maintaining and disposing of the facility. This paper is focused on the aspects of Employer's Requirements (ER). The Employer is the party who pays for the project.* Site requirements. These describe the characteristics of the site on which the facility is to be built (e.g. ground conditions, existing services, history, etc.).* Environmental requirements. These describe the immediate environmental (e.g. climatic factors, neighbourhood, environmental conservation, etc.) surrounding the proposed site for the facility.* Regulatory requirements. Building, planning, health and safety regulations, and other legal requirements that influence the acquisition, existence, operation and demolition of the facility.* Design requirements. Requirements for design, which are a translation of the client needs, site and environmental requirements.* Construction requirements. Requirements for actual construction, which derive from the design activity.The interrelationship between these project requirements is illustrated in Figure 1. Client requirements combine with site, environmental and regulatory requirements to produce design requirements, which, in turn, generate construction requirements. Other project requirements are generated from the business need of the client that is to be satisfied by the proposed facility. The end product of the building construction, the building, should fulfill the needs and requirements of all stakeholders in a comprehensive manner. This is the ultimate target of RsM in the construction industry.Requirements are important because they provide the basis for all of the development work that follows. In the construction industry, once the requirements are set, developers initiate the other technical work: design, tendering, construction, commissioning and operation. The practice of RsM is critical to the successful delivery of any development project (Robertson and Robertson and Robertson, 2005).The dominant storyline in the literature of construction industry exhorts the adoption of RsM with reference to a number of longstanding problems that are common in the construction industry (Fernie et al., 2003): failure to deliver projects within budget; late delivery of projects; failure to consider project decisions from a whole life cycle perspective and poor customer satisfaction.\nWhat is requirements engineering/management?: Requirements Engineering (RsE) was a relatively new term in System and Software Engineering in the 1990s. It has been invented to cover all of the activities involved in discovering, documenting, and maintaining a set of requirements for a computer-based system (Sommerville and Sawyer, 1997). The use of the term \"engineering\" implies that systematic and repeatable techniques should be used to ensure that system requirements are complete, consistent, relevant, etc. RsE is also about management and hence issues in relation to requirements and management blend to show how requirements can be used to manage systems development. The main purpose of RsE is to create better requirements and to manage these requirements. RsM in the System and Software Engineering is only the process of managing changes to the system requirements. Requirements for a system always change to reflect the changing needs of system stakeholders, changes in the environment in which the system is to be installed, changes in the business which plans to install the system, or changes in laws and regulations, etc. (Kotonya and Sommerville, 1998). These changes have to be managed to ensure that they make economic sense and contribute to the business needs of the client. The technical feasibility of change proposals must be assessed and it must be possible to make the changes within budget and schedule.Requirements management is a critical part of the development process, not only for software, but for all products (Turk, 2005). In the construction industry, the Requirements Management process means that we know what the client's needs and that the design solution and the end product efficiently meet these requirements. The end product of the building construction, the building, should fulfill the needs of all stakeholders in a comprehensive and logic manner. In order to attain this, the Employer's Requirements need to be identified and captured. This is the first target of RsM. Since it is impossible to satisfy all needs of all stakeholders, for various reasons, the second target of RsM is to identify each stakeholder's requirements and put the different stakeholders' requirements together. When requirements of the various stakeholders contradict, it is difficult to judge whose need is more important than others. Robertson and Robertson (2006) suggested that the ranking of stakeholders' opinion is based on the power, interest and proximity of the stakeholder. This may be the third target of RsM in the construction industry. In addition, the compliance of design with the requirements should be verified constantly during project. Finally, it is necessary to ensure the final product complies with the requirements of the client. Because of the limited time and budget of the research, this project focuses on the processes, problems and solutions of managing Employer's Requirements of traditional procurement systems in construction projects.\nThe challenges of requirements management: The challenge in writing requirements is mainly to communicate reliably and adequately between groups of project stakeholders who may have never met, and who have quite different viewpoints. For example, it may be difficult for the sub-contractors to meet users: their direct boss is the main contractor of the construction projects. The problems of RsM may be as follows (Alexander and Stevens, 2002):* Gaps between people. There are various groups of stakeholders who need to communicate well to make a new project a success. In the construction industry, there are bound to be gaps between developers and marketing managers, users and developers, project participants and clients, designers and contractors, contractors and sub-contractors.* Time to work out a good requirements structure. Getting the requirements structured correctly and precisely takes time because the structure depends on what kinds of user there are, on what each kind of user needs the project to fulfill, and on the nature of the constraints. Time must be allowed for gathering, organizing and checking out the requirements both formally and informally. This is not something that can be rushed.* Expected effort and time taken. To put some numbers to all this, Alexander and Stevens (2002) suggested to spend about 5 percent of project effort on the definition and development of requirements and also allow a generous chunk of schedule - up to 25 percent of calendar time - for requirements on shorter projects, but not more than three months on larger ones.* Requirements effort throughout the life cycle. Some effort on requirements is needed throughout the project because compromise and change are inevitable. An essential element in any acceptable compromise knows how important each requirement is to its owner. The issue concerning change of requirements is discussed in the next section.* Allowance for change and feedback. The lack of well-documented updates make it difficult to trace the changes in Employer's Requirements (Oberg et al., 1998). Changes from outside are also inevitable. Every project with a lifetime of more than a few months will experience pressures from competitors, market or operational changes, from new technologies, and from stakeholders to change the requirements and the design. The change of requirements should be able to be tracked back, updated and recorded properly for future use and feedback for subsequent projects.* Allowance for users' participation and expression of feelings. The lack of adequate end-user's involvement causes failure to manage end-user's expectations (Kujala et al., 2005; Arayici et al., 2006). The users are arguably the most important stakeholders that occupy and perform activities in the building. Their voice towards the requirements must be heard and should be paid attention to as early as possible during the project development process. Some users may be defensive about giving their opinions, especially if, for instance, they think their jobs may be affected by the project being developed. In that situation, it is essential to gain their trust before trying to start developing the project. It is necessary to consider who will really benefit from the use of the building and a win-win situation should be achieved if possible.\nResearch methodology: Questionnaire survey\nResearch findings: Problems associated with RsM\nA vision for future research: After analysing and discussing the empirical data on the processes, problems and solutions of managing Employer's Requirements for the construction industry, the next step is to develop a practical framework for RsM. This is presented here and is proposed as a preliminary framework of RsM for the construction projects (Figure 3). A more refined version will be developed on the basis of the results of further investigation. The proposed refined framework is likely to comprise some guidelines and critical success factors for managing project requirements, not only Employer's Requirements, in a holistic RsM process.A further step will be to develop a practical \"how-to\" guide which explains the application of RsM principles in construction projects. The guide will provide practical solutions to critical issues frequently encountered by clients, consultants and contractors in the RsM process. Tools, techniques and examples of tasks such as how to elicit project requirements, define the requirements, identify the needs and wants, prioritise requirements, verify requirements, record and trace the changes of requirements in construction projects will be provided in the guidebook.\nConclusions: There is an extensive literature on RsM relating to the software sector. It attracted the interest of the authors to investigate the longstanding nature of problems in managing project requirements of construction projects. This paper concentrates on investigating the management of Employer's Requirements in traditional procurement systems in the construction industry. The preliminary investigation comprised a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews.The research revealed that project participants agreed with the importance of the RsM to the successful delivery of projects. They were not satisfied with the existing practices in the managing of Employer's Requirements in the traditional procurement methods. The top three significant problems of RsM were:1. misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Employer's needs;2. the changing of Employer's needs produced incomplete and inconsistent requirements; and3. lack of well-documented updates of Employer's Requirements made it difficult to trace the changes in Employer's Requirements.The respondents support our proposed solutions to RsM which include:1. appointing an experienced project participant as the Employer's Requirements Manager to be responsible for the management of Employer's Requirements;2. specifying the role and responsibilities of each party on capturing and managing Employer's Requirements clearly and precisely;3. providing a formal procedure to record, manage and trace changes in Employer's Requirements;4. providing a template of Employer's Requirements Managements Plan; and5. designing a formal procedure to translate Employer's needs and requirements into specifications.From these suggestions, the authors envisage further research which involves investigating the managing of project requirements in the construction industry and production of a systematic framework/model for successful RsM for construction projects. A preliminary framework for RsM in the construction industry was provided in this paper, which will serve as the basis for further investigation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore existing problems and potential solutions of managing Employers' Requirements in the project development process of construction projects under traditional procurement systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Two research instruments are used: semi-structured interview and questionnaire survey, to investigate the problems and potential solutions to Requirements Management in the construction industry.\nFindings: - The research revealed that Requirements Management is crucial to the successful delivery of construction projects. However, the current practice of Requirements Management in the industry is informal and there is a lack of a systematic approach to tackle the problems. The authors also propose potential solutions to Requirements Management as well as a vision for further research.\nPractical implications: - The paper presents the problems of managing Employers' Requirements, and the potential solutions to improve the Requirements Management process that need to be addressed.\nOriginality/value: - The paper improves one's comprehension of the nature, characteristics, problems and potential solutions of Requirements Management in the project development process under the traditional procurement systems in the construction industry, relevant to both practitioners and scholars. A model is proposed as a \"preliminary framework\" to show the processes involved.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The enhanced loyalty drivers of customers acquired through referral reward programs	[ "Customer satisfaction", "Attitudinal loyalty", "Switching costs", "Behavioural loyalty", "Customer acquisition", "Referral reward programmes" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Customer acquisition is challenging in today's competitive market environment. Consumers are frequently overwhelmed with product choices and are tuning out the ever-growing barrage of traditional company-driven marketing communications (Bughin et al., 2010). Instead, they often prefer to make purchase decisions based on valued opinions expressed directly to them and are more likely to buy a product when recommended to do so by a person they know (Bughin et al., 2010). Consequently, referral reward programs (RRPs) have assumed a growing prominence in many firms' customer acquisition strategies (Ryu and Feick, 2007; Schmitt et al., 2011).\nTheoretical framework and hypotheses: RRP as a moderator on the effects of customer satisfaction on attitudinal loyalty\nMethod: This study was conducted in the context of retail banking. This context is appropriate for this research due to the high level of competition in the industry. Furthermore, trust plays an important role in customer-firm relationships in the banking context (Schmitt et al., 2011), which has led to a considerable number of retail banks using RRPs. Additionally, RRPs are especially appropriate in industries with contractual or membership-like customer relationships (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2011). In such industries, customer behavior can be traced more easily through customer transaction records, which in turn help to reward existing customers for successfully recommending new customers to the firm.\nResults: Measure validation\nDiscussion and implications: Thus far, research relating to RRPs has essentially focused on measuring the impact of RRPs on contribution margin and customer retention (e.g. Schmitt et al., 2011), examining the influence of RRPs on referral likelihood (e.g. Ryu and Feick, 2007), and optimizing RRPs under different contexts (e.g. Xiao et al., 2011). These studies have shown that RRP-acquired customers are more valuable to firms than non-RRP-acquired new customers in terms of customer retention, referrals, and profit margins. While these findings are useful to firms, they are not adequate. The reason is that merely understanding that RRP-acquired customers are of higher economic value does not adequately equip managers to manage RRPs effectively in the current competitive market environment. As the drivers of customer attitudes and behavior are dynamic (Johnson et al., 2006), a deeper insight into the psychological processes of consumers (i.e. customer attitudes and perceptions) that influence observed loyalty behaviors it is necessary.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend prior research on referral reward programs (RRPs) by examining if and how the mode of customer acquisition (RRP-acquired customers vs non-RRP-acquired new customers) moderates the relationships between customer satisfaction and attitudinal loyalty, perceived switching costs and attitudinal loyalty, and attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty (i.e. recommendations, cross-buying, and total spend).\nDesign/methodology/approach: Set in a banking context, this study is the first in an RRP context to link survey data with actual purchase data from a bank's CRM records. Specifically, the survey captured customers' satisfaction, perceived switching costs and attitudinal loyalty, whereas the CRM data provided actual loyalty behaviors (cross-buying and total spend).\nFindings: The findings show that the effect of satisfaction on attitudinal loyalty, and the effects of attitudinal loyalty on recommendations, cross-buying, and total spend were stronger for RRP-acquired customers than for non-RRP-acquired new customers. Furthermore, perceived switching costs had a lower effect on attitudinal loyalty for RRP-acquired customers than for non-RRP-acquired new customers.\nPractical implications: The findings offer managers a better understanding of how RRP-acquired customers differ from non-RRP-acquired new customers with regard to their satisfaction, perceived switching costs, and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty, thus enabling effective management of RRPs.\nOriginality/value: This is the first empirical study that explores the differences between RRP-acquired customers and non-RRP-acquired new customers with regard to the effects of satisfaction and perceived switching costs on attitudinal loyalty, and the effect of attitudinal loyalty on behavioral loyalty.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Risk-based performance monitoring takes off at Brussels Airlines: System streamlines quality and safety operations	[ "Performance management", "Airlines", "Information technology application", "Safety", "Computer software" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Belgium's flagship airline has streamlined its quality and safety operations through an integrated safety and performance-management system.\nAnticipate and manage risks: The suite of software has enabled the Brussels Airlines safety-services department to improve safety and operations, as well as anticipate and manage risks, and avoid safety problems from occurring.\nDetect hazards in advance: He continued: \"We are now capturing safety issues more easily and working more proactively as we can detect hazards in advance even better. This has helped us not only to improve safety even more but also to increase efficiency as everyone is using and becoming knowledgeable in one tool\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Demonstrates how Brussels Airlines has streamlined its quality and safety operations through an integrated safety and performance-management system.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Describes how software from Ideagen has enabled the airline to improve safety and operations, as well as anticipate and manage risks, and prevent problems from occurring.\nFindings: Charts how the three main planks of the software - Q-Pulse, Gael Risk and Performance Monitor - work together to help the airline to improve through efficient safety and risk management and in-depth performance indicators.\nPractical implications: Reveals that the system encourages the same working methods throughout the organization with regard to capturing safety and operational issues and other forms of data.\nOriginality/value: Shows how the airline is now capturing safety issues more easily and working more proactively as it can detect hazards in advance even better.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are subjective business performance measures justified?	[ "Business performance", "Performance measurement", "Objective performance", "Subjective performance" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Actions and efforts of manager are driven by the performance measurement system of an organization. Performance measurement plays a vital role in translating an organization's strategy into desired behaviors and results (Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 1998; Kaplan and Norton, 2001; Lillis, 2002; Bourne et al., 2003; Silvestro, 2014). It communicates expectations, monitors progress, provides feedback, and motivates employees through performance-based rewards (Ittner and Larcker, 1997; Banker et al., 2000; Chenhall, 2003; Stede et al., 2006; Saidi-Mehrabad et al., 2011; Teeratansirikool et al., 2013). Performance measurement is not an end in itself, but a tool for more effective management and has strategic implications regarding the resource deployment and utilization (Tangen, 2004; Gruber et al., 2010).\nSample and procedure: For the purpose of the study, we took a purposive sample of senior-level managers in decision making roles (key informants), from companies listed with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), India and having their registered office in North India. The data were collected in 2012-2013. Out of the key informants from 203 companies, who participated in the survey, responses of 171 were finally used for this study. Other respondents' responses were incomplete or they were found outliers during data cleaning. Profile of the sample is shown in the Table AI.\nMeasuring subjective business performance: To operationalize subjective business performance, a ten-item seven-point scale was developed. Seven-point scale provides a wide range of flexibility to respondents for comparing the business performance with major competitor ranging from 1 to 7 (where 1=much more than worse than our competitor, 2=more than worse than our competitor, 3=worse than our competitor, 4=almost similar, 5=better than our competitor, 6=more than better than our competitor, 7=much more than better than our competitor). Respondents were asked to compare the performance of their firm with their major competitor, over the past three years. The relative performance was measured on different aspects of business, namely, sales growth, market share, return on investment, service quality, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, product innovation, process innovation and product quality (see Table AII). The scale was tested for the content validity by seeking the opinion of the experts. The instrument was pre-tested, and no challenge was reported by the respondents. Venkatraman and Ramanujam (1986) suggest that researchers should collect data on indicators of business performance and explicitly test the dimensionality of their conceptualization of business performance.\nMeasuring objective business performance: Objective business performance has been operationalized and measured in terms of six financial/non-financial indicators identified from the literature (see Table AIII). These include sales growth, asset growth, return on sales (ROS), return on assets (ROA) return on net worth (RONW), and earnings per share (EPS). Archival data from the annual reports of the companies has been used. Sales growth and asset growth were assessed using compounded annualized growth rate for the last three years (2010-2013). For other indicators, average of the figures for last three years (2010-2013) was taken.\nConclusion and implications: The foregoing analysis and discussion makes it amply clear that both subjective and objective measures of business performance are capable for measuring the performance of an organization. Neither of the subjective or the objective measure of business performance is superior to the other; as both are considering financial as well as operational indicators. However, high degree of correlation found in this study supports the use of subjective business performance measures for making cross-industry comparison and draw the attention of the decision makers towards factors that are crucial for building capabilities for the achievement of strategic goals of an organization.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to operationalize the subjective measures of business performance and assessing their justification for use in place of objective measures of business performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is based on a sample survey of 171 companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange, India. A cross-sectional descriptive research design has been used. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure and dimensionality of objective and subjective measures of business performance. The psychometric properties of these measures and their interrelationship have been assessed through confirmatory factor analysis.\nFindings: The study finds a strong positive correlation between subjective business performance and objective business performance. The study finds it justified to use the subjective measures of business performance.\nResearch limitations/implications: Response bias may have crept in because of self-reported measure used for the study. Future researchers may cross-verify the subjective perception of respondents with data available from the records of the firms. Second, the study focuses only on financial and operational indicators of performance. The future studies may widen the scope of business performance by incorporating the interests of other stakeholders like suppliers, government, environment and society in general.\nPractical implications: The strategy researchers confronting the challenge of adopting appropriate measures of business performance can use either or both of subjective and objective performance measures, as suggested in this study. The study has suggestions for strategic decision makers regarding measurement of business performance in terms of financial as well as operational indicators.\nOriginality/value: The study operationalizes and validates two measures of performance, namely, subjective business performance and objective business performance. The study contributes to the strategic management literature by providing evidence for association between objective and subjective measures of performance.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of product digitalization and price dispersion on search intentions in offline versus online settings: the mediating effects of perceived risks	[ "Prices", "Performance management", "Risk analysis", "Transactional analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Consumers' search for information is an important aspect of their product purchase decision process (Punj and Staelin, 1983). In this paper we examine the effects of a product-related variable like digitalization and a market-related variable like price dispersion, on consumer search intentions, across offline versus online shopping interfaces, and the mediating roles of two different types of perceived risks. Product digitalization refers to the degree to which product attributes can be communicated through digital/electronic means (Lal and Sarvary, 1999). It is important to examine the effects of product digitalization for at least two important reasons. First, from a theoretical perspective, prior research has not examined the effects of product digitalization on search intentions. Second, with recent technological advances, there is greater scope, prevalence, and variety of digitalized products, especially in the online environment (Brynjolfsson et al., 2003). Price dispersion refers to the degree of variance (or range) in price in the marketplace (Pan et al., 2002). It is important to focus on the effects of price dispersion because even though marketers do not usually have direct control on market-level price dispersion, yet they have to effectively manage the implications of different levels of price dispersion.\nTheoretical background: Perceived risks in offline and online environments\nStudy 1: effects of product digitalization: A high-digitalized product is defined as one with a high component of digital product attributes, while a low-digitalized product is defined as one with a low component of digital product attributes. Specifically, digital product attributes have been defined as product attributes that can be communicated through electronic means, while non-digital attributes are defined as those that can only be evaluated through physical inspection of the products (Lal and Sarvary, 1999). That is, if the attributes of the product can be evaluated through digital means, the product is considered highly digitalized. A music CD would be an example of a highly digitalized product while a shirt would be an example of a low-digitalized product. Other examples of highly digitalized products would be film/music videos, video games, books, and newspapers.As discussed earlier, while almost all shopping scenarios have some degree of perceived risk, the levels of perceived risks gets enhanced in the online environment. One key reason for this higher perceived risk is the inability of the consumer to physically evaluate the product before purchase in the online environment (Biswas and Biswas, 2004). However, if the consumer is able to directly evaluate the attributes of the product electronically through the online medium itself, then the levels of perceived performance risks should be mitigated to some extent. Specifically, for digitalized products (e.g. music CD, video game), consumers can evaluate/sample the product before purchase, which they would be unable to do for a non-digitalized product (e.g. clothing items, cooking range) especially in the online environment (Biswas and Biswas, 2004; Lal and Sarvary, 1999). This implies that consumers' perceived performance risk would be lower for digitalized than for non-digitalized products, and this effect would be magnified for online (than offline) shopping contexts. As a result, in order to mitigate the perceived performance risk, a consumer would have the incentive to search around more and check out more retailers, in the case of non-digitalized, than digitalized, products. In other words, perceived performance risks would mediate the effects of product digitalization on consumer search intentions.In contrast, perceived transaction risk is unlikely to be influenced by the extent of product digitalization. This is because perceived transaction risk is a seller related risk while digitalization is product related. Hence, while perceived performance risk would be lower for digitalized products, there will be no such effects on transaction risk. Therefore, there would be no such mediating effects of perceived transaction risks on the effects of product digitalization on consumer search intentions.In sum, we are proposing that when perceived performance risk is higher, consumers would have the incentive to undertake a higher amount of search, since performance risk is product specific and a higher amount of search would give exposure and access to a higher number of products and hence mitigate the perceived performance risk. That is, perceived performance risk will mediate the effects of product digitalization on search behavior. No such mediating effects are expected for perceived transaction risk. This is because transaction risk is shopping medium specific and hence additional levels of search would only give exposure to additional product choices, but would not affect perceived uncertainty with giving out information (e.g. credit card) to the seller during the transaction. Hence, we propose the following hypotheses:H1a. In the offline environment, consumers' search intention would be higher for non-digitalized (versus digitalized) products, and this effect would be even greater in the online environment.H1b. In the offline environment, consumers' perceived performance risks would be higher for non-digitalized (versus digitalized) products and this effect would be even greater in the online environment. No such interaction effects are expected for transaction risk.H2. The effects predicted in H1a. would be mediated by perceived performance risk. No such mediating effects are expected for perceived transaction risk.\nStudy 1: method: Design and subjects\nStudy 2: effects of price dispersion: Prior research has noted a positive correlation between price dispersion and the level of search activity undertaken by a consumer (Ratchford, 2007; Stigler, 1961; Stiglitz, 2000). Price dispersion implies varying levels of prices across different retailers. Price dispersion is somewhat determined by seller heterogeneity, but is more strongly influenced by the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers (Biswas, 2004; Rothschild, 1974). That is, when some buyers (consumers) are not knowledgeable about the product offerings, some sellers can afford to have widely varying price levels in order to get higher profit margins from such less knowledgeable consumer groups. In the context of traditional offline shopping interfaces, EoI theory has predicted and found empirical evidence for a positive effect of price dispersion on total amount of search (Urbany, 1986). In other words, higher price dispersion would lead to higher levels of search in an offline environment. This is because when there is higher price dispersion, consumers would have the incentive to indulge in a greater amount of search to locate the best available price option.At the same time though, higher levels of price dispersion would suggest a wide range of sellers (e.g. Rosenthal, 1980). While this might not raise serious concerns in an offline environment, such a scenario would enhance the level of perceived transaction risk, which is already relatively higher, in the online environment. As a result, when price dispersion is high, consumers would be wary about trusting unknown online sellers (Bart et al., 2005; Biswas and Biswas, 2004; Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001; Wang et al., 2004). Hence, in such a situation, consumers would prefer to stick to the online retailers that they are familiar with, instead of searching around at other retail outlets. This implies that higher levels of price dispersion would lead to reduced levels of search intentions in online environments. In essence, higher perceived transaction risk would mediate the effects of price dispersion on search intentions in online environments. For perceived performance risk, we expect a main effect of shopping interface, whereby perceived performance risks are expected to be higher online than offline. However, price dispersion, being a market-level variable is unlikely to have any effect on perceived performance risk, which is more product specific. Formally stated:H3. In an offline environment, higher price dispersion would lead to higher consumer search intentions. In an online environment, higher price dispersion would lead to lower consumer search intentions.H4a. Consumers' perceived transaction risk would be higher in an online than offline environment and the effects would be further enhanced under high price dispersion.H4b. Consumers' perceived performance risk would be higher in an online than offline environment, with the effects being of similar magnitude for both high and low price dispersion.H5. In the online environment, the effects of price dispersion on search intentions would be mediated by perceived transaction risk. No such mediating effects are expected for either perceived performance risk or in the offline environment.\nStudy 2: method: Design and subjects\nGeneral discussion: Summary and overview of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine how a product-related variable like digitalization and a market-related variable like price dispersion might differentially influence consumer search intentions across offline versus online shopping interfaces, and how this relationship might be mediated by consumers' perceived risks. Prior research findings are extended and examines how the perceived risk - search intention relationship might be different in online contexts. The distinction is drawn between perceived performance risk versus perceived transaction risk and examines how each of these risks would differentially influence search intentions across the two shopping interfaces (offline versus online).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Two experimental studies are conducted.\nFindings: - Study 1 shows that under conditions when perceived performance risks are enhanced, such as for non-digitalized (versus digitalized) products, consumers' search intentions are enhanced, with the effects getting magnified in online shopping interfaces. In Study 2, the effects of a condition are examined when instead of performance risks, transaction risks are enhanced by a market-related variable - price dispersion. The results of Study 2 show that when there is higher price dispersion in the marketplace, in the offline environment, participants have higher search intentions, while in the online environment, participants have lower search intentions. In addition, the effects of price dispersion on search intention in the online environment are mediated by perceived transaction risk.\nOriginality/value: - Limitations of the studies suggest that future research may extend these findings to include non-student samples, differential search costs, customer-related factors like trust and involvement, other types of risks like social and psychological, social networking sites, and multichannel search behaviors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The impact of the uses and gratifications of tourist attraction fan page	[ "Facebook", "Smart tourism", "Fan pages", "Social network sites (SNS)", "The uses and gratifications theory (UGT)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, tourism industry started to use social network sites (SNSs) as a tool for implementing smart tourism, which is \"tourism supported by integrated efforts at a destination to collect and aggregate/harness data derived from physical infrastructure, social connections, government/organizational sources and human bodies/minds in combination with the use of advanced technologies to transform that data into on-site experiences and business value-propositions with a clear focus on efficiency, sustainability and experience enrichment\" (Gretzel et al., 2015). As SNSs can help tourism industry to disseminate information about the destinations through social connections, and transform data into the on-site experience and business value-propositions, they act as a key component for implementing smart tourism.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 SNSs\n3. Research model and hypotheses: Our research design is inspired by Stafford and Stafford (1998), who used the UGT showing that gratification factors motivating people to use the internet. We conjecture that the gratification factors would also motivate people to use fan pages. We start our research design by inviting a group of social media marketing professionals, who had an average experience in conducting social marketing for five years, to join us to conduct a Delphi study (Okoli and Pawlowski, 2004). The group had gone through a list of potential gratification factors and decided that three factors, i.e., entertainment, informativeness, and socializing, would have the most significant impacts to the use of fan page. Therefore, we develop our research model as shown in Figure 1.\n4. Methodology and data analysis: 4.1 Methodology\n5. Discussion: Tourist attractions practice smart tourism by using fan pages on SNS for promoting their businesses, as well as disseminating their information. The fan page is widely recognized as a strategic marketing and branding tool for communicating with fans of brands. Our results from this confirmatory study have shown that user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page is strongly influenced by the entertainment, informativeness, and socialization gratifications, with the direction of the causal relationships being suggested by the theories that we discussed in the model development section. This result echoes the results of prior research in other contexts such as online social advertising campaigns (Stafford and Stafford, 1998; Taylor et al., 2011). We also showed the positive influence of user's attitude on the tourist attraction, and the intention to visit the attraction.\n6. Conclusion: In this study, we investigate how entertainment, information, and socialization gratifications affect a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page in the perspective of smart tourism as an integrated effort for data collection through social connections in the SNSs for information sharing, customer engagement, and experience sharing. In particular, proper use of entertainment (e.g. the inclusion of mini-games), information (e.g. sharing of events information), and social (e.g. organizing online social events) components can make a big difference in attracting potential visitors to come visit the tourist attractions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The fan page of social network site can be used as a platform for the tourist attractions to interact with their consumers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how entertainment, informativeness, and socializing gratifications affect a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page in the context of smart tourism, on which scant research has been conducted so far.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors investigate how entertainment, information, and socialization gratifications affect a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page of Hong Kong youth in the context of smart tourism using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The authors show that three aspects of gratifications, i.e., entertainment, informativeness, and socializing, have significant impacts on a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page, which subsequently has an impact on intention to visit the attraction through a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction developed through his/her attitude toward a fan page.\nOriginality/value: Scant research has been conducted to study how uses and gratifications affect a user's attitude toward a tourist attraction fan page in the context of smart tourism. This research fills this research gap.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A tale of two universities: graduates perceived value of entrepreneurship education	[ "University", "UK", "Graduates", "Enterprise", "Entrepreneurship education", "Self-employment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There has been a significant expansion of entrepreneurship education (EE) curriculum provision both within the UK and globally in higher education institutions (HEIs) in recent decades, a major driver of which has been to encourage successful business start-ups (Packham et al., 2010; Matlay, 2011). More broadly, Gibb (2005) suggests three main objectives for effective EE, to develop an effective understanding of entrepreneurship (Chen et al., 1998; Jack and Anderson, 1999), acquire an entrepreneurial mindset (Loudon and Smither, 1999) and relevant knowledge regarding both the business start-up process and operating an enterprise effectively (Solomon et al., 2002; Matlay, 2009). There remains ongoing debate, however, regarding the value of EE and its contribution in terms of achieving viable business start-ups that contribute significantly to employability and economic growth (Martin et al., 2013; Rideout and Gray, 2013; O'Connor, 2013; Rae et al., 2014).\nLiterature review: The extant research suggests positive associations between entrepreneurial activity, economic growth and innovation (Van Praag and Versloot, 2007). The teaching of EE within the UK HEI curriculum has expanded considerably in recent decades (Neck et al., 2014; Preedy and Jones, 2015), driven by the requirement to enhance employability skills (Etzkowitz et al., 2000), reduce graduate unemployment (Onuma, 2016) and help enable entrepreneurial activity to solve economic underperformance (Matlay, 2006).\nMethodology: This research study considers evidence drawn from a quantitative study of two UK HEIs, namely, the Coventry University (CU) and the University of South Wales (USW). These HEIs were selected due to their significant involvement in EE curriculum development in recent years. Both HEIs have offered a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate EE programmes, including specialist business start-up programmes. Respondent entry criteria for inclusion in the survey required completion of a full time or part time course in EE at postgraduate or undergraduate level (e.g. BA entrepreneurship, MSc in entrepreneurship) at either HEI within the last ten years. The study employed a self-selection sampling method whereby survey participants had to meet the specific entry criteria (McDowall and Saunders, 2010). Respondents were identified from HEI records and thereafter contacted through social media to assess their willingness to participate in the survey. The identification of potential respondents involved detailed internet searches and use of professional networking websites, such as LinkedIn and HEI alumni databases to identify suitable participants (Denscombe, 2003). When an individual was identified they were contacted through the social message platform with a message detailing the research process. It was noted that there was the potential for selection bias in the data collection process given that potential respondents had to be \"findable\" on the internet. However, given the passage of time since graduation and the cultural adoption of technology by UK society it was decided that this was acceptable. Internal ethical approval was obtained within all the authors HEIs prior to the commencement of the data collection process.\nKey findings: Table I highlights some of the key demographics within the data. Overall, the survey attracted 83 respondents of which 39 per cent derived from CU and 61 per cent from USW. The larger response rate from USW can be explained by the institutions larger students' numbers in the EE discipline. Overall, 57 per cent of respondents were male and 43 per cent were female. As a discipline, entrepreneurship seems to attract a predominantly male audience although, with the recent growth of the discipline, it appears to be gaining popularity with female students as well. In terms of ethnicity, 70 per cent of the respondents were white, 12 per cent black and 7 per cent Asian. At the time of study, 45 per cent were within the 18-24 age category, 30 per cent were 25-34, 15 per cent 35-45, 6 per cent between 46 and 54 and 3.5 per cent in the age category 55-65. This evidence suggests that EE programmes appeal to a wide age demographic, probably driven by the vocational nature of the discipline, the opportunity that the self-employment career path offers, and also potential funding for EE courses (e.g. via EU funding streams).\nDiscussion: This study adds to the limited EE literature considering retrospective impacts upon graduated students drawing on a quantitative survey from two UK HEIs (Holden et al., 2007). The findings discern further understanding regarding the retrospective value of EE course content towards various career outcomes and eventual career outcomes achieved. The study offers a valuable retrospective perspective, in that 55 per cent of the sample had completed their EE course over three years previously. It was noteworthy that graduated students were motivated to undertake their courses to obtain both a university qualification (45 per cent) and due to their interest in the subject matter (52 per cent). The interest in the subject matter confirms the prior studies by DeTienne and Chandler (2004) and Politis (2005). However, the interest in acquiring a university qualification in EE is more novel suggesting that EE graduates are more appreciative regarding the value of university qualifications towards their career profile at a later stage. The actual act and process of business start-up were more secondary motivators to undertaking an EE course. This result confirms the importance of degree qualifications to the student community but also the value it offers to the individual student and their later career development. The fact that 48 per cent of survey respondents achieved a master's level qualification also suggests that postgraduate EE courses are potentially an attractive proposition to the student community interested in EE.\nConclusions: The evidence suggested here indicates that EE programmes provide value both in terms of helping to enable business start-ups and also in supporting alternate career paths, through the enterprising knowledge and skill sets graduates acquire during their specialised studies. This study contributes to the extant knowledge by recognising and measuring these contributions. For example, this study enables discernment between different EE course components and their value for different career outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate career impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) considering evidence drawn from a quantitative study of alumni within two UK higher education institutions (HEIs) from a retrospective perspective. The findings inform the value of the EE experience and its impact on both self-employability and wider employability career choices. This study will be of relevance to both enterprise support agencies and government policy makers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This research study considers evidence drawn from an online quantitative survey of EE within two UK HEIs. The survey evaluated a range of issues including course design, programme satisfaction, impact, career outcomes and respondents demographics. Over 80 respondents completed the survey in full which was analysed using a range of bivariate techniques.\nFindings: The evidence suggested here indicates that EE programmes provide value both in terms of helping to enable business start-ups and also in supporting other career paths, through the enterprising knowledge and skill sets graduates acquire during their specialised studies. This study contributes to the literature by recognising and measuring these contributions. For example, this study enables discernment between different EE course components and their value for different career outcomes.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study recognises the limitations of this survey data in terms of the size of the sample, number of HEIs evaluated and its point in time design.\nPractical implications: The HEI sector must evaluate its practices and measure the effectiveness of its graduates in terms of achieving sustainable business start-up. In course design, the evidence suggested that students value both the enterprising and entrepreneurial skills and knowledge components and discern value between them in their later careers. The findings suggest that EE graduates typically experience portfolio careers with multiple occupations in different sectors and roles within both employment and self-employment. Thus it is important that EE programme design includes both enterprising and entrepreneurial components to meet the future requirements of their graduates postgraduation.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes new evidence regarding the value of EE in UK HEIs. This evidence should inform course design and policy makers regarding the value of EE in creating self-employment and creating enterprising employees.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do affluent customers care when luxury brands go mass? The role of product type and status seeking on luxury brand attitude	[ "Social identity", "Social influence", "Brand attitude", "Experience marketing", "Experiential consumption", "Luxury hotels", "Luxury marketing", "Luxury restaurants", "Status seeking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: I don't buy Louis Vuitton anymore because it seems like everyone has one, real or fake. I have a real Louis Vuitton bag, but I rarely use it at all. Sometimes I feel like some people think it is fake.\nLiterature review: Hospitality services versus material possessions\nMethodology: Study design\nResults: Manipulation check for the less affluent profile\nDiscussion: Despite the rapid growth of the luxury segment of the hospitality industry, only a few studies have examined consumer behaviors in the luxury hospitality context (Daun and Klinger, 2006; Haynes and Fryer, 2000; Hwang and Hyun, 2012; Lee and Hwang, 2011; Mohsin and Lockyer, 2010; Wall et al., 2011), and little is known about whether luxury consumers react differently to less affluent groups' purchasing behaviors depending on the product type. To close the knowledge gap, this study examines the joint effects of product type (material possessions and hospitality services) and need for status (low/Patricians and high/Parvenus) on consumers' attitudes toward their favorite luxury brands.\nManagerial implications: Besides the theoretical contributions, this study provides several managerial implications for luxury hospitality practitioners. More and more luxury brands have started using a mass luxury strategy and are expanding to less affluent markets to boost revenue. For example, some luxury hotels list their unsold rooms on flash sale Web sites such as groupon.com; some fine dining restaurants offer heavy discounts on e-coupon Web sites such as livingsocial.com. Whenever a luxury brand extends to a less affluent market, there is a risk of contaminating the brand's luxury image and losing its original customers. Fortunately, the findings of this study suggest that luxury hospitality services are less vulnerable than luxury goods to the threat of contamination. We find that, in general, consumers react less negatively to the copying behaviors of the less affluent with their favorite luxury hospitality brands than with their favorite luxury goods brands. This is an important finding for hospitality practitioners competing in the luxury market.\nLimitations and suggestions: Several limitations of this study need to be recognized. First, respondents in this study were asked to imagine that less affluent consumers started purchasing the same brand and the less affluent profile was manipulated by a written description. Consequently, we measured consumers' attitude changes toward their favorite brands instead of real abandonment behaviors. Future research may consider a field study and capture the real behavioral changes such as changes in spending and changes in brand choices.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the joint effects of product type (hospitality services vs goods) and consumers' need for status (low/Patricians vs high/Parvenus) on consumers' attitude change toward their favorite luxury brands. As an ever increasing number of customers can now afford luxury products, it is important to understand how affluent consumers react to the less affluent mimicking behaviors.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In all, 265 luxury consumers with annual household income of more than $100,000 and experiences of luxury consumption in the past three months were recruited. A 2 (product type) x 2 (need for status) factorial design was used to test the hypotheses.\nFindings: This study demonstrates that when faced with mimicking behaviors by less affluent consumers, Parvenus exhibit more negative attitude toward their favorite luxury goods brands than luxury hospitality brands. Conversely, Patricians exhibit similar levels of attitude change across the two types of luxury brands.\nPractical implications: The findings suggest that luxury hospitality companies may find it easier to expand to less affluent markets than their luxury goods counterparts, in particular when the majority of target consumers are Parvenus.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to examine consumers' reactions to mimicking behaviors by the less affluent in the context of luxury hospitality services, and it adds to the knowledge on the joint effects of product type and status seeking on luxury consumption.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Seek, share, or withhold: information trading in MMORPGs	[ "Information systems", "Games", "Information practices", "Information economies", "Social information", "Virtual worlds" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Information is one of the main types of vessels of value and target of economic transactions, coordination and production. With the advent of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs), information naturally has a more prominent and seemingly complex role in the economy. But what might be the most dramatic shift in the role of information in economic exchange is the intrinsic value of information goods, ranging from virtual items to digital music (Hamari, 2013; Lehdonvirta and Castronova, 2014). That is, information goods are increasingly the products that people pursue as the end products rather using them merely for coordinating other economics activities. In this paper, we discuss the way in which information is such a valuable economic good in the context of online games (particularly MMORPGs or massively multiplayer online role-playing games - games that) and other persistent, virtual worlds. With virtual worlds, we (following Castronova, 2005, p. 11), mean expansive, world-like, large-group environments made by humans, for humans, and which are maintained, recorded and rendered by computers. They are constructed, semi-separate realities that exist within what is commonly called the real world, stay active even when a player is not engaging with them and can be contrasted with the real world.\n2. The MMORPG as an information system: As proposed by Harviainen and Savolainen (2014) and Skold et al. (2015), virtual worlds consist of two (or more) information systems. At their core is the coded system, which functions like an extremely complex IR system, the interface of which is an integral part of that system (Jorgensen, 2013). The same way as a management information system or a library database, the MMORPG's coded core is a set of elements that players can, through interaction (play), draw into contact with them. One key difference, however, exists: whereas managerial information systems and their ilk are designed for ease of use, games are by intent made challenging, engaging and intrinsically motivating (Hamari, 2013; Hamari et al., 2015; Huotari and Hamari, 2012; Lehdonvirta and Castronova, 2014; Koivisto and Hamari, 2014). That is a key part of their attraction, and playing is a skilled activity that often needs finesse.\n3. Guilds, corporations, clans as information organizations: Many players prefer to play together with others (Kallio et al., 2011). MMORPGs further foster playing together, by having some content that is only accessible in large groups (Williams et al., 2006). This is in line with the fact that most users of information systems operate as parts of groups, especially in work contexts (Land, 1992), especially when considering that many game organizations take their tasks with work-like seriousness (Vesa, 2013; Warmelink, 2014). Exemplifying these are World of Warcraft raid guilds, which focus on high-end content that requires coordinated multiplayer activity in order to defeat powerful enemies (see Vesa, 2013; Williams et al., 2006). Defeating the boss-type enemies on raids may require hours upon hours of coordinated practice, as well as gathered information on how to accomplish the task (Chen, 2009). Participants contribute to the guild several things of value: their time, skills, things of in-game value (such as gold or powerful items) - and information in a same manner as employees exchange their time and skill for wages.\n4. RMT as increased information access: The basic conventions described above start to break down, when real money enters play or some vessel of value is brought into the game that has been earned outside the system. Through systems such as micropayments, players can gain access to additional game content, better items and so forth. This includes the ability to dig up and potentially share information on areas of the systems to which not everyone has access without RMT. Players use such information sharing, especially if they can do it faster or better than others, as a source of social capital.\n5. Overload and social negotiation: Having too little information prevents the meaningful use of the game. Having too much information (e.g. spoilers), likewise, may make the game uninteresting or even unplayable since it may become too easy or lacking insufficient novelty (Consalvo, 2007). This is a type of information overload - a situation in which a person is unintentionally flooded with unwelcome information. Players engage in two information activities to prevent this. The first of these is blunting - the direct rejection of unwelcome information (as per Baker, 1996). The second is information avoidance, the practice of performing one's searches and other types of information acquisition in a manner that makes it less likely that unwelcome information is encountered (Harviainen et al., 2012). MMORPG players have been documented to extensively use information acquisition methods such as active scanning and non-directed monitoring, which are ways of being open to encountering new information (Adams, 2009). Yet they tend to utilize these only in situations where the risk of encountering spoilers is low (Harviainen and Savolainen, 2014).\n6. Discussion: barter - or emergent currency?: In addition to information being useful and sometimes intrinsically valuable in itself, the practice of creating and sharing information goods functions as a form of payment in virtual worlds. In effect, information practices approach the state of becoming a type of service-as-currency, in the sense of something bartered so often by all parties that it becomes a means of localized financial exchange (see, e.g. Saito and Morino, 2010). Such an emergence tends to take place without any explicit contract by anyone, through popularity (Lehdonvirta and Castronova, 2014). It can also be the result of an intentional coupling between money and barter, the same way that e.g., a credit card company shares its member list with a retailer and gets the members a discount in turn from that retailer (see Normann, 2001, pp. 26-27). Players have already adopted as currencies some items, where a formal currency has been missing. For example, in the multiplayer combat game Team Fortress 2 (2007) players adopted keys as a currency, since they were freely tradable, their price was set and predictable and all the keys had similar functional value.\n7. Conclusions: In this paper, we have shown how an information trade emerges from the systems that are inherent in an MMORPG. Players pay for services and items, and demonstrate group commitment, through the practices of seeking, creating, sharing and withholding information. As a result of the systems structure of a MMORPG, many information practices within the virtual world of the game, or outside it but related to play, become commodified. Players trade in that information, share it, and search for it, as a way to both garner cultural capital and to show commitment to their intra-game organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ways in which information acts as a commodity in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and how players pay for items and services with information practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through meta-theoretical analysis of the game environment as a set of information systems, one of retrieval and one social, the paper shows how players' information practices influence their access to game content, organizational status and relationship to real-money trade.\nFindings: By showing how information trading functions in MMORPGs, the paper displays the importance of information access for play, the efficiency of real money trade and the significance of information practice -based services as a relatively regular form of payment in virtual worlds. Players furthermore shown to contribute to the information economy of the game with the way in which they decide not to share some information, so as to prevent others from a loss of game content value due to spoilers.\nOriginality/value: The subject, despite the popularity of online games, has been severely understudied within library and information science. The paper contributes to that line of research, by showing how games function as information systems, and by explaining how they, as environments and contexts, influence and are influenced by information practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring ethnicity in organizations	[ "Racial discrimination", "Social class", "Work identity", "Black people", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Over 60 years ago a ship carrying 492 passengers, many World War II veterans and most from Jamaica landed in the UK opening a key chapter in Britain's transformation to a multi-ethnic, multicultural society. That those and other immigrants from various parts of the globe often found Britain less than welcoming has been well-documented. What this paper seeks to discuss is how, two generations later, British minority ethnic employees experience contemporary British workplaces and the significance of their ethnicity to such experiences.\nRacial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity in organizations: Racial discrimination at work\nThe study: Semi-structured interviews with 30 British-born black Caribbean graduate employees[1] (ten male and 20 female) were conducted, recorded and then fully transcribed. Participants were recruited mostly via minority ethnic employee and profession-related networks who were asked to circulate details of the study which included a request for potential participants to contact the first author directly. Minority ethnic networks were used in order to access a \"critical mass\" of black Caribbean graduate employees who tend to be relatively few in number in individual organizations or departments.Participants, who were between the ages of 25 and 41 and had at least three years post-graduation work experience, were employed by a range of organizations including the civil service, a major broadcaster, further education colleges, a large IT company and the UK's National Health Service and largely in managerial or professional roles. Interviews focussed on workplace experiences of racial discrimination, social class, ethnicity and ethnic identity and career sequence and progression. Around four-fifths of the participants stated that they were from working class backgrounds.All interviews were conducted by the first author, herself a British-born black Caribbean female. This was potentially advantageous in terms of gaining access to participants and encouraging openness. However, this also conferred additional demands in ensuring sufficient probing and exploration of the subject matter to avoid relying on assumptions of shared understandings which might prove misleading. This also required reflexivity on the part of the first author and recognition of how her own identity might affect the creation and interpretation of the interview encounter (Kamenou, 2007). We feel that the benefits of the interviewer being from the same ethnic group as the interviewees outweighed any potential disadvantages.Data from the transcripts were coded and template analysis (King, 2004) employed to help identify the key themes emerging from the data. In this paper, we will discuss some of the initial findings in relation to the role played by ethnic identity, racial discrimination and social class in the ways in which ethnicity was experienced at work by these participants.\nFindings: Racial discrimination at work\nDiscussion: It was clear from these interviews that racial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity were relevant to the way minority ethnic graduate employees experienced organizations in contemporary Britain.Although at times hampered by the self-consciousness that came from feeling stereotyped and (as discussed later) ethnically assigned, many participants possessed the belief that they could rise above these situations and, up to a certain point, achieve their goals. They had the evidence of their own achievements and the achievements of some of their peers to support their beliefs that the negative stereotypes were false. Also, because of their skills, qualifications and experience, they knew they had the resources to help them to disprove such stereotypes.However most believed they would only go so far, perhaps due to institutional racism. Participants reflected on the potentially demoralizing effect of not seeing people like themselves above them in the hierarchy and how it made it much more difficult to envisage themselves in those roles. At the same time many participants, although acknowledging the power and prevalence of racial discrimination, were keen for their careers not to be defined by it, and to feel that they could in some way still effect their own future.Several participants noted that concerns around the lack of minorities in senior roles could be played to their advantage. If they worked hard and produced results then they could be that minority ethnic person that their organization needed to promote to increase its chances of achieving its equality goals. Such participants did not seem to mind if their colour helped them if they felt they also genuinely deserved the promotion but one or two participants were wary of being promoted for the wrong reasons or of being considered a token. This demonstrated a more recent aspect of the way ethnicity was being experienced in British workplaces and that in a post-Macpherson report Britain, minority ethnic employees were more aware of the need for their organizations to promote minority ethnic staff and their potential value.However, the danger remained of participants not always being provided with the full mantle of the professional and being seen as kind of a \"professional lite\". And although, as found in other research on the contemporary nature of racial discrimination in British society (Solomos and Back, 2001), much of the discrimination participants experienced was relatively subtle, blatant and direct discrimination remained in evidence, through abuse and the denial of opportunities for progression. As a group, these minority ethnic graduate employees lacked power. Even those at the top or near the top of their organizations had not been in those positions for very long and still relied on sponsors for their legitimacy.There was also potential for discrimination based on social class, making it more difficult for individuals working in certain types of organizations to be seen as suitable for the most senior roles. Further research should be conducted on whether or not the possession of cultural capital is linked to the accessibility of social capital which in turn may be linked to career success. Advice to aspiring managers and professionals often includes encouragement to \"network\" (Forret and Dougherty, 2001; Lin, 2001). However, individuals from different social and ethnic backgrounds may experience different levels of difficulty in (Fearfull and Kamenou, 2006; Ibarra, 1995) and different rewards from networking (Ibarra, 1995).The changing salience of ethnic identity for individuals within the workplace is of interest. Ethnic identification indicates that for some individuals additional satisfaction is drawn from job tasks that have an increased relevance to their ethnic identity. Although advantageous for specific individuals there is a danger that ethnic identification may lead to the creation of career ghettos for minority ethnic professionals.Ethnic assignation often made individuals feel more defensive and more called upon to \"perform\". This accords with some of the ideas from social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979) which indicate that such individuals might attempt to improve the way their group is perceived by improving their performance levels. However, stereotype threat theory (Steele and Aronson, 1995) might predict that this may not always be a successful strategy and that the resources participants put into managing the way they feel they are being perceived may actually be detrimental to the performance of their primary tasks. Pinel's (1999) concept of stigma consciousness which shares some features with ethnic assignation has been linked to stereotype threat. Brown and Pinel (2003) demonstrated that women with higher levels of stigma consciousness were more vulnerable to stereotype threat.\nLimitations, practical implications and further research: Methodological limitations of this study include the sampling method used and the relatively small number of participants included within the study. These limitations affect the ability to generalize the results of this study to minority ethnic or black Caribbean graduates as a whole without conducting further research.However by utilizing qualitative methods, focusing on a single ethnic group and treating ethnicity as more than a demographic category, this study has tried to address some of the methodological and conceptual shortcomings of some of the previous organizational psychology research on ethnicity in organizations (Kenny and Briner, 2007).Implications for practitioners from this study include insight into the ways in which organizations may be experienced differently by minority and majority ethnic employees. Although advancement is available for some minority ethnic employees, the contemporary British workplace still contains a level of institutional racism that has a potentially powerful effect on the expectations and perceptions of an important section of the graduate labour market.This study also demonstrates to practitioners that the little considered issue of social class may be very significant for individuals in particular types of organizations, especially for those for whom issues of social class and ethnic group membership may combine to reinforce their difference from organizational decision-makers.Practitioners should also remain aware of the differing ways in which ethnic identity may be relevant at work and the role organizations may be able to play in showing how they genuinely value all of their employees. Clearer demonstrations by organizations that they actually value the possession of a diverse workforce (i.e. minority and majority ethnic workers spread throughout the organizations and at all different levels) might reduce feelings of ethnic assignation and better support minority ethnic staff careers.As this is the first time ethnic assignation and ethnic identification have been identified as distinct ways in which ethnic identity is experienced at work, further research should explore the extent to which these processes are also found in larger samples and in individuals drawn from other minority ethnic groups. Future research should also attempt to further identify the ways in which social class is relevant to workplace experience and more closely examine the roles of cultural and social capital. The ways in which contemporary British society affects how racial discrimination is conceptualized and experienced could also be further explored.\nNote: 1. Pseudonyms are used for participants\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore how ethnicity remains relevant to the workplace experience of minority ethnic graduate employees in contemporary British organizations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 British Black Caribbean graduate employees drawn from a range of public and private-sector organizations to examine the ways in which they felt their ethnicity impacted on how they experienced their places of work. Template analysis was used to analyse the data.\nFindings: - The paper finds that racial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity were key elements of the way in which ethnicity was experienced by these minority ethnic graduate employees. The paper discusses the differing ways racial discrimination is experienced and conceptualized in contemporary British organizations; and highlights the ways in which social class may play a role in how a group of (largely) working class minority ethnic graduates progress their careers in (largely) middle class organizational environments. Presented for the first time is a theory on the key facets of the ways ethnic identity might be experienced at work.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Further research would be required to see if the findings are replicated with graduates from other minority ethnic groups.\nPractical implications: - The paper provides insights into ways in which majority and minority ethnic employees may experience organizations differently.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides some new insights into the role of ethnicity at work. It also attempts to address some of the issues with organizational psychological research on ethnicity at work identified by Kenny and Briner.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cultural differences in vertical brand extension evaluations: the influence of thinking styles	[ "Brand extensions", "Vertical extensions", "Thinking styles", "Cross-cultural consumer behavior" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Brand extension is a major branding strategy that introduces new products with an established brand name. Brand extension products, such as Starbucks ice-cream and Tide to Go instant stain remover, have achieved great success in consumer markets. There are two types of brand extensions: horizontal and vertical. The former extends a brand to a different product category, such as Apple computers (iMac) extending to the smartphone category (iPhone), while vertical extensions involve price-based stretches, either higher or lower, within the same product category. For example, Apple recently launched iPhone XR, which is a downward extension of the latest model iPhone XS. The price of the downward extensions model is about 20% lower and allows Apple to access a much wider segment in the global market. The key research question of our paper is \"How will consumers with different culture background respond to the downward extension?\"\nLiterature review: Vertical brand extensions\nHypothesis development: Impacts of thinking styles on upward vs. downward extensions\nMethod: To test the hypotheses, we conducted two experimental studies. Study 1 examined consumers' extension evaluations, based on the extension types, nationality, ownership status and thinking styles. Study 2 provided validations by replicating the design of Study 1 with a different product category.Study 1\nGeneral discussion: From the two experimental studies conducted in the US and China, our findings demonstrate that consumers' thinking styles moderate evaluations of vertical extensions. Study 1 and Study 2 both found that consumers evaluate downward extensions more favorably than upward extensions (supporting H1). Furthermore, both studies revealed that Chinese consumers evaluated downward extensions even more favorably than American consumers (supporting H2). Additionally, Study 2 found the ownership effect to be more significant among analytic thinkers than among holistic thinkers. In Study 1, the ownership effect did not emerge, which could be caused by the narrow price range used in the experiment stimuli. Our findings encourage researchers to consider both thinking styles and nationality when examining vertical brand extensions.We extended the vertical extension literature by examining the cultural impacts on consumers' product evaluations. Based on the two experimental studies, we are the first to provide empirical evidence demonstrating cultural differences in vertical extension evaluations. Research on horizontal brand extension evaluations has noted an interaction effect between thinking styles and parent brand image (Monga and John, 2007). Our results demonstrate the moderating effect of thinking style in response to vertical extension evaluations.The findings of our study contribute to the understanding of the strategic advantage of downward extensions. From strategic point of view, downward extension allows a brand to access a wider market segment with low price tag. The earlier discussion of the downward extension focused on the possible dilution effect on the parent brand and the results were mixed (Lei et al., 2008; Kirmani et al., 1999). However, the recent literature has noted the very limited dilution effect of downward extension (He and Li, 2010; Heath et al., 2011) and instead points out the harmful effect of upward extension on the parent brand equity. Our study provides empirical evidence showing the potential advantage of downward extension particularly in the Chinese market.We also advance the knowledge of ownership effect in brand extensions. A previous study (Kirmani et al., 1999) has pointed out that brand owners have much lower evaluations of downward extensions than non-owners. Our study examined the ownership effect in a cross-cultural environment and found that thinking style moderated the ownership effect. Specifically, the ownership effect emerges among analytic thinkers only and not among holistic thinkers. This result provides a boundary condition for the literature discussing the ownership effect in the brand evaluations.Managerial implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The paper examines the cultural differences in consumers' evaluations of vertical brand extensions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A 2 (extension types: upward, downward) x 2 (nationality: USA, China) x 2 (ownership: owner, non-owner) between-subjects design with thinking styles as a covariate was employed to test consumers' evaluations of vertical brand extensions. A total of 228 subjects from the US and 194 from China participated in the two experimental studies.\nFindings: The paper finds that consumers prefer downward extensions to upward extensions. Furthermore, Chinese consumers have even more favorable evaluations of downward extension products than do American consumers. In addition, analytic thinkers exhibit a stronger ownership effect than holistic thinkers.\nOriginality/value: The research contributes to the understanding of culture differences in vertical brand extension evaluations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Assessing the ways to recovery from the global financial crisis	[ "Economics", "Emerging markets", "Financial crisis", "Recession" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: First, we examine some recent trends. There has been a shift towards a faster recovery in emerging markets in the years just after the crisis 2008-2010. China's growth almost managed 10 percent in the last year for example. In contrast, some Western Countries including UK and USA experienced negative growth in 2009. However, some western markets have been little affected by the crisis including Australia with its proximity to China. Increasingly it is possible to outsource more activity including services due to digital technology according to Thompson, 2010. However, Western markets are said to be growing faster next year with USA and UK managing 2.5 percent and 2 percent GDP respectively according to the Economist March 2011. The Sunday Times March 2011 suggests that in the UK there are more people with savings who have paid off their mortgages than those in mortgage and debt, with the ratio of 60/40. Therefore, the economic climate in many Western countries may not be as bad has been previously thought. Debtors have been recently helped by low interest rates though these may soon gradually rise to reduce the risk of imported inflation. There are a number of Western economies that are recovering fast including Sweden and Germany which export substantial manufacturing goods. Emerging markets are due to slowdown slightly next year partly due to inflationary pressure from high oil prices. Krugman (2011) describes the financial crisis as the worst since the Great Depression. Furthermore, Borna (2011) states that even with the best forecasting, it is almost impossible to stop asset bubbles and sometimes the longer a boom period such as the late 1990s until 2008 the more likely it is for people to forget previous recessions. Higher oil prices may lead to a small decline in global growth according to the Guardian March 2011 but this is likely to be under 0.5 percent. There has also been a return to more reliance on the nation state due to the financial crisis according to Jessop (2010). For example, government funds have been used for saving the banks and supporting the car industry.\nThe way forward: The fundamentals of better growth in developed economies need to be in place in order to ensure growth. Growth is predicted to improve for USA and Europe next year but not by a great deal. The UK economy for example will not even manage its usual growth of 2.5 percent an average across previous decades due to several reasons. First, the increase in taxes in order to pay off the deficit is likely to hamper consumption which is a key component of UK growth according to Sloman and Smith (2010). There has been an increase in manufacturing exports partly due to the decreased value of the pound but this is only a limited component of the UK economy at present Slower growth in the global economy is also having an impact. Furthermore, there have been recent upward trends in unemployment which has a limiting effect on the current productive capacity of the UK economy. The further proposed cuts in the public sector may further add to the unemployment count.The lower value of the pound has also led to higher import costs on commodities such as food, clothing and oil and political uncertainties have further dampened the situation. This illustrates the negative consequences of devaluation according to Krugman et al. (2010). The rise in inflation is a further difficulty in that the Bank of England is closer to raising interest rates which may further weaken the fragile economy. On the positive side, wage increases have remained subdued so far. There has also been an increase in graduate vacancies for the year 2011 though unemployment is near 20 percent for 18-24 year olds and there are many chasing vacancies who graduated from previous years. Profits for some retailers have been good. The John Lewis Group for example has experienced a rise of 20 percent. Further improvements in private sector employment have occurred as well as improvements in manufacturing exports. On some measures international trade can account for 25 percent of GDP and the present favourable exchange rates puts the UK at an advantage to gain further benefits in this area. Eltis (1978) has also highlighted the problems of having a large public sector and the lack of income generation, the private sector therefore needs further encouragement. Borna (2011) also states that some banks knew the risks of asset bubbles and have remained in good shape for the future which would include banks such as HSBC and Building Societies such as Nationwide. These banks and Building Societies may help pave a role in creating future stability. Low interest rates have also helped dampen the impact of the global slowdown.Recent measures in the budget will also help to reduce the tax burden for lower income earners as allowances have been raised. Further measures to curb the duty on fuel may have some limited impact. It has also been pointed out by Nigel Lawson that the UK economy was first to recover from the 1930's recession by implementing a deficit reduction plan and higher taxes to reduce the deficit.\nProgress in the European Union (EU): In other EU countries there has been a mixed picture. The European market is of great significance to the UK as it trades over 50 percent with EU members. Although many EU countries have experienced a significant slowdown including UK, Spain Portugal, Ireland and Greece, it is important to remember that incomes are high for international standards according to the World in 2011 and those currently employed are earning favourable salaries in some cases. For example private sector wages in the UK have increased by 2 percent.Other countries including Germany and Sweden have experienced positive growth so far this year of over 2 percent partly due to the increase in demand for machinery. France has not done quite so well though growth is similar to the UK at 1.5 percent according to the latest OECD reports. Government deficits have been extremely high for the group known as PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain). Unemployment in Spain for example is over 20 percent which limits many of the gains available for countries operating at their most productive capacity. Overvalued property markets have made the problem worse. Both Ireland and Greece have had recent EU bailouts. Ireland was hit hard by bank debt and the overvalued property market. The Greek government failed to collect its taxes which have resulted in further bailouts. More recently, the Portuguese government has resigned due to problems of implementing large cuts across the board. Many Eastern European countries also face high levels of unemployment including Latvia. Extreme measures have been taken for these countries including pay cuts in Greece; there are long term issues since the borrowing to be undertaken by these countries is at a high rate of interest of over 5 percent in most cases. The problems experienced by these countries have a further knock on effect to Europe as a whole.On the more positive side though, growth is returning to most countries in 2011 but at an extremely low level. The USA has also suffered from the financial crisis. The overvalued property market has been a burden for both USA and many other EU member countries especially where home ownership is seen as a main goal. The USA also has a large deficit and growth is returning at little over 2 percent in 2011 with unemployment fairly static at just under 10 percent. The USA has also been losing some of its importance for the size of its economy in relation to the global economy due to the rapid expansion taking place in emerging markets. In a similar way to many European Countries economic growth will remain weak and below trend for some years due to the withdrawal of stimulus packages and the need for households and banks to fix their balance sheets after the big bust. Hofstede (2009) blames the financial crisis on the short-term orientation of American business.\nWill growth be more favourable in emerging markets?: Much has been made of the spectacular growth of emerging markets. China and India are forecast to grow at over 8 percent according to the World in 2011. These countries have also attracted favourable amounts of foreign direct investment according to the United Nations World Investment Report (n.d.). However, these countries are facing inflationary problems as well as rising interest rates. Wages have also increased in China though this could lead to more consumption which may help the global economy to recover from the recession. The car market for example is expected to grow by over 15 percent this year. Countries nearby including Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have also experienced high growth rates compared with Western countries. Australia has also grown more rapidly than the USA of late partly due to its proximity with China. Higher interest rates may however hamper further growth in China and the geopolitical problems of Japan and the Middle East may hinder global growth further.On the positive side the Chinese economy has a surplus which can be used to stimulate demand though it is argued that some of this has been lost due to the falling value of the dollar and the quantitative easing process. A slightly smaller growth rate for emerging markets is predicted for 2011 compared with recent years. There is also the potential for India to produce low cost products due to prevailing low wage costs. If for example they could make low cost cars that were economical to run this could help reduce global inflation and higher oil costs which would in turn help the world recover from the recession. There is also the potential from higher growth rates in Africa which could also help improve global economic development.\nConclusion: It has been shown that there is a shift towards further growth in emerging markets. However this shift is in the short term is going to be limited due to the World pressures of higher inflation as well as geopolitical concerns. It has also been shown that a double dip recession is unlikely in Western countries due to improvements in exports as a result of currency depreciation and low interest rates. Greece and Portugal however are in a more difficult position due to the less favourable business environment. Ireland on the other hand has the advantage of increased skill and more favourable tax rates for business. However the reduction of the stimulus packages and the need to tackle large deficits will help explain limited economic growth for many Western countries in the near future.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The financial crisis has led to a number of important trends. This article sets out to examine the capabilities of both emerging markets and developed economies to come back from the current economic slowdown. It will draw on both trade and growth theories and uses relevant data to support the main arguments. Evidence suggests that the recovery will be slow and both emerging and developed countries will experience slower growth than the previous decade.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper makes use of secondary data on future economic trends. It also draws on data and theory from international trade and foreign direct investment to support the future projected scenarios.\nFindings: - The paper provides evidence on country data and comparisons between the main trading nations. The paper also draws on current macroeconomic data to support the main future predictions.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is useful for both academics and business practitioners and relates to the strategic decisions that have to be taken by Politicians and the business community.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Engaging Millennials in an evolving web environment: some key points for e-retailers	[ "Internet", "E‐retailing", "E‐commerce", "Website", "Millennials", "Web 2.0", "Age groups", "Consumer behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. The rise of Millennial web users: Each day, the web environment is laden with numerous entrants into the online retailing business. With increased competition from these new forays, it is hard to capture the attention and commitment of web users towards an e-retailer. Building loyalty in e-commerce transactions is particularly difficult when web users can just switch to a competing retailer at the click of a mouse. Furthermore, building an online retailing web site is far more complicated these days compared to the initial formative years of the internet. Currently with the web's progression to an era of Web 2.0 technology, web users have become more demanding of the experience they encounter while shopping on online retailing web sites. This appears to be especially prevalent among Millennial or Generation Y web users.Born between 1978 and 1994 (Sheahan, 2009) they are the first group of consumers to grow up immersed in an internet-driven world Tapscott (1998) and are often early adopters of new technologies as well as extensive users of the internet (Kumar and Lim, 2008). With their natural aptitude and high skill levels for technology (Jones et al., 2010), their usage of technological gadgets such as cellphones, computers, mp3 players and digital cameras is much higher than previous generational cohorts. They feel more comfortable with technological gadgets than do their parents (Leung, 2003), using them constantly for learning, work, play, communication, shopping, etc. They also appear to be more at ease embracing Web 2.0 technologies, which are new or second generation web applications that facilitate sharing, interaction and collaboration on the internet (Burhanna et al., 2009). In short, they are more involved in online activities such as text messaging, social networking, blogging, podcasting, downloading, etc. Three quarters of this generation have created a profile on social networking sites such as Facebook while one-in-five have posted a video of themselves online on YouTube (Malikhao and Servaes, 2010).The Millennial generation has been deemed as a new sizable market segment (Sullivan and Heitmeyer, 2008) that is economically powerful to change the landscape of the internet (Nusair et al., 2010). In Asia, this generation makes up 66 percent of internet users in Taiwan (Hsu, 2002), 63 percent of internet users in China (China Online, 2004) and around 64 percent of internet users in developing countries like Malaysia (comScore, 2009). Being digitally-wired and technoliterate, the Millennial generation understands the changes in purchasing behavior triggered by e-commerce more than any previous generation and thus are more likely to be online consumers (Lester et al., 2006). They feel confident in shopping online, using the Internet for at least 15 percent of their spending (Sullivan and Heitmeyer, 2008). Furthermore, this is a generation who grew up in generally prosperous economic times (Blakewell et al., 2003) resulting in them being accustomed to abundance (O'Donnell, 2006) and more consumption-oriented than their parents.With their considerable size and technological background, this makes them viable targets for most e-retailers. Nevertheless, attracting and retaining the Millennials prove to be no walk in the park. Not only are e-retailers swamped with numerous competition, they also have to face a web environment that has undergone significant transformations over the last few years. It is a whole new ball game out there in the digital realm and those who do not adapt to these changes will sorely lose out. This article then aims to provide some key points that e-retailers should be mindful of when attempting to gain Millennials' preference over other competitor web sites. In engaging the attention and commitment of the Millennials, e-retailers should realize that most of the time, it all traces back to their medium of contact with the users, i.e. the web site.\n2. Key points for e-retailers: No. 1: heed the power of first impressions formed at initial encounters\n3. Concluding remarks: Millennials are an enormously attractive market segment for e-retailers. They are the \"superpowers\" who will fuel a large part of the digital economy. Hence e-retailers should adapt to the needs of this generation amidst a fast-evolving web environment but not otherwise. As how the adage goes, \"it's about how and where you fit into their world, not how and where they fit into yours\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This article aims to provide some key points that e-retailers should be mindful of when attempting to reach out to Millennial web users in a fast-evolving web environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The key points were derived from a combination of methods that include review of relevant literature (both past and current), empirical evidence drawn from previous studies and the authors' observation of developments within the web retailing environment.\nFindings: - Six key points were listed, covering pertinent issues like first impressions, customer trust and stickiness, magnitude of social networks, delivering rich user experiences, customer relationship retention strategies and the importance of usability and aesthetics.\nPractical implications: - It is pertinent that e-retailers keep themselves informed of the latest technological progress within the web environment should they aspire to survive and achieve success in online retailing among Millennials. They should adapt to the needs of the Millennial generation instead of the Millennials adjusting themselves to the e-retailers.\nOriginality/value: - E-retailers can gain a better understanding on the characteristics of Millennial web users and on engaging the Millennials' attention and commitment towards online retailing web sites.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Experiences with a universal mindfulness and well-being programme at a UK medical school	[ "Medical schools", "Mental and physical well-being" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: The mental health and well-being of medical students has been a cause for concern for over three decades (Firth-Cozens et al., 1987). These concerns have been expressed on different levels: first, in terms of the duty of care that universities owe to students (Cohen and Rhydderch, 2013); second, in terms of career-long mental health and burnout (Dyrbye et al., 2014; Department of Health, 2008) and the sustainability of the profession (GMC, 2016); and third, in terms of the implications for professionalism, patient safety and compassionate care (Webb et al., 1998; Fahrenkopf et al., 2008; Lebensohn et al., 2014).\nResearch questions: RQ1. What are the effects of a universal programme addressing mental well-being and mindfulness in a UK medical school in terms of students' attitudes and practices with regard to: (a) the importance of protecting their personal well-being; (b) the development of skills in mindfulness; and (c) impact on their mental well-being and mindfulness.\nMethods: The programme\nResults: Quantitative - mental well-being and mindfulness monitoring\nDiscussion: In the context of the well-documented decline in mental health experienced by students embarking on medical courses (Cohen and Rhydderch, 2013; Firth-Cozens et al., 1987; Dyrbye et al., 2014; Department of Health, 2008), synthesis of the results of the different components of this study suggest that the new Warwick course had a modest positive impact on students attitudes and practices with regard to development of skills in mindfulness and the importance of protecting their personal well-being, as well as in protecting the mental health of the minority of the students who developed a regular mindfulness practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the evaluation of a universal, mental well-being and mindfulness programme in a UK graduate entry medical school.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Mixed methods used in the paper were the measurement of mental well-being and mindfulness in two cohorts at three time points over 15 months; descriptive, regression and repeated measures analysis with post hoc pairwise comparisons; qualitative interviews with purposive sample of 13 students after one year analysed thematically; and spontaneous anonymous feedback on the course.\nFindings: The course was a surprise to students, and reactions were mixed. Respect for its contents grew over the first year. Most students had actively implemented a well-being strategy by the end of the course, and an estimated quarter was practicing some mindful activity. In the context of an overall decline in well-being and limited engagement with mindfulness practice, increases in mindfulness were protective against this decline in both cohorts (p<001). A small minority of students thought that the course was a waste of time. Their attitudes influenced engagement by their peers. The mindfulness and well-being practices of the facilitators were evident to students and influenced perceived effects.\nResearch limitations/implications: The uncontrolled nature of this observational study and low response rates to the survey limit conclusions. Further research in other medical education settings is needed.\nPractical implications: Results are encouraging, suggesting modest benefit in terms of changing attitudes and practices and a modest protective effect on the well-being of students who engaged.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study of a universal well-being and mindfulness programme in a UK medical school. Universal programmes are rare and evaluation studies are scarce.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An illustration of modeling moderating variables in cross-national studies	[ "Cross‐cultural studies", "Linear structure equation modelling", "Wines", "New Zealand", "Australia", "United States of America" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: When conducting cross-national studies it is imperative that the appropriate research design be followed when gathering data in order to ensure \"comparability between data collected in different cultural contexts\" (Douglas and Craig, 1983, p. 131). Yet, once data collection is complete, data evaluation for the different contexts must also be appropriate. One method routinely used by international researchers for modeling cross-national/cross-cultural contexts is to use \"country\" as a moderator (e.g. Calantone et al., 1996; Song and Parry, 1997; Song and Xie, 2000). However, moderation has been defined in numerous ways by researchers across many different disciplines (Carte and Russell, 2003) and has been approached using different methodologies.International marketing researchers typically have used three different approaches for modeling moderating effects: multi-group analysis (Ford et al., 1997; Homburg et al., 2005), multiplicative multiple regression (MMR) analysis (Buvik and Andersen, 2002; Kim and Oh 2002; Song and Xie, 2000) or analysis of variance (Vanhonacker and Pan, 1997). In cross-national studies, organizational researchers frequently utilize multi-group analyses in structural equation modeling (SEM) (Calantone and Zhao, 2001; Granzin and Painter, 2001; Keillor et al., 2004) or MMR with dummy variables, whereas consumer marketing researchers frequently utilize analysis of variance (Chan, 1996; Tansey et al., 1997). Based on these observations, we raise the following questions: Under what circumstances is one methodology more appropriate over another? Should organizational researchers follow one method, yet, consumer marketing researchers another when considering cross-national contexts? A second observation in reviewing the international marketing research literature is that when \"country\" is the primary moderator under consideration, contingencies are often not considered. This is presumably because the methodology to model two moderators in the same study can become very complex. This raises the second question: How can contingencies be added to cross-national studies with minimal complexity?We use the context of a cross-national study regarding product involvement conducted with wine consumers in Australia, New Zealand and the USA to address these questions. We introduce the Andrews et al. (1990) framework of consumer involvement in search behavior to illustrate appropriate methodological approaches to moderation in this cross-national context. We provide a definition for moderator and summarize the different methodological approaches for modeling moderation before establishing and testing our hypotheses.Identifying moderators\nConceptual framework and hypotheses: To ground our methodological analyses, we utilize the Andrews et al.'s (1990) framework for the conceptualization of the involvement construct. This nomological network theorizes relationships among involvement, its antecedents, its consequences, and possible moderators. Antecedents to involvement are grouped into \"personal/enduring\" and \"situational/decision\" factors, while \"search behavior\" is identified as an outcome of involvement based on this framework.In the marketing context, involvement evaluates a customer's internal state of arousal in response to external stimuli relating to products. The relevance of involvement in the purchase of wine has been supported empirically (Lockshin et al., 1997; Quester and Smart, 1998) and has been shown to be a relevant segmentation variable for product planning across nations (Aurifeille et al., 2002). Specifically, Atkin et al. (2005) found that in making wine purchasing decisions, Australians had higher involvement than did New Zealanders or Americans. The universality of the concept of involvement and its use in international segmentation research for wine make it an ideal variable to investigate in a cross-national study.Personal factors\nResearch design and data collection: To determine the interrelationships in the proposed conceptual model, we collected data from wine consumers in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Respondents were subscribers to wine-related e-newsletters. These subscribers were asked to complete a web-based survey on their purchasing preferences regarding wine. We obtained 1,098 respondents from Australia, 385 from New Zealand, and 1,203 respondents from the USA (see Atkin et al., 2005 for details).\nAnalysis: Measures\nDiscussion: When evaluating moderating effects it is important to understand which methodology is most appropriate for the effect being studied. This is especially true in cross-national research where moderation examination is common. Accordingly, this study illustrates a three-step process for modeling moderation in international marketing research. First, we establish measurement invariance across populations/countries/ cultures. Next we identify potential moderators of strength or form. Finally, we extend upon existing methodological foundations by demonstrating how to model multiplicative interactions using a single indicator of the latent product (product of main effect variables) with the use of a multi-group analysis in SEM.Adhering to these analytic techniques, we utilized the Andrews et al. (1990) conceptualization for the involvement construct to investigate the differences in search behavior for wine across three countries. We demonstrated that involvement does vary across countries as it positively influences search behavior in the USA and New Zealand but not in Australia. Although we had expected a positive relationship between perceived risk of occasion and involvement, it was negative for all three countries. This indicates an inverse relationship between perceived risk and involvement. Knowledge may be a moderating factor in this case. High involvement is often associated with higher knowledge about a product category (Celsi and Olson, 1988), which is common with wine. Therefore, more involved consumers would actually not be affected by purchasing a bottle of wine for a formal party, whereas less involved consumers would find the situation intimidating. Additionally, we looked at the interaction effects between importance of tradition and perceived risk of an occasion (described as choosing a bottle of wine for a formal dinner party), where perceived risk of occasion is modeled as a form moderator. This interaction effect was only significant for the USA, implying that the perceived risk of the occasion interacts with tradition to amplify its relationship with involvement contingent upon country.We draw upon the suggestions of Baron and Kenny (1986), Sharma et al.(1981) and Sauer and Dick (1993) to demonstrate that the analytical techniques chosen to model moderation should be based upon measurement level, type of moderation being investigated and theory. We suggest that it is important for cross-national studies to use multi-group analysis when evaluating the differences in relationships across countries. Following the guidelines of Calantone et al. (1996) ensures that the researcher evaluates measurement invariance across sample populations and builds a model that can be easily interpreted. Dummy variables and MMRs can easily lead to misinterpretation of the results, whereas ANOVA can lead to ignoring variances in measures across different populations/countries/cultures. The unit of analysis should not lead researchers to favor one methodology over another; instead this decision should be guided by the type of moderator being investigated, strength or form (Sharma et al., 1981).We also encourage cross-national studies to include contingencies in order to advance our knowledge base in international marketing research. Ping (1995) provides a model that can easily incorporate multiplicative interactions into a multi-group international study. We demonstrated how this can be done and found significant differences across the three countries studied regarding the interaction between importance of tradition and perceived risk of occasion. Investigating multiple moderators in a single study is important to advance our knowledge in cross-national/culture studies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to explore how moderation can and should be modeled in cross-national/cultural contexts. A multi-national study of consumer involvement is utilized to demonstrate proper methods for modeling the different types of moderation.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Using data from a consumer survey regarding wine purchasing preferences conducted in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, the paper demonstrates how to identify moderators of form and of strength. A form moderator is modeled using multiplicative interactions while a strength moderator is modeled using multi-group analyses in structural equation modeling (SEM). Differences in consumers across the three countries are examined from the results.\nFindings: - This study suggests that search behavior is positively influenced by involvement in New Zealand and the USA but not in Australia. It also shows that perceived risk of occasion decreases involvement in all three countries, while partial support for the positive effects of importance of tradition on involvement is found. Furthermore, \"perceived risk of occasion,\" identified as a moderator of form, is found to significantly moderate the relationship between importance of tradition and involvement in the US sample only. Finally, the results demonstrate significant differences across the three samples in relationships among importance of tradition, perceived risk of occasion, involvement, and search behavior, indicating that the country variable has significant moderator effects.\nOriginality/value: - Understanding form vs strength moderation is important when evaluating multi-national/cultural differences so that proper methodology can be utilized. This paper provides international marketing researchers with guidelines on how to model interactions and multi-group comparisons using SEM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding challenges of using ICT in secondary schools in Sweden from teachers' perspective	[ "Secondary schools", "Learning", "Education", "Challenges of using ICT" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Education can be seen as a raiser of status in a country and a tool to move nations into the information age (Player-Koro, 2012). To meet the challenges facing the society, there is a need to transform education (Player-Koro, 2012). ICT is one of the driving forces in the transformation and the solutions for a high-quality education (Livingstone, 2012).\n2. Literature review: The previous research on challenges of using ICT in the teaching process from a broader (K12) perspective is summarized in this section. We review challenges of using ICT in the teaching process from the following four aspects: teaching and teaching preparation, attitude and knowledge, ICT training, and support from school leadership. Teaching and teaching preparation refers to challenges that the teachers face during the preparation of a lesson and during the lessons. Attitude and knowledge refers to the teachers' attitude, beliefs, and knowledge regarding ICT in the teaching process. ICT training refers to the training the teachers receive in using ICT. Support from school leadership refers to the challenges the teachers face connected to the school leadership.\n3. The conceptual framework: Based on the literature review from the last section, a conceptual framework (see Table I) has been developed to investigate what the challenges are of using ICT in secondary schools. Table I summarizes the challenges identified in the literature review regarding teachers' use of ICT in the teaching process. It consists of the identified four challenges from different aspects: teaching and teaching preparation, attitude and knowledge, ICT training, and support from school leadership. The challenges found in the literature review overlap a bit. This is because they are all closely associated. For example, a lack of ICT training might lead to a lack of knowledge about the benefits of ICT in education. All the parts are consistently used in the literature regarding challenges of using ICT in schools. On the basis of this conceptual framework, we will investigate the challenges of using ICT in secondary schools in Sweden from teachers' perspective in this study.\n4. Research method: The section presents the research method used for this study.\n5. Results: This chapter is organized into four parts taken up in the interview guide in Section 4.3, which is based on the proposed conceptual framework in Section 3.\n6. Discussion: From a theoretical perspective, this research is considered to be beneficial for academic research since it extends and enhances the understanding of challenges of using ICT in secondary schools. This research contributes to the current literature on using ICT in education. The key findings from the interviews are summarized in Table II. Many of the challenges reoccur in both the literature and in the interviews. However, some new challenges have been added after the interviews. The challenges found exclusively in the interviews are in bold.\n7. Conclusion and future research: This study aimed to investigate what the challenges are of using ICT in secondary schools. To address this, a conceptual framework based on previous research was developed. The conceptual framework consists of the following four aspects: teaching and teaching preparation, attitude and knowledge, ICT training, and support from school leadership. Then, the semi-structured interviews with four teachers from Swedish secondary schools were carried out. According to the results, we found that the biggest challenges were associated with the perspective of teaching and teaching preparation. Most challenges identified in the conceptual framework have been re-confirmed by the interviewees in this research. For instance, it is time consuming for teachers to find digital resources. Furthermore, some new challenges were also identified from the interviews. For instance, some interviewees indicated that it was time consuming to find plagiarism of students' exercises, and there was a lack of ICT training of digital resources provided by the schools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges of using ICT in secondary schools in Sweden from teachers' perspectives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The research followed a qualitative research approach. First, a conceptual framework was developed based on previous research. Then, four teachers, teaching in six different subjects in secondary schools in Sweden, participated in semi-structured interviews that consisted of open-ended questions exploring their views on the challenges of using ICT in secondary schools.\nFindings: According to the results, the authors found that the biggest challenges were associated with the perspective of teaching and teaching preparation. Most challenges from previous research have been re-confirmed by the interviewees in this study. In addition, some new challenges were identified in this study. For instance, the results indicated that it was time consuming to find plagiarism of students' exercises, and there was a lack of ICT training of digital resources provided by the schools.\nOriginality/value: The investigation of using ICT in secondary schools is of scientific significance because it enriches the understanding of strengths and challenges of using ICT in educational activities. In particular, this research aims to shed light on challenges that teachers may face when using ICT in secondary schools. This research can also contribute to making future strategic plans for the use of ICT in secondary schools.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring the influence of big data on city transport operations: a Markovian approach	[ "Absorptive capacity", "Big data", "Supply chain integration", "Load sharing", "Transport operations" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Big data has the potential to revolutionize the art of supply chain management (SCM). However in spite of its widely reported strategic impacts, there is a paucity of empirical research exploring its influence on operations and production management. In this work we extend the findings of our framework and modelling study to examine a potential scenario of how big data on transportation capacity may impact on future cities SCM. Fosso-Wamba et al. (2015, p. 235) define big data as: \"a holistic approach to manage, process and analyze the five Vs (volume, velocity, variety, veracity and value) in order to create actionable insights for sustained value delivery, measuring performance and establishing competitive advantages\". Meanwhile, accompanying the dramatic rise in the \"velocity\" and \"volume\" of city data, the growth of urbanization has been dramatic in the last decade. Indeed, according to Lierow (2014), it is expected that 70 per cent of the world's population will live in cities by 2050. This rate has increased the pressure for adjusting the actual infrastructures, and investing in new ones, in order to support the flow of goods and people, as well as to minimize the associated impact related to environmental degradation and quality of life (Caragliu et al., 2011).\nBig data: limitations, risks and challenges: With the advent of the smart city there is starting to emerge a body of literature exploring the motivations of city operations designers to adopt big data (Scott, 2014). For instance, there is work exploring how software solutions like SAS2 can be applied to improve the time performance of the public transportation sector (Biederman, 2013). A number of studies predict the future development and impact of big data logistics. With respect to its process adoption there is recent research demonstrating that 30 per cent of the shippers and 27 per cent of the third party logistics (3PL) providers, stated that they were planning on adopting a big data initiative to improve delivery capability (Burnson, 2013). There are several papers describing the advantages that big data can play in the process of information and data retrieval. Mehmood et al. (2015) note that the cost of healthcare, according to World Health Organization is mostly due to system and operational inefficiencies; and that Big Data Analytics can minimize these inefficiencies and improve the clinical processes resulting in better, preventive, personalized healthcare. Most notably McCrea (2013) explains which big data processes are important to the area of transport management. These include: cleansing, harmonizing, combining and standardizing data, as well as data visualization.\nSmart city transport operations framework: Future cities are expected to embrace new technologies and the planning of operational-related activities. These include transportation and healthcare which will be more dynamic than has been the case. Big data will play an important role in providing innovative day to day and emergency services in the cities (Alazawi et al., 2014b). Urban planners will be able to react to the emerging changes in demand within a much shorter period of time.\nResearch method: Markov chains, Markov decision processes (MDPs), queuing theory and discrete state models are widely used analysis, optimization and decision-making tools. Markov chains allow systems of interest to be modelled as stochastic processes and the modelled systems can be analysed for their steady-state or time-dependent behaviour. Performance measures such as delay, blocking probability and utilization of a system can be calculated by computing the probability distributions of Markov chains. MDPs allow systems to be modelled as optimization problems.\nComputational methods to solve large models: We have previously developed computational strategies for the numerical solution of Markov chains, to exploit the developments in computational infrastructures and techniques which minimize the use of the resources (see Mehmood, 2004a, b; Mehmood and Crowcroft, 2005; Kwiatkowska et al., 2002, 2004; Kwiatkowska and Mehmood, 2002). The range of computational techniques which we have developed to resource minimize, include the following: compact data structures which exploit model details to minimize the memory and computational requirements; out-of-core techniques which use concurrent programming (multithreading) and disk storage to efficiently store and retrieve large models; and parallel computing techniques to use memory and computational power of multiple machines. For instance, the solution of CTMC models on single workstation as well as on parallel machines with over 1.2 billion states (equivalently, a linear system with 1.2 billion unknowns and equations) and 16 billion transitions.\nData and the capacity measure used in the Markov model: The Markov model used high level aggregate data or data aggregates that comprised a multitude or combination of freight, passenger ridership and service capacity data. These operational data were collected by the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation in Boston[2]. It was made available to the authors in 2013 for Markov analysis after a period of 12 months from its collection. The use of aggregated data makes the assumption that the hypothesized relationship between the transport demand variables in question is homogenous across all individual cases (Garrett, 2003). Therefore, our findings on capacity-demand relationships are not valid for any individual variable (if less aggregated data were used). The aggregated capacity measure we used is the number of vehicles operating in the Kendall square neighbourhood of Cambridge (per hour).\nThe model: A total of 18 scenarios were modelled based on various levels of transport demand and capacities in a future city. Subsequently, we calculated precise probabilities for all future states of each of the modelled scenarios. The analysis was designed along the lines of providing answers to questions such as: \"What transportation capacity should I have in order to meet transportation demands of the city probability at P=a?\" where a is the probability with any value between zero and one. The framework also allowed practitioners to determine the level of capacity sharing that is needed between various parts of the system.\nResults: We have used two separate figures (Figures 2 and 3) to make the results more comprehensible. First, the results are explained from a low demand scenario of 500 vehicles per hour. The horizontal axis is used for the states of the system. The vertical scale of probability ranges between 0 and 1 (where 1E-00 is one and 1E-08 indicates a small probability near zero).\nDynamic configuration of capacity sharing: To further clarify the system behaviour depicted in Figure 3, we note that it is best for the transport system to be in the idle (or near idle) state with the highest probability; as is the case for the lowest demand scenario. However, though such a case represents a low risk of failure, it does also represent a case of low resource utilization and hence wastage of resources. On the other hand, the case of highest demand scenario represents a high risk of failure (e.g. the system may not be able to provide service to its customers and can become unstable), while allowing a high level of utilization. Transport managers would like the probabilities of the higher numbered states to be zero, implying a low risk of failure. However, they would also like a high level of utilization to justify a higher return on investment. Our framework allows the practitioners to specify the level of sharing, a precise probability for the system utilization and risk and provides them with estimates of the required level of capacity. This can be done in an automated control manner, and if needed the level of sharing and capacity could be altered based on the real-time demand.\nDiscussion: The Markov solution is focussed on matching the transport demands (of people and freight mobility) with city transport service provision. This model and its solution were designed to illustrate how sharing transport load in a smart city can improve efficiencies in meeting real-time demand for city services. A smart city environment enables the production and use of such data in the provision of services in these cities. The fast-growing data generated in an online community-like setting is shared across the city network amongst industry, the public and transport-service operators. On the one hand this enables local governments, businesses and other organizations to act smartly by processing the data to provide transport load sharing services that respond to emerging needs within cities; and on the other hand, it allows citizens to take an active role in data sharing with service providers and providing real-time feedback on services.\nTheoretical contribution: The paper aims to make a contribution to theory by modelling the potential of the smart city to facilitate a city-network perspective to capacity sharing decision making. This is more efficient than individual firms taking independent decisions, as this often leads to duplication and inefficiency with transport capacity failing to meet volatile and rapidly changing demand.\nImplications for smart city operations practitioners: The developments in technologies such as 4G wireless, Fibre to the x (FTTX), IoT, mobile computing, cloud computing and big data are enabling new design models of future city operations systems. Smart city practitioners must make the best use of these emerging technologies to improve their operational efficiency and environmental performance. The city logistics aspects point to how transportation would actually need to be re-organized so as to deal with the CO2 footprint.\nImplications for future cities' SCM: The successful modelling of the Markov model in this study is premised on a big data operations framework which celebrates an enhanced interconnectivity between its components. It is assumed that customers, information management infrastructure and transport services would share in a mutually supportive reciprocity. This smart cities transportation strategy thus introduces contextual discontinuity in the sphere of OM. This new contextual environment calls for greater collaboration and integration between the system's actors for its effective functioning. From an OM perspective, this calls for greater emphasis on supply chain integration (SCI) (Prajogo and Olhager, 2012), particularly given that this scenario affords the operations managers limited direct control over information and transportation assets, if companies are to reap the benefits of the big data resources and more specifically the notion of load sharing as these would be controlled by a third party, the city manager. Nevertheless, we share the conviction that up-to-date information about transportation capacity and demand could potentially be a valuable asset to firms and could be used in enhanced logistics planning (Foresti et al., 2015; Ruiz-Torres and Nakatani, 1998) to provide customized solutions based on the specificities of individual cities. Furthermore, updated information on an hourly basis could potentially be integrated into logistics activities to respond to fluctuations in transport capacity in real-time and thus provide flexibility and greater supply chain agility (Zhang et al., 2011). However, the real challenge lies in procuring and managing this intelligence in the context of this new \"smart cities landscape\" (Angelidou, 2014).\nConclusions: The initial research aim of this paper was to investigate how big data are transforming smart city transport operations. In meeting this aim, the research relied on Markov modelling and numerical solutions. There are risks and challenges with smart city operations and big data (Kaplan and Mikes, 2012). Even bearing this in mind, as the prominence of big data continues to develop and stakeholder groups become increasingly knowledgeable and engaged, there are considerable incentives for operations managers to achieve value added improvement (Fosso-Wamba et al., 2015). This could be through transforming their operations models from transactional to sharing systems and the extracting of new forms of operational value from the big data (Li et al., 2016).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge of the transformative potential of big data on city-based transport models. The central question guiding this paper is: how could big data transform smart city transport operations? In answering this question the authors present initial results from a Markov study. However the authors also suggest caution in the transformation potential of big data and highlight the risks of city and organizational adoption. A theoretical framework is presented together with an associated scenario which guides the development of a Markov model.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A model with several scenarios is developed to explore a theoretical framework focussed on matching the transport demands (of people and freight mobility) with city transport service provision using big data. This model was designed to illustrate how sharing transport load (and capacity) in a smart city can improve efficiencies in meeting demand for city services.\nFindings: This modelling study is an initial preliminary stage of the investigation in how big data could be used to redefine and enable new operational models. The study provides new understanding about load sharing and optimization in a smart city context. Basically the authors demonstrate how big data could be used to improve transport efficiency and lower externalities in a smart city. Further how improvement could take place by having a car free city environment, autonomous vehicles and shared resource capacity among providers.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research relied on a Markov model and the numerical solution of its steady state probabilities vector to illustrate the transformation of transport operations management (OM) in the future city context. More in depth analysis and more discrete modelling are clearly needed to assist in the implementation of big data initiatives and facilitate new innovations in OM. The work complements and extends that of Setia and Patel (2013), who theoretically link together information system design to operation absorptive capacity capabilities.\nPractical implications: The study implies that transport operations would actually need to be re-organized so as to deal with lowering CO2 footprint. The logistic aspects could be seen as a move from individual firms optimizing their own transportation supply to a shared collaborative load and resourced system. Such ideas are radical changes driven by, or leading to more decentralized rather than having centralized transport solutions (Caplice, 2013).\nSocial implications: The growth of cities and urban areas in the twenty-first century has put more pressure on resources and conditions of urban life. This paper is an initial first step in building theory, knowledge and critical understanding of the social implications being posed by the growth in cities and the role that big data and smart cities could play in developing a resilient and sustainable transport city system.\nOriginality/value: Despite the importance of OM to big data implementation, for both practitioners and researchers, we have yet to see a systematic analysis of its implementation and its absorptive capacity contribution to building capabilities, at either city system or organizational levels. As such the Markov model makes a preliminary contribution to the literature integrating big data capabilities with OM capabilities and the resulting improvements in system absorptive capacity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A framework for designing backroom areas in grocery stores	[ "Warehousing", "Backroom design", "Grocery retail" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The ongoing transformation in the retail industry is significantly impacting its operations, requiring ever greater operational efficiencies, namely regarding the optimization of the store scarce resources, such as the store space (Fernie et al., 2010).\n2. Backroom role, related literature and backroom particularities: In order to help defining the backroom role and its particularities, a literature review was undertaken searching a range of electronic databases, including Science Direct, Google Scholar, Springer and Scopus. These databases were searched using combinations of relevant keywords, such as \"backroom\", \"back store\", \"wareroom\", \"stock-room\", \"back-office\", \"grocery retail\", \"design\", \"layout\", \"warehousing\", \"dimensioning\" and \"operations\". Relevant documents were then selected based on the abstracts analysis. From this initial selection, the search was extended by accessing the relevant books and cited papers. It should be referred that no relevant literature existed in the design of retail backroom storage areas per se.\n3. Literature review on warehouse design approaches: As previously referred, literature on backroom design is missing. Thus, an extensive review on warehouse design was conducted that will later be used on the definition of the backroom design framework, presented in the forthcoming section.\n4. Framework for designing the backroom: Backrooms are a very specific type of warehouse and therefore deserve a particular design framework (cf. Section 2). However, since there is a lack of literature on backroom design and operations, the methodology chosen by the authors consisted of an extensive review of warehouse design (Section 3) and adapting it to the backroom design, benefiting from the practical insights described in Section 2.\n5. Conclusions and future research: This paper presents a general framework for the design of backroom storage areas while drawing attention to backrooms and emphasizing their importance to the store and their impact at in-store logistics and customer service level. This framework is unique in view of the fact that backroom storage as a type of warehouse has never been addressed in the literature. Additionally, at each step of the framework a parallel between warehouse and backroom design is established while highlighting the dissimilarities. A limitation of our research concerns the external validity of our framework that was performed using one grocery retail Portuguese (leading) company. Therefore, future research may test the framework on different contexts/companies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The design of retail backroom storage areas has great impact on in-store operations, customer service level and on store life-cycle costs. Moreover, backroom storage in modern retail grocery stores is critical to several functions, such as acting as a buffer against strong demand lifts yielded by an ever-increasing promotional activity, stocking seasonal peak demand and accommodating e-commerce activities. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to design retail backroom storage area. Furthermore, the authors aim to draw attention to the lack of literature on this topic, while clarifying the relationship between this promising research stream and the considerable body of research regarding the design and operations of conventional warehouses, as well as retail in-store operations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The key literature on backrooms, grocery retail, in-store operations, warehouse design and operations was reviewed. This allowed an understanding of the gap in the literature regarding the design of backrooms. Moreover, a case study methodological approach was conducted in a Portuguese retailer to extend the literature review.\nFindings: Despite having functions similar to conventional warehouses, backroom storage facilities have particularities that deserve a distinct analysis. Thus, the authors stress these differences and demonstrate how they influence the development of a novel backroom design framework.\nOriginality/value: This paper fills a gap by proposing a framework to design backroom areas. Furthermore, this research may help practitioners to better design backroom areas, since this process currently lacks a formal and standardized procedure.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Clinical incident reporting: wrong time, wrong place	[ "National Health Service", "Safety engineering", "Patients", "United Kingdom", "Government policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) developed by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) was established amid widespread international approval through a Department of Health tender in 2001. Less than five years later in January 2006 the NPSA came under the spotlight before the Committee of Public Accounts who were critical of the NPSA's roll out of the NRLS in that it was two years behind schedule and PS1 million overspent at a cost of PS10 million. Moreover, according to the recent report Safety First (DoH, 2006,) \"there is little evidence that data collected ... are effectively informing patient safety at the local NHS level\". This report concludes that the reason for this failure is quality of data and advocates a renewed focus on more detailed incident reports including a new category of \"adverse events that could happen\" in the hope that this will result in insights to guide patient safety initiatives.\nBackground: In this paper we suggest that in the current context of health care, this strategy is likely to fail and consequently will be a massive waste of resources at a time when the NHS can least afford it. Our local experience and recent international developments in the patient safety movement highlight that the current level of resilience of health care processes is low. We contend that the reliability of these processes would need to substantially improve before an incident reporting system can have a meaningful impact on patient safety.In the absence of empirical evidence that an incident reporting system in health care can improve patient safety, why was it adopted? Drawing on the experience of other high-risk industries, for example aviation, the NPSA's publication Seven Steps to Patient Safety suggested that a nationwide reporting system would provide reliable information and that the subsequent statistical analysis of this data would identify meaningful trends from which patient safety lessons could be learned. For health care organisations it was suggested that a clinical incident reporting system would enable organisations to identify areas for change; pre-empt complaints by being open and accrue financial benefits from reduction in the severity of patient incidents.\nThe context: Each of these claims will now be examined. The first of these concerns the reliability of the information; does it reliably reflect the harm caused by our health care systems? The National Audit Office (NAO, 2005) in their report A Safer Place for Patients suggested a significant level of under reporting - 22 per cent for actual incidents and 39 per cent for near misses. Other studies suggest that this may be an extremely conservative estimate. If we start from the premise that an adverse event is \"any unintended or unexpected incident(s) that could have or did lead to harm for one or more persons receiving health care\"; then the findings from the following piece of ethnographic research suggests that the estimate in the NAO study is woefully inaccurate:[...] the incidence of process failure was close to one per nurse per hour, making these dedicated caregivers day a constant navigation through small (and sometimes large) obstacles to simply get the job done. This was quite unlike the manufacturing plants in which we had worked and studied, where problems tend to be infrequent ... The stunning frequency of work process problems in hospitals, however, made the inability of nurses to track each of these many problems down to its root causes unsurprising (Edmondson, 2004).If health care commentators are to be believed, one might expect MRSA and infection control adverse events to generate a significant level of incidents. However, these types of events only account for 1.1 per cent of the incidents reported in the most recent NRLS report (2006). Similarly, the US Institute for Health Care Improvement, has recently identified pressure sores as a significant contributor to the harm suffered by patients in the US and yet in the UK they do not appear to register as a significant issue in the NRLS report. If the problem was merely one of consistent under-reporting across the board, the data would still provide a useful representation of the density and distribution of incidents. But is this the case? Our data (6,000 incident reports per year) shows that certain groups, personnel and clinical areas report far more incidents than others and yet there is no evidence that these staff or areas are more unsafe - in fact it could well be the reverse and that these are the more safety conscious and mindful of escalating concerns. Furthermore, in our experience a sudden rise in incident reports is just as likely to be a result of a political or personal agenda as it is to be an actual increase in incidents. In our Trust we have migrated from a paper based incident reporting system to an on-line reporting system and this change in reporting medium has impacted on the dynamics of incident reporting, with incident reports from many of our regular paper based reporters drying up to be replaced with a new cohort of reporters who prefer the medium of on-line reporting. Thus, while reports are accurate on an individual level, they are unreliable indices of incidents - both in number and type.That brings us to their use in identifying trends and helping us to learn lessons. What constitutes a trend? The NRLS currently receives 17,000 incident reports of patient falls this month, and approximately 17,000 for each of the next six months - is this a trend? And how many (more) months and years should we continue to collect the figures to know that falls constitute a significant health care issue that needs addressing. We would contend that in the delivery of health care there are many harmful trends and that locally more can be gained from employing Statistical Process Control and identifying unexpected variations in reporting. However, even when unexpected variation can be identified, identifying the special causes is rarely straightforward as finding cause and effect in a complex system is inherently problematic. In the complex environment of health care most clinical incidents is the result of multifaceted failures and in hospitals running close to maximum capacity there is high connectivity between events. For example, if a patient falls while unsupervised, because the nurse allocated to care for him/her is trying to locate some tests results which have not arrived, because they were put in an envelope addressed to the wrong ward, because the patient has recently moved wards, because another patient who was infected with MRSA needed to go in the side room this patient was in... and so it goes on, both backwards and forwards. Each action or omission in health care having potentially far reaching repercussions. In our experience serious incidents start small and escalate disproportionately as a result of a particular confluence of events - it is rarely due to a single failure. However, when we come to reporting these complex multifaceted events we end up collapsing this incident into a simple descriptor such as medication error or \"discharge planning error\" and telescoping the cause into an equally simplistic category such as \"communication failure\" or \"staffing\". Putting to one side the obvious potential for different individuals to categorise differently, knowing that 8 per cent of the incident forms reported to the NRLS relate to \"treatment and procedure\" (NRLS category) issues gives very few clues to the nature of the problem and what lessons can be learnt to make practice safer.As for pre-empting complaints, would any chief executives be confident in asserting that complaints in their organisation have reduced because of incident reporting? Would they claim they had accrued financial benefits from a reduction in severity of incidents? Do any have a baseline for the level of harm in their organisations? Would any use incident reporting as a baseline for measuring the safety of their health care processes or as a measure of preventable harm? Whilst clinical incident reporting was never designed as a performance tool, inevitably, as so much emphasis has been placed on its implementation, there is a desire to use it as a tool for quantifying safety. Yet the ethos appears to be to celebrate an increase in incident reporting, with no targets for when we think this increase should end and no plans for when we would hope to see a decrease.If the financial benefits of incident reporting are hard to identify, how much does incident reporting cost? The resources that incident reporting absorbs should not be underestimated. Even if we ignore the cost of developing or purchasing an incident reporting system and the data processing (and infrastructure) at the NPSA, the actual costs for reporting each incident are not insignificant. At a conservative estimate, assuming that each incident takes the reporter, their line manager and the patient safety office an hour to process and manage, this would mean that based on current reporting to the NRLS (NPSA, 2006) some 44,000 hours are spent each month on incident reporting. Assuming a 37-hour week this is equivalent to 1,184 NHS employees spending all their time each month completing incident forms.The fundamental question is whether the NHS is safer as a result of the NRLS receiving over half a million incidents per annum? And would not the resources that are spent next year collecting another half a million reports of a largely identical nature be better spent on proven initiatives to save patient lives?One only has to look to the Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI) in the USA to see the benefits of this approach. The IHI's focus which borrows more from quality improvement than risk management seems to be a strategy for success as it is targeting as it does harm rather than error.\nDiscussion: Whilst health care has much to learn from other high-risk industries the wholesale adoption of incident reporting seems to have underestimated the extent to which processes and systems in health care fail. This is graphically illustrated by the number of incidents recorded on the civil aviation National Transportation Safety Board database. During 2005, 2015 incidents were reported within the USA and in international airspace. To put this in perspective, on average the NRLS receives this number of reports every 36 hours; whilst in our large acute Trust we would receive this volume of reports in about four months and we know we are likely to be significantly under-reporting.Authors such as Amberti, Nolan and McGlynn are increasingly highlighting that the delivery of health care is significantly compromised. In so doing they have shifted the debate and the vocabulary towards the question of reliability and resilience. Estimates are now suggesting that the reliability of health care processes are significantly lower than other high risk industries with a process failure rate of up to one in ten. If one considers all the processes involved in caring for one patient, a patient will be lucky to get through their stay with the safest and best practice. McGlynn et al. (2003) conluded that:[...] our results indicate that, on average, Americans receive about half of recommended medical care processes. Although ... the size of the problem may continue to be debated, the gap between what we know works and what is actually done is substantial enough to warrant attention.A failure rate of 10 per cent could be used to assert a greater need for incident reporting. However, we conclude that a failure rate in the region of 10 per cent needs to be addressed wholesale by the redesign of the processes underpinning them rather than through continually reporting every minor failure and investigating some of the more serious incidents. To use an analogy, if a car was sold by the million but one component in the car failed one in every ten times for a variety of reasons, and you were the manufacturer, would you adopt a strategy of getting each driver to report each breakdown and occasionally undertake an in-depth investigation or alternatively would you use your resources to redesign the engine?\nConclusion: In Safety First it is proposed to make incident reporting easier, to increase the quality of the data and introduce a new category of \"adverse events that could happen\". So an even greater investment is to be made in a tool that has been assessed as showing no safety benefits to date. Incident reporting might, one day, have a role to play in making health care safer. However, we would contend that this role would be when significant improvements have occurred in the reliability of the systems and processes that underpin health care. This quantum jump in reliability will not be facilitated by incident reporting, it will only occur through the systematic application of process redesign and quality improvement. Right now is not the right time to be promoting incident reporting.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to generate a debate regarding the value of incident reporting in the UK.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper critiques the dominant approach to patients in the UK.\nFindings: - It is suggested that the reliability of health care processes would need to substantially improve before an incident reporting system can have a meaningful impact on patient safety.\nPractical implications: - Greater benefits in patient safety will be accrued by focusing resources on designing reliable processes rather than the extension of incident reporting.\nOriginality/value: - This paper offers a local perspective on a potentially flawed national strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Learning the soft skills of leadership	[ "Training", "Learning", "Leadership", "Measurement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Soft skills training commands a large percentage of the dollars spent on training in organizations and is the focus of most leadership development. What exactly are soft skills and why are they so important?\nThe soft skills of leadership: Following are many of the personal and interpersonal skills needed by leaders. A number of these skills are skills that are desired, arguably needed, by all individuals. Several are unique to leaders. Following is a list of eight such skills:1. collaboration/teamwork;2. communication skills;3. initiative;4. leadership ability;5. people development/coaching;6. personal effectiveness/personal mastery;7. planning and organizing; and8. presentation skills.\nCan soft skills be acquired through a training program?: Certainly training programs on the \"soft skills\" are abundant. But do these programs produce the desired outcomes?While excellent training plays an important role in the development of soft skills, much more is required. After all, it's complicated. Consider the example of learning to drive a car.Most of us begin this process by eagerly reading the booklet published by the Department of Motor Vehicles. While a good start, the acquisition of the skill of driving is definitely not an outcome. Ironically, many individuals and their managers hope the acquisition of soft skills can be achieved through reading an interesting book or attending a motivating keynote presentation.For most of us, the next step in the process of learning to drive is some type of formal training. Formal training is offered through Drivers' Education programs or is provided by well-intentioned parents. This education usually makes use of all basic learning styles - auditory, visual and kinesthetic (learning by doing).The kinesthetic portion of the training takes place (hopefully) in a safe environment. For example, an empty parking lot where the new skills can be experimented with in relative safety.The goal is to gain enough mastery of the skill to pass the driving test. Eventually, the happy driving student is in receipt of a drivers' license. Is the skill of driving now mastered?As any experienced driver will tell you, it takes years of practice in all types of environments to master the skill of driving a car. Eventually we become so skilled at driving that it becomes a habit. Habits are helpful to us. They allow us to do several things at the same time. Simply watch experienced drivers and you'll notice that they drink coffee, talk on cell phones, shave, carry on conversations and eat, all while driving.\nThe process of learning: In the language of Humanist Psychologist Abraham Maslow, this mastery of a skill, such as driving a car, or learning soft skills, is called unconsciously competent. Figure 2 shows Maslow's four stages of learning.Maslow's contention is that learners begin unconsciously incompetent (we know not what we know not). At this stage, learners are confident that they are doing something well and are unaware that they could develop skills to make them more effective.When they are presented with new material, they realize there is a body of knowledge or skills that they don't possess. This is a very uncomfortable place to be because we spend a lot of time operating by habit (unconscious) and like to think of ourselves as skilled (competent). When presented with the new information, many people will rationalize ineffective methods of performance (old unconscious habits), for convenience and comfort, and limit their own growth.The third stage, consciously competent is also a difficult place for a learner to be. While they are using a new set of skills effectively, they are so conscious of the new behavior that it is difficult to do anything else but focus on the new skill. In other words, the skills do not come naturally.Unconsciously competent (effective habit), Maslow's fourth stage, is how many of us drive our cars home from work. We have mastered the skills of driving that route so well that the car seems to drive by itself. That is, until a new challenge such as moving houses requires us to learn a new route. We realize we have returned to stage one when we find ourselves en route to the old house. The process of learning the new route is a frustrating one because we must begin the learning process all over again - find the shortest route, discover the location of the grocery store, dry cleaners, etc.Sometimes, the changes required are so daunting that many people refuse to learn the new way. Such as when we travel abroad and realize when we get into our rental car that the steering wheel is on the other side of the vehicle and the other motorists are driving on the opposite side of the road. Alas, we are faced with a choice - learn the new skills or leave the driving to someone else. Most people will chose the latter.So it is with soft skills. Most people do not undergo the process willingly.The good news is that we can retrain our brain to naturally respond in new ways, at any age. The bad news for the time-pressed professional is that navigating through the four stages of learning is frustrating and takes a lot of time and practice.Therein lies the challenge of training the soft skills.What methodology provides for progress through the four stages of learning without a result of rationalizing or excuse making to return to the comfort of the old habits?An effective soft skills training program is part of the solution, but it is only a part!\nAn effective training program: The goal of strategic, skill-building training is to produce meaningful, lasting behavior change in the participants who attend the sessions. Critical to success is a memorable training program, the product of excellent instructional design, which results in changing people's behavior.In the past decade, research from the neuro- and cognitive sciences has produced more insight into human behavior and learning than during any other time in history. Recent advances in brain research reveal why some training programs succeed and why others fail. These insights have helped instructional designers design and develop training programs that produce meaningful results for those who attend.The best way to design a learning experience is to incorporate active involvement - kinesthetic learning. Whether it's asking participants to physically move, take notes, work in groups, or practice the skills, great training programs depend heavily on learner involvement.\nMore is required: Effective training helps people learn new knowledge. However, simply knowing information is not enough to compel someone to act on it. How many of us have learned about the importance of regular exercise and healthy diet but fail to act on this information, or act for only a short period of time? Knowledge is important but it must be followed by action.The following elements must also be present to ensure learning that results in meaningful behavior change:* expert facilitation;* contextual awareness;* formal support;* informal support;* opportunities to use the new skills;* self-study and self-analysis;* stress; and* celebration.Most training initiatives on soft skills fail to incorporate these other elements and as a result, they mostly fail. Let's consider each element, and how each affects meaningful behavioral change.\nExpert facilitation: Effective training design is only part of the solution. Great content in the hands of a poor trainer does not produce desired results. In his book Rhetoric, Aristotle described the three things required to persuade another person to act. One must appeal to logos (Greek word meaning \"logic\"), appeal to pathos (Greek word meaning \"emotions\"), and appeal to ethos (Greek word meaning \"disposition\" or \"character\"). In other words, for training to be successful, the information must make sense, must evoke desirable emotions and be led by someone the participants trust. Kouzes and Posner (2002), authors of The Leadership Challenge point out, you won't believe the message if you don't trust the messenger.Another important consideration is a safe learning environment (like the vacant parking lot when learning to drive) where individuals can try, fail and try again without great risk or fear. At the same time, the learning environment should mimic the stresses found in the real world. Achieving this balance is one of the greatest challenges of training and few trainers are highly skilled in it.\nContextual awareness: Training must happen in the context of the real world. Along side the soft skills training provided, participants should gain a broad knowledge base of all aspects of the organization in which they will lead. Regardless of the department or division a leader works in, every leader should have at least a general understanding of the main systems, processes and functions throughout the organization.\nFormal support: Formal support is also required. Mentors and action learning communities can fill this role. Committed, talented individuals who are prepared to give generously of themselves to help decode corporate culture, provide opportunities for learning, provide feedback and coaching and assist with the process of transferring the learning to the real world.\nInformal support: The more peer and organizational support that exists, the more likely the individual is to have success implementing the new skills. Informal support can also be found outside of the professional environment, at home or in other personal pursuits.\nOpportunities to use the new skills: The best learning is first person, present tense, experiential. While some of this can be simulated in a classroom, a mechanism for real-life application of the skills is also needed. Since leadership always develops around a goal, leaders-in-training should stretch their comfort zones by applying their new skills to a real-world goal that will make a meaningful difference to the organization.\nSelf-study and self-analysis: Individuals involved in a learning experience designed to build the personal and interpersonal skills of leadership should ideally engage in self-study activities that support the learning and encourage self-reflection and self-analysis. These self-study activities can include reading relevant literature, incorporating the skills into real-life situations (both personal and professional) and evaluating the results achieved.\nStress: The greatest growth in each of us occurs after a period of some stress (not too much). The development experience must ensure the participants are accountable for their own growth and that successful change in behavior occurs - the kind of behavior change that is somewhat resistance to change. Every one of us remembers significant learning experiences in our lives and nods in agreement that they always were accompanied by a great investment of time, effort and personal energy.Organizations committed to leadership development must prepare themselves for the inevitable stress that accompanies meaningful growth. They should expect participants to have heavy workloads, to feel frustrated and to even talk about burnout. All of this is normal and stress should be purposefully built into the learning experience to simulate real life leadership as much as possible.\nCelebration: Extraordinary growth, particularly in challenging skills such as the soft skills is hard work. To recognize efforts and keep determination alive, celebrating accomplishments is required. This can be done through both formal and informal methods.\nResults: What type of results can be observed, then, through an attention to the elements necessary in creating meaningful behavioral change during soft skills training? Statistical support for the methodology outlined in this paper comes from an analysis of leadership development programs conducted by Tero(r) International, Inc. in 2000 through 2004. The six- to eight-month leadership development programs incorporated the learning elements outlined in this paper.Drs Jim Veale and Tom Westbrook from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa analyzed data collected from participants in the training programs around two areas: self-esteem and the learning objectives of the program. Four assessments, a pre-, post-, post-, post-series, were carried out to be evaluated later for their statistical significant.The results showed that the training could expect to move the typical person from:1. the 50th to the 98th percentile on the personal communications scale;2. the 50th to the 87th percentile on the personal effectiveness scale;3. the 50th to the 83rd percentile on the self-esteem scale.These are results that most educators and employers would consider to be both educationally and practically significant. A 48 percent increase in communication skills, 37 percent increase in personal effectiveness and 33 percent increase in self-esteem is especially impressive given that statisticians report that a mere 3 percent increase is meaningful.Another way to look at this is what parent wouldn't be pleased to see their child show an improvement from 50 percent to 98 percent during a six-month period in a given course of study?The results by most definitions were breathtaking, as measured both on a quantitative and qualitative basis. But the numbers only underscore the obvious changes observed. The ongoing feedback from executives, mentors and the program participants themselves tells the complete story. The learning of complex skills such as the soft skills of leadership does not happen conveniently and miraculously in a classroom. Those who have made the journey testify that first-person experience, communities of learners, support, self-assessment, and tireless effort to learn new skills and unlearn ineffective methods, all linked as closely as possible to the environment in which leadership will occur are needed, in addition to formal training.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To challenge the role of training as a single methodology for the development of personal and interpersonal \"soft skills\" for leaders.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - To make a case for the importance of soft skills development for leaders and then to explore the role of training, along with other critical elements, in helping leaders develop these skills. This is done through an explanation of the complex process of learning.\nFindings: - Learning takes time and the learning of the complex personal and interpersonal skills of leadership takes even more time. Statistical analysis supports the recommended methodology outlined in this paper.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The research cited in this paper is a representative sample from research collected over five different leadership development programs studied. Although the methodology used was consistent from program to program, each program was highly customized, by design, to meet the unique needs of the specific organization, thus potentially compromising the measurement/research from a strictly academic perspective.\nPractical implications: - Organizations undertaking a leadership development initiative are encouraged to look beyond simply evaluating training programs. Success depends not only on effective training but also on such important elements as expert facilitation, contextual awareness, formal and informal support, real-world application, self-study, self-awareness, stress and celebration.\nOriginality/value: - The ability to accurately assess the effectiveness of training in the soft skills arena has long been debated. This paper, drawn from extensive research conducted by Tero(r) International offers insight on this subject. A white paper was expected to be available near the end of 2004.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
When allegedly corrupt organizations are attractive	[ "Ethics", "Europe", "Recruitment", "Organizational behaviour", "Individual behaviour" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: According to the recent Global Corruption Barometer (Transparency International, 2013), Germans experience the business sector as one of the country's most corrupt. Corruption reflects abuse of power with the aim of gaining an advantage (Clinard, 1990). It is a form of organizational misconduct that is perceived as transgressing the line of legal, ethical, and socially responsible behavior (Greve et al., 2010). When organizations are accused of corruption, their reputation among stakeholders may suffer (Argandona, 2001). This may become a critical issue for organizations for which attracting talent is a crucial factor in times of labor shortages.\nTheoretical background: Influences of allegations of corruption on potential applicants' attraction\nMethod: Sample\nResults: ANOVA results (see Table II) show significant differences in potential applicants' attraction between the experimental conditions (F\nDiscussion: Summary of results and theoretical implications\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Based on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to explore how detrimental allegations of corruption are to potential applicants' organizational attraction and how potential harm can be absorbed by choosing an appropriate response strategy.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Experimental survey data were collected from 239 German employees likely to be in the job market again in their careers.\nFindings: Potential applicants are less attracted to allegedly corrupt organizations. Accepting the allegation and undertaking structural change, appealing to higher organizational goals, and denying the allegation appear to be effective organizational response strategies. A strategy concordant with the one potential applicants would choose if they themselves were confronted with an allegation of corruption fosters attraction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The experimental design limits external validity. Future research should investigate whether the findings hold in a field setting where additional information about the organization and the potential job is available.\nPractical implications: The findings demonstrate the need for organizational corruption prevention efforts. If organizations face allegations of corruption, they should carefully consider how to respond, what they signal by the chosen response strategy, and what applicants they are therefore likely to attract.\nSocial implications: The observed interactions between organizations and individuals underline the need for societal efforts in creating a societal anti-corruption climate.\nOriginality/value: The study highlights the critical role of allegations of corruption, organizational response strategies, and concordance with individual response strategies regarding potential applicants' organizational attraction.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Diffusion of changes in organizations	[ "Critical mass", "Change management models", "Diffusion of innovations", "Innovation-decision process", "Opinion leadership", "Organizational change diffusion model" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Organizations care about the concept of diffusion. While seeking change and innovation, they also endeavor to diffuse them to markets, customers, and employees. Change is pursued for both operational efficiency and strategic effectiveness (Daft, 1978). Unlike operational changes designed for fine-tuning and gradual improvements, planned organizational change is typically a large-scale change implementation with the intent of revolutionizing the way an organization functions and presenting its members with a future vision on a whole new level (Burke, 2011). The organizational change is either initiated by proactive internal dynamics or forced by external circumstances (Jacobs et al., 2013). Whether the driver is the former or the latter, it reflects an intense effort to secure organizational effectiveness and, once planned and implemented, calls for members to adopt it (Damanpour and Schneider, 2006).\nDiffusion of innovations: Diffusion features three distinct processes: \"presentation of the new culture element or elements to the society, acceptance by the society, and the integration of the accepted element or elements into the preexisting culture\" (Linton, 1936, p. 334). Rogers (2003) defined diffusion of innovations as \"the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system\" (p. 5), where an innovation is defined as \"an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption\" (p. 11). Major components of innovation diffusion theory that affect individuals' innovation-decision process include innovation, communication, and innovativeness associated with time and a social system.\nCM models: Building on an understanding of innovation diffusion theory, this study referred to the CM/OD literature for an interdisciplinary synthesis. Succinctly presented hereafter are well-established change models encompassing Action Research (AR), Burke's Simple Phase Model (SPM), Rothwell/Sullivan's Change Process Model (CPM), and Appreciative Inquiry (AI) that appear in part or in full in multiple CM/OD textbooks used in university courses (e.g. Cummings and Worley, 2005; Rothwell and Sullivan, 2010). Model selection did not hinge on identifying those superior to others, but in seeking one specific approach best suited to the goals of this study.\nOrganizational change diffusion model: Diffusion research has focussed on individuals' adoption decisions through empirical investigations, while many CM models are grounded in insights into the practice of implementing change initiatives in organizations. In an attempt to integrate the prescriptive and empirical arguments and the normative and rational perspectives, this study conceptualized the organizational change diffusion model as the Diffuse Model through the synthesis of research findings and procedural components offered by multiple CM models and innovation diffusion research.\nConclusion: Druckman and Bjork (1991) asserted that over 60 percent of organizational change strategies are abandoned very quickly. While this sounds a bit drastic, such an assertion paradoxically stresses the importance of managing launched change efforts (Lundblad, 2003). This study addressed the advisability of innovation diffusion theory for enhancing the adoption/execution success rate in leading change in organizations. In particular, in offering an organizational change diffusion model this study integrated the empirical-rational approach and research-based multidisciplinary insights of innovation diffusion theory with the CM literature. Also, recommendations for practice and research are intended to invite critical responses and further discussion to enrich discourse on the diffusion of changes in organizations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the advisability of innovation diffusion theory for enhancing the adoption/execution success rate in leading organizational change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study design involved an interpretive discussion of innovation diffusion theory and related research, followed by a review of influential models of organizational change management (CM). Through analysis and synthesis of the essential ideas and processes derived from both schools, this study conceptualized an integrated change diffusion model with practical and research implications.\nFindings: The study findings were presented via an organizational change diffusion model and its phases with major considerations. Leading change should be a systematic but responsive process as visualized by a sequential but recursive flow of the phases; change could sustain with the spontaneous function of organizational dynamics; before-during-after diagnosis and evaluation would be fundamental to the success of change efforts.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study recommended that future research empirically test the validity of this study's conceptual arguments and attempt to further integrate innovation diffusion and CM research in many areas, including the change leader's competencies. Extended research opportunities were presented as well.\nPractical implications: This study suggested that change leaders concentrate resources on a few positively or negatively influential individuals and take advantage of communication networks to persuade and inform others to help with their change adoption. Change leaders were also advised to partner with formal/informal opinion leaders and facilitate each player's proper role in the change diffusion efforts. An additional suggestion was that system-centric thinking should precede the individual-blame orientation in the root cause analysis of adoption/non-adoption (diffusion/non-diffusion) of a change.\nOriginality/value: This study offers value by enriching CM approaches in consultation with the research asset on innovation diffusion, which has been less capitalized upon in the organizational CM arena. Specifically, value added includes an encompassing consideration of both normative-reeducative and empirical-rational perspectives on individuals' behavior change, a research-based conceptual extension of CM models, and consummative strategies for effective and efficient change interventions.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Varieties of context and informal entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial activities of migrant youths in rural Ghana	[ "Context", "Youth", "Embeddedness", "Migration", "Sub-Saharan Africa", "Informal entrepreneurship" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is a growing recognition of the need to explore the role that entrepreneurship can play in tackling the grand challenges faced around issues such as poverty, unemployment, corruption and ineffective institutions on the African continent (Atiase et al., 2018; Jones et al., 2018; Le Pere and Ikome, 2009; Murithi et al., 2019). This paper responds to this broad challenge as well as more specifically the Call for Papers on \"Migration, Enterprise and Society\" (Vershinina and Rodgers, 2017). This paper examines the cocktail of contextual factors, which can offer more nuanced explanatory power to understand how and why migrant youth engage in informal entrepreneurship within a developing economy setting. For the purposes of this paper, informal entrepreneurship involves businesses that are lawful in all respects except that such businesses do not declare their incomes for tax purposes (Schneider and Enste, 2000). Migrant youth entrepreneurs (MYEs) are defined as individuals, aged between 15 and 35 years old who have established and manage a business in a permanent geographical locality, which is different from their administrative region of birth.\nLiterature review: Informal entrepreneurship\nMethodology: The authors adopted an inductive qualitative methodology (Edmondson and McManus, 2007; Eisenhardt, 1989) and used narrative interviews within this study (Elliott, 2005). Such an approach offers space for \"an in-depth study of a given phenomenon, mobilising creative ways of producing and analysing empirical data [...] [-]..(and is a useful tool) to describe, decode and advance the understanding of intertwined past, present or future eclectic data\" (Hlady-Rispal and Jouison-Laffitte, 2014, p. 594). The narrative approach is gaining prominence in entrepreneurship research (Corner et al., 2017; Singh et al., 2015) and has the capacity to capture contextual richness (Hlady-Rispal and Jouison-Laffitte, 2014). Narratives transform the everyday experiences of entrepreneurs into meaningful stories such that they \"neither accept nor reject 'reality'. Instead, they seek to mould it, shape it and infuse it with meaning\" (Gabriel, 2000, p. 41). Through the narratives of the MYEs, the authors were able to capture the chain of events, time periods and differential contexts that respondents navigated to establish their informal businesses and how such contextual experiences affected business decisions. The research site was Atwima Nwabiagya District in Ghana. Over recent years, Ghana's economy has been growing steadily, showing signs of private sector development (Yankson and Owusu, 2016). However, regional differences exist between the relatively prosperous southern regions and the more impoverished northern regions (GSS, 2014). The study site is one of the 37 administrative districts located in the Ashanti Region (GSS, 2014). There exist internal migration processes whereby individuals from the poorest regions in Ghana migrate to the more prosperous regions, in search of work (Cooke et al., 2016).\nFindings: This section presents the collective narratives, which emerged from the interviews undertaken with the respondents. The article showcases some of the key dimensions of contexts (Welter, 2011) across the social, economic, institutional, spatial and temporal-historical domains (Langevang et al., 2016). The data in this study reveal five key processes which underpin the engagement of youth migrants in Ghana in informal entrepreneurship. First, the social embeddedness of youth migrants is explored through enabling and constraining effects of social support and familial obligations, influence of peers and regional ethnic ties as well as the role of community in supporting youth entrepreneurs. Second, the embedded precariousness of informal entrepreneurship is revealed within this research setting through the persistence of informality in the work environment, the use of credit sales models, the prevalence of informal financing institutions and the persistence of informal waged employment alongside informal entrepreneurship amongst the respondents. Third, the prevalence of weak formal insitutions (Filmer and Fox, 2014) was observed, which led to the emergence of strongly embedded informal institutions based on reciprocity-driven relationships with local communities, wide adoption of unregistered business practices, lack of opportunities in the formal labour market and lack of regulations which prioritises foreign made goods over local goods in general. Fourth, the data in this study shows a dramatic regional diversity in terms of opportunity structure in relation to the dispersion of customers in the north and concentration of customers in the south, seasonality of demand for work but nevertheless, easy access to cheap, informal labour and certain prestige with working in the south, which draws youth migrants to this location. Finally, the article exposed the historical legitimation of informal practices across a whole range of institutions and individuals, which has become normalised. Table II presents a set of illustrative quotes as well as the coding structure of the data.\nDiscussion: In line with existing theorisations (Wadhwani and Jones, 2014; Welter, 2011; Welter and Gartner, 2016), this study has revealed that in rural destinations of an African country, MYEs were embedded in a web of social, economic, institutional, spatial and temporal-historical contexts which influenced their motivations towards engaging in informal forms of entrepreneurial activity (Langevang et al., 2012, 2016; Thorsen, 2013). The article's research findings have demonstrated that faced with an unfavourable economic and regulatory environment where profits are marginal, and cost of operation and taxes are high (Langevang et al., 2016, pp. 88-89), entrepreneurial youths in SSA embed their business activities shallowly in formal institutional contexts in contrast to their rootedness in informal institutions (Ismail, 2016). Within an institutional environment in which formal institutions are either absent or not functioning efficiently to support entrepreneurial activity, this study underlines the importance of consideration of informal institutions in driving informal entrepreneurial activity.\nConclusions: Using findings generated from the empirical setting of migrant youth entrepreneurs operating in Ghana, this paper has sought to contribute to emerging debates around the role of entrepreneurship in tackling underlying problems across Africa (Jones et al., 2018). We showcase the heterogeneity of opportunities and challenges which influence the decision of youth migrant entrepreneurs to engage in forms of informal entrepreneurship. Critically, using the \"varieties of context\" (Welter and Gartner, 2016) perspective outlined in this paper enables the authors to surface the critical importance of non-economic rationales (Gibson-Graham, 2006), which emerge from the legitimation of informal practices, the social embeddedness of youth migrant within family and community networks and the precarious nature of informal entrepreneurship. To this end, the findings outlined in this research study clearly elucidate directions for future scholarly endeavour. First, there is a need for future academic work to examine to what extent do existing theories, seeking to explain the motivations to engage in informal entrepreneurship, take into account the importance of non-economic rationales. Second, within this paper, the authors focussed solely on one country, Ghana. Future research could seek to examine to what extent the patterns and motivations surfaced in this study replicate themselves across the Sub-Saharan regional context and more broadly across the African continent (Jones et al., 2018). Finally, this paper has demonstrated the continued importance of embedded kinship and family networks to enable and support informal entrepreneurial activity within the Ghanian context, offering a much-need empirical setting for the conceptual contribution around the role of family for entrepreneurial activity within SSA (Murithi et al., 2019). Future research could be extended to focus on the influence of extended family in facilitating migration within developing economy contexts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the multi-faceted contexts, which influence the motives, decisions and actions that underpin the mundane and lively entrepreneurial practice of migrant youth entrepreneurs (MYEs) within a developing economy context. Moreover, the paper explores the under-researched linkages between migration and informal entrepreneurship.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Inductive, qualitative field data from a migrant destination, the Ashanti Region in Ghana are analysed, comprising 15 interviews with MYEs who hail from 12 communities in the three Northern Regions of Ghana. The authors introduce a narrative-based approach, which has previously been under-employed within empirical studies of informal entrepreneurship.\nFindings: The findings showcase the complex array of opportunities and challenges, which influence individual decisions to engage in informal entrepreneurship. The findings highlight the importance of not only economic rationales but also non-economic rationales for engaging in informal entrepreneurship. Such rationales emerge from the legitimation of informal practices, the social embeddedness of migrant youth within family and community networks and the precarious nature of informal entrepreneurship.\nOriginality/value: The fine-grained discussion of the findings contributes explicitly to theory by underscoring the diversity of informal entrepreneurship activities. Theoretically, the article demonstrates the need to look beyond narrow economic explanations for why individuals engage in informal entrepreneurship. Taking a more holistic approach to explaining motivations for engaging in informal entrepreneurship, enables more nuanced understandings of the importance of non-economic rationales for individuals, located in specific contextual settings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Empathy or perceived credibility? An empirical study on individual donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding	[ "Empathy", "Perceived credibility", "Charitable crowdfunding", "Donation behaviour", "Project characteristic", "Technological characteristic" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Charitable crowdfunding - emerging within the broader landscape of crowdsourcing - describes an open call for monetary donations over a fixed time limit, typically through the medium of web-enabled information systems (Belleflamme et al., 2014; Gerber et al., 2012). In contrast to conventional charity in which a small group of major funders provides money (e.g. bake sales, door knocking, or society events), charitable crowdfunding seeks to obtain external financing from a large number of individuals (the \"crowd\") who mainly donate small amounts of money (Lu et al., 2014). Charitable crowdfunding has become a mainstream approach to charity participation, raising 2.85 billion USD globally in 2015 (Massolution, 2015). As a relatively recent and expanding phenomenon, charitable crowdfunding is gaining substantial interest from practitioners and scholars (Choy and Schlagwein, 2016).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Charitable crowdfunding\n3. Research model and hypotheses: On the basis of the preceding literature review, we propose the research model depicted in Figure 1. Each hypothesis in the proposed model is discussed in detail below.\n4. Methodology: 4.1 Measurement\n5. Data analysis and results: This study utilized a two-step approach to analyze the research model (Chin et al., 2003). The first step involved the analysis of the measurement model, where reliability, validity, and common method bias were examined. The second step tested the structural model, where structural relationships among latent constructs and hypotheses were assessed, respectively (Chin et al., 2003). SmartPLS 2.0 was used to analyze the data (Ringle et al., 2005).\n6. Discussion and implications: The aim of this study was to develop and test a comprehensive framework that explains individual donation behavior in crowdfunding. Since charitable crowdfunding is gaining popularity as an alternative vehicle to traditional charity, it becomes crucial to understand the drivers of fundraising success or failure. However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms that drive individuals to donate in charitable crowdfunding. This research responds to a call to advance our knowledge of individuals' donation behavior for charitable crowdfunding.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Researchers have called for the synthesis of divergent perspectives and the development of a theoretical model that examines individuals' donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding. To fill this research gap, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the literature pertaining to the determinants of donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding. Then, drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, the authors develop and test a model that explains individuals' intention to donate to charitable crowdfunding.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper follows a quantitative research approach. An online survey was distributed to collect data from individuals who had experienced charitable crowdfunding. In total, 205 valid responses were received and analyzed.\nFindings: First, this study finds that individuals' empathy and the perceived credibility of a charitable crowdfunding project are key determinants for their intention to donate in charitable crowdfunding. Second, the study finds that website quality, transaction convenience, and project content quality influence both empathy and perceived credibility in different ways. Third, it is noteworthy that initiator reputation is positively related to perceived credibility, while project popularity is positively associated with empathy.\nOriginality/value: This research advances the knowledge of individual donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding. The model can help researchers understand individuals' philanthropic behavior by providing empirical explanations of the interplay between technological and project characteristics, emotional and cognitive states, and individuals' donation behavior. For practitioners, the research suggests appropriate design, launch, and operation strategies to facilitate individuals' donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
International presence and impact of the UK biomedical research, 1989-2000	[ "Biotechnology", "Research results", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: UK biomedical research[1] is growing fast. It is a vast and vital sphere of science requiring high levels of funding. A strong research base is expensive and the government, not-for-profit organisations and pharmaceutical companies - among others - provide the money to support research activity. What analytical tools do they have that can help them decide which areas need investment and what is value for money? And what is available for administrative bodies managing biomedicine that allows them to see the full scope of the research activities and forces and trends at work?This paper is an attempt to contribute to the discussion on evaluation of biomedical research. Using data from over 310,000 biomedical research papers published between 1989 and 2000, it filters these papers into 32 disciplines within biomedicine and analyses their funding sources, their authorship, their places of origin and the impact they have on other research. It examines where the UK fits into the international biomedical research world - in terms of international collaboration as well as production levels.It relies on the analysis of published outputs of the research process (i.e. a journal article), considering a journal paper to be a worthwhile proxy for research activity - its volume and impact.Current discussions on the ways of evaluating productivity and impact of a scientific discipline focus around tensions between qualitative (e.g. peer review) and quantitative (bibliometrics) approaches (Martin-Sempere et al., 2002; Aksnes and Taxt, 2004), proper calibration of research tools (e.g. composition of peer panels or use of inclusive bibliographic data (van Leeuwen et al., 2001; Fernandez et al., 2003; Stampfer, 2004). The literature identifies pros and cons of both approaches and lists numerous concerns and solutions to methodological concerns. This paper relies solely on a quantitative approach largely using the comprehensive bibliographic databases listing published (peer-reviewed only) outputs of British scientists.\nMethodology: The data for the analyses come either directly from SCI and SSCI (for international comparisons) or from Research Output Database (ROD), for the analysis of UK performance and funding acknowledgements. These two resources provided information for the analyses of volume of biomedical outputs globally, in selected countries and the UK's position in the international arena. Also, detailed analyses of the characteristics of UK biomedical published outputs were carried out; these included volume, impact (as reflected in citations counts to publishing journals), funding sources, leading regions and institutions, levels of intra- and inter-national collaboration as well as categorisation of research (from basic to clinical investigation). The analyses were conducted for biomedicine in general and for 32 selected biomedical sub-fields (a list of these can be found in the Appendix).For the international comparison of UK biomedical research, papers were taken directly from SCI or SSCI; they were classed as biomedical if at least one author came from an institution with a biomedical term in its name. All other analyses were based on the data from ROD, which includes papers with biomedical addresses as well as all papers published in journals classified as biomedical, but there are no biomedical addresses in the institutional affiliation field (thus, ROD data will always yield more papers).Only articles, notes and reviews were extracted and papers were considered to be from the UK if at least one author came from an institution with an address in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales or North Ireland). The numbers of papers from other countries were identified in a similar manner.All numerical analyses used integer counts, i.e. if a paper was authored by authors from three different institutions and/or countries, each institution or country was counted once: thus in many cases percentages will add up to more than 100.Biomedical sub-fields\nFindings: Biomedical publications - international trends and the position of the UK\nConclusions: This paper aimed to show the current state of biomedical research in the UK: what is its international position (in terms of volume of published outputs), who funds it, what are the characteristics of biomedical research in the UK (major players, type of research performed and its impact and levels of national and international collaboration). The paper concentrated on a survey of biomedicine as a whole as well as discussing all the above issues in relation to the 32 biomedical sub-fields. The study looked at 12 years of British biomedical outputs, from 1989 to 2000.Major findings from this survey indicate that the UK's place as the second largest producer of biomedical research is threatened by Japan and Germany which have had average annual percentage growth of 4 and 4.6 per cent respectively as opposed to 2.1 per cent from the UK and 2.3 per cent for the world. In fact, in 2000, Japan, for the first time, produced more biomedical papers than the UK. It is also worth noting the relatively large increases in published outputs from countries which traditionally were not considered important producers of biomedical research. For instance, South Korea, China and Taiwan show annual increases in excess of 12 per cent.The UK's participation in world research in 32 sub-fields varies from sub-field to sub-field: while the UK produces over 17 per cent of world outputs in asthma and malaria, its outputs in surgery fall below 8 per cent (10 per cent is an average for all biomedicine). Also, we note that gastroenterology and renal medicine research are the only two areas of decline in volume of outputs (their average annual percentage growth is -0.6 per cent respectively).Domestically, within the UK, we notice several changes in the outlook of biomedical research. We observe a steady growth in volume of publishing (which slows down after 1996) and we note an increase in international collaboration (especially with other countries of the European Union), as well as an increase in numbers of co-authored papers (both with other UK and international partners). While England, in absolute terms, is the biggest producer of biomedical papers in the UK, Scotland leads in the ratio of research papers to GDP and to population. Within regions, London produces 36 per cent of all biomedical published outputs, while within individual postcode areas - London West Central (WC), Oxford (OX) and Cambridge (CB) are the biggest producers of research papers in biomedicine.The type of biomedical research carried out in the UK is also shifting - we note an increase in the proportion of papers published in basic science journals (RL4) as well as a slight increase in papers in clinical observation journals (RL1) and a decrease of papers in both clinical mix and clinical investigation journals (RL2 and RL3).Overall, there is a modest increase in the proportion of UK biomedical papers which acknowledge funding (from 62 per cent in the early 1990s to 66 per cent in the late 1990s). There are, however, big variations in the distribution of these acknowledgements among main categories of funding. For instance, the share of acknowledgement to the UK Government is decreasing while all other sectors show increases (most notably foreign institutions - by some 10 per cent over 12 years). While the MRC is still the most frequently acknowledged funder of research (with nearly 16,000 papers between 1997 and 2000), the Wellcome Trust is closing the gap quickly (with some 14,000 papers in the same time period). Significant differences in levels of acknowledgements were noticed for different biomedical sub-fields. Malaria research papers show the highest percentages of acknowledgements (with on average two acknowledgements on each malaria paper) while surgery had, on average, one acknowledgement in every four papers.Together with this shift towards more basic, multi-authored and multi-funded work, we note an increase in the impact (PIC) of UK biomedical papers (there is a 10 per cent increase in proportion of PIC4 papers between 1989 and 2000).The quantitative method of bibliometrics was used to conduct all analyses in this study. This method, if used with care, can yield a wealth of information which may aid biomedical researchers who want to trace the volume and impact of published outputs or find out who funds research within their disciplines; policy makers interested in the position of a discipline in the national and international arenas; and funders evaluating \"returns on investment\" or as a tool in aiding their grant decisions.Apart from policy applications, bibliometric research of this type can provide valuable information about changes in the patterns of scholarly communication within a domain (areas of interest in sociology of science and information science) and inform collection development policies in libraries and information centres (by describing literatures: ageing and obsolescence, volume and impact).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To map UK biomedical research by analysing biomedical publications from authors with UK institutional affiliation and indexed in Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Bibliometric methods to assess the volume of research published, its impact and sources of funding of biomedical research in the UK are used. The analyses also include an examination of national and international collaboration, leading regions and institutions (by volume of output), types of research carried out and its potential impact factor. This was done for all of biomedicine and 32 selected sub-fields. The data used span 12 years, allowing changes and developments over time to be tracked.\nFindings: - The UK's position as the second largest producer of biomedical research is under threat from Japan and Germany and other countries with traditionally weaker biomedical research base. Strength in malaria and asthma research and relative weakness in surgery and renal medicine is notable. The profile of UK biomedical research has changed significantly in the period analysed, with a doubling of the level of international collaboration, a significant increase in basic research papers and an increase in the potential impact of UK publications. A relative decrease of acknowledgement of UK Government funding was noted, as were increased acknowledgements to UK not-for-profit and international organisations.\nPractical implications: - Bibliometric analyses can provide reliable tools in mapping the development of scholarly disciplines which can be of use, as demonstrated in this paper, in research policy, as well as in domain analysis in information science, library collection development or publishing.\nOriginality/value: - Apart from policy applications, bibliometric research of this type can provide valuable information about changes in the patterns of scholarly communication within a domain (areas of interest in sociology of science and information science) and inform collection development policies in libraries and information centres (by describing literatures: ageing and obsolescence, volume and impact).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Educational leadership and im/migration: preparation, practice and policy - the Swedish case	[ "School leadership", "Diversity", "Newly arrived students", "Swedish educational policy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Sweden has a long history of migration. The description of Sweden as an ethnically homogenous society was correct for a short period in the nineteenth century but not for earlier or later perisods (Svanberg and Tyden, 1992). There was an influx of foreign labor in the 1970s that was then replaced by the arrival of refugees, the number of which has gradually increased. Today, Sweden has more than 9 billion inhabitants, 16 percent of whom are born overseas (SCB, 2016, Statistics Sweden).\nThe school's assignment in the post-migration phase: Newly arrived students are a heterogeneous group. National origins, reasons for flight, the actual migration process and social and educational background are some circumstances that can vary. These students have in common the experiences of a life and schooling in their native countries and their arrival to a host country and its educational system. According to Nilsson and Bunar (2015), the reception and inclusion of migrant students in an educational framework cannot be understood by only focusing on individual aspects. How these aspects are \"embedded in, and conditioned by broader social contexts at different points in time, and how these interact and overlap\" (Nilsson and Bunar, 2015, p. 3) must be understood. Therefore, this paper's primary concern is the post-migration ecology catering to newly arrived students' educational needs.\nSwedish educational multicultural context - policies and practice: Policies\nNew regulations focusing on newly arrived students: The purpose of the new and more explicit paragraphs in the School Act regarding newly arrived students is to guarantee equal support and opportunities (Regeringen, 2014). The definition of that body of students has now been specified: newly arrived students are those who have lived abroad and commenced their education in Sweden when they were seven years of age or older. However, they are not regarded as being newly arrived for more than four years. The consequences of the amendments concern the compulsory school, and there are explicit demands and regulations for screening the students' knowledge, introductory classes and an adjusted timetable[1]. Upper secondary school, which is not mandatory, with its language introduction program, was considered to have well-functioning routines and was not affected by the new regulations as was the compulsory school.\nThe National School Leadership Training Program: On behalf of the Ministry of Education, the National Agency for Education has commissioned six universities to run the mandatory National School Leadership Program. It is directed toward appointed principals, preschool managers and those with corresponding leadership positions within the school system. The Swedish National Principal Training Program's goals and content have varied over the years. What is presented here is a brief summary of the program (author's translation) that was launched in 2015 (Skolverket, 2015).\nMethod: In 2015, Pineville became a transit municipality for asylum-seeking youths and children without custodians. This implied a responsibility for this group while waiting for registration and further transference to their reception municipality. In fall 2015, slightly more than 4,000 children and youths arrived in Pineville, which implied a huge challenge for the public sector in Pineville. Because the consequences for the schools in Pineville as a transfer municipality were uncertain at that time, all principals were recommended to participate in the course \"Leadership for Newly Arrived Students.\"\nSchool leadership for newly arrived students- the Pineville case: Pineville - a multicultural segregated city\nWhen policy and practice coincide: Discussion\nConclusion: Thus, despite the long history of migrants in Pineville, there are still challenges for school principals in terms of providing a high-quality education to newly arrived students. The principal's responsibility to uphold a school structure and culture that supports newly arrived students' learning raises new demands on how principals are trained for diversity. The Principal Training Program needs more explicit goals and content aimed at complying with demands for intercultural competence. The program's aim of developing principals' practices, organizational structure and activities needs to focus on newly arrived students' development and learning along with the quality of teaching.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Migration to Sweden dramatically increased in 2015 and challenged the reception system at all levels and societal institutions, one of which was the school. As a response to the lack of a comprehensive educational strategy for newly arrived students, new regulations were passed in January 2016, the purpose of which was to guarantee equity and equality in education for all students, irrespective of their background. The regulations make demands on local politicians and the school leaders to adjust the reception, organization and teaching to support the newly arrived students' learning. The purpose of this paper is to explore school leadership practices in turbulent times.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study is situated in the field of post-migration ecology, as newly arrived students move from pre-migration to transmigration to post-migration contexts, the latter for this paper's interest, when they arrive to their new schools. Seven principals in a transit municipality for migrants were interviewed to obtain a picture of how they are prepared for diversity in leadership and how policy and practice coincide.\nFindings: The study reveals how policy and practice coincide due to a lack of intercultural and bilingual competences among the staff. The principal's responsibility for a school structure and culture that support newly arrived students' learning raises new demands on how principals are trained for diversity.\nOriginality/value: The study is a contribution to the little-researched field concerning school leadership and newly arrived students which raises new demands regarding how principals are trained for diversity.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Credit cycles: freewheeling, driving or driven?	[ "Austrian school", "Business cycle", "Credit cycle", "Marx temporal single system", "Post-Keynesian" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Times of relatively cheap and/or easy money, which facilitate credit expansion in response to demand, tend to precede and follow times of credit contraction in a cyclical fashion that we term the credit cycle. These cycles are, both theoretically and empirically, correlated to the fluctuations of the (real) business cycle[1]. The question this paper seeks to address is whether these credit cycles: freewheel, i.e. simply coincide neutrally with output fluctuation; or themselves drive, i.e. determine the key outcomes of the real economy; or, in the third instance, are driven, i.e. are determined by certain real factors associated with production[2]. In the first scenario, for instance, a decision to invest could lead to an expansion of bank credit that is motivated by, an expectation of demand that is independent (at least directly) of financial market considerations other than the interest rate. This approach is consistent with many mainstream economists that tend to model monetary factors as neutral, in a Ricardian sense, and then focus on business cycle theory in order to explain any fluctuations in monetary conditions[3]. Conversely, heterodox economists generally consider that monetary factors matter in terms of triggering the behaviour of economic agents and hence the real economy. Furthermore, the view of some thinkers is that these finance factors are key drivers of real outcomes and their claims appear to be galvanized by the recent financial (and real economy) crisis, with its associated literature that details the failings of specific elements of credit mechanics. These ideas can be broadly categorized as the financialization school.\nThe mainstream and Keynesian synthesis view: Many traditional mainstream thinkers tended to view money as neutral and, therefore, credit cycles freewheeled alongside output fluctuations. Marginal analysis, for instance, made use of static models to convey market conditions, which were assumed to be reflective of completed adjustments. Money was then added to the simultaneous model(s) and was presumed to have no impact on the equilibrium and price ratios established - a Walrasian price theory (Walras, 1926; Harris, 1981). Exogenous change to the volume of money, if this was possible, was then expected to increase the price level but was assumed to have no impact on relative prices. Marshall, an instigator of marginal analysis and neoclassical forerunner, had viewed credit expansion as a feature of the business cycle, albeit with a neutral impact on the real economy. According to Marshall (1923), economic agents first had a preliminary response to events which, in turn, expanded credit which then drove the business cycle. Schumpeter (1939), in his work on business cycles in the 1930s, also placed no emphasis on monetary factors as instigators, preferring instead to focus on technological innovation. Samuelson (1980), a pupil of Schumpeter, later offered a synthesis of external and internal factors as explanation of cycles but, with still no significant role for money. His famous oscillator model, for instance, combined multiplier and accelerator effects on output from increased deficit spending or private investment (Samuelson, 1939).\nPK theory: PK theory offers a much richer explanation of the operation of a monetary economy and, therefore, the business (and credit) cycle and seeks to restore Keynes' original intended ideas. The PK notion of money begins with an emphasis on its social features, which establishes the \"money of account\" as an accepted convention which liberates the economy from the constraints of barter. In the modern era, following Hawtrey (1919), bank deposits (created ex nihilo by lending) circulate as money. Credits and debits can be cleared through the use of the common unit, in the form of credit-money, affording a key role to the banks and the general demand for loans. Next, the PKs emphasize the nominality of the \"money of account\", that is determined by the monetary authorities responsible for the jurisdiction. In line with the chartalist notion of money, following Knapp, the PKs further posit the accepted legitimacy of the monetary unit, derived from its acceptance by the state for the payment of taxes (Knapp, 1924; Wray, 2012).\nAS: The AS, like the PK's, attribute the business cycle to endogenous financial factors, except they suggest that state-managed cheap money, in conjunction with a private banking sector that practices fractional reserve banking (FRB), is the key factor driving the process (De Soto, 2009). In the first instance, of cheap money, the AS regards credit expansion to be more excessive than would otherwise occur, fuelling asset bubbles, inflation and (most notably) a distortion in prices/returns between sectors. This last point stems from the AS view that money is non-neutral, as new money is not distributed across agents proportionately[13]. Consequently, the AS school advocates market-determined interest rates that, they contend, will allocate credit more appropriately. In addition, they consider that the cheap credit leads to malinvestment, in the sense that firms are incentivized to engage in capital expenditure that is more risky. When inevitable recession sets in, many of these resources are liquidated. The AS argues, therefore, that natural rates of interest will mitigate the fluctuations of the cycle, through more sensible investment. Second, according to the AS, FRB is unsustainable since, ex niliho credit expansion, rather than being subjected to reflux, is rolled over leading to more credit and, the subsequent distortions and malinvestment mentioned above[14]. They argue, therefore, that 100 per cent fractional backing will ensure stability.\nMarxism and the TSSI: In contrast to Marx, many Marxist thinkers have cited monetary factors as explanations of the business cycle instead. Some of these authors have been particularly busy since the onset of the recent financial crisis, and view the securitization revolution of recent decades as prima facie evidence of a vibrant financial sector that, as Toporowski stated, can \"depress capital accumulation or agitate capitalism with credit cycles\" in a manner akin to the ideas of Hyman Minsky (Toporowski, 2010)[16]. This trend to deviate from classical Marxism is not new. Hilferding ([1910] 1981), for example, with reference to Germany, had developed the notion of significant integration between banks and firms, with banks driving outcomes. Yet Marx, conversely, had clearly felt that the existing social relations of production would be unaffected by monetary factors, whilst also recognizing the role that finance played in production and the circulation of commodities. This point is crucial to the argument of the paper. The suggestion that finance now has a dominant role, rather than subordinate, in relation to real production is arguably misguided[17]. As early as the 1920s (p. 199), it was noted that business was increasingly financing investment from retained profits in the USA (Grossmann, 1929). Banks can only play an instigative role in production, and perhaps the business cycles too, if there is a dependence on bank finance. Furthermore, there is evidence of substantial growth in non-banks, and the transaction activity of non-finance firms in financial markets, in recent decades. In this conception, the productive sector is actually subjugating traditional financial intermediation by modifying credit provision according to corporate needs (Mouatt, 2011). Marx had illustrated how historic capitalist credit relations had initially evolved to replace feudal money lending, with subsequent efficiencies for business. If capitalist finance has become more rent-seeking in recent times, then it would be rational for non-financial firms to seek to secure a larger share of the surplus created. Marx ([1863] 1972, p. 468) writes when referring to early capitalist financial intermediation for the purposes of industrial and commercial credit:\nUK profit rates: In the following graph (Figure 1) the increasing profitability of the UK financial sector since Second World War, in relation to non-financial firms, is illustrated[19]. This has been particularly marked during the neoliberal era suggesting that capital has migrated to the financial sector as investors seek greater profits. Profit is measured using net operating surplus and divided by the current (or replacement) cost of fixed capital[20]. Net operating surplus is used because it is a useful proxy for the capitalist total income, since it includes profit accruing from rent and interest. However, as Kliman (2010) notes, current cost (p. 49) is not the best measure of advanced capital. In contrast, advanced capital value (actually paid) is a better measure for entrepreneurs to calculate profit since financial obligations tend to be based upon it[21].\nConclusion: In seeking to assess whether credit cycles are, in fact, freewheeling, driving or driven, this paper concluded that mainstream notions view money as neutral (freewheeling) and attribute business (and credit) cycle fluctuation to exogenous factors, rather than conceiving an integrated and reflexive monetary economy. This conclusion also extends to the theoretical framework of the Keynesian synthesis. Second, the dominant view, especially after the recent financial crisis, is one that tends to span the ideological spectrum and instead identifies various financial factors that are instigative in terms of determining cyclical fluctuation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The discourse on credit cycles has been reinvigorated following the global crisis. The purpose of this paper is to contrast the positions of mainstream, Marxist, Austrian and post-Keynesian (PK) schools of thought on these matters. It is posited that most notions underplay the significance of real economy factors in shaping the fluctuations of credit levels and relations. It is argued these ideas are best illustrated by Marx (as interpreted by the Temporal Single System Interpretation) and tendency for the profit rate to fall with accumulation. Empirical evidence on the UK profit rate is provided as supporting evidence.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper explores the theoretical work on credit and business cycles from the relevant schools of thought and contrasts them. The aim is to consider which approach best describes the reality. Empirical work on the profit rate provides supporting evidence.\nFindings: It is argued that the mainstream view of monetary neutrality is an insufficient explanation of the financial reality associated with credit and business cycles. Instead, it is posited that the PK approach, which emphasizes productive and financial factors, is more preferable. This contrasts with the usual singular financialization commentary that is used to describe the financial crisis and real economy stagnation that followed. It is argued that Marx's notion of falling profit and its ramifications best explain the reality of both the credit and business cycle. This is supported by the evidence.\nResearch limitations/implications: It is problematic to calculate a Marxian rate of profit given the lack of suitable reported statistics. The research illustrates the significance of productive factors, especially the tendency for the profit rate to fall, in driving business cycles. There are, therefore, implications for government fiscal/monetary/industrial policies to reflect these factors when seeking to influence the business cycle.\nPractical implications: Policies that are designed to target levels of profitability are likely to be beneficial for capitalist sustainability.\nSocial implications: The focus on profitability in the paper informs individuals working in business organizations of some of the imperatives facing corporations in a modern competitive environment.\nOriginality/value: Whether financial factors drive the business cycle, or are themselves driven by it, is an important question given that policy prescriptions will differ depending on the answer. The recent financialization commentary, for instance, suggests that better regulation or reform of the financial sector will preclude unstable business cycles. The paper argues, in contrast, that the cause of the credit instability is rooted in production (following Marx) and that, therefore, a more production-focused policy response is required whilst recognizing the instabilities of the credit system. This latter point has a measure of originality in the current discourse.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Teaching outbreak investigation to undergraduate food technologists	[ "Food safety", "Inquiry-based learning", "External lecturer", "Food-borne outbreak investigation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Food-borne disease is a serious threat to public health and outbreaks occur frequently (Painter et al., 2013). In the European Union (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland included) more than 5,400 food-borne outbreaks were reported in 2012, affecting more than 56,600 people, causing 5,000 hospitalizations and 42 deaths (EFSA and ECDC, 2014). Norway, being a small country of five million inhabitants, naturally has a lower number of reported food-borne outbreaks, 44 in 2012, causing illness in about 1,000 people, but no deaths (Herrador et al., 2013).\nDevelopment and evaluation of the teaching module: Development and structure\nResults and discussion: The majority of the students answered the questionnaires. The pre-module questionnaire was answered by 95 and 86 per cent in 2011 and 2012, respectively (Table II). The post-module questionnaire was answered by 86 per cent (2011) and 76 per cent (2012) of the students (Table II). There are small variations in the results between the two groups, but as observed by Meijerman et al. (2013), such variations are most likely due to group variations rather than differences in the teaching. There are some limitations to our study, the most important one being the small sample size, and as our classes rarely exceeds 30 students, the use of a control group was not logistically feasible.\nConclusions: Food technologists will face the challenge of a food-borne outbreak either as a food safety inspection officer or as a food business operator. Appreciation of the complexity of the investigation procedures, as well as actual knowledge of them will enhance the multidisciplinary task of investigating a food-borne outbreak. Knowledge of infection biology and epidemiology is also important when establishing food safety management systems based on risk analysis and risk assessments.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Investigations of food-borne outbreaks are complex and require multidisciplinary collaboration. The purpose of this paper is to help food technologists face this challenge and be competent members of a multidisciplinary team, a study module on the investigation of a \"real-life\" food-borne outbreak was developed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The module design was based on the principles of inquiry-based learning with the purpose to motivate and activate students with challenging assignments. The didactic impact of the module was evaluated as a qualitative case study with questionnaires, reflection assignments and interviews of students and lecturers.\nFindings: A teaching module developed by an external professional taking part in the academic environment provides a learning environment well adapted to the curriculum, as well as bringing first-hand realism and enthusiasm into the classroom. The external lecturer's dedication to the subject was appreciated by the students. A majority of the students believed that the outbreak investigation simulation play gave a better understanding of how food-borne outbreaks are investigated. A majority of the students 68 per cent (2011) and 82 per cent (2012) believed that what they learned in this module would be useful in a future work situation.\nResearch limitations/implications: There are some limitations to the study, the most important one being the small sample size, and as the classes rarely exceeds 30 students, the use of a control group was not logistically feasible.\nOriginality/value: Teaching food technologists to become knowledgeable professionals in this field will constitute a valuable contribution to the multidisciplinary food-borne outbreak investigation team. In turn, this may increase confidence among the general public in the food industry.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adult vocational decision, career satisfaction and future intention: Insights from the hospitality industry	[ "SEM", "Cyprus", "Hospitality industry", "Career satisfaction", "Vocational decision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: From its beginnings in the early 1970s, researchers (Holland, 1973; Super and Jordaan, 1973; Bretz and Judge, 1994; Jones, 1989), primarily in the field of psychology, have invested substantial resources in investigating the vocational behavior of adults as a means of identifying the fundamental elements influencing the overall process, especially in terms of career indecision and readiness. Early theories were then transformed into usable, valid and reliable empirical tools, such as Super's (1973) career development inventory, Taylor and Betz's (1983) career decision-making self-efficacy scale (CDSE), and Jones' (1989) career decision profile (CDP). Their main aim was to nurture specific counseling behaviors so as to enhance the individual's ability to make informed career decisions while simultaneously evaluating the overall outcome of the process. Investigations examining the relationship between career decision status and work outcomes have attempted to answer a plethora of questions in the field of vocational behavior while unearthing new questions (Earl and Bright, 2007; Duffy et al., 2011; Earl et al., 2011), such as individuals' motivation for choosing a particular career and whether those which influence their current career status are stable over time.\n2. Conceptual background and hypotheses development: This section provides a brief outline of the literature which has provided the grounding for this research. Specifically, there now follows a review of the job-person fit, career awareness, vocational self-clarity and comfort, perceived industry characteristics, and, career satisfaction and future intention literature, accompanied by the relevant hypotheses development.\n3. Methodology: The primary purpose of this study was to holistically investigate whether the career decision-making process of adults, currently working in the Cyprus Hospitality Industry, is associated with their current level of career satisfaction and their future career intention. For the purposes of the study, four constructs derived from related literature, namely job-person fit, career awareness, self-clarity and comfort, and perceived industry characteristics, were utilized in order to measure the reasoning behind an individual's vocational career choice. Based on this rationale, deductive reasoning (from the general to the specific) enabled us to develop five hypotheses (only alternative hypotheses are stated) from the literature. All hypotheses are presented in the previous section of this manuscript.\n4. Results: 4.1 Profile of the respondents\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Conclusion\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine the association between the elements which influence the career decision-making process of tenured hospitality employees and their existing level of career satisfaction (CSat) and future intention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Adopting a quantitative approach, a questionnaire survey collected data from 564 individuals working as full-time employees at all levels of the hierarchy in four- and five-star hotel establishments in Cyprus. Structural equation modeling analysis, preceded by exploratory factor analysis, was utilized to assess the constructs' relationships and address the postulated hypotheses.\nFindings: The results suggest that accurate job-person fit, reflective career awareness and the individuals' pragmatic occupational perceptions, positively influence their CSat and, subsequently, strengthen their intention to remain and progress within the industry.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study's setting, the Cyprus hospitality industry, a Mediterranean seasonal destination with unique operational characteristics, may limit the generalizability of the findings to business environments in other regions.\nPractical implications: Insights are of interest and value to stakeholders, including academic scholars wishing to build on this investigation, industry professionals striving to revitalize interest toward relevant professions, career counselors' vocational decision guidance tactics and strategies and individuals envisioning a prosperous hospitality career.\nOriginality/value: The paper enhances and enriches our conceptual knowledge of a relatively barren landscape, investigating the behavior of mature employees' choice of a hospitality career.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Selection of third-party reverse logistics provider using fuzzy extent analysis	[ "Supply chain management", "Fuzzy analysis", "Operations management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In the recent years, the importance of reverse logistics (RL) has increased the responsibility of organizations. Because of changes in legislation, both for environmental protection and for economic and service reasons, an increasing number of companies now take into account reverse flows, going backwards from customers to point of origin or recovery centers, within their logistics systems (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1998; Fleischmann et al., 2000).Given that RL is not the firm's core activity, one of the most important decisions to be taken by any producer is whether or not to outsource such functions to a third-party reverse logistics provider (3PRLP). This typically is an irreversible decision, because the chosen strategy, once adopted, will not be changed frequently. The management of returns is complicated by the substantial uncertainties associated with their timing, volume and condition (Serrato et al., 2007). Cardinali (2001a, b) examines a number of environments in which strategic planning models, sometimes with associated regulatory intervention, have been suggested to counter the growing problem of waste and its effects on the environment. It is not a new industrial practice but has recently received growing attention, as more companies are using it as a strategic tool to get more profit, to avoid any waste and even benefit the customer relationship (Andel, 1997; Klausner and Hendrickson, 2000).RL mainly concern with returned products. RL can be defined as the reverse process of logistics (Luttwak, 1971). Traditionally, RL has been viewed primarily as the process of recycling products. Recently, definitions vary depending on what company or segment of industry is attempting to define it. Retailers see RL as a way to get product that has been returned by a consumer back to the vendor (Buxbaum, 1998). Manufacturers tend to view RL as the process of receiving defective products or reusable containers back from the user. Council of Logistics Management (CLM, 1998) defines RL as:The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of consumption to the point of origin for the purpose of recapturing value or proper disposal (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1998).RL has become an important entity and plays an important role in company's competitive advantage and making the pursuit of their function a strategic decision (Schwartz, 2000). It does not include disposition management, administration time and cost of converting unproductive returns into productive assets. This also gives rise to the situation for outsourcing. Hence, RL is necessary for handling and disposition of returned products and information. The general RL chain is shown in Figure 1.Outsourcing to a 3PRLP has been identified as one of the most important management strategies for RL networks in the recent years. While considering outsourcing decisions for RL, the fundamental factor to be considered is whether there is a reliable 3PRLP for the type of RL network required. Even though there are several 3PRLPs in some of the scenarios such as pharmaceuticals, container reuse, cellular telephone reuse, electronic goods, automobiles and computers, etc. one of the most important issues in RL systems is that some of them are not really prepared to effectively address the service needs due to the lack of knowledge in RL networks. Outsourcing makes the firm to concentrate on RL activities in order to earn the customers reputation through immediate response. Owing to the complexity of the process, RL activities can effectively be accomplished by involving a 3PRLP, which specializes in these activities and can take advantage of the economies of scale to convert RL functions in a profit-creating activity into the closed-loop chain.This paper presents a structured model for evaluating the 3PRLP selection for battery industry located in southern part of India using fuzzy extent analysis. In this research, after introduction of the literature review is given in Section 2. Section 3 describes the problem and 3PRLP model. Section 4 describes the solution methodology. In Section 5, the application model and result analysis are discussed and conclusion of the paper is discussed in Section 6.\n2 Literature review: The literature review is mainly aimed at identifying the attributes and sub-attributes that need to be considered in 3PRLP selection process, which has the impact on the organizations strategic goal. Various attributes and sub-attributes used in this study has been found in literature and finalized through discussions made with the organization-outsourcing group.Table I shows the attributes of selection criteria, relevance in 3PRLP selection process and the references in detail. This table is adopted from the study done by Kannan (2009) in his earlier work using analytical hierarchy process (AHP).Based on the above literature, this paper presents a structured model for evaluating the third-party RL selection using fuzzy extent analysis proposed by Chang (1996).\n3 Problem description: The company chosen for this study is to build a partner who is a third party for its RL network. RL systems can be given to the 3PRLPs. An analysis should be made such that the third party provider should be partnered or make alliance in RL systems to achieve optimal result and multiple organizations might be involved in the RL function. The attributes and sub-attributes have to be most prevalent and important in the third-party selection process. Choosing the possible criteria for the third-party selection involves a decision-making process which includes experts from various functional activities of the organization. The attributes and sub-attributes involved in the third-party selection have been chosen by conducting a survey. The selected attributes and sub-attributes are given in Table I. The objective is to select a set of third parties, evaluate and rank them according to pre-defined attributes. Figure 2 is comprised of four levels for selecting the best third party. Level 1 represents the goal, i.e. selection of best third party. Level 2 represents the seven attributes such as third-party logistics (3PL) services, organizational performance criteria, organizational role, user satisfaction, IT application, impact of use of 3PL and RL functions. Level 3 represents 34 sub-attributes and Level 4 represents the number of third parties (alternatives).\n4 Solution methodology: In this work, fuzzy extent analysis is adopted to solve the problem of selection of 3PRLP. The outline of the fuzzy extent analysis method (Chang, 1996) can be summarized below.Let X={x1, x2, ... , xn} be an object set, and U={u1, u2, ... , um} be a goal set. As per Chang (1992, 1996), each object is taken and analysis for each goal, gi, is performed, respectively. Therefore, m extent analysis values for each object can be obtained, as under: Equation 1 where all the Mgij(j=1,2, ... ,m) are triangular fuzzy numbers whose parameters are, depicting least, most and largest possible values, respectively, and represented as (a, b, c).The following steps depicted by Kahraman et al. (2004) for Chang's extent analysis:* Step 1. The value of fuzzy synthetic extent with respect to ith object is defined as: Equation 2 To obtain [?]j=1mMgij, perform the fuzzy addition operation of m extent analysis values for a particular matrix such that: Equation 3 And to obtain [[?]i=1n[?]j=1mMgij]-1, perform the fuzzy addition operation of Mgij(j=1,2, ... ,m) values such that: Equation 4 And then compute the inverse of the vector in the above equation such that: Equation 5 * Step 2. The degree of possibility of M2=(a2,b2,c2)>=M1=(a1,b1,c1) is defined as: Equation 6 And can be equivalently expressed as follows: Equation 7 where d is the ordinate of the highest intersection point D between mM1 and mM2 as shown in Figure 3.To compare M1 and M2, both the values of V (M1>=M2) and V (M2>=M1).* Step 3. The degree of possibility for a convex fuzzy number to be greater than k convex fuzzy numbers Mi (I=1, 2, ... , k) can be defined by: Equation 8 Assuming that: Equation 9 For k=1, 2, ... , n; k[?]i. Then the weight vector is given by: Equation 10 where Ai=(1, 2, ... , n) are n elements.* Step 4. By normalizing, the normalized weight vectors are: Equation 11 where W is a non-fuzzy number.\n5 Application of the model and result analysis: An objective of this section is to illustrate how to choose the best 3PRPL's using this model and the model was applied to a battery company which is located in the southern part of India.The first step in the fuzzy extent analysis is creating a pair-wise comparison matrix. In order to perform a pair-wise comparison among the attributes and sub-attributes, the linguistic scale for the triangular numbers and fuzzy conversion scales given in Table II are used in the proposed model.First, the pair-wise comparison matrix is constructed with the help of expert team and the same is shown in Table III.By applying formula (2) given in Section 4: Equation 12 With the help of equations (7), (9) and (10) the minimum degree of possibility of superiority of each criterion over another is obtained. This further decides the weight vectors of the criteria. Therefore, the weight vector is given as: Equation 13 The normalized value of this vector decides the priority weights of each criterion over another. The normalized weight vectors are calculated using the equation (11) and the same is given follow: Equation 14 Further the weights of sub-attributes and weights of alternatives with respect to each sub-attribute are found using the similar procedure. The results are shown in Tables IV and VI.In this part, the result obtained through fuzzy extent analysis (Tables IV and VI) is compared with solution obtained through AHP (Table V; Kannan, 2009). From Table VI, it can be concluded that the calculated importance level of attributes for the case is in the following order. 3PL service, organizational performance criteria, RL functions, organizational role, IT applications, impact of use of 3PL and user satisfaction. This result is compared with the previous study done by Kannan (2009) using AHP and it shows that the top priority remains the same with little changes in the other attributes priorities. Table VI gives the local priority vectors for the alternatives with respect to attributes and sub-attributes.The total weighted score is shown in the Table VI for the each alternative (3PRLP1-3PRLP7) and it was obtained by multiplying the local priority vectors of alternatives, priority vectors of attributes and sub-attributes. Based on the global priority weight, the 3PRLP is selected when it has the highest overall priority. From Table VI, it can be seen that 3PRLP1 is preferred which has the highest weight of (0.2176) among seven third parties. Third party 2 is at the second choice (0.17779).\n6 Conclusion: RL service provider problem becomes more important for most manufacturing companies in today's complex environment. The selection process in the RL service provider involves both types of attributes like quantitative and qualitative attributes to select the best possible provider.However, the top-level management and managers are often uncertain about how to share the key information to enhance the selection process. Fuzzy extent analysis approach seems to be particularly effective in reducing the uncertainty in the determination of the relative weight given to the different attribute and in finding the impact of each alternative with respect to the attributes and sub-attributes which are involved in the selection process.This study utilizes a fuzzy extent analysis framework to select the best 3PRLP for a battery manufacturing industry in India. While fuzzy AHP requires weighty computations, it is a more systematic method than the others, and it is more capable of capturing a human's appraisal of ambiguity when complex multi-attribute decision-making problems are considered. This is true because pair-wise comparisons provide a flexible and realistic way to accommodate real-life data (Tolga et al., 2005).For future research multi-criteria decision-making methods such as VIKOR, TOPSIS and ELECTRE can be applied in a fuzzy environment for solving such a problem.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to propose a structured model for the selection of a third-party reverse logistics provider (3PRLP) under fuzzy environment for the battery industry, which establishes the relative weights for attributes and sub-attributes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses fuzzy extent analysis to solve the 3PRLP selection problem.\nFindings: - Owing to growing environmental legislations, reverse logistics (RL) has attained more importance among practitioners and academicians. The important decision related to RL is whether the company should maintain the separate RL system or whether it can be outsourced. RL takes 12 times as many steps to process returns as it does to manage outbound logistics (Accenture supply chain management practice), consequently many companies decided to outsource the RL activities or functions through 3PRLPs. The paper proposes a way of selecting the best 3PRLP using fuzzy extent analysis.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Fuzzy extent analysis is a highly multi-faceted methodology which requires more numerical calculations and increases the time to take a decision. A limitation of this work is that in this study only fuzzy extent analysis has been concentrated on and other multi-criteria decision-making methods such as VIKOR, TOPSIS and ELECTRE can be applied in a fuzzy environment for solving such problems.\nOriginality/value: - In this research, seven attributes and 34 sub-attributes are considered and the interpretation of RL attributes in terms of their pair-wise comparisons has been carried out. Those attributes possessing lower priorities in the fuzzy extent analysis need to be taken care of on a selection of the best 3PRLP.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Addressing R&D investment decisions: a cross analysis of R&D project selection methods	[ "Innovation", "Research and development", "Project management", "Decision making" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Today a company's survival depend on its ability to wield technology as a strategic lever and to define its technological strategy, particularly within technology-based enterprises. It is common knowledge that a technological strategy is a plan of action that focuses on three key dimensions: the selection of the technologies for investment, the introduction times of these technologies and the policies used to acquire them. This paper will concentrate mainly on the models and the methods used to support management in their choice of a suitable R&D project/technologies portfolio.Over the last 40 years, this topic has been widely debated in the literature and many methods to support decision makers in their selection of R&D projects have been put forward. These methods are often based on an eclectic range of theories (from operations research to sociology) and each one analyses different data with a particular selection method, which in turn produces its own distinct information and results. Although previous literature has made valid points about this subject (Steele, 1988), for the most part it concentrates on describing the methods and highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. What seems to be missing, however, is a critical comparison of these methods and, indeed, such analysis is fundamental in supporting decision makers in their choice of the most suitable tool with which to evaluate a range of R&D projects.Hence, this paper will review the main selection methods, compare them and then provide guidelines that will support management in their choice of the most suitable technique.This study will concentrate particularly on R&D selection methodologies within industry, where decision-making models differ in several ways to those employed for projects funded by the public (Hsu et al., 2003).\n2. Different selection approaches: a critical review of literature: This section deals with a taxonomy of the main R&D project selection methods on the basis of two dimensions that enable these methods to be grouped into a range of vastly different categories. The purpose is not to describe the techniques exhaustively but rather to highlight the hallmark characteristics of each one.With this in mind, the following two dimensions were chosen as a means of classifying the main project selection techniques:* Structural characteristics: this dimension covers the type of input data required, the data analysis process adopted and the type of output data that can be obtained.* Method logic: this dimension uses an existing classification put forward by Henriksen and Traynor (1999), which discriminates R&D project selection models according to the theory on which they are based.The former dimension enables methods to be sub-divided into four main categories:1. Quantitative methods use quantitative input data and adopt strict procedures, such as mathematic algorithms, plus the calculation of financial and economic indices, to obtain a quantitative output.2. Semi-quantitative methods use both quantitative and qualitative data, adopt strict procedures and obtain a quantitative output. They differ from the previous methods in that subjective evaluations are also made during the selection procedure.3. Semi-qualitative methods use qualitative data and adopt a process that is strict but much less sophisticated than the two previous categories to obtain a quantitative output.4. Qualitative methods use only qualitative data and select projects with a decision-making process that involves comparing the opinions of several actors to obtain a qualitative output.The latter dimension sub-divides methods into the following six main categories:1. Mathematical methods (linear, non-linear, integer programming, goal and dynamic programming models) optimise specific objective functions such as the benefit expected from a certain R&D project portfolio affected by resource constraints. Unlike the simple linear and non linear programming models, the goal programming model includes the option of assessing weight to each goal the decision makers have set. Dynamic programming, however, uses a recursive mathematical technique to obtain an optimal action model in the event that sequential decisions have to be made. Both these quantitative and semi-quantitative methods require an extensive range of highly complex input data and are based on sophisticated mathematical techniques that stem from operations research; that is why not many real applications can be found in practice. Goal programming is the most common of these methods because it uses a set of yes/no choices to decide whether an R&D project should be undertaken, continued or killed.2. Economic methods (present value index, net present value, internal rate of return, expected net present value, calculation of specific economic indices, real options) mainly employ financial criteria (e.g. capital budgeting techniques) to select R&D projects. The use of these methods entails estimating the incoming and outgoing cash flow, as well as the risk level, associated with a range of projects; however, the lengthy time horizon that normally characterises R&D projects makes it difficult to produce an accurate estimate of project cash flow (Poh et al., 2001). Furthermore, traditional economic models are generally not versatile, which means that modifications cannot be made to the course of action if any new information come to light (Loch and Bode Greuel, 2001). The real options method is the only one that takes new data into account when applied to R&D project selection and evaluation (Carlosson et al., 2007; Wang and Hwang, 2007). These methods in this category are clearly quantitative and provide numeric output.3. Decision analysis (Analytic Hierarchy Process-AHP, Multi Attribute Utility Technique- MAUT, decision trees), and, in particular, the AHP is a decision-making model that selects the best project by constructing a hierarchy with a tiered framework within which project alternatives are placed on the bottom level and objectives on respective higher levels. The alternatives are compared, and the best project is selected by building matrices that summarise the priorities on each level; sometimes-fuzzy AHP is used in order to address the issue of considering monetary and not monetary aspects (Mohanty et al., 2005). Another technique (MAUT) calculates a utility function for each project, which involves giving attributes individual scores and then evaluating overall project utility on the basis of each one. Therefore this method's main characteristic is its ability to break down a complex problem into a set of sub-problems that can be solved individually in accordance with multiple objectives. More sophisticated techniques are used to deal with interdependent project. Decision trees, however, are employed in cases where the project is characterised by a sequence of decisions, where each decision is influenced by the outcome of the previous one. This model is often employed as a support tool in conjunction with other techniques.4. Interactive methods (Delphi, Q-sort) compare each project solely on the basis of subjective evaluations without using numeric logic or mathematical algorithms. The decision-making process is thus conducted by comparing the process actors' opinions about each project. Delphi is the most common method within this group and involves a panel of experts, normally anonymous, who answer a series of structured questionnaires and prepare feedback reports on the subject being dealt with. Generally, this method uses a reiterative process.5. Scoring methods establish a set of criteria that govern project selection. Each method has its own technique, which varies in sophistication; each project is given a score, which expresses the extent to which a set of criteria were met. Check lists are the simplest method in that they only evaluate the degree to which each project fulfils certain requirements. Scoring algorithms, however, use a purely additive or multiplicative algorithm to summarise the opinions expressed within peer reviews, which are compiled by filling out a questionnaire. An algorithm enables a weight to be allocated to individual criterion in order to emphasise the importance of each. This method also takes into consideration the level of resources required to achieve project objectives. Finally, intellectual capital scorecards differ from the previous methods in that they allocate both a current value and a target value to each indicator deemed to be important in R&D project selection. The value of each project takes into account both the contribution the project makes to the indicator and the weight of the indicator itself. The overall objective function is expressed as the sum of the value of each project; this method considers both any resources constraints and the tolerable risk factor. These methods are thus based on subjective input data and use procedures that vary in sophistication to provide number output data.6. The authors of this paper added strategic models to the original classification put forward by Henriksen and Traynor (1999) in order to identify which group of methods takes multiple strategic aspects into account during R&D project selection. The Boston Consulting Group matrix and strategic buckets belong to this category. Both these methods use subjective input data and obtain a qualitative output by implementing a purely qualitative process. A quick look should also be taken at strategic buckets, a recent method that is designed to optimise the entire project portfolio; once the business strategy has been drawn up, decision makers establish both the potential investment areas and the economic resources available for each area (bucket). The R&D projects are initially selected on the basis of their coherence with the identified areas so as to reject any projects that do not concur with corporate strategy. When this phase is over, the projects are evaluated with one of the methods mentioned previously (e.g. NPV or scoring) in order to identify a portfolio of best projects. Table I classifies the main R&D project selection methods as per the two dimensions illustrated previously.Classifying project selection methods in accordance with structural characteristics and method logic affords a valid support with which to compare the methods and provides management with some useful guidelines. For example, the decision to discriminate each project on the basis of both economic and strategic evaluations means that a range of methods - i.e. not just quantitative ones - have to be adopted (thus excluding the use of economic methods). This matter will be dealt with more thoroughly in the following paragraph.\n3. Key aspects for the comparison of selection techniques: Optimum management of both investments and potential R&D projects is vitally important for ensuring that expected value is achieved and a return is made on the capital invested. It is well known that there is a long-standing divide between complex and sophisticated tools developed by academics and simple techniques requested by management (Fahrni and Spating, 1990; Poh et al., 2001). This paper aims to bridge this gap by critically comparing the wide range of techniques available and then presenting their strengths, weaknesses, limits and applicability.This comparison was made according to the capacity of each technique to consider and evaluate a series of aspects (explained in the following) which, as emerges from literature analysis, play a key role in guiding the decision-making process and in selecting the best project portfolio; in fact knowing the characteristics of each method and its possibility to take into consideration the whole portfolio of projects is an important matter for the decision maker, who can then choose the most adequate tool for selection.These aspects are classified in Table II.After analysing the previous Table, the main aspects to be considered during a decision-making process governing R&D project selection are:* evaluation of both economic and strategic aspects (quantifiable and non-quantifiable);* risk analysis;* optimisation of strategic coherence within a project portfolio and interdependency analysis; and* evaluation of method implementation characteristics.In order to examine the many selection techniques described in the previous paragraph, eight comparison and evaluation factors were chosen to cover the aforementioned aspects (see Table III). These factors are discussed below.A1. Economic return\n4. Results: guidelines for R&D projects selection: Tables IV and V illustrate the outcome of the method comparison, which was conducted in accordance with the analysis scheme in sections 2 and 3. In particular each method has been evaluated starting from an analytic study on the existent literature that gives indications on the strengths and weakness of each technique.These results help interpret both the common and distinctive aspects of the main methods so that choices can be geared towards the techniques that best meet the decision-maker's requirements.The most important results in each of the six technique categories are commented on in the following.A. Economic methods\n5. Concluding remarks: After carefully reviewing the literature and analysing the latest contributions, the main R&D project selection techniques were classified in two dimensions that covered the structural characteristics and method logic of each model. This first phase was followed by a further study of the literature in order to ascertain which aspects would ensure the project selection process was conducted correctly. Furthermore, it became clear, as is nowadays commonly agreed, that the overall project portfolio, and not each individual project, should be taken into consideration. The capacity of each method to allow for these aspects was then used as a variable to compare these methods. A critical comparison of the techniques was then conducted and their strengths and weaknesses highlighted in order to provide useful suggestions that would support management in choosing the most suitable technique in accordance with specific requirements.In light of this, it should be remembered that innovation is an articulate process that unfolds in three main phases: basic research, applied research, and development. The new projects in each phase have different requirements and characteristics that influence the choice of selection technique. For instance, basic research projects regard the improvement of core competences and envisage medium - long term repercussions with greater technical risk than applied research or development. During basic research, selection criteria are difficult to quantify and preference is given to selection models, such as scoring, that take into account qualitative factors; likewise, development phase projects require a pragmatic approach considering economic and market outcome measures, which makes quantitative techniques more appropriate (Moore and Baker, 1969; Tritle et al., 2000; Pappas and Remer, 1985; Lee et al., 1986; Martino, 1995; Henriksen and Traynor, 1999; Chiesa and Frattini, 2007).Another relevant contextual factor in choosing the appropriate techniques is the degree of newness of both the market and the technology of the projects under evaluations. Table VII shows a classification of methods obtained from the Eirma working group report on \"Evaluation of R&D projects\" (1995). What can be concluded is that going toward less known context (with the associated higher level of uncertainty), as expected, quantitative measurement techniques become inappropriate and more qualitative methods must be preferred.In order to ensure a project portfolio is optimised correctly, managers have to take into account the different phases, progress, interdependencies, conflicts and characteristics of their projects by using all the factors analysed in paragraph 3. Clearly, the evaluation process behind an individual project requires a more simplified model, which is often based on the use of a single technique.It would be impossible to apply the results of the comparison to all corporate decision-making processes for project selection by categorically stating the best technique. The outcome of this critical recognition offers some ideas that could be adapted to the needs and requirements of the decision maker and provides further insights into the application of integrated methodologies by considering the potential contribution of more recent techniques such as interactive and strategic methods (Delphi, Decision Group).In conclusion, an interesting angle for future research would be to analyse and verify technique classification according to the stage of innovation of each project under evaluation (basic and applied research, development) and thus on the basis of the characteristics of each stage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - A large number of methodologies for R&D project selection have been developed and reported in the literature over the last few decades, and it has become a very popular research topic since the 1960s. The aim of this paper is to classify and characterize the determining aspects behind the research and development project selection process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - After carefully reviewing the literature and analysing the latest contributions the paper identifies the key issues for the comparison of the existing techniques used to evaluate alternative projects and portfolios of R&D projects. In the second phase the main selection methods (including the latest project portfolio optimisation approaches) are reviewed and critically compared.\nFindings: - The strengths, weaknesses, limitations and practicality of the methods analysed allow managers to choose the project selection model appropriate for their specific problems. Some integrated models (hybrid approach) and the latest solutions could fill the gaps in existing selection methods.\nOriginality/value: - Although previous literature has made valid points about this subject, for the most part it concentrates on describing the project selection methods and highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. What seems to be missing, however, is a comparison of these methods. This paper contributes to bridge this gap, offering analysis that can support decision makers in their choice of the most suitable tool useful for evaluating a range of R&D projects.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Manufacturing strategies and innovation performance in newly industrialised countries	[ "Innovation", "Strategic manufacturing", "Newly industrialized economies", "Thailand", "Vietnam" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction and literature review: In both industrialized countries (e.g. the USA, the UK, Germany) and newly industrialized countries (e.g. China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia), manufacturing firms are facing significant change resulting from mass customization, shortening product life cycles, increasing technological change, and the entry of international competitors into their markets. The market for products and services is becoming increasingly international, as has been witnessed by the automotive and electronics industries. In responding to the international markets or globalization, firms realize that they need to adopt more international manufacturing/operational strategies while at the same time ensuring that the organizational culture is appropriately adapted at the local level to ensure that expected benefits from implementing those strategies are achieved. Globalization has had a major impact on manufacturing, both locally and internationally. With globalization broadening the marketplace and increasing competition, customers are placing greater demands on manufacturers to increase quality, serviceability, and flexibility while maintaining competitive costs (Dangayach and Deshmukh, 2003; Laosirihongthong and Dangayach, 2005b).With regards to competitive priorities, Hill (2000) identified various order qualifiers and order winners. Order qualifiers are those criteria a company must meet to be considered as supplier. Order winners are those criteria that win the order over the competition. In other words, to provide order qualifiers, firms need only to be as good as competitors but to provide order winners they must be superior to. When developing order winners and order qualifiers, firms must distinguish each market place by their level of their importance. As market conditions have changed, so has the basis of competition. For example, quality is now being considered more as an order qualifier whereas other competitive dimensions such as flexibility, responsiveness, and particularly innovation, are now being considered as order winners (Bolwijn and Kumpe, 1990; Hamel and Prahalad, 1994).A number of empirical studies that focused broadly on specific manufacturing strategies for newly industrialized countries such as Hungary (Chikan and Demeter, 1995), Brazil (Rohr and Corra, 1998), UAE (Badri et al., 2000), and Ghana (Amoako-Gyampah and Boye, 2001) have been reported in the literature. Studies focusing on innovation as an order-winner are limited, however, especially for newly industrialized countries. As noted earlier, innovation has become a strong competitive strategy to achieve world-class manufacturing status and compete effectively in global markets (Laosirihongthong and Dangayach, 2005a).The purpose of this study is to present a comparative empirical study on manufacturing strategies and innovation performance in two newly industrialized countries, namely Thailand and Vietnam. These two countries tend to focus on taking advantage of lower labour costs in order to give their product competitive advantage over their competitor's products from industrialized countries. This is fairly typical of developing countries when migrating from traditional type of industries to more advanced manufacturing industries (as in the case of both). As has been demonstrated by the rise of wages in countries such as Malaysia and South Korea, the labour cost advantage could be short-lived. Hence, it is important to search for alternative sources of competitive advantage (Jin, 2004; Nguyen et al., 2004). Innovation would provide these newly industrialized countries (Thailand and Vietnam) with opportunities to match the competitive status owned by the developed countries in the region, most notably Japan and Korea (Herbig and Palumbo, 1996).The manufacturing industry in Thailand has become one of the most important sectors in Thailand economics, contributing substantially to employment and GDP. The dominant sector of economic activity in 2000 was non-agricultural, accounting for 88.8 per cent of GDP and 43.32 per cent of employment (Bank of Thailand, 2002). However, the growth rate of manufacturing production index increased from 1.4 per cent in 2001 to 7.7 per cent in 2002 (FTI, 2003). The three manufacturing sectors (textiles and apparel, food, and automobiles) accounted for 40.11 per cent of GDP and 31.02 per cent of employment. Much of this strong performance has been driven by intensive foreign direct investment (FDI) during the past ten years (Bank of Thailand, 2004). The same situation is evident in Vietnam. The most recent government policy reflects a direction towards being fully integrated into the global economy, internationally competitive, which characterises an industrialized and knowledge-based society, within 20 years (UNDB, 2004). In addition, the policy requires a doubling of the GDP by 2010, which places more emphasis on manufacturing industry over agricultural sectors (Hsieh et al., 2004).The major aim of our study is to examine the importance of manufacturing strategies on innovation performance in the manufacturing industries of Thailand and Vietnam. The paper consists of seven sections. The next section describes research framework using in this study, which leads to establish three research questions. Research methodology, data analysis and key findings, and discussion of findings are explained in one after the other, respectively. The penultimate section summarizes the implications of the research findings at three levels: national, industry and firm. The conclusions and limitations of the study are described in the last section.\nResearch framework: In order to compare the two countries in terms of their manufacturing strategies, resources and innovation, this study developed a research framework, which comprised five determinants of innovation and two measures of innovation performance. The first two determinants represent the infrastructure of an organization, which include leadership and people management. The next two determinants denote innovative capabilities, which are represented by technology management and R&D management. The fifth determinant is business strategy, which determines the direction of the area of performance organizations pursue. The role of these five variables in determining innovation performance has been recognised from both theoretical and empirical perspectives in the literature. For example, leadership and people management are instrumental in developing organizational learning, which will impact on innovation performance (Aranda and Molina-Fernandez, 2002; Garcia-Morales et al., 2006; Rickards and Moger, 2006). The role of technology management and R&D as organisational capability for innovation has been a major point noted in the literature (Lin et al., 2002; Prajogo and Sohal, 2006). Finally, organizational strategy has been long recognized as one of the key drivers of innovation (Cozzarin and Percival, 2006; Souitaris, 2001). These five variables were considered as the predictors of two major areas of innovation performance, product and process. Figure 1 shows the research framework.In articulating the link between the research framework and the objectives of this study, three research questions were posed as follows:RQ1. Do the scales used in this study show a similar degree of validity and reliability in Thailand and Vietnam?\nResearch methods: Survey instrument\nData analysis and key findings: Scale validity and reliability tests\nDiscussion of the findings: Several implications for industrial practitioners can be identified. First, the relatively low score of R&D indicates the firms in both countries hold reservations about investing in more truly innovative projects. This finding could be because most of the manufacturing industries in both countries have been dominated by FDI as explained earlier. These foreign firms mainly focus on manufacturing (i.e. production) activities and prefer to keep their R&D activities in their home country. In the light of technology transfer theory (Harris and Harris, 2004), these FDIs may only be prepared to transfer object-embodies (hardware, automation systems, computer-based control technology), methods-embody (total quality management, supply chain management, just-in-time production system), and person-embody (hiring experts and technician to support the manufacturing process control). On the other hand, record-embodies (design information, engineering data, blueprint) are transferred on a very limited basis for several competitive reasons. This notion may be linked to the fact that mean firms in newly industrialized countries still harvest from low cost advantage in their operations over their competitors in developed countries rather than investing in innovative products and technologies.Second, the low level of R&D implementation was confirmed by its non-significant effect on innovation performance. Compared to other similar studies in industrialised countries, such as Australia (Prajogo and Sohal, 2006) and Europe (Avermaete et al., 2003), the effectiveness of technology and R&D management in determining innovation performance in these two NICs was significantly lower. This suggests that Thailand and Vietnam managers need to examine the level of their firm's technology and R&D and their effectiveness in producing innovative results. The low effect of technology and R&D was consistent with that of leadership and people management. Despite their relatively high scores, these two strategies did not produce high innovation performance. This suggests that leadership and people management skills in Thailand and Vietnam must be appropriately designed. On the other hand, differentiation strategy was shown to be the strongest predictor of innovation performance. This situation is puzzling because as a business strategy, differentiation needs to be deployed into manufacturing strategies as resources to achieve the intended performance. However, this finding suggests that differentiation strategy was channelled through other resources before it resulted in innovation performance.Third, the result of this study shows that cost orientation is still being considered as the order-winner for both countries rather than product and process innovation. This finding could be explained by the fact that most of firms in both countries have been dominated by multinational companies that have been using offshore manufacturing as their business strategy in order to reduce local manufacturing costs. As explained earlier, these foreign firms mainly focus on manufacturing (i.e. production) activities and prefer to keep the R&D activities in their home country. However, cost orientation is becoming an order qualifier for many industrialized countries (i.e. Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Australia). To provide order qualifiers, firms need only to be as good as their competitors (Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia). To provide order winners, innovation for example, managers need to consider how their company could perform better than their competitors and recognize the level of importance for individual criteria applicable different markets.Fourth, when innovation is considered as an order winner, the results of this study indicate that the degree of R&D implementation and product and process innovation in both countries are still low. Previous studies (Avermaete et al., 2003; Huang and Lin, 2006) indicate that in order to increase innovation performance, R&D is one of the most important strategies. Managers need to consider R&D as a key competitor in business strategy and provide timely and adequate resources such as formal R&D expenditure, improved technological capability, adequate time and resources for employees to generate, share/exchange ideas, and experiment innovative ideas/solutions. In addition, appropriate mechanisms for ensuring R&D capability is developed locally would be to carry out R&D collaboratively with headquarters, limiting the number of experts sourced from overseas, and promoting a licensing agreement.Finally, the significant role of differentiation strategy in predicting innovation performance confirms Porter's (1985) concept of competitive strategies. However, the relatively low impact of technology and R&D on innovation indicated that differentiation strategy has not been effectively channelled through these commonly associated resources. This raises a question on the alignment between firm's strategy and resources.\nImplications of the findings: Based on the above findings, we make the following recommendations for manufacturing stakeholders, namely government, industry associations, and firms. For government, we suggest that it develop and implement incentive schemes that encourage firms to make significant investments in R&D and technology development. This will have a significant effect on firms' performance, and in turn, enhance the competitiveness of the nation (Porter, 1998). In addition, governments must support tertiary education institutions to increase the knowledge and learning capacities of human ware in their curriculum (Hegde, 2005). Knowledge and learning have been shown as being instrumental in determining innovative capabilities at the individual level, which will affect the firm level (Ju et al., 2006; Zhang et al., 2004). In conjunction with this point, government also needs to facilitate the link between industry and university in developing innovation projects (Marques et al., 2006).For industry associations, it is important to play their roles in lobbying government to direct its policies, which supports innovation in various industry sectors (Spencer et al., 2005). Industry associations also need to raise the awareness of the value of R&D investment among firms and provide knowledge sharing/exchange through a range of avenues, such as seminars and conferences.At the firm level, there is a need for identifying and establishing \"innovation champion(s)\" that will develop initiatives and provide leadership in innovative projects. Senior management needs to consider innovation more seriously as a long-term strategy for the firm's survival and growth in dealing with dynamic markets (Lee and Tsai, 2005). Finally, management needs to lead the cultural change processes in the firms to be more learning and innovative-oriented, for example, through training programs.\nConclusions and limitations of the study: This study has identified three major findings. The first is the relatively equal level development in terms of the implementation of manufacturing strategies and innovation performance in manufacturing firms in Thailand and Vietnam. Second, the effect of individual elements of manufacturing strategies on innovation performance is also relatively equal between the two countries. Third, differentiation strategy and technology management are shown to be the significant predictors of innovation performance, whilst R&D management has no significant impact on innovation. By and large, the findings have indicated the need for enhancing the awareness and effectiveness of innovation management practices in both countries. Specifically, the findings also call for improvement in human knowledge and capabilities in dealing with innovation.The limitation of this study is mainly concerned with the small sample size, particularly from Vietnam. However, looking at the fact that very few studies have given attention to Vietnam, the findings of this study provide some useful information concerning the status of manufacturing industries in this country compared to its counterparts in the region. Given its strong development in manufacturing sectors, further studies on the strategies and performance of manufacturing firms in Vietnam are recommended.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative study on the impact of manufacturing strategies and resources on innovation performance in two newly industrialised countries in the South East Asian region, Thailand and Vietnam.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A quantitative approach was employed. The survey data was drawn from 95 Thai and 44 Vietnamese middle or senior managers in manufacturing firms.\nFindings: - Three major findings were noted in this study. First, there were no significant differences between Thai and Vietnamese manufacturing firms with respect to manufacturing strategies, resources, and innovation performance. Second, differentiation strategy is shown to be the strongest predictors for both product and process innovation across both countries. Technology management, however, only shows a significant effect on both product and process innovation among Thai firms. The other three manufacturing strategies (leadership, people management, and R&D) did not show a significant relationship with any of product or process innovations. Finally, the results of the moderating regression analysis, using country as a dummy variable, confirm that the effect of technology on product innovation is significantly stronger among Thai firms than Vietnamese firms.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Small sample sizes of both countries are the major limitation of the study. Future studies can advance this research by incorporating a larger sample size as well as focusing on more innovative industries, such as electronics, automotive and food industries.\nPractical implications: - The results provide insights on the status of several key managerial practices among manufacturing firms in Thailand and Vietnam. The study highlights the lack of R&D intensity in manufacturing firms as well as its non-significant impact on innovation performance.\nOriginality/value: - This is the first empirical study to compare two newly industrialised countries in the South East Asian region in regards to manufacturing/operational practices, innovation performances, and differentiation strategy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Determinants of knowledge sharing in a public sector organization	[ "Public sector organizations", "Knowledge management", "Knowledge sharing", "Motivational factors", "Enablers", "Barriers" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the knowledge-based economy, knowledge sharing is increasingly viewed as critical to organizational effectiveness (Quigley et al., 2007). It is argued that knowledge sharing among employees significantly impacts the performance of both public and private sector organizations (Silvi and Cuganesan, 2006). As a result, knowledge sharing has gained importance in organizations seeking to gain a competitive edge (Felin and Hesterly, 2007). However, knowledge sharing is challenging in organizations for two reasons. First, employees' tacit knowledge, by its very nature, is difficult to transfer. Second, knowledge sharing is typically voluntary (Lin et al., 2008). Organizations can manage knowledge resources more effectively only if employees are willing to share their knowledge with colleagues. To facilitate knowledge sharing among public employees and across agencies, it is essential to understand the factors influencing employees' willingness to share knowledge. Accordingly, there is a significant amount of research on factors that may influence knowledge sharing in organizations. However, most research on knowledge sharing has been conducted in private sector organizations (e.g. Hara and Hew, 2007; Land et al., 2009; Li et al., 2010) or among students (e.g. Kwok and Gao, 2005). Few studies focus on knowledge sharing in the public sector (Sandhu et al., 2011; Yusof et al., 2012).This article makes two key contributions. First, there is little research on knowledge sharing in public sector organizations. In the past 20 years, significant changes have occurred in the public sector, moving from a traditional, bureaucratic approach to a more managerial one (Sandhu et al., 2011). Today, public organizations are also known as knowledge-based organizations (Willem and Buelens, 2007). Thus, knowledge is as critical a resource to public sector organizations as it is to private sector firms (Siong et al., 2011; Willem and Buelens, 2007). Public organizations too have to contend with greater competition for resources and competition from alternative services (Luen and Al-Hawamdeh, 2001). Additionally, improving knowledge sharing processes would help ensure employees benefit as much as possible from senior employees' knowledge and experience before they retire. Second, this study extends the literature on the factors that affect informal knowledge sharing. The study not only examines factors that encourage knowledge sharing, but also those that negatively influence employees' willingness to share knowledge in a public sector organization.The next section is a summary of previous research on knowledge sharing and the factors that influence individuals' willingness to share, with specific emphasis on the public sector. Next, the methodology is discussed, including the population and data analysis. Multiple regression was used to analyze the data, generating a model showing the influence of several factors on knowledge sharing. The findings and discussion sections report on this analysis. Finally, the paper offers conclusions and recommendations for practice and further research.\nPrevious research: Knowledge sharing\nResearch design: This article draws on Ardichvili's (2008) proposed model to identify some determinants of knowledge sharing among employees in public sector organizations. Ardichvili (2008) suggested that motivational factors, enablers, and barriers influence knowledge sharing.Motivational factors\nMethod: This article proposes a model of the factors that affect knowledge sharing in a public sector organization. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the employees.Questionnaire design\nResults: All motivators, community-related considerations (b=0.328, p<0.001), normative considerations (b=0.967, p<0.001), and personal benefits (b=-0.312, p<0.01), significantly contributed to the variance in knowledge sharing (adjusted R2=0.425). All three motivating factors could explain up to 42.5 percent of the total variance in knowledge sharing. The best predictor of knowledge sharing was community-related considerations, which alone explained 39 percent of the variance in knowledge sharing (adjusted R2=0.396). Personal benefits' negative b value suggests that willingness to share knowledge decreases as personal benefits increase.Three enabling factors - i.e. social interaction (b=0.585, p<0.001), rewards (b=-0.090, p<0.05), and organizational support (b=-0.563, p<0.01), had a significant main effect on the variance in knowledge sharing. Reciprocity was included in the model although it did not have a significant main effect on knowledge sharing (b=-0.008, p>0.05). These three enablers together could explain 1.3 percent of the total variance in knowledge sharing (DR2=0.058). Surprisingly, the variable \"trust\" was excluded from the model. Both dimensions of organizational climate, rewards and organizational support, were negatively related to knowledge sharing. Degree of empathy (b=0.345, p<0.001), and degree of courage (b=0.337, p<0.05) significantly contributed to the variance in knowledge sharing. Those two barriers together could explain 7 percent of the total variance in knowledge sharing (DR2=0.073). The organizational structure variables, centralization and formalization, were not included in the model.The interaction term \"normative considerationsxsocial interaction\" (b=-0.869, p<0.001) was significant in predicting one's willingness to engage in knowledge sharing activities. Similarly, the interaction terms \"personal benefitsxorganizational support\" (b=0.839, p<0.01), and \"normative considerationsxdegree of courage\" (b=-0.487, p<0.05), had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between motivators and knowledge sharing activities. The results of the regression analysis can be found in Table V.A model generated by the stepwise regression analysis, which was statistically significant (p=0.036), explained 58 percent of the variance in knowledge sharing (adjusted R2=0.583). This suggests that the variables included in the model are good at predicting knowledge sharing activities (Figure 2).\nDiscussion: This research has proposed a model of the factors that affect knowledge sharing in a public sector organization. Contrary to what was expected, personal benefits were negatively related to knowledge sharing. Personal benefits' negative b value suggests that willingness to share knowledge decreases as personal benefits increase. This finding is not consistent with most of the knowledge sharing literature (e.g. Ardichvili, 2008; Chiu et al., 2006; McLure Wasko and Faraj, 2005). A possible explanation for this result could be that in some cases the cost of sharing knowledge might outweigh the personal benefits. For instance, individuals willing to share knowledge would lose their unique value to organizations that value expertise but not mentoring or assisting others (Bock et al., 2005). Thus, the lack of sufficient personal outcome could constitute a barrier to knowledge sharing. This finding also indicates that department managers at this public institution should promote a culture that encourages civil service employees to share their knowledge with others in their units or departments.Reciprocity was not statistically significant in predicting the variance of knowledge sharing. Although not consistent with most of the literature, this result supports Huang et al.'s (2008) finding. According to Huang et al. (2008), an anticipated reciprocal relationship does not significantly influence one's willingness to share knowledge. In their study, knowledge was shared to make work more effective, not because individuals expected the same in return.The results from the regression analysis indicated a statistically significant negative relationship between knowledge sharing and both dimensions of organizational climate, i.e. rewards and organizational support. This finding is consistent with prior research. Bock and Kim (2002) found that expected rewards were negatively related to knowledge sharing. Rewards' negative b value might be explained by the fact that rewards can strain the relationship between those who win and those who do not, or that rewards weaken intrinsic motivation (Kohn, 1993). Organizational support's negative b value is inconsistent with the literature, suggesting that the relationship between organizational support and knowledge sharing may be contingent on other factors, such as commitment to the organization (King and Marks, 2008).Trust was not a significant predictor of one's willingness to share knowledge. Additionally, trust did not have a significant interaction effect on the relationship between knowledge sharing and the three motivators included in the study, i.e. community related considerations, normative considerations and personal benefits. This finding is surprising because trust is generally associated with willingness to share knowledge (e.g. Ardichvili, 2008; Huang et al., 2008). Others have, to a certain extent, contradicted this view. For instance, Chiu et al. (2006) found that trust did not have a significant impact on the quantity of knowledge shared. According to Chiem (2001), most public sector employees tend to believe that knowledge sharing leads to loss of power, resulting in their unwillingness to share knowledge with coworkers. Additionally, if the knowledge shared is not seen as sensitive or otherwise important, trust might not be needed for one to be willing to share it. None of the measures of organizational structure, formalization and centralization, had a significant effect on knowledge sharing. This particular finding may be explained by the fact that not all public organizations are bureaucratic (Boyne, 2002). However, the findings could differ in other types of public sector organization.The interaction effect of social interaction and degree of courage on normative consideration was significant, suggesting that social interaction and degree of courage moderated the effects of norm considerations on knowledge sharing. The findings indicate that as the interaction term normative considerationxsocial interaction increases, the effects of norm considerations on knowledge sharing decline. Thus, the more employees in this organization interact with each other, the less they feel compelled to adhere to group norms. This finding is counterintuitive. According to Knight Lapinski and Rimal (2005) \"special circumstances exist, however, when collective action is detrimental to individual well-being\" (p. 128). Thus, in instances where employees' values and goals are not congruent with those of colleagues, the behavior would not be aligned with group norms. Similarly, the interaction term norm considerationsxdegree of courage can decrease the influence of norms when individuals do. This result could be interpreted to mean that norms in the respondents' work environments discouraged open and frank exchanges among coworkers.Organizational support also had a moderating effect of personal benefits on knowledge sharing. The positive beta coefficient of the product terms (PBxSUP) indicates that as the amount of support increased, so did the effect of personal benefit on knowledge sharing. Personal benefits from knowledge sharing include the positive feelings one experiences from feeling useful. This result suggests that such positive feelings increase in a supportive culture. Managers in public sector organizations should recognize the importance of an encouraging and supportive culture that could weaken barriers in their environment that value personal technical expertise (Snowden, 2000, p. 143).The bureaucratic nature of many government organizations, where knowledge does not easily flow to other departments or agencies, is not conducive to knowledge sharing and comprehensive knowledge management initiatives. Identifying factors that influence knowledge sharing could help practitioners create a knowledge sharing culture that is needed to support knowledge sharing and knowledge management within public sector organizations. Managers in public sector organizations could encourage the development of communities of practice to support knowledge sharing. Tacit knowledge is acquired by interacting with others, and can only be shared between individuals in the same place or in different locations if a social network exists (Yang and Chen, 2008). One way for knowledge management practitioners to overcome this difficulty is through the use of human networks such as communities of practice. Human networks are a key medium for sharing knowledge. According to Snowden (1998), individuals and communities can gain greater access to explicit knowledge and increase knowledge sharing through the creation of communities of practice.A comparison of the factors investigated in private and public sector organizations in recent knowledge sharing literature suggests that the private or public nature of the organizations may not have a significant influence on these factors, or the differences between the two are not as pronounced as often thought (Tables VI and VII). Indeed, some of the factors investigated so far seem to have similar effect on knowledge sharing, whether the studies were conducted in private or public sector organizations. This implies that successful knowledge management practices used in the private sector can also be applied in the public sector. Further research is needed to ascertain the extent of the differences between both types of organizations, and how they affect knowledge sharing practices in these organizations.\nConclusions and implications: This research proposed a model of some factors affecting an individual's knowledge sharing in the context of a public sector organization. A model generated by the stepwise regression analysis, which was statistically significant (p=0.036), explained 58 percent of the variance in knowledge sharing (adjusted R2=0.583). Community-related considerations were found to be the strongest predictor to knowledge sharing in the organization of interest. Therefore, public sector managers will need to pay particular attention to programs and activities they can design to develop a sense of community among co-workers. Further research could establish whether other factors such as diversity contribute to the variance in knowledge sharing.Public sector organizations seeking to encourage or facilitate knowledge management among their employees could encourage the formation of communities of practice. Studies like this one can be used to create strategies to develop and sustain knowledge sharing among employees. Although encouraging knowledge sharing might not translate into actual use of that knowledge, public organizations can create appropriate conditions for knowledge sharing to occur if they know which factors to influence. Prior studies have established a link between employee engagement and lower turnover and improved employee performance. Further research could investigate the extent to which communities of practice can be used not only to aid with knowledge management, but also to encourage employee engagement.There are three limitations to the research findings. First, there are many organizational forms operating within the public sector (Wettenhall, 2003; Willem and Buelens, 2007). Since this study was conducted in a single public higher education institution and data were collected from mostly lower level employees, the findings cannot be generalized to other public sector workers. As a result, factors that influence people's willingness to share knowledge and the recommendations from this study may vary in different contexts. Alternatively, extending this study using a larger sample with more balanced representation, and possibly across different public sector organizations, will give some indication of the relevance of these findings to other public sector workers. Second, attitudes toward knowledge sharing, and knowledge sharing behaviors vary across national cultures. Additionally, there are a number of subcultures within a national culture (Michailova and Hutchings, 2006). This may limit the applicability of the findings to other countries or regions. Third, the study used self-reporting data gathered via questionnaires. Self-reporting data may create a response bias, which may also limit the relevance of this study's findings to other public sector employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect knowledge sharing in a public sector organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper is based on quantitative research. The data were gathered through questionnaires and analyzed using multiple regression.\nFindings: - Community-related considerations, normative considerations and personal benefits were three motivators found to have a unique contribution to the variance in knowledge sharing. The following enablers had a significant main effect on knowledge sharing: social interaction, rewards, and organizational support. Two barriers, degree of courage and degree of empathy, which measured organizational climate, were found to have a significant main effect on knowledge sharing. The interaction of normative consideration with social interaction, personal benefit with organizational support, and normative considerations with degree of courage, had a moderating effect on the relationship between motivating factors and knowledge sharing.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The study was conducted in a single public sector organization, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other settings. Another limitation is that attitudes toward knowledge sharing, and knowledge-sharing behaviors, vary across cultures. Finally, self-reported data are subject to response bias.\nPractical implications: - Identifying factors that influence knowledge sharing could help practitioners create a knowledge-sharing culture that is needed to support knowledge sharing and knowledge management within public sector organizations.\nOriginality/value: - This empirical study will contribute to the theoretical knowledge on knowledge sharing in the public sector, which has been neglected in knowledge-sharing research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quantifying the impact of a supply chain's design parameters on the bullwhip effect using simulation and Taguchi design of experiments	[ "Supply chain dynamics", "Taguchi", "Bullwhip effect", "Simulation", "Supply chain management", "Design", "Taguchi methods" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: 1.1 The bullwhip effect\n2 Methodology: System dynamics is an approach to understanding complex systems, using modeling and simulation techniques capable of modeling feedback loops explicitly and evaluating the dynamics of complex processes and systems. If difference equations are used to model a system, as in the model presented here, then the model can be implemented in a spreadsheet to simulate the system in operation (Shukla et al., 2009). This requires a reasonably good knowledge of spreadsheet modeling as well as difference equations. It is also very time consuming and prone to errors as the spreadsheet can soon become quite intricate and ultimately unwieldy. Proprietary software packages have been developed to be more user-friendly and functionally powerful for the task of systems dynamics modeling and simulation, especially in their user-interface. One package that is used commonly for system dynamics modeling is MATLAB(r) (Coppini et al., 2010), which has its origins in the traditional control engineering community. The particular system dynamics software used in this research is iThink(r). This has been developed more for the business community rather than for control engineers, so it should be suitable for supply chain managers and designers. Models are built in iThink(r) using flows (e.g. of products from a factory to an inventory), stocks to model simple inventories or process delays such as a factory between flows, connectors to provide information flows (e.g. feedback of actual inventory levels for comparison with desired levels) and converters to apply gain factors or other formulae to variables - see Figure 2.The use of other systems dynamics modeling and simulation packages has been reported in the literature, for example Wangphanich et al. (2010) used Vensim(r) recently. Discrete event simulation packages such as Arena(r) (Shang et al., 2004) and Simul8(r) (Bottani and Montanari, 2010) have also been used recently. This paper makes no comment on the commercially sensitive issue of the relative merits of individual software packages. However, it should be possible to replicate the experiments presented here in most of these environments.When the four-echelon supply chain is simulated, it is the fourth echelon that experiences the greatest demand amplification as it is farthest from the end-customer (Coppini et al., 2010). As the dynamics of the inventory and order rate at the fourth echelon present the \"worst-case\" scenario, the bullwhip effect experienced at this echelon is studied here. Taguchi design of experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques are used to analyse quantitatively this effect with respect to the supply chain's design parameters. As the APIOBPCS design parameter values are varied, the same values are applied at all echelons in the supply chain as in previous studies (Mason-Jones and Towill, 1997; Coppini et al., 2010).\n3 Multi-echelon supply chain model: Figure 3 shows the simulation model of the four-echelon supply chain produced in iThink(r). At the material flow level, each echelon consists of one inventory and one time delay, i.e. factory or other facility. Each echelon operates independently based on demand from downstream (from the direction of the market). At echelon-n, the input to the factory or other facility at time period t is the order rate (ORATEnt), which is determined by feeding forward the exponentially smoothed sales (SSALESnt), i.e. the demand forecast, and the actual end-customer demand, i.e. the smoothed sales from the retailer (SSALES1t), and feeding back the error in the inventory and the work-in-progress, with the aim of keeping the inventory at the desired level. The error in the inventory (EINVnt) is the difference between the desired inventory level (DINVn) and the actual inventory level (AINVnt). Here, like Disney and Towill (2003), DINVn is kept constant and equal to original demand. The work-in-progress (WIPnt) is the accumulation of orders that have been placed on the echelon but not yet completed and the desired WIP is DWIPnt. The error in the WIP (EWIPnt) is the difference between the desired DWIPnt and the actual WIPnt. Ti is a divisor applied to the inventory deficit to control the rate of recovery and Tw similarly controls the WIP replenishment rate.The retailer shares its end-customer demand with the other tiers, which then base their production rates (ORATEnt) on the weighted sum of this end-customer demand and incoming orders from their previous tier, i.e. their immediate customer in the supply chain. With full information enrichment (IEP=100 percent) a tier bases its ORATEnt solely on end-customer demand, whilst with no information enrichment (IEP=0 percent) production is based solely on the incoming orders from the previous tier. ORATEnt can be based on a combination using IEP% of end-customer demand plus (100 - IEP)% of the incoming orders from the previous tier; in the iThink(r) model these percentages are referred to as IEP1 and IEP2, respectively.Demand needs to be forecast at each tier before applying it in scheduling and there are potentially many methods to do this. Simple exponential smoothing is used in the APIOBPCS model used here. This is justified as it is the basis of much industrial practice and the approach used in other published models (Mason-Jones and Towill, 1997; Coppini et al., 2010; Shukla et al., 2009). In iThink(r) the built-in function SMTH1 calculates the first-order exponentially-smoothed value, with the smoothing constant (Ta) representing the time to average sales and the average age of data in the forecast. The value of Ta determines the degree of smoothing applied to the demand. Decreasing Ta produces \"lighter\" smoothing, so that the higher-frequency or \"noise\" components of the demand signal are allowed through, and vice versa.COMRATEnt is the completion (output) rate of the factory or facility at echelon-n at time t. As a simple time delay (Tp) is used to model the lead time, COMRATEnt is simply equal to ORATEnt-Tp. The actual inventory AINVnt is the accumulation of stock determined by COMRATEnt minus SALESnt.In summary, at echelon n: Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Equation 4 Equation 5 Equation 6 Equation 7 Equation 8 Equation 9 Equation 10 Equation 11\n4 Initial analysis of effects of parameters: 4.1 The design parameters\n5 Taguchi design of experiments: 5.1 Introduction\n6 Discussion and conclusion: This paper has demonstrated the use of simulation combined with Taguchi design of experiments to quantify the effects of design parameters and information sharing in controlling the bullwhip effect. Previous studies have paid little attention to measuring the impact of supply chain design parameters on the bullwhip effect. This paper has contributed towards addressing this gap by quantifying the effects of the design parameters, and their interactions, in the APIOBPCS supply chain model.It has been seen that as the percentage of information enrichment increases, the amplification and response time of the order rate decreases, and in terms of reducing the bullwhip effect, 100 percent enrichment is preferred. In contrast, Mason-Jones and Towill (1997) found that IEP=75 percent provides the best compromise between reducing bullwhip and improving speed of dynamic response. Their findings are based on a supply chain model with no capacity constraints. However, in reality production and distribution will be constrained, so it might not be possible to increase activity levels sufficiently to cope with peak demand; even if it is possible the cost could be prohibitively high. The overshoot of the order rate determines the capacity requirements - the greater the overshoot the more capacity is needed. So when capacity is constrained, increasing the percentage of information enrichment (IEP=100 percent) to further dampen the magnitude of the order rate overshoot makes sense.In the Beer Game model studied here, the objectives are to minimize the backlog and the holding cost of the inventory (Sterman, 1989). Backlog typically costs twice as much as the holding cost and sometimes as much as ten times. The peak of the deficit and the recovery time determines the backlog cost and the maximum deficit of the inventory determines the safety stock requirements (Disney et al., 2006). A bigger deficit requires more safety stock to maintain the desired customer service level. It has been seen that 100 percent information enrichment reduces the peak deficit of the inventory and makes recovery quicker. Hence, in terms of safety stock reduction and the minimization of the backlog cost, 100 percent enrichment is preferred. Information enrichment reduces the surplus inventory level by damping the peaks of the overshoot of the inventory. As surplus inventory adds to the holding cost, 100 percent enrichment is recommended to reduce the holding cost.The downside of information sharing is that it increases the rise time of the inventory. Rise time determines the stock-out period and affects the customer service level. Whilst a large reduction in the peak inventory deficit is a good thing, there is a longer rise time to replenish the inventory up to the desired level, causing a longer period during which there is a risk of stock-out if there are any other increases in demand or other supply problems. In general, the 75 percent enriched model performs best for the rise time of the inventory as found by Mason-Jones and Towill (1997), but this is not a strict rule that can be applied in every supply chain, because in some situations the damping of the undershoot and overshoot levels and quicker recovery are more important than the rise time.This paper has demonstrated the use of simulation combined with Taguchi design of experiments to quantify the effects of design parameters and information sharing in controlling the bullwhip effect in supply chains. A systematic approach to gaining an understanding of the relative contributions of the supply chain's design parameters and the interactions between them has been presented as an aid to supply chain designers and managers. The sensitivity of the bullwhip effect to parameters of the APIOBPCS has been analyzed with significant sensitivity being found in all cases, but to varying degrees. It has been found that Ti and Tp contribute nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the total variance, suggesting supply chain managers can greatly reduce demand amplification at the higher upstream echelons by fine-tuning the gain of the inventory error (Ti) and reducing delays (Tp). It is observed that reducing Tp minimizes the bullwhip effect and this result verifies the \"Time Compression Paradigm.\" If exponential smoothing is used, the noise or high-frequency component of demand is increasingly filtered out by increasing Ta but the smoother will be slower. If the smoother is made to respond faster by decreasing Ta then the noise will not be so heavily smoothed and will cause bullwhip.The interactions between parameters in respect of their effect on demand amplification have been analyzed. The strongest interaction is seen in the beneficial impact of information sharing on demand amplification being dependent upon the forecasting parameter (Ta). The value of information sharing is affected significantly by the forecasting error generated due to inaccurate forecasts. This is quite logical. Hussain et al. (2012) found that \"depending on the structure of the demand process, the appropriate selection of forecasting technique can reduce, or even eliminate the bullwhip effect\". Selection of inaccurate forecasting methods by managers will increase forecasting error and reduce the beneficial impact of information sharing on controlling the bullwhip effect.The next most significant interaction occurs between Ti and Ta. Smaller values of both Ti and Ta are highly responsive to changes in underlying demand while larger values yield much smoother ordering. A third important interaction is observed between Ti and Tw and a fourth between Ta and Tw.Multi-echelon supply chains consist of many interacting parameters at each echelon, such as forecasting constants, lead time, and times to adjust errors in the inventory and WIP. The design parameters have strong interactions; changing the value of one parameter will lead to changes in the effects of another. This implies that managers need to have a clear understanding of these interactions and to consider them when changing parameter values and otherwise making decisions.This study paves the way for more detailed studies into controlling the bullwhip effect and to extending the supply chain model to incorporate capacity constraints and order batching, as these are known to be further causes of demand amplification. As Taguchi's OA are not efficient for analyzing the interactions among parameters (Montgomery, 2001), the \"Response Surface Methodology\" will be used in future work to explore these interactions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to quantify the effect of design parameters on the bullwhip effect and dynamic responses produced by a multi-echelon supply chain with information sharing.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Taguchi design of experiments and system dynamics simulation are used to quantify the impact of a supply chain's design parameters, including degree of information sharing, on its dynamic performance, and the interactions that occur as the parameter values are varied.\nFindings: - Quantified relationships between supply chain design parameters and dynamic performance, including the bullwhip effect, are presented. Two parameters in particular, time to adjust inventory error and production lead time, are shown to have a particularly strong impact on the order variance compared to other parameters. However, there are several other significant findings.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Batching and capacity constraints are common causes of the bullwhip effect, but they are not included here. Future work should quantify the impact of these.\nPractical implications: - This paper presents a systematic way for quantifying and understanding the impact of supply chain design parameters on the bullwhip effect and dynamic responses, and their interactions. The experimental results provide practical understanding for supply chain managers.\nOriginality/value: - Previous studies have identified causes of the bullwhip effect but little attention has been given to quantifying their impact and interactions. This paper makes a contribution towards filling this gap, using system dynamics simulation and Taguchi design of experiments.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Systematized literature review on financial inclusion and exclusion in developed countries	[ "Banking", "Financial inclusion", "Financial services", "Financial exclusion", "Developed countries" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: There is a large body of academic literature about financial inclusion (FI) and financial exclusion (FE) in both applied and theoretical works. These studies are meaningful particularly because they spot the specific needs of vulnerable communities and FE processes related to changes in society. However, despite the existing well of consolidated knowledge, research gaps in this field present ample opportunity for further analysis. One area that provides such opportunity results from the contrast between the work performed in developed and developing nations. The three key distinguishing variables that explain most of these differences are: the groups on which these studies are performed, the circumstances to which these studies apply and the type of exclusion that affects the given population. One further consideration is that although the emergence of fintech and digital banking in the financial services sector has resulted in cost-cutting and overall increased efficiencies (European Parliament, 2017), these savings have not morphed axiomatically into the reduction of FE in developed nations. Furthermore, in recent years, the ageing population of these developed economies has experienced an increase in inequality and social vulnerability. These events are in part linked to the reluctance of the older brackets of their population to adopt new technologies, an attitude that prevents the overall use of remote banking services by a key portion of the citizenry (Fernandez-Olit et al., 2018). This finding is contrary to that of developing countries, where the widespread use of technology - and specifically of mobile banking - has been of essence to the development of FI processes (Demirguc-Kunt et al., 2015). All these circumstances explain the fact that the research obtained from work done on undeveloped economies varies greatly from that derived from similar studies in developed nations. One additional difference is that no reviews of the literature on FI/FE in developed countries exists, while there are a number of these works that refer to undeveloped economies (see Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015; Kabakova and Plaksenkov, 2018; Kim et al., 2018). This paper plans to fill in this void.\nReview protocol and methodology: FI and FE are binary terms that refer to the capacity of people to access useful and affordable financial products and services to meet their needs. The proliferation of studies on FI/FE in low- and middle-income countries has generated a great amount of meta-analysis and systematized reviews of asymmetric results (Duvendack and Mader, 2019). However, notwithstanding the large amount of attention paid to this research, no systematized review of the literature on FI/FE on developed economies has been published during the last ten years, albeit works by Aalbers (2015) and Koku (2015) touched upon these subjects tangentially. In 2015, Aalbers published a revision of the birth and development of financial geography since the mid-1990s. This work is interesting in that it sheds light over the start of the new classification \"financial geography\" within the existing \"economic theory\" strand. Nonetheless, this study cannot be considered a proper literature review on FI/FE because it was designed to be limited by its focus on economic geography and by the articles reviewed: a set of fifteen published earlier in the journal Transactions. Also in 2015, Koku conducted a cross-disciplinary analysis of the literature on FI/FE in both developed and developing countries. However, this study also fails to account as a formal literature review given that it defined itself as \"not systematized,\" and no specific methodology was used to select the works for review. Lastly, no references have been found to the dimension of digital financial services within the context of FI/FE.\nAn insight into the literature on FI/FE: Evolution, sources and quality\nA critique of the FI/FE literature: main theoretical approaches and contributions: FE is defined as the inability to meet financial needs in the formal market. Hence, being socially excluded becomes a relevant obstacle to the normal development of an individual's life in society. This phenomena and FI, its binary partner, have been traditionally explored through established financial markets and consumer theories. In addition, economic and financial geography have also contributed to the development of the theoretical constructs of FI/FE. However, the abundance and complexity of the phenomena raises questions that need enriching approaches also from the theoretical frameworks of other fields, such as the political and social sciences. Table VI summarizes the classification of the main theoretical frameworks identified and that we develop in this section. These categories should not be considered hermetic as some articles may combine two or more of them to perform their analysis.\nDiscussion on the contributions of recent literature to the main problems of FI/FE and their implications: Finally, in this section, we synthesize the main contributions of the leading literature to relevant FI/FE problems and highlight how the cited work addresses the key challenges arising from FE.\nConclusions: This paper has made a critical systematic review of the high-quality publications on FI and FE in developed economies. In response to the first secondary objective, the third section shows the leading role of the analysis focused on the US and UK representing two-thirds of the literature while one fourth focuses on the rest of Europe. In addition, new methodologies, sources and topics are identified. These changes and often characterize the literature of the various countries.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review of the research published on financial inclusion (FI) and financial exclusion (FE) in developed countries using key terms and strict inclusion and exclusion criteria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: In total, 52 papers were deemed to be relevant to the analysis. These works were critiqued using a framework that addressed geographical contexts, topics, methodologies and theoretical frameworks.\nFindings: This review highlights the uneven level of development of the academic debate between North America, the UK and continental Europe, and identifies the different theoretical frameworks that construe the body of literature in each region. In addition, the findings show the scant offer of work on the impact that the digital economy has on FE, as well as the reduced number of studies which have focused on certain vulnerable groups and the access to some financial services.\nSocial implications: The studies reviewed have not analyzed the specific needs of vulnerable groups while considering the different contexts and pathways to exclusion. The evaluation of solutions and strategies to achieve inclusion is one of the least addressed aspects in the literature.\nOriginality/value: The paper synthesizes the main contributions of the top literature on the redefinition of FI/FE in developed countries, the role of fringe services and new determinants of exclusion. The proliferation of studies regarding FI in low- and middle-income countries has generated a great amount of meta-analysis and systematized reviews of asymmetric results. However, no systematized literature review on the broad scope of FI/FE in developed countries has been published in the last decade. This work sheds light over poorly analyzed areas of research that refer to notable social problems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of power on channel members' behavior: evidence from India	[ "Affective commitment", "Trust", "Power sources", "Distribution channel", "Environmental munificence", "Channel behaviour", "Retailing", "Agent dependence" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Within a distribution channel, channel members play an important role in delivering satisfaction to customers with the channel leader's products or services. To encourage channel members to exert more effort on enhancing customer satisfaction, channel leader offers various incentives. The improved customer satisfaction usually gets reflected in the stronger brand image, higher loyalty, long-term association and increased profitability to channel leader. For example, a car manufacturer incentivizes its channel members for improvement in customer satisfaction index (Wang et al., 2018). These incentives are means of exerting power over channel members by a channel member, which lies earlier in the chain. Power, in general terms, refers to the ability of an entity to influence the action of another entity (Chicksand, 2015; Shamdasani et al., 2001). In any business relationship, power plays an important role in the growth of channel leader and members (Shaikh et al., 2018). The synchronization of goals between channel members is very crucial for realizing the growth potential (Sadarangani, 2013; Jain et al., 2014).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Power\n3. Research model: To answer the two research questions, we developed models and hypotheses. First, we develop a model (Figure 1) to examine the interrelationship among sources of power. Next, we develop models (Figure 2) and hypotheses for examining the relationship between power sources and trust, affective commitment, agent dependence and environmental munificence.\n4. Research methodology: The study examines the interrelationship among sources of power and their influence on the different behavioral aspect of channel members. Power is a complex construct and determinants of power are multifaceted (Rehme et al., 2016). Therefore, there is a need to objectively measure the power and understand its impact on the behavior of channel members. This study follows the research methodology followed by researchers in the past (Gaski, 1986; Sadarangani, 2013; Sahadev, 2005) who studied the relationship of power sources and channel members' behavior in a single distribution channel (Rehme et al., 2016). The study uses a quantitative research method and a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach for addressing the research questions.\n5. Analysis and results: The investigation is divided into two parts. To address the RQ1, authors analyze data using LISREL (covariance-based). Covariance-based SEM is most suitable for theory testing and confirmation (Hair et al., 2011; Ringle et al., 2012; Wong, 2016). Here, the paper tests the theory of power sources, which are classified as coercive and non-coercive power sources. Also, while examining the interrelationship among sources of power, the model ought to have non-recursive relationships among constructs, which can be examined through LISREL.\n6. Discussions: While addressing the RQ1, we found that coercive power source is negatively related to other sources of power. This indicates the presence of dichotomy in power sources, which is also supported by Cowan et al. (2015). They classified power as coercive and non-coercive. Non-coercive power sources include reward, expert, legitimate and referent power. This study acknowledges the existence of coercive and non-coercive power sources in the emerging country context. Channel leader should understand that channel members recognize the differences between coercive and non-coercive power sources. Therefore, instead of applying only one power sources channel leader can use an amalgamation of power sources to bring the desired changes in behavior. For example, if a car manufacturer wants to align the goal of its channel member, the car manufacturer can apply a combination of expert, legitimate and referent power, which have a multiplier effect on the members' affective commitment.\n7. Managerial implications: The managerial implications of this study include the fact that it guides the channel managers concerning the sources of power and how it leads to changes in the behavior of channel members. For example, in a dynamic business environment (Yusuf et al., 2014) cooperation among channel members could help the faster achievement of organizational goals, profitability and mitigation of the risk of global fluctuation of prices. Although the findings of the study are derived from the state-owned enterprise, it is equally applicable to the other or privately owned enterprises. The similarity lies in the functioning and complexity of the distribution channel across state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. The findings apply to other industries such as steel, food, automobile, cement or heavy industries, which work on a single distribution channel. Hence, by acknowledging the power position and relationships among the channel members, the channel leader can achieve a higher level of performance and profitability. The manager should understand the difference between sources of power and when to apply what sources of power. The manager can effectively use the sources of power by understanding the interrelationship among them. On several occasions instead of applying one source of power, multiple power sources can be applied to bring the desired change in the members' behavior. The manager can also understand the consequences of applying coercive power sources. However, instead of applying only coercive can cause greater damage than when applied both coercive and non-coercive power sources. Managers looking for long-term growth must put more emphasis on using non-coercive power sources. For example, the expert power source is to be used to increase the level of trust. The usual way to manage channel members is to apply the power sources equally on each channel member. Instead, a proper combination of non-coercive power is used to bring the desired changes in the behavior of members. For example, to improve the affective commitment instead of using only expert power in the usual way, a proper combination of expert, referent and legitimate power sources may bring far more precise changes in channel members. This kind of strategy would be more sustainable and can be used in both a short term and long term.\n8. Theoretical contributions: The paper addresses the gap that exists in the literature on how power sources are interrelated and the impact of power sources on channel members' behavior. The paper contributes to the literature on power and channel management in three novel ways. First, the study examines the interrelationship among sources of power. Through this study, the paper acknowledges the dichotomous nature of power. Conceptually the findings add to the literature by establishing the importance of understanding power as coercive and non-coercive power. Various studies examined power in relation to, for example, satisfaction (Wang et al., 2018), knowledge acquisition (He et al., 2013) or sustainability initiatives (Meqdadi et al., 2017) in which power is considered a generic construct. In our view, this may lead to a distorted or incomplete picture especially when behavioral dimensions are examined. We argue that power, when examined as coercive or non-coercive power, can bring insightful information. Second, the study responded to the multiple calls for empirically examining the impact of power on the behavior of channel members (Sadarangani, 2013; Sahadev, 2005). Almost, no studies have examined the role of coercive and non-coercive power sources on trust, agent dependence, affective commitment and environmental munificence. Trust is considered the most important variable in business to the business relationship (Sahadev, 2005). The findings acknowledge the mutually reinforcing nature of non-coercive power sources and trust. Similarly, essential growth variables such as agent dependence, affective commitment and environmental munificence have been examined in this study. These variables play an important role in resource collaboration, interpersonal relationship, emotional attachment and sustained growth for channel member and for channel leader. Third, limited studies have adopted the view of channel members while studying power (Meqdadi et al., 2017). Considering the perspective of multiple channel members, this study presents the perception of channel members toward power held by the channel leader. The paper also presents the managerial implications that can assist the managers in aligning the behavior of channel member toward a common goal.\n9. Conclusion and future research: The study is an attempt to understand the power in the context of an emerging country, India. The study concludes the existence of coercive and non-coercive power sources in India. Considering power as coercive and non-coercive can bring important findings. To support our argument, we examined the coercive and non-coercive power sources with trust, agent dependence, affective commitment and environmental munificence individually. Coercive power sources negatively impact trust, whereas non-coercive power sources positively impact trust. Only coercive power and reward power sources are positively related to agent dependence; whereas expert, referent and legitimate power sources are positively associated with affective commitment. Finally, only referent power is found to be positively related to environmental munificence. The study not only examines how the sources of power impacts but also stresses the significance of actions, which can bring intended changes in power balance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Power is an important construct in retailing and channel literature. Power is studied in improving the performance of the firm, but less emphasis is given on the behavioral changes that lead to an improvement in performance. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relationship between sources of power and channel members' trust, affective commitment, agent dependence and environmental munificence individually. Also, the paper examines the interrelationship among coercive, expert, referent, legitimate and reward sources of power.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study uses a structured questionnaire to collect data from 214 channel members from an Indian oil company. The study uses a covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) approach for establishing the interrelationship among sources of power. Also, the study uses partial least squares SEM approach for determining the relationship between power sources and channel members' behavior.\nFindings: The study establishes that the dichotomous nature of power, i.e. coercive and non-coercive power source exists independently in an emerging country context. Further, coercive power sources are negatively and non-coercive power sources are positively associated with trust. Also, coercive and reward power sources are positively associated with agent dependence, whereas expert, referent and legitimate power sources are positively related to affective commitment. Finally, referent power is found to be positively associated with environmental munificence.\nPractical implications: The paper offers several managerial implications. For practitioners, the paper highlights that application of coercive and non-coercive power sources can bring the desired change in channel members' behavior. Also, acknowledging the power position between channel leader and channel member can foster more efficient association.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to the literature on channel management by enhancing the understanding of sources of power and their influence on the behavior of channel members. First, the study examines the relationship between channel members' behavior of trust, affective commitment, agent dependence and environmental munificence and five sources of power. Second, the study establishes the interrelationship among sources of power. Finally, the paper outlines the implications for managers for effective use of sources of power in channel management.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
CSR as crisis risk: expanding how we conceptualize the relationship	[ "Risk management", "Corporate social responsibility", "Crisis", "Challenge", "Private politics", "Reputation management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In January of 2014, the British luxury brand Burberry announced its commitment to end the use of toxic chemicals in its clothing production by 2020 (Burberry, 2014). Though not mentioned in the news release, the responsible action was a result of pressure from the Little Monsters campaign orchestrated by Greenpeace. Over 10,000 Tweets, hundreds of Facebook posts, and in-person protests in six countries all asking Burberry to \"detox\" occurred shortly before the announcement (Greenpeace, 2014). Burberry was faced with what the authors term a corporate social responsibility (CSR)-based challenge, a situation where stakeholders seek to redefine current organizational practices as irresponsible. A CSR-based challenge creates a reputational risk that can escalate into a crisis if it is not handled effectively by the organization. Burberry is not an isolated example. Here is a sampling of organizations that have faced CSR-based challenges over the past three years: Honeymade Graham Crackers, Apple, HP, Lego, Adidas (three times), H&M (three times), General Mills, Zara, Hershey's, Dolce & Gabbana, A&E Network, Primark, Yum Brands, Levi-oombsStrauss, Dr Pepper, Victoria's Secret, Starbucks, Li-Ning, PepsiCo, Nike, Sea World, GAP, Chik-fil-a, and Versace (twice). Moreover, researchers have observed a rise in stakeholder challenges to organizational behavior and policies (e.g. King, 2011).\nLinking CSR and crises: Research has established connections between CSR and crises. CSR is a common business practice that is studied by different disciplines (e.g. management, communication, ethics, marketing, psychology, advertising, etc.) through various approaches (e.g. see general CSR overviews by Bhattacharya et al., 2011; Carroll, 1999; Chandler and Werther, 2014). As Carroll and Shabana (2010) attest, the \"idea that business enterprises have some responsibilities to society beyond that of making profits for the shareholders has been around for centuries (p. 85). (e.g. see Carroll, 1999, for reviews of its evolution within US business practices and research). Though definitions of CSR are varied and contested, they generally reflect a focus on \"shared value\" for business and society. For example, the European Commission (EC) has defined CSR as \"a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis\" (European Commission, 2010, p. 3). The EC's most recent definition describes it as \"the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society\" (European Commission, 2010, p. 6). The Commission encourages that enterprises \"should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders\" (European Commission, 2010, p. 6).\nThe CSR-based challenge risk and crisis creation: Lerbinger (1997) was the first to identify the challenge crisis type. The challenge crisis is unique because it involves claims by some group of stakeholders that a corporation is acting in a way that is irresponsible or immoral. As opposed to most other crises, there is no specific trigger event for a challenge crisis. The stakeholders are not reacting and trying to debunk social responsibility claims being advanced by the organization. The crisis is communicatively when certain stakeholders advance charges or social irresponsibility. A crisis risk and actual crisis may emerge if other stakeholders begin to support the original challenge. Keep in mind not all stakeholders will know or care about the challenge - there is always dissensus among stakeholders. Unfortunately, the dynamics of a challenge crisis are underdeveloped (Coombs, 2010b). This section articulates the challenge crisis dynamic with an emphasis on CSR-based challenges as a potential catalyst for a reputational crisis. The goal is to understand what makes a challenge a serious crisis risk (reputational threat), the primary communicative responses to the challenges, and factors influencing the selections of the challenge response.\nDiscussion: The Burberry CSR-based challenge described in the introduction is not an isolated incident. As CSR becomes a common business practice and stakeholders expect that corporations should act responsibly, a solid foundation is provided for cultivating CSR-based challenges. When an organization engages in any form of CSR activities, the value of CSR to the organization is recognized. If an asset is valued, then threats to that asset can matter to management. When a group of stakeholders seek to redefine existing organizational behavior as socially irresponsible (a CSR-based challenge), a crisis threat emerges. It is any commitment to CSR, not specific CSR messaging as in greenwashing, that creates the potential for a CSR-based challenge.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a crisis risk. The bulk of the current research on CSR and crisis examined the role of CSR as an asset in a crisis. CSR as crisis risk is a direct function of CSR's increasingly important role in reputation management. CSR has become an important aspect of corporate reputations - it is one of the dimensions used to assess a corporation's crisis. The value of CSR to reputations is illustrated in the RepTrak reputation measure from the Reputation Institute and the value it places upon CSR. If stakeholders can challenge CSR claims by arguing a corporation is acting irresponsibly, the stakeholders can erode the corporation's reputational assets by creating a challenge crisis. A CSR-based challenge occurs when stakeholders redefine a corporation's current practices as irresponsible. The CSR-based challenge can be risk because it can damage reputational assets and potentially escalate into a crisis. CSR becomes a leverage point for stakeholders seeking to engage in a challenge crisis. As corporations place more value on the CSR dimension of reputation, CSR-based challenge becomes an increasingly powerful leverage point.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual with an emphasis on theory building.\nFindings: The manuscript details the CSR-based challenge process. It examines the nature of CSR-based challenges, how they can become threats to corporations, and how corporations can respond to the threats. There is also an explanation of how CSR-based challenges indicate the shift to private politics/social issues management and the implications of this shift for advancing a neoliberal perspective.\nPractical implications: CSR and crises have a much more complex relationship than current research has identified. CSR can be a crisis risk, not just an asset used to protect a reputation during a crisis. CSR can be the reason a crisis exists and threats a corporation - it is a crisis risk. The primary manifestation of CSR as a crisis risk is the challenge crisis premised on social irresponsibility, what the authors term the CSR-based challenge crisis. This paper will detail the process whereby CSR is transformed from a crisis resource to a crisis threat. The end result of this analysis will be set of insights into CSR-based challenge crises. These insights can help stakeholders seeking to create social change through a challenge and corporate managers seeking to address a challenge crisis.\nSocial implications: Challenge crises are an example of private politics/social issues management, when stakeholders seek to create changes in corporate behavior by engaging the organization directly rather than through public policy efforts. The paper offers insights into how social issues management can work to create social change by altering problematic corporate behaviors.\nOriginality/value: There is limited research into CSR as a crisis risk and in understanding how challenge crises help to create social change. This paper will provide new insights into CSR as a crisis risk, challenge crises, and private politics. Ideas from public relations, corporate communication, and political communication will be fused to create a novel framework for illuminating these related topics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A coordination framework for supply chain inventory alignment	[ "Supply chain management", "Inventory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Alignment of supply chain inventory decisions is one of the major challenges of supply chain management. A traditional supply chain, all too often, is a sequence of weakly connected activities both within and outside of the organization and leads to many misalignments. Tackling this inherent lack of coordination is a major value creation opportunity for supply chain managers. However, organizational barriers and restricted information flows often exist so that complete centralized control of material flows in supply chains is neither feasible nor desirable (Lee and Billington, 1993). Therefore, supply chain inventory decisions are most often decentralized, but still inter-dependent. Thus, one sees a clear shift from study of centralized models to the focus on decentralized systems; this brings about another layer of complexity, and requires innovative solutions.In this paper, we develop a coordination framework, called ASCEND, to facilitate alignment of inventory decisions in decentralized supply chains. Multi-agent system, coordination theory, and optimization technology are three pillars of the proposed framework. By modeling the supply chain network as a multi-agent system, supply chain coordination in ASCEND is made possible by analyzing the associated dependencies and developing the process that can be used to manage them. This research transforms the alignment of supply chain inventory decisions into a decentralized constraint satisfaction optimization problem (DCSOP). A genetic algorithm-based coordination process is then developed to solve the problem. The guiding principle behind the coordination framework is the establishment of a proper incentive alignment mechanism, based on cost sharing and service level contracts, and taking into account the associated dependencies.\nSupply chain misalignments: For a long time, companies have striven to develop capabilities to deliver the right products, to the right locations, at the right time, at a competitive cost, and with customer satisfaction in order to ensure a competitive advantage. But concurrent with the globalization of business, the competition has increasingly been transformed from inter-company to inter-supply chain. In response, supply chain managers are increasingly realizing the need to eliminate supply chain inefficiencies and align the decisions and executions more closely between the trading partners (Simchi-Levi et al., 2003). However, supply chain misalignments, stemming from the lack of proper coordination mechanisms between supply chain partners, create inefficiencies that not only prevent the supply chain from realizing its capabilities, but also critically impede its ability to compete and survive. Supply chain misalignments, the main challenges facing today's supply chains, can be grouped into the following four major categories.Incentive misalignment\nCoordination framework: To address these supply chain misalignments innovative solutions are required. The new solutions need to address critical issues such as incentive alignment, allocation of decision rights, information sharing, and \"plug and play\" configuration. The objective is to achieve a synchronized supply chain through coordination. However, there is often a wide gap between these fundamental requirements and the ultimate synchronization in supply chains.Towards this end, a framework called alignment of supply chain executions and decisions (ASCEND) is developed in this research. As shown in Figure 1, synchronized supply chain management is viewed as resting on three pillars, namely the multi-agent system, coordination theory, and optimization technology. The three pillars in ASCEND support the development of efficient and effective supply chain management.The conceptual structure of ASCEND (Figure 2) depends on the interaction properties of the three pillars. In the framework, multi-agent system supports and automates the supply chain decision-making processes in a \"plug and play\" way. Different agents are allocated different decision rights in line with their respective roles in the supply chain. Information sharing is performed through message-driven communication between the agents. In this way, the multi-agent system can emulate the decentralized but inter-dependent decision-making processes in supply chains.Coordination theory is then applied to synchronize the decisions of different agents, by taking into account their associated dependencies. In this paper, coordination is defined as the process of managing dependencies among activities or decisions (Malone and Crowston, 1994). Coordination in ASCEND is performed in two steps: firstly the associated supply chain dependencies are identified, and in then the corresponding processes that can be used to manage them are developed. The objective of coordination is to align the incentives that motivate the supply chain partners and achieve a synchronized supply chain.The incentive alignment mechanism, based on cost sharing and service level contracts, mirrors two aspects of a performance measurement schema. Each supply chain partner shares the same objective of minimizing the supply chain's total inventory cost. Service level contracts are negotiated and signed between supply chain partners to ensure the realization of this objective. Optimization technology can be useful in designing the appropriate parameters for the performance measurement schema. In ASCEND, the supply chain dependencies are viewed as constraints. The coordination problem is transformed into a distributed constraint satisfaction optimization problem (DCSOP). Thus, optimization becomes an enabler of supply chain coordination.The following sections focus on the inter-related themes of multi-agent system, coordination theory and optimization technology.\nMulti-agent based modeling of supply chain: Supply chain can be defined as a network of autonomous or semi-autonomous business units that perform (interdependently) all the processes associated with the material and information flows. ASCEND models the supply chain as well as the corresponding processes as a three-level distributed multi-agent system, as shown in Figure 3.The coordination agent initiates and dominates the cooperation with/among planning agents (across the supply chain network) to solve for interdependencies among them. The planning agents make local decisions (for example, inventory replenishment plans) with regard to their respective roles in the supply chain. The execution agents carry out the corresponding plans developed by the planning agents. This organizational design of multi-agent based supply chain considers the decentralization of information, resources, and decision-making processes. The decision rights, for example, are distributed among the different agents across the supply chain network.The organization of multi-agent based supply chain, introduced above, provides a general view of multi-agent modeling in ASCEND. Each agent in ASCEND owns its domain knowledge, interests, state information, specific services and performance measurement schema. An agent architecture is then defined to represent the logical structure of the three types of agents in ASCEND.Figure 4 exhibits the multi-agent architecture in a nutshell. As shown in the figure, incoming messages to an agent can be dealt with according to the message selection mechanism, such as first-in-first-out (FIFO). Message selection is subject to specific domain knowledge and state information of each agent. The selected message is then passed to the service engines, who determine how to process the message. Meanwhile, performance measurement schema, domain knowledge and state information are applied or retrieved. Also, any newly generated outgoing messages are sent to the designated agents. The design of message-driven agent architecture makes each agent independent of the information about other agents' interfaces, so that the multi-agent system can be easily deployed in a \"plug and play\" way. It should be noted that the service engines, which can be specified for different agents, are the kernels the agents rely heavily on to make various decisions. For instance, the service engine in a planning agent might refer to the planning engine to make inventory decisions, and the same in a coordination agent might refer to the coordination engine to provide coordination service.In addition to the above description, the multi-agent architecture is further defined by the following attributes:* Set of incoming messages at agent i. The messages may consist of a task, an answer, or query information from another agent or human.* Set of outgoing messages at agent i. The messages may consist of a task, an answer, or query information sent to other agents.* Incoming message chosen for processing by agent i. The message selection mechanism in an agent determines which message should be processed first.* Set of attributes that characterize the state of agent i at any given time. In the case of a planning agent, state attributes may include the basic information about an agent's planning state, such as the planned service level, the inventory policy that is currently being used, the planned inventory levels, and the associated inventory costs. Service engines access and update current state of the agent either as a result of internally triggered events (for example, the change of holding cost rate) or as a result of interaction with other agents (for example, the rearrangement of service contracts with the suppliers).* Specific domain knowledge at agent i about its environment including other agents. Each agent normally maintains the domain information, such as its relationships with other agents (supplier or customer), the interaction constraints (dependencies), global information accessible by the agent, and the past demand patterns. This knowledge may also be updated dynamically over time.* Performance measurement schema of agent i. The performance measurement schema dominates the agent's coordination capability with other agents. An agent with only local performance measurement schema (such as minimizing the agent's inventory cost) has to maintain less coordination with other agents. On the other hand, an agent with global performance measurement schema (such as minimizing the supply chain's total inventory cost) needs more coordination with one or more other agents. The service engines as well as the domain knowledge are governed by the given performance measurement schema. An agent's performance measurement schema in a coordination context should be very well designed.* Set of service engines at agent i. An agent's service engines comprise of series of actions, depending on its specific role in the supply chain. For planning agents and coordination agents, the service engines are referred to as the decision-making processes engaged by these agents. Decision rights are framed in these service engines. The messages received by an agent will ultimately be handled by its service engines, which also produce necessary messages that are sent to other agents.\nDevelopment of coordination process: By modeling the supply chain network as a three-level distributed multi-agent system, coordination is performed among the planning agents to manage the interdependencies of supply chain inventory decisions. As mentioned earlier, coordination is defined as the process of managing dependencies among activities or decisions. Our approach is based on characterizing the associated dependencies and developing the coordination process used to manage them. For further details, the readers are referred to Fu and Piplani (2002).Supply chain inventory dependencies\nGNC supply chain: a case study: To align the inventory decisions in decentralized supply chains, we have presented a coordination framework, ASCEND, based on the development of an incentive alignment mechanism via cost sharing and service level contracts. We next apply the framework to a real-life supply chain and demonstrate the efficacy of the coordination approach. The case information is collected through interviews with the staff in the supply chain group of a networking company. To protect its confidentiality, the networking company, whose supply chain is modeled in this paper, is referred to as the Global Networking Company (GNC).The global networking company\nConclusions: In this paper we have presented a coordination framework, called ASCEND, to align supply chain inventory decisions. The framework rests on three pillars: multi-agent technology, coordination theory and optimization technology. The guiding principle is to establish a proper incentive alignment mechanism based on cost sharing and service level contracts, and taking into account the dependencies amongst the supply chain nodes. By modeling the supply chain network as a multi-agent system, incentive alignment is transformed into a decentralized constraint satisfaction optimization problem. A genetic-algorithm-based coordination process is then developed to solve that problem.The coordination approach is then applied to a pilot supply chain. The results of the case study lead to 10.4 percent (average) reduction in supply chain inventory holding costs, validating the efficacy of the coordination framework. Interestingly, the results also indicate that not all the supply chain partners will experience lower inventory costs in the absence of a proper incentive alignment mechanism. Only through cost sharing and service level contracts can the value of coordination be realized by each partner in a supply chain network!\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - A traditional supply chain, all too often, is a sequence of weakly connected activities both within and outside the organization and leads to many misalignments. Tackling this inherent lack of coordination is a major value creation opportunity for supply chain managers. This paper aims to present a coordination framework, called ASCEND, to align the inventory decisions in decentralized supply chains.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The framework rests on three pillars - multi-agent technology, coordination theory, and optimization technology. Inventory alignment is transformed into a decentralized constraint satisfaction optimization problem, which is then solved using a genetic algorithm-based coordination process. The guiding principle of this framework is the establishment of a proper incentive alignment mechanism through cost-sharing and service level contracts, taking into account the associated dependencies.\nFindings: - The results of the pilot study indicate that the coordination framework reduces the supply chain inventory-holding cost, compared with the \"as-is\" scenario. Interestingly, the results also indicate that not all the supply chain partners will experience lower inventory costs in the absence of a proper incentive alignment mechanism. Only through cost sharing and service level contracts can the value of coordination be realized by each partner in a supply chain network!\nPractical implications: - The coordination approach is applied to a pilot supply chain. The results of the case study lead to 10.4 percent (average) reduction in supply chain inventory-holding costs, validating the efficacy of the coordination framework.\nOriginality/value: - This research has resulted in the development of a supply chain coordination framework, which requires the establishment of a proper incentive alignment mechanism, based on cost-sharing and service level contracts, and taking into account the associated dependencies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Collective firm-internal online idea development: Exploring the impact of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap	[ "Feedback", "Online", "Idea development", "Timeliness", "Knowledge overlap" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Extant research on the front end of innovation has clearly pointed out that firms can benefit substantially from effective generation and management of innovation ideas at the early stages of the new product development process (see e.g. Verworn, 2009; Van den Ende et al., 2015; Schemmann et al., 2016). In this early phase, different digital approaches have been used for idea management programs to collectively fertilize, capture and mature online ideas (Van den Ende et al., 2015). Digital technologies offer ample opportunities for innovation (Nambisan et al., 2017) by allowing firms to overcome social, geographical and organizational limitations. However, they also pose new managerial challenges to firms, and this is also the case for online idea management programs. Specifically, the collective online efforts have generally resulted in an increased number of novel ideas (Hoornaert et al., 2017; Schemmann et al., 2017), but this does not necessarily transform into successful innovation outcomes (Chan et al., 2018). Recent studies highlight the need to better understand the collective process taking place after innovation ideas have been generated (Beretta, 2019; Berg, 2014; Zhu et al., 2019), and then in particular the idea development process (Hoornaert et al., 2017; Ogink and Dong, 2019) when crowdsourcing principles are employed inside firms (Malhotra et al., 2017). As only a limited amount of ideas deserves further investment (Beretta, 2019; Deichmann and van den Ende, 2014), feedback from a collective of individuals holds a potential to inform the idea selection process in such a way that it can be more accurate and consequently improve innovation performance.\n2. Literature review and conceptual framework: Although we see an increased use of digital tools in the front end of the innovation process we still have limited knowledge of how these new digital ways of working potentially increase the value of innovation initiatives in firms. In order to address this, we first attend broadly to the overall area of firm-internal collective online idea development, and thereafter present specific relevant aspects of feedback in idea development more in detail.\n3. Development of hypotheses: 3.1 Feedback timeliness\n4. Method: 4.1 Research setting\n5. Results: 5.1 Data description\n6. Analysis and discussion: Although contributions to ideas in the process of idea development, in terms of e.g. feedback and comments, arguably constitute some of the most important activities for converting ideas to innovations (Kijkuit and van den Ende, 2007; Perry-Smith and Mannucci, 2017), little attention has this far been paid to the characteristics and content of this input. This underlines that there is still limited understanding about the emergent and non-linear online maturation process of ideas (Beretta, 2019; Hoornaert et al., 2017; Zhu et al., 2019), particularly in terms of how feedback is given and who gives feedback. In order to investigate these issues, this study explored the role of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas in collective firm-internal online idea development. To this aim, data including the amount and characteristics of ideas, comments and contributors were collected from an online platform of idea management in a Swedish multi-national company, and their relationships with idea acceptance were analyzed using a logistic regression analysis. Briefly put, the results show that idea development is positively influenced by feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap. Moreover, it was found that both the relationships of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap with idea acceptance are curvilinear. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates how idea development is influenced by feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas in collective firm-internal online idea development, shedding new light on the complex dynamics at place in collective firm-internal idea development, and providing new insights on how this process can be fruitfully managed.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: New opportunities to nurture good ideas for innovation arise as firms use web-based ideation platforms for collective idea generation and development. What influences creative performance in firm-internal collective idea development is however not as well researched as idea generation and thus an important area of research is the feedback and commenting on ideas. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas in collective firm-internal online idea development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An empirical study has been performed, drawing on data collected from a Swedish multi-national company using a web-based system for collective firm-internal ideation. The investigation explicitly captures the effects on ideation performance played by idea development contributions, in terms of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas.\nFindings: The empirical results show that idea development is significantly influenced by feedback timeliness as well as by the knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas. Specifically, it is found that longer time to feedback and an increased knowledge overlap result in an increased likelihood of idea acceptance. However, beyond a certain point, the positive effects of a longer time to feedback and increased knowledge overlap decrease, resulting in curvilinear relationships with idea acceptance.\nResearch limitations/implications: The results do not only shed new light on theory about collective idea development, but also provides management implications for collective firm-internal ideation. As the data used in the study has been collected in one single firm, care should be taken in generalizing the results to other domains.\nPractical implications: The results inform managers that it is not always better to involve more individuals in these emergent and distributed ideation systems, but that it might be beneficial to take measures to exercise some control in terms of when distributed and diverse employees can freely join in and out, especially considering the diversity of ideas, comments and creators.\nOriginality/value: The results from the empirical study reveal the effects of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap on idea development. This provides us with new insights on the complex dynamics at place in collective firm-internal idea development and offers implications for how we can fruitfully manage this process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Implications of ignoring the old disaster management plans: Lessons learnt from the Amparav tragedy of 23 September 2004 in the Nainital district of Uttaranchal (India)	[ "Landslides", "India", "Disasters", "Management strategy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Himalayan orogenic belt evolved as a result of the northerly drift of the Indian plate, its subduction beneath the Eurasian plate and its consequent collision with the same. This has resulted in extensive shearing, folding, faulting, and fracturing of the rocks comprising the terrain. Evolutionary history of the terrain, high relative relief, meteorological regime together with the ongoing tectonism make the region prone to mass wastage processes; particularly so in the vicinity of major tectonic discontinuities and shear zones. Earthquake, landslide and flash flood are frequent disasters in the region In the previous years the region was rocked by 1991 Uttarkashi and 1999 Chamoli earthquakes and a large number of landslides with Malpa 1998 and Okhimath 1998 representing major tragedies. Smaller landslide incidences often do not gain prominence, but the cumulative toll of these is significant.Current disaster management practices highlight the importance of scientific documentation of the older mitigation and management plans and practices and learning from the same, but this practice is often not resorted to in the developing world. The present communication brings forth the various details of the landslide management plan enacted a century ago at Amparav in Nainital district of the state of Utaranchal in India and discusses the implications of violating or ignoring the spirit of the plan.It was only on the aftermath of a landslide tragedy at Amparav on 23 September, 2004 that the importance of the old landslide management plan was appreciated. This area falls in the proximity of the Kathgodam-Nainital National Highway (Figure 1) in the Outer Himalayan Zone in close proximity of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT). NW-SE flowing Balia Nala follows the trace of the MBT in the vicinity of the area and is dextrally displaced by neotectonically active Kuriya Fault (by around half a kilometre in the region) that is named after NNW-SSE flowing Kuriya Gad that follows fault trace. The other streams of the region also show striking structural control. The Kuriya Fault also shows associated rotational vertical movement that has caused the block to the west (along Nalena Gadhera) to be doubly uplifted (Valdiya, 1988). This uplift makes this block particularly prone to mass wastage and head ward erosion.Sedimentary rocks of Siwalik Group are exposed in the region and these comprise intercalated sandstone, mudstone and shale. The sandstone is reddish brown to fawn in colour, while the shale is mostly chocolate brown. These rocks are disposed at high angles (45-65deg) and generally dip in the direction of the slope (N-NE). The sandstone shows evidence of shearing together with two prominent sets of joints. The bedding-slope relationship provides ideal conditions for the down-slope movement of the clays and mudstone, with the bedding surface of the sandstone acting as the failure surface.The entire area around Amparav in is situated over old landslide material and the old landslide movement has produced a distinct ridge at the toe of the slide that is prominent to the east of Dadar and Matiyali and there is a pronounced depression to the west of this ridge.Sheared rock mass in the vicinity of the tectonic discontinuities, bedding-slope relationship, presence of old slide material, presence of vertically uplifted block, presence of the depression and low rock mass strength together make this area highly prone to mass wastage. All these characteristics make this zone highly vulnerable to the processes of mass wastage.\nThe forgotten landslide management plan: Landslide is essentially a down-slope movement of dislodged rock mass under the impact of Earth's gravity. Despite all favourable conditions for landsliding being present, a triggering agent is required to set the ball rolling. Water most of the time acts as the triggering agent and therefore most landslide management plans pay the utmost importance to the management of water.It seems that the stream draining through Amparav and the nearby China Gadhera were considered particularly notorious and elaborate arrangements were made to restrict mass wastage along their courses. Recourse was taken to divert the entire discharge of the stream draining Amparav to China Gadhera by erecting a massive stone masonry wall (Plate 1). To ensure that the stream bank is not affected by bank erosion in the vicinity of the diversion stone masonry wall was also erected along the bank. The landslide management plan took care of ensuring that excessive precipitation in the catchment and the overflow from the diversion structure does not jeopardise the stability of the zone and therefore cement lined drains (1.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep) were constructed in the lower reaches together with water diversion structures along the abandoned stream course. These drains disposed of the excess discharge safely into the main stream (Nalena Gadhera).It was clearly recognised that the increased discharge of the China Gadhera due to stream diversion would lead to enhanced erosion in this highly sensitive old slide zone. Not taking any chances recourse was taken to thorough training of the China Gadhera stream course before diverting it. Right from the road level the stream course was converted into a number of small rapids by erecting retention walls. The last in the series is more than 150 feet high and forms a spectacular waterfall (Plate 2). To make sure that there is no head-ward erosion the entire streambed was lined with concrete. All these structural interventions are still intact and functional.Apart from these structural measures, landuse management was put to practice for making the landslide management plan successful. Even after implementing an elaborate stream management plan the land around Amparav was not considered safe for human habitation and therefore warning flags were erected in the zone and any habitation and construction in this zone was disallowed. The depression over the ridge at the toe of the old slide was permanently acquired and the individual landholders were paid compensation. Water from the depression was drained off to the streams on the two sides for warding off the threat of landslides due to increased pore water pressure.\nLandslide in an effectively managed zone: For any management plan to be successful it is necessary that the essential elements of the plan are kept fresh in the memories of the masses through awareness drives so that the masses do not unintentionally tend to violate the spirit of the plan. As has been suggested (Rautela, 2001, in press) disregard to the old resource management practices and landuse dictums is adding to the vulnerability of the masses. The case was the same at Amparav where the dictums of the century old landslide management plan were forgotten and the post disaster interrogations with the masses revealed that most people did not appreciate the utility of the various structures nor measures that were an integral part of the plan. Forgetting the old dictums the masses were lured into inhabiting this sensitive zone because of the commercial opportunities along the road.In order to ensure smooth pedestrian traffic a concrete bridge was erected at the same time a little upstream of the diversion structure. A blockade of low-set bridges along the course of seasonal streams has many a times caused major devastation in the region, but the possibility of a similar situation arising out here was not taken account of while finalising the site of the same.The land falling in the depression at the base of the ridge, earlier vacated to rule out impoundment, was encroached on and presently paddy cultivation is practised in this land.On the fateful night (22-23 September, 2004) landslide occurred in the upper reaches of the stream amid abnormally high precipitation (211.83 mm that is almost one-tenth of the total rainfall in the year 2004 till that date). The failure took place at an altitude of around 4,500 feet along the dip slope of the sandstones with the slip surface dipping 45deg towards 045degN (in the direction of the surface slope). The slide brought along a large number of dislodged trees apart from the boulders and debris. The concrete bridge to the upstream of the point of diversion provided favourable site for all the material to collect and this material dammed the stream upstream of the axis of the bridge. The bridge could not, however, withstand the increasing hydrostatic pressure for long and consequently gave way.It was a mere unfortunate coincidence that the pressure exerted by the debris flow managed to throw the uprooted bridge towards the course of the diverted stream channel that was totally blocked (Plate 3) and the gushing water got easy opportunity of razing along the straight line path following the abandoned course of Amparav.Seven residential and commercial structures along the abandoned course of the stream were totally razed. The bad weather conditions, however, kept the occupancy rates low and only three persons present in the buildings on the fateful night died. A total of 8.9 hectares of agricultural land (14.3 per cent of the total agricultural land of the village) belonging to 29 different families was lost. The event also took toll of the pedestrian bridge and 300 metres of bridle path.\nLessons learnt: The aim of the disaster management community is to ensure that the human suffering in the event of a natural disaster are minimised to the highest extent possible. The following lessons learnt from the Amparav tragedy would pave way for reducing human miseries:* Awareness generation and communication of the disaster threat. The Amparav tragedy brings forth the importance of awareness among the masses regarding the disaster threat. Passage of time often obliterates the memories of the past disasters and the masses engage in practices that have the potential of triggering fresh disasters. It is therefore a must to refresh the memories of the masses through regular awareness campaigns.* Planning with clear view of the potential disasters. All structural constructions in disaster sensitive areas should account for the potential disaster in the area. Had the site of the low set pedestrian bridge been carefully selected the Amparav tragedy could have been averted.* Regulation. The administrative authorities have the responsibility of ensuring that the landuse and other restrictions suggested by the experts and others are adhered to by the masses through the enforcement of effective regulations.* Documentation. A number of disaster management plans have been implemented in the past in different parts of the region, but lack of scientific documentation has led to their being forgotten. There is an urgent need of documenting all such measures and at the same time conserving these for facilitating research for the evolution of more effective and efficient mitigation practices. These efforts would arouse interest of students and researchers in this subject that would lead to human welfare and reduced miseries. This body of knowledge would also be helpful in restorative measures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to discuss the causes of the landslide event at Amparav in Kumaun Himalaya (Nainital district of Uttaranchal in India) and attempts to bring forth the importance of mass awareness regarding the past disaster events in their surroundings.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - On the aftermath of the landslide tragedy of 23 September, 2004 field investigations were carried out to probe the causes and lapses that resulted in tragedy at a place where a detailed mitigation plan had been implemented.\nFindings: - The investigations reveal that a detailed landslide management strategy was prepared and implemented to protect this zone almost a century ago, with a thorough understanding of the mass wastage processes. Implementation of this plan safeguarded this zone for a long time, but the lack of awareness among the masses led to the violation of the very spirit of this plan. This culminated in the Amparav tragedy that took three human lives, besides the loss of a huge public and private infrastructure.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The old study that led to the landslide management strategy could not be assessed and the article is based on information provided by the village elders.\nPractical implications: - The paper is an attempt to bring forth the finer details of the landslide management plan enacted in the region almost a century ago. It suggests the need for detailed surveys and planning in enacting any disaster management plan.\nOriginality/value: - This paper would bring forth the importance of documenting the disaster management strategies of the region and sharing the significance of these with the masses so that they are deterred from even unintentionally violating the spirit of these plans.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A strategy-based model for implementing channel integration in e-commerce: An empirical examination	[ "Marketing strategy", "Internet marketing", "Channel management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Business over the internet has fundamentally reshaped the structure of the buyer-seller relationship and offers sellers new opportunities for performing marketing activities (Hong and Cho, 2011; Oh et al., 2012). Important examples, such as Amazon.com, e-Toys, or e-Bay, have shown exponential increases in customers and sales. Early predictions were that the new internet-based businesses would wipe out many existing businesses because they were able to operate with less assets and at lower cost than brick-and-mortar competitors (Shankar et al., 2003; Verhagen and van Dolen, 2009). Their interactions with customers mainly occur through internet channels for product search, selection, order, and payment while other physical activities, such as warehousing and delivery, may be outsourced to subcontractors (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick, 2009; Hsiao et al., 2012). However, the rapid growth of the internet-based business has been slowing in recent years (Wu, 2013).\n2. Literature review: Based on the above whole logic, Figure 1 provides a pictorial depiction of the research model. The following discusses the theoretical foundations of this model and the development of the hypotheses.\n3. Hypotheses development: The following developsH1, H2, and H\n4. Research design: This study used a survey to collect empirical data. The questionnaire was first defined from the adaptation of an existing instrument in an English version and further, was translated to a Chinese version for the purpose of a large-sample survey. The questionnaire contains four parts. The first part uses a nominal scale, while the rest use a seven-point Likert scale.\n5. Statistical analysis: 5.1. Cluster analysis for strategic options\n6. Findings and discussions: Under the spin-off strategy, physical and virtual businesses are separately owned and operated in terms of offering different brands in the market. Channel coordination in the pre-purchases stage, such as using the same or similar brand in both channels (physical and virtual channels), may be difficult to accomplish effectively and sometimes unnecessary. In the actual-purchase stage, customer information may not be effectively integrated in a single view across both channels and many important channel coordinations, such as ordering products at online stores and picking them up at physical stores, are of a manner to require additional manual effort to connect them. This causes both the pre-purchase and actual-purchase stages to be not significant in their impacts from the spin-off strategy.\n7. Conclusions and suggestions: As channel coordination is critical to determine the success of e-businesses in terms of virtual and physical businesses, we propose a strategy-based research model to effectively define channel coordination and in turn, synergy performance. Existing studies do not report a solid implementation procedure in a complete manner. This is the major contribution of this research. Moreover, this empirical study reached some important findings. In general, different click-and-brick strategies have different degrees of impact on channel coordination in different purchase stages and in turn, different degrees of impact on synergy realizations. Specifically, an improvement in related customer-based synergies, such as trust, awareness, and risk reduction, is the major gain from the integration. The in-house division strategy is in a better position to provide the integration mechanism for improving the synergies as compared to the spin-off and the joint venture strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The key to success in the internet business lies in how you carry out the integration between virtual and physical channels. The purpose of this paper is to aim at defining the solution to the integration.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Channel coordination is grounded on a new governance of integration strategy which bridges the channels. This study proposes a novel research model with three stages: first, click-and-brick strategies; second, channel coordination for three purchase stages; and third, synergy realizations. A survey was conducted for collecting empirical data. PLS was used for path analysis. In total, three separate statistical analyses were performed for three defined integration strategies.\nFindings: Click-and-brick strategies have different degrees of impact on channel coordination in different purchase stages and in turn, different degrees of impact on synergy benefits. Specifically, the in-house division strategy is more important in determining channel coordination in the three purchase stages.\nPractical implications: Customers initially perceive online services with a nature of low trust and view them as highly risky. This integration is useful for a firm to successfully start a new online business. Further, it provides insight into allocating a firm's resources to critical multi-channel activities to realize synergy benefits.\nOriginality/value: Multi-channel marketing is dynamic and complex in nature. Existing theories provide limited insight into effectively defining them. This study attempted to define a strategy-based implementation model. This model demonstrated the capability to effectively reduce the complexity of defining channel integration.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sole of an era	[ "Research", "ERA" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Country colours light trip to research, vehicle of international, instep of Babel\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to convey the importance of improvements to Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper takes the form of a poetic exposition.\nFindings: - This paper highlights the necessity for alignment of research activity to ERA indicators of quality.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper emphasises the importance of research to academics and the need to allocate dedicated time in a school's curriculum.\nOriginality/value: - The paper is a reflective piece written during a research day inspired by proceedings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
OhioLINK - recent developments at a United States academic library consortium	[ "Consortia", "Resource sharing", "Electronic theses and dissertations", "Interlibrary lending", "Print to electronic transition", "Shared print" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In 2007, Tom Sanville wrote a description of the issues and approaches to resource sharing in OhioLINK, one of the premier academic library resource-sharing consortia, after more than 10 years of development and growth (Sanville, 2007). During the intervening years, much has happened in the information provision landscape - many of the trends Sanville identified have accelerated, some new ones have arisen and OhioLINK and its members' approach to some issues has shifted. Where is OhioLINK at the end of 2015?\nStrategic perspectives redux: OhioLINK's core value proposition is still to deliver the most content, to the most users, at the least cost. Over the past decade, as library budgets failed to keep pace with journal and consumer price inflation, OhioLINK has made a series of journal and database cuts, focusing on retaining the most heavily used and highly valued content. With year-to-year increases in the cost of content between 5-10 per cent and far outstripping inflation during the past decade, it becomes very clear that the buying power of OhioLINK libraries for content has decreased drastically through FY14-15 to half of what it was in FY02-03. The loss in buying power is particularly acute for journal content (Figure 1).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to provide an update to Tom Sanville's 2007 overview of OhioLINK, a renowned US academic library consortium, and describe the current state of activity and services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The approach used is descriptive.\nFindings: OhioLINK's main collaborative services include document delivery, resource sharing and the establishment of digital libraries, including electronic journals, electronic books and open-access materials such as electronic theses and dissertations. This update to Tom Sanville's 2007 overview of OhioLINK issues and developments describes the current state of collaborative library services and resource sharing a decade later, including the challenges of hosted institutional repositories and the implications of shifting from shared print to e-book collections at the network level.\nOriginality/value: OhioLINK trends provide a snapshot of changing activity and sustainability in library resource sharing at network scale across many different types of academic libraries.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Understanding the information and communication technology needs of the e-humanist	[ "Humanistic philosophy", "Research", "Electronic media", "Communication technologies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For scientists and social scientists, research and discovery take place in the laboratory or field; for the humanities scholar or humanist, discoveries stem from reading, synthesizing and interpreting materials that are usually found in libraries, museums and archives. The emergence of information and communications technologies has profoundly impacted the work of humanists, by enhancing their overall research environment, and enabling new tools and processes that facilitate and semi-automate their work. The concept of the humanist's workbench is an application that enhances the traditional research environment and integrates it with a comprehensive digital library (Toms and Flora, 2005). The workbench metaphor has long been used to describe the aggregate of tools and procedures that groups such as programmers (Ivie, 1977) and searchers (Preece and Williams, 1980) need to complete their work. In our research, we contemplated the design of such a workbench specifically for humanities scholars, but, as with any application, design emanates from research and the user community. Like Palmer and Neumann (2002), we concluded that we needed to examine the work of humanists to determine which resources and tools were most utilized and pertinent to this particular group of scholars. In this paper we summarize the results of a survey that sought to understand what humanists do, and the techniques, tools and resources they use in pursuit of their research goals.\"Humanities\" is an umbrella term applied to a number of distinct disciplines including literature, history, philosophy, art, music and architecture. The shared objective of all humanities disciplines is to \"reinterpret and re-evaluate our textual legacy in an evolving understanding of larger historical, social, and cultural contexts\" (American Society for Learned Societies, 1997, www.acls.org/op37.htm), a process that is cumulative (Watson-Boone, 1994) and draws on both current and older documents and artefacts. In this research we focused on a sub-section of humanists - the group who use text analysis (i.e. apply computer-based techniques to perform a type of content analysis) - to augment and enhance their traditional scholarly analyses; we refer to these humanists - the early adopters of computing technologies to support their research - as \"e-Humanists.\"\nPrevious work: In an earlier discussion of humanists, we proposed that a digital library for this group be extended to include not only access to traditional resources, but also tools to service and enable scholars' research (Toms and Flora, 2005). We proposed that the resulting application - the scholar's workbench - was analogous to the chemist's laboratory. In that earlier work, we recommended that a humanist's workbench contain five types of functionality, which are described in this section. First, however, we explain our rationale for selecting these elements based on research in information science and humanities computing.Information science\nMethods: Choice of method\nResults and analysis: Overview\nAnalysis and discussion: Findings provide an encapsulated view of the humanist, primarily the e-humanist, at work. A humanist's basic data sources are texts and the analyses of those texts may take many forms, from interpretative readings of the text to quantitative analyses and pattern observations of selected attributes within texts. Some research requires the creation of a text or a database of materials about that text. Some research involves historical, linguistic or semantic analysis of themes within texts. Clearly, humanities research is intricate and diverse.In addition to the types of research, we inquired about their use of technology in the undergraduate or graduate courses that they teach. These questions were asked because they indicate how/if some of the skills acquired by e-humanists spill over into their teaching and, thus, the next generation of scholars. Findings show that they tend to use technology to deliver course materials, usually limited to a course web site. However, only half of respondents require their students to use technologies. This is primarily encoding text; only one-third of the courses taught use text analysis tools. We found that the tools and techniques that e-Humanists use in their research are generally expected to be employed by their students as well. Notably, less than half of the respondents valued e-texts with page references to authoritative editions that students could afford, which may speak to the type of coursework students are being expected to perform. The students in these courses represent the future scholars. If they are not trained in techniques and tools, then the future of research in this area remains somewhat uncertain.Revelations about the use of primary and secondary materials, requirements for e-texts and texts analysis, and styles of collaboration construct a portrait of the requirements for the e-humanist's workbench.Access to primary and secondary sources\nConclusion: At the outset we wondered if the five-element framework proposed by Toms and Flora (2005) was a fruitful approach for considering the future development of an e-humanist's workbench. We found, we believe, significant evidence to demonstrate that each of those elements is essential. With the diverse, rich research culture created within the humanities, it is clear that diversity and flexibility are important. In summary, our recommendations for a humanities workbench include:* A web search function incorporated into the interface that accesses special indexes created from the web and other sources - a version of \"Google Scholar\" for humanists for example.* Metadata tags (beyond title, author, and subject) to support the ways in which humanists prefer to locate and access primary and secondary materials.* Appropriate scanning and browsing tools that enable exploration of a text or a set of texts.* Suggested and selected links to humanities-specific search engines, library catalogues, archives and finding aids.* Support for downloading, storage and organization of e-texts, the encoding of e-texts in various mark-up languages, and with multiple views of those e-texts.* A note-taking feature that would allow researchers to compile, edit and save their reflections on the text; notes could be viewed either co-located on a single page or as annotations on the actual text, or as a composite.* Standardized, sophisticated text analysis tools for use with a variety of mark-up languages.* Communication and awareness technologies for interconnecting with colleagues through text, video and voice and sharing information about conferences, relevant text analysis techniques, and resources for primary and secondary sources.These findings and recommendations provide a view of the humanist at work, a portrait that contrasts with colleagues in other disciplines such as science and engineering. The tools to support the humanist's work have expanded from being just key texts and a fine mind to being aided and abetted by computer and networking technologies. The first generation of digital libraries provided models for support of the humanist's work. This is but a beginning. The next generation of technology will have the potential to stimulate the humanist, remove much of the drudgery of the research preparation, and enhance the analyses. These new developments will likely change the way the humanities are taught and interpreted, and how they are employed by society.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to understand the needs of humanists with respect to information and communication technology (ICT) in order to prescribe the design of an e-humanist's workbench.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - A web-based survey comprising over 60 questions gathered the following data from 169 humanists: profile of the humanist, use of ICT in teaching, e-texts, text analysis tools, access to and use of primary and secondary sources, and use of collaboration and communication tools.\nFindings: - Humanists conduct varied forms of research and use multiple techniques. They rely on the availability of inexpensive, quality-controlled e-texts for their research. The existence of primary sources in digital form influences the type of research conducted. They are unaware of existing tools for conducting text analyses, but expressed a need for better tools. Search engines have replaced the library catalogue as the key access tool for sources. Research continues to be solitary with little collaboration among scholars.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The results are based on a self-selected sample of humanists who responded to a web-based survey. Future research needs to examine the work of the scholar at a more detailed level, preferably through observation and/or interviewing.\nPractical implications: - The findings support a five-part framework that could serve as the basis for the design of an e-humanist's workbench.\nOriginality/value: - The paper examines the needs of the humanist, founded on an integration of information science research and humanities computing for a more comprehensive understanding of the humanist at work.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Factors affecting online community commitment in China: a conceptual framework	[ "Commitment", "Online community", "Psychological", "System characteristics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The widespread use of the internet has diversified its usage in the past two decades. People communicate online, build relations and enjoy themselves through various platforms on the internet such as social media, messengers, and blogs (Jang et al., 2008). This has provided an opportunity for people to discuss and share information and their experiences through online communities. According to a report issued by the China Internet Information Centre (CNNIC, 2013), up to the end of December 2012, China has had 564 million internet users and among them, 48.8 per cent have registered in different online communities. The report further revealed that 93 per cent of the \"Millennial Generation\" (those born after 1982, who have come of age in a time of dependence upon technology) are communicating online, and nearly half of the internet users use online communities to communicate with others (CNNIC, 2013). Tencent and Renren, two major social networking site (SNS) service companies in China, have established numerous different types of online communities through their SNS (Fong and Wong, 2012); therefore, this study proposes to conduct its research on these two SNS.\n2 Literature review: 2.1 Traditional community and online community\n3 Conceptual framework: To develop an effective relationship between members and the online community, it is necessary to understand what motivates members to commit to this community and engage in a relational behaviour by continuing to enter in an online community and participate in the interactions and communication.\n4 Discussion: This study aims to investigate the motives of online community members behind their commitment to an online community. The proposed conceptual framework suggests that members' online community commitment is influenced by an individual's psychological attachment factors and online community characteristics. A number of prior researches have been conducted to examine the motives of members' commitment from different perspectives (Park and Cho, 2012; Wang et al., 2012; Laroche et al., 2013; Jang et al., 2008; Muniz and O'Guinn, 2001). However, lack of research has been found in terms of integrating different factors affecting the online community commitment and presenting a holistic framework.\n5 Conclusion: Developing a valid, reliable method to identify and measure the relationship among the target variables in the proposed model is vital. Considering the reliability and validity of this research, two milestones must be reached:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this study is to introduce a conceptual framework for identifying the antecedents that affect members' online community commitment in the context of China. Understanding members' online community behaviour is important for e-marketers as it has been predicted that the online communities bring new opportunities and challenges to the business.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The framework is derived from the resource-based perspective. It addresses the main variables and explains the key stages of conducting the study.\nFindings: This study conducted a suitable process to develop the framework which identifies the antecedents of members' online community commitment. In recent years, the social media has captured a major part of people's daily communication and internet users actively participate in the online community activities; therefore, understanding the factors influence members' online community engagement and commitment is perceived to positively capture the online market.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study proposes a conceptual framework of the antecedents of individual's online community commitment in the context of China on the basis of the previous research in this domain. An empirical study will be beneficial in supporting this framework and suggesting needed modifications.\nOriginality/value: The study provides a more holistic understanding of the factors that influence members' online community commitment. It identifies antecedents from two perspectives: individual psychological attachment and online community characteristics influence.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Managing a research career	[ "Research work", "Journals", "Academic staff", "Career development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the 1980s, assistant and associate professors with industry experience and a master's degree staffed many hospitality programs. The research requirements to achieve tenure were minimal. A terminal degree became a requisite for getting a tenure track in the late eighties and early nineties. Today, many hospitality programs are requiring a terminal degree that provides their graduates with research skills. As more universities stress research, the pressure for academic staff to publish is increasing. In some cases, the department or college uses a very objective approach for the research requirements for tenure. These programs require their faculty to produce 12-16 refereed articles to meet the research requirement for tenure. They stress quantity rather than quality because the number of articles published is very easy to measure. Determining the quality of an article is more difficult. One of the outcomes of this quantitative requirement is that professors publish only to gain tenure. These professors publish across a variety of disciplines, depending on the opportunities to publish with colleagues. They also seek journals that will provide the least resistance to publication. These journals are not well read or indexed. As a result, professors who chase quantity to meet tenure requirements are often not known as an expert in any area and few people have read their work.\nResearch is one's international currency: A true researcher conducts research because they are curious about an area. These professors create useful research. They have a focus; they are curious, and they want to be a thought leader in their area. They benchmark themselves against the well-known academics in their area. These professors will be the ones who will be sought after by many universities and will receive good employment packages. As Professor Sudhir Kale of Bond University states that, a professor's research is his/her international currency. There are many excellent teachers.Today good teaching is a requisite - gone are the days when someone could be a poor teacher and a good researcher. Today all faculty must have good teaching skills. The point of differentiation is research.Professors are expected to be good citizens and do their fair share of service requirements. When applying for a position at another university, the service at their last university often adds little value to his/her application. The research a professor does throughout his/her career is often the most visible part of his/her portfolio when he/she applies for a job. It is his/her international currency.One of the biggest impediments to having a productive research career is service. A trap new tenure-track faculty should avoid is doing more than their fair share of service. Being asked to serve on committees or taking an executive position in an organization often makes new academic staff feel part of the team and they draw praises from their colleagues. However, they often find that the extra hours they put into the service component mean nothing if they do not have sufficient research. One should be a good citizen and do his/her fair share of research, but doing extra service will usually not build a national or international reputation.\nResearch increases the reputation of academic programs: Armstrong (1995) found that the faculty's research also helped the reputation of the academic program. Armstrong and Sperry (1994) developed a research measure for MBA programs based on academic publications of faculty, citations by others of the faculty's work and evaluation of faculty by peers. They also developed a prestige rating that was developed from input of deans, recruiters, and prospective students. A strong relationship existed between the research and prestige constructs. Armstrong cites Yeaple's 1994 edition of The MBA Advantage, stating Yeaple developed a value rank based on what graduates of an MBA program can expect to make after graduation. He found there is a significant correlation between the value of an MBA and the research rating of its faculty (Armstrong, 1995). Thus, not only does research help create value for individual faculty; it helps create value for programs.\nManagement of the research career: The management of one's research career will provide a return on one's investment of time and effort. More importantly, it will provide one with knowledge, provide answers to one's questions, and in some cases, provide unexpected results that will peak one's curiosity. The outcomes of a research career in academia can be great. One should invest time and money in their research career. Ideally the investment in time starts as part of one's doctoral program. One should remember that the best opportunity to learn good research skills is during the doctoral program. One should take courses beyond the minimum requirements in both research methods and statistics.Provide time for research\nSummary: One should manage their own research career and not let their academic program manage it for them. In many programs one has to teach across disciplines. This does not mean you have to become an expert in all areas. Choose one area in which you want to receive national or international recognition. Academic staff members must take control of their research career. They should develop a vision, set goals, and develop a plan to achieve those goals. They should maintain their course and not let others sidetrack their career. They should provide a financial investment in their career. If one can maintain control of his/her research career the rewards will be great.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To discuss the importance of the research aspect of an academic staff member's career.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The viewpoint draws on the author's own experience as well as a literature review relating to the value of research.\nFindings: - Concludes that research is a point of differentiation and must be managed by the faculty member. Research is the international currency that a faculty members carries with them throughout his/her career.\nOriginality/value: - Very little is published about the importance of managing a research career and how to manage one's research career.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital and firm performance in the global agribusiness industry: The moderating role of human capital	[ "Innovation", "Firm performance", "Human capital", "Intellectual capital", "Agribusiness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The rise of the knowledge economy has led to a growing reliance on intellectual or knowledge-based assets as the new source of competitiveness for firms, countries and regions (Ordonez de Pablos and Edvinsson, 2015; Schiuma and Lerro, 2015).\n2. Literature review: The concept of IC has evolved from different academic disciplines and has increasingly become an interdisciplinary field (Marr, 2007), which is also the reason why there is no single definition or categorization of IC. Stewart (as cited in Bontis, 1998, p. 65), defines IC as \"the intellectual material - knowledge, information, intellectual property, experience - that can be put to use to create wealth\". Similarly, Brooking (1996, p. 12) defines IC as \"the combined intangible assets of market, intellectual property, human-centered and infrastructure which enable the company to function\". Roos et al. (1998, p. 25) refer the term to \"all the processes and the assets which are not normally shown on the balance sheet, as well as all the intangible assets which modern accounting methods consider [...] Brands and trademarks as well as the management of relations with external parties [...] are all dimensions of value creation\". However, Choo and Bontis (2002) argue that IC does not include intellectual property assets and that, even though the latter (e.g. a patent) can be considered an output of the former, they are \"mutually exclusive\" categories.\n3. Research methodology: 3.1. Research objectives\n4. Results: 4.1. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis\n5. Research implications and conclusions: The findings of this study suggest several implications for research and practice. First, this study intends to contribute to the measurement stream of IC research by further developing and validate a set of operational measures adapted from prior research studies as a way to infer IC from easily accessible data. Second, it provides new evidence on the relationship between IC and performance using the agribusiness industry as a research setting, which is characterized as highly knowledge-intensive and thus offers an ideal and somewhat novel context for the analysis.\n6. Research limitations and future directions: This study is however not without limitations. The main obvious limitation is inherent in the use of accounting figures which can realistically be only imperfect proxies for the theoretical variables of interest. Second, we approximate each IC pillar by a single indicator which at best can only partially capture the targeted construct. It should be noted however that to date there are still no perfect solutions available for measuring IC due to the lack of a widely accepted measurement theory for IC (Nazari and Herremans, 2007).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), categorized in terms of four sub-constructs - namely, human capital (HC), relational capital (RC), innovation capital (InnC) and process capital (PrC) - and business performance in the agribusiness industry.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Based on a sample of international agribusiness companies observed over a five-year period, this paper uses correlation and multiple regression analysis to test for the existence of a positive relationship between each IC component and conventional business performance metrics.\nFindings: The empirical results support the hypotheses that RC and PrC have a positive impact on corporate performance. Counter to the expectations, InnC by itself is negatively associated with performance. Results also failed to confirm the hypothesis that HC directly and positively affects performance. However HC positively moderates the relation between InnC and performance, which suggests that firms that heavily invest in HC are better placed to gain returns from their research and development (R\nOriginality/value: This study expands the existing research on the link between IC and performance by adding fresh evidence from a highly knowledge-intensive sector which has been under-researched thus far. It may also contribute to the specific literature on R\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intelligent products for enhancing the utilization of tracking technology in transportation	[ "Case study", "Information system design", "Intelligent products", "Operational visibility and control" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In recent years, transportation companies have made considerable investments in information technology (Schumacher and Feurstein, 2010), including tracking technology such as GPS and RFID. These investments are typically made with the expectation that tracking technology will increase the visibility of ongoing operations and, thereby, improve the ability to perform operational control. In that regard, an overview of operations management literature provided by Visich et al. (2009) shows broad empirical evidence that tracking technology can accurately capture operational information in real-time and at an unprecedented level of granularity. Nonetheless, other studies (Dutta et al., 2007; Shu and Barton, 2012) have shown that it remains a fundamental challenge to transform the abundance of operational information into accurate and timely control decisions. Hence, the commonly held perception that tracking technology will improve the ability to perform operational control does not unequivocally stand up to empirical scrutiny. Consequently, many transportation companies struggle to effectively utilize the information provided by tracking technology for performing operational control (Crainic et al., 2009).\n2 Related work: 2.1 Utilization of tracking technology\n3 Methodology: The main objectives of this research are to identify the problems faced by transportation companies when utilizing tracking technology for improving operational control and to develop a solution approach which contributes to solving these problems. Regarding this type of research objective, Simon (2002) argues that the design science research paradigm cannot only be used to explain and predict the phenomenon of interest, but more importantly, it also allows shaping the phenomenon by the design of novel solutions. Due to its explicit focus on improving practice, design science research can complement theory-oriented research in operations management (van Aken, 2004; Holmstrom et al., 2009; Holmstrom and Romme, 2012). Therefore, the study as described in this paper adopts a design science research methodology. Accordingly, the three main phases of this research, problem identification, solution design, and prototype development and evaluation, are inspired on the design science guidelines and procedures provided by Hevner et al. (2004) and Peffers et al. (2007).\n4 Problem identification: This section presents the results of the case study that was performed as the problem identification phase of this research. Although many aspects of the planning and control process were studied at the case company, this section is strongly focused on describing the process of operational control.\n5 Solution design: In order to overcome the identified problems above, a set of design principles for information system design is introduced in this section. The main goal of these principles is to support the development of information systems, which apply the concept of intelligent products to enhance the utilization of tracking technology with the purpose of improving operational control. The design principles are introduced next according to the three levels of intelligence for intelligent products as prescribed by the classification model of Meyer et al. (2009): information handling, problem detection, and decision support.\n6 Prototype development and evaluation: As discussed in the methodology section, a prototype has been developed based on the proposed design principles, in order to provide a case example of applying intelligent products for enhancing the utilization of tracking technology in a transportation context. First, this section describes how a prototype was developed based on the design principles. Next, this section presents the results of the experimental evaluation to demonstrate that the prototype is an appropriate instantiation of the design principles. Afterward, the results of the observational evaluation are presented, which demonstrate the usefulness of the prototype in a real-world transportation company. Based on these evaluation results, a reflection is provided upon the validity of the design principles.\n7 Discussion and conclusions: 7.1 Main research contributions\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Many transportation companies struggle to effectively utilize the information provided by tracking technology for performing operational control. The research as presented in this paper aims to identify the problems underlying the inability to utilize tracking technology within this context. Moreover, this paper aims to contribute to solving these problems by proposing a set of design principles based on the concept of intelligent products.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study as described in this paper adopts a design science research methodology consisting of three phases. First, a case study in a transportation company has been performed to identify the problems faced when utilizing tracking technology. Second, to overcome these problems, a set of design principles has been formulated. Finally, a prototype system based on the design principles has been developed and subjected to experimental and observational evaluation.\nFindings: This paper identifies the problems associated with the utilization of tracking technology for the control of transport operations. Moreover, the proposed design principles support the development of information systems which overcome the identified problems and thereby enhance the utilization of tracking technology in a transportation context.\nOriginality/value: The commonly held perception that tracking technology will improve the ability to perform operational control does not unequivocally stand up to empirical scrutiny. While it is widely demonstrated that tracking technology is able to accurately capture the detailed operational information, it remains a fundamental challenge to transform this abundance of information into accurate and timely control decisions. This research provides a valuable contribution with respect to tackling this challenge, by identifying problems and providing solutions related to the utilization of readily available tracking technology.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Online focus groups: a valuable alternative for hospitality research?	[ "Focus groups", "New product development", "Sustainability", "Qualitative methods", "Idea generation", "Crowdsourcing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: New product development, the generation of ideas and the selection of opportunities drives the innovation process through which firms can strengthen their competitive advantage, and maintain and grow market share and profitability (Girotra et al., 2010; Terwiesch and Loch, 2004; Terwiesch and Ulrich, 2009). New product development is difficult though, and perhaps the most challenging step is the first step - idea generation (Sowrey, 1990). The best opportunities, the extremes and outliers, drive the success of innovating through idea generation (Girotra et al., 2010; Terwiesch and Loch, 2004; Terwiesch and Ulrich, 2009). It is, therefore, critical for firms to engage in idea generation through methods that encourage participants to create the best ideas at the lowest cost to obtain the highest return on investment.\n2. Focus group mediums and idea generation capabilities: 2.1 In-person focus groups\n3. Methods: To compare the performance of online text-based versus traditional in-person focus groups, an experiment was designed in which participants were randomly assigned into one of two treatment groups (e.g. online or in-person focus groups) from which the number of unique ideas, average quality of ideas, variance in quality of ideas and the best ideas were identified.\n4. Measurement of performance: To assess the performance of the two treatment groups, this paper measured both the quantity and the quality of the ideas generated. The researchers identified unique ideas, which were then sent out to an expert panel for assessment of quality. As a result, the average quality, variance in quality and highest quality ideas were measured.\n5. Findings: In terms of novelty (e.g. unique and new), the results indicate a slightly lower, although not statistically significant, difference between ideas generated in online focus groups (mean = 2.07) versus in-person focus groups (mean = 2.14). In terms of usefulness (e.g. utility and value), the results indicate a slightly higher, although not statistically significant, difference between ideas generated in online focus groups (mean = 3.44) versus in-person focus groups (mean = 3.33). In terms of feasibility (e.g. whether it is implementable) the results indicate a slightly higher, although not statistically significant, difference between ideas generated in online focus groups (mean = 3.70) versus in-person focus groups (mean = 3.67). The standard deviation for all variables is consistently lower, although only slightly, for online focus groups (1.09, 0.91 and 1.04, respectively) versus in-person focus groups (1.16, 0.91 and 1.09, respectively; see Table I).\n6. Discussion and conclusions: Which data collection method can generate the best ideas for both academic and practitioner researchers? Recent literature (Schweitzer et al., 2012; Woodyatt et al., 2016) has shown that online focus groups are capable of consistently generating a similar or greater quantity of ideas when compared to traditional in-person focus groups. However, these studies focused on the richness and volume of the responses and the ideas generated rather than the quality of the ideas. The quality of the ideas generated is relevant to both academia and practitioners who invest substantial resources into the pursuit of focus groups (ESOMAR, 2014). This study represents one attempt to determine the relative value of online versus in-person focus groups. Using novelty, usefulness and feasibility as measures of quality, this study has shown that online focus groups are able to achieve a similar level of quality in ideas, both in terms of average quality and the number of good and great ideas.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to test the idea generation capabilities of online text-based focus groups as compared to the traditional in-person focus groups using sustainability in the hospitality industry as the idea generation topic. Idea generation quantity and quality are analyzed and the theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality industry are discussed.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental study tested the quality of ideas generated by online versus in-person focus groups. Participants were purposively sampled from the hospitality program at a large southeastern United States university and randomly assigned into one of two treatment groups: online text-based or traditional in-person focus groups. During both treatment groups participants generated ideas focused on sustainability in the hospitality industry.\nFindings: The online focus group generated a comparable quantity of ideas, in addition to a similar average quality of ideas and number of good ideas.\nPractical implications: The generation of ideas and the selection of opportunities drive the innovation process through which firms can strengthen their competitive advantage and maintain and grow market share and profitability. The results of this study may assist hospitality firms in determining which form of qualitative research delivers the highest return on investment by generating the best ideas at the lowest cost.\nOriginality/value: This paper breaks new ground by assessing the effectiveness of idea generation in online versus traditional focus groups, comparing both the quantity and quality of ideas generated from an experimental study that uses random assignment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An interdisciplinary approach to improve surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis	[ "Orthopaedics", "Interdisciplinary team", "Model for improvement", "Surgical prophylaxis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most common hospital-acquired infections (HAI) (Health Protection Surveillance Centre, 2012) and associated with a significant clinical and economic burden (Jenks et al., 2014). In addition to patient morbidity, SSIs are associated with prolonged hospital stay, additional procedures and medications, may require critical care management and often result in higher mortality (Weigelt et al., 2010). SSI in orthopaedic implant surgery are especially problematic, because joint space infections are particularly difficult to manage, often involving a prolonged course of antimicrobials, removal of the infected implant and a two-stage revision process (Kapadia et al., 2016).\nMethods: Our organisation is a publicly funded university teaching hospital employing 3,000 staff. The orthopaedic service is based on one ward and consists of four consultant surgeons, junior doctors, nursing staff, healthcare assistants, a ward administrator and a ward pharmacist. Orthopaedic surgery is performed in two operating theatres with consultant anaesthetists, junior doctors and anaesthetic and theatre nurses core to the peri-operative process. The interdisciplinary QI team leading this project consisted of a medical student (OC), a consultant microbiologist (FF), orthopaedic surgeon (CD), ward clinical nurse manager (NC), surgical clinical director (DMcN), chair of the hospital antimicrobial stewardship committee (KB) and an antimicrobial pharmacist (LG). This team worked in conjunction with the orthopaedic surgeons, anaesthetists, ward and theatre nursing staff and the surgical directorate management team. The QI project took place over 32 weeks (14 June 2016-31 January 2017) and complied with the hospitals code of practice. We used the framework of the SQUIRE guidelines (Ogrinc et al., 2016) in preparation of this manuscript.\nResults: The QI project took place from the week of 14 June 2016 to 31 January 2017. Data were collected over 29 weeks with no data collected over the Christmas period (weeks of 12 and 27 December and 3 January). In total, SAP administered in 168 orthopaedic surgeries was studied. Table I summarises weekly results for individual bundle components and overall bundle compliance over this period and Figure 2 illustrates compliance with all four elements of the SAP bundle related to a description of the issues that arose and interventions/PDSA cycles. Baseline data included five inpatients with one (20 per cent) meeting all four bundle elements. PDSA cycles began from week two (21 June) after the proportion of patients meeting the guidelines decreased to zero.\nDiscussion: We successfully improved the proportion of SAP prescriptions in orthopaedic surgery that met all four elements of the antimicrobial component of the national SSI bundle from 20 to 78 per cent. Although overall bundle compliance did not remain at 100 per cent for the duration of the study, a gradual improvement has been made. With constant staff changeover, ongoing QI and reminders are needed at regular intervals to improve compliance with antimicrobial prescribing guidelines. Weight-based teicoplanin dosing took some time to improve. By the very nature of their injury, patients with hip fractures are difficult to weigh, requiring weight estimation for weight-based antimicrobial dosing.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to improve surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis (SAP) prescribing in orthopaedic surgery using the model for improvement framework.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Orthopaedic patients receiving joint replacements, hip fracture repairs or open-reduction internal-fixation procedures were included. Antimicrobial(s); dose, time of administration and duration of SAP were evaluated for appropriateness based on the local SAP guidelines. After baseline data collection, a driver diagram was constructed with interventions devised for plan-do-study-act cycles. Data were fed back weekly using a point prevalence design (PPD). Interventions included SAP guideline changes, reminders and tools to support key messages.\nFindings: SAP in 168 orthopaedic surgeries from 15 June 2016 to 31 January 2017 was studied. Prescribing appropriateness improved from 20 to 78 per cent. Junior doctor changeover necessitated additional education and reminders.\nPractical implications: Due to constant staff changeover; continuous data collection, communication, education and reminders are essential to ensure continuous compliance with clinical guidance. Patients with hip fractures are difficult to weigh, requiring weight estimation for weight-based antimicrobial dosing. Unintended consequences of interventions included the necessity to change pre-operative workflow to accommodate reconstitution time of additional antimicrobials and inadvertent continuation of new antimicrobials post-operatively.\nOriginality/value: Rather than perform the traditional retrospective focused audit, we established a prospective, continuous, interventional quality improvement (QI) project focusing on internal processes within the control of the project team with rapid cyclical changes and interventions. The weekly PPD was pragmatic and enabled the QI project to be sustained with no additional resources.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Internationalization market and higher education field: institutional perspectives	[ "Middle East", "Higher education", "Jordan", "Institutional perspective", "Internationalization market" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Over the last few decades, the growth of internationalization as a critical phase of higher education (HE) is often attributed to the modern cycle of globalization that emerged at the turn of the 1980s, which now appears in departure in the outcome of the Great Recession of 2007-2008. The globalization cycle of the late twentieth century should be understood both as a historical process and an ideological project. The first incorporates the growth of new ICT and their propensities to compress time and space and intensify the rapidity of flows from capital to commodities to cultures, images to ideologies to institutions, values to viruses to violence and people to pathologies to pollutants. The rise of China and the other emerging economies as key players in the world economy is an equally significant part of the process of globalization. As an ideological project, globalization has been manifested by neoliberalism, the achievement of the gospel of free market fundamentalism that was articulated in different regional and national idioms (Zeleza, 2012; Alsharari, 2017a, 2018a).\nInternationalization markets: The internationalization of HE is not new fashion. Indeed, the ancient universities of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe were designed and served as regional communities of learning and scholarship. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most universities established in the colonial world were by and large exports from the major European imperial powers. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union and USA exported their models as well. Undoubtedly, models of HE reflect the prevailing geopolitical hegemonies and international division of labor. The most influential imperial European models were those of Spain, France and Britain. The new universities created after independence often replicated the institutional structures, instructional practices and intellectual values of their colonial predecessors and imperial models. Across much of Africa, at the turn of the twenty-first century instructional languages, practices and materials, as well as managerial systems and nomenclature, modes of academic organization, research methodologies, paradigms and themes remained aligned with the patterns and trends in Europe. The same was true in several postcolonial Asian countries and Middle East countries. To be sure, the persistence of the colonial and imperial models varied among countries, and struggles were waged for the decolonization of HE with varying levels of intensity and success (Zeleza, 2012; Alsharari, 2017a, b, 2018a, b).\nInstitutional perspectives and internationalization: In the 1970s, a new approach to institutional analysis was established by Meyer and Rowan (1977) and Zucker, who emphasized the role of culture and cognition in institutional analysis. From a macro-perspective, Meyer and Rowan (1977) emphasized the role of transformation in rationalizing taken-for-granted rules, leading to isomorphism in the formal structures of organizations. Organizations had to conform to the requirements of external environments for legitimacy, meaning that parts of organizations had to be loosely coupled with their technical core. From a micro-perspective, Zucker stressed the taken-for-granted nature of institutions and the role of cultural persistence as a measure of institutionalization (Alsharari, 2013, 2016a, b; 2017a, b, 2018a, b; Alsharari et al., 2015).\nResearch methodology: This paper aims to explore the internationalization market of HE globally. It examines the internationalization status of HE in Jordan as influenced by institutional perspectives as an example from developing countries. This paper uses a quantitative research design that includes a statistical and SWOT analysis of HE in Jordan. Data were collected from different courses: documents and archival records, websites analysis, surveys, interviews and an SWOT analysis. The latter has been constructed as a picture of internationalized education in the Jordan that can be used as a basis for decision making and strategies for HEIs. The paper contributes to the internationalization of HE literature by identifying factors as well as circumstances that facilitate and resistant the practical implementation of internationalization.\nInternationalization progress of higher education in Jordan: The HE in Jordan plays a key role in the process of comprehensive development toward internationalization at various levels and in many areas. The HE in Jordan has witnessed a significant progress in terms of the diversity of university programs, the patterns of teaching and learning that control both the quality and quantity and the expansion of HE institutes. Despite the limited financial and human resources in the Jordan, HE lies within the priorities of the country due to the role it plays in promoting the economic, social and knowledge level of the Jordanian citizens.\nThe analysis and discussion: Internationalization process: developments and progress steps\nThe statistical analysis of internationalization indicators: Internationalization strategy can be vague, as inputs for decision making comprise of multiple definitions and activities. University staff are handicapped by the lack of a common understanding of the notion and consequent expectations (Deca et al., 2015). Operational definitions of internationalization remain vague and ambiguous (Alsharari, 2018a). Alsharari (2018a) claimed that there is no natural, exclusive and comprehensive meaning that can apply to internationalization because it appears to be a logical development of universities' traditional obligations to disseminate and exchange knowledge, and moreover, it is widely considered an innovative response to external marketing opportunities, similarly to other tradeable products. Recently, internationalization has become a voguish notion in HE because of the prevailing lack of delineation, which may have an impact on effective process and governance.\nSWOT analysis of higher education internationalization: The SWOT analysis was initially used as a tool to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of organizations and identify the opportunities and threats in their external environment (Alsharari, 2017a, b, 2018a, b). Prior to formulating a strategy for the development of HE in an international context, an SWOT analysis can play a significant role in revealing the status of the organization and recognizing precisely what information will most usefully contribute to decision making at the organizational level (Alsharari, 2017a, b, 2018a, b). Likewise, it also provides a solid foundation for the organization's products and services in a competitive environment (Biancamaria et al., 2016). In Dyson (2004, p. 632) explanation of SWOT analysis:[...] strengths and weaknesses are identified by an internal appraisal of the organization and the opportunities and threats by an external assessment. The internal assessment examines all aspects of the organization covering, for example, personnel, facilities, location, products, and services, to identify the organization's strengths and weaknesses. The external appraisal scans the political, economic, social, technological and competitive environment to (or \"intending to\") identifying opportunities and threats.\nConclusions: The internationalization status in Jordan HE is still in its embryonic stage. The HE should take serious steps toward the internationalization including the admission of international students, foreign postgraduate students, international accreditation, global ranking, online education and smart education. These steps will help the universities leaders to improve their universities position internationally and financially. Claims abound about the benefits of internationalization for students' learning and development. Internationalized curricula is expected to provide students what is variously called intercultural sensitivity, competence, maturity or literacy, global learning, consciousness, and citizenship, or grounded globalism. It is argued that such an education can produce international environmental citizens able of coping with an interdependent, multicultural and environmentally vulnerable world (Zeleza, 2012; Alsharari, 2018a).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the internationalization market of higher education (HE) globally and HE field. It examines the internationalization status of HE in Jordan as influenced by institutional perspectives as an example from developing countries.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a quantitative research design that includes a statistical and SWOT analysis of HE in Jordan. Data were collected from different courses: documents and archival records, websites analysis, surveys, interviews with professors and administrators, and an SWOT analysis as well as TOWS matrix. The latter has been constructed as a picture of internationalized education in the Jordan that can be used as a basis for decision making and strategies for higher education institutions (HEIs).\nFindings: The study findings reveal that it is important for Jordan to endorse itself as an \"education hub\" in the Middle East and to educate its community to the level of skills required by globalization. The challenges of internationalizing HE are revealed by the SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix that highlight a wide range of opportunities and strengths that encourages the Jordan HE system to accelerate internationalization. The opportunities include overall improvement in the quality of education, the diffusion of technology and creating a globally competent workforce. The internationalization status in Jordan HE is still in its embryonic stage. The HE should take serious steps toward the internationalization including admission of international students, foreign postgraduate students, international accreditation, global ranking, online education and smart education. These steps will help the universities leaders to improve their universities position internationally and financially.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings reveal implications for HE policy and strategy in the development of internationalized HE in the Jordan. The study shows how SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix can provide a solid platform against which particular case studies can be measured in terms of opportunities for and challenges of development. It also provides institutional perspectives with practical implications, focusing on some of the critical issues in this developing field for HE policy and strategy alike. A major threat to the Jordan progress in developing its HE sector identified in this study is external accreditation being seen as a signal of high quality, when more realistic standards are perhaps more relevant to the local population.\nOriginality/value: The paper is one of the very few studies in the area of the internationalization of HE in the Jordan that can contribute to the sustainability of the international dimension of HEIs. The opportunities and threats recognized in this paper can inform strategy for more balanced development of the Jordan's internationalized HE, and for raising the quality of education overall.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effect of consumer emotions on outcome behaviors following service failure	[ "Emotions", "Service failures", "Negative word-of-mouth", "Reconciliation", "Repatronage intentions", "Share-of-wallet" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Service failures are simply unavoidable. \"No matter how much effort the firm puts into service quality assurance, it is not possible to entirely eliminate service errors\" (Harrison-Walker, 2012, p. 115). This is in great part because of the characteristics of heterogeneity and simultaneous production and consumption that are inherent to services. When failures occur, customers experience any of several negative emotions and these emotions will partly determine the subsequent behavior in relation to the service provider, such as negative word-of-mouth (WOM) and repurchase intentions (Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004).\nEmotional responses to service failure: Scholars tend to define a service failure as a situation where a service provider does not meet customer expectations in terms of its service products or engages in service behaviors that customers evaluate as unsatisfactory (Lin, 2006). The occurrence of the service failure elicits a negative emotional response on the part of the wronged customer (del Rio-Lanza et al., 2009; Folkes et al., 1987). As noted by Maute and Dube (1999, p.350), an increasing interest in emotions following service failure:\nThe effect of negative emotions on behavioral outcomes: \"In marketing, the few available studies support the idea that the specific emotion that is experienced by consumers affects their subsequent behaviors\" (Wetzer et al., 2007, p. 663). For example, anger is associated with negative WOM (Wetzer et al., 2007), while sadness is not (Nyer, 1997). Given that a customer may experience any of a variety of emotions following a service failure, it's important to understand how behavioral outcomes are affected by different emotions (Harrison-Walker, 2012). That is, distinguishing between specific emotions seems to be important in gaining deeper insights into the behavioral outcomes (Wetzer et al., 2007; Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004).\nMethodology: We use the retrospective experience sampling method, whereby participants are asked to describe a service failure they personally experienced. Ideally, by asking respondents to describe the experience in detail, the thoughts, feelings and attitudes associated with the failure will be rekindled before they are asked to respond to survey questions (Harrison-Walker, 2019). Thinking about and developing descriptions of the service failure requires \"5-10 minutes remembering details and, to some extent reliving the experience\" (Dasu and Rao, 1999, p. 38). As noted by Bougie et al. (2003), the difference between experience sampling and critical incidents research is that in the latter, the description of a personal experience is the central focus, whereas in experience sampling the experiences are typically followed by response items.\nDiscussion of results: We began our analysis by observing the most prominent emotion experienced by consumers following service failure and subsequently identifying the emotion that was felt most intensely. These observations were made based on the finding by Wetzer et al. (2007) that anger was the most prominent, while irritation was the most intensely experienced emotion. The results of the current study were quite different. In fact, anger was actually ranked third in prominence among the six emotions included in the current study. Frustration occurred twice as often as irritation or anger. The fact that respondents mostly reported frustrating events is consistent with our hypothesis H2d that frustration would be associated with telling others about the bad experience. There could be two reasons for the finding of frustration as dominant, each of which requires empirical investigation. First, it is possible that consumers today have either a higher propensity (or a higher baseline) for frustration. AptParenting.com identifies many factors that are serving to increase frustration levels among youth in particular, including time management, pressure to be the best, overuse of technology and feelings of worthlessness (https://aptparenting.com/causes-of-frustration-among-youth-in-todays-world). Second, frustration could be more common in service encounters if perceptions of incompetence and lack of employee training are on the increase. Accordingly, the emotion of frustration needs to be included in all future research investigating emotions in a service failure context.\nManagerial implications: Researchers have argued that anger is the most important emotion to investigate in services failure and recovery research (Bougie et al., 2003; Kalamas et al., 2008; Kozub et al., 2014; Wetzer et al., 2007). Based on the current research, anger may be one of the most important emotions to investigate but it is not the most common. Our findings show that over twice as many consumers feel frustrated rather than angered by service failures and that customers feel frustration considerably more strongly than anger. There may be some good news in these findings for service providers. Frustration occurs when the service failure is seen as environmentally caused, while anger occurs when the customer blames the service provider for the failure (Roseman and Smith, 2001) as deliberate and intentional (Harrison-Walker, 2012). Frustrated customers recognize that the service failure is beyond anyone's direct control (Gelbrich, 2010) at the time of occurrence, yet, according to the current research, customers still spread negative WOM to others. This has serious implications for effective service failure recovery. The service provider may be ineffective apologizing for the failure to the extent that it is beyond its control; rather, customers will be more satisfied with clarification (as needed) as to why the incident happened (e.g. inclement weather, unexpected shortage of personnel) and an empathetic apology for the inconvenience caused to the customer (e.g. flight delay). The service provider should go the extra mile to reduce any further or additional inconvenience to the customer (e.g. automatic rebooking of connecting flights at the gate instead of a centralized ticketing counter; offering to contact the rental car company at the customer's destination to advise of the delay; adequate charging stations and complimentary Wi-Fi for customers to wait out the delay; an airline beverage service provided at the gate; regular updates visibly posted and announced as to weather conditions and expected flight times). The focus should be on reducing the inconvenience caused to customers by events beyond the service provider's immediate control. While the emotion of frustration may still be conveyed to friends and family, the story about the weather and delay will likely be supplemented with compliments to the service provider who went above and beyond to be empathetic and ease the situation.\nImplications for future research: The findings of this study suggest several implications for future research. First, rather than limiting the WOM measure to negative WOM, researchers should use the measures of WOM Praise and WOM Activity (Harrison-Walker, 2001). In this manner, not only valence but also measures such as frequency and number of contacts can be incorporated.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of emotions that consumers experience following service failures and to assess the effects of each of these emotions on important behavioral outcomes.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper extends the work of Wetzer et al. (2007) and draws upon the existing literature to test a series of research hypotheses tying emotions to four important behavioral outcomes primarily using stepwise regression.\nFindings: When a service failure occurs, customers experience any of a variety of negative emotions. The effect on behavioral outcomes depends on the specific emotion experienced by the consumer. The current research, which benefits by using retrospective experience sampling, finds that frustration is the predominant emotion experienced by customers following service failure, but that anger, regret and frustration affect behavioral outcomes. Uncertainty also plays a role.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future research should investigate the antecedents of propensity for emotions and predisposition toward industries, as well as the consequences of word-of-mouth (WOM) praise and WOM activity. Additionally, emotions could be examined by service stage. Several other moderators could be investigated, including severity, complaining behavior, repeat occurrence, service importance, remedies and forgiveness, product vs process failures, tenure, gender and age.\nPractical implications: The current research emphasizes the importance of understanding which emotion is being experienced by a customer following service failure to identify the behavioral outcomes that will be most impacted. The specific managerial implications depend upon the specific emotional response experienced by the customer and are discussed separately for anger, regret and frustration. Service personnel must be trained to recognize and address specific customer emotions rather than to provide a canned or generalized response.\nOriginality/value: To date, there has been little, if any, systematic research into the effects of multiple discrete negative emotions on multiple desirable behavioral outcomes. The current study examines six discrete emotions. Predominant emotions are differentiated from emotional intensity. The behavioral outcomes of reconciliation and reduced share-of-wallet are added to the traditional outcomes of repatronage intentions and negative WOM. While existing research tends to rely on a scenario approach, this study uses the retrospective experience sampling method. The authors distinguish between mixed emotions and multiple emotions. The relative effects of disappointment and regret are examined for each of the four outcomes. Finally, importance-performance map analysis was applied to the findings to prioritize managerial attention. Numerous managerial and research implications are identified.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Calculating top event probability of a fault tree with many repeated events	[ "Probability calculations", "Risk assessment", "Trees (mathematics)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Fault trees are used widely in quantitative risk assessments. Although obtaining the exact top event probability is an important analysis in the assessments, it is a difficult problem for a reasonably large-scale system with a complex structure, such as a chemical plant, a nuclear reactor, an airplane and so on. The main factor in this difficulty is the existence of repeated events. If there are no repeated events, a bottom-up algorithm (Lee et al., 1985) can be used to obtain the top event probability. In this case, even if the scale of the fault tree is enormous, the analysis is simple.For the trees with repeated events, many researchers have proposed efficient algorithms to obtain exact or approximate top event probabilities (Lee et al., 1985). These algorithms are classified roughly into two groups. One approach for this problem is using a factoring method (Heger et al., 1995; Nakashima and Hattori, 1977) in order to decrease the number of repeated events. Dutuit and Rauzy (1996) proposed an efficient algorithm, named linear time algorithm, to search modules and the module top events in a fault tree. A module is an independent subtree whose terminal events do not occur elsewhere in the tree. Finding the modules and their module top events reduces the computational cost. The factoring algorithms are adopted in order to reduce the tree by application of Bayes' formula and to reduce the problem to the computations of fault trees containing less number of repeated events. In this case, it is an important problem to decide which events should be selected for factoring.The other is using the Boolean function. In this approach, the main effort is to find the structural representation of the top event in terms of the basic events. Finding the minimal cut sets is one way of accomplishing this step. Several algorithms (Rasnuson and Marshall, 1978; Garribba et al., 1977) to find minimal cut sets are proposed. After all minimal cut sets are found, the inclusion-exclusion method is used to calculate the exact top event probability or its upper and lower bounds. For a large-scale fault tree, however, the Boolean approach tends to get into computational difficulties. Because large trees lead to a large number of Boolean indicators which must be examined, computational time becomes prohibitive when all combinations of Boolean indicators are being investigated. A truncation methods is useful to obtain the approximate top event probability for a large-scale system (Modarres and Dezfuli, 1984). Traditionally, two types of truncation are used: one is based on the number of basic events in one minimal cut set, and the other is on the probability of minimal cut set. And a truncation method for obtaining the upper and lower bounds of top event probabilities is used too. In this case, the Boolean indicators with low probability are truncated in order to reduce the computation time. These methods are effective when the basic event probabilities in a tree are small enough or the tree does not contain many repeated events. However, if the tree contains events with large probabilities, events characterizing human error and some natural phenomena are typical examples, and if the tree has many repeated events, such truncation methods are inappropriate and lead to erroneous results.In this paper we present a method for calculating the exact top event probability for a large-scale fault tree containing many repeated events when all the cut sets are given. In this case the top event is represented by using minimal cut sets. And the exact top event probability is given by the inclusion-exclusion expression. The main idea in our method is expressing the top event probability by using only non-canceling terms. The conventional inclusion-exclusion expression contains many canceling terms which do not contribute to the top event probability. If we can enumerate only non-canceling terms, the computational effort to calculate top event probability is reduced substantially. This method is an application of Satyanarayana's topological formula proposed for the analysis of network reliability (Satyanarayana and Prabhakar, 1978) and the first one to improve procedures to calculate the exact top event probability using only inclusion-exclusion method in fault tree analysis. Furthermore, this method can be applied to obtain the upper and lower bounds of top event probabilities easily. The bounds are more accurate than the conventional method because these values are derived only by the non-canceling terms. Furthermore, the truncation method enables us to estimate the potential error associated with the truncation. An efficient algorithm to generate only non-canceling terms is presented. And some numerical examples are shown.\n2. Notations: Te: top event.\n3. Top event probability: When a fault tree model of a system is given, its Te can be represented as the union of C~i of the system: Equation 1 Using the inclusion-exclusion rule, the exact value of Pr{Te} can be calculated: Equation 2 For a large-scale tree, however, this method might not be computationally feasible because the number of terms in equation (2) increases exponentially with n. However, equation (2) is equivalent to equation (3) that is represented by using P(Ei): Equation 3 Here, di is the domination of subset Ei, and is a coefficient of P(Ei) considering the number of canceling terms.3.1. Example\n4. Enumeration algorithm: In this section, three algorithms are proposed in order to calculate top event probability. One algorithm generates sets Hih which express the condition of cancellation. The second generates only non-canceling terms and calculates the exact top event probability. The last one modifies the second one in order to calculate lower and upper bounds of top event probability.4.1. Inclusion algorithm\n5. Numerical examples: The following two system models are shown in order to confirm the effectiveness of our method. The common assumptions in this section are m=n, pi =0.01+ 0.001i, i=1, 2, ... , m and all cut sets have k basic events:1. Consecutive model. A circular consecutive k-out-of-n:F system, namely the cut sets are defined as C1= {e1, e2, e3}, C2= {e2, e3, e4}, ... , C30={e30, e1, e2} if k=3, n=30.2. Random model. The basic events in every minimal cut sets are decided randomly by the random number. Naturally, all minimal cut sets are distinct and all basic events must appear at least once. This random model is simulated 50 times for one fault tree.Tables III and IV show the enumeration results of exact calculation. In Table IV, \"Ave\" shows the average computation time and the average number of generated non-canceling terms for the tree model. And \"Min\" (\"Max\") show the shortest( longest) computation time within 50 samples, and its non-canceling terms and top event probability. For any n, the larger the parameter k becomes, the more the tree becomes complex. As a result, the proposed method becomes effective because of the increase of canceling terms and the computation time becomes less. Table IV shows that the computation time depends on the structure of a tree. The examples shown in this section are fairly complex because we add an assumption of n=m. However, we think it is possible in real fault trees that the number of basic events is reduced as a result of a simplification technique which is done by merging two non-repeated inputs into a single one.Table V shows the enumeration results of truncation method when bound width, v, is given as 1.0 x 10-9. The truncation method is useful for large size models.\n6. Conclusion: In this paper, we proposed a method to calculate exact top event probabilities and lower and upper bounds probabilities of fault trees containing many repeated events. This method is effective especially for trees with complex structure. We showed the exact probabilities of fault trees with 30 to 60 repeated events in numerical examples. This enumeration method can be applied to obtain the approximated top event probability easily by truncating the terms with small probability. Of course the approximated value is more accurate than that given by the usual inclusion-exclusion method. However, as for the exact value, if the structure of a tree is not so complex the benefit is little. And if the number of repeated events is more, the analysis strikes a snag of computational difficulty. For such a non-complex tree or a huge scale tree, it is believed that a combination of factoring method and the one proposed in this paper is more effective.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Calculating the exact top event probability of fault trees is an important analysis in quantitative risk assessments. However, it is a difficult problem for the trees with complex structure. Therefore, the paper aims to provide an efficient calculation method to obtain an exact top event probability of a fault tree with many repeated events when the minimal cut sets of the tree model are given.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The method is based on the inclusion-exclusion method. Generally, the inclusion-exclusion method tends to get into computational difficulties for a large-scale fault tree. The computation time has been reduced by enumerating only non-canceling terms.\nFindings: - The method enables the calculation of the probability more quickly than the conventional method. The effect increases as the number of repeated events increases, namely the tree structure becomes complex. This method also can be applied to obtain the lower and upper bounds of the top event probability easily.\nOriginality/value: - The paper expresses the top event probability by using only non-canceling terms. This is the first application in fault tree analysis.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceptions of politics and fairness in merit pay	[ "Performance related pay", "Performance appraisal", "Organizational politics", "Individual perception", "Government departments", "Finland" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Merit pay refers to the process of distributing employee pay increases, based on how well each employee performs at work - often determined by supervisory performance appraisal (Heneman, 1992). Despite the overall popularity of merit pay practices and wide support for the principle of paying for individual performance, researchers are troubled by the fact that merit pay seems to often be ineffective in producing the desired outcomes, such as enhanced motivation and productivity (Heneman and Werner, 2006; Gerhart and Rynes, 2003; Rynes et al., 2005). Thus, most employees like the idea of being compensated based on their performance, but are often suspicious about whether a merit pay system has any motivational value in practice because of the numerous implementation problems (Marsden and Richardson, 1994; Harris, 2001). These problems include the difficulty in creating measures for individual performance in interdependent work contexts, limited pay budgets available for merit increases because of the annuity effect (merit increases become fixed part of salary), as well as problems getting supervisors to provide credible performance assessments for administrative purposes (for a discussion, see Campbell et al., 1998; Beer and Cannon, 2004; Perry et al., 2008; Kellough and Lu, 1993).\n1. Theoretical foundations: 1.1. Defining organizational politics\n2. Methodology: 2.1. Participants and procedure\n3. Results: Correlations between demographics and survey scales are reported in Table II. There are significant mean level differences between the three organizations (according to one-way ANOVA in SPSS 16.0) in perceptions of politics in pay decisions, voice in pay system development, distributive justice, and pay system effectiveness, but not with regard to the perceptions of politics in performance appraisal (see Table III). It is notable that the pay system was perceived on average as not only ineffective, but having negative, undesired effects in the first and second organizations (means -0.26 and -014 on a scale from -2 to +2). However, the pay system was perceived on average as somewhat effective in the third organization (mean 0.08).Hierarchical regression analyses (in SPSS 16.0) were used to analyze the relations between perceptions of politics, fairness, and pay system effectiveness (see Table IV). The control variables: organization, age, gender, education, and the pay position of the respondent (job-based pay, merit pay, and pay change) were entered in the first step. The politics and fairness related variables were centered, and entered in the second step. Perceptions of favoritism in performance appraisal (b=-0.14, p < 0.05), politics in pay decisions (b=-0.42, p < 0.001), and distributive justice (b=0.17, p < 0.01) significantly predicted pay system effectiveness. However, perceptions of compression in performance appraisal (b=0.02, ns) and voice in pay system development (b=0.06, ns) did not significantly predict pay system effectiveness. Thus, H1, H3, and H4 are supported but H2 and H5 are not supported.The interaction terms were entered in the third step. As both of the interaction terms were statistically significant, we plotted the interactions (see Figures 2 and 3). In line with H6 (a), pay system effectiveness was lowest (actually the system was perceived to have negative effects) when there was a high level of politics in pay decisions and a low level of distributive justice. The pay system was perceived most effective when there was a low level of politics in pay decisions regardless of the level of distributive justice, providing only partial support for H6 (b). In line with H7 (b), the pay system effectiveness was highest (system is perceived to bring about positive results) when there was a low level of politics in pay decisions and a high level of voice. When there was a high level of politics in pay decisions, the pay system was deemed least effective regardless of the level of voice in pay system development. The results provide partial support for H7 (a). In total, politics and fairness variables account for 34 percent of the variance in pay system effectiveness.We conducted supplemental post hoc analyses to examine to what extent there are political and fairness sub-climates (Treadway et al., 2005) on the unit level (here 26 units) in addition to the organizational level. According to our analysis (ANOVA in SPSS), there were no significant mean differences in politics in pay decisions and distributive justice on the unit level (in addition to the organizational level, see Table III). However, there were statistically significant mean differences in voice in pay system development [F (24, 282)=2.09, p < 0.01] and pay system effectiveness [F(23, 250)=1.96, p < 0.05] on the unit level (in addition to differences on the organizational level). There were no significant mean differences with regard to favoritism in performance appraisal or compression in performance appraisal among units or organizations, suggesting that these phenomena only occur at the supervisor-subordinate dyad level.\n4. Discussion: Merit pay systems are often implemented and maintained because they are assumed to be an effective way of attracting, motivating, and retaining employees. The espoused benefits of these plans, their widespread use, and the assumption that they can ultimately increase the performance of organizations have been well documented (Gerhart and Rynes, 2003). Although such systems are designed to motivate job performance and align employer interests with those of employees', the potential for them to also be incubators for political activity raises the possibility that their noble purposes may, in actual practice, be subverted by the political behavior of the superiors in their performance appraisal process and the organizational decision making over pay.One of the main goals of this study was to enhance our understanding of politics in pay for performance systems by studying employee perceptions in a work setting where a new merit pay system had recently been implemented. As Murphy and Cleveland (1995) have noted, the goals being pursued by raters are critically important for understanding the inaccuracy of performance appraisals. We approached the challenge from the employee perspective. We find that in the same fashion as employees have been found to make attributions about the purposes of human resource practices (Nishii et al., 2008), different forms of (or motives for) political behavior that cause inaccuracy in the merit pay process are likely to be perceived as detrimental or neutral by the employees.According to our results, the higher levels of politics employees perceived in pay decision-making, the less effective the pay system was perceived in achieving its objectives. Also a high level of favoritism in performance appraisal was related to low levels of pay system effectiveness, as expected. However, we expected compression in performance appraisal (such as in anticipation of evenly distributed pay raises that would preserve group climate), would be perceived as effective since it might be considered to further the interests of the employees as individuals or as a group (Altman et al., 1985). We did not find support for this notion, but nevertheless, we would like to emphasize that the compression in performance appraisal was not perceived as having a negative impact on pay system effectiveness either. These results are in line with previous research that found that when employees perceived performance ratings to be manipulated for the purpose of rewarding employees (or avoiding negative outcomes for them), and promoting a positive workgroup climate (by avoiding situations that would create resentments and conflicts), their job satisfaction and turnover intention were not affected (Poon, 2004).The most important goal of our study was to answer the call by Ferris et al. (1995) to explore under what conditions politics and fairness can be considered antithetical (i.e. politics can be considered as a form of bias, a violation of the justice rules), and when they are interactively associated with outcomes. Aligned with previous research, our study supports the contention that organizational politics and fairness are distinct constructs (Andrews and Kacmar, 2001; Aryee et al., 2004) that interact in predicting social exchange outcomes (Byrne, 2005; Harris et al., 2007), such as the extent to which a pay system is considered effective in motivating goal achievement. First, based on equity and procedural justice theory, we hypothesized that distributive justice and voice in pay system development would predict pay system effectiveness (over and above) politics-variables. We find partial support for this, since distributive justice significantly predicted pay system effectiveness but voice did not.Second, based on social exchange theory, we expected that politics and fairness would be interactively associated with the effectiveness of the pay system. Aligned with our hypothesis, there was an interaction between organizational politics and distributive justice such that the merit pay system was deemed to have a negative impact when there was both a high level of politics and a low level of distributive justice. There also was a significant interaction between organizational politics and voice in pay system development in predicting pay system effectiveness. Voice mattered in a situation where there was a low level of politics. Previous research has found that voice matters when people expect to have the opportunity to express their views to decision-makers, value this freedom, and people perceive their listeners to be treating them respectfully (Shapiro and Brett, 2005). The results of this study suggest that in a highly political environment employees are less likely to believe that authorities are sincere and considerate, and thus, voice is positively related to pay system effectiveness only in a low politics environment.Taken as a whole, the results of this study suggest that some forms of organizational politics might be perceived as more detrimental than others, and that employee perceptions of pay system effectiveness depends on both politics and fairness. Both longitudinal and comparative research is needed to determine the conditions under which merit pay systems are seen as threats and the conditions under which they are seen as opportunities. For example, Harrell-Cook et al. (1999) found that individuals who perceive their organizational environments to be highly political engage in political behavior as a mechanism of control through which their situation is made \"more bearable\". Furthermore, it is possible that in a highly political environment only those employees that behave politically \"win\" and get pay raises. It is notable that very few studies directly examine exchange processes--or the \"black box\" of social exchange (Cropanzano and Mitchell, 2005). We hope this study will encourage further research on the impact of the different forms of political agenda on employee social exchange considerations.4.1. Limitations and implications for future research\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper aims to look into employee perceptions of politics and fairness in a work setting where a new merit pay system had recently been implemented.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The results are based on employee survey responses from three governmental organizations (n=367) that had implemented analogous merit pay systems.\nFindings: - Hierarchical moderated regression results indicated that perceptions of politics and fairness distinctively and interactively predicted whether the pay system was perceived effective in achieving its objectives. The results suggest that some forms of politics in performance appraisals (e.g. compression) might be perceived less detrimental than others (e.g. favoritism). In a high politics environment, the pay system effectiveness varied as a function of the level of distributive justice. Voice in the pay system development only mattered in a situation where there was a low level of organizational politics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - One of the main limitations of this study is its reliance on cross-sectional data. Future research should complement employee perceptions about pay system effectiveness with objective data from the organizations studied. Research on the effect of contextual factors, such as national culture on the motives, in and reactions to, organizational politics, is desired.\nPractical implications: - The result suggests that the adopted merit pay systems were not ineffective or detrimental per se, but that the effectiveness varied as a function of the established political and fairness climates at different levels of the organization.\nOriginality/value: - This study contributes to the discussion on what are the conditions under which politics and fairness are antithetical, and when they are interactively associated with outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

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