Split (2)

train · 145k rows

title stringlengths 6 301	keywords listlengths 0 23	messages listlengths 2 2
A real child in a virtual world: Exploring whether children's participation in MMORPGs transforms them into virtual retail shoppers	[ "Gender differences", "Motivations", "Children", "Online games", "Social development", "Virtual communities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Digital and online games are a significant part of today's world with industry analysts predicting that the global games market will touch close to $100 billion in 2016 (NEWZOO, 2016). In today's digital world, children are also exposed to a variety of gaming applications that include advergames, virtual worlds, mobile-based game apps and multiplayer online battle arena's (i.e. MOBA's). However, research suggests that commercial massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) - online computer games that draw together players from all over the world - have come to dominate the digital entertainment industry, particularly for children and adolescents (Magnussen and Misfeldt, 2004; Paraskeva et al., 2010). \"Online games are structured (i.e. closed) environments that are designed around socialization, fantasy and role playing with clearly defined goals (Eisenbeiss et al., 2012)\". Modern day online games are known as MMOGs. These make suitable use of advanced technology with features containing 3D visual representations and are capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously and are necessarily played on the internet (Griffiths et al., 2003; Ng and Hastings, 2005; Yee, 2006).\nTheoretical background: The theoretical foundation for this study is based upon research from a variety of disciplines and areas including consumer behaviour, developmental psychology, cyber psychology and virtual communities. Our study aims to check whether children's online play and participation in MMORPGs is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour given age related and gender differences. More specifically we question the possibility that current gaming trends that have led to the expansion of MMORPGs lead to this development. In order to analyse these consequences of playing in MMORPGs, we argue that it is necessary to start from children's motivations. They will help us understand children's expectations from the game experience and the subsequent strategies implemented to achieve the objectives. Thus, the second part of this literature review examines the basic typology of motivations to play in MMORPGs as identified with adults - the only current target analysed. Finally, we discuss children's social and consumer development as well as gender differences.\nMethodology: Two different types of qualitative methods were implemented to collect the data - focus groups and in-depth interviews. The main objective of multiple research phases and types of data sources is to deepen the understanding of children's motivations. Moreover each qualitative method of data collection has unique strengths and weaknesses, but methodological triangulation and investigator triangulation can improve the way research questions are answered (Hall and Rist, 1999). So, it was expected that the use of different types of research methods in the two phases would serve to lessen their respective drawbacks.\nEmerging findings: To illustrate our key findings, we present vignettes or quotations from children across the two phases of research. Although the focus groups began by asking the students to design their notion of the perfect online game, we have taken the results from the second part of the focus group where children have discussed all that they do while playing their favourite online game. Taken together, the quotations illustrated and discussed are chosen for their ability to point towards plausible theoretical insights, through either their representativeness of major themes or, in a few instances, their distinctiveness. The findings are structured according to four categories: extension of the typology of children's motivations to participate in online games given the current trends in online gaming; support for the primary typology of motivations to participate in online games in the child context; revealed differences of the typology of motivations to participate in online games, comparing children with adults; and gender differences in motivations. Relative attention to these categories is commensurate with our study goals. Further, all the findings are analysed and interpreted in light of literature on children's social and consumer development and gender differences.\nDiscussion: The data highlights how current trends and issues in online gaming such as the increasingly social nature of such games and virtual purchases within online games, can lead to an extension of such motivations into virtual retail shopping motivations. Indeed the study findings clearly show that these children will begin to display an increased \"teamwork\" component of social motivations to participate in online gaming communities; although with some differences compared to those hypothesized for adults. These children have the developmental capacity to understand the concepts outlining such motivations, which are in fact related to relationship building with other community members (Cole, 1996; Rogoff, 2003; Selman, 1980), but these children have an individualistic reasoning behind displaying these group level motivations as it would help them in reaching their individual goals. Further, they will also begin to display added value motivations reflected in the growing tendency of online gamers to engage in virtual purchases, due to interpersonal influence within the online gaming environment, as has been hypothesized for adults. Similar to social motivations these children are able to apprehend the concepts outlining such motivations, which are in effect related once again to the social aspects of life, the need for consumption in order to achieve all that, and finally the role of interpersonal influence in consumption (John, 1999, 2008). Hence, possessions acquired through virtual purchases seem to be of primary importance for these children while participating in online games, especially due to peers' influences inside online gaming communities. By acquiring objects, children conform to online peers and feel part of the community, just the way that they do in the real world. That way, children show their differences from the others who are not part of the group.\nManagerial implications: First, children between eight and 12 years of age are active consumers (influencers and buyers) for all companies and current online games that provide virtual in-game money for different achievements provide the perfect setting for better understanding of children's motivations and behaviour regarding virtual retail shopping. So companies must allow recognition for success by providing specific and recognizable items that show power in the case of boys and high status in the case of girls.\nSocial implications: Virtual worlds and online games such as MMORPGS move children into a world where the distinction between real life and simulation may not be clear (Subrahmanyam et al., 2000). Therefore, the effects of playing violent games or leading a virtual life that encompasses virtual purchases must be understood, as the boundaries between real and virtual may be blurred.\nLimitations and future research: First, the focus groups and in-depth interviews used to detail the extension of children's motivations to participate in online gaming communities are based on 20 children from France. However, this project's goal is not the breadth of knowledge about children's motivations to participate in online gaming communities, but rather the depth of the knowing (Ji, 2002). Therefore, this does not overshadow the study's merits.\nConclusion: Despite the criticality of examining whether children's participation in MMORPGs children's mind-set and motivations for retail activities in this unique retail setting, there has been a dearth of empirical research on this issue. This research contributes to fill this knowledge gap and results show that children's motivations to participate in online gaming are getting extended into very gender-specific virtual retail shopping motivations due to current gaming trends.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether children's online play and participation in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviours. This exploratory study also examines the influence of age-related differences in children's social and consumer development vs adults and gender on this.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study was conducted using two focus groups and ten in-depth interviews with 20 French children between the ages of eight and 12 years.\nFindings: Results show that children's online play and participation in MMORPG communities is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour through the purchase of virtual tools and accessories by all children using virtual in-game money. But these motivations are very gender specific due to the overarching importance of gender-specific motivations for achievement. Boys engage in virtual retail shopping because they need in-game progress and power gains, while girls engage in virtual retail shopping because they need social status enhancement.\nResearch limitations/implications: Research should be conducted on children in different age groups. All aspects of the process and consequences of children's participation in online gaming communities should be examined more comprehensively. Quantitative research is required. Results may also vary with country and cultural context.\nPractical implications: First, children between eight and 12 years of age are active consumers (influencers and buyers) for all companies. MMORPGs provide the perfect setting for better understanding of children's motivations and behaviour regarding virtual retail shopping because they provide virtual in-game money for different achievements that children use to engage in such behaviour. Second, MMORPG companies can benefit by taking into account gender differences in children's motivations and the importance of the games' social dimensions and interactions when designing the games.\nSocial implications: First, the risks of playing computer games for children in terms of playing violent games and leading a virtual life must be considered and studied carefully by public policy officials. Second, public policy officials that look into online gaming should take into account gender differences in children's motivations and the importance of the games' social dimensions and interactions when monitoring online games. These are issues that are not only developing children's abilities as social actors but may well be promoting excessive materialism aided by the formation of online peer groups.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study on children's online play and participation in MMORPGs in the consumer context and will help us to understand children's mind-set and motivations for retail activities in this unique retail setting. The study results show that children's online play and participation in MMORPGs is leading to the development of virtual retail shopping motivations and behaviour that are very gender specific unlike adults.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing sustainable urban transportation: Lesson drawing and the framing of Montreal's bikesharing policy	[ "Canada", "Cities", "Public policy", "Urban development", "Local government", "Environmentalism" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The multiplication of \"smart\", IT-based bikesharing systems available in major cities around the world is an important trend that students of transportation and urban planning should take seriously (for a recent overview, see Fishman et al., 2013; Midgley, 2011). Such systems offer short-term bicycle rental services available through automated stations, which are typically located near bus, subway, and/or train stations[1]. Bikesharing systems have clear health and environmental benefits (Rojas-Rueda et al., 2011). For instance, they can help reduce car and taxi use while encouraging physical activity among urban dwellers. Their role in public transportation is significant, as these systems are designed to reduce congestion while complementing traditional, well-established modes of urban public transportation. From this perspective, bikesharing contributes to the advent of more sustainable transportation in cities around the globe (on the emergence of the broader sustainability paradigm, see Cox and Beland, 2013). To shed light on this development, this paper studies the role of lesson-drawing and framing processes in the development of Montreal's bikesharing system, arguing that combining lesson-drawing and framing analysis improves our understanding of the policy process.\nCombining lesson drawing and framing analysis: Over the last two decades, the number of studies devoted to the role of ideas in public policy has exploded, as scholars react against purely materialist and institutional accounts of policy development to stress how the perceptions of political actors, stakeholders, and the public impact policy decisions and outcomes (Beland, 2009; Beland and Cox, 2011; Campbell, 2004; Mehta, 2011). Typically, the ideational perspective leaves room for other explanatory factors, as the goal of this perspective is not to displace existing policy approaches but rather to complement them (Padamsee, 2009). When the time comes to study policy ideas, a key problem is defining them so that it is possible to trace their role over time. This paper starts from a definition of ideas that depicts them as \"claims about descriptions of the world, causal relationships, or the normative legitimacy of certain actions\" (Parsons, 2002, p. 48). Over the years, students of ideas and public policy have explored how such claims are likely to impact policy change. For instance, according to Mark Blyth (2002), to reduce the acute uncertainty facing policymakers, new policy ideas are typically formulated or popularized during periods of perceived crisis. Another central role of policy ideas is to provide definitions of perceived problems and articulate them with particular solutions in the context of relatively stable policy paradigms (Hall, 1993). Finally, ideas can become genuine political weapons that allow policymakers and other actors to \"construct the need to reform\" (Cox, 2001) existing policy legacies or, conversely, to make a strong case against change stemming from its allegedly \"perverse\" consequences (Hirschman, 1991; Somers and Block, 2005).\nThe evolution of bikesharing systems: The integration of bicycling and public transport has become a key issue in contemporary public policy and urban planning debates. This is the case largely because \"coordinating bicycling with public transport is mutually beneficial, enhancing the benefits of both modes and encouraging more bicycling as well as more public transport use [...]. Bicycling supports public transport by extending the catchment area of transit stops far beyond walking range and at much lower cost than neighbourhood feeder buses and park-and-ride facilities for cars\" (Pucher and Buehler, 2009, p. 79). Traditional measures aimed at facilitating bike-public transport integration include the multiplication of bike parking spaces at bus stops and train stations, the installation of bike racks on buses, the development of bike spaces in train and subway cars, and the extension of bike lanes and paths (Pucher and Buehler, 2009, p. 79). Beyond its growing and positive role in connection to public transportation, bike use has a number of direct public health and environmental advantages, which help account for the current emphasis on pro-bike policies at the municipal level and beyond (de Hartog et al., 2010; Fuller et al., 2011; Woodcock et al., 2007). Considering this push for bike-friendly policies as well as the diffusion of pro-bike ideas and discourse, it is not surprising that bike use is on the rise, even in North America (Juneau and Potvin, 2010; Pucher et al., 2011), a region of the world traditionally dominated by pro-car policies and attitudes (Flink, 1988).\nLesson drawing: Montreal is a city of 1.65 million inhabitants (2011 Census data) located in the Canadian province of Quebec. The land area of the City of Montreal is 365 square kilometres, and the population density is about 4,500 people per square kilometre. Montreal has relatively warm summers (average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius in July) but cold, snowy winters (average temperature of minus 9 degrees Celsius in January). A small mountain in the middle of the city (Mont Royal, with a peak slightly above 230 metres) is a key topographical feature of Montreal that complicated public transportation design and implementation. Politically, this predominantly French-speaking city (but with large English-speaking and immigrant minorities) is comprised of 19 boroughs (arrondissements), each of which has its own mayor. There is also a mayor for the City of Montreal as a whole.\nFraming BIXI: As suggested above, public policies are directly tied to the constant shaping of collective identities (Akerlof and Kranton, 2010; Beland and Lecours, 2008). Partly for that reason, public policies, especially when they affect the everyday life of citizens, can become the object of intense framing processes that point to the relationship between such policies and the issue of public relations (Botan and Taylor, 2004). As the following discussion about the fate of BIXI suggests, framing processes as public relations are central to policy issues related to sustainable transportation.\nConclusion: This analysis stresses the need to study both lesson drawing and framing processes in order to understand better the development of Montreal's bikesharing system. While it is clear that the technological and policy developments of BIXI illustrate systematic and positive lesson drawing, on the framing and public relations side, the Montreal experiment suggests it is politically risky to boost public expectations about the potential costs of bikesharing systems for taxpayers. In addition to their innovative and sustainable contributions to urban transportation and pro-bike strategies, bikesharing systems are public investments that are not necessary free of costs for taxpayers. Framing these systems as public investments rather than a \"free ride\" for taxpayers would be a more accurate, and potentially effective, way to promote their development in the context of the current push for sustainable transportation policy in cities around the world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Shedding light on urban transportation and, more specifically, the contemporary development of \"smart\" bikesharing systems (i.e. short-term bicycle rental services), the purpose of this paper is to focus on Montreal's bikesharing experiment. Known as BIXI (a contraction of the words BIcycle and taXI) since its inception in 2009, this system has been exported to other cities around the world, making it especially relevant for the analysis of this innovative and sustainable form of urban mobility.\nDesign/methodology/approach: By tracing the policy history of BIXI and the current political debate about its future while using a framework focusing on the role of ideas in public policy, the paper directly contributes to the literature on the growing role of bicycles in sustainable urban transportation. The qualitative analysis is based on a systematic review of government documents and BIXI-related articles published in the Montreal French- and English-language press. To complement this analysis and provide information about behind-the-lesson drawing processes leading to the creation of BIXI, six semi-structured interviews were conducted with officials in charge of bikesharing policy in Montreal, as well as in Boston and London, England, two cities that have adopted (and adapted) the BIXI model.\nFindings: This analysis stresses the role of lesson drawing and framing processes in the development of Montreal's bikesharing system. While it is clear that the technological and policy developments of BIXI illustrate systematic and positive lesson drawing, on the framing and public relations side, the Montreal experiment suggests it is politically risky to boost public expectations about the potential costs of bikesharing systems for taxpayers. In addition to their innovative and sustainable contributions to urban transportation and pro-bike strategies, bikesharing systems are public investments that are not necessary free of costs for taxpayers. Framing these systems as public investments rather than a \"free ride\" for taxpayers would be a more accurate, and potentially effective, way to promote their development in the context of the current push for sustainable transportation policy in cities around the world.\nOriginality/value: What this paper offers is a sociological perspective on an emerging and important policy issue, through an original combination of lesson drawing and framing perspectives on policy development. Montreal's BIXI is one of the most discussed (and exported) bikesharing systems around the world, and this is the first detailed policy analysis devoted to its genesis and politics.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
New workforce roles in health care: Exploring the longer-term journey of organisational innovations	[ "Innovation", "National Health Service", "United Kingdom" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: This paper reports findings from an in-depth study of an innovation, namely a new workforce role in the UK National Health Service (NHS). The role of interprofessional care co-ordinator (IPCC) was introduced to a general (internal) medical directorate within a UK inner city teaching hospital to facilitate speedy patient throughput. In spite of the high frequency and wide diversity of recent NHS innovations, theory on the diffusion of innovations is underdeveloped in the health services context (Greenhalgh et al., 2004a). In particular, little is known about what happens to innovations after they have been introduced into mainstream practice. This paper begins by exploring the theoretical, policy and local context for this study. Following this, details of study methods and findings are shared. The implications for policy are then discussed in the light of findings that highlight the need for ongoing scrutiny of innovations beyond the point of implementation into routine practice.Theoretical context: gap in understanding at point of institutionalisation\nMethods: The study began in 1998 (two years after the IPCCs took up post) with the objectives of exploring and describing the characteristics, impact, issues and influences on the IPCC role. The study took place over 20 months within the framework of an action research approach. Action research is part of a participatory paradigm in research that emphasises the value of the quality of relationships between inquiry participants in enriching the findings and optimising their utility in informing positive, practical changes (Heron and Reason, 1997). Participatory inquiry blurs the distinction between the researcher and the researched, and in this study the lead investigator worked alongside hospital staff to negotiate appropriate research methods informed by practice and emerging findings, and to use emerging study findings to prompt new reflections and initiate practice changes.Mainly qualitative data were gathered, an approach consistent with exploring phenomena in-depth. Data were gathered from the following sources: field notes of participant observations over 20 months (including 24 half-day sessions shadowing the IPCCs at work); semi-structured interviews with 37 interprofessional staff from 11 different professional groups (including practitioners and managers); 16 focus groups (unidisciplinary and interprofessional); profile of the characteristics of 409 IPCC patients; and analysis of key documents such as job descriptions and hospital policy.All qualitative data were initially handled using NUDIST Version 4, specialist software tool for the management of qualitative data. Following initial coding using NUDIST, coded data were re-read, reflected on and re-categorised into wider themes. Cross-analyses were also conducted to enable exploration of relationships between variables. Finally, emergent themes were compared against the wider body of knowledge to enable new understandings to emerge.A number of measures were taken to optimise the trustworthiness and transferability of the data (Gillis and Jackson, 2002; Lincoln and Guba, 1985). For instance, as findings emerged, constant checks were made with the original data to ensure consistency. In addition, negative cases and alternative hypotheses were examined fully (Murphy et al., 1998). An audit trail was kept of research processes and decisions taken, in addition to an explicit account of investigator assumptions and values (Gillis and Jackson, 2002). Whilst direct generalisation from case study research can often be seen as problematic, the depth of analysis in this longitudinal study allows for wider transferability through both theoretical development and enabling the reader to judge for themselves the relevance of findings to their own practice context (Meyer et al., 1999; Murphy et al., 1998; Sharp, 1998).The following two sections illustrate key findings arising from these activities. The first section shows how the substance and core tasks of the IPCC role shifted over time and the second explores the contextual influences on the role. Findings are reported in greater detail by Bridges (2004).\nFindings: Shifts in the substance of the role\nOther managerial duties distracted from learning: Service managers described a context for their work that was complex and demanding, often requiring instant responses to unanticipated situations, or complying with externally set deadlines. A key pressure consistently identified by the managers and evident throughout the field notes was the need to ensure, as far as possible, that hospital beds were only occupied by people who were acutely ill and not, for example, occupied by people well enough to leave hospital but whose discharge had been delayed for non-clinical reasons. This was in line with central government priorities and described by service managers as a hospital board priority:Our drive, if you look back, although we maybe had a vision about what we wanted to do and what we wanted to achieve, our drive was that the board stated that, our length of stay was unacceptable, it was too high. So we had a very tangible target that was very managerially set out (Manager 3, interview).This demand was often what focused staff's attention, and, although the service staff felt they were managing as effectively and efficiently as they could, pressures remained high. The shift of the IPCC role to discharge planning was attributed to the need for efficiency with resources:So I think that emphasis (of IPCC work on the whole inpatient stay) has gone and I think that is an emphasis which has probably come to us just the way the health service is running at the moment, that you need the beds and the only way to have empty beds is to make sure that you are discharging people timely and effectively (Manager 2, interview).It is perhaps unsurprising that managers were reluctant to interfere with a role that was seen to successfully contribute to achieving this. This reluctance to look more proactively at the role is reflected in the views of the IPCCs' manager on encouraging the IPCCs to undertake further formal training or gain accreditation of some kind for the skills they had:They've got no interest in doing it. Perhaps a couple of them think they do it already, they are a bit too old and people don't want to do it ... if there had been complaints or somebody was under-performing then I would have turned round and said you have to do this course (Manager 2, interview).Findings reflect a sense from managers and practitioners that, once the IPCC role had become established into everyday practice, it was difficult to build up the momentum to initiate change, in spite of the fact that the role shift had raised new issues and that participants had agreed on the need to address these issues:I think what the action research has done is taken something that had a real danger of stagnating and getting very complacent and a bit stale and made it take a fresh look at itself. I think [the IPCCs] are a very good example of the way things operate in that we have lots of ideas, we get these things started, we're really interested in them to start with and then we move on to something else, and we leave these people to sort themselves out and get on with it (Manager 4, interview).This quote draws attention to a key difference between introducing and sustaining an innovation, and this continues to be a neglected topic.A further factor was also identified in relation to managerial attention to the role. In the four years between the role being introduced and the action research study ending, the IPCCs had five different managers. This lack of continuity impacted on the organizational capacity to take a long-term view of role development and is consistent with other findings (not detailed here) which illustrate that the most successful changes achieved during the study were led by managers who had been in post for relatively long periods of time. A picture is described here of an organisational context in which change was common and was often perceived to be outside the control of participants. Other matters, particularly the need to ensure efficient use of hospital beds, distracted managerial attention from reflecting on and learning from the IPCC role shifts.\nPerceived lack of control by RNs: In addition to a lack of managerial attention, it is clear that health care professionals, particularly RNs, did not perceive that they had any responsibility for or involvement in sorting out the issues of IPCC governance. This is clearly illustrated by exchanges between nursing ward managers in a focus group on the IPCC role. While the ward managers did not complain about their lack of control over the role or raise it as an issue, findings illustrate that the decision-making about the role was perceived to lie elsewhere:The question I'd like to ask is somewhere along the way the hospital is now going to have to accept what (the IPCCs) are doing and give you the responsibility or they are going to have to accept that they are asking the nurse to take responsibility and therefore let us do it, and I don't mind which way they do it but I just don't want to be caught in between where I'm being asked to be responsible for something I'm not actually doing (Ward manager 1, focus group).Despite their positions, the ward managers exhibited a passive response to the IPCC issues even when the way the IPCCs worked clearly inconvenienced them. Even when the IPCCs were being directly managed by the senior nurse, RNs acted as though they had no influence over how IPCC roles worked. The tasks of the IPCC role lay in an area of overlap with RNs, but the latter did not perceive that they had influence or a responsibility for the quality of the input to patients. Thus managers did not receive input from practitioners about the IPCC role and its attendant issues, and this may also have reduced managers' imperative to act.In summary, findings in this section have illustrated key contextual influences present during the study. While there was agreement that issues of training, regulation and supervision needed addressing given the shift of the role into the core work of registered nurses, a number of key factors were identified that influenced the role and its management. Managers were distracted by other priorities, particularly the need to ensure efficient use of hospital beds, this efficiency being aided by the IPCC focus on discharge planning. RNs did not perceive that they had control over the work of the IPCCs, although the IPCCs were carrying out work that was formerly the territory of RNs. The final section explores the implications of these findings for theory and practice.\nDiscussion: Theoretical and conceptual contribution\nInnovation attributes: This innovation's attributes may have increased the likelihood of continuing role shifts. It is possible that the nature of the innovation as a new role rather than, say, the introduction of a concrete, new piece of technology or a drug, impacted on the journey taken by this innovation and increased the likelihood of it having a complex journey. In addition, the IPCCs were charged with doing whatever was required to move patients through the system as fast as clinically possible. This flexibility justified the absorption of new work, in line with the changing demands of organisational targets and individual patient needs, and may also have given implicit authority to the role shifts that occurred. The fact that the IPCC roles were each held by individuals with a range of personal characteristics added a further layer of complexity to the innovation journey. The substance of organisational change is a relatively unexplored area (Buchanan et al., 2006) and these findings further our understanding by reflecting that inherent complexity adds to the likelihood of a non-linear journey and accounts, at least in part, for the dynamic nature of this role's practices.\nContextual attributes: This study's findings add to our understanding of the influence of health service context on the journey of innovations, particularly new roles, and lend empirical weight to claims that context influences the journey of an innovation. Findings have highlighted a number of contextual attributes that constrained managers' ability to reflect on the role beyond its initial introduction and act in response to identified needs.In particular, top-down government targets for efficient use of acute beds sanctioned the IPCC role shifts, creating a context in which reflecting on and developing alternative modes of managing acute efficiency was difficult. The existence of a top-down agenda that drives priorities echoes theory on the new managerialism that identifies the \"command and control\" influence that the current Labour government in particular has achieved (Klein, 2001; Lapsley, 2001). The findings also raise questions concerning the dysfunctional side effects when attention is focused solely on one or two indicators of quality and management do not feel able to adopt a balanced approach. This echoes elements of Weick and Sutcliffe (2003), in their analysis, which describes hospitals as \"cultures of entrapment\" in which individuals become set in patterns of behaviour.The organisational change literature also highlights the importance of managerial stability in the effective management of strategic change. Pettigrew et al. (1992), point out that the unplanned movement of key personnel results in draining of energy, purpose, commitment and action from a change programme, and that the change programme \"goes into a period of regression leaving the newcomer manager to start again but now possibly in a soured and non-receptive context for change\" (p. 278). Other studies also show that high levels of turnover, particularly amongst senior managers, have a negative impact on the progression of service improvements (Fitzgerald et al., 2005; Griffiths and Wilson-Barnett, 2000). These findings lend support to the idea that there is often a loss of momentum in a change programme in the face of managerial turnover.The findings here throw new light on the role played by practitioners in the journey of an innovation. While much previous research has indicated that health care practitioners can play an active part in customising innovations for their local utility (Ferlie et al., 2005; Locock et al., 2001), these findings suggest a passive role can instead be taken. RNs in this study deferred responsibility for how the IPCC role was shaped to more senior managers and to the IPCCs themselves. This more passive response may be accounted for by the fact that much of the previous research has focussed on the part played by medical staff, a traditionally dominant group, or by multidisciplinary teams, while the present study has examined the part played by nurses, a group that has traditionally been more influenced by state and/or organisational needs (Allen, 2001; Davies, 1995).Recent research in health care moves the analysis of the role of context a stage further to suggest that within complex organisations, context is not merely the backcloth to change but that actors and features of the context interact, as here, and form a part of the change process (Dopson and Fitzgerald, 2005; Fitzgerald et al., 2002).In summary, this study makes a key contribution to innovation theory through its identification that a work role innovation can become institutionalised while its boundaries and practices remain emergent and innovatory. These dynamic features are related to attributes of both the innovation and its context.Implications for policy and management\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper seeks to present findings from a longitudinal action research study aimed at exploring one such innovation. Little is known about the micro-level impact of health service innovations over time.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper shows that action research is a participatory approach ideally suited to monitoring the process and outcomes of change. Over 20 months, an action researcher studied the work of four interprofessional care co-ordinators (IPCCs), whose role was intended to speed patient through-put within a London teaching hospital general medical directorate. The action researcher kept regular participant observation field notes and supplemented these data with a profile of IPCC patients (n=407), in-depth interviews (n=37) and focus groups (n=16) with staff. Throughout the study, findings were regularly fed back to participants to inform practice developments.\nFindings: - The findings in this paper show that, in spite of the original intention for this role to provide clerical support to the multidisciplinary team, over time the role shifted beyond its implementation into practice to take on more complex work from registered nurses. This raised actual and potential governance issues that were not attended to by service managers. A complex and turbulent context disrupted managers' and practitioners' abilities to reflect on and respond to these longer-term role shifts.\nOriginality/value: - This paper argues that the complex nature of the innovation and the setting in which it operated account for the role shift and the lack of attention to issues of governance. Current innovation literature suggests that implementation into routine practice represents the end-point of an innovation's journey. These findings suggest that certain innovations may in fact continue to shift in nature even after this \"end-point\". The conclusions drawn are likely to be of global interest to those interested in complex health service innovations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Experiential approaches to sustainability education: towards learning landscapes	[ "Experiential education", "Experiential learning", "Learning landscape", "Higher education for sustainable development", "Education for sustainable development", "Sustainability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Learning and education are considered important arenas in the transition towards sustainability (Barth and Michelsen, 2013); therefore, universities are seen to have a crucial role when educating for sustainable development (SD) (Karatzoglou, 2013; Stephens et al., 2008; Zilahy et al., 2009; Sibbel, 2009). The initial purpose of the education system still dominant today, has mainly been to provide industry with skilled employees and thus promote economic growth (O'Brien and Howard, 2016). As this system was developed to meet very different societal needs and challenges than the ones currently faced (Ibid. 2016), it has been argued that a new learning culture is needed (Barth et al., 2007). Within the discourse on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), experiential education (EE) is often presented as key pedagogy (see for example Caniglia et al., 2016; Roberts, 2013). It is in this context that this paper examines the ways in which experiential approaches to higher education for sustainable development (HESD) are conceptualised within the specialist literature. The paper critically reflects on the current discourse, identifying the need for an alternative conceptualisation of experiential approaches.\n2. Method: This examination of EE within HESD is based on specialist literature, specifically, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, The Journal of Sustainability Education[1] and Journal of Education for Sustainable Development in the period 2007-2017. These academic journals were chosen because of their specific focus on sustainability and SD in relation to education. Whilst EE has been widely discussed in relation to environmental and outdoor education, and sustainability science the focus here is the specialist literature on ESD.\n3. Findings: 3.1 How is experiential learning and education defined within the higher education for sustainable development literature reviewed?\n4. Discussion: There is arguably a strong consensus in specialist literature regarding the suitability of experiential approaches to HESD. This article, however, has identified a number of gaps in the current discourse, centred on the fact that existing research is largely dependent on the opinions and experiences of educators implementing experiential initiatives. The student perspective is not sufficiently focussed upon, nor is there thorough consideration on the diversity of influences impacting the ways in which students learn in the context of sustainability. A majority of studies focus on the impact of specific courses or modules, without considering other potential influences, including factors taking place outside the planned educational initiatives. Moreover, experiential approaches are predominantly studied without considering their relation to other forms of HESD. Although reflections made by educators are valuable in that they share direct experiences, including best practices and overcoming challenges, lack of impartial reference to student perspectives is highly limiting. Students are central to the outcomes of HESD as the sites and agents of the transformations sought for progressing SD. Without studying the student perspective in-depth it is difficult to know to what extent a single initiative has succeeded in influencing a university student's mind-set, sustainability competencies, behaviours or perceptions. It is possible that in some cases the educators might over-estimate the transformative power of a single initiative. Focussing on the student-perspective can increase understanding of the extent to which students themselves find experiential approaches to be transformative and whether the most significant learning experiences related to sustainability takes place within the formal curriculum or elsewhere. This paper stresses the importance of impartial research where students' individual experiences in the HESD field are studied in-depth, while not limited to single initiatives or modules, rather investigating the multitude of influences on their learning related to SD.\n5. Conclusion: This paper has demonstrated how discussion on the role of experiential approaches within HESD can benefit from shifting towards a student-centred perspective and by exploring students learning experiences in-depth. The proposed conceptual framework organises the learning landscape into place, activity and outcome as these components are found relevant to studying experiential approaches within HESD. It is suggested social interaction is present within these components, where students' interaction among each other and with actors involved both directly and indirectly in the educational initiatives influences the learning process. Furthermore, this approach moves away from looking at each learning initiative individually and considers the role of experiential approaches within HESD from a broader perspective, acknowledging other approaches to learning and education present within the students' learning landscapes. Further research is needed to capture the various aspects shaping learning landscapes to better understand the role of experiential approaches within the learning landscapes of university students. A learning landscape approach can enhance understanding of the role of experiential approaches within HESD, and explore sustainability related learning experiences of university students from a broader, more realistic perspective.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to critically reflect the current specialist discourse on experiential approaches to higher education for sustainable development (HESD). Limitations to the current discourse are identified, and as a result, an alternative approach to the study of experiential education (EE) within HESD is suggested.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three research questions are addressed by analysing the literature on EE and experiential learning (EL) within HESD in specialist academic journals.\nFindings: There is a consensus among authors regarding the appropriateness of experiential approaches to HESD. However, limitations to the current discourse suggest the need for an alternative approach to studying EE within HESD. Therefore, this paper proposes the application of the learning landscape metaphor to take a more student-centred and holistic perspective.\nOriginality/value: The learning landscape metaphor has previously not been applied to EE within HESD. This alternative conceptualisation foregrounds student perspectives to experiential initiatives within HESD. The holistic approach aims to understand the myriad influences on students learning, while allowing examination of how experiential approaches relate to other educational approaches within HESD.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Quality attributes of cactus pear fruit and their role in consumer choice: The case of Italian consumers	[ "Fruits", "Credence attributes", "Experienced quality", "Food quality", "Perception of quality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In the economic literature, it is argued that the improvement of an agri-food product must be guided by consumer preference (Cardello, 1995; Moskowitz, 1995). This criterion, called the consumer-oriented approach, is based on the level of consumer satisfaction products generate. This depends on the level of correspondence between the characteristics of the product itself and consumers' preference structures. However, this preference varies from consumer to consumer, and hence the quality depends not only on the product's objective characteristics (e.g. nutritional, microbiological, and textural characteristics) but also on what can be defined as the result of a subjective process based on the consumer's perception of the product (Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995; Migliore et al., 2015). For these reasons, quality is considered a complex structure based on a variegate set of characteristics (Grunert, 1997; Olaizola Tolosana et al., 2005). In the literature concerning consumer behaviour, several approaches have been created to classify these characteristics (Nelson, 1970; Olson and Jacoby, 1972; Darby and Karny, 1973; Steenkamp, 1989). One of these approaches takes into account consumer quality evaluation based on consumer perception processes, which fall into two stages: quality expectation and experienced quality (Steenkamp, 1989; Fernqvist and Ekelund, 2014). On the basis of these stages, Steenkamp (1989) distinguishes the product's qualitative characteristics into quality cues and quality attributes, which, when combined, provide a global assessment of the quality of the product. The consumer can evaluate the quality cues prior to purchase; these are intended to be informational stimuli which create a quality expectation about the food product for the consumer. Quality cues can further be divided into intrinsic quality cues and extrinsic quality cues, depending on whether they refer to the physical characteristics of the product or to the information available about it (e.g. price, brand) (Olson and Jacoby, 1972; Oude Ophuis and Van Trijp, 1995; Bernues et al., 2003). In both cases, the consumer uses the information to make assumptions about the product's quality attributes (Steenkamp, 1990; Bernues et al., 2003). Therefore, the consumer forms expectations about food quality attributes on the basis of quality cues.\nLiterature review: Over the last few years, empirical research has enriched the academic discussion of the analysis of quality perception by simultaneously evaluating experience and credence product attributes and their effects on consumer choice. The latter involve a complex trade-off between external information sources linked to the labelling, and other psychological and individual aspects, including personal sensory preferences and attitudes (Endrizzi et al., 2015). Many studies investigating the basis of consumer choice of specific agri-food products in a variety of geographical contexts have revealed that credence attributes, related to environmentally and socially desirable features, play an important role in consumer purchase decisions. Of these credence attributes, local origin is the quality attribute that gets the most attention in the economic literature on quality perception. Knowledge about products' origin is a factor that can potentially modify a consumer's evaluation and perception of such products (Gazquez-Abad et al., 2012). Indeed, local origin serves as signal allowing consumers to infer quality, particularly when they have limited or imperfect information about product quality or limited prior experience or knowledge. The literature indicates that consumers consider local origin to be synonymous with quality, although this can change in relation to both the product considered and the geographical context, depending on the characteristics of the local context (Murdoch et al., 2000; Dekhili and d'Hauteville, 2009). In general, the findings of these studies show that consumers have a broad preference for local food products. Papanagiotou et al. (2013) and Font I Furnols et al. (2011) find that product origin, that is, place of production, is an attribute with strong influence on consumer choice, because it represents - for the consumer - a guarantee of product quality. Moor et al. (2014) evaluated the preferences of Estonian consumers regarding apple origin, production method, and quality attributes, and showed that the most frequently stated motivation for preferring domestic apples was food safety. This preference for local products is confirmed by the findings of Ekelund et al.'s (2007) investigation of agri-food products in Sweden, and by Dransfield et al.'s (2005) study on the willingness of British, French, Danish and Swedish consumers to pay for pork with a label providing information on production methods and origin, in both of which local products were preferred over imported ones. Lagerkvist et al. (2014) came to a similar conclusion, that consumers perceive imported products less positively. In contrast to the previous research, some authors maintain that the origin of a product is a relatively unimportant cue for consumers when choosing food products (Grunert, 1997; Bernues et al., 2003). Indeed, as Insch and Jackson (2014) suggested in their study of New Zealand consumers' understanding of country of origin information and its influence on food purchase decisions, other considerations such as price, taste, healthiness, and quality are the main signals driving consumers' habitual food purchases.\nMaterials and method: A survey was carried out in Italy to detect and measure the effects of quality attributes on consumer choice. Data were collected by administering a telephone questionnaire survey to 270 consumers who usually buy cactus pear fruit. We decided to interview habitual consumers of cactus pear fruit to understand how their perceived attributes compared with their consumption experience. The number of interviewees was established through simple random sampling[1], distributed proportionally based on resident population over 18 years old in all 20 Italian regional capitals (ISTAT, 2012). We carried out 417 phone calls[2] across all regional capital cities to select 270 cactus pear fruit consumers; of these, 141 were non-consumers of cactus pear fruit and six were underage people. Of the 141 non-consumers, 65 per cent did not like the fruit because it contains many seeds, whereas the remainder had difficulty finding cactus pear fruit on the market. The survey was carried out between August and December 2013, because cactus pear fruit production and sale are mainly concentrated in this period of the year. The questionnaire administered to 270 consumers of cactus pear fruit, consisting of 14 items, was structured in two parts. The first part included all variables concerning the socioeconomic features of the interviewee, such as, age, gender, education (divided into four categories: primary school, lower secondary school, upper secondary school, university degree or higher), number of household members, and monthly household net income in euros.\nResults: The explanatory variables implemented in the model approximate the quality attitudes consumers evaluate in cactus pear fruit. Those with a level of statistical significance of at least 10 per cent are reported in Table III. In an ordered logit assessment, the sign of the estimated coefficients must be interpreted as the variation direction of the dependent variable according to the increase in the regressor. In other words, the estimated positive coefficient indicates that as the regressor increases, the probability of being in the lowest category (Cactus_C1) decreases, while the probability of being in the highest value category (Cactus_C3) increases.\nDiscussion: In the consumption experience, quality attributes can be identified as benefits recognised in products that generate utility; they therefore assume an important role in consumer choice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to detect what experience and credence quality attributes contribute to the consumer decision to consume cactus pear fruit. The authors therefore try to measure the effect of each quality attribute on consumer choice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: As a theoretical basis, two principal quality attributes emphasised in the literature on consumer behaviour were analysed and adjusted to the specific fruit features. The empirical strategy was carried out by administering a telephone questionnaire survey of 270 interviewees who consume cactus pears in Italy. The questionnaire, consisting of 14 items expressed on a metric scale (five-point Likert scale), was used to rate the importance of cactus pear fruit quality attributes. An ordered logit model was employed for data analysis.\nFindings: The results show that consumption of cactus pear fruit is mainly based on credence and experience attributes, which have different effects on the consumer decision to consume cactus pear fruit. Among experience quality attributes, the colour red, a low quantity of seeds, and being peeled are the attributes with major effects, following by credence attributes such as environmental sustainability, healthiness, and Italian origin.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research was based on a particular fruit, and further comparative research is clearly needed. In fact, further advancement in cactus pear research would require that the validity of the empirical findings and their degree of generalisation be examined in other geographical areas.\nPractical implications: The results of this study could help to identify some factors on which business could intervene to create a more effective consumer-based approach.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to a better definition of cactus pear fruit quality for consumers with the aim of developing marketing strategies to increase farm business. To the best of the knowledge, no study has ever measured the effects of cactus pear fruit quality attributes on consumer choice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sexuality education: implications for health, equity, and social justice in the United States	[ "Education", "Children and young people", "USA", "Critical pedagogy", "Relationships", "School", "Sex", "Curriculum", "Anti-oppressive education", "Social ecology", "Culturally diverse populations", "Disabilities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: While school-based sexuality education has been taught in the USA since 1913, there have always been problematic aspects. Hegemonic or dominant ideologies have shaped sexuality education in the schools making the educational experience inequitable and discriminatory. In this conceptual, theoretical paper, we identify the dominant teachings and practices that have guided sexuality education for about a century. We use a critical pedagogy (connecting learning and reflection on power, authority, and privilege to constructive action) and an anti-oppressive educational theoretical framework (education that works against various forms of oppression) as anchors to trouble and interrogate what has become the status quo of sexuality education. Due to longstanding curricular thinking and practices, this status quo has ended up being mostly heteronormative, sex negative, ableist, and discriminatory, and in consequence deleterious. We examine some of the so-called progressive sexuality education models (e.g. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a national organization dedicated to comprehensive sexuality education efforts). We show how, despite some progress, more needs to be done to address issues of inequity and discrimination that are reinforced in the majority of school-based sexuality education efforts. We will also argue that the ways in which school-based sexuality education has been delivered have been inadequate and in some cases even degrading to the sexual and general health and well-being of school-aged youth. Drawing on the theory of intersectionality (looking specifically at the interconnectedness of race, class, sexuality, gender, ability and nation) and the ecological model of health (which originated in the late 1980s and addresses public health issues on individual, interpersonal, community, institutional, and policy levels) (see McLeroy et al., 1988), we propose a school-based sexuality education that addresses the multidimensional approach to sexual and general health along physical, social, mental/emotional/psychological, intellectual, and spiritual aspects. Such an approach is critical of current school-based sexuality education that is not inclusive and proposes a way of thinking about, and carrying out, a more democratic form of sexuality education in schools that is responsive to a diverse student body and offers more-effective sexual health promotion.\nHistorical overview of sexuality education in the USA: Sexuality education was first offered in US schools in 1913 (Moran, 1996). This educational enterprise grew out of the social hygiene movement during the First World War era, and its primary purpose was to prevent diseases and promote Victorian sexual morality (Brandt, 1987; Carter, 2001; Morrow, 1907). As sexuality education became more widespread in the early to mid-twentieth century, it was offered through biological science, health, and physical education curricula. From its earliest days, sexuality education was narrowly focussed on the physical and moral aspects of sexuality. It concerned itself with reproductive anatomy and physiology, emphasized prevention of venereal diseases (VD, currently referred to as sexually transmitted infections (STIs)), and focussed on hygiene. Given that most of the focus was on prevention of disease, the biomedical teachings of sexuality, complete with religious and moral trappings, were in full swing. It is worth noting that a \"sex negative\" approach - albeit with the good intentions of preventing illness and creating a sexually moral citizenry - prevailed during the early days. Various sexual activities were seen as potentially ruinous. The overarching message of sexuality education was that sexual activities were reserved and best suited for married individuals for the express purpose of procreation (Jones, 2011).\nCurrent sexuality education programs: Brief overview of comprehensive sexuality education and abstinence-only education\nEquitable and just foundations: critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education: Critical pedagogy\nCreating (socio-sexual) health promotion through sexuality education: Our analysis above demonstrates the alarming extent to which much of school-based sexuality education is likely to be health degrading rather than health promoting due to such aspects as perpetuating heteronormativity and overlooking LGBTQ, racial and disability issues related to sexuality. In contrast, a multifaceted approach to sexuality education in the schools is necessary to improve the (socio-sexual) health of youth.\nConclusion: The history of school-based sexuality education and the analysis of current major sexuality education efforts in the USA reveal significant areas in need of improvement so that sexuality education will promote students' sexual health (e.g. along physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual lines). For this to be successful, several structural issues need to be remedied. Perhaps the very first step is for school administrators, teachers, parents, and students to do an honest assessment of which categories of individuals (according to their sexuality) and forms of sexualities and genders get privileged and which get denigrated in the educational experience. Heteronormativity (and sex negativity) with all of its trappings regarding sexual and gender behaviors needs to be neutralized. Integrating LGBTQ, racial/ethnic, and disability studies into the sexuality education curriculum is of paramount importance. We suggest using critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education concepts as a guide for major reform efforts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how school-based sexuality education has had a long and troubled history of exclusionary pedagogical practices that have negatively affected such populations as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer (LGBTQ) individuals, people of color, and the disabled. The social ecological model is introduced as a way of offering sexuality educators and school administrators a way of thinking more broadly about how to achieve sexual health through sexuality education efforts inside and outside of the school environment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper uses critical analysis of current and historical school-based sexuality education methods and curricula used in the USA. Authors use both academic journals and their own expertise/experience teaching sexuality education in the USA to analyze and critique the sources of sexuality education information and curricula used in schools.\nFindings: Historically, sexuality education in school settings in the USA has been biased and has generally not offered an educational experience fostering sexual health for all students. There are now welcome signs of reform and movement toward a more inclusive and progressive approach, but there is still some way to go. Sexuality education programs in schools need to be further and fundamentally reformed to do more to foster sexual health particularly for LGBTQ individuals, students of color, and people with disabilities.\nPractical implications: This paper offers sexuality educators ways of addressing structural issues within the sexuality education curriculum to better serve all students to increase the quality of their sexual health. Integrating critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education can increase students' sexual health along physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides historical analysis along with the identification of structural difficulties in the sexuality education curriculum and proposes both critical pedagogy and anti-oppressive education as ways of addressing sex and relationships education.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Mapping lean experiences and emerging connections with clinical risk management in Italian context	[ "Italy", "Lean management", "Health management", "Clinical risk management", "Healthcare system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In industrialized countries, it is possible to note different healthcare systems, developed to respond to the challenges that nowadays interest the healthcare. It is well known that ageing population is increasing, and the costs of healthcare have risen. Especially in the countries where healthcare is partially or totally funded by government, the growth of the public debts beyond the sustainable limits have induced to reconsider and reduce all the expenditures for public services, including healthcare. At the same time, risks in healthcare have been increasing, and the coverages provided by insurance companies are not sufficient for solving these problems. This situation has led to the development of innovative models to manage healthcare in a more efficient and effective way, reducing healthcare wastes and improving quality of care, in particular patient safety.\nChallenges for Italian healthcare organizations: Italy is one of the countries impressed by the need to decrease costs of public services and, even if its healthcare system is well ranked in the list of World Health Organization (WHO)'s overall performance measure (Blendon et al., 2001), more efficiency is required, in addition to new approaches to reduce the risk exposure of healthcare system.\nObjectives and methodology: Based on the discussion presented in previous sections, the general aim of this research is to describe the state of the art regarding the implementation of HLM projects with connections with CRM.\nResults of the analysis: The map of the Italian HLM experiences\nDiscussion of results: Even if HLM tools and practices are still not so diffused in Italian hospitals, first experimentations have been introduced in several regions, and training courses about these new approaches are provided in nearly whole the Italian territory. HLM has been not still adopted in seven regions, whereas in the other 13 it has been introduced at various degrees.\nConclusion: The objective of this research was to provide the Italian state of the art for what concerns HLM implementation, and to identify the characteristics of HLM projects linked to CRM. The results demonstrate there is a great ferment in Italy toward new solutions to rise efficiency and productivity, reducing at the same time clinical risks that are even more unacceptable, and providing a service valuable for each single patient.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the Italian state of art of Health Lean Management (HLM) and to analyze the Italian projects that connect this approach with clinical risk management (CRM).\nDesign/methodology/approach: After introducing Italian healthcare system and its main challenges, relevant Italian experiences have been searched investigating regional health plans (RHPs), managerial reports, books, workshops, conference proceedings and hospital web sites. The degree of experience of each Italian region has been first studied. Further, field of applicability, objectives, tools, practices and results of the projects with first signs of HLM and CRM integration have been analyzed.\nFindings: Although interest in new managerial approaches is spreading in almost all the territory and new managerial solutions are fostered in many RHPs, HLM projects are implemented patchy in Italy. For what regards HLM projects with CRM connections, the Italian context seems aligned with the international one, apart from few features. First indications for the implementation of HLM projects with CRM connections emerged.\nOriginality/value: Healthcare systems are facing multiple challenges in a context where public funds decrease but quality of care must be guaranteed. Combining different managerial approaches could solve these issues. In this research, for the first time, a map about Italian HLM adoption has been drawn, and Italian HLM projects with CRM connections have been analyzed. The results constitute one of the first contributions useful to develop guidelines for the implementation of projects pursuing efficiency, quality and safety objectives.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A comparison of consumer decision-making behavior of married and cohabiting couples	[ "Consumer behaviour", "Decision making", "Marriage", "Dual‐career couples", "Advertising effectiveness" ]	[ { "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: Most of the literature currently available on household consumer decision-making behavior focuses on the traditional family. Today, they are seen as married, dual-income couples with children or married, single-income couples (usually, with the father working) with children. However in the 1970s a dramatic increase in cohabitation occurred, a trend that had been increasing for over 25 years (Waters and Ressler, 1999). Bumpass and Sweet found that almost half of the US population had been in a cohabiting relationship sometime in their lives by their early 30s (Bumpass and Sweet as cited in Waters and Ressler, 1999).Regardless of whether cohabiters eventually marry or not (as single or divorced people), a distinct difference exists between cohabiters and married people. Cohabiters \"tend to embrace individualism, as well as ideals of personal autonomy and equity\" when it comes to \"each partner's contribution to the household\" (Brines and Joyner, 1999). The emphasis on equality for both partners in a cohabiting relationship is contrary to the emphasis on collectivism among married couples. Married couples, for example, are more likely to have joint banking accounts and joint ownership of homes than cohabiting couples (Brines and Joyner, 1999).While studies exist that compare the different dynamics between cohabitation and marriage, few studies focus on comparing the consumer decision-making process of both types of unions. One of a few recent studies to focus on the purchasing behavior of both cohabiting and married couples in the last two decades was Gaidis et al. (1986). However, the structure of the family in America has changed since the time of the Gaidis et al. (1986) study. In families today, more negotiation between husbands and wives occurs in consumer decision making (Clulow, as cited in Belch and Willis, 2002, p. 112). The increased presence of dual-income families has also increased the influence women have on consumer decision making. It has also \"generated uncertainty about gender roles and responsibilities\" (Clulow, as cited by Belch and Willis, 2002, p. 112). Belch and Willis (2002) found that wives gained more influence overall in every area of consumer decision making since the 1980s. Hence, the purpose of the study was to replicate Gaidis et al.'s (1986) study and compare consumer decision making among married and cohabiting couples. In addition, the results of the present study will be compared to those of Gaidis et al. (1986) to determine differences in decision making then and now.This study is essential given that traditional families have \"the highest average expenditures and ownership of most major appliances, houses, and many other durable goods\" (Schnaninger et al., as cited in Schaninger and Lee, 2002, p. 26). Moreover, the number of cohabiting couples has increased since 1960 from 439,000 couples to 4.57 million couples today, and it is believed that it will increase in the future as well (Gardyn, 2002, p. 58). This trend makes cohabiting couples also a viable subject for the present study.\nRelevant literature: The dynamics of consumer decision-making behavior for married and cohabiting couples\nMethodology: Sample and data collection\nResults and discussion: Demographic characteristics of respondents\nConclusions and implications: The results of this study differed greatly from those of the previous study done by Gaidis et al. (1986). In the present study, married couples showed a greater tendency towards autonomic decision making while cohabiting couples were slightly more syncratic in their decision making. This change in decision-making strategies of couples from Gaidis et al.'s (1986) study to the current findings may have to do with changing gender roles for men and women.The stronger presence of women in the workforce today, as opposed to 20 years ago, may have given way to more autonomic decision-making strategies for married couples and contributed to the lack of traditional role specialization in marriage as compared to the past. Today, women are no longer seen as just homemakers and men as just breadwinners. When it comes to decision making for particular products, it becomes necessary to take an \"either-or\" strategy in purchasing products.The autonomic strategy adopted by married couples may be out of convenience since males and females reported equally high incomes and being in the workforce. Husband and wives may not have time to convene to make decisions regarding which product to buy so they may leave it up to either spouse to go through the three phases of decision making. A move towards more syncratic behavior for cohabiting couples in the problem recognition, search, and final decision phases may be due to their focus on equality in their relationships.Marketers, when attempting to reach married couples today, may want to employ the advertising and message strategies that Davis and Rigaux (1974) recommended for those that use an autonomic strategy in purchase decisions. Media and advertising should focus communication efforts on two audiences rather than one since either the husband or wife may be making the decision.The communication strategy used should focus on the joint nature of both processes since cohabiters showed a propensity towards syncratic strategies in all three phases. Hence, advertising and message strategies should focus on how single people of the opposite sex decide on product purchases together since cohabiters are more like single people in their decision-making behavior. Moreover, findings also showed a slight trend towards autonomic decision making during the problem recognition and search phases. Marketers must also use the same strategies for autonomic decision making in these phases as suggested for married couples.Predominant male or female influences were lacking in most product categories except for one, \"female partner's clothes.\" Among married couples, this was primarily female-dominated. Marketers should continue to appeal to women in these couples for all three search phases.Cohabiting relationships are normally tenuous in nature. The average duration of such relationships is 1.3 years (Waters and Ressler, 1999). Brines and Joyner (1999) found cohabiting relationships to be based on egalitarianism while finding marriage to be collectivist in nature, where both husband and wife pool together complementary resources (in terms of skills and/or income). According to these researchers, cohabiting relationships are three times more likely to terminate their relationship than marriages when inequality existed between the incomes of men and women. Brines and Joyner (1999) found this to be especially true for couples where the woman earned more than the man.Female dominance was also found in this same category among cohabiters, but only in the problem recognition phase. The search and final decision phases were syncratic in nature. Hence, marketers should continue to appeal to women in this group and communicate to them the need or desire for particular apparel. Moreover, message strategies should focus on joint decision making between male and female cohabiters during the information search regarding female partners' clothes and the final decision to purchase them.Women in cohabiting relationships that reported higher incomes than their male counterparts were found to have a higher chance of dissolution of it compared to married couples (Brines and Joyner, 1999). Marriages where wives earn twice as much as their husbands had only a 1.26 times more chance to divorce compared to traditional marriages (where the husband is the primary breadwinner, and the wife is the primary homemaker) (Brines and Joyner, 1999).The original hypothesis stated that more egalitarian decision-making strategies would be evident among married and cohabiting couples. It was also suggested that women's greater presence in the workforce compared to 20 years ago would influence this. Ironically, women's presence in the workforce has had an effect on married couples' product decision making, but not towards egalitarianism. Instead, a trend towards autonomic decision making was evident in the present study.Cohabiters, unlike married couples, developed a more syncratic strategy for product decision making compared to the Gaidis et al. (1986) study. This move towards syncratic behavior may be due to their greater propensity towards equality than their predecessors in the previous study. Cohabiters are eight percent of the number of married couples in the US (which is estimated to be approximately 60.7 million) (US Census Bureau, 2000). Marketers may want to consider if they are a viable market, especially for companies whose customer base is made mostly of more common-type households. Cohabiters may also be good for companies looking into smaller, untapped segments of the population.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this article is to compare the consumer decision-making behavior between married and cohabiting couples.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected from 40 cohabiting couples and 53 married couples in a western state via a self-administered questionnaire. The structure and the instrument used replicated the Gadis et al. study in exploring consumer decision-making processes of married couples.\nFindings: - Married couples tended to be more syncratic than cohabiting couples in their decision to purchase forms of savings in this phase, but more autonomic when purchasing alcoholic beverages. Cohabiting couples were found to be more syncratic in their decision making for these products at this phase than married couples. The results, when compared to those of 18 years ago found that men and women of married couples make purchasing decisions separately, while men and women of cohabiting couples made most of theirs together. Implications of the findings were then discussed.\nPractical implications: - Marketers, when attempting to reach married couples today, should focus media and advertising communication efforts on two audiences rather than one since either the husband or wife may be making the decision. The communication strategy used should focus on the joint nature of both processes since cohabiters showed a propensity toward syncratic strategies in all three phases. Advertising and message strategies should focus on how single people of the opposite sex decide on product purchases together since cohabiters are more like single people in their decision-making behavior.\nOriginality/value: - This study compares consumer decision making among married and cohabiting couples.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do internal labour markets protect the unskilled from low payment? Evidence from Germany	[ "Germany", "Social inequality", "Internal labour markets", "Labour turnover", "Occupational class", "Pay policies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the last 20 years, many OECD-countries have experienced a considerable rise in income inequality, which can be traced back to societal trends such as technological change, economic globalisation and the 2007/2008 global financial and economic crisis (e.g. OECD, 2011; Giesecke and Verwiebe, 2009). As a consequence, particularly the unskilled workers are increasingly confronted with precarious wages, non-standard work contracts and job insecurity (Blossfeld and Hofmeister, 2006; Blossfeld et al., 2006; Kalleberg et al., 2000; Gebel and Giesecke, 2009; Muffels, 2008). When evaluating these trends from a labour market and social policy perspective, there may be good reasons to establish social mechanisms protecting these most vulnerable workers from further losing material life chances. Rather than investigating political institutions or collective action strategies to avoid vulnerability, as is common in other studies, in this paper we focus on a social entity located at the very centre of the labour market: the firm.\n2. Organisations and wage inequality: Wage inequality can occur both between and within firms. Between-firm inequality refers to cases in which workers with equal individual characteristics receive unequal remunerations due to their attachment to different firms. This phenomenon has been called \"horizontal inequality\" (Lengfeld, 2010), emphasising the distinction from inequalities at the individual level. In contrast, \"vertical inequality\" refers to unequal wages within firms, which stems from heterogeneous worker characteristics (e.g. individual's human capital, gender or nationality) and the allocation of workers to positions within the same firm (Lengfeld, 2010). In the following we will focus on wage inequality across firms, i.e. horizontal inequality.\n3. Data, variables and methods: 3.1. Data\n4. Results: Table I reports descriptive statistics of the distribution of daily gross wages by occupational class in Germany in 2005 and 2010, respectively. As expected, wages are higher in occupational classes that require higher levels of qualification. Earnings have risen for each class over time (data do not account for inflation). The average earnings of unskilled employees are lowest in unskilled service and clerical occupations and somewhat higher in unskilled manual occupations. Employees in occupations that require intermediate levels of qualifications earn considerably more in service and clerical occupations than in manual occupations. Wages of employees in highly qualified occupations (technicians, professionals and managerial occupations) are again substantially higher. The respective coefficients of variation show that there are also distinct differences in the dispersion of wages within occupational classes. Manual occupations exhibit small overall variances in wages, while wages among service and clerical as well as highly skilled occupations are relatively heterogeneous. From 2005 to 2010, wage inequality has increased within each occupational group.\n5. Conclusion: In this paper we analysed the extent to which firm internal labour markets have implications for wages of employees belonging to different occupational classes. Our findings indicate that for lower qualified classes (manual workers and unskilled non-manual employees) individual wages are determined to a greater extent by attachment to a given firm than for medium and high-qualified classes. The positive wage effects of internal labour markets are largest for unskilled occupations, but are also strongly pronounced among qualified manual occupations. The wage effects of internal labour markets were clearly smaller for classes of medium and high-qualified non-manual employees in the year 2005, while we find in 2010, that internal labour markets have an exceptionally high-wage effect within the group of high-qualified employees. This effect is presumably related to the onset of the financial and economic crisis in autumn of 2008.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Up to date, it remains an unresolved issue how firms shape inequality in interaction with mechanisms of stratification at the individual and occupational-level. Accordingly, the authors ask whether workers of different occupational classes are affected to different degrees by between-firm wage inequality. In light of the recent rise of overall wage inequality, answers to this question can contribute to a better understanding of the role firms play in this development. The authors argue and empirically test that whether workers are able to benefit from firms' internal or external strategies for flexibility depends on resources available at the individual and occupational level. The paper aims to discuss these issues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Matched employer-employee data from official German labour market statistics are used to estimate firm-specific wage components, which are then regressed on structural characteristics of firms.\nFindings: Between-firm wage effects of internal labour markets are largest among unskilled workers and strongly pronounced among qualified manual workers. Effects are clearly smaller among classes of qualified and high-qualified non-manual workers but have risen sharply for the latter class from 2005 to 2010.\nSocial implications: The most disadvantaged workers in the labour market are also most contingent upon employers' increasingly heterogeneous policies of recruitment and remuneration.\nOriginality/value: This paper combines insights from sociological and economic labour market research in order to formulate and test the new hypothesis that between-firm wage effects of internal labour markets are larger for unskilled than for qualified workers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Social- versus personal-oriented purchases: impacts of worry versus sadness on young consumers	[ "Peers", "Hedonism", "Young consumers", "Social status", "Worry", "Sadness" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: As two negative emotions consumers commonly experience in daily life, worry is frequently used in advertising for social, medical and personal-care products[1], whereas sadness, as the theme of \"sadvertising\", is widely adopted not only in public service announcements carefully crafted to emotionally manipulate the audience into action on issues that are already emotional powder kegs but also in marketing materials tailored for consumer products/services such as shampoos, banks, foods, and retailers[2]. Although both belong to negative emotion, worry and sadness vary in their emphasis on social versus personal orientation (Markus and Kitayama, 1991). Worry, on one hand, emphasizes the prospect of undesirable occurrences and fear of uncertainty; thus, worried people tend to seek social support, often turning to important others for opinions and advice (Raghunathan and Corfman, 2004; Yi and Baumgartner, 2004). Sadness, on the other hand, is closely associated with a sense of irrevocable loss (Frijda, 2005) and tends to initiate self-focused regulation, engaging people in activities that make themselves feel better (Garg and Lerner, 2013).\nConceptual background and hypothesis development: Emotion is omnipresent. Researchers and sociologists have long acknowledged that emotion results from, and is often embedded in, social interactions. It requires people's awareness of and differentiation between social and personal self (Lawler, 2001; Lewis and Rosenblum, 1978).\nStudy 1: Participants and procedure\nStudy 2: Participants and procedure\nStudy 3: Participants and procedure\nGeneral discussion: This research investigates the role of worry versus sadness in shaping young consumers' purchase decision. It explores the personal versus social focus orientation of emotion (Markus and Kitayama, 1991) and finds that this dimension may be an important property that differentiates the impacts of negative emotions on consumption in three ways. Firstly, as revealed by Study 1, social-oriented negative affect (i.e. worry) induces an increase in youth's purchase intention for products endorsed by peers despite their own disliking. Sadness, being oriented toward personal self, does not affect young consumers' purchase intention for products endorsed by peers but not by themselves. Secondly, Study 2 shows that because of its social-focus orientation, worry induces a higher level of purchase intention for social status associated products than for hedonic products. In contrast, sadness, with its personal-focus orientation, prompts a higher level of purchase intention for hedonic products than for social status associated products. Finally, even for a similar purchase behavior as investigated in Study 3 (i.e. buying expensive products), young consumers in different affective states are motivated by different drivers, with worried buyers of expensive products driven by perceptions of social status value associated with expensive products and sad consumers driven by perceived hedonic value of the products. All these findings clarify the differences across the worry-consumption versus the sadness-consumption relationships. These nuanced findings contribute to the extant literature by elaborating on carryover effects of emotion varying in social versus personal orientation.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine the role of worry versus sadness in influencing young consumers' purchase decisions and to clarify the differences across the worry-consumption versus the sadness-consumption relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Three studies were conducted. Study 1 was a 3 (emotion: worry vs sadness vs neutral) x 2 (brand perceptions: conflicting vs consistent) between-subject design. Study 2 was a 3 (emotion: sadness vs worry vs neutral) x 2 (product type: social status associated vs hedonic) mixed design. Study 3 was a questionnaire survey.\nFindings: The results demonstrate that worry induces young consumers' identification with peers, and is more related to youth's purchase intention for social status associated products rather than hedonic products. Sadness induces young consumers to follow their own perceptions, and is more associated with purchase intention for hedonic rather than social status-associated products. The drivers of purchase behavior for expensive products also differ: worried young consumers' purchase intention is driven by perceptions of social status value associated with these products, whereas sad consumers' purchase intention is driven by perceptions of hedonic value.\nPractical implications: This research has significant implications for marketing practitioners on strategic marketing and communication to young consumers. It also provides important suggestions to young consumers on how to effectively regulate negative emotions via socially accepted behavior (i.e. purchases).\nOriginality/value: This research contributes to the extant literature on emotion's impact on consumer behavior by elaborating carryover effects of emotion varying in the overlooked personal- and social-focus dimension. It also extends the literature on peer influence among young consumers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Intellectual capital efficiency and corporate book value: evidence from Nigerian economy	[ "Nigeria", "Intellectual capital efficiency", "Economic value added", "Cash flow from operation", "Modified VAIC" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The global economic environment has witnessed transformation from traditional tangible to new intangible economy (Drucker, 1993) due to globalisation, exponential growth of technological changes and deregulation in key sectors (e.g. Soete and Ter Weel, 1999; Hand and Lev, 2003). The new economy, which has been tagged as knowledge-based economy (Drucker, 1993), has the capability to improve the competitive advantage of macro and micro organs of nations' economies (e.g. Edvinsson and Sullivan, 1996; Drucker, 1993). Also, in attempt to describe the new economic paradigm, Edvinsson (2002) states that \"the economics of goods and markets have given way to the economics of knowledge and the migration of knowledge\" (p. 17).\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Knowledge-based economy in Nigeria\n3. Methodology: The study used secondary data to estimate and analyse the association between ICE and corporate book value. Thus, data relating to independent and dependent variables for the period of 2010 through 2014 were obtained from annual reports and accounts of sampled firms and publications of NSE. The comprehensive nature of corporate annual reports and accounts in provision of adequate information to the general public and the degree of its credibility compared to other sources of information (e.g. Hooks et al., 2002) necessitate the selection since the responsibility of its content lies in \"those charged with governance\" of those companies. In addition, the study census all 178 firms listed on the main board of NSE as of January 2010 as population for the purpose of analyses in order to generate findings that have a far reaching generalisability across all the economic sectors in the country. However, based on the nature and objectives of this study, it employs some filters to eliminate some of the firms that are considered unsuitable for the study.\n4. Data analysis and findings: 4.1 Summary of the descriptive statistics\n5. Conclusion: This study is motivated by the resource-based theory in explaining the relationship between ICE and corporate book value. This study proposes that the more ICE the better would be the corporate book value through the enhancement of FCF from operation and EVA. The findings of the study confirm the expectations from resource-based theory that opined that value creation in the corporate organisation are mostly accrued from the intangible assets in the modern economy. The significant positive relationship between IC performance and cash flow from operations indicates that there is an improved cash flow from operation by minimising operating costs among the listed firms in Nigeria. A further analyse of each of components of ICE on FCF from operation indicates that HC, innovation capital and protected capital efficiencies have significant and positive.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the value relevance of intellectual capital (IC) by analysing the relationship between IC efficiency (ICE) and corporate book value of listed firms on main board of Nigeria Stock Exchange.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study applies the resource-based theory in formulating two hypotheses that guide the results analysis. By employing a two-step dynamic system generalised method of moments (GMMs), and controlling for the possible endogeneity effect on the parameters estimated, for a sample of 91 listed firms on main board of Nigeria Stock Exchange, this study investigates the association of ICE and corporate book value, namely, cash flow from operation and economic value added (EVA), using data over the 2010 to 2014 financial years.\nFindings: The results show a significant positive relationship between overall ICE and corporate book value (cash flow from operation and EVA). This study contributes to recent evidence concerning the value relevance of IC information to investors and other interested stakeholders.\nResearch limitations/implications: The generalisation of the results to smaller firms, in the alternative securities market, may be inappropriate as study sampled listed firms on the main board of Nigerian Stock Exchange.\nPractical implications: Those charged with governance should be concerned with the investment and management of IC as it enhances the economic value and operating cash flow in line with the resource-based theory.\nOriginality/value: This study is first to consider the ICE study across all sectors in the Nigerian economy using modified Pulic value added intellectual capital. The study controls for heteroscedasticity and endogeneity issues by adoption of two-step dynamic system GMMs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
A discursive study of institutionalisation in community organisations	[ "Community planning", "Communities", "Organizational theory", "Australia" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nThe Iron Cage: Weber believed that the control of men in \"bureaucratization\" is so effective that they can become \"imprisoned\" in what he referred to as an \"Iron Cage\". Weber believed that once established, the momentum of bureaucratization was irreversible. (1952; 1978 cited in Di Maggio and Powell, 1991)\nCommunity organisations and the \"new\" discourse: With the neo-liberalist economic regime permeating the globe (Bourdieu, 1998; Kennett, 2001), there is a comprehensive campaign to curb the role of the state in society, and increase the role of the market (Pusey, 1991; Bourdieu, 1998). In Australia, this \"Economic Reform Agenda\" is very clearly articulated in the form of National Competition Policy (NCP) launched by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 1995. NCP specifically focuses on the relation between government and markets and works on the premise that all non-core government activities should be potentially subject to competitive tendering. These agreements were made in the context of micro-economic reform and national and international trends emphasising efficiency and effectiveness (HRSC, 1998), accompanied by a discourse referred to in this paper as \"managerialist discourse\".Since the introduction of the NCP, Australian Governments have been engaging in a process of \"privatisation\", whereby welfare services are being contracted out to non-government \"community\" organisations (Kirkland, 2001). This shift to \"privatising\" or \"marketising\" the supply of welfare services has resulted in significant changes in the way in which the relation between government and community service providers is described and regulated. This change is most clearly articulated in government policy discourse as a move away from \"funding\" community service organisations, to \"purchasing\" the delivery of community services from these organisations.These changes in discourse and associated practice seem to turn the power relations between governments and the community sector upside down. Under the previous funding model, community organisations usually \"decided\" the services that were required to be delivered and then approached the state for funding. Conversely, under the \"purchaser model\", the government as the \"customer\" is essentially in a position to \"choose\" which services to purchase (ACOSS, 1997).This apparent shifting of power from \"bottom up\" to \"top down\" seems to contradict an economic doctrine which appears to promote less state intervention and more individual or community involvement and responsibility. There are also inherent contradictions in the context of a political shift emphasising \"community involvement and responsibility\" which has chiefly been driven by the state.In keeping with the current focus on market participation and mutual responsibility, many state authorities have moved towards more explicit market-oriented practices involving, in some cases, competitive tendering, and at the very least \"purchase of service agreements\" or contracts (Maddison et al., 2004). These changes have been characterised by mechanisms to ensure increased accountability for measurable service outcomes, such as business plans and performance indicators, which are built into funding contracts (ACOSS, 1997).With these changes there has been an increase in what is expected of community organisations in terms of accountability practices, evaluation and compliance. These increased expectations in reporting and evaluation have led to demands for workers with higher levels of skills and abilities. Furthermore, changed legislation - related to incorporation, public health, public liability and occupational health and safety - has increased pressure on Community Organisations to comply, stretching already scarce resources (Onyx et al., 2001; Our Community, 2003).\nInstitutionalisation, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and power: This paper examines the relation between institutionalisation and changes in the relation between government and the community sector. Institutionalisation is a process of organisations developing a social order or pattern that has achieved a certain state or property through \"taken-for-granted\" practices passed from one generation to the next (Di Maggio and Powell, 1991; Jepperson, 1991). Institutionalisation can be seen as a variable where actions performed within organisations can be on a continuum from highly institutionalised to low or no institutionalisation (Di Maggio and Powell, 1991; Jepperson, 1991; Zucker, 1991). Degrees of institutionalisation can be measured in terms of relative vulnerability to social intervention, with high institutionalisation correlating to a high resistance to change (Di Maggio and Powell, 1991; Jepperson, 1991; Zucker, 1991). According to Jepperson, \"A given institution is less likely to be vulnerable to intervention if it is more embedded in a framework of institutions\" (1991, p. 151).Di Maggio and Powell (1991) argue that institutionalisation is achieved through processes that make organisations more similar - a condition they call \"isomorphism\". They argue that the greater the isomorphism, the greater the level of institutionalisation. There are distinct differences in the effect of isomorphism depending on the type of process and who is enacting it. If isomorphism occurs through \"coercive processes\", for example, this might result in the coerced organisations becoming more similar to the organisation imposing the coercion (Di Maggio and Powell, 1991). In regards to community organisations, there has been some concern that high reliance on government funding might result in them becoming mini-bureaucracies doing little more than the government's bidding (Our Community, 2003; Maddison et al., 2004).On the other hand, strong \"internal normative processes\" such as \"professionalisation\", can increase a sector's strength and allow substantial resistance to outside forces, with some trade-off in terms of flexibility (Lochhead, 2001). However, \"imposed\" normative processes, have similar consequences, in terms of power and control, as coercive processes. In relation to community organisations, there is concern around the increased level of reporting, accountability practices and new legislation and other regulations now expected of them (Neville, 1999; Our Community, 2003; Maddison et al., 2004) - all of which could be viewed as \"imposed normative processes\".Institutionalisation occurs through discourse. Discourse is both an \"expression and a creation of organisational structure\" (Mumby and Clair, 1997). Looking at discourse as a \"mode of thinking\" \"directly implicates discourse in the social construction of reality\" (Grant et al., 1998, p. 2).\"Actual practices of talking and writing are seen to be constrained by broader social practices with structural and cultural implications\" (Woodilla, 1998, p. 40). Discursive practices \"do not just describe things; they do things. And being active they have social and political implications\" (Potter and Wetherell, 1987, p. 6). CDA seeks to uncover discursive forms of domination and exploitation (Woodilla, 1998).For neo-institutionalist theorists it is not norms and values, but taken-for-granted scripts, rules and classification that make up institutions (Powell and Di Maggio, 1991). \"For highly institutionalised acts, it is sufficient for one person simply to tell another that this is how things are done\" (Zucker, 1991, p. 83). Institutionalisation involves a level of \"taken-for-grantedness\" or of unquestioned \"realities\" (Di Maggio and Powell, 1991; Jepperson, 1991). \"What we believe to be reality is shaped and influenced by discursive practices and interactions we engage in and are exposed to\" (Grant et al., 1998, p. 2).These taken-for-granted actions are our way of making sense of the world (Wallemacqu and Sims, 1998, p. 125). These need to be overcome if we are to accept or even consider any other explanation; creating a strong resistance to intervention or change. Fairclough (1995) concludes that \"commonsense\" assumptions (or naturalised discourse) require \"denaturising\" before they are able to be critiqued.Jepperson (1991) argues that institutionalisation is higher if players are unaware of taken-for-granted assumptions as this results in little compulsion or capacity to change. Onyx and Dovey (1999) argue that workers and management in the community sector need to develop, what they call, a \"critical consciousness\" and a form of \"cultural literacy\" to ensure that the needs of the community sector are met. Fairclough (1989, 1995) and others (e.g. Lemke, 1995) argue that discourse can empower or disempower groups, depending on whether the members have the ability to interpret and use the discourse correctly.As our \"reality\" is shaped and influenced by our discursive practices and interactions (Grant et al., 1998), whoever influences these discursive practices has the power to influence what we believe (Fairclough, 1989).In the end, we are judged, condemned, classified, determined in our undertakings, destined to a certain mode of living or dying, as a function of the true discourses which are the bearers of the specific effects of power (Foucault 1976, p. 94).Foucault asserts that \"subjugated knowledges\" (or controlled knowledge) \"were concerned with a historical knowledge of struggles\" (1976, p. 83) and that this knowledge was suppressed in the interests of those in control of the scientific or \"qualified knowledges\". According to Foucault, critical analysis is only possible with the \"insurrection\" of \"subjugated knowledges\" (1976, p. 83).\nConversations with service providers: \"Institutionalism, must be capable of providing \"micro translation\" of its propositions, that is, samples of the lower level processes embodied in higher-order effects\" (Jepperson, 1991, p. 158). \"In everyday interaction and experience the macro and micro level (and intermediary \"meso levels\") form one unified whole\" (Van Dijk, 2001, p. 354). CDA analysts see macro structures as the conditions for the products of the micro, and vice-a versa, hence providing a link between the macro and the micro (Van Dijk, 2001). Van Dijk argues that CDA can \"arrive at a unified critical analysis\" (p. 354) because the discourse of individuals \"govern\" the discourse and actions of a \"Discourse Group\" and as individuals may belong to more than one Discourse Group, \"specific interactions (micro) are part of a larger social structure (macro)\" (p. 354).This study takes a micro look at the macro through talking to people who work in community organisations. This study looks at \"What is working (and what is not) for community organisations in the current economic and political context. The following information is an analysis of discussion from focus groups held in community centres in Sydney, Australia.Methodology\nConclusions: High levels of institutionalisation can lessen flexibility and ingenuity. These traits are highly valued in community organisations - with the source of much of the frustration being the high levels of government prescription and intervention. These values have led to a diverse community sector, with such a low level of internal isomorphic processes that it has difficulty defining itself.However, a low level of institutionalisation has been important to the sector. With total institutionalisation, \"the only distinctive contribution an individual can make is in the skill and style of performance\" (Shibutani, 1986, p. 16). Many staff working in community organisations refer to the freedom and independence to work the way they want, on the things they want to work on, as one of the things that they enjoy about their job.\"Acts performed by actors exercising personal influence are low in objectification and exteriority, hence low in Institutionalization\" (Zucker, 1991). There was a feeling amongst participants that individual personalities are crucial to their organisation's success (or otherwise) and that major changes in organisations are often the result of one or two people. In conducting these focus groups and subsequent interviews; when participants were asked \"What works for your organisation?\", almost all respondents emphasised a particular person or persons within the organisation.While a reliance (at least conceptually) on one or two people for the success or otherwise of an organisation could have some dire implications in terms of organisational resilience, it demonstrates the emphasis and value people working in and managing community organisations put on \"human influence\" or \"human contribution\" rather than organisational culture and structure. Implicit in this is a strong sense of the value of human diversity and the need to allow individuals flexibility and a high level of autonomy to do their job \"their\" way. A highly prescriptive, highly institutionalised organisational model would be at odds with these values.However, low levels of internal institutionalisation make the community sector more susceptible to outside influences. If the sector becomes more institutionalised due to coercive pressures then the community sector could be become little more than an inflexible government-like bureaucracy.This study found that while there were strong coercive pressures, many in the community sector were aware of these and in many instances they had been able to interpret the discourse and reframe practices to suit the purposes of their organisation. However, the lack of cohesion in the sector, exacerbated by different interpretations of the new discourse into practice (e.g. to professionalise or not), and some unconscious acceptance of the new discourse and associated practices (due to being too caught up in the day-to-day to see the \"big picture\"); leaves individual organisations and the sector, as a whole, vulnerable to imposed change. Furthermore, most participants were also unsure how much more reframing could occur in the face of increasing coercive pressure.So, in conclusion are community organisations between a cage and a box? While, an iron cage may be strong and secure, there is very little flexibility, and little chance of escape. A cardboard box is more flexible with greater possibility of escape. The cardboard box is also temporary: more capable of change but also more susceptible to damage.As flexibility and autonomy were highly valued, I conclude that; on the whole, workers in community organisations would prefer the flexibility of the box - with many preferring not to be \"boxed\" at all. However the risk for community organisations and the community sector is that, in the limited protection of the box, they may end up in an iron cage of a shape that they can not live with. Instead many community organisations are opting to move out of the box and into what looks like a cage from the outside. However the inside of this cage is box-like, allowing some reframing of practice. Again though, with increased pressure, there is a risk that the outside of the cage could become so rigid that movement from inside may become problematic. To prevent this, the community sector needs to work on shaping and strengthening the box that currently defines the sector (however loosely) from the inside out.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The institutionalisation of neo-liberalist discourse has significantly changed the way in which the relationship between government and community organisations is described and regulated in Australia. These changes are most clearly articulated in government policy discourse as a move away from \"funding\" community service organisations to \"purchasing\" the delivery of community services. This research aims to explore institutionalisation in the community sector: how institutionalisation interplays with increased central control, the impact on practice and the continued relevance of community organisations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This research applies critical discourse analysis, within the framework of neo-institutional theory, to examine data from \"conversations\" with workers in community organisations.\nFindings: - Imposed institutionalisation, seen to threaten flexibility and autonomy, is spurned. However, some evidence of increased internal institutionalisation revealed some potential to strengthen the sector from within.\nOriginality/value: - Due to significant devolution of government services, the extent of welfare provision provided by community organisations is now so great that a crisis in the community sector would result in severe disruption in the delivery of welfare services in Australia. An examination of how the community sector can be resilient and relevant in this new policy environment has important practical implications at the local and international level.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Passing the baton: Successful succession planning in a family business	[ "Organizational change", "Succession planning", "Corporate governance", "Boards of directors", "Family firms", "William Jackson Food Group" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nMain body of article review: Once upon a time, saying that you were going into the family business marked the end of any career discussion. Now it's just the beginning - interest in family firms has never been greater. Succession planning is a subject guaranteed to generate questions - everyone wants to know how to get it right. Fortunately, it's an area where some are happy to share their experience.\nA successful transition at William Jackson Food Group: One person who can reflect on succession planning with considerable authority is Christopher Oughtred (CO), former chairman of the William Jackson Food Group. This family firm, based in East Yorkshire, UK, was founded by his great-great-grandfather in 1851. CO describes himself now as \"just another shareholder\", but he has the additional advantage of being able to take an insider's perspective. After starting relatively young in the family business, he served as chairman for 10 years before retiring in 2007 at the age of 55 years. The handover to his youngest brother Nicholas, then aged 45 years, has gone well, and after nine years in the job Nicholas is in turn considering the future succession.\nPlanning for a smooth succession: CO noted that when he was looking to retire, the eldest of the next generation was only 28 years and was not in the family business. He identified a number of factors instrumental in his achieving a smooth succession, including:\nPersonal fulfillment after retirement: At the same time, CO needed to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life and create the structure and conditions that would allow him to accomplish that. Two things proved particularly useful:\nMeeting the challenges facing the family: This open discussion of the way one family firm has addressed succession planning offers some guidance for other businesses facing the challenges of a transition in leadership. It highlights the value of:\nThe retiring individual can also benefit from:: seeking objective external support;\nComment: This review is of \"Succession planning in William Jackson Food Group\", by Collins et al. (2015). A panel of experts outlined the challenges associated with a change of leadership in family businesses through the medium of a discussion with the former chairman of a UK family firm. In addition to a first-person account of a successful transition and what this required in terms of succession planning, the article identifies a number of promising directions for future research into family businesses.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the factors affecting the success of succession planning in family businesses.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study reports on a panel discussion in which the former chairman of the William Jackson Food Group describes the processes put in place to manage succession at this family firm and his own experience of handing over to his successor.\nFindings: Once upon a time, saying that you were going into the family business marked the end of any career discussion. Now it's just the beginning - interest in family firms has never been greater. Succession planning is a subject guaranteed to generate questions - everyone wants to know how to get it right. Fortunately, it's an area where some are happy to share their experience.\nResearch limitations/implications: The paper highlights the need for more longitudinal research on family firms.\nPractical implications: This paper provides a practical guide to structures and processes that can facilitate succession planning in family firms.\nSocial implications: It draws attention to the emotional and psychological impact of succession on the retiring individual and the need to create life structures to replace former business involvement.\nOriginality/value: This paper aims to present a frank discussion of the approach to succession planning taken by one family business and the broader research questions that it raises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
What's your anonymity worth? Establishing a marketplace for the valuation and control of individuals' anonymity and personal data	[ "Data protection", "Economic value", "Online anonymity", "Personal data", "PII" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Threats to remaining anonymous while online are all around us and occur with surprising frequency. Recent threats to anonymity include electronic manufacturer Vizio's smart TVs unknowingly monitoring owner's viewing habits and having their personal information sold (Goodwin, 2017), or new Google algorithms making it possible to identify individuals using severely pixelated photos (Anthony, 2017). We live in a world where the ability to easily identify individuals is posing growing threats to online anonymity.\nDefining anonymity: Anonymity has been defined in varying ways in the literature as follows: \"the condition of being unknown to others\" (Lapidot-Lefler and Barak, 2012, p. 435), or \"the state of being not identifiable\" (Pfitzmann and Kohntopp, 2001, p. 2). In essence, anonymity may be explored through the concept of unidentifiable existence online. Lapidot-Lefler and Barak (2012) argue that unidentifiability is a crucial aspect of being anonymous; rather than just being nameless, the dimension of unidentifiability is broader and more significant. While anonymity and privacy are frequently used interchangeably, it is important to note that these are two distinct concepts, and this manuscript only explores anonymity. As previously stated, anonymity deals with being not identifiable. Being anonymous may also be viewed as that an individual cannot be identified by any of several identifiers, including name, location, pseudonyms that cannot be linked to name or location, patterns of behavior, social group memberships or indications of personal characteristics (Marx, 1999).\nBenefits and disadvantages of anonymity: The ability to not be identified can have advantages both offline and online. Anonymity can lift inhibition and lead to unusual acts of generosity or kindness (Suler, 2004). Using the protection of anonymity, people can experience lower social risk when discussing unpopular opinions and topics (Bargh et al., 2002). When anonymous, individuals are able to maintain their social relations because concealing things from the public can thwart breakdowns in relationships (Schoeman, 1992). Being anonymous also provides individuals the ability to develop online personas different from those exhibited offline (Yurchisin et al., 2005). Without anonymity, identification of individuals can occur, which may ultimately lead to discrimination based on identifiers (Robinson, 2015). The ability to practice anonymity online becomes a form of self-protection and self-development for all internet users.\nStakeholders involved with regulating and protecting anonymity: Similar to the advertising and marketing industry in the USA, the responsibility of regulating and oversight of free speech and anonymity involve three stakeholder groups: government, industry and consumers.\nFailures of stakeholders in protecting anonymity: Each of the three main stakeholders involved with protecting rights to anonymity have fallen short of their responsibilities. The protection of personal data through legislation and industry self-regulation is not effective (Sidgman and Crompton, 2016). In addition, consumers have a responsibility to be aware of technology trends and guard against attempts to limit anonymity or expose their sensitive data.\nEstablishing anonymity has value: As mentioned earlier in the manuscript, being anonymous is the condition of not being identifiable. Being able to identify an individual either limits or lessens anonymity or creates an environment where anonymity is not possible. Information that can identify individuals and undermine anonymity includes name, date of birth, IP (Internet Protocol) address, geographic location (obtained through a cell phone's GPS tracking) and other sensitive identifiers.\nA basis for valuating anonymity in a marketplace: Explored in the previous sections, anonymity has been established as having monetary value. However, industry has also not placed enough value on personal data (Sidgman and Crompton, 2016); therefore, the appropriate valuation of data is crucial for industry to establish a credible marketplace for selling and exchanging consumer data and controlling one's online anonymity. To ensure anonymity is priced fairly, allowing consumers to afford the right of anonymity while industry fairly compensates individuals for their personal data, this section will provide recommendations for establishing proper valuation of one's anonymity.\nOther factors affecting pricing of anonymity: An individual's perception of the value of their anonymity and personal data may be influenced by many factors (Acquisti et al., 2013; Carrascal et al., 2013), including, among many, the factors of age, nationality, gender, attitudes toward privacy, personality traits and culture. Gender is one factor to consider, as women are typically more protective of their personal data in online environments (Fogel and Nehmad, 2009; Hoy and Milne, 2010). The age of individuals also influences disclosure of information, such that adolescents disclose more information on Facebook (Christofides et al., 2011). Individuals who consider privacy as unimportant may value their personal data and anonymity less than users who consider their privacy to be important. However, conflicting research about the affect of demographics on valuation perceptions exist, as Staiano et al. (2014) found behavioral differences to affect personal differences in valuations more than demographics.\nA proposed marketplace for anonymity: This section will provide recommendations for establishing a marketplace for anonymity-related products and services. Several authors have explored valuation of personal data (Sidgman and Crompton, 2016; Morando et al., 2014; Staiano et al., 2014; Savage and Waldman, 2015), however they have not highlighted mechanisms for controlling an individual's anonymity, specifically through a personal data marketplace.\nFeatures of an online marketplace for anonymity: In this section, the author proposes some potential features of the described personal data and identity management marketplace, including ownership of data, compensation for data, and features allowing expiration of data in transactions. Anonymity should be regulated like other market goods so that potential abuse or unauthorized access is lessened and individuals have the ability to price their data and, in turn, decide what level of disclosure to agree to.\nConclusion: By highlighting the shortcomings of the government, industry and consumers in protecting anonymity, it is clear that a new model for ensuring anonymity is needed. The pricing of anonymity as a good may entice industry to offer fair valuation of personal data, while providing easier anonymity management options to consumers whose online behavior continues to contradict their data protection concerns. Such a market-based system for anonymity as a valued good would require strict oversight and regulation by government bodies. Establishing a marketplace where individuals have full control over their personal data and, relatedly, their anonymity, might be difficult, but is necessary to ensure individuals' right to online anonymity. Ultimately, by valuing individuals' anonymity, we allow citizens the ability to choose their level of being identifiable or unknown on the Web. By recognizing individuals' right to anonymity online, and full control of their personal data, we can encourage fair usage of the value of personal data, which can fuel a powerful digital economy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The viability of online anonymity is questioned in today's online environment where many technologies enable tracking and identification of individuals. In light of the shortcomings of the government, industry and consumers in protecting anonymity, it is clear that a new perspective for ensuring anonymity is needed. Where current stakeholders have failed to protect anonymity, some proponents argue that economic models exist for valuation of anonymity. By placing a monetary value on anonymity through Rawls' concept of primary goods, it is possible to create a marketplace for anonymity, therefore allowing users full control of how their personal data is used. This paper aims to explore the creation of a data marketplace, offering users the possibility of engaging with companies and other entities to sell and auction personal data. Importantly, participation in a marketplace does not sacrifice one's anonymity, as there are different levels of anonymity in online systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a conceptual framework based on the abstractions of anonymity and data valuation.\nFindings: The manuscript constructs a conceptual foundation for exploring the development and deployment of a personal data marketplace. By suggesting features allowing individuals' control of their personal data, and properly establishing monetary valuation of one's personal data, it is argued that individuals will undertake a more proactive management of personal data.\nOriginality/value: An overview of the available services and products offering increased anonymity is explored, in turn, illustrating the beginnings of a market response for anonymity as a valuable good. By placing a monetary value on individuals' anonymity, it is reasoned that individuals will more consciously protect their anonymity in ways where legislation and other practices (i.e. privacy policies, marketing opt-out) have failed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Time in teams: cognitions, conflict and team satisfaction	[ "Teams", "Shared temporal cognition", "Team processes", "Temporal conflict" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The reliance on team-based outcomes in today's workplaces underscores the importance of understanding how such outcomes are generated (e.g. Mathieu et al., 2008). Team satisfaction is one such outcome. Team satisfaction denotes the overall extent to which members are satisfied with the team's outcomes (e.g. Van Der Vegt et al., 2001). In teamwork research, researchers have identified the importance of shared cognitions, conflict, and team processes regarding team satisfaction (LePine et al., 2008; Santos and Passos, 2013). Despite these findings, little is known about how these constructs relate to time; that is, team members' shared cognition about time, their conflict about time, and their team processes related to task-oriented actions over time. Yet, as time is a key dimension for shaping teamwork and experiences of the team (e.g. Arrow et al., 2004; McGrath, 1991), we expect that insight may be gained by formulating and testing a model of these constructs and their relation to team satisfaction.\nSTC and team satisfaction: STC is a specific form of team cognition, which captures the collective understanding, awareness, and perceptions dispersed within teams (DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus, 2010; Mohammed et al., 2012). Researchers linked shared cognitions to teams' ability to adapt, to coordinate, and to reach consensus (Cannon-Bowers et al., 1993; Gevers et al., 2006). Past research shows teams with shared cognitions enjoy benefits like enhanced coordination of task activities and enhanced team performance (Mathieu et al., 2000; Rico et al., 2008). Also, shared cognitions help support acceptance among members conducive to a more positive overall team experience (i.e. greater team satisfaction) (Santos and Passos, 2013; Standifer and Bluedorn, 2006). While noteworthy, these findings do not specifically address a shared understanding regarding temporal dynamics, which some consider an important (and often overlooked) factor of collective team experiences (McGrath, 1991; Mohammed et al., 2012).\nTC and team satisfaction: In contrast to STC, we anticipate a negative relationship between TC and team satisfaction, in line with general conflict findings in previous research (De Dreu and Weingart, 2003; de Wit et al., 2012; Santos and Passos, 2013).\nSTC, TC, and team satisfaction: We also propose that TC partially mediates the relationship between STC and satisfaction. STC and TC are recognized in the extant literature as related to, but distinct from, one another. STC is a property of a team, dynamic in nature. TC concerns the extent to which a team experiences dysfunction during interactions regarding temporal matters (Marks et al., 2001). We suggest that STC enables teams to interpret cues more accurately and to make decisions more compatibly (Cooke et al., 2000; Wilson et al., 2007). STC also supports a greater understanding of temporal elements inherent in effective teamwork (e.g. closed-loop communication and mutual trust) (Wilson et al., 2007), which helps minimize the occurrence of TC.\nSTC, action processes, and team satisfaction: Team action processes are a higher order categorization as delineated in Marks et al.'s (2001) hierarchical taxonomy. Marks et al. (2001) have conceptualized action processes as one of three higher order processes, including transition, action, and interpersonal processes. Action processes are of particular interest for the purpose of our study, as they comprise activities that relate to the way in which team members coordinate their task activities. For example, they comprise lower level activities relating to the synchronization, sequence, and timing of interdependent tasks (Ilgen et al., 2005; Marks et al., 2001). We therefore expect this type of higher order process category to be of key interest for understanding how STC manifests in actual team behavior.\nSTC, TC, team processes, and team satisfaction: In the final hypothesis, we propose a multiple mediated model acknowledging the relationship between two mediating variables; namely, TC and action processes. Our conceptual model is presented in Figure 1.\nMethod: Sample and data collection\nResults: The correlations, means, and standard deviations for all study variables are presented in Table II. As expected, we found significant positive correlations between STC, action processes (r=0.30, p\nDiscussion: Researchers and practitioners are interested in understanding team experiences that generate team satisfaction, as an overall indicator of the quality of teamwork (Hackman, 2002). Our results provide insight into the ways temporal constructs and action processes relate to team satisfaction, and thereby make several contributions to the literature.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide more insight into team temporal constructs and team satisfaction, this study proposes and tests a multiple mediation model of shared temporal cognition (STC), temporal conflict (TC), action processes, and team satisfaction.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors test the theoretical model in a sample of 364 student teams (1,414 individuals) from universities in the USA, Switzerland, Germany, and Portugal. Participants completed questionnaires at three points in time.\nFindings: Results indicated a direct, positive relationship between STC and team satisfaction and a direct, negative relationship between TC and team satisfaction. Action processes and TC partially and sequentially mediated the relationship between STC and team satisfaction over time.\nResearch limitations/implications: This study was restricted to self-report, to a student population, and to Western cultures. The study was not of an experimental nature which prevents making causal claims regarding relationships among variables.\nPractical implications: These results demonstrate the need for teams to be conscious of time and its relationship to team interaction and satisfaction. The authors advise both team leaders and members to acknowledge the importance of STC.\nSocial implications: The need for temporal awareness and STC in collaborative endeavors, and the need to mindfully utilize action processes to minimize conflict and assist in the effective use of shared cognition is widely applicable from a societal perspective.\nOriginality/value: This study provides new theoretical and empirical insight into a multiple mediation model including STC, TC, action processes, and team satisfaction. The size and multi-cultural nature of the sample also enhance the generalizability of the findings.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Integrating sustainability into project-based undergraduate design courses	[ "Eco-design", "Sustainable design", "Industrial design", "Furniture design", "Spatial design" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Design activity has been changing due to issues related to sustainability, globalization, digital age and new value systems, and its complexity is increasing (Dorst, 2008). Industrial designers, today, are designing not only products but also services and socio-economic artifacts (Roozenburg, 2014). These changes require extending the scope of design education as well. However, integrating sustainability into both design activity and design education is a challenge, even if specific courses already address this issue (Boks and Diehl, 2006).\nBackground: The background will focus on three subjects: design process models, sustainable design approaches and sustainable design in industrial design education.\nThe design process models: The process of learning in design is investigated as a \"reflective practice, a reflective conversation with the situation\" (Schon, 1983). The core of the design education is the design studio courses, which emerged in Bauhaus School of Design in Germany. In design studios, students design a project under the supervision of the instructors, who are also called \"coaches\". Supervision consists of meetings and conversations with the students about their sketches, including reviews and critiques with verbal and visual dimensions. At the end of the semesters, the students present their design outcomes and design processes to a \"jury\" of coaches, which might include experts or stakeholders, as well as peers (Schon, 1983; Brandt et al., 2013).\nSustainable design approaches: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines design for sustainability (sustainable design) as 'reformulating how consumer needs are met with less environmental and social impacts' (Clark, 2007). Sustainable design started to develop in the early 1970s (Papanek, 1971). In the 1990s, eco-design was developed as a strategy for diminishing the environmental impact of companies (Brezet and Van Hemel, 1997; Sherwin and Bhamra, 2000). In the 2000s, eco-design evolved into sustainable design by incorporating social and economic concerns as well (Manzini and Vezzoli, 2002; Crul and Diehl, 2006; Crul et al., 2009).\nSustainable design in industrial design education: Several previous studies investigated how to integrate sustainability into design education (Fletcher and Dewberry, 2002; Boks and Diehl, 2006; Gulwadi, 2009; O'Rafferty et al., 2014; Ueda, 2018). One such study (Fletcher and Dewberry, 2002) suggests that design and sustainability can be integrated within the curricula through a range of approaches along a continuum. At one end of the continuum, sustainability is integrated within the design context while, at the other end, design is integrated within the sustainability context. The latter approach expands the boundaries of the design context with its definition and actors involved in the process and by \"maximizing the potential of design thinking to influence the environmental and social impact of goods and services\" (Fletcher and Dewberry, 2002).\nResearch method: The study's main research question was: \"How can we integrate sustainability into project-based courses in undergraduate industrial design education, if it is newly diffusing into the curriculum?\" The two sub-research questions were, \"How do the students experience the sustainable design process?\" and \"How can the instructors help students improve the sustainability scope and impact of their projects?\"\nWorkshop I: The first workshop was carried out within the course \"Contemporary Furniture Design\" and the brief was \"Designing sustainable furniture\".\nProcess and results of workshop I: The workshop lasted a total of five weeks with each class lasting approximately four hours. During the first class, the sustainability coach made a one-hour presentation introducing the sustainable design approaches that are listed in Section 2.2. After the presentation, the students spent one hour doing preliminary research and defining their design criteria. Later, the students and the coaches met for a short discussion to answer questions and clarify sustainable design approaches. For the next three classes, the design process continued following the reflective practice approach (Schon, 1983). The students and the coaches met weekly for consultations on the design projects. Each class started with students presenting their respective projects and discussing them with the coaches at a round table with all students present. With their feedbacks, the coaches endeavored to help students develop their design process and further explore the sustainability aspect of their projects by aiming at a greater sustainability impact. For example, if a given student only intended to work on recycled materials, the coaches encouraged the student to use additional eco-design strategies. The coaches also encouraged students to work at the product-service system level. On the last day of class, the students made a final presentation about their project. The students' design concepts, main sustainable design approach, and progress toward sustainability during the design process are listed in Table V.\nReflections on workshop I: First, it is challenging to introduce students with no previous coursework on the subject, to sustainable design approaches during a one-hour presentation. Understanding the approaches thoroughly requires the students examine a number of relevant examples and experience the design process by applying the approaches.\nWorkshop II: The second workshop was carried out within the course \"Space Organization\" and the brief was determined by integrating sustainability into one of the previous years' briefs, \"Designing a sustainable 3 x 3 m2 expo stand for a company\".\nProcess and results of workshop II: The process for this study was the same as the one for Workshop I except that the students worked in teams of three or four. The coaches expected the Workshop II brief to better encourage students to use the product system design approach, as the brief instead of being limited to products extended to designing spaces. Therefore, especially during the first week, sustainable product-service system design was emphasized both during the presentation and when discussing the teams' design criteria. The teams' respective design concepts and main sustainable design approaches are listed in Table VI.\nReflections on workshop II: During Workshop II, two teams started by developing product-service system concepts but ended up only applying sustainable design approaches at the product level. One of them, Team-2, had proposed a \"pay per unit use\" type product-service system, designing an outdoor stand for producing a recycled material. Later they decided to design an expo stand for the same company that produces the recycled material. Team-5 designed an \"activity-management\" type of product-service system, set in an outdoor environment. Although they developed details of the service to a certain extent during the process, they ended up not presenting the service during the final presentation. They worried that they might not have been able to complete the project within the limited time available.\nDiscussion: The workshops focused on sustainable design at the product level and product-service system level. All participant students, as well as the coaches, aimed to raise the impact of sustainability during every step of the design process. In both workshops, the coaches also encouraged the students to design a product-service system rather than only a product with the expectation to raise the sustainability impact.\nConclusion: This study investigates how to integrate sustainability into project-based undergraduate courses in industrial design education. Two workshops, on sustainable design at the product and product-service system levels were carried out at the ITU-IPD.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Although the methods and approaches of sustainable design have been developing for more than 20 years, their application in design education and the design process is still under-examined. This study aims to investigate how to integrate sustainability into project-based undergraduate courses in industrial design education, where sustainability has recently been introduced into the curriculum.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Two workshops were carried out as pilot studies within two different elective courses. The scope of the study included sustainable design approaches at both the product and product-service system innovation levels.\nFindings: The findings show that choosing between the two levels and the sustainable design approach is the most important challenge that students face during the design process. Moreover, the project brief influences the choice of the approach.\nOriginality/value: Following the findings, a sustainable design process model for the project-based undergraduate design courses was proposed. Finally, a new course curriculum on sustainable design was developed based on the findings from the study.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Entrepreneurial selection and success: does education matter?	[ "Education", "Entrepreneurialism", "Research", "Critical success factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The impact of entrepreneurial activity on the economy of both industrialized and developing countries has been well established (Aidis, 2005; Minniti et al., 2004). A wide range of institutional antecedents have traditionally been associated with both the choice of individuals to found ventures and various outcomes associated with venture founding (Aidis, 2005; Casper, 2000). One institutional variable that has received significant attention is education based on the fundamental assumption that there is a positive relationship between education and the individual's choice to become an entrepreneur as well as the potential positive outcomes of such activity. In recent years several studies have called this assumption into question. The authors of two meta-analyses of past research on the topic (van der Sluis et al., 2004, 2005) conclude that the relationship between general education and venture formation is unproven although they do conclude that there appears to be a positive relationship between general education and entrepreneurial income. The first of van der Sluis and colleagues' conclusions is supported by the directors of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research program (Acs et al., 2004; Autio, 2005; Minniti et al., 2004; Neck et al., 2003), one of the first multi-country studies focusing on a wide range of entrepreneurial issues, who suggest from their findings that when viewed across a wide range of countries the relationship between the average level of general education and the rate of venture formation is ambiguous. Both of these studies appear to contradict the prevailing assumptions as well as a number of studies reporting positive relationships between education and entrepreneurship.One purpose of this study is to explore this seeming contradiction by providing a review of the current peer reviewed research linking general education and venture creation and success. Another purpose is to expand our understanding of the links between education and entrepreneurship by reviewing the current research linking specific forms of entrepreneurship education and venture creation and success. Finally, this study explores the most prominent theoretical frameworks offered in support of the education-entrepreneurship linkage and offers an analysis of both the research and policy implications that might be derived from this review.\nTheoretical frameworks supporting the education-entrepreneurship linkage: A wide range of economic and strategic theories have been employed in providing a framework in which education is viewed as an important determinant of selection into entrepreneurship for the individual, entrepreneurial success for the firm and rates of firm formation in a society. These theories include those drawn from both economic and strategic foundations. One of the more prominent economic theories employed is human capital theory (Becker, 1975; Bosma et al., 2004; Gimeno et al., 1997). This theoretical framework examines the impact of acquired variables such as experience and education (Sorensen and Chang, 2006) on career outcomes and is built upon the assumption that education can serve both as a determinant of decision choice as well as providing benefits to specific ventures. Other theories that have variously been applied in linking education both to entrepreneurial selection and outcomes include signaling theory (van der Sluis et al., 2004), outsider assistance theory (Chrisman and McMullan, 2004) and knowledge spillover theory (Audretsch and Lehmann, 2005). Institutional theory, which assumes that firms are embedded in country-specific institutional arrangements, including systems of education (Lynskey, 2004) has been applied to explain differences in both the rates of innovation and entrepreneurship at the societal or country level. When looking across the theoretical frameworks applied in this research, education is variously assumed as enhancing managerial capabilities, generating broader options making entrepreneurial selection of lesser or greater value, impacting the quality and quantity of labor, or signaling production ability in labor markets that have incomplete information.Regarding the linkage between education specific to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial outcomes, Bechard and Gregoire (2002) report, based on their review of entrepreneurship education research, that just over 60 percent of all such research was principally underpinned by academic theories, just over twenty percent built upon social theories and about ten percent relied on technical theories to support proposed linkages. Two of the theories often used are Bandura's \"social learning theory\" (Human et al., 2005) and \"action learning theory\" (Leitch and Harrison, 1999). Bandura's theory provides a framework involving five steps necessary for learning that includes skill and attitude assessment, skill and attitude learning, behavioral guidelines and action steps, skill and attitude analysis and skill practice. The model of action learning was first proposed by Revans (1971). The model focuses on learning by reflecting on actions that solve real organizational problems. While these are only two of many theoretical frameworks utilized, they suggest that support for hypothesizing a relationship between entrepreneurial education and various entrepreneurial outcomes is the impact of such education on attitudes, skill development and behavior.\nLiterature review: Study methodology\nDiscussion: We believe the following conclusions can be drawn from a review of this literature. First, although the volume of empirical research has increased since Dainow's review in 1986 and has stayed relatively constant with that reviewed by Gorman et al. (1997), many of the limitations noted by both still seem to persist. Most studies focus on the outcomes of specific educational programs, are exploratory in nature and employ cross-section surveys with few experimental controls. Second, there has been a noted increase in the number of studies focusing on entrepreneurial intentions as a precursor of entrepreneurial behavior following on the broad foundation of research suggesting intentions as the best predictor of subsequent behavior. Third, while the most direct measure of venture creation is the act itself, researchers have come to understand that there may be long time periods between the educational experience and subsequent behavior. Therefore, the focus on proposed antecedents to entrepreneurial behavior has in general gained momentum. Finally, even though the vast majority of research still focuses on specific and often unique educational programs, the general consensus, although not yet definitively proven, seems to be that there is a positive correlation between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial activity.Research implications and future research opportunities\nConclusions: The primary purpose of this study has been to provide a review of relevant research regarding the relationship between general and entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial selection and success and to provide a discussion of both the research and policy implications provided by this research. The findings of this review highlight the general consensus across research from multiple countries, which indicates a significant and positive relationship between education and entrepreneurial performance. The review also notes the ambiguous findings regarding the links between general education and selection into entrepreneurship and suggests several potential theoretical and methodological reasons for these ambiguous findings.This review highlights the lack of consensus in both our definitions of entrepreneurial education and what should be the appropriate and measurable outcomes for entrepreneurial education. The findings of existing research provide indications, albeit still preliminary, of the relationship between entrepreneurial education and subsequent entrepreneurial selection and success. Given these promising results this report also highlights the future opportunities afforded researchers in this important area of research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between general education, specific forms of entrepreneurial education and a range of entrepreneurial activities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The relationships were investigated through an analysis of peer-reviewed research published in a wide range of journals and proceedings between 1995 and 2006.\nFindings: - Findings suggest strong evidence supporting the relationship between levels of general education and several entrepreneurial success measures. The findings are less clear in regards to the link between general education and the choice to become an entrepreneur. The findings linking specific programs of entrepreneurship education to entrepreneurship, although ambiguous, suggest a positive link between such education and both the choice to become an entrepreneur and subsequent entrepreneurial success.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The review of research suggests four implications for existing research: a need for increased research outside the USA; an understanding that inconsistencies in findings may be to a great extent temporal artifacts; a need for increased research focused on innovation; and an acknowledgement that \"venture exit\" as an outcome measure has received limited attention.\nPractical implications: - Given the significant investments by both private organizations and governments aimed at increasing rates of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial success through education, it is important to understand that while the evidence supporting the links between education and entrepreneurial outcomes is promising it is not yet definitive.\nOriginality/value: - In addition to providing a review of existing research this paper suggests an integrative framework for future research.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
HR should be buried and then given a seat on the board	[ "Human resource management", "Strategic management", "Leadership", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Typically in a recession, the \"people\" aspect of the business takes a back seat and the opportunity to focus on cutting costs arises. However, this time the situation is different. Through what has been described as one of the worst financial crises in modern history, we still see the importance of having the right people and the right people processes in an organization.\nManagers \"dump\" people issues on HR: The problem is that HR has become an escape route for many organizations and they dump the responsibility for people issues on the HR department with an attitude of, \"You deal with this while we get on with the real business.\" This approach means that managers abdicate the core of their role to a \"department\". The central or core role of a leader and manager is the people they are responsible for.The word \"responsible\" is the key to the problem in both of these cases. A leader or manager abdicating the core element of his or her job to someone else is not being \"responsible\". It is a sign of poor management and leadership in an organization. HR is not there to do the job for a manager or a leader, and this should not be allowed to happen. HR can provide support to enable managers and leaders to undertake their responsibility more effectively, legally and with appropriate care and consideration.Conversely, it should also be pointed out that HR can be very good at empire building as well. HR specialists can even justify the need for their existence beyond the lack of responsibility of their leaders and managers, because there are so many laws and legal ramifications if a company does not handle something properly. It is easy to scare management into allowing HR to take control on certain issues.It is often, therefore, impossible to place blame exclusively on one side or the other. Abdication works when there is a party wanting to take control. Add to this the immense pressure that organizations find themselves in, and we see a problem that is not being faced or dealt with in a meaningful manner.A chief executive of a new company, which was growing significantly, noticed that the managers were abdicating their responsibility to HR. This bothered him because he did not want a company dependent on HR, and managers who were not fully focused on the importance of people to the business. The chief executive took the dramatic step of calling a meeting of all 53 employees on a Friday afternoon in the gardens outside the office. Here he announced that HR had died and they were gathered to attend its funeral and to bury it.He thus sent out a strong message that managers were responsible for their people and could not abdicate that responsibility. Equally, people were responsible to their manager and could not go running to HR to hide behind a department if they had a problem.As they buried the tiny coffin in the garden, the chief executive made a point of thanking HR for the role it had played in getting the business to where it was. He then made his point to everyone so both managers and leaders were clear that they were fully responsible for their roles. After this he announced that a new director of employee experience was starting the following Monday. As they went indoors to have a wake, the role of this director in terms of strategic input, and support for managers and people to sustain the business culture, was explained in detail.\nHR needs to be involved in strategic thinking: HR does have a role to play in modern business. In fact, the role is in some ways more important now than ever. But its old role has to die and new the role has to have a different emphasis. The leadership of an organization needs to involve HR in strategic thinking and planning. HR needs to make an enthusiastic contribution and not be seen as pointing out the problems without any strategic thinking.Most of all, the board or leadership of an organization needs to value the role HR plays and stop imposing useless measurements. Retention targets, for example, are not only useless in most organizations in current times, but also place responsibility in the wrong place. Any organization that views retention as a useful measurement in the modern age is out of touch with reality.One typical characteristic of the current generation is its lack of interest in long-term employment positions. The information coming out of western government statistics analysis shows that the average university graduate is likely to have at least 19 jobs in a working life, assuming that he or she will retire at the current retirement age. This means that graduates are only seeking to work in an organization for approximately three years and then move on. Research reveals that offering them more money is neither effective nor productive.An organization would better spend its time getting the most out of people while they are working for it than in finding ways to keep them when they do not want to be there. Large corporations can sometimes have an advantage by keeping people within the company and moving them into new and challenging roles every three years. Small and medium-size companies do not have that luxury and so need constantly to replenish a good proportion of their staff.In both cases, burdening HR with a measurement that is incompatible with current trends, is out of HR's control or is simply meaningless to the overall strategy of the business is a waste of time and resources and can even take the business in the wrong direction. This is all the more reason for HR to be part of steering the business through the world in which we live and operate.\nManagers no longer held in reverence: The current generation understands the importance of networking and building relationships. Customers want an experience these days and their expectations are a lot higher than they have been in the past. This means that an organization needs a higher level of engagement than we have seen before. To achieve this, managers and leaders need to embrace new challenges in how they deal with their people. HR cannot simply do it for them. HR specialists never should have and they will certainly not be able to do so in the competitive business of the future.This situation is going to be exacerbated as members of the incoming generation have a different attitude toward managers and leaders. They do not hold leaders in reverence and certainly do not see them as above them. In many cases, we will see a shortage of managers and leaders, as many people have no desire to hold these positions. This can bring new issues and challenges to organizations.HR can add significant value and help to drive an organization forward, provided that everyone understands the HR role, works together and takes responsibility for their contribution. In many cases this may mean burying HR and allowing the proverbial phoenix to rise and take a new position.Can organizations accept HR as an equal? Can HR rise to the challenge? Can managers and leaders take responsibility for the core of their role?\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Focuses on the strategic role that human-resource management should play to help to ensure organizational success.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Warns managers against abdicating responsibility for leading their people, and HR specialists against empire building. Highlights how HR should support managers and people to sustain the right business culture.\nFindings: - Advances the view that the leadership of an organization needs to involve HR and encourage it to make an enthusiastic contribution, rather than simply pointing out the problems without any strategic thinking.\nPractical implications: - Argues that the board or leadership of an organization needs to value the strategic role HR plays and stop imposing individual measurements such as retention targets.\nSocial implications: - Highlights the difficulties of managing the current generation of workers, who generally seek to change their jobs frequently and have few qualms about challenging leaders they believe to be wrong.\nOriginality/value: - Contends that HR can help an organization to succeed, provided that all employees understand their role, work together and take responsibility for their contribution. In many cases this may mean burying HR and allowing the phoenix to rise and take a new position.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of restaurant quality attributes on customer behavioral intentions	[ "Service quality", "Ambience", "Food quality", "Quick-service restaurants", "Restaurant quality attributes", "Upscale restaurants" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: A number of different attributes of restaurant quality have been identified and studied in recent years (Bojanic and Rosen, 1994; Gupta et al., 2007; Ha and Jang, 2010; Iglesias and Guillen, 2004; Kivela et al., 2000). For example, Kim et al. (2009) recognized food quality, service quality, atmosphere, convenience, price and value as six separate attributes of restaurant quality. Some of these more widely accepted restaurant quality attributes have been included in well-established theoretical frameworks, such as SERVQUAL (Bojanic and Rosen, 1994; Cronin and Taylor, 1994; Lee and Hing, 1995; Parasuraman et al., 1988) and DINESERV (Kim et al., 2009; Stevens et al., 1995).\nLiterature review: Restaurant type\nMethodology: As the three most commonly agreed-upon restaurant quality attributes in both quick-service and upscale restaurants are food, service and ambience (DiPietro et al., 2011; Dutta et al., 2013; Perutkova and Parsa, 2010; Ryu and Han, 2010; Ryu and Jang, 2007), these attributes were selected as the independent variables in the study. To be consistent with prior studies related to restaurant attributes and customer behavioral intentions (Dutta et al., 2013), return intentions and word-of-mouth were selected as the dependent variables for this study. An experimental design was chosen to provide a high level of internal validity and to isolate the effects of study independent variables (food, service and ambience) on the dependent variables (return intentions and word-of-mouth). Additionally, experimental design is the most appropriate tool to study causality among different variables (Shadish et al., 2002).\nResults: Of the 858 online surveys distributed, 540 were completed without any significant level of missing values. This high response rate of 62.9 per cent ensured that all three experiments had acceptable sizes of 30 participants in each cell (Hair et al., 2006). The student sample consisted of 380 females and 160 males. Most of these students worked and were employed in either full-time or part-time jobs. Over 79 per cent of the study participants were Caucasian with an average age of 22.89 years (SD = 8.90). The majority of the respondents visited quick-service restaurants at least once a week and visited upscale restaurants either once a month or two to three times a year.\nDiscussion: The results of the current study indicated that each of the common restaurant quality attributes of food, service and ambience had a positive influence on customer behavioral intentions (return intentions and word-of-mouth). First, food quality had a positively linear relationship with customer behavioral intentions in both quick-service and upscale restaurants. More specifically, in quick-service and upscale restaurants, increases in customer return intentions and word-of-mouth were positive and linear when food quality improved from below average to average to above average. This finding is consistent with the results of earlier studies that emphasized the importance of food quality across all restaurant types (Mattila, 2001; Perutkova and Parsa, 2010).\nConclusions: This study provided both theoretical and managerial contributions to the literature. From a theoretical perspective, this study included two types of restaurants (quick service and upscale), while most prior studies did not account for these unique industry restaurant segments. In addition, most prior studies used only two levels (high and low) of restaurant quality attributes. To correct for this limitation, the current study added third attribute level (average), while measuring against two behavioral intentions dependent measures (customer return intention and word-of-mouth). The results implied both linear and non-linear relationships, as customers may have had different behavioral intentions related to these two of these restaurant attributes (service and ambience quality) in upscale and quick-service restaurants. These results indicate that future studies should recognize and account for differences in restaurant quality attributes and restaurant type in examining their relationships with customer behavioral intentions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationships between restaurant quality attributes and customer behavioral intentions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An experimental design was chosen to provide a high level of internal validity. Three separate 3 x 2 factorial design experiments were conducted through 18 separate vignette scenarios for three levels of quality (below average, average and above average) of three common restaurant attributes (food, service and ambience) in two types of restaurants (quick service and upscale).\nFindings: The results indicated that the type of restaurant moderated the relationship between restaurant service and ambience quality and customer behavioral intentions.\nPractical implications: The results of this study suggest that management of quick-service and upscale restaurants should focus on food quality, but establish different resource allocation priorities with respect to service and ambience quality.\nOriginality/value: This study examined the linearity of the relationships between three common restaurant attributes (food, service and ambience) for three levels of quality (below average, average and above average) in two types of restaurants (quick service and upscale).\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do all elements of intellectual capital matter for organizational performance? Evidence from Russian context	[ "Russia", "Organizational performance", "Intellectual capital", "Relational capital", "Human capital", "Structural capital" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Many authors argue that in the twenty-first century the value of a company is created mainly by intangible assets (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997; Furman et al., 2002; Guthrie, 2001; Sveiby, 1997). People and their knowledge, expertise, ability to innovate, licensing agreements, organizational culture and other intangible assets have been widely demonstrated to be the most important assets for a company's development. Hence, the main competence of companies in the knowledge-based economy becomes the ability to manage their intellectual capital (IC).\nThe relationship between IC elements and organizational performance in Russia: what do we know so far?: The very definition of IC implies that it is a valuable resource that brings the company additional economic value (FASB, 2007). Therefore, it has been proposed that IC has a positive impact on organizational performance (Marr and Roos, 2005) and this idea had been widely tested in the context of developed countries (e.g. Bontis, 1998; Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005). A recent review of this research stream indeed confirms that IC positively affects various organizational outcomes and innovation performance in particular (Inkinen, 2015). Moreover, existing studies suggest that different elements of IC may interact with each other, enhancing the joint impact on performance. Extending this idea, Inkinen (2015) suggests that human capital is the most important of the elements of IC, as it helps to generate relational and structural capital.\nPutting intangibles in context: the case of Russia: The need for a deeper appreciation of the contexts in which management research is embedded has been recently highlighted by a number of management scholars (e.g. Johns, 2006; Michailova, 2011), including those who focus on the intangible resources of organizations (Andreeva and Ikhilchik, 2011; May and Stewart, 2013; Sergeeva and Andreeva, forthcoming). For example, the socio-economic and cultural peculiarities of specific regions or countries may create particular circumstances in which some management theories and models may work differently (e.g. Whetten, 2009). Understanding such peculiarities may not only produce more insight into managing indigenous companies, but also inform and extend the mainstream theories (May and Stewart, 2013). However, IC discourse still lacks the studies that explore contextual contingencies in which intangibles develop and function.\nMethodology and sample: The data for this project were collected in January-March 2015 within the frames of the international research project entitled \"Managing intellectual capital for organizational performance: do knowledge management practices matter?\" As the research questions in this project covered a number of formal management practices, we focussed on companies with at least 100 employees, to ensure that such management practices are formalized in the target companies. Conceptually we were interested in companies from different sectors of the economy; however, we found that in Russia, service companies were typically relatively small in size, especially in the peripheral regions, making it difficult to recruit companies with over 100 employees from the service sector. Targeting both manufacturing and service companies might have resulted in a data set both strongly biased toward the manufacturing sector and being atypical of service companies. At the same time, previous research has suggested that manufacturing and service companies may have different configurations of IC elements that, in turn, might make different contributions to their performance (Kianto et al., 2010). This unbalanced data set would not allow a fair comparison of the two sectors, so we decided to focus on manufacturing companies only.\nMeasures: The problem of measuring the components of IC is difficult and not without controversy. The first approach is based on practitioner-focussed guidelines such as Skandia Navigator (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997) or the Intangible Asset Monitor (Sveiby, 1997) that provide algorithms for defining IC components. Due to the lack of a theoretical basis or uniform approach in identifying and measuring IC indicators, these models cannot be applied to every company and are therefore not applicable for quantitative studies that compare and aggregate data from multiple organizations.\nResults: As a first step of the analysis, exploratory factor analysis was performed to check for the reliability and validity of the measurement scales (Hurley et al., 1997). Table V introduces the scale items with respective factor loadings and internal consistencies of the scales. Cronbach's a of all scales are over 0.7, indicating good internal consistency and validity of the scales.\nDiscussion: This study aimed to examine the influence of the three elements of IC on companies' performance, using data from Russian manufacturing firms. The findings demonstrate that structural and human capitals positively influence organizational performance, explaining a quarter of its variation, while relational capital does not. These findings are somewhat different both from those of previous studies on the IC-performance link in developed markets, which typically found that human capital is the most influential element of IC and from the context-informed hypotheses. Indeed, in the light of the importance of the networking and relationships with the \"right\" people for doing business in Russia (Lonkila, 2011; Puffer and McCarthy, 2011), it was quite unpredictable that relational capital does not relate to financial results in Russian manufacturing companies. Several reasons may explain such discrepancies.\nConclusions: This paper aimed to analyze how various elements of IC affect organizational performance in the particular context of Russian manufacturing companies. The findings, based on the survey of 240 companies, demonstrate that structural and human capitals positively influence organizational performance, explaining a quarter of its variation, while relational capital does not. These results might be explained by the peculiarities of the Russian context, where high relational capital is common and thus it does not provide a unique competitive advantage.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Intellectual capital (IC) has been argued to be the key element of value creation in contemporary economies and this argument has been widely supported by empirical research, but mainly based on data from developed markets. The question of how IC and its elements work in other contexts remains under-researched and the limited empirical evidence that exists contradicts the conclusions drawn from developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insight into the relationship between three main elements of IC (human, relational and structural) and organizational performance in the particular context of Russian manufacturing companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The sample comprises 240 Russian manufacturing companies. The data are collected by survey using the scales already validated in the international context. The authors use a two-step analysis - factor and regression analyses - to answer the research questions.\nFindings: The findings demonstrate that structural and human capitals positively influence organizational performance, explaining a quarter of its variation, while relational capital does not.\nPractical implications: The core managerial implication of this study is that developing structural capital is of particular importance for Russian manufacturing companies.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to further development of IC theory by investigating its application in the new institutional and cultural context of Russia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Career adaptability as a strategic competence for career development: An exploratory study of its key predictors	[ "HRM", "Career development", "Career adaptability", "Career construction", "Competence development", "Work self-efficacy" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In times of rapid economic change, millions of people worldwide suffer from economic stress due to increasingly flexible relationships between employers and employees, the recent economic crisis, job insecurity job loss and underemployment (Klehe et al., 2012). The current status of the labour market has significantly changed the concept of career. Careers are more diverse, global and boundaryless (Biemanna et al., 2012; Briscoe et al., 2006; Sullivan and Arthur, 2006) and are characterized by increased flexibility and self-direction (Hirschi et al., 2014; Sullivan, 1999).\nTheoretical framework: Career construction theory\nLiterature review: Career adaptability, demographic characteristics and professional features\nThe research: Aim\nResults: In Table I, socio-demographic and job-related variables of our sample are reported, while Table II shows the descriptive characteristics of used psychological measures.\nDiscussion: The aim of this study was to identify some key predictors of career adaptability of employed adults ranging in their personal characteristics (socio-demographic variables), professional status and professional development-related features, and psychological factors. This was to clarify which factors enable career adaptability for career development, to provide employers, career professionals and scholars with a wider range of enhancement tools.\nConclusions: The results we proposed here, albeit still exploratory, can provide training and career-development professionals with the awareness that developing such competences and attitudes in the working population could be a useful tool in times of extreme uncertainty and instability. In times of a sudden need to restructure one's own professional image or role, individuals can actually benefit from exploring new career paths, planning future development in advance, feeling effective in establishing relationships and maintaining commitment at work. These results support other findings about the importance of such a competence, especially in an age of economic crisis (Klehe et al., 2012), but they also provide further insight into other environmental factors that could predict it (i.e. education).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In the current labour market, the competence to adapt is becoming significantly relevant for career development and career success. The construct of career adaptability, i.e. the capability to adapt to changing career-related circumstances and predict advancement in career development, seems to provide a fruitful scientific base for successful career intervention. The purpose of the study is exploratory, with the aim of providing new findings about the key predictors of this meta-competence that are relevant for career development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Through a web-based survey, a convenience sample of 230 working participants completed an online questionnaire, including socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, education), professional status (role seniority, sector of employment, professional role), professional development-related features (training, new professional assignments, financial incentives) and psychological factors (work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and job satisfaction). Four-step hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to understand which of these factors account for the most career adaptability variance.\nFindings: Results highlight that work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and education play a significant role in predicting career adaptability. Surprisingly, professional development-related features and professional status do not seem to have a relevant influence.\nPractical implications: Training and career-development professionals can improve their understanding of which career-related skills and attitudes can increase one's capability to cope with sudden changes and instability of the current labour market.\nOriginality/value: This study supports previous research, addressing the importance of career adaptability in times of dramatic change. It also provides some insight into the factors that could predict it.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workforce flexibility - in defence of professional healthcare work	[ "Functional flexibility", "Healthcare workforce", "Taylor", "Workforce flexibility", "Workforce reform" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Increasing workforce flexibility to control costs and adapt to changing demand is one of the most sought-after goals in healthcare reform (Bach, 2000; Nancarrow, 2015). The healthcare workforce is considered to be relatively inflexible because the professions have traditionally controlled who performs which tasks (Abbott, 1988; Nancarrow, 2015). Workforce reforms disrupt this control by adding tasks to, or taking tasks away from, established professional roles (Willis, 2006).\nThe rise of flexibility: The idea that a productive workforce is a flexible workforce is now so commonplace that, as Bradley (2009, p. 81) contends, \"[...] it has now become a popular mantra, with significations of both desirability and inevitability. There is little challenge to the idea that flexibility must be a good and beneficial thing\". However, the dominant belief for most of the twentieth century was that \"stability\" drives productivity, not flexibility (Proctor, 2005; Watson, 2012). Both of these beliefs influenced thinking on the organisation of work across sectors, but it was in the manufacturing sector where they were first contested.\nTaylorism in healthcare workforce reform: A key feature of Taylorism is the fragmentation of work with more roles involved in completing a whole process. For Taylor, work roles should entail the lowest possible level of skill to minimise the cost of wages and training, and to increase the productivity of more highly skilled workers (Watson, 2012). In the context of early twentieth century manufacturing this meant substituting lower-skilled production assistants in the preparation and handling of materials to allow more expensive, skilled production workers to spend more time on higher-skill tasks. The substitution of assistants for professionals in healthcare uses precisely the same logic. Healthcare professionals add value to the patient journey through their higher-order skills of assessment, problem solving and planning and therefore less cognitively dense, time-consuming tasks should be devolved to staff lower down the skills hierarchy (saving costs) thus freeing up more highly skilled professionals to see more patients (increasing productivity) (Duckett and Breadon, 2014). Compared to the professionals they replace, assistants (e.g. nursing assistants, physiotherapy assistants) perform a narrower range of tasks and have limited autonomy and require more supervision.\nFlexibility and the control of tasks: It is commonplace for policy-makers and academics to blame the professions' control over healthcare tasks for the slow pace of workforce reform (Nancarrow, 2015; Productivity Commission, 2015; World Health Organisation, 2006). Yet the professions' intransigence to change used to be regarded in a positive light: protecting important social functions, such as healthcare, from the type of economic rationalism represented by Taylorism (Carr-Saunders and Wilson, 1933; Parsons, 1939, 1968). This idealistic view, modelled on Durkheim's concept of corps-intermediaries, saw the professions' function in society as tempering the power of both the state and market forces (MacDonald, 1995). This image of stability and benevolence was thoroughly shattered by Larson (1977) who reasoned that, far from tempering state and market forces, the professions harnessed them to gain and maintain their status, and financial rewards. Professions' resistance to reform has since been cast in a cynical, self-serving light: that the professions are not motivated by a duty to protect important social functions but by a desire to protect their monopoly and in doing so put status and financial rewards above the needs of patients. Indeed, there is an abundance of evidence that the professions' resistance to reforms that threaten their privileged position has obstructed patient-focussed care and perpetuated inefficient practices (Bach et al., 2012; Harvey, 2011; Moffatt et al., 2014).\nImplications: By holding some of the most widespread reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and its antithesis, functional flexibility, this paper has illuminated the problem of using the amorphous goal of \"workforce flexibility\" to justify every type of reform. Professional healthcare work displays the functionally flexible features of multiskilling and autonomy needed for an adaptable and responsive workforce. Yet many reforms that claim to increase workforce flexibility are shifting the organisation of healthcare work in a Taylorist direction: fragmenting patient care between more narrowly specialised roles, decreasing professional autonomy and increasing management control over work processes. This contradiction in the goal and method of reform is symptomatic of a failure to set clear outcomes (Bohmer and Imison, 2013) and to confront the underlying tensions in the organisation of healthcare work: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation (Bohmer and Imison, 2013); between management control and professional autonomy (Bail et al., 2009); between Taylorism and functional flexibility.\nConclusion: In defending professional healthcare work against the charge of inflexibility, this paper is not a defence of the status quo, or of the actions of professional groups that obstruct patient-focussed care and threaten the sustainability of healthcare systems. Rather the defence is of professional healthcare work itself and its functionally flexible features of multiskilling and autonomy needed for an adaptable and responsive workforce. This functional flexibility is under threat from the implementation of reforms where compromises are negotiated that protect the professions' interests in gaining and maintaining their position, and further management's interests in managing risk and reducing the costs of wages and training. These compromises appear to be leading the organisation of healthcare work down a Taylorist path at the very time that health problems are becoming more complex.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The desirability of having a more flexible workforce is emphasised across many health systems yet this goal is as ambiguous as it is ubiquitous. In the absence of empirical studies in healthcare that have defined flexibility as an outcome, the purpose of this paper is to draw on classic management and sociological theory to reduce this ambiguity.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses the Weberian tool of \"ideal types\". Key workforce reforms are held against Atkinson's model of functional flexibility which aims to increase responsiveness and adaptability through multiskilling, autonomy and teams; and Taylorism which seeks stability and reduced costs through specialisation, fragmentation and management control.\nFindings: Appeals to an amorphous goal of increasing workforce flexibility make an assumption that any reform will increase flexibility. However, this paper finds that the work of healthcare professionals already displays most of the essential features of functional flexibility but many widespread reforms are shifting healthcare work in a Taylorist direction. This contradiction is symptomatic of a failure to confront inevitable trade-offs in reform: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation; and between management control and professional autonomy.\nOriginality/value: The paper questions the conventional conception of \"the problem\" of workforce reform as primarily one of professional control over tasks. Holding reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and functional flexibility is a simple, effective way the costs and benefits of workforce reform can be revealed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Why so serious? Gamification impact in the acceptance of mobile banking services	[ "Brazil", "Banking", "Mobile", "Acceptance", "Gamification", "UTAUT2" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In recent years, there has been explosive growth in the use of mobile devices. These devices have grown from simple voice and messaging platforms into highly flexible and multifunctional devices that can be used almost anytime and anywhere for a wide range of purposes, from utilitarian to fully hedonic (Negahban and Chung, 2014), with a full range of applications installed, tailored to the owner's needs and wishes. During several years, mobile banking has been considered a good example of an almost completely utilitarian service, related to functional, economic, rational and practical functionalities (Martinez-Lopez et al., 2014), providing a means to an end: pay bills, transfer money, manage savings, etc. Most of the mobile banking services were not fun at all and were about purely simple transactional services. Applying game mechanics to motivate and drive engagement in this nongame context might very well change mobile banking users' behaviour, improving service acceptance and use.\n2. Theoretical background: Mobile banking can be defined as a type of execution of financial services in the course of which, within an electronic procedure, the customer uses mobile communication techniques in conjunction with mobile devices (Pousttchi and Schurig, 2004), or as the ability to bank virtually anytime and anywhere (Kiesnoski, 2000). Earlier research has sought to envision mobile banking acceptance as a technical innovation (Al-Jabri and Sohail, 2012), and several different acceptance models have been proposed in the academic literature. One of the most widely accepted is the UTAUT, proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2003). Since its appearance, the UTAUT model has gradually drawn the attention of researchers who have recently applied it to explore user acceptance of mobile technologies (Yu, 2012). A brief summary of this model and gamification background are presented as follow.\n3. Research model and hypotheses: A combination of the UTAUT2 constructs with a new gamification impact construct is used as the theoretical support model for the investigation, according to Figure 1. UTAUT has been empirically tested and proven to be superior to other prevailing models (Park et al., 2007) and is therefore used herein, in its latest version, UTAUT2. The inclusion of a gamification construct in the research model allows us to reach a better understanding of the impact of this factor, which we believe can became one of the most important enhancers or boosters of mobile banking levels of acceptance in the coming years. As gender and age may have a considerable influence on users' acceptance of mobile banking, both are also considered (Wang et al., 2003).\n4. Data collection research methodology: Based on the research model, an English-language questionnaire was created and reviewed for content validity by a group of information systems academics. The questionnaire contains three sections: UTAUT2 data constructs, gamification questions and general information and demographic characteristics. The items and scales for the UTAUT2 constructs were adapted from Venkatesh et al. (2003, 2012), the use behaviour from Martins et al. (2014) and gamification impact from the authors. Each item was measured on a seven-point Likert scale whose answer choice ranges from \"strongly disagree\" (1) to \"strongly agree\" (7) (Table AI). The Martins et al. (2014) use behaviour was coded from 1 (never) to 11 (several times per day), according to effective mobile banking use. Age was measured in years, and gender was coded using a 0 (women) or 1 (men). As the data were collected in Brazil, the questionnaire was then translated to Portuguese, submitted to a local Brazilian academic in order to review it and correct whenever necessary according to local speech characteristics, and translated back again to English, by others, in order to validate the translation and ensure consistency (Brislin, 1970). An online survey instrument was designed with the revised Portuguese version of the questionnaire, hosted on a popular web service provider for collecting data, based on the fact that studies of technology acceptance have traditionally been successfully conducted using survey research (Venkatesh et al., 2003).\n5. Analysis and results: Structural equation modelling (SEM) is a term that has been used to describe a range of statistical models used to evaluate the validity of substantive theories with empirical data (Ringle et al., 2005), for testing measurement, functional, predictive and causal hypotheses (Bagozzi and Yi, 2012). This approach support that each explanatory and dependent variable is associated with measurement error in contrast to OLS regression, for example, that is based on the assumption that variables are measured perfectly (Bollen, 1989). The research model was tested using partial least square (PLS), a variance-based technique, with Smart PLS 2.0 M3 software (Ringle et al., 2005). This technique is known to have minimal restrictions in terms of residual distributions and sample sizes when compared to other SEM such as covariance-based techniques (Chin, 1998). PLS was considered convenient and appropriate for our research situation according to Henseler et al. (2009), because: not all items in our data are distributed normally (p<0.01, based on K-S's test), the research model has not been tested in the literature (Hair et al., 2011), it is supported by a complex model with numerous constructs (Chin, 1998) and the dimension of our sample is ten times larger than the maximum number of paths directed to a construct (Gefen and Straub, 2005). All constructs were modelled using reflective indicators. Following Anderson and Gerbing's (1988) guidelines, our analysis was done in two different steps, reliability and validity assessment of the measurement model and structural model assessment and hypotheses testing. These two steps are described next.\n6. Discussion: Our research model is unique, combining the extended UTAUT2, from Venkatesh et al. (2012), with a new gamification construct, to explain mobile banking acceptance and the impact of gamification on intention to use this service. The research model explains 65.7 per cent of variation in use behaviour of mobile banking. Table IV shows the outcomes of hypotheses tested. The effect of behaviour intention on use behaviour was found to be significant, as well the influence of habit and facilitating conditions. Gamification impact positively and significantly influences behavioural intention, confirming the importance that the use of game mechanics and game design techniques can have on the intention to use mobile banking services. This a clear sign that banks and financial institutions should study, design and implement gamification techniques in their mobile systems, services and applications. The other factors influencing behavioural intention are performance expectation, effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, price value and habit. Earlier research on mobile banking acceptance and potential gamification impact is very limited, not following the accelerated and consistence growth of banks and financial institutions that already decided to apply it, registered worldwide in the last few years, a gap we try hereby to reduce. This is the first time to our knowledge that UTAUT2 and a gamification construct are combined in a mobile banking acceptance work, supported by data from a South American country, Brazil, providing new insights and new implications for research and practice as presented in the following sections.\n7. Implications for research and practice: This study and its results have implications for researchers and practitioners. For researchers, it provides a basis for further refinement of individual models of acceptance, as a starting point for future research on acceptance and gamification. UTAUT2 being one of the most important and complete theoretical model used in information systems research, identifying factors to extend it is always a noteworthy effort, even more if it help to reinforce the results significance and predictability. For practitioners, understanding the key constructs in the proposed research model is crucial to design, refine and implement mobile banking services that yield high consumer acceptance. By understanding the main factors affecting user acceptance and use of mobile banking services, constraints, and particularities, namely, those concerned with performance and effort expectancy, social influence, habit, hedonic motivation and gamification impact, banks will be able to evolve, aligning functionalities with real customers' needs, adapting marketing strategies, service development and service design.\n8. Limitations and future research: There are several limitations in this study that invite further examination and additional research. Starting with the sample used in this work, we can say it is biased towards users rather than nonusers. The respondents were selected from only one Brazilian bank and it is therefore inadvisable to generalize findings to the entire banking industry. Research should be replicated to examine the work's findings across different environments, technologies and individuals. Progress in user acceptance models can be made by introducing new constructs such as risk or trust, as a key predictor of consumer attitudes (Al-Debei et al., 2015), or including age, gender and others moderators in the gamification impact path coefficient towards behavioural intention, further reinforcing results' significance and predictability, as well as providing a better understanding of these two important factors for acceptance. Going a bit further, modifying the research model in order to include new moderators, such as experience, income, residence area (city vs rural), education level and religion could be interesting to explore. Online gaming was found to play a significant role in the development of internet addiction (Jiang, 2014). Understanding the impact of internet addition in gamified mobile banking services usage could also be a fruitful direction for future research. Focussing on the nature of system use (whether utilitarian or hedonic) in a multi-channel environment such as banking, is another suggestion that may provide new insights on acceptance, as understanding synergies between channels may help banks and financial institution to boost their business (Wu and Wu, 2015).\n9. Conclusions: The gamification in mobile banking services, when used and designed properly, can help make banking activities more exciting, more interesting and more enjoyable, and in turn increase customer acceptance, engagement and satisfaction. Mobile banking for sure does not need to be so serious, in terms of user experience. Based on earlier mobile banking acceptance studies, this research conducted an analysis using an innovative model, extending UTAUT2 with a gamification impact construct. Findings reveal convergences and divergences with earlier findings, confirming the unique characteristics of the South American region where the study was conducted. A direct and strong relationship between gamification and intention was confirmed, and hedonic motivation and habit were found to be significant antecedents of behaviour intention. The results also confirmed the influence of habit and behavioural intention over use behaviour, and performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and price value over behavioural intention. Men were found to use mobile banking more than women. By including a new construct in the proposed research model, we also added a stronger determinant to predict intention to use mobile banking, and thus provided more predictive power to existing UTAUT2. For researchers, this study provides a basis for further refinement of individual models of acceptance and for future research on acceptance and gamification impact. For practitioners, understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine and implement mobile banking services that achieve high consumer acceptance and value, and with the right amount of game techniques in them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the potential impact of the utilization of game mechanics and game design techniques in the acceptance of mobile banking services.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The theoretical model was tested in a quantitative study using structural equation modelling, conducted in Brazil, with actual local banking customers.\nFindings: The findings show that there is a direct and strong relationship between gamification and intention to use mobile banking services, supporting that, when used and designed properly, gamification can help make banking activities more exciting, more interesting and more enjoyable, and in turn increase customer acceptance, engagement and satisfaction.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), and prior research to include gamification impact. The result is a more descriptive model that better explains consumers' decision to use mobile banking services.\nPractical implications: For practitioners, understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine and implement mobile banking services that achieve high consumer acceptance and value, and with the right amount of game techniques in them.\nOriginality/value: The globalization of business and systems is fuelling the need to acquire a deeper understanding of the impact of gamification in acceptance within the financial industry. This is the first time to the knowledge that UTAUT2 theory and a gamification construct are combined in a mobile banking acceptance work, supported by data from a South American country, enriching the existing literature on this subject and providing new insights into how game techniques influences individual behaviour.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Conformance or evasion: Employment legislation and employment practices in self-contained tourist resorts	[ "Maldives", "Industrial relations", "Employment law", "Hospitality industry", "Resorts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Studies of human resource management (HRM) and employment relations (ER) in multinational corporations (MNCs) have primarily adopted a culturalist, and more recently, an institutional perspective (Almond et al., 2005; Gunnigle et al., 2015; Vaiman and Brewster, 2014). Most have focussed on how elements of the institutional context such as employment laws constrain organisational practices (Mayson and Barrett, 2017; Van Gestel and Nyberg, 2009). However, the institutional environment is not always restrictive. HR managers can create leeway in selecting HRM practices as a response to the institutional environment (Barrett et al., 2014; Boon et al., 2009; Oliver, 1997). HR managers' role in interpreting the institutional environment and implementing HR strategies in response to institutional forces has not received much attention (Watson, 2004) and requires further theoretical development and empirical illustration (Van Gestel and Nyberg, 2009).\nNew institutionalism and HRM: Institutional theorists argue that organisational practices are shaped by the institutional environment (Barley and Tolbert, 1997) and that organisations in the same field have homogeneous structures and practices (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). The organisational field is defined as \"those organisations that, in the aggregate, constitute a recognised area of institutional life: key suppliers, resource and product consumers, regulatory agencies, and other organisations that produce similar services or products\" (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983, p. 148). These authors contend that homogeneity in organisational structures and practices results from three main isomorphic processes - coercive, mimetic and normative.\nStrategic responses to institutional pressures: Strategic choice, defined as \"the process whereby power-holders within organisations decide upon courses of strategic action\" (Child, 1997, p. 45), focuses on powerful organisational actors, often top management. These actors' choices are strategic because they enable the organisation to relate to its environment, set standards of operating performance against which economic constraints must be evaluated, and determine the organisation's structures. These choices are influenced by institutional pressures (Child, 1997).\nThe legislation: employment act (Law No.2/2008): In May 2008, the Maldivian Parliament passed the Employment Act 2008, the first general law governing ER and applicable to all employment sectors except the security forces. It imposed severe penalties for violations of its provisions on forced labour, unfair workplace discrimination, and the employment of minors. It also regulated various individual employment matters, the employment of foreign workers and employment agency activities. Finally, it established an Employment Tribunal to adjudicate employment disputes and authorised the Labour Relations Authority (LRA) to improve the law's application by identifying legal loopholes. However, except for the requirement to create the LRA, a hybrid labour inspectorate and dispute resolution institution, the Act does not cover industrial relations more broadly. Although the Act gives responsibility for mediation and conciliation to the LRA and specifies the Employment Tribunal as a mechanism for resolving employment disputes, it does not mention work stoppage or strikes.\nResearch setting: The research was conducted in seven self-contained resorts in the Maldives. Located in the Indian sub-continent, the Republic of Maldives consists of 1,190 small coral islands of which about 200 are inhabited. Tourism is the life blood for the Maldivian economy. In 2013, tourism contributed 27 per cent to GDP, 17.3 per cent to government revenue and 70 per cent of the country's foreign currency earnings (MTAC, 2018). The resort sector is also one of the largest private sector employers, supporting 27,837 jobs or 14 per cent of the country's labour market in 2013 (World Trade Organisation, 2016). Resorts provide 72 per cent of tourism beds and primarily serve the high-end tourist market. By the end of December 2017, the Maldives had received 1,389,542 international tourists - three times its population (MTAC, 2018). European long-haul tourists accounted for 47 per cent of tourist arrivals in 2017 making them the leading market generator, but Asian tourists were responsible for the highest growth (MTAC, 2018).\nResearch design, data collection and analysis: The research used a qualitative, interpretive and inductive research approach. An inductive approach is appropriate for exploring \"exotic cultures, understudied phenomena, or very complex social phenomena\" (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 94). Institutional theory favours interpretive methods which can capture how organisational actors experience institutions, and the meanings actors apply to institutional practices (Holm, 2014).\nStrategic responses and managerial actions: The themes that emerged from the analysis of interview data include various forms of compliance, managerial interpretation of institutional pressure, negotiations with various stakeholders and achieving legitimacy by establishing and maintaining reputation. These themes are presented below.\nDiscussion and conclusions: This study investigated, on the one hand, how employment legislation shaped HRM practices in resorts in the Maldives and, on the other, how HR actors in resorts crafted strategic choices to respond to the legislation. The study not only highlighted what HR actors and stakeholders do, but also why and under what conditions particular kinds of strategic responses emerge. Consistent with Najeeb (2014), the design, content and implementation challenges of the legislation provided high latitude for HR actors to craft their responses to the legislation strategically, resulting in the large range of responses, as presented in Table III. These responses are largely consistent with Oliver's (1991) categorisation as explained in the literature review. The analysis shows that HR actors applied a range of compliance tactics that were essentially window dressing: \"rational myths\" that legitimated the organisation (Meyer and Rowan, 1977). This lip service paid to implementing the legislation reflects Oliver's (1991) \"ritual conformity\" or \"avoidance\" strategy. In addition, lack of enforcement effectiveness resulted in the legislation having little constraining impact on most resorts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how resort managers respond to employment legislation (Law No. 02/2008).\nDesign/methodology/approach: The qualitative case study data from seven self-contained tourist resorts in the Maldives were used to investigate the managerial responses to employment legislation.\nFindings: Resort managers' responses ranged from passive compliance to active resistance, with decoupling through opportunism as the dominant strategy used to circumvent the legislation. Some human resource management (HRM) practices emerged from resort managers' interactions with external stakeholders and employees. Strategic responses and HRM practices were driven by a search for legitimacy or efficiency and sometimes both. The findings show that there are differences between strategic responses and HRM practices by organisational subfield, local resorts and international hotel chains. The resorts' market orientation also influenced resort managers' responses and HRM practices.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this paper have limitations because it was limited to a single industry/sector and to a particular piece of legislation. However, it demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between institutional context and HRM.\nOriginality/value: This paper shows that responding to employment legislation entails a high level of interplay between the institutional environment and HR actors, and between stakeholders (e.g. employees) and HR actors. It demonstrates the difficulty of reconciling institutional requirements with the preferences of different stakeholders and organisational interests. HR actors actively make sense of institutional requirements and modify HRM practices to accommodate stakeholders' varying perspectives and preferences. This suggests that in countries such as the Maldives, uneven institutional coverage (e.g. incomplete employment legislation) allows room for organisations to innovate - for better or worse.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Order of justice in queues of emerging markets	[ "Social justice", "First come first served", "Service queues", "Waiting for service" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: One morning Rahul went to buy milk from a neighborhood retail shop. As he had nothing else to buy, he grabbed the milk packet and quickly came to the billing counter. Due to low footfall in the morning, only one billing counter was open, and he had to stand behind two people in the queue, who had baskets full of products to be billed. Rahul requested if he could complete his billing before the persons in front of him, as he had only one product, but nobody, including the personnel at the billing counter agreed to this. He had to wait for about 15 min to pay only for his packet of milk; naturally he was very dissatisfied.\n2. Wait for service and consumer outcomes: The impact of wait for service on consumer outcomes is affected by lots of external variables, internal variables and controllable contextual variables (Chatterjee, 2013). External variables include the point of delay and reasons of delay (Taylor, 1994; Groth and Gilliland, 2006; van Riel et al., 2012). Based on the Attribution theory, locus, stability and control of service delay lead to different levels of customer outcomes.\n3. Social justice during wait for service: Rawls (1971, p. 6) defined social justice as \"fairness [...].the way in which social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation.\" Social justice could be achieved at a collective level and individual level. At an individual level, social justice is associated with equitable, fair access and distribution of resources (Alexander et al., 2012). Such concepts maybe applicable to social theories of queues too giving rise of context of fairness in service queues (Voorhees et al., 2009; Wierman, 2011).\n4. Experimental studies: Three experiments were undertaken to test and establish the hypotheses, and India has been chosen as the emerging market specifically because of the following reasons:\n5. General discussion: This paper determines the adverse effect of different types of injustice in queues, namely, injustice related to the violation of FCFS and IVEW, on consumer-related outcomes. The interaction effects of these two types of injustice on the outcomes were also found to be significant. Moreover, the paper tested context-specific moderating variables that impact the effect of IVEW. It has been seen that the attribution locus and control moderate the effect of IVEW on consumer outcomes. Furthermore, the study also proved the moderating impact of RS mediated by the sense of betrayal.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Extant literature on queuing has identified service queues as social systems where social justice is an important factor for service evaluation. First-order justice, defined as a first-come first-served (FCFS) process, has been found to be a necessary condition of social justice and positive evaluation. Second-order justice, defined as equal waiting time, has been found to be an additional factor which comes into play only when first-order justice is met. This paper aims to show that in the emerging market situation, the above definitions of justice and the order mentioned above does not work.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Instead of equal wait, the study has focused on equitable wait, i.e. waiting duration is in sync with the service needs. Three experiments have been performed to establish the hypotheses suggested.\nFindings: FCFS is found not to be the necessary condition as it was in the extant literature and can be relaxed sometimes to get higher service evaluation by ensuring justice from the equitable wait. The study also portrays the interaction effects of the two types of social justice on service evaluation. Moreover, the impact of justice from equitable wait on service evaluations is found to be moderated by perceived personal connect of the service provider and the consumer, perceived importance of system and process and perceived ability of the service provider of capacity improvement and mediated by perceived control of service provider on providing the justice of equitable wait.\nResearch limitations/implications: The study contributes toward the understanding of social justice in service queues. It also contributes to the literature of attribution theory and consumer betrayal.\nPractical implications: The study provides suggestions to retail managers in emerging markets to choose queue management strategies depending on the size of the retail shops and consumers' expectations from them.\nOriginality/value: The study introduces the concept of justice from the equitable wait, which is original in the queuing literature to the best of the author's knowledge. The study also finds a new order of justice in the emerging market scenario.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Do consumers care about European food labels? An empirical evaluation using best-worst method	[ "Food labels", "Preferences", "Best-worst approach" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Generally, lack of information about the nutritional content, origin and method of production of food products represents one of the greatest concerns of European consumers when shopping (Grunert, 2006). To illustrate this, demand for nutritional information could be linked to the high level of obesity around the world, leading to the coining of the now popular term \"obesity epidemic\". In particular, obesity contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, which represent some of the major causes of death, accounting for 75 per cent of deaths in the world by 2020 (World Health Organization (WHO), 2003). Therefore, following a healthy diet by limiting salt consumption and saturated-fat intake is considered some of the main determinants to prevent the obesity epidemic and its related non-communicable diseases (Popkin, 2003). In addition, standardisation owing to globalisation, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as food scandals have contributed to an intensified search for quality food attributes (e.g. protected designation of origin (PDO)), sustainable attributes (e.g. local, organic, food miles) and method of production (e.g. animal-welfare standards), perceived by individuals as being higher quality, healthier and fairer socially and economically (de-Magistris and Gracia, 2016a).\n2. Material and methods: 2.1 Data gathering and questionnaire\n3. Results: 3.1 Descriptive analysis\n4. Discussion: The results from this study indicated that consumers value the different analysed food labels positively, but they value the public labels more highly than the private ones, since the most valued labels were the designation of origin followed by the organic logo and the nutritional panel. Food-miles labelling and carbon footprint labels were the least preferred, occupying the last positions, and the local-origin and animal-welfare labels were in the middle position. These results are in accordance with the existent literature (de-Magistris and Gracia, 2016a, b; de-Magistris and Gracia, 2014; Aprile et al., 2012; Gracia et al., 2014; Scarpa and Del Giudice, 2004), which reported that consumers valued PDO certification more than organic, local or other private labels. On the other hand, our results are also in accordance with Cavaliere et al. (2015) and Schuldt and Hannahn (2013), who reported that consumers preferred products with hedonic labels (e.g. PDO label) in comparison to products bearing health labels (e.g. nutritional claims and organic). Moreover, our study also reported that Spanish consumers valued locally grown products positively, and we can affirm that these findings are in agreement with Yue and Tong (2009), Hu et al. (2009) and James et al. (2009). The findings are also similar to Grebitus et al. (2013), de-Magistris and Gracia (2014, 2016a) who indicated that people negatively valued goods that had travelled longer distances.\n5. Conclusion: The demand for food has undergone profound changes over the last two decades, with high heterogeneity in consumer preferences. This has led to a strong differentiation of experiential eating quality and credence attributes related to environmental and other social outcomes. In particular, there is increased demand for those food labels related to health, environmental conservation, product origin, support local rural communities, animal welfare, and so on. While consumer preferences towards some public and voluntary food labels have been studied extensively using DCE, there is no empirical work on consumer preferences, which investigates whether European consumers value public or private food labels more highly, using a best-worst approach. This is the aim of our study, taking into account the valuation of the joint provision of the seven food labels for the same food product (semi-cured cheese). Three out seven are under European regulation, such as the organic logo, denomination of origin and nutritional content. However, the other four food labels are private initiatives: local, carbon footprint, food-miles and animal-welfare labelling. The results from this study indicate that consumers value the different analysed food labels positively, but they value the public labels more highly than the private ones, since the most valued labels are the designation of origin followed by the organic logo and the nutritional panel. Moreover, two segments were identified: the first consists of older people who follow a healthy lifestyle and prefer PDO and organic cheese products, while the second belongs to younger people who are more concerned about environmental and ethical issues, and so prefer organic and welfare labels.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Spanish consumer preferences for several food-labelling schemes on semi-cured, pasteurised sheep milk cheese. In particular, the authors used three labels regulated by the European Union regulation (European organic logo, protected denomination of origin (PDO) and nutritional fat content), and the remaining four have been introduced to the European food market by private initiatives (local, carbon footprint, food miles and animal welfare).\nDesign/methodology/approach: A Best-Worst Discrete Choice approach was applied in Spain during Fall 2011 by administrating a survey to 549 consumers.\nFindings: The results suggest that the most valued labels are the PDO, followed by the organic logo and the nutritional panel. The least valued are food-miles labelling and carbon foodprint labels, while local-origin labels and animal welfare are in the middle position.\nOriginality/value: This study is the first to value consumer preferences for cheese products bearing several public and private European food-labelling schemes since literature on consumer preferences for food labels has only dealt with a comparison of a few (two or at most three) food-labelling schemes. In addition, the added value of this paper is also the use of the BWC approach that has the advantage of providing the best way to discriminate the degree of importance given by respondents to each food labels by overcoming the problem of bias caused by differences in the use of rating scales.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
On-campus university student housing facility services prioritisation framework	[ "University", "Ghana", "Services", "Prioritisation", "Student housing", "On-campus" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Facilities are acknowledged as a factor of production (Alexander, 2003; Olanrewaju, 2010; Olanrewaju et al., 2010). Facilities usually represent the majority of an organisations capital assets (Abdullahi and Yusoff, 2019). Accordingly, facilities forms an integral part of the teaching and learning environment of a university. It is well-known that the facilities at universities have an influence on the overall satisfaction of students (Hanssen and Solvoll, 2015; Weerasinghe and Fernando, 2018). The broader environment including the physical facilities create an appropriate environment for teaching and learning (Abdullahi and Yusoff, 2018). In buttress, Lateef et al. (2010) indicated that a conducive and adequate environment can and does stimulate and promote the learning, teaching, innovation and research carried out in a university. In fact, achieving a high-quality education is doubtful in an unfavourable learning environment, such as poorly managed facilities (Al-Enezi, 2002). This is because a university's learning environment is shaped by the interaction of the human factors, educators and the facilities (Zakaria and Yusoff, 2011). The physical facilities required in a university are wide-ranged. Generally, the range of the physical facilities of a university may include but not limited to; administrative buildings, offices, libraries, lecture theatres, laboratories, workshops, student housing and staff accommodation, refectories, sports fields and other support facilities (Gruber et al., 2010; Olanrewaju et al., 2010; Abdullahi and Yusoff, 2018). These facilities may play a marginal role, nevertheless, they are indispensable if organisations, universities, would excel in their core business (De Toni and Nonino, 2009). The student housing is one of the facilities, which play a critical role towards the provision of a quality higher education (Simpeh and Shakantu, 2018).\nLiterature review: Student housing facility and facility services\nResearch methodology: This paper concentrates on the experiences and requirements (in terms of expectations, importance and classifications of facility services) of students. Creswell (2003) and Leedy and Ormrod (2015) explained that phenomenological study allows respondents to bring to bare their experiences, understanding and perceptions about a phenomenon from their own perspectives. Thus, the research strategy used for this study is phenomenology. Qualitative data were collected by means of focus group discussions (FGDs). Studying multiple perspectives of a phenomenon can help to generalise the findings of a phenomenological studies (Leedy and Ormrod, 2015). As such, 10 groups were used to allow for generalisation. According to Yin (2011), 7 to 10 participants would suffice for a FGD. Babbie (2013), on the other hand, suggests that in a typical FGD, 12 to 15 people are brought together to engage in a guided discussion of a topic. For Krueger (2002), participants of 5 to 10 should be acceptable for a FGD. This study allowed a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 11 participants; to allow for a more controlled group discussions. The FGDs approach to data collection was selected to promote interaction among participants. Observations were also done during the site visit to augment the information gathered through the FGDs. Table II shows the distribution of the focus groups. A purposive sampling strategy was used to select five universities from two lots, namely, two public and three private in the Greater Accra and Volta regions of Ghana. The purposive sampling helped to balance the selection of the universities. The oldest public and private universities, one relatively new public university and two other (relatively new) private universities were selected. Thus, the study was limited to the Greater Accra and Volta regions of Ghana. Secondly, a purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants (students). The purposive sampling method allowed the researcher to select participants who met specific requirements. Only students who had stayed in the SHFs for at least one academic year were considered for the FGD. The data were thematically analysed; different themes, which emanated from the interviews were grouped and discussed separately.\nAnalysis and discussion: List of services required by students in the student housing facilities\nDiscussions for the categorisation of services: The first consideration for the categorisation is the relationship between the \"importance\" and \"priority\" ratings. It is evident from Table V that electricity, water, security, internet, cleaning, ventilation (fan), library service, electric socket, study furniture, refuse collection, maintenance and health service were all rated as both \"extremely important\" and \"basic\". Conversely, massaging, gym equipment and cook were rated as both \"unimportant\" and \"indifferent\" services. It may not be correct to classify a service as \"basic\" just because students rated it as both \"extremely important\" and \"basic\". Similarly, it might be erroneous to classify the services that students rated as both \"unimportant\" and \"indifferent\" as indifferent. This is because users (students) generally give high priority to factors that affect their comfort (Chong et al., 2019). Thus, it becomes imperative to consider other factors to ensure the effectiveness of the prioritisation process. For example, services, which are health, safety, security and environment-related are the most essential to consider when setting priorities (Shen and Spedding, 1998; Chong et al., 2019). Thus, such services should be categorised as \"basic\" regardless of how they are rated by participants. In essence, not only the importance and priority ratings were used for the categorisation but also the researcher's observation during the site visit, comments participants made while the services were listed, as well as literature.\nBasic (must be) services: Water, electricity, security personnel, cleaning service, maintenance service, ventilation (fan), health service (first aid), pest control, refuse collection, fire extinguishers, electric socket, study furniture and lift. The majority of these services (electricity, water, security, cleaning, ventilation, electric socket, study furniture, refuse collection, maintenance service and health service) were rated by students as both \"extremely important\" and \"basic\". This rating clearly suggest that participants have very high expectations for these services. With the exception of health service, all these services were provided, but, in varying standards in all the SHFs. These services are required to promote the daily and basic activities of the residential students. Thus, students would not cope staying in the SHFs without such services. Several comments were made about the majority of these services during the discussion; the fact that the lack or poor provisions/management were perceived as a problem further proves the criticality of these services. Comments such as the following were made:\nCritical performance services: Internet and generator\nPerformance services: Counselling, welfare and chaplain\nDelight-performance services: Library services, mini mart, catering service, reprographics, shuttle, recreation and sports services\nDelight services: Salon, CCTV, intercom, cobbler, air condition, tailoring, vocational training, DStv, laundry service, ATM (banking) and drums\nIndifferent (not relevant) services: Gym equipment, massaging and cook\nConclusions: Satisfying all the requirements of building users remain one of the biggest challenge of developers and facility managers. Lack of funds further aggravate the challenge of meeting all customer requirements. Hence, it is paramount for facility managers to develop a better understanding of the services required by students so as to appropriately provide and prioritise such services to meet students' expectations without compromising value. Although students have a lot of list of services they wish to have in their SHFs, not all of the services are of great importance and are of a high priority to them. Some are perceived as \"extremely important\" and \"basic\" while others are seen as \"unimportant\" and \"indifferent\". This study has contributed in addressing the gap in the area of the prioritisation of the services unique to SHFs of universities. The study developed a prioritisation framework that reflects students' facility services requirements and needs in SHFs. The prioritisation system developed in this study could be applied for both the provision and management of facility services in on-campus SHFs. Facility mangers, developers and policymakers could benefit from the framework developed. At a minimum an \"on campus\" SHF must be resourced with all the services that are deemed to be basic and critical for students survival and performance. These services include; electricity, water, security, internet, cleaning, maintenance, generator, ventilation/fan, health, electric socket, study furniture, refuse collection, pest control, fire extinguisher, catering service and lift (in the case of a high-rise building). Furthermore, for the SHF to be conducive and promote the well-being of students, a balance of the delight-performance and delight services such as sports and recreation, reprographics, laundry and tailoring should be provided in addition to the basic and critical-performance services.\nRecommendation: The following recommendations are made for universities:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a prioritisation framework that can guide the provision and management of on-campus student housing facility (SHF) services of southern Ghana Universities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper adopted a phenomenological research strategy. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions (FGDs); a total of ten FGDs were conducted. Observations were also done during the site visit to augment the FGDs. The data were analysed thematically.\nFindings: The study found that some services are perceived as \"extremely important\" and \"basic\" while others are seen as \"unimportant\" and \"indifferent\". Services including; electricity, water, security, internet, cleaning service, maintenance service, generator, ventilation (fan), health service, library service, electric socket, study furniture, refuse collection, pest control and fire extinguisher were perceived by students as \"extremely important\". However, not all of these services were perceived as \"basic\" requirements.\nPractical implications: The framework can be used as a guide by facility and hostel managers to effectively prioritise and manage the services required in a university SHF. Moreover, when designing, constructing and adapting student housing facilities, the framework can be used as a guide to ensure that all critical services are provided in the student housing facilities.\nOriginality/value: Although several studies have been conducted on student housing, studies that specifically focuses on the services required in a SHF and the prioritisation of such services is lacking. This study combines students' requirements, importance levels of requirements, and classification of requirements to develop a prioritisation system for student housing services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Technology diffusion: forecasting with bibliometric analysis and Bass model	[ "Forecasting", "Forward planning" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The Federal Trade Commission (2005) published a workshop report which explained the applications and implications of RFID technology in various fields including the supply chain, the public sector and other emerging fields - tracking equipment and people within a medical facility, enhancing the quality of elder care and so on. The report emphasized the multi dimensional impacts of RFID technology. This type of technology would require multi dimensional analysis. Daim et al. (2006, 2008) demonstrated that integration of forecasting techniques help identify a variety of factors including political, cultural, societal and organizational. Integration of bibliometric analysis and patent analysis identifies the possible position of the technology in a technology maturity plane (Daim et al., 2008). It is expected that a technology that is under development will see quite a number of articles and papers being published in industry and academic journals. A mature technology on the other hand might see a reduction in the number of papers being published (Daim et al., 2006). This paper analyzed the number of articles and patents published in the field of RFID in an effort to identify how mature the technology is. As the technology grows and matures, products based on that technology penetrate the market place. The rate of diffusion of this new technology primarily depends on the innovativeness (p) and peer recommendation (q). These two factors are taken into account and a formula for determining such diffusion is provided by the Bass model. The p and q for a new product can be found from products that have already been adopted by the market place. The paper starts with a discussion on the methodologies used, followed by a discussion of the technology and concludes with a discussion on the findings from the chosen methodologies.\nLiterature review: Research on forecasting RFID technology has only emerged recently (Lee et al., 2009; Jeong et al., 2009). However research on other aspects of RFID has been already conducted. For instance, Barker and Mahadevan (2004) presented the detailed applications of RFID technology in supply chain management; the utilization of RFID would provide the ability to collect information in various segments of the supply chain. Karkkainen (2002) explained how RFID technology can improve supply chain efficiency in the grocery industry and what benefit the RFID can offer to the retail industry. Yao and Carlson (1999) discussed implementation issues of RFID technology in distribution systems, and concluded that application of RFID technology would improve a company's profit, even employees' morale. Moran and McFarlane (2003) concluded that automatic identification (Auto ID) technology would bring significant advantages to the manufacturing sector. They presented a new concept - the intelligent product, which was defined as \"whose information content is permanently bound to its material content and which is able to influence decisions made about it\". Chopra and Sodhi (2007) published a report in The Wall Street Journal to introduce RFID technology and analyze what benefits it could bring to the whole supply-chain, including stage of planning, receiving and storage, manufacturing, delivering, and returning. The report also analyzed retail-store benefits and risks, showing that RFID tags could increase product availability on store shelves and efficiency in replenishing inventories as in the case of Wal-Mart. Sounderpandian et al. (2006) presented a model to analyze the cost-benefit of RFID implementations for retail stores, providing a realistic recognition for the implementation of RFID in the retail sector. Liu et al. (2006) had introduced a RFID-based electronic product code (EPC) system to capture and transfer logistics information in intelligent transportation system. Choi et al. (2006) had proposed an affordable RFID library management system that could easily be integrated with current library information systems. Morales-Salcedo et al. (2005) introduced a mobile digital library architecture that can provide digital library services to mobile user. Park et al. (2005) developed a next generation health care system that, combined RFID, web service and mobile technology. This system could provide one-on-one service to patients whenever and wherever they are, and could combine the existing health care systems to scale to a ubiquitous environment. A recent survey of health care organizations in the USA showed the deployment of RFID solutions was very slow in the health care industry (Wireless Week, 2005). A number of papers talked about privacy concerns about applications of RFID technology. Lee and Kim (2006) reviewed privacy threats in various RFID applications and forecasted some possible privacy threats in mobile RFID. Juels (2006) completed a survey for recent technical research on the problems of RFID privacy and security. This survey inspected current technologies and methods used to protect privacy and data integrity in RFID system, a good source for solving privacy concerns.Recent research has presented technical solutions to address privacy concerns. Rieback et al. (2006) reviewed the RFID's development history, including RFID technology development, security and privacy threats, examined successful solutions, and pointed out directions of future research. Phillips et al. (2005) described current and emerging RFID security standards, presented how RFID technology deals with privacy concerns currently and in the future. Many new technologies were proposed and analyzed to solve the privacy issue. Li et al. (2006) had proposed a new authentication protocol to protect privacy and support low-cost RFID. Tripathy and Nandi (2006) proposed a robust mutual authentication against various known attacks for a low cost RFID system. Luo et al. (2006) analyzed the RFID security protocol by experimental analysis in metering and e-commerce payment applications. Kim et al. (2006) analyzed the RFID security protocol, reconfirmed the known attacks, and proposed a modified protocol. Reynolds (2006) discussed the problems of technology, skills shortages, standards, health worries and spectrum for RFID's adoption. Wireless Week (2005) also published an article to discuss the existing challenges and obstacles for RFID's adoption, and offered solutions and approaches to those challenges.\nMethodology: Today's R&D driven companies need to pay attention to technology intelligence to stay competitive and increasingly they are getting organized to do so. Early studies providing direction include John de la Mothe (1992) and his review of the Frascati Manual provided by OECD as a report on science and innovation statistics. There are key leaders who have been providing direction on research. Porter and Detampel (1995) showed how to generate effective intelligence on emerging technologies through monitoring and bibliometrics. Watts and Porter (1997) built upon this and presented an array of bibliometric measures for forecasting technologies. Porter (2005) took this to another level with an approach taking advantage of science and technology publication and patent abstract databases and developing templates of innovation indicators to answer questions.Bibliometrics is defined by Norton as the measurement of texts and information. Historically bibliometric methods have been used to trace back academic journal citations. However, today bibliometrics can be used to understand the past and even potentially to forecast the future. Bibliometrics helps to explore, organize and analyze large amounts of historical data helping researchers to identify \"hidden patterns\" that may help researchers in the decision making process. Some common tools that have been used in bibliometrics include authors, affiliations, conceptual maps, cluster and factor analysis, and citation and co-citation analysis. Kostoff (1995) introduced the use of bibliometrics as a measure to assess research impact. He then expanded the measure as a scanning tool identifying innovation opportunities (Kostoff, 1999). Kostoff et al. (2001) labeled the approach as database tomography (DT). Later on several applications of his approach were used in a number of areas. Kostoff et al. (2002) applied DT to electrochemical power applications. Kostoff et al. (2005) applied it to power sources generating roadmaps. Kostoff et al. (2005) applied it to a country and provided insight into Mexico's science and technology infrastructure. Falagas et al. (2006) used bibliometric analysis to chart global trends of research productivity in tropical medicine. Hicks et al. (2001) used patent analysis to highlight the composition of innovative activity in the US. Shapira and Youtie (2006) provide cases from the southern US states where data mining was used to inform economic development. Butler (2003) investigated the increase in publication counts in Australia and attempted to link it to increased funding. Butcher and Jeffrey (2005) used bibliometric analysis to identify collaborations between industry and the academic institutes. Levitas et al. (2006) utilized US patents issued to integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers from 1975 to 1994 to analyze a firm's decision to pursue a technology across varying levels of technological turbulence. Meyer (2006) investigated those who applying for patents and explored if they were better than those that were just publishing papers.We also see a rise in research improving these methodologies. Daim et al. (2006) integrated bibliometric analysis with other forecasting methods to improve the accuracy of the forecasts. Morris et al. (2002) introduced the Database Information Visualization and Analysis (DIVA) system which is a computer program that helps perform bibliometric analysis of collections of scientific literature and patents for technology forecasting. von Wartburg et al. (2005) used multi-stage patent citation analysis in order to explain aspects of technological change. Park et al. (2005) and Yoon and Park (2004, 2005) expanded the field by providing additional intelligence to the analyses introduced by early research.In our case we assumed that technological innovation is highly correlated with the number of research publications. Daim et al. (2005) demonstrated the bibliometric analysis by using two case studies - fuel cell and food safety technologies. This demonstrated that bibliometric analysis was a suitable tool for technology forecasting. Mimno et al. (2006) had introduced an improved bibliometric analysis model - latent topic models, which could create assurance results for \"automatic sub-field discovery\". The author showed the efficacy of latent topic models by analyzing a collection of 300,000 computer science publications created by the Rexa automatic citation indexing system.We gathered information about RFID articles published in journals and conferences through analyzing databases managed by Engineering Information. We extracted only the articles using \"RFID\" in their titles between from 2000 and 2007. Ei Compendex (www.ei.org) is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary engineering database in the world gathering information from journal articles and conference proceedings. It covers the following broad engineering areas: mechanical, civil, environmental, electrical, structural, process, materials science, solid state physics and superconductivity, bioengineering, energy, chemical, optics, air and water pollution, solid waste management, hazardous waste, road transportation, and transportation safety. Besides applied engineering, coverage also extends to manufacturing, quality control, and engineering management issues. We separated conference articles and journal articles to review whether there was a time lag between them.Patents are useful for competitive analysis and technology trend analysis. We searched the database of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) covering full text since 1995. We used the term of \"RFID\" in the title field to identify RFID patents. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is one of the premier research funding agencies of the US government, and the funding trends of the NSF provide a good pointer towards technologies that the US government and its agencies are concentrating[1].Bass diffusion model\nAnalysis: Bibliometric analysis (article and conference, NSF funded project, patents)\nConclusions: We found a time lag between journals and conference articles and we also noticed a definite time lag between journals, conferences and patents. But the amount of data available does not lend itself to a Fisher-Pry curve. It also appears that the number of patents being issued is on the rise which could be explained as increased industry involvement in this technology. We have seen that with barcode technology it took 25 years from its invention to its first adoption. RFID was first conceived around 1974 and incidentally renewed interest in this technology began in 1999, a gap of 25 years. On the other hand we were able to come up with a good Bass model for the adoption of RFID scanners in the retail sector. And according to our Bass model it appears that it will take at least seven or eight years for the retailers to adopt this new technology at their point-of-sale (POS). We also forecast an 80 percent adoption of RFID scanning techniques by the year 2030. RFID technology continues to be in a state of flux with technology being adopted by commercial organizations and a clear growth curve should be possible with data in the next couple of years.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to use bibliometric analysis to forecast RFID technology and uses the adoption of barcode scanner to model the RFID scanner adoption in the US retail market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Forecasting emerging technologies and identifying the rate of diffusion of products based on these technologies is difficult because of lack of data. This paper uses techniques such as bibliometric analysis and Bass model based on analogous products.\nFindings: - The authors were able to come up with a good Bass model for the adoption of RFID scanners in the retail sector. And according to the Bass model it appears that it will take at least seven or eight years for the retailers to adopt to this new technology at their point-of-sale.\nOriginality/value: - This paper attempts to use bibliometric analysis and Bass model for forecasting technologies and provides a new research discussion as results from these two are compared.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Portfolio evaluation using OWA-heuristic algorithm and data envelopment analysis	[ "Portfolio investment", "Data analysis", "Algorithmic languages" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: In financial terms, a portfolio is an appropriate mix or collection of investments held by an institution or private individuals. The portfolio optimization problem is a well-known difficult problem occurring in financial real world. The problem consists of choosing an optimal set of assets in order to minimize the risk and maximize the profit of the investment. The investor's objective is to get the maximum possible return on an investment with the minimum possible risk. This objective is achieved through asset diversification, i.e. creating a portfolio by investing funds in a wide range of stocks. However, since there are a large number of stocks to invest in, this objective leads to two investment problems:1. selecting stocks to be included in the portfolio (asset selection); and2. appropriately proportioning the total money to be invested in the selected stocks for best return from the portfolio (asset allocation).An optimal portfolio is the one in which either the risk for a given return is minimized or return for a given risk is maximized.The well-known theory of portfolio selection by Harry Markowitz provides a conceptual framework for the optimal portfolio selection. Markowitz selected a quantitative framework for the selection of a portfolio. This framework assumes that the assets follow a multivariate normal distribution. This means that the return on a portfolio can be completely described based on return and risk. For a particular universe of assets, the set of portfolios of assets that offer the minimum risk for a given level of return forms the efficient frontier. The portfolios on the efficient frontier can be found by quadratic programming (QP).The strength of this approach is that QP solvers are available and efficient in terms of computing time. The solutions are optimal and the selection process can be constrained by practical considerations that are written as linear constraints. The weaknesses of such an approach are of two kinds:1. The underlying assumption of multivariate normality is not sustainable. The distribution of individual asset returns tends to exhibit a higher probability of extreme values consistent with normality (statistically this is known as leptokurtosis). This departure from multivariate normality means that distribution moments higher than the first two moments (expected return and variance) need to be considered to describe portfolio behavior.2. Integer constraints that limit a portfolio to a specified number of assets, or to impose limits on the proportion of the portfolio held in a given asset, cannot easily be applied. Constraints of this type are of practical significance.Markowitz' theory suggests that for an investor to assess the worth of a stock, he can look into the risk-return profile of the stock and select accordingly. However, due to the combinatorial explosive nature of portfolio optimization problem, it is not practical to evaluate all combination of asset selection and allocation.In this paper, we introduce heuristic algorithm with ordered weighted averaging (OWA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques to select stocks for inclusion in the portfolio formation. The proportion of funds for each of the selected stock is then determined using efficient frontier analysis.\n2 Literature review: The term heuristic is used for algorithms, which find solutions among all possible ones, but they do not guarantee that the best will be found; therefore, they give approximately close results. These algorithms, usually find a solution close to the best one and they find it fast and easily. Sometimes these algorithms can be accurate, that is they actually find the best solution, but the algorithm is still called heuristic until this best solution is proved the best.For shortest path problems, a heuristic is a function, h(n) defined on the nodes of a search tree, which serves as an estimate of the cost of the cheapest path from that node to the goal node. Heuristics are used by informed search algorithms such as Greedy best-first search and A* to choose the best node to explore. Greedy best-first search will choose the node that has the lowest value for the heuristic function. A* search will expand nodes that have the lowest value for g(n)+h(n), where g(n) is the (exact) cost of the path from the initial state to the current node. If h(n) is admissible that is, if h(n) never overestimates the costs of reaching the goal, then A* will always find an optimal solution.With developments in computer sciences in the last decade, heuristics is now a well-established discipline and seems to be an answer to the problems posed by critical line optimizers. Elton et al. (1976) attempted to develop a successful portfolio heuristic by substituting a single average correlation coefficient for all the correlation coefficients. They managed to obtain an optimized portfolio that was satisfying though the solution was computationally intensive.Nawrocki (1983, 1990) using the reward-to-semi-variability ratio to compute portfolio allocations demonstrated that heuristics could improve the complexity involved in portfolio optimization problem. Since then a lot of research is been done on heuristic techniques but none emerged as a reasonably good approach.DEA, a technique adopted from the operational research area, is a powerful tool for evaluating and comparing performances of organizational units in multi-attribute and multidimensional environment. There are two basic models of DEA:1. the constant return to scale or Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes model proposed by Charnes et al. (1978); and2. the variable return to scale or Banker, Charnes, and Cooper model proposed by Banker et al. (1984).Both these models can be classified as input oriented or output oriented, depending on the search for goals by the inefficient units.Performance measurement using DEA method consists of determining the relative efficiency of a productive unit by considering its closeness to an efficiency frontier. DEA efficiency is not the same as mean-variance efficiency in the Markowitz model where mean and variance are the only two parameters for optimization. In DEA approach, efficiency is the objective function value of a multi-criteria linear programming model. The objective of the DEA is to determine relative performance indicators among productive units, considering specific groups of inputs, and outputs. It is a multi-factor productivity analysis model for measuring the relative efficiencies of a homogenous set of decision-making units (DMUs). The efficiency score in the presence of multiple input and output factors is defined as: Equation 1 In the analysis, the variance of the respective securities is used as an input to the DEA and expected returns are the output. Assuming that there are n DMUs, each with m inputs and s outputs, the relative efficiency score of a test DMU p is obtained by solving the following model proposed by Charnes et al. (1978): Equation 2 where, k=1 to s, j=1 to m, i=1 to n:yki amount of output k produced by DMU i.xji amount of input j utilized by DMU i.vk weight given to output k.uj weight given to input jThe fractional program shown in the above equation can be converted to a linear program as shown in equation as follows: Equation 3 To identify the relative efficiency scores of all the DMUs the above problem is run n times. Each DMU selects input and output weights that maximize its efficiency score. A DMU is considered efficient if it obtains a score of 1 and a score of less than 1 implies that it is inefficient.DEA has demonstrated a very satisfactory applicability in the evaluation (ex post) of investment funds (Morey and Morey, 1999; Gregorious, 2003; Haslem and Scheraga, 2003), although its initial applications had been predominantly to public organizations (Shen et al., 2005; Zhu, 2003; Avkiran, 2001; Calhoun, 2003).\n3 Methodology and data: The methodology in this paper starts with asset selection, i.e. selection of stocks to be included in portfolio using OWA-heuristic algorithm and DEA, and asset allocation, i.e. determining the proportion or weights to be allocated to the selected stocks. Finally, a comparative analysis of portfolios obtained is done.The data used for both the methodology is from 45 stocks listed in of National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India, the methodology uses the opening and closing rates of these stocks from a period of January 2005-December 2007. Table I lists the stocks used for the study.3.1 Asset selection\n4 Conclusions: This paper adopted two different methodologies, heuristic algorithm with OWA and DEA, to form an optimal portfolio of stocks from NSE of India, and compared the portfolio thus formed from both the methods on a risk return basis using Sharpe performance index. The optimal portfolio formed by using securities obtained from both the methods; show that the securities generated by DEA provide better return than the securities by OWA. However, by performance analysis by Sharpe index, heuristic algorithm with OWA yielded better performance than portfolio using DEA.Combining the output securities from both the methods resulted in an optimum portfolio with slightly higher return than that from DEA; however, the risk of the portfolio also increased marginally. Performance analysis on a risk-adjusted basis reveals the portfolio using the combined approach even outperformed marginally than those from using DEA. As this paper demonstrates a comparative analysis of two different methods, the work can be furthered by using genetic algorithm and different multi objective evolutionary algorithms which promise to give better results than heuristic algorithm. Using OWA with the evolutionary algorithms gives a better approach to decide the sequence of objective variables for these algorithms. DEA can have several deciding input and output variables in addition to variance and return, like beta, book to market ratio, etc. and hence can be further tested with more than one factor variables.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate two different asset selection methodologies and further examine these by forming optimal portfolios.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper deals with the problem of portfolio formation, broadly in two steps: asset selection and asset allocation by using the two different approaches for the first step and then well-known mean variance portfolio optimization. In addition, the resulting portfolios are compared using Sharpe ratio.\nFindings: - The empirical observations prove the applicability of the methodology adopted in the research design, ordered weighted averaging (OWA)-heuristic algorithm gives us a better portfolio from the sample observations. Also the asset selection procedures adopted in the research proves to be of help when an investor has to narrow down the number of assets to invest in.\nPractical implications: - The analysis provides two different methodologies for portfolio formation - though the asset allocation is based on the mean variance portfolio optimization, the asset selection methods adopted provide a systematic approach to select the efficient securities.\nOriginality/value: - This paper shows that OWA can be used to decide the order of inputs for the heuristic algorithm. Also an attempt is made to use data envelopment analysis to find a solution to the problem of portfolio formation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Adaptation of the value stream mapping approach to the design of lean engineer-to-order production systems: A case study	[ "Case study", "Value stream mapping", "Production systems", "Engineer-to-order" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are numerous and represent the backbone of the European economy (Muller et al., 2007). Due to their flexibility, the entrepreneurial spirit and the innovation capabilities of SMEs have proven to make an important contribution to the economic stability and sustainability of a country. However, to compete in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, SMEs have to strive for world class performance through a consequent implementation of lean principles.\n2 Literature review: In the past decades a large variety of methods and tools has been developed and used to design, optimize or evaluate productive systems, helping to improve and to accelerate the design of lean and agile materials and information flows in manufacturing. Several researchers (Braglia et al., 2006; Serrano Lasa et al., 2008) reviewed different tools and methods for the redesign and improvement of production systems. They came to the conclusion that these \"do not cover the same framework as VSM, neither the same objectives nor the same level or degree of completion of manufacturing systems design\" (Serrano Lasa et al., 2008, p. 42). Among these methods, the most important ones are flow diagram charts, Icam DEFinition for Function Modeling (IDEF0) and the complementary Integrated DEFinition for Process Description Capture Method (IDEF3), graph with results and actions interrelated (GRAI), and various tools for material and information flow modeling.\n3 Research objectives and methodology: The main research question of this paper is:\n4 Case study: The chosen company is a medium sized Italian ETO producer of large and heavy steel constructions, such as steel structures and facades for civil and industrial architecture, with a yearly turnover of 48 million and about 150 employees. Every product is unique - consequently, engineering design and production is made to the specific customer order (batch-of-one production). Even if the final product can involve some common materials or standard parts, every customer order requires individual bills of materials and production routings to complete the final product within an agreed deadline. Demand is irregular. The process typically consists of cutting, machining, assembly (tack welding), welding (seam welding), and coating.\nConclusions and further research work: An ETO system typically deals with projects: every product is unique and is designed and produced according to a customer order. Customer requirements and shipment dates vary from product to product. Consequently, there is no inventory in terms of finished products, and also raw material is usually purchased project-oriented. Furthermore, sequences and cycle times of the manufacturing processes vary widely and do not allow a proper balance of the workflow through the production. Review of VSM related literature revealed that due to the differences of an ETO environment to series or mass-production the conventional VSM approach needs to be adapted. The conventional VSM approach is designed for high volume repetitive manufacturing industries; in a batch-of-one environment it can be applied only project by project. Against the background of the missing support of meaningful data and information due to the project-related variations in times, workload and inventory level, different approaches and guidelines are needed for the optimization process between current and future state mapping.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine relevant parts of the case of an Italian steel construction company's green field plant design process to identify best practice guidelines for the adaptation and use of value stream mapping (VSM) in the design of lean engineer-to-order (ETO) production systems.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper reviews the most relevant literature in the field of VSM and discusses its limitations regarding the application in an ETO environment. Based on the analysis of an industrial case, the original VSM methodology is adapted with a special focus on ETO. Information was collected through multiple site visits and semi-structured interviews with the company's key staff of the project, as well as examination of relevant company documentations.\nFindings: A set of guidelines was developed on the basis of an industrial case research. In this context, major attention was given to two aspects: the introduction of synchronization points in front of merge-activities in the value stream, and the splitting of customer orders into suitable production orders and equal time increments of work.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of this research are limited due to the focused nature of a case study-based research. However, the obtained results encourage assuming its transferability to similar problems.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides an original industrial case study with valuable insights for the adaptation of the VSM methodology to batch-of-one ETO environment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining mobile based payment services adoption issues: A new approach using hierarchical clustering and self-organizing maps	[ "Technology acceptance", "Hierarchical clustering", "Mobile transfer payment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Mobile-based money transfer is a practical and innovative transactional service that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) tools and non-banking channels (mainly retail) to offer and extend the financial services to subscribers who are not profitable to be reached by formal and traditional financial services providers like banks. Examples of mobile money transfer services are e-wallets which facilitate transfer payments and a host of others payments. The term mobile money transfer (hereafter m-payment) refers to any process of monetary exchange that is generated from a mobile device with due authorization and conformance to legal policy. Traditional banks provide their own mobile banking facility. There are different applications provided by banks which can be installed on a wide range of mobile platforms and can be used with ease. However, one has to understand the difference between mobile banking and m-payment. In case of mobile banking, the transactions are done between the customer and the bank, or may be customer to another third party, but still bank intermediates between the two. The medium of communication can be different, i.e., customer and the third party may be subscribers to different internet/mobile service providers. But, in case of m-payment, the process is different. Telecom companies with support from central bank are offering \"mobile money\" as a service. Monetary transactions happen between two parties (users and merchants) where both of them are subscribers of the same m-payment service in the same telecom service provider's domain. Technologies like near field communications are being used to make mobile phone an instrument of payment without having to sign any vouchers thus making the process secure. The authorized agent handles the monetary transactions between the parties.\n2. Background: The techno-Social acceptability of any new technology proves the real value and its reason for existence. Extensive research has been done by using technology adoption theories to examine mobile banking behavior. Notable among them are Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), innovation diffusion theory (IDT) (Mallat, 2007), and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). It needs to be pointed that almost the above mentioned studied which have been extensively focussed on examining user's mobile banking behavior. Those few publications which focussed on usage intention of financial services also basically concentrated on mobile banking (Lee et al., 2011).This paper does not capture mobile banking user intention but concentrates on transfer payment using mobile phones where-in the transactions does not involve bank accounts. This study attempts to identify the factors affecting the acceptance of such types of transfer payment mechanism which are being projected as simple and trust-worthy by the service providers.\n3. Research design: m-Payment as a service offering is still emerging. Though such services has been in offer by several telecom service providers for the last one year but its adoption has not been satisfactory. Extant research has used information technology adoption theories and models (the notable ones has been discussed in the previous section) to analyze technology adoption and usage intention. Most of them (TAM, IDT and UTAUT) have tried to focus on specific characteristic in the context of information system adoption. Even in context to MFS, researchers have focussed on usage intention in context to mobile banking (Kim et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2011) but this study takes an unified approach to study usage intention of mobile-based money transfer system which is independent of bank accounts. Other frequently reported factors are as follows:\n4. Research methodology: The methodology adopted in this study has been diagrammatically represented in the Figure 1.\n5. Data analysis: During data analysis, tests for reliability and validity were conducted along with test for common method variance. Harman's single factor test to confirm presence of common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003) was done. In the study all 11 factors had eigenvalue greater than 1 with the largest factor accounting for 12.43 percent of the variance thereby indicating the absence of common method bias in the data set. Tests for validity includes convergent validity and discriminant validity. Table II displays the values for standardized item loading, average variance extracted (AVE), composite reliability (CR) and the values of Cronbach a. Since most items show loading more than 0.7 (with t-values significant at 0.001), all AVEs exceed 0.5 and all CR exceed 0.7 hence it can be accepted that the scale exhibits good convergent validity (Gefen et al., 2000). The a values were also found to be larger than 0.70 thereby showing good reliability (Nunnally, 1978).\n6. Discussion, managerial implications and lessons learnt: The present work aims to analyze the reduced factors that influence the intention of using MFS in an integrated manner, including the technical characteristics, technology-specific characteristics, user characteristics and job characteristics. The GHSOM model investigates this issue by determining the key factors of m-payment usage intention by constructing clustering of MFS data which largely corroborate the prospect of m-payment usage intention. The hierarchical structure of clusters is mainly influenced by ease of use, innovativeness, discomfort, system quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, task-fit, monetary value, connectivity, absorptive capacity, externalities parameters.\n7. Conclusion, limitation and future research: This study attempted to focus on issues influencing the usage intention of mobile-based payment services using a tool which has been not been applied before to explore technology adoption issues. The study found that perceptions regarding service quality, task-fit and presence of external agencies to instill confidence among the users are prominent. This implies that in order that such service receives greater acceptability and adoption, service providers should work with the government agencies to provide more institutional legality and support. Service providers can only ensure better service quality and innovative service but absence of external institutional agency may prove to be a deterrent for greater acceptability. User friendly interfaces with convincing value proposition impacts the adoption of services like m-payment.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to make a unified approach in identifying the issues affecting usage intention of mobile-based payment services. The work aims to analyze the reduced factors from data obtained from a survey to highlight the influencers of usage intention mobile-based payment in an integrated manner by incorporating the technical characteristics, technology-specific characteristics, user-specific characteristics and task-specific characteristics.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A nationwide primary survey was conducted using validated questionnaire requesting response for 11 factors obtained from published literature. In all, 196 respondents participated in the survey in India. Valid responses were analyzed using Growing Hierarchical Self-Organizing Map (GHSOM) model. The interactive GHSOM application was applied to automatically determine the filtering rules for clustering.\nFindings: The hierarchical structure of clusters as obtained by applying GHSOM is mainly influenced by factors like innovativeness, discomfort, system quality, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, task-fit, connectivity, absorptive capacity and structural assurance.\nResearch limitations/implications: Increasing trend of online and mobile-based payment has been observed and reported by several studies in India. The frequency of online transactions by women have shown a steady increase over a short period of time. But the survey obtained higher percentage of data from males. Thus future researchers could focus on this aspect to study the influence of this rising trend on adoption of services like mobile-based payment. Trust and existence of physical institutions seem to affect the perception and usage intention. Future researchers may explore the influence of these two issues in situations where there has been some reported cases of breach of trust.\nOriginality/value: There has been very few studies conducted which reported mobile-based transfer payment adoption issues where-in the transfer mechanism is independent of formal banking. Also no other study adopted the GHSOM approach to analyze the data. The findings would be beneficial for service providers of mobile-based payment services to understand their subscribers and roll out value-added services.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Success factors in process performance management	[ "Process performance management", "Performance management", "Performance measurement", "Critical success factors" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Companies have to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their business. They are confronted with the need to reduce costs by improving the performance of their business. A company-wide performance management is therefore a necessity to preserve a competitive market position. Process performance management (PPM) is seen as an essential part of performance management which is focused on a company's processes and comprises the planning, monitoring, and control of process performance (e.g. output, processing time, cases of complaints).In PPM, numerous methods and concepts were developed by researchers and practitioners helping to manage processes by deriving process performance indicators, measures, and figures from the company's vision, its strategy and process objectives (Heckl and Moormann, 2010). Process performance management systems (PPMS) do not only help to monitor and control the relevant indicators, measures, and figures, but also help to generate different kinds of reports and to support the analyses of the figures. PPMS enable companies to automatically record, control, monitor, and analyze a multiplicity of figures. Sometimes they are used as the underlying theoretical concept of PPM, too.Despite the increased need for the measurement and the coherent management of processes it is still not clear which factors do influence a successful development, implementation, and application of PPM in practice. People who are responsible for measuring and controlling process performance in enterprises and who Martin characterizes as performance technologists (Martin, 2008) are unsure about what is really relevant to assure PPM success. Whether established PPM methods or self-developed and company-specific concepts or the technical support of PPM are the key factors of the success is still an open question.The problem in the research field of PPM is the still missing knowledge as to which success factors for the development, implementation, and application of PPM actually exist. Therefore, the following central research question is addressed:RQ. Which success factors contribute to the success of PPM?The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what constitutes PPM success. Hence, we want to identify critical success factors in PPM to develop a PPM success model in future research.Our method is based on the multi-method approach by Gable (1994). We discuss the first five stages of this research method and present the state of the literature by means of a literature review, which is additionally supported by the findings of a multiple-case study.After this short introduction basic concepts and related work will be presented. The underlying definition of PPM success and research design will be discussed. The next section deals with the findings of a representative literature review which aims to identify PPM success factors. The success factors will be verified by means of a multiple-case study research. Subsequently, detailed PPM success factor items from an extended literature review will be presented and interpreted. The article ends with a conclusion and names the implications for future research.\n2. Basic concepts and related work: 2.1 Process performance management\n3. Research design: 3.1 Overall research design\n4. Results of the representative literature review: In summary, 11 PPM success factors (Table IV) were identified. We paid close attention to ensure that the success factors do not overlap.While developing the categories, we found success factors which were highly case-specific or related to a unique project success (e.g. \"project implementation\" (Wixom and Watson, 2001), \"project management\" (Bandara, 2007), \"collaboration quality\" (Urbach et al., 2010)). Since we focused particularly on case-independent success factors of continuous PPM application, these categories could not be used further. Context variables were not included, either. They can have an influence on the success factors themselves or a moderating effect on the relationship between the success factors and PPM success. There are two categories of context variables: external context variables (e.g. intensity of competition, market dynamics, etc.) and internal context variables (e.g. enterprise size, degree of formalization in the enterprise, formalization of information management, etc.) (Gleich, 2001; Janz, 2008; Steiners, 2005).Expertise/competence\n5. Results of the case study: The analysis of the data showed that - with three exceptions - all of the predefined success factors could be confirmed in practice:* In particular, \"information quality\" showed - similar to the literature review - a high number of mentions in the case study. While the project of case I consisted of adapting process data coming from different sources at different times, the PPM project of organization B (case II) showed also a high importance of information and data quality. Although the organization could build on a rather comprehensive description of 22 regularly updated business processes, for which many key figures at different levels of detail were measured, the project was stopped early. The measurement of such a large number of key figures which in themselves, were very useful turned out to be very complex and the accuracy of measurement challenging.* In contrast, \"process models\" and related items were mentioned even more often in the different cases than in the literature. In particular, case IIIb showed that up-to-date process documentations are equally important as knowing which factors influence the processes you want to control, as well as being able to control theses influence factors. The head of the QM department argued that even if he understood the existing process and detailed process documentations, it would not be possible to simultaneously control the output and the performance of the process, if he could not control the input, i.e. influence factors like manpower or IT support.The following three success factors could not be confirmed in practice: \"usefulness\", \"service quality\", and \"incentive system\":1. None of the interviewees stressed out that \"usefulness\" or similar factors are PPM-specific success factors, and neither project documentations nor observations allocated any importance to this factor, either. This was a little surprising for us, because the literature strongly supports this factor. We think that one reason for this could be that our interviewees see \"usefulness\" rather as a result (success measure, i.e. dependent variable) of PPM application than as a success factor for the application.2. \"Service quality\" was not mentioned, because most of the PPM methods of the cases were self-developed by the companies. That was why the performance managers knew their own concepts as well as the implemented systems and did not need any further support.3. \"Incentive systems\" could not be verified in the case study, either. Although some interviewees assessed them as interesting, they said that these systems were currently not used, e.g. due to labor laws being very strict in Germany: \"Incentive systems are desirable. Currently, however, there is no planning to introduce such an incentive system, but I would appreciate it\" (Executive Director HRM Organization IIIa). However, this success factor is of importance due to the high number of mentions in literature and the intention of some of the interviewees to introduce incentive systems in future.To obtain reliable evidence as to whether all three success factors which could not be verified in the case study are PPM-critical or not, further case studies will have to be conducted in the ongoing research.\n6. Results of the extended literature review: 6.1 Resulting success factors and items\n7. Conclusion and outlook: The purpose of this article was to identify success factors which contribute to the PPM success. To achieve this purpose, we conducted a literature review comprising a representative and an extended review part. A multiple-case study was conducted to verify the identified success factors in practice. The results of this article are, on the one hand, those PPM success factors and, on the other hand, detailed success factor items which contribute to the successful development, implementation, and application of PPM.The evaluation of the data showed that 11 different success factors have to be considered when implementing and applying PPM successfully. Some of the success factors seem to be more important due to their high mention in literature and due to the findings of our case study research: \"Individual knowledge and competence\", \"process knowledge\", \"integrated performance management\", \"information quality\", \"system quality\", and \"management support\". \"Information quality\" is the most mentioned success factor and includes promising items like \"communication\" and \"inclusiveness (measurement of all related aspects)\". Some success factors showed higher relevance in literature (\"service quality\" and \"incentive system\"), while the case study emphasized the importance of \"process quality\". Only two success factors showed a lower relevance in our research: \"Ease of use\" and \"usefulness\".The results lead to the following conclusions which at the same time have an impact on further research:* The high importance of data and information quality suggests to stronger integrate measures to improve information and data quality in PPM concepts. In addition, further research is needed to define the relation between the two items \"communication\" and \"inclusiveness\" and the success factor \"information quality\" to achieve a higher quality.* Also in further research, reasons for the lower relevance of \"process quality\" and \"process knowledge\" will have to be identified. Since in our opinion process quality and knowledge are highly relevant for PPM success, the reasons for such misinterpretations should be eliminated. In addition, PPM concepts should be reconsidered to enable the integration of process modeling techniques.* It is not only the individual success factor that can be a starting point to enhance PPM methods or concepts. The list of identified PPM success factors represents also a valuable basis for further research. We were able to identify for almost each success factor several items which substantiate their relevance (except for the success factors \"process quality\" and \"ease of use\"). After analyzing the relation between success factors and distinct PPM concepts it shows that the success factors can be used to support the selection of an appropriate PPM concept. In addition, they can be used as the basis for a PPM success model.Since we followed the multi-method of Gable, the next steps of our research will focus on developing a PPM success model to conceptualize a structural equation model. We will statistically analyze the data which we will collect by means of a worldwide online-survey to obtain empirically validated PPM success factors.Admittedly, our research has some shortcomings. Since there are no standardized terms regarding PPM, we cannot be sure to have included every important paper, article, or book section into our literature review. Nevertheless, we took up a broad perspective in order to identify critical PPM success factors. We conducted a comprehensive literature review and, in our opinion, received robust, reliable, and non-overlapping success factors. We assume that these success factors are valid for literature reviews using other search keys, too.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Although process performance management (PPM), doubtlessly contributes to the increase of business performance, it has been given only little attention to date. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what constitutes successful PPM and to identify critical success factors in PPM.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors conducted two complementary literature reviews - a representative literature review to get an overview of possible success factors, and an extended literature review to identify detailed success factor items. To increase the reliability of the success factors, a multiple case-study was additionally conducted.\nFindings: - In the first literature review - the representative one - 11 success factors of PPM were identified, to which several detailed PPM success factor items could be identified in the extended literature review. Obviously, the success factor \"information quality\" is much more mentioned in literature than factors regarding \"process quality\" or \"system quality\".\nResearch limitations/implications: - Since there are no standardized terms regarding PPM, it is challenging to include all important papers into the literature review. The next steps to develop a PPM success model are to conceptualize a structural equation model and to conduct a worldwide online-survey.\nPractical implications: - The findings of this research serve as a basis for a PPM success model, which enables practitioners to focus on what is really important for successful PPM.\nOriginality/value: - The application of a multi-methodological research approach resulted in success factors whose importance was evaluated by their frequency of occurrence in literature, as well as by experts in real-life enterprises.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Balancing academia and family life: The gendered strains and struggles between the UK and China compared	[ "Gender", "Work-life balance", "British academics", "Chinese academics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Issues of balancing work and life have gained increasing societal, organisational, individual and scholarly attention as a result of several social trends - including the changing nature of gender roles, family structures, working conditions and careers. This has led to an explosion of work-life balance (WLB) research over the past five decades (Powell et al., 2019). Research that has examined work-life interface issues such as work-family balance, conflict, facilitation and enrichment across a range of occupations has flourished (Greenhaus and Powell, 2017). Nevertheless, there are limited cross-cultural comparative studies of WLB.\nResearch context: WLB is perceived as a choice and a personal responsibility (Caproni, 2004; Lewis, 2003; Lewis et al., 2007; Ren and Caudle, 2016). Nevertheless, both choices and capacity to make choices are always contextually embedded and WLB is a social construct (Drobnic and Guillen, 2011; Lewis and Giullari, 2005). As argued by Bradley (2007), the most valuable way to explore any key concept is to locate it in the specific social contexts in which it is operating. This section provides an overview of the changing HE sectors in British and Chinese contexts in which this study took place.\nLiterature review: Numerous definitions have been given to the term WLB but with significant variations to their meaning (Dilmaghani and Tabvuma, 2019). The present study adopts the position that WLB can be considered as a satisfactory level of involvement or \"fit\" between the multiple roles in a person's life (Hudson, 2005). It reflects an individual's orientation across different life roles (Marks and MacDermid, 1996), and the extent to which an individual is equally engaged in and satisfied with all life domains with a minimum of role conflict (Clark, 2000; Greenhaus et al., 2003). This suggests that WLB is not merely work-family balance. However, Greenhaus and Powell (2017, p. 3) emphasise that \"work and family are the two roles in many people's lives in which they have the greatest amount of involvement and with which they identify the most\". Indeed, the insights emerging from this study supports this view, with references to life beyond academia most frequently being associated with family-related activities (e.g. childcare, eldercare and housework). In the organisational context, the way to help employees achieve WLB is to adopt \"a two way process involving a consideration of the needs of employees, as well as those of employers\" stated by Lewis (2000, p. 105), who also suggested that paid work and personal life should be seen more as complementary elements of a full life than as competing priorities. This optimum state is, however, difficult to attain as will be demonstrated in the findings.\nA multilevel analytical framework: We argue that individual academics' choices of coping strategy could not have evolved accidentally. Instead, it has complex antecedents that intertwine in context that require a variety of resources at different levels. Our review of the literature appears to suggest that the inter-related factors on the macro, meso and micro levels would have profound effects on individual academics' experiences of WLB and their resolutions. In the following, we aim to further explore WLB by examining several key multilevel factors through the lens of gender. They are societal institutions and national cultures on the macro-level; organisational practices and academic work on the meso-level; and family resources and individual choices on the micro-level.\nMethodology: This empirical study aimed to develop insights related to British and Chinese academics' experiences of WLB. Thus, we pursued a comparative design to provide for analysis which could tease out both similarities and distinctions between strategies adopted by individual academics in the British and Chinese HE contexts. We were particularly concerned to facilitate making the \"invisible visible\". That is, in the analysis, to be in a position to surface influences which may be regarded as so \"usual\" they do not ordinarily attract attention. For example, in this study, we identified, the availability of part-time working arrangements in the UK and the availability of familial childcare support in China.\nFindings: Overview of work-life balance experiences\nDiscussion: Our study demonstrates that British and Chinese academics differed in their experiences of WLB. This manifests itself as gendered differences in individual academics' coping strategies, which is consistent with the existing claim that women worldwide tend to develop different coping strategies from men (Bray et al., 2001; Fielden and Davidson, 1999; Jennings and McDougald, 2007). We also found a much more marked gender difference in the Chinese than in the British context in terms of sourcing support, managing emotions and making choices. More significantly, the findings reveal that such gender differences in WLB were induced by the factors and their interplay on the three levels as depicted in Figure 1. This also led to divergent career paths between male and female academics in both contexts.\nConclusions and implications: This study highlights the importance of critically examining contextual factors to better comprehend gender differences in WLB and implications for careers. Six multilevel factors - including political-legal frameworks and socio-cultural values at the country level, organisational practices and academic labour demand at the HE institutional level, and individual/family resources and personal career aspirations at the academics' level - and their constant intertwining were found to shape individual academics' choices of WLB strategy, which, in turn, resulted in diverging career paths.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to explore and compare academics' experiences of managing work-life balance (WLB) in the British and Chinese contexts. The authors have three specific purposes. Firstly, to investigate whether there are marked gender differences in either context, given female and male academics' work is considered fully comparable. Secondly, to examine contextual factors contributing to gender differences that influence and shape decisions in WLB and career paths. Thirdly, to explore the gendered consequences and implications.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A cross-national and multilevel analytical approach to WLB was chosen to unpick and explore gender land contextual differences and their influence on individual academics' coping strategies. To reflect the exploratory nature of uncovering individual experience and perceptions, the authors used in-depth, semi-structured interviews. In total, 37 academics participated in the study, comprised of 18 participants from 6 universities in the UK and 19 participants from 6 universities in China.\nFindings: This study reveals gendered differences in both the British and Chinese contexts in three main aspects, namely, sourcing support; managing emotions; and making choices, but more distinct differences in the latter context. Most significantly, it highlights that individual academics' capacity in cultivating and using coping strategies was shaped simultaneously by multi-layered factors at the country level, the HE institutional level and the individual academics' level.\nOriginality/value: Very few cross-cultural WLB studies explore gender differences. This cross-national comparative study is of particular value in making the \"invisible visible\" in terms of the gendered nature of choices and decisions within the context of WLB. The study has significant implications for female academics exercising individual scope in carving out a career, and for academic managers and institutions, in terms of support, structure and policy.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Portfolio management and new product development implementation: A case study in a manufacturing firm	[ "Product development", "New products", "Brazil", "Organizational change" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Due to increasing levels of competitiveness, many companies realize the importance of planning product families and managing their portfolio, in addition to developing products that meet customers' needs and assuring their quality. To develop successful new products an organization should identify market opportunities and align them with its capabilities. The choice of a portfolio of products is a central factor which influences a company's chances of success. Therefore, companies must continually search for ways to improve the array of products in their portfolios in order to achieve organizational goals. Studies reveal that 50 per cent of a firm's sales come from new products within the first five years of their introduction into the market (Griffin and Page, 1996; Cooper et al., 1997a).Over the decades, the literature has explored a number of issues under the general term of portfolio management. Early studies defined portfolio management as project selection (Baker, 1974; Danila, 1989). Later on, the term portfolio management was used to mean prioritizing the development of products (Tatikonda, 1999; Cooper et al., 2000), and, more recently, to mean multiple project management (Dooley et al., 2005). Recent years have witnessed a heightened interest in portfolio management. Despite its growing popularity, benchmarking studies (Cooper et al., 1997a, b) have identified portfolio management as one of the weakest areas in managing new product development.In this context, this paper aims at presenting a case study on portfolio management conducted in a manufacturing company in Brazil. The company has been involved in product design and manufacturing in the packaging industry. The main driver for the required organizational changes was to align the organizational structure for product development to a revised company strategy. The work has involved implementing a portfolio management system, strengthening the product development process, and introducing managerial and planning methods to support the development of new products. The scope of this paper is to describe the initiative of implementing the portfolio management system. Case-based research was employed as the methodological approach, due to the nature of the investigation and it followed existing guidelines by Yin (1994) and Voss et al. (2002). More detail on the research design and case study is provided following a review of the theoretical background.\nTheoretical background: Portfolio management is a process in which projects for the development of products are continually evaluated, selected and prioritized; new projects may be introduced and existing projects might be suspended, canceled, or de-prioritized (Cooper et al., 1997a). These decisions are important in deciding about the allocation of resources to active projects. When portfolio management is lacking, certain problems can arise. For instance, available resources can be limited while there are far too many projects to develop; the projects to be developed often do not fit the business strategy, and thus many projects can be disconnected from the strategic priorities of the business; go/kill decision points can be weak, so that poor projects are often not killed; wrong projects can be selected so the portfolio's quality is poor.To address these issues, firms should choose the right projects in order to have a viable portfolio of high value projects. Moreover, the portfolio should be properly balanced and, most importantly, it should support the business strategy. Hence, the broad macro goals are the maximization of value, balance, and strategic direction (Cooper et al., 1997a).Strategic alignment in a portfolio of projects requires general approaches such as, building strategic criteria into project selection, i.e. incorporating numerous strategic criteria into the go/kill decisions, using prioritization models and applying top-down strategy models, i.e. setting aside funds for different types of projects (Cooper et al., 1997b).One of the most useful typologies for classifying projects under development is by the degree of change the project represents. In this sense, projects can be typed as breakthrough, platform, and derivatives (Clark and Wheelwright, 1993), as illustrated in Figure 1. It is important to consider a mix of projects in development that builds both market position and desired development capabilities. Nevertheless, companies need projects to yield major breakthroughs and real competitive advantage. In addition, balance among the projects is important, namely: the optimal investment mix between risk versus return, maintenance versus growth, and short-term versus long-term new product projects (Cooper et al., 1997a).In addition, resources should be spread across product lines. Figure 2 depicts a number of projects being developed at the same time. As can be seen, some of them are cancelled or on hold. An organization must decide how much to spend on product line C for example. A scoring model to allocate resources across product lines may be used in this case (Cooper et al., 1997b).Having a balanced portfolio in place is an important portfolio management goal. This consists of having a balanced set of projects under development in terms of a number of key parameters (Cooper et al., 1997a). Visual charts, such as bubble diagrams or portfolio maps, are favored for displaying the balance in new-product project portfolios. A number of dimensions may be considered for a bubble plot, such as the projects' fit with business or corporate strategy, their inventive merit and strategic importance to the business, the durability of the competitive advantage; rewards based on financial expectations, the competitive impact of technology, the probability of success; R&D costs for completion, time to completion and the capital and marketing investment required to exploit them (Roussel et al., 1991). Figure 3 shows a bubble diagram for a division of a major chemical company. The size of each bubble shows the annual resources spent on each company division and the shading is the product line.In summary, effective portfolio management requires that three elements be in place and that they work in harmony with one another (Cooper et al., 1997b): the business strategy, the development process for new projects and the portfolio review with its various models and tools.The process for developing new products\nResearch design: This report is part of an initiative to implement a framework for new product development. The framework consists of implementing a portfolio management process (which is the subject of the present paper), upgrading the NPD process (which is reported in Cauchick Miguel, 2005) and introducing a support method for translating customer demands into specifications (Cauchick Miguel, 2004). The principal role of the author in the two previous initiatives was to provide academic knowledge and theories about new product development to the company during weekly interactions and in short training courses and participation in project meetings. This methodological approach can be characterized as action-research (Coughlan and Coghlan, 2002). In this approach, the researcher conducts an intervention and the work is carried out together with the co-participants who cooperated in the research.Figure 5 illustrates the three initiatives conducted in the studied company. The left side represents the part relative to portfolio management. Three \"lists\" of projects were developed: one with ideas to be developed (eventually they would become projects), a project \"waiting list\" with projects awaiting resources and a list of active or on-going projects.Before becoming a project, however, an idea should be further investigated. In this case, a functional R&D project can be established to study the technical and to some extent, the economic, feasibility of the idea. The middle part of Figure 5 illustrates a single project, which came from the list of on-going projects and moved to the development process (the upper right section of Figure 5). The project passes through five development stages with a gate preceding each stage. The right side of Figure 5 represents the introduction of QFD (quality function deployment) as a support method needed for each product development stage. The scope of the present paper includes portfolio management and its interaction with the product development process. The linkages of the principal elements of Figure 5 (portfolio management and the new product development process) will be discussed later in the paper.A case based approach was used to investigate the implementation of portfolio management using guidelines for case studies from the existing literature (e.g. Yin, 1994 and Voss et al., 2002). In general, case studies are the preferred approach when the researcher has little control over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real-life context. Such \"explanatory\" case studies also can be complemented by two other types (Yin, 1994): \"exploratory\" and \"descriptive\" case studies. In the early stages of many research programs, exploration is needed to develop research ideas and questions; it is used as a means to uncover areas for research and the development of theory (Voss et al., 2002). An exploratory case study was considered for this research project because the study began by setting out some directions for the implementation of portfolio management practices. In addition, context is also important when conducting case-based research. The company required organizational changes. Those changes were relevant in terms of context, i.e. the process of developing new products and the type of industryVarious types of data gathering methods were used. Data were collected primarily through participation in a number of portfolio meetings. Other sources of evidence were also used, such as archival documentation (memos, minutes of meeting, reports, etc.) and some non-structured interviews with persons involved with portfolio management (conducted with people involved with its implementation). Interviews provide depth, subtlety, and personal feeling and documents provided data and facts for triangulation.This contributed to ascertaining whether evidence from different sources converged on a similar set of facts. The emphasis was on the process of data exploration, rather than mere data collection. A research diary was used to assist in doing this. This is a systematic and regular way to keep records of the research and can provide an interpretative, self-evaluative account of the researcher's personal experiences, thoughts and feelings (Coughlan and Coghlan, 2002). In addition, these records may help to relate the empirical data to the literature.Due to the fact that this research was exploratory in nature, the guiding principle was to ground the analysis in the data. In this sense, content analysis was the main tool employed to evaluate the data obtained from the various sources. The analysis began with arranging the descriptive data in order to learn about the decisions taken at the meetings and how they were implemented. The data analysis is presented in the next section.\nCase results: The company studied is a medium-sized firm that has more than one-third of the market share for packaging in Latin America; it has a production capacity of about 50 thousand tons/year. Products are divided according to the targets in the market and represent the company businesses. There is a satisfactory quality culture throughout the operations; it is ISO 9001: 2000 certified, has started to apply the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) principles and to implement TPM (Total Productive Maintenance). The company is structured into five functional departments (R&D, Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing, and Finance), which answer to a general manager, who presides over four organizational levels.The introduction of portfolio management\nConclusions: This paper examines portfolio management and its relationship to new product development through a case study conducted in a manufacturing company. Portfolio management has become a vital concern of critical importance for the survival of the studied company. However, the results must be considered with caution, since they are from a single case study of a medium-sized firm in a given industrial context.At a more general level, the empirical evidence lends support to the existence of applicable practices of portfolio management implementation and methodology as identified in the literature. There are implications for this investigation at both the strategic and operational levels. Strategically, the organization can review the projects underway relative to specific strategies, encourage specific project proposals in strategic areas where the company is weak and reprioritize projects based on the emerging market or technological requirements over time. Implementing portfolio management can be considered as effective and well-aligned with company strategy, although there are areas where improvements would be welcome.At the operational level, the introduction of portfolio management has helped the company to select the right projects and to allocate both capital and personnel resources. Further work will concentrate on investigating whether the portfolio management practices were able to deliver better market and financial results. In order to do so, it will be necessary to assess contributions to company growth over time, for instance by conducting a longitudinal study on a periodic basis. Future work to continue this research will focus on developing a framework for better integration between the portfolio management process and the new product development process.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Since the importance of implementing portfolio management is growing world-wide, this paper seeks to report on case-based research on portfolio management in a company that implemented it along with a new product development process.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper uses a case study approach conducted in a manufacturing company in Brazil. Data were gathered through participation in portfolio meetings, non-structured interviews, and document analysis; results were aggregated a posteriori to construct the case.\nFindings: - The paper finds that portfolio management was implemented using a framework which employed a scoring system and qualitative information. The empirical evidence lends support to the existence of portfolio management practices as identified in the literature. In addition, the use of the proposed framework assisted the company in putting in place a methodology to select the right projects and to allocate both capital and personnel resources.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper is limited to a single case study. Replications among other samples are needed to validate current findings.\nOriginality/value: - This paper is one of the few published studies that report on and discuss the implementation of portfolio management in a country in South America.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Competition among ASEAN members in the East Asia market: An extension to shift-share analysis	[ "Indonesia", "Malaysia", "The Philippines", "Singapore", "Thailand", "Exports", "Competitive strategy", "Shift‐share analysis", "ASEAN", "Dynamic analysis" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been playing more and more important role in world economy. Its cooperation with East Asian countries (China, Japan and Korea) has promoted its external trade greatly. ASEAN's total export to China has increased from US$ 41 billion in 2004 to US$ 86 billion, while its import from China has increased from US$ 48 billion to US$ 107 billion[1]. More than one-fifth of ASEAN's total exports are going to the three East Asian countries in recent years. ASEAN's export to the East Asia increased 275 percent during 1998-2007. The competition among ASEAN members, especially the ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand)[2], are intensive in the East Asia market. Figure 1 shows the export growth of the ASEAN members to East Asia during 1998-2007. All the economies increase their exports to the East Asia Market more than 200 percent. Philippines' grows the fastest with a growth rate of 500 percent, from $5.71 billion in 1998 to $34.29 billion in 2007. It is followed by Malaysia, whose exports increase from $13.46 billion in 1998 to $54.55 billion in 2007. Thailand increases its exports from $11.38 billion to $44.76 billion with a growth rate of 293 percent. Indonesia and Singapore triple their exports to the East Asian market from $15.20 billion to $46.93 billion and $10.45 billion to $31.44 billion, respectively. The New-5 increases its export from no more than $5 billion in 1998 to $16.53 billion. In terms of market share, Indonesia and Malaysia take the lead in the East Asia market with an average market share of 23 and 24 percent during the 1998-2007 period, followed by Thailand and Singapore with a market share of 18 and 16 percent. The Philippines and the New-5 account for 12 and 7 percent, respectively.In this paper, the author adopts the widely used shift-share analysis technique to calculate the net gains or losses for the ASEAN Members 1998-2007. There are two main contributions of this paper: one is to dynamically estimate the net shifts of the economies as compared to the traditional comparative static approach; the other is to extend the shift-share analysis to attribute the net gains or losses to competing exporters. With this extension, the author presents a clear picture of competition among the ASEAN members in the East Asian market.The rest of this paper is arranged as follow: Section 2 is devoted to the description of the shift-share analysis adopted in the paper, focusing on the new extension and dynamic approach. Section 3 presents the estimation results and relative analysis. And the last section concludes the paper.\n2 Methodology: Shift-share analysis is widely used in regional economic analysis. It is a tool for decomposing changes over time in economic magnitudes into those that hold various shares constant versus shifts in those shares. It intends to express the factors causing differences of growth among regions. It was mostly used in employment growth in an economy in early days. Later it is applied in analysis on other economic variables such as industrial structure, labor productivity, etc. And it is recently employed to assess export competitiveness (Wilson, 2000; Wilson et al., 2005), analysis on export competition among members of a reference group economies (Herschede, 1991).2.1 Traditional shift-share analysis\n3 Results and analysis: In this section, the author applies the methodology discussed in Section 2 to the competition among ASEAN members in the East Asia import market. The author draws the data for the calculation from World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS). The WITS system is data consultation and extraction software developed by the World Bank, in close collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). With WITS, users have access to the COMTRADE database maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the Trade Analysis Information System (TRAINS) maintained by the UNCTAD and the Integrated Data Base (IDB) and the Consolidated Tariff Schedule Data Base (CTS) maintained by the World Trade Organization (WTO). To make the data consistent, the author uses the import data reported by the China, Japan and Korea. That is, the data of exporters' export to the East Asia are actually the import data reported by the three East Asian countries, not the export data reported by exporters.The author draws the data for the period from 1998 to 2007, which are the data available when the paper is written. In my calculation, the author first uses the traditional approach to calculate the shift-share effects for these three periods: 1998-2007, 1998-2002 and 2003-2007. The author then applies the dynamic approach to find out the total shift-share effects for the same three periods. The author will discuss the differences in the effects calculated with different approaches.In the author's computation, the competing economies consist of the reference group, that is, the ASEAN-5 and the New-5 form as a reference group. In addition, if there is no export data for some economy in certain sectors in the specific year, the author assigns a small number to it in order to make the calculation work. Therefore, in this case, there will be very high growth rate in these sectors, and thus causing high value in competitiveness effect and interactive effect. These should be interpreted with caution. But as this number is very small, it does not change the net shift.3.1 The (traditional) comparative static approach\n4 Conclusion: The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been playing more and more important role in world economy. Its cooperation with East Asian countries (China, Japan and Korea) has promoted its external trade greatly in this region. More than one-fifth of ASEAN's total exports are going to the three East Asian countries in recent years.However, not every member of ASEAN has equal competitiveness in exporting to the East Asian market. In this paper the author extend the shift-share analysis to attribute the net shift to competing economies, and estimate the effects with dynamic approach. The net shift effects estimated with traditional comparative static approach are the gains or losses result from comparison with the reference group as a whole. These results do not reflect the competition with other economies in the reference group. The new extension attempts to attribute the gains or losses to the competing economies, thus, providing a clearer picture of whom the economy in question gains from and loses to.In addition, traditional approach to shift-share analysis considers only the conditions of the initial and final years. The structural changes in between are generally overlooked. This can lead to distorted conclusions if there are dramatic changes in export structures. This approach computes the effects on a year-to-year basis during the observation period. The factors such as changing export structures and total export size are taken into account by updating automatically for each year. This approach helps to identify any structural breaks that may have occurred during the study period and any trends in export competition between reference economies, rather than simply identifying the direction of the net shift between the start and end period.The author apply the new extension to the study on the competition among the ASEAN members in the East Asian (China, Japan and Korea) market for the year from 1998 to 2007. The estimation suggests that while in terms of market share, Indonesia and Malaysia take the lead in the East Asia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are gainers during 1998-2007 with positive net shifts and positive competitiveness effects. A positive net shift suggests the economy's export has been growing faster than other members in the reference group. Thus, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are competitors with emerging powers in the East Asian markets. However, this conclusion is solely based on the shift-share analysis, which does not consider the economic structure of different economies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to calculate the net gains or losses for the ASEAN Members 1998-2007 in the East Asian market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper provides a new extension to the shift-share analysis to attribute the net shift to competing economies with a dynamic approach. This new extension is applied to analyze the competition among the ASEAN members in the East Asian market for the year from 1998-2007.\nFindings: - Although in terms of market share, Indonesia and Malaysia take the lead in East Asia, the dynamic shift-share analysis suggests that the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia are gainers during 1998-2007, with positive net shifts and positive competitiveness effects.\nOriginality/value: - There are two main contributions of this paper: one is to dynamically estimate the net shifts of the economies as compared to the traditional comparative static approach; the other is to extend the shift-share analysis to attribute the net gains or losses to competing exporters.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Workplace training and generic and technical skill development in the Australian construction industry	[ "Workplace training", "Construction industry", "Skills training", "Self-managed learning", "Training management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Employees' performance is the key success factor for any construction company. Construction companies having competent human resources are more likely to be successful in their projects (Barker and Ingram, 2011). Therefore, investment in workplace training that allows employees to systematically develop and upgrade their skills is essential for the enduring and sustainable success of any construction company.\nLiterature review: This section reports on the analysis of literature conducted during the period July to November of 2014.\nResearch methodology: Generic and technical skills framework adopted in this research\nResults and discussion: Relationship between skill area and training method\nConclusions: This paper explores the current workplace training opportunities available to employees in the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. The paper examines these opportunities relative to developing employees' technical and generic competencies through either formal or informal training methods.\nContribution to the research: The current literature indicates that workplace training has positive relationship with employees job performance (Burati et al., 1991; Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer, 2000; Pollitt, 2010; Briscoe et al., 2001). However, only few studies have investigated this relationship within the context of construction industry in Australia and some opinion-based investigation (Wu et al., 2015) and empirical research (Hutcheson, 1984) has been undertaken.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current skills gap in both generic and skill areas within the construction industry in Queensland, Australia.\nDesign/methodology/approach: An internet-based survey was administered to collect the opinions of construction employees about the workplace-training environment and their perceptions towards training. The survey intended to address the following research questions, specifically in relation to the construction industry.\nFindings: The survey results reveal that whilst overall participation in workplace training is high, the current workplace training environments do not foster balanced skill development. The study reveals that in the current absence of a formal and well-balanced training mechanism, construction workers generally resort to their own informal self-development initiatives to develop the needed role-specific theoretical knowledge.\nResearch limitations/implications: The findings of the research are based on the data primarily collected in the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. The data are limited to a single Tier 2 construction company.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study can be utilised to suggest improvements in the current (or develop new) workplace training initiatives.\nSocial implications: The research suggests that workplace training has positive relationship with career growth. The results suggest that in the construction industry, employees are generally well aware of the importance of workplace training in their career development and they largely appreciate training as being a critical factor for developing their capacity to perform their roles successfully, and to maintain their employability.\nOriginality/value: This paper is unique as it investigates the current skills gap in both generic and skill areas within the construction industry in Queensland, Australia. So far no work has been undertaken to identify and discusses the main method of workplace learning within the Tier 2 industry in the context of Queensland Australia.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The clinical governance of multidisciplinary care	[ "Clinical governance", "Continuous quality improvement", "Healthcare quality", "Organizational development for effective clinical governance", "Management of clinical performance", "Quality", "Quality frameworks" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Continuously improving the quality of health and social care services is a laudable aim but difficult to evidence and deliver. Achieving this in an environment of rising demand and limited resources is even more challenging. The UK National Health Service (2014) is working to deliver a Five Year Forward View within which three \"gaps\" are specifically required to be closed. These gaps are categorised as: health and well-being; care and quality; and funding and efficiency. An important point is the interdependency of these themes. We cannot just focus on efficiency to the detriment of care or well-being. But equally, we cannot improve health for all with no regard to cost.\nMethodology: The aim of all providers of health, social care and local authority services is to deliver personalised care that is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. There are many instances when multidisciplinary teams have to work together, often across multiple provider organisations in order to achieve this aim. It is valuable to have a framework of clinical governance for such circumstances that enables a shared assurance of quality and a shared model for learning and improvement.\nImplementation: This clinical governance matrix framework has been developed to be used as a methodology for quality assurance and improvement in the fields of health and social care. The idea is that multidisciplinary teams should be able to provide assuring evidence of practice for each cell of the matrix. Governance structures should enable such assuring evidence to be gathered and transparently shared. Professionals in named roles should be responsible and accountable for the component parts of the governance structure and the assuring evidence. Clear line management to appropriate accountable officers is required. Different services may need a different emphasis across the matrix, but arguably all pillars of governance and domains of quality are equally important.\nRelevance and potential impact: Our NHS Five Year Forward View presents a very large challenge to close the gaps between health and well-being, care and quality and finance and efficiency. Service transformation at the scale and pace required means that clinical and managerial teams must work together differently. Such change can be resisted, and clinical safety concerns can trump managerial aims. Creating and engaging with a robust clinical governance structure across teams and organisations provides the safety net clinical staff need to push the boundaries of service development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Providers of health and social care services aim to deliver personalised care that is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Multidisciplinary teams often have to work together, either within or across multiple provider organisations in order to achieve this aim. It is valuable to have a framework of clinical governance for such circumstances that enables a shared assurance of quality. To achieve these aims, the purpose of this paper is to present a clinical governance matrix framework developed by the author's experiences in clinical practice, in service change and in management and leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: There are seven pillars of clinical governance; patient and public involvement, staffing and staff management, clinical effectiveness and research, using information and IT, education and training, risk management and audit. These seven pillars of clinical governance can be mapped against the five quality domains of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led to create a matrix that in turn describes the framework we need for quality assurance.\nFindings: The matrix is populated with outcome measures and these are monitored to achieve balance across the framework. The tool can be used at the level of an individual practitioner all the way up to multiple organisations in collaboration. The detail in each cell of the matrix will change accordingly and critically should be developed and owned by the subject of the framework.\nOriginality/value: This clinical governance matrix is presented as a methodology to monitor quality assurance in the settings of health and social care.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An agential realist perspective on the construction and flow of knowledge: the case of dynamic entanglement and "cuts" within an aircraft engine manufacturing workplace	[ "Abduction", "Knowing", "Phenomenon", "Agential realism", "Boundary constructions", "Entanglement and cuts" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Recent organization studies literature has placed much emphasis on knowledge as activity and as an emergent flow (i.e. knowing) (Nicolini et al., 2003; Orlikowski, 2007; Orlikowski and Scott, 2015). Within this practice-based view has been the evolving argument of knowledge's increasing \"stickiness\" or entangled nature when going from know-that to know-how (Brown and Duguid, 1998; Kupers, 2008). As such, key authors such as Barad (2007) and Latour (1993, 2006) have provided pertinent arguments for a hybridized or entangled, as well as processual, view of the world. Yet, they are also the same authors we can draw upon to contrast this activity-based view with its antithesis, that is, of socially constructed categories as distinct entities or possessions. On this latter perspective, Lorino et al. (2011), for example, speak of non-representational interpretations (e.g. narratives) as being part of the overall complexity of organizations. We argue that a synthesis of both these action-oriented and discrete worldviews can be achieved by applying Barad's (2007) key characteristics of agential realism, that is, entanglement and intra-action in combination with \"cuts,\" thus providing a concrete approach rejoining Cook and Brown's (1999) call for a dialectical concept of knowledge as both entangled activity and discrete possessions.\n2. Literature review: The question of what constitutes organizational knowledge is a logical starting point toward developing a framework for organizational knowledge creation and sharing. Yet, this very same question has plagued epistemologists and philosophers for thousands of years. Knowledge is \"one of the most nebulous and difficult concepts encountered in our pragmatic efforts to conduct business\" (Wiig, 1993, p. 71). In the spirit of both Evans and Ali (2013) and van den Berg (2013), the following literature review does not seek to resolve these long held debates, but to suggest operational characteristics as starting points toward describing organizational knowledge which appears to fit with experienced reality. Here, we borrow from Glasersfeld's (2002, p. 156) pragmatic-constructivist view that humans learn by constructing a viable (as opposed to a true, in the positivistic sense) picture of reality and that we may on occasion \"bump\" into our external reality across \"failures.\" In other words, \"truth is what works\" (James, 1955), in that our external reality is much too complex to comprehend in terms of exact correspondence. As Glasersfeld (2002, p. 156) explained, \"the idea of correspondence with reality is replaced with the idea of fit. Knowledge is good knowledge if it fits within the constraints of experiential reality and does not collide with them. This fit must be attained not only insofar as a cognitive structure, a scheme, a theory, has to remain viable in the face of new experience or experiments, but also in that they prove compatible with other schemes and theories one is using.\"\n3. Pertinence of agential realism relative to knowledge and knowing: As mentioned above, within an agential realist perspective, the primary reality is of activity or phenomenon, which consists of the dynamic material engagement and entanglement between various agents and objects (Barad, 2007). Yet, this on-going entanglement is in constant tension with agential \"cuts,\" whereby the latter do not mark some absolute separation, but allow \"certain phenomena to be momentarily distinguished\" (Lynch and Farrington, 2017, p. 117; Barad, 2007). As agents make these temporary cuts, further actions and re-entanglements (as entangling) ensue to eventually generate new or modified cuts (Barad, 2007) in a never-ending process. This ongoing cycle of entanglement and cuts makes up the phenomenon in question.\n4. Methodology: This research sought to describe and understand how knowledge is constructed and shared between knowledge workers within and between workgroups across the lens of an initial agential realist framework, addressing both knowledge-as-activity (knowing) and knowledge-as-possession. This, across an ethnographic case study, was conducted within a large North American aircraft manufacturing company which employs over 8,000 people worldwide. Our initial starting point was at the level of the workgroup environment. Group members interact with one another, whereby \"communication is often viewed as the central process of the group\" (Levi, 2007, p. 4). Toward this end, we had the opportunity to study knowledge flow phenomena (knowing) in the form of entanglement and cuts within and across two of these work groups within the firm in question.\n5. Results: 5.1 The ECRT group\n6. Interpretation and analysis of results: The following subsections presents three thematic categories discerned within-group and inter-group exchanges. The first category involving boundary constructions as the phenomena essentially addresses our research question relating to how knowledge workers learn and share knowledge with one another within a perspective of knowledge-as-knowing phenomena. Two other categories, namely, tacit and explicit knowledge entanglement, and the occurrence of interpretative cuts, helped us describe how these manifest themselves and interact with one another within the context of a workgroup environment.\n7. A few words on the researcher's role: A central concept in agential realism is the inseparability of an object and the observations of it. Hence, it is reasonable to ask what role the researcher played within the studied workplace. Mentioned earlier in the methodological approach (Section 4.2) is the term non-participant observations. By this we mean that the researcher did not plan to intentionally interfere in the activities of the involved participants - yet, we must acknowledge Niels Bohr's philosophy-physics, in that the researcher is part and parcel of the overall research apparatus, and thereby (unwittingly) participates whether he cares to admit it or not. From a layman's viewpoint, the researcher did, for example, converse with the participants in an ongoing manner. Thus, the researcher's inseparability brings up two important issues in relation to concepts discussed earlier in Section 3:\n8. Why agential realism?: The representational perspective seeks to produce \"exact\" correspondences between reality and how we understand and describe it to be. Within this epistemology, accuracy and objectivity are sought to ensure human observer neutrality and separation from the reality in question - with the ultimate aim of attaining a universal \"once and for all\" knowledgeable \"state-of-affairs.\" Latour (1993) questioned this \"modern order\" by challenging the whole notion of unquestioned categories and their immutable arrangements and relationships.\n9. Conclusions: An agential realist approach (Barad, 2007) allows us to appreciate both knowledge-as-process and knowledge-as-entity, thus rejoining Cook and Brown's (1999) dialectic epistemology of activity and possession. Across an ethnographic case study of two workgroups, we attempted to describe how the entwined nature of tacit and explicit knowledge, the embodied and activity-based dimension of knowledge and the characteristic of knowledge as possession, correspond well within an agential realist concept of phenomena, entanglement and \"cuts\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to show agential realism as the basis for a pertinent framework with regard to the entwined, on-going and interpretative aspects of knowledge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The knowledge flow phenomenon in the form of entanglement and agential \"cuts\" within the workplace is studied and described across a phenomenological ethnographic case study of two workgroups within an aircraft engine manufacturing context.\nFindings: The boundary construction phenomenon is a key process helping us to depict knowledge entanglement (tacit and explicit) across dialogue and non-verbal actions. Dialogue brings forth the aspect of knowledge as interpretations or \"cuts.\" A phenomenological analysis allows us to identify and describe various levels of tacit-explicit knowledge entanglement depending on the mode of coping at hand. Also highlighted was the importance of heuristics carried out by knowledge experts, often in the form of abduction (i.e. leading to rules of thumb).\nResearch limitations/implications: It is acknowledged that the relatively narrow context of the empirical work limits the ability to generalize the findings and arguments. As such, additional work is required to investigate the validity of the findings across a wider spectrum of workgroup contexts.\nPractical implications: Agential realism allows for the analysis of organizations as a world of practice and actions, whereby long-established categories can be requestioned and challenged with the aim of sharing the full richness and benefit of embodied knowledge between human actors.\nOriginality/value: Ethnographic descriptions of the entwined nature of tacit and explicit knowledge, the embodied and activity-based dimension of knowledge and learning, as well as the characteristic of knowledge as possession, correspond well to an agential realist concept of phenomenon, entanglement and cuts. Furthermore, agential realism offers the opportunity to view the workplace as individuals (or groups) who act out embodied tacit-explicit knowledge in conjunction with non-human entities (such as objects, as well as communication and information technologies), with the latter acting as enhancers of knowledge creation and sharing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Method for evaluation via benchmarking of the lean product development process: Multiple case studies at Brazilian companies	[ "Performance measurement", "Continuous improvement", "Benchmarking", "Operations management", "Lean", "Industrial performance", "Company performance", "Product development process" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The product development process (PDP) is one of the main distinctions available to companies that are seeking to gain position in an environment in which the velocity with which products are developed and placed in the market comes to be an important element in competitiveness, mainly because of the high rate of technological change, a higher level of demand by clients for quality, the need for the so-called customization of many products, and the diversification of items released (Campos and Silva, 2007).\n2. Research methodology: This work is part of the thesis by Dal Forno (2012), as can be seen in Figure 1. Nevertheless, the focus of this paper is to present the benchmarking method to diagnose how Lean is the PDP at companies. Thus, steps 4 and 5 are highlighted because they are the focus of this paper.\n3. Review of the literature: The review of the literature seeks to unify the concepts of benchmarking with lean principles and practices, as well as the combination of the two, in the sense that benchmarking and lean are complementary.\n4. Multiple case studies of the \"BenchPDP_Lean\" method: This section will describe the steps of the \"BenchPDP_Lean,\" method developed in the thesis by Dal Forno (2012), present the application of multiple case studies at 12 companies in Brazil and discuss the results.\n5. Application through multiple case studies: The purpose of this section is to describe and analyze the practical applications of the method conducted at 12 large companies in Brazil, given that seven of them are in the automotive industry, two in the electronics industry, one in the textile industry, one in metallurgy and one in capital goods.\n6. Results and discussions: To illustrate, Table V shows an example of the applications with the strong and weak points of the company we will call \"Towel.\"\n7. Conclusions: The method worked and met its objective, but it is important to remember that the application depends on people and even if a multidisciplinary team is participating, the veracity of the responses depends on the perception of each person responding and on the culture at the company.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe benchmarking to evaluate the product development process (PDP) from a lean perspective.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The work was conducted by means of case studies at large companies in Brazil that develop products, based on a gap in the literature involving a lack of indicators to diagnose how lean are PDPs considering the principles and practices of the lean approach.\nFindings: The results indicate in a quantitative manner that the 12 companies of the multiple case study are implementing the lean approach in their PDPs in an isolated or systematic manner through the categories - process, management, structure, people, product, client, supplier and waste.\nResearch limitations/implications: The large companies in the case studies are located in different positions of the supply chain and the year that the company began introducing lean manufacturing was not considered, or the maturity of each firm.\nPractical implications: Based on the diagnosis, it was possible to propose a set of actions so that the PDP at each company can be structured in a lean manner, improving competitiveness.\nOriginality/value: The main contribution of the study is a simple, useful and reproducible method that has a set of measurable indicators and graphic representation identifying the lean product development practices, as well as a structured guide to the implementation of improvements that allow companies from different sectors to be compared at a national level and also in the international market.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Critical success factors for application of social robots in special developmental schools: Development, adoption and implementation	[ "Critical success factors", "Children with special needs", "Social robot", "Special developmental school" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The growing number of students with special needs has become a significant issue in many developed countries. According to Disability Expectations (2011), 7.3 per cent of children in Australia live with disability, and almost 50 per cent of these children live with severe or profound core activity limitation. This has required the education industry to seek new and innovative methods of learning for these students to enable better engagement in their community.\nSocial robots in special developmental schools: In SDSs, students with special needs require high levels of attention due to their sensory, physical, medical and communication disorders (Huijnen et al., 2016). With these conditions, the process of learning and engagement may be more difficult than with enabled students at mainstream schools. This requires policy-makers to ensure SDSs have access to constantly updated technological systems enabling students with special needs to access a fair and inclusive education. Social robots can interoperate within SDSs connected to internet infrastructures, providing substantial resources for the growing number of students with special needs, assisting teachers to better evaluate the performance of special students at school and enable a more efficient and effective use of limited human (teaching) resources. A social robot can be defined as an autonomous robot, with artificial intelligence ability, that can socially and emotionally interact with humans or other smart devices (Khaksar et al., 2017). Social robots can enhance the nature of educational services based on students' expectations and foster a culture where technological innovations can play an assistive role and improve the quality of special education. In this vein, some studies discuss challenges of social robot application in SDSs for both students and teachers (e.g. Bharatharaj et al., 2017; Conti et al., 2017; Bugmann and Karsenti, 2018). A comprehensive review of these studies can be found in Table I.\nCritical success factors for social robot application in SDSs: The CSF approach plays a crucial role in fulfilling an organizational mission (Bhuasiri et al., 2012). Extant research has seldom discussed CSFs for the application of social robots in SDSs, although the CSF approach has been widely applied to information systems in general and the educational context in particular (e.g. see Selim, 2007; Bhuasiri et al., 2012).\nMethods: Research design\nResults and discussions: Results of pre- and post-test interviews and focus groups were carefully reviewed and analysed by the research project team to help identify the CSFs and categorize them based on their types. As a result of using these three CSF types, 18 success factors influencing the application of social robots in SDSs were identified. The process of analysis was repeated twice to reveal the final success factors under the supervision of the research project manager. This resulted in a three-faceted model of CSFs for social robot application in special educational contexts distinguished for Matilda, through the lens of teachers, and validated through our observations (see Figure 2). A summary of the data analysis is presented in Table IV. A more detailed version of the results can be seen in Table AI.\nConclusion: This paper has argued that education special needs have become a significant issue in many developed countries. Technological innovation planning within the education sector is ideally situated to ensure the development, adoption and implementation of assistive technologies that enhance the efficacy of the operational teaching resource. The study has shown the willingness of students and teachers to embrace education robot technology, and the CSFs that arise from this adoption. For example, both early and middle-year students enjoyed playing with the robot and learning new lessons such as how to tell stories, sing a song, find personal items and develop social skills. The teachers were also passionate about the robot and found it interesting! The appearance of a social robot in a classroom is key to the engagement of students with mental and physical disabilities. Despite the growing body of knowledge in robot development in educational contexts, the literature calls for further research, with an emphasis on education robots able to assist students with special needs (Bharatharaj et al., 2017; Bugmann and Karsenti, 2018). In this vein, humanoid and pet-like robots with funny faces, bodies and movements are found to verbally and non-verbally engage students in the process of learning.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the role of social robots in the education industry, specifically within special developmental schools, as a part of an innovation technology portfolio. It identifies critical success factors (CSFs) arising from the development, adoption and implementation of social robots to educate students with special needs and assist their teachers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study engaged in longitudinal research over 12 months, tracking the role of the Matilda robot in providing educational services to students with special needs.\nFindings: The results propose a three-faceted framework for social robot application in special education: development, adoption and implementation.\nOriginality/value: The study has shown the willingness of students and teachers to embrace social robot technology, and the CSF that arise from this adoption. It has also found that social robots achieve the greatest success within the development, adoption and implementation framework when championed by executive management, and peer teacher support.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The gender wage gap and sample selection via risk attitudes	[ "Selection bias", "Occupational choice", "Gender wage gap", "Risk preference", "J24", "J31", "D81" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: In the labour market, some people choose to stay inactive rather than searching for jobs. Others prefer lower wages and safer public-sector pensions and social-security benefits to the higher wages and riskier pension and social-security benefits in the private sector. Other workers quit their salaried jobs and decide to enter self-employment.\n2. Analytical framework: Many work statuses are risky. Compared to being inactive, entering the labour market is a risky choice. In addition, starting a business (entering self-employment) is likely riskier than being an employee. The working environments in the public and private sectors are also quite different. Private-sector working conditions are more competitive and risky, while public-sector jobs offer more stable and secure working environments. Estimated wage equations will then be biased if they do not take into account the risk attitudes that determine work-status decisions. This section discusses the selection correction and the modified gender wage gap.\n3. Data and results: 3.1 Data\n4. Concluding remarks: This paper provides some evidence on the impact of risk aversion on labour-market behaviour. We measure risk attitudes via hypothetical lottery questions in Korean labour surveys and address labour-market status selection bias.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider a new way of estimating the gender wage gap by introducing individual risk attitudes that is applied to representative Korean data.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The selection bias via risk attitudes results in the overestimation of this wage gap. Women are more risk averse and hence prefer not to be active in the labour market or, if they are active, prefer to work in the public sector, where wages are generally lower than in the private sector. This paper explains the reduced gender wage gap by developing an appropriate sample-selection model, with wage decompositions corrected for selection.\nFindings: Self-selection based on risk attitudes is shown to partly explain the gap that is popularly perceived as reflecting gender discrimination.\nOriginality/value: It is the first attempt to explain the gender wage gap by looking at the individual risk preference through work status selection.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Selection, implementation and use of ERP systems for supply chain performance management	[ "Supply chain management", "Performance management", "Manufacturing resource planning", "Resource management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: In supply chain management the emphasis is on how well a chain or group of companies perform in order to create value for the final customer (Brewer and Speh, 2001). There are several ways of describing the performance in a supply chain. One way of structuring performance in the supply chain was provided by Krajewski et al. (2007), who distinguished between inventory measures (such as inventory value, weeks of supply and inventory turnover), process measures (such as customer satisfaction, on-time delivery or lead times) and financial measures (e.g. return on assets or cost of goods sold). Another way could be found in the SCOR model, which describes supply chains in five dimensions, namely reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, cost and efficiency in asset utilization (Stephens, 2001). These attributes are then transformed into defined performance metrics such as delivery performance, order fulfilment lead times and cash-to-cash cycle. Altogether, it can be seen that measuring supply chain performance is a complex issue, containing many possible metrics that in many cases also are interrelated (Basu, 2001).Several studies have revealed obstacles for supply chain performance management (PM). One major obstacle found is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems (Bourne et al., 2000; Brewer and Speh, 2001; Forslund and Jonsson, 2007, 2009; Phusavat et al., 2009). An ERP system can be described as a modularized suite of business software applications that are seamlessly integrated to provide automated interactions and a common source of data for a firm (APICS, 2007). Knolmayer et al. (2009) found that when the ERP systems are integrated in a supply chain, the companies should get logistics performance advantages. Older ERP solutions have been criticized of being inward looking and hinder supply chain integration (Akkermans et al., 2003). Kelle and Akbulut (2005) claimed that ERP systems failed to drive buyer-supplier coordination due to poor or conflicting measurement. Previous studies have pointed out difficulties for a customer to adapt to several suppliers' differing definitions of the same metric, and hence capturing, e.g. on-time delivery in the ERP system in different ways (Hofmann, 2008). They have also pointed out the fact that many companies have to rely on manual performance data capturing and report generation due to lacking capabilities in their ERP systems (Forslund and Jonsson, 2007).Problems in ERP systems can be caused by the systems themselves or by the way they are applied (Botta-Genoulaz et al., 2005). Advanced ERP systems and modules have shifted the focus from internal optimisation to external relationships. There is now functionality for global on-demand access to operational data, enabling external collaboration, data sharing and additional transaction ability through expansions into functionality such as customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, built-in-portals and collaborative tools for joint planning (APICS, 2007). What is included in an ERP system is continuously changing as ERP vendors buy best-of-breed vendors to add functionality. Forslund (2010) evaluated how ERP systems supported the demands from supply chain PM and found that most contemporary ERP systems support supply chain PM well. One of the conclusions of that study was that coming research could focus less on ERP systems as obstacles for supply chain PM and more on how the systems actually are applied.The ability for the ERP system to support supply chain PM issues seems to be affected in different phases of their lifecycle; when the ERP systems are selected, implemented and used. The overall question approached in this paper is how the ERP system in its lifecycle phases affects supply chain PM. Are supply chain PM issues included in demand specifications of new ERP systems? Are the ERP systems evaluated based on their ability to support supply chain PM? Are the users educated in how to apply supply chain PM in an appropriate way? In which of the ERP system lifecycle phases and with which decisions are supply chain PM issues affected the most? Implementing ERP support for supply chain PM should be an issue for most companies. Manufacturers typically use more ERP modules than service companies, which makes the implementation process more complex and challenging (Snider et al., 2009). The study hence focuses on manufacturing companies.In order to generate propositions about how to select, implement and use ERP systems for supply chain PM, this paper aims to explore how supply chain PM is affected by the decisions made in the different ERP lifecycle phases. Evaluating ERP systems is a complex assignment, which can be referred to as multi-criteria decision making (Karsak and Ozogul, 2009). This paper has a focus on that part of the ERP systems that handle the PM process; no complete evaluation of the ERP systems is hence done. The paper is organized as follows; a literature review is conducted, building up a description model. After the methodology section, four case companies are described and analyzed. The discussion is generating propositions on how decisions in the ERP system lifecycle affect supply chain PM. Conclusions and further research are finally presented.\nLiterature review: The literature review is structured in two sections. The first section studies the demands from supply chain PM on ERP systems. The second section makes an overview of ERP system implementation phases. The two sections form the description model of the paper.Demand from supply chain PM on ERP systems\nMethodology: Since only limited empirical research on supply chain PM and implementing ERP systems was found, an explorative approach to generate tentative patterns and illustrations was chosen. In early stages of emerging topics, a case study approach could be appropriate (Yin, 2003). Case studies can be of different types (Yin, 2003). One type would be by studying some cases, to want to make a statistical generalization in order to show some general conclusions. Another type would be to study cases in order to learn something from those particular cases. Such results could be analytically generalized to theory, and theory could later be tested by replication (Yin, 2003). This study is of the second type. The case studies were conducted to explore and discover empirically how the decisions made in the ERP system lifecycle phases were perceived to affect supply chain PM, and to generate related propositions.A multiple case study approach was selected. In order to handle qualitative research in a structured way, the steps in the case study was conducted following the principles of Yin (2003). The cases study needed to fulfil some criteria. They should have implemented a new ERP system recently enough to recall the selection phase and late enough to be able to describe the use phase of the ERP system. They should be manufacturing companies, as manufacturers typically use more ERP modules than service companies, which makes the implementation process more complex and challenging (Snider et al., 2009). They should represent different company sizes. Four companies, two small, one medium sized and one large company were found. They should furthermore be willing to participate in the study. Often more than one respondent per case were needed to get information both on supply chain PM issues and ERP system implementation. Such an approach, to use multiple sources of evidence, strengthens the construct validity of the study (Yin, 2003). Personal interviews, conducted by both researchers, were conducted during 2009 (Table III). Case companies A-C have implemented ERP systems with few customizations for supply chain PM, while case Company D has implemented an in-house developed best-of-breed solution for supply chain PM.The respondents were perceived to be experienced in supply chain PM issues and showed understanding for the questions. The clear link between the purpose, the theoretical framework, via the description model to the empirical data collection tool (a semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions), further strengthened the construct validity of the study (Yin, 2003). The interviews were followed up by additional telephone interviews and e-mail contacts. Cross-case comparisons and pattern matching (Yin, 2003) were used as analysis methods. The respondents, or key informants, validated their own case descriptions first and the final paper second. Both these validation possibilities lead to minor justifications. The reliability of the study was increased by clearly documenting the different decisions, approaches and questions during the writing process, and by the fact that both researchers participated in and took notes during the interviews, as recommended by Yin (2003). The limitations of methodology and results are further discussed in the conclusions section.\nCase descriptions: Company A\nPropositions on improving supply chain PM in the ERP system lifecycle phases: The purpose of this paper is to explore how supply chain PM is affected by the decisions made in the ERP system lifecycle phases. Based on the literature review and the empirical study of four case companies, we have discovered and can motivate the following propositions on decisions and issues to consider in the ERP system lifecycle phases, in order to improve supply chain PM. The explorative approach and the case-based methodology imply that the generation of propositions is a first step towards new knowledge on how supply chain PM can be improved by decisions in the ERP system lifecycle phases.Selection phase\nERP system lifecycles and supply chain PM - conclusions and further research: This paper aimed to explore how supply chain PM is affected by the decisions made in the different ERP lifecycle phases. By a literature review on four supply chain PM activities and three ERP system lifecycle phases, together with a multiple case study of four companies, eight propositions were generated. They propose how decisions made in the ERP system lifecycle phases can improve supply chain PM. The propositions remain propositions, until they are tested on a larger population of manufacturing companies that have implemented ERP systems for supply chain PM. However, the careful conclusions of this exploratory study are the following: standard ERP systems contain most PM functionality, why detailed PM demand specifications may not be necessary for system selection. However, target setting and report generation are PM activities not always supported by ERP systems; these issues should therefore get attention especially in the demand specifications. The selection phase is however very important when making decisions about choosing a best-of-breed solution for PM.There is a trade-off between customization in order to develop an application supporting existing processes and using a standard system with a minimum of customization in order to simplify upgrading and allowing for standardization. When using an ERP system for supply chain PM, the general guideline should be to minimize customization. Specialization when it comes to defining and differentiating performance metrics could often be handled by configurations of the ERP system. ERP system education and training are often emphasized as one of the most critical issues for successful ERP system implementation. It should be important for supply chain PM support as well, but our case analysis shows that education and understanding of why and how to conduct supply chain PM could be even more important. If not understanding what and how to do PM, then it is not possible to implement appropriate ERP support. This is critical in both the implementation and use phases, and most likely especially critical in the SME companies because resources for education and training are normally lacking in those companies. Establishing and securing standardized working methods and frequent updating of parameters were identified as important. Improved training is one of several means for this.A number of implications can be related to the study. This study makes a first step towards a theoretical framework. It contributes to the supply chain PM knowledge by generating exploratory propositions. A required next step would be to conduct a study where the propositions are tested on a larger population of manufacturing companies that have implemented system support for supply chain PM. If the propositions are found valid also on the larger population, the theoretical implications could be new knowledge on improved supply chain PM by decision in the ERP system lifecycle phases. According to Knolmayer et al. (2009) improved supply chain PM should furthermore lead to higher supply chain performance levels. A practical implication is that the propositions indicate that a lot of supply chain PM improvements can be realized within the use phase of an existing ERP system. The selection phase is especially important when choosing highly customized best-of-bread solutions. The limitations of the study can be that only four companies are studied; more findings might have been discovered with more cases.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to explore how supply chain performance management (PM) is affected by the decisions made in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system lifecycle phases.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected in a multiple case study of four manufacturing companies.\nFindings: - Four PM activities and three ERP system lifecycle phases were described and analyzed. Eight propositions were generated from theory and the case analyses. Detailed demand specifications could have improved target setting and reporting possibilities, PM education and training seem to be important in both the implementation and the use phase and supply chain PM is highly affected in the use phase.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper is explorative. A required next step would be to test the generated propositions on a larger population.\nPractical implications: - Propositions of what supply chain PM issues manufacturing companies should consider in the ERP system selection, implementation and use phases are presented. The results indicate that a lot of supply chain PM improvements can be realized within the use phase of an existing ERP system.\nOriginality/value: - No previous paper has focused upon how to consider supply chain PM when implementing ERP systems. This is needed because previous studies have identified ERP systems as obstacles for supply chain PM.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Pay more get more? What buyers say	[ "Pricing", "Price positioning", "Quality awareness", "Service levels" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Some marketers raise prices confidently, expecting buyers to reason that \"you get what you pay for.\" Unfortunately, it is not at all clear how many purchasers, whether business buyers or consumers, believe that statement - nor, for those who do believe it, what \"more\" they expect. Better quality? More features? More or better service?\nThe focus on quality: What we learned from the examples offered by these buyers can be summarized as follows: \"You get what you pay for\" translates almost entirely into a quality judgment. By contrast, \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" evokes far fewer examples relating to quality and more about extras that are not expected for the price. Depending on how buyers think, then, a marketer raising a price and expecting improved perceptions of quality has some basis for that expectation. However, the Houston small business owner afraid to lower his price is mistaken, if the belief that \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" prevails among his buyers and prospects. If he prices below his competitors, the buyers and prospects will be likelier to expect a bare bones product than one of low quality.Given those perspectives, it becomes useful to see which statement buyers believe, and the answer is - more or less - both. Of the 52 responses to \"you get what you pay for,\" 41 said they believe the statement is true (It was familiar to all but one). Of the 53 responses to \"you do not get what you do not pay for,\" 37 said they believe the statement is true, although it was familiar only to 29.The major differences showed up, as expected, in the examples. Of the 52 asked why from their own experience they do or do not believe that \"you get what you pay for,\" 40 mentioned quality issues. However, only 19 out of 53 offered a quality-related example to explain why they agreed or disagreed that \"you do not get what you do not pay for.\" Service was the focus for 12, and features for 7.\nExamples of what you \"get\" and \"do not get\": Suppose a buyer agrees that you get what you pay for - what quality-related examples might be offered? \"Brand-name drugs have worked for me more than generics have,\" said one buyer. \"A dress wo not fall apart right away if you pay more\", said another. Others noted that a $3.99 mop \"disintegrated,\" a cheap used car can break down, a more expensive flat-screen television has better picture quality and sound, and \"some food products that are on sale are actually expired.\"Even those who disagreed that you get what you pay for focused on quality - in some cases that they had paid for but not received: An expensive vehicle had turned out to be a lemon, said one. Most who disputed the \"you get what you pay for\" statement, though, then offered examples of quality that was inexpensive or even free, with open-source software the favorite example. Buying on sale and using coupons also were offered as ways to buy \"just as good\" products for less.By contrast, the statement that \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" prompted comments about features and service - or lack thereof - as often as comments on quality. Performance features of a personal computer vary with cost, said one buyer who agreed with the \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" statement. Said another: \"I didn't pay extra for service at the store, and I didn't get it.\" Interestingly, several individuals who said yes, they believe the negatively framed statement \"no free lunch\", commented that you might get something you supposedly didn't pay for, but it would be built into the price. Examples included free drinks from an airline and free premium channels from a cable TV provider.Those who disagreed with the statement appeared to have thought: \"When did I get something I did not pay for?\" and to have remembered such an occasion with pleasure. They provided examples related to a free upgrade on a plane, a free upgrade at a hotel, even \"a smile\" from a store employee.\nLessons for managers: MBA students are surely not the universe of all buyers, but these technically-focused professionals appear particularly appropriate for business-to-business marketing, and there seems no reason that managers who are marketing consumers products also should not benefit from their perceptions. They believe, in general, that paying more provides a higher level of quality. They are far less consistent in their beliefs about what you do not pay for. Some suspect lower quality, some fewer features, some a lower level of service. Others perceive that appearing to charge less for an \"extra\" may simply mean that the charge shows up somewhere else in the total price. Still others, by contrast, believe that something free does occasionally come their way, but according to their examples, it appears in the form of a \"treat\" or an extra, not a quality boost.Managers involved in pricing and also in broader positioning decisions might reasonably interpret all of these generalities as justifications for distinguishing goods or services by price in a competitive market - in either direction. Clearly, a high price offers a signal to a buyer of what to expect, and a low price likewise offers a signal that can influence expectations. However, the reasonable conclusion from this research is that the signals provided by price are not symmetrical.What advice for managers can be deduced from this lack of symmetry? We can begin with the association of \"you get what you pay for\" with quality. If market research shows that quality determines brand choice and a company's brand is perceived to deliver more quality, a higher price offers the chance to communicate the \"ours is better\" message to customers and prospects. To the extent that the views of those current or potential customers match the views of those who participated in our experiment, they believe that those who pay more get a better product. Some may have that belief because they reason it out - \"the company could not get away with charging so much if they did not have something better to offer.\" Others may simply associate price with quality without considering the logic, possibly based on family upbringing.Whatever the source of the quality inference, category-specific market research may make clear exactly what form it takes when buyers face an array of brands with similar prices - and one of those brands charges more. Do they believe that the premium-priced candy bar contains more chocolate? The premium-priced light bulb will last longer? The premium-priced cruise will offer better food and larger staterooms? The higher-priced equipment will require fewer repairs? These are the kinds of questions well worth asking of the marketplace before a new product is designed or a current product modified, as well as before simply rethinking the pricing of a product when the product itself will not otherwise be changed. For a new or modified product, if the design contemplated for that product will raise costs to a point that will require premium pricing, or even if costs are not the issue, managers need to know in as specific language as possible what the price will tell someone choosing among brands or suppliers. For a current product, one fascinating research question is what quality inferences buyers will draw from a price increase or price decrease for a product that changes in no other way. It appears from this study that price changes that are not industry-wide are one way to reposition a competitive offering.Equally useful for managers, of course, is the association of \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" with a lack of \"extras\" rather than with quality deficiencies. If at least a significant number of buyers believe that they will simply forfeit services - will need to bring their own lunch onto the plane or trouble-shoot their own software from a manual - then a decision to lower price and scrimp on such extras simply becomes a segmentation issue. How large is the segment of buyers who are not only calm about having to \"go it alone,\" but delighted to believe that in doing so they are saving themselves or their company money? Questions of that kind are clearly amenable to market research.At the same time, however, such research can measure what proportion of buyers and prospects believe, as did many respondents in this study, that extras might come their way despite the fact that they will save money - in other words, that it is not true that you do not get what you do not pay for. Also, of course, research can measure what proportion hold the more skeptical view that extras will simply be built into the price. Once managers have some idea of what customers expect to give up for a bargain price, in other words, they can assess the trade-offs associated with delivering goods or services that offer more than expected - even if only occasionally - while charging less.Yes, exceeding the expectations that accompany a below-competition price will increase costs. But customers paying less will have lower expectations, so may be more easily charmed. No, the airline did not provide a meal, but the coffee was top-notch. No, the software provider did not offer free telephone support, but the manual was not only user-friendly but genuinely well written. Presumably, those customers who opted for the bargain price will be far more likely to spread the word about a surprising \"bonus\" than will customers who, because they paid more, expected more. Apparently, a free upgrade from an airline, a free upgrade from a hotel - or even a smile from an employee may linger in a buyer's memory far longer than most managers would imagine.At the same time, however, the unexpected \"random act of generosity\" can engender loyalty regardless of the price charged, it can be argued. Such reasoning is the basis for the Hyatt Hotel chain's \"random acts of generosity,\" reported in the New York Times Magazine. The \"extras,\" such as a free bar tab, free room service, or a free night's stay, are a total surprise and there is no discernible pattern to which customers will get them, according to a spokesman for the hotel chain[5]. So when the question arises of whether you - or at least somebody - can get what you do not pay for, here is a clear example of one company that wants customers to say \"You bet!\"\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study investigated perceptions useful for pricing decisions. Buyers observing premium prices may believe that \"you get what you pay for,\" but do buyers seeing low prices believe that \"you do not get what you do not pay for\"? This research tested the idea that these two statements often prompt different perceptions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data came from a questionnaire completed by 105 working professionals in an evening MBA program at a metropolitan university. A randomly selected half received one version, asking about the statement \"you get what you pay for.\" The other half received an otherwise identical version asking about \"you do not get what you do not pay for.\" All were asked whether they believed the statement, Yes or No, and then asked to offer an example from their own experience to support that answer.\nFindings: - As expected, different examples were offered, depending on the statement. Examples agreeing that \"you get what you pay for\" disproportionately involved quality. Examples of \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" disproportionately involved service or \"extras\" - whether they were examples in support of agreeing or disagreeing. Most respondents agreed with whichever statement they saw, but more agreed with \"you get what you pay for.\"\nOriginality/value: - Managers fearful that lowering a price will signal a drop in quality - exemplifying \"you do not get what you do not pay for\" - may be misreading the way buyers think. Those considering setting a higher price than they otherwise might, to signal better quality, have evidence here to support that view. So do those who, regardless of price level, offer occasional unexpected \"extras.\"\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How smaller firms can outperform their peers	[ "Performance", "SME", "Strategic", "Orientation", "Initiatives", "Entrepreneurial" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Small and medium-sized firms, compared to their larger counterparts, may lack the necessary resources to take advantage of unexpected opportunities in the marketplace. Being small or medium-sized presents a unique challenge that these firms must cope with to survive, grow and prosper, while larger firms have abundant resources and may find the going easier. Yet, evidence shows that smaller firms are at times able to overcome the liability of smallness and grow at amazing rates, as a result of factors that distinguish them from average firms.\nTheory and literature: Number of constructs exploring strategic perspectives on organizations (entrepreneurial orientation, internationalization, size) have been linked to overall growth and performance. There is often an expectation that a positive link to performance derives primarily from such factors as globalization, technological change, shortened product life cycles and competitive dynamics, which have driven firms to be more creative and entrepreneurial in their approach to markets (Rauch et al., 2009). For example, to the extent that entrepreneurial orientation enables business to be more efficient with activities, better able to tailor products and services to customer requirements and preferences and move more rapidly to market than competitors, firms may be able to realize superior performance and hence create a competitive advantage (Covin and Slevin, 1991).\nEntrepreneurial orientation: The central proposition that underpins the concept of corporate entrepreneurship is an entrepreneurial orientation, which is grounded on three primary dimensions of a business, namely, proactiveness, risk-taking and innovativeness which are exhibited by all businesses to some degree (Covin and Slevin, 1989). Research in the area of entrepreneurial orientation has generated a significant interests in the areas of entrepreneurial behavior and corporate entrepreneurship (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996).\nStrategic initiatives: The concept of a high-performance organization can be traced to the early work of Peters and Waterman (1982), suggesting that leaders of the very best performing companies often showed a bias toward action and engage their employees while, at the same time, remain close to the customer. Leaders of high-performance organizations often attain success, when the leaders provide strong leadership internally, as well as externally addressing the concerns of business stakeholders (Combs et al., 2006). Leaders of high-performing organizations waste little time or energy on things that are of low importance. More recently, Waal (2012) provided a simple framework for understanding how businesses can become high performers by focusing on strategic initiatives. These high-performance organizational strategic initiatives include management leadership, an open and action focus, a long-term view, continuous improvement and renewal and employee quality improvements.\nDeveloping a research design: In exploring the intersection of an SME entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives aimed at performance, we first sought to develop a generalizable sample that could be used in other industries and countries. We explored the process and procedure of entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives within the French hospitality industry (the hotel sector) in the southwestern part of the country. We believed that a structured telephone interview procedure would provide the best opportunity to solicit respondents from owner/operators of the hotels throughout the region. The process for gathering data was to conduct structured interviews with proprietors of 66 hotels that were identified in the region and were able to provide complete information during interview sessions. Although this study is exploratory in nature, we believe the benefits of studying entrepreneurial orientation, strategic initiatives (as demonstrated by a high-performance framework) and performance in the context of an established industry provides a good first step toward understanding the complexity of these issues facing SMEs.\nAssessing the small- and medium-sized enterprise dimensions: Performance\nThe approach: The study assessed the information provided so as to ensure accuracy across entrepreneurial orientation, strategic initiatives and performance measures. The assessment of variables, including the means, standard deviations and correlations confirmed the validity and reliability of owner responses to the interviews. There was a significant relationship within and between, which offers discriminant support between entrepreneurial orientation, high-performing organization and measures of performance. We used mean testing to examine the research questions.\nDifferentiations for entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives: First, we wanted to explore the differences in performance, as this relates to the three dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation, that is, proactiveness, risk-taking and innovativeness. Before, we could explore the differences, we created two performance groups which we used to examine the research questions. The two groups were created and identified as low and high performance, based on responses on the financial health of businesses as reported in the interviews. We used these two performance groups to examine differences in business size, entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives. Finally, we wanted to probe whether or not the perceived business climate would be different for the two performance groups.\nConclusions: The primary intent of this study was to examine the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiative attributes and compare them with SME performance. The findings reveal interesting and important differences in explaining performance, particularly in the context of the study participants. We found that the better performing group employed more people and tended to see the business environment much more favorably compared to lower-performing ones.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to study the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the French hospitality sector and to determine what firm characteristics (particularly entrepreneurship orientation and strategic initiatives) explain differences in performance. The study is based on data from hotels and differentiates between high- and low-performing businesses. The study examines performance differences relating to entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives. The conclusions indicate that there are differences between high- and low-performing groups, and overall, it seems that there is a relationship between high performance and entrepreneurial, well-planned strategic initiatives.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a structured telephone interview procedure to solicit respondents from owner/operators of the hotels throughout the region. The process for gathering data resulted in 66 hotels providing complete responses during interview sessions.\nFindings: The primary intent of this study was to examine the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and strategic initiatives with SME performance. The findings suggest that differences exists. Interestingly, we found that better performing group used more people and tended to see business environment much more favorable compared to low-performing group.\nOriginality/value: Entrepreneurial orientation research suggest that SMEs firms operate distinct from other ones given different patterns used. These differences come from how SMEs leverage the proactiveness, risk-taking and innovativeness dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation in a firm. Waal and his colleagues suggested that activities associated with creating a high-performing organization using strategic initiatives will lead to subsequent high financial performance. The research found here would also support such an assertion. However, care should be taken in interpreting the generalizability of these results given the limited number of hotels participating in this study; more work is still needed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Measuring infrastructure investment option value	[ "Project finance", "Infrastructure", "Monte carlo", "Real options", "Contingent claims analysis", "Optimal timing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: A substantial amount of infrastructure investment will be required worldwide in the coming decades either to bring major repairs to existing assets or to undertake new projects due to population growth and an insufficient maintenance effort in the past (ASCE, 2013; OECD, 2013; Ottesen, 2011). This comes at a time when government budgets are limited, leaving the public sector with few funding options for such expenses (Congressional Budget Office, 2014; OECD, 2013). Tight budgets not only oblige decision-makers to design innovative financing strategies such as public - private partnerships (PPP)[1], (Caselli et al., 2009; Congressional Budget Office, 2014; OECD, 2013; Yescombe, 2007) but they also command to plan ahead future infrastructure expenses and find optimal investment dates. Anticipating the timing and amount of investments is important for both decision-makers and investment managers looking to benefit from diversifying into this asset class.\n2. Optimal infrastructure investment and real options: 2.1 Review of the literature\n3. Computational methods to determine optimal exercise dates: 3.1 Statement of the decision problem\n4. Estimation of the underlying model equations: 4.1 Determining the optimal investment date\n5. Results, interpretation and sensitivity analysis: 5.1 Discussion of the results\n6. Summary and conclusion: The literature on real options is considerable (Myers, 1977; Merton, 1998). However, little research has considered the problem of infrastructure investment under uncertainty allowing for time-varying risk in both financial and physical variables. This problem is important because both investors and public decision-makers need to anticipate the timing and the magnitude of repairs to infrastructure projects and related investments. We fill this gap by providing a framework to analyze the decision of when to make a single major investment during the lifetime of an infrastructure asset providing benefits in the form of either direct (toll) or indirect revenues (increased economic activity). The solution proposed involves Monte Carlo simulations and the Longstaff - Schwartz algorithm. Sensitivity analyses are also presented to assess the robustness of the findings.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a risk-based framework to estimate the option value of infrastructure investment, accounting for the stochastic behavior of both financial and physical (engineering) variables.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a real-options approach and computes the optimal investment dates and option values using Least Squares Monte Carlo, both the original Longstaff - Schwartz algorithm and the constrained Least Squares approach of Le tourneau - Stentoft.\nFindings: Real-option value for infrastructure investment is substantial. It is beneficial to model jointly financial and engineering risks to better understand the timing and real-option value of infrastructure investment. The analysis further shows which variables are option value drivers.\nResearch limitations/implications: Future work could integrate financing constraints into the model, consider path dependency in the physical state variables or integrate sovereign risk, expropriation risk, operational risk or other project risks.\nPractical implications: Financial practitioners and investment managers interested in infrastructure risk finance or project finance will benefit from a novel framework to analyze infrastructure investments in which engineering and financial risks interact in a tractable way.\nSocial implications: Public decision-makers will benefit from a better understanding of what determines the value of infrastructure investments, how real-option value affects optimal investment timing and how both are determined by financial and engineering risks.\nOriginality/value: The analysis considers financial and engineering risks in a single framework to better understand option value in infrastructure investment. The framework and findings are useful both to risk finance and project finance practitioners and investors as well as engineers and public sector decision-makers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The importance of good aquaculture practices in improving fish farmer's income: A case of Malaysia	[ "Sustainability", "Income", "Fish farmer", "Good aquaculture practices", "Level of practice", "Livelihood assets" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Aquaculture is the business of producing aquatic animals and plants in managed, unnatural aquatic ecosystems for profit (Boyd and Schmittou, 1999). In Malaysian, aquaculture production increased markedly in the country over the last five years with an annual growth rate of 10 per cent (FAO, 2012). In 2010, the total aquaculture production of 581,048 tonnes had a value of US$875 million (DOF, 2011). The industry was able to create job opportunities for 2,445 local entrepreneurs in 2010. Though this number is comparatively small as compared to other Asian producing countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam, the increasing trend recorded has promise for continued growth.\n2. Literature review: In the last three decades (1980-2010), world food fish production of aquaculture has expanded by almost 12 times, at an average annual rate of 8.8 per cent. World aquaculture production in 2010 was 79 million tonnes, worth US$125 billion included farmed aquatic plants and non-food products. About 600 aquatic species are raised in captivity in about 190 countries for production in farming systems of varying input intensities and technological sophistication (FAO, 2012). Aquaculture contributes significantly to the world food supply, providing around 40.1 per cent of fisheries production (FAO, 2013). Moreover, capture fisheries are being exploited to their sustainable limit and beyond, aquaculture is expected to continue to have an important role (Boyd, 2003).\n3. Methodology: The research designed to be both descriptive and analytical. The descriptive study was undertaken to describe the level of practice of GAqP among aquaculture farmers. The analytical study was conducted to identify the factors that influence the level of GAqP practice, and to analyse the importance of level of GAqP practice on the income of farmers involved in aquaculture.\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1. Profile of respondents\n5. Conclusion: There is no doubt that the introduction of GAqP and provision SPLAM can give many benefits to farmers, but the survey data showed that the practice of GAqP among operators is low, especially for freshwater systems due to lack of human assets specifically related to the knowledge and access to information on the practice of GAqP. The positive influence of this asset on the level of practice of GAqP, and total household income, imply that the measures related to increasing knowledge of the farmers should be emphasised. As such, measures that encourage these farmers to attend courses related to aquaculture and increase the number of aquaculture training centres should be taken into consideration.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of good aquaculture practice (GAqP) among aquaculture farmers; and to analyse the factors influence the level of practice and the importance of GAqP in increasing farmer's income.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Primary data were obtained through a survey conducted on 216 aquaculture pond fish farmers. The descriptive study was employed to identify the profile of respondents and their level of GAqP practices. The structural equation modelling (SEM) method was applied to analyse the factors influence the level of GAqP practice, and the influence of GAqP on the total income of aquaculture farmers.\nFindings: The results showed that the pond management by brackish water fish farmers is better than freshwater fish farmer, indicated by 77 per cent of them adopt GAqP at a level of 60 per cent and above, as compared to only 20 per cent by freshwater farmers. Physical and human assets were revealed to be most significant factors influence the practice of GAqP. The results also proved that GAqP was among the significant factor contributes to increasing in farmers' household income; in addition to their other livelihood assets.\nOriginality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the very first study that employs SEM method to analyse the relationship between GAqP with livelihood asset and farmer's income simultaneously in Malaysia. Furthermore, since the empirical studies related to GAqP is very few, the study will contribute to development of knowledge in the field of aquaculture.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Sustainability: necessity for a prosperous society	[ "Industrial engineering", "Sustainable development", "Education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The Netherlands is often seen as one of the leading nations in sustainability issues. In 1972 most copies of \"Limits to growth\", the report of The Club of Rome (Meadows et al., 1972) were sold in Japan and in The Netherlands. Does this mean that the Japanese and the Dutch were gentler towards the environment than other people? The attitude towards sustainability in these countries is probably not caused by a moral superiority or an over average cosmopolitism of its inhabitants. Sustainability is a necessity for these densely populated countries, with a very high standard of living, that depend so much on external resources, but that are thereby also very vulnerable. The Netherlands is more or less an experimental area in sustainability and I will first explain why.\n1.1 The Netherlands in sustainable development: The specific situation of The Netherlands with respect to the environment creates a great sense of urgency. In The Netherlands the combination of a high population density, a relative high level of welfare, and its delta character results in the highest burden on the environment per surface area. As a nation, The Netherlands have:The highest GNP, the highest energy use, the greatest number of cars, the greatest length of highways and (until recently) the greatest number of pigs per square km.An economy which depends for 50 per cent on import/export. Raw materials are imported and products are exported while the wastes in between remain in The Netherlands. A striking example is pig breeding: soya fodder is imported from South America and Asia and pig meat is exported, keeping an enormous quantity of manure threatening soil and groundwater inland.The geography of The Netherlands as a delta means a very vulnerable soil, which is easily poisoned once waste is deposited. Moreover, much waste is \"imported\" by the rivers from upstream countries. This poisons the sludge that settles in riverbeds and harbours.In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century the Dutch situation seemed to be rather unique. Nowadays we know that with growing world and national economies this pattern can be found in many densely populated areas, giving rise to global messages of concern, global threats and global challenges as described in Our Common Future the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987).Meanwhile, many of the direct effects of pollution have been mastered in the past 30 years: inland waters are cleaner, toxic emissions lower and the most polluted soil has been cleaned. However, we failed to develop solutions for persistent threats such as exhaustion of non-renewable resources, extirpation of species and climate change. Sectors causing these problems are especially:mobility and transportation;power supply; andagricultural production (Fourth National Environmental Policy Plan, 2001).Mastering these threats will require radical transformations, or \"transitions\" being long lasting (several decades!) societal transformation paths in economy, social and institutional structures and technological systems. The need for a sustainable development is therefore perhaps less visible, but still most urgent in a country that is so dependent on transport, energy and agriculture, and meanwhile so vulnerable by its open economy, dense population, and high levels of consumption. The Netherlands, therefore, has to be in front of sustainable development, whether we want it or not.2.1 Why sustainable development?\n3 Technology in sustainable development: Technology will be a crucial element for sustainable development. Many critics have argued that technology is the root cause of the lack of sustainability in modern society[1]. Their argument assigns the key role in the development of the problems to technology.However, the history of technology also presents another picture: social forces shaped technology. Technologies reflected the moral, social, economic and political orders of the time of their creation[2], and so will it be in the future. With the compelling need for a leap in the environmental efficiency of our production of goods and services, technological change must be at the very heart of sustainable development.A factor 5-50 of improvement in the environmental productivity of technologies is needed. However, it is clear that not every single technology will be able to be improved so much. Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity now takes place with efficiencies of over 50 per cent so a factor 20 improvement in fuel efficiency of electricity production is not within reach. In order to improve the environmental efficiency of domestic power consumption, various technological options have to be combined;lower power consumption by more efficient appliances;higher efficiency in fossil fuel technologies;micro-heat/power cogeneration;various renewable energy technologies like PV, wind, biomass, geothermal, waves;nuclear fusion; andthe (still) unknown.The resources for R&D will probably be insufficient for all options. Which route to be picked is hard to decide, and cannot be decided by engineers and industry alone. A high level of public consensus is needed to be able to generate the political support to provide sufficient means for these solutions. We do not need to go through similar controversies as the ones we experienced on nuclear energy in the 1970s and early 1980s. Therefore, technological sustainability research will need foresight studies, careful strategic planning and process management, in which engineers will have to cooperate extensively with social scientists.\n4 Ahead in sustainable development: Although the urgency of a sustainable development is recognised by many people in business, science, government and NGOs both national and international, it is not yet a common shared orientation for society. Strong forces resist the necessary changes (Jansen, 1993; Factor 10 club, 1997).On the one hand, market prices react only to short-term shortages or overproduction and therefore they do not signal the gradual depletion of non-renewable resources. Regulative or financial policy instruments will only be regarded by business as credible and consistent for limited periods of time (up to about ten years) and for as long as they are equally enforced in all nations, which is highly unlikely.Policy instruments to launch development of sustainable technology should therefore be based on a shared responsibility and consensus among the relevant actors.4.1 The how\n5 Engineering education in sustainable development: Technological universities and institutes should take the responsibility to integrate technologies into a sustainable development:They could develop and collect further knowledge on the capacities of a sustaining ecosystem and contribute to operationalise sustainability criteria as indicators and guidelines for technology development. Current trajectories of technology development could be checked on their ability to fit into a sustainable development.Methods for long-term programming of research and development directed to sustainable technology, and of programming of infrastructure in a context of sustainable development could be developed.Challenges of sustainability for technology could be detected, indicated and articulated to clients to contribute to consciousness and changing attitudes of clients with respect to sustainable technology. To this aim, ways to check and to work out orders for development and application of technology in the context of sustainable development could be explored, and market conditions for introduction and application of new technology could be elaborated.They could create (financial and personnel) facilities for development of sustainable technology as a basic condition for continuity of the institute and develop a sense of cooperation for approaches which exceed the reach of each institute, discipline, etc. and develop structures for cooperative funding.6 Conclusion: attitude, competences and skills of the future engineer\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper describes briefly the history of the environmental and sustainability discourse in The Netherlands, as a densely populated country. It argues that technology should play a major role in SD, but that technological innovation is not enough. Technological systems renewal is a transdisciplinary activity involving relevant stakeholders and disciplines. \"Needs\" is the basic starting-point to innovate new systems of provision. The paper reviews relevant literature regarding future orientation of technology development. Based on it, goals for training of engineers are developed.\nFindings: - The engineer has to meet a threefold challenge: providing new creative approaches on the one hand, and setting up and executing R&D programs that produce results, on the other; cooperating with other disciplines and lay stakeholders, on the one hand, and guarding disciplinary quality, on the other; bridging moralism and strategic pragmatism.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The paper is an introduction, i.e. it sketches the issues without dealing with them in detail.\nPractical implications: - The paper draws in broad lines a road-map for the future of engineering education and sustainable development. The paper is a useful source for those engineering institutions that are formulating a strategy to introduce sustainable development.\nOriginality/value: - The paper goes beyond environmental engineering, not by just adding social and economic issues, but by developing an integrated framework for academic training of engineers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Using implementation tools to design and conduct quality improvement projects for faster and more effective improvement	[ "Evidence-based practice", "Clinical effectiveness", "Improvement models", "Quality improvement", "Continuous quality improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Could recent research into implementation help quality teams to make more effective change? Could researchers do more to help improvers by translating their findings into practical tools and guidance? Our answer is \"yes\" to both questions. Our evidence and rationale comes from a review and synthesis of how implementation and improvement science can be combined for faster and more effective improvement (Ovretveit, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to enable improvers to make more use of implementation science by illustrating individual ideas and tools from this science, and summarizing this in a four-step approach to an implementation-enhanced quality project.\nMaking more use of implementation methods and knowledge in improvement: The review found that many QI teams use a standard set of improvement methods and tools, but there was a great scope for them to use more methods from improvement science to be more effective in their work. One example is using tools and knowledge about how to assess and adjust the improvement change to the surrounding organizational context and to the wider financing context (Damschroder et al., 2009; Helfrich et al., 2009). Another is to use the more sophisticated knowledge and methods about effective behavior change and implementation strategies from implementation science and practice (Michie et al., 2013; Powell et al., 2015).\nPhase 1: problem definition and preparation: Reducing avoidable readmissions was chosen as one of the hospital's QI projects in 2016, and a multidisciplinary project group was formed. The project group met in early 2016 to formulate the group's objectives, to collect data about avoidable readmissions to different hospital units and to define measurable goals. They followed the working methods for such project teams established by the top-level hospital quality committee (Tuso et al., 2013; AHRQ, 2013; Schwarz et al., 1999; McCreary, 2010).\nPhase 2: improvement design and planning: In the example illustration, the project team discussed their findings from their readiness surveys of six hospital units. Some findings were similar across the units: staff had felt unsupported in carrying through earlier changes and reported being overworked. But the survey showed that two units seemed to have had more success in previous improvements, and showed more confidence in their ability to carry through change.\nPhase 3: implementation: \"Why so much time preparing before starting the training?\" asked a project team members eager to \"get started on the real work of change.\" The team leader had to continually remind the team that, \"if we prepare well, we are more likely to be successful, and less likely to make fools of ourselves by not being able to carry through the change, or to make it stick.\"\nPhase 4: sustainment and spreading: In the example, the project to reduce readmissions was considered successful in the pilot units. Management and the QI team then debated whether to spread the model to the other units in the hospital, or move to \"scaling up\" in other hospitals within the same health system which were facing the same problems. The project team member's concern was that the pilot units would \"slip back to the old ways if the project team stops helping and watching.\" Also, by now, some other hospitals had begun to consider different actions to reduce readmissions. However, the top health system management team felt that the pilot project had developed an effective approach, and that it was better to use the project team to work with other hospitals, to copy both the model and the approach to implementation.\nConclusions: The most challenging parts of a QI project are achieving and sustaining change in working practices and organizational systems and processes. Implementation researchers have used behavioral- and social science theories and methods to understand and develop tools which are effective for these purposes, but these have not been described in a practical way to be used by a QI project. The paper described and illustrated how recent implementation research findings and evidence-based tools could help a quality project team in the four project phases of problem definition and preparation, improvement planning, implementation and sustainment and spreading. Empirical research is needed to compare a project enhanced with these tools with project that does not use them.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to enable improvers to use recent knowledge from implementation science to carry out improvement changes more effectively. It also highlights the importance of converting research findings into practical tools and guidance for improvers so as to make research easier to apply in practice.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study provides an illustration of how a quality improvement (QI) team project can make use of recent findings from implementation research so as to make their improvement changes more effective and sustainable. The guidance is based on a review and synthesis of improvement and implementation methods.\nFindings: The paper illustrates how research can help a quality project team in the phases of problem definition and preparation, in design and planning, in implementation, and in sustaining and spreading a QI. Examples of the use of different ideas and methods are cited where they exist.\nResearch limitations/implications: The example is illustrative and there is little limited experimental evidence of whether using all the steps and tools in the one approach proposed do enable a quality team to be more effective. Evidence supporting individual guidance proposals is cited where it exists.\nPractical implications: If the steps proposed and illustrated in the paper were followed, it is possible that quality projects could avoid waste by ensuring the conditions they need for success are in place, and sustain and spread improvement changes more effectively.\nSocial implications: More patients could benefit more quickly from more effective implementation of proven interventions.\nOriginality/value: The paper is the first to describe how improvement and implementation science can be combined in a tangible way that practical improvers can use in their projects. It shows how QI project teams can take advantage of recent advances in improvement and implementation science to make their work more effective and sustainable.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Classroom observations and supervision - essential dimensions of pedagogical leadership	[ "Principals", "Sweden", "Classroom observation", "Pedagogical leadership", "Classroom supervision" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The twenty-first century has seen a growing interest in measuring and comparing school results. Researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and national agencies try to identify the factors that most benefit individual students and their learning. Research shows that although cultural, capital, and socioeconomic conditions affect student outcomes (Mortimore et al., 1988), schoolteachers and principals are the single most important in-school variables in relation to student outcomes (Day and Leithwood, 2007; Robinson, 2007). An analysis of factors explaining school results should include a closer look at principals' actions and beliefs in relation to the school's learning program, teacher performance, and student results. Teachers in Sweden traditionally have closed their classroom doors, and there has been little insight into and feedback on their teaching unless they have voluntarily asked for it. Principals have mainly worked with more general issues connected to schooling and have not been required to do classroom observations. Pedagogical leadership has been a rhetorical concept without explicit expectations of specific activities. The current focus on results and accountability, however, requires a more active leadership role in teaching, learning, and the interplay between teachers and students.\nA definition and model of pedagogical leadership: A principal works in a complex environment with expectations from several actors at different levels, and their workdays are occupied with various tasks and events. To handle the great variety of issues and prioritize what to do and when to act, a principal's leadership needs to be viewed from a holistic perspective that integrates the various expectations and demands inherent to the role. Being responsible for students' learning and school results requires strategic thinking, knowledge, and an active focus on the core processes: teaching and learning.\nPedagogical leadership - history, policy, and practice: The concept of pedagogical leadership was a political initiative when introduced in Sweden in the 1940 s and is still regarded a principal's most important task (SOU1948:27, 1948). Since then, it has been used in national steering documents and (since the 1990 s) is to be carried out in a goal- and result-oriented system. Leading a school requires the principal to act as head and pedagogical leader to ensure that the national goals in the curriculum are met so that each student achieves the best results possible. All activities should be directed toward academic success but also toward social and civic objectives that reflect Sweden's long history of democracy (Lgr11, 2011). The national curriculum contains objectives based on democratic values, such as the mandates to respect others, treat all human beings equally, foster mutual responsibility, and learning, have students' best interests in mind, work with pupils influence on and responsibility for their own learning and the learning environment, and to work against bullying and racism.\nMethod: The data builds on material from three groups taking a course to strengthen their pedagogical leadership. All three groups consisted of experienced principals from five Swedish municipalities. The principals were all responsible for municipal schools; however, some were responsible for preschools only, others for preschools and the early years of compulsory schooling, and others for compulsory or secondary schools only. Altogether, 51 principals participated in the course, and 44 finished the course.\nConclusions: We cannot take for granted the idea that each individual principal will have knowledge of how to act as a pedagogical leader. When the three groups of principals started the course, their individual and collective understanding of pedagogical leadership and how to act in relation to teacher performance in classrooms and student learning were mostly vaguely described. Many principals found it difficult to create time in between their administrative tasks to make classroom observations. Some of them did not understand the need for classroom observations as pedagogical leaders. Instead, they saw pedagogical leadership as having more general conversations about schooling and the school's mission. A lot of their work consisted of daily administrative tasks and working with individual students instead of working with didactics, learning environments, teacher performance, and sustainable school development. Their earlier attempts at classroom observations showed that the principals more often had acted as resource teachers instead of pedagogical leaders. When observations are ad hoc, irregular, and not documented, they do not serve as robust prerequisites for pedagogical dialogue and feedback.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The main task of every school is to contribute to student learning and achievement. In the twenty-first century, national and international evaluations and comparisons have focussed on measurable student and school results. Not only teachers but also principals are held accountable for school results, which increase expectations of principals to work to enhance student learning and improve outcomes. In Sweden, a principal's work with a given school's core mission is labeled as pedagogical leadership, a concept that includes diverse activities related to national goals and school results. Aspects of pedagogical leadership include principals' classroom observations and communication about teaching and learning issues. The purpose of this paper is to describe a model of pedagogical leadership as a base for principals' experience with the aim to develop their understanding of pedagogical leadership.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper builds on data from three groups of principals who participated in a course to learn more about pedagogical leadership.\nFindings: The participating principals performed their pedagogical leadership in different manners and with varying quality. During the course, there was a shift in what activities and duties the principals prioritized. The findings highlight the importance of democratic leadership and the improvement of teacher capacity and student outcomes.\nPractical implications: The paper gives practical examples on how principals can improve their understanding of pedagogical leadership.\nOriginality/value: There are few articles on how pedagogical leadership is understood and practiced. The paper provides a model for pedagogical leadership and empirical data that shows that the concept deserves to be viewed as a qualitative concept that need interpretation.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Legitimizing private legal systems through CSR communication: a Walmart case study	[ "Corporate communications", "Corporate social responsibility", "Legitimacy", "Walmart", "Autonomous legal systems" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a closely examined topic in many disciplines, including business, communications, law and ethics (Carroll, 1999). Despite this proliferation of research, no consensus definition has emerged (Dahlsrud, 2008; Freeman et al., 2010). Many trace its origins to Howard Bowen (Carroll, 1999), who defined CSR as \"obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of actions which are desirable in terms of the objectives or values of society\" (Bowen, 1953, p. 6). CSR has been a particularly important aspect of communications research because of its contributions to corporate reputation, stakeholder relationship building and corporate bottom line (Coombs and Holladay, 2012; Kim and Reber, 2008; Nielsen and Thomsen, 2018). This case study seeks to merge two perspectives from law and communications in an attempt to provide a deeper and multidisciplinary understanding of CSR.\nTheoretical framework: Legitimacy and CSR communication\nMethods: The analysis of data for this case study followed qualitative procedures outlined by Lindlof and Taylor (2019) as well as Yin (1981, 2000). First, this study was an exploratory case study as defined by Yin (1981), meaning that theory is driven by the findings of the research, and content may be collected before hypotheses are created (Baskarada, 2014). In this study, two research questions guided the collection of data and theory was used to explain the findings as well as make contributions to the theory. This approach, called grounded theory, is a key way to approach qualitative research such that theory and findings work together to create new understandings (Baskarada, 2014; Lindlof and Taylor, 2019). Because examining the discourse of Walmart's CSR communication is central to this case study, emphasis on the \"structures and functions of actual language use\" was paramount to analysis (van Dijk, 1983, p. 21). Discourse analysis allows researchers to derive meaning and function from mass communication (van Dijk, 1983) and has been used in the previous studies of legitimacy communication (Nielsen and Thomsen, 2018).\nFindings: Walmart's CSR norms\nDiscussion: This case study sought to connect the concepts of CSR communication, actional legitimacy and the autonomous legal system of corporate governance. By looking at three angles of Walmart's CSR program - its norms, implementation and remediation - the case study demonstrates how communication builds legitimacy for Walmart's CSR actions, from its definition of CSR, its implementation of CSR, to its CSR remediation processes. This communication gives authority to Walmart's CSR program by demonstrating how CSR creates an autonomous legal system, whereby multinational corporations are taking lawmaking power from states by creating, regulating and ruling their own systems of CSR (Backer, 2007). Thus, communication legitimizes this private legal system.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications in business by merging previously unconnected lines of thought in communications and law. Using Walmart as an example, the study shows that CSR communication can legitimize a corporation's autonomous legal system of regulation and governance over its business practices.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study of all online corporate communications webpages from Walmart was examined. Discourse and qualitative analyses were used to show how language and online communications practices created actional legitimacy for Walmart's CSR practices.\nFindings: Using the UN's Guiding Principles for Business as a framework for analysis, the study demonstrated how CSR communications helps Walmart to establish its own system of CSR norms, structures and remediation processes for its business outside of the state. These communications also sought to legitimize these actions among stakeholders.\nResearch limitations/implications: This case study looks at one corporation (Walmart) to illustrate a new connection between CSR communication and legitimacy. Future research in communications can extend this line of inquiry by examining how communications can reinforce autonomous legal systems and public perceptions.\nOriginality/value: Backer's (2007) autonomous legal system and the concept of actional legitimacy in communications have not yet been studied systematically. This case study demonstrates how CSR communications can legitimize a multinational corporation's business practices, which, in turn, raises ethical considerations for the ways this communication serves the greater society.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perspective-varying effects of peripheral knowledge in IT outsourcing: when vendor and client are collated	[ "Dyadic data analysis", "Inter-organizational knowledge management", "IT project outsourcing", "Peripheral knowledge", "Vendor–client relationship" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Over the past two decades, the importance of knowledge in information technology (IT) outsourcing projects has been discussed in the literature (Engelbrecht et al., 2017; Goo et al., 2009; Hung et al., 2012; Ko, 2014; Pee et al., 2010; Reich and Benbasat, 2014; Tiwana and Keil, 2007). The studies verify that when a vendor and client possess unique and in-depth knowledge related to their project, such knowledge facilitates mutual understanding, reduces communication costs and enhances comprehension of the project context. Subsequently, it effectively supports the realization of the IT outsourcing project's shared long-term goal (Goo et al., 2009; Tiwana, 2009; Tiwana and Keil, 2007). As society and its business environments become more complex and knowledge-dependent, the significance of knowledge in IT outsourcing is also strengthened.\n2. Theoretical development: We first conceptualize the dimensions of IT project outsourcing to provide foundations on the influence of peripheral knowledge on IT outsourcing success before theorizing the association of peripheral knowledge with the performance of IT outsourcing in different perspectives. Different perceptions based on the context of an inter-organizational relationship are discussed after conceptualization.\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Operationalization\n4. Analysis: 4.1 Measurement model\n5. Discussion: 5.1 Summary of findings\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to examine how the role of peripheral knowledge changes along with the perspectives of vendor and client in inter-organizational IT outsourcing. To this end, this study tests the effects of the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients on IT outsourcing performance under three different combinations of performance-assessing views from both parties.\nDesign/methodology/approach: To contrast the effects of the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients based on their views, this study collects matching data on 107 projects from both parties. The survey method is adopted to measure the peripheral knowledge levels of vendors and clients and IT outsourcing success. The associations between peripheral knowledge and IT outsourcing performance are then assessed when the views match, cross and agree to a certain level.\nFindings: The peripheral knowledge of vendors plays a more significant role than that of clients in most IT outsourcing cases. Moreover, the agreement between the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients shows a moderating effect only when the performance is assessed by clients than by vendors.\nOriginality/value: This study contrasts the peripheral knowledge of vendors and clients by altering performance-assessing views in IT outsourcing. This study also rationalizes why the peripheral knowledge of vendors is more important than that of clients, as well as explains whose perspective is more significant when the performance is assessed.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Developing an approach to assess the influence of integrating disaster risk reduction practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development	[ "Disasters", "Disaster risk reduction", "Risk management", "Socio‐economic development", "Infrastructure reconstruction", "Millennium development goals" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Background: The infrastructure stock of a country makes a significant contribution to the social and economic aspects of that country when they are formed, operated and managed effectively. The construction industry plays a vital role in the formation, operation and management of infrastructure and is often involved in new construction as well as renewal, reconstruction following disasters and retrofitting of existing infrastructure. There has been a significant increase in reconstruction, in both the housing and infrastructure sectors, due to the unprecedented scale of increase of natural disasters in the recent past. In this context, \"reconstruction of infrastructure\" needs more attention than ever before particularly within poor third world countries.\n2. Problem statement: It is said that gross indirect costs of disasters are partly offset by the positive downstream effects of the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, such as increased activity in the construction industry (UNDP, 2004). Although reconstruction is considered as a tool to help reduce future disaster risks by paying particular attention to various vulnerabilities, and to boost up general development the developing countries would not normally use these opportunities during reconstruction. Specifically focusing on infrastructure reconstruction, Duryog Nivaran (2005) identified a key weakness with respect to the post-tsunami infrastructure reconstruction plans in Sri Lanka in terms of lack of articulation of issues of varying vulnerabilities, people's needs and access to infrastructures within such plans. Shaw (2006, p. 6) highlights the fact that \"the reconstruction of the Indian Ocean Tsunami has posed a tremendous challenge: how to turn the reconstruction into development opportunities, and use the experiences of this reconstruction process in future pre-disaster mitigation activities in other parts of the world\". On the other hand, reduction of disaster risk has become a \"must do\" with regards to the increase in natural disaster losses, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives are considered to have generated many development concerns. Hence, integration of DRR into post-disaster reconstruction can be presumed to be a strategy that makes the maximum use of opportunities created by disasters. The focus of this research, on which this paper is based, is to investigate the contribution that DRR could have on socio-economic development within the context of post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction.Most of the studies undertaken to explore the relative costs and benefits of DRR at the project level take a quantitative approach by measuring the pros and cons in financial terms. Establishing a precise qualitative approach to examine this relationship is difficult as most of the socio-economic development indicators are quantitative. This research endeavours to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction to enhance the socio-economic development process from a qualitative stance. As a part of the main research, this paper presents the qualitative approach adopted to assess this relationship. The research deals with economic infrastructure, which is generally formed as network-oriented systems; for example, transportation services, water supply and sanitation services, etc.\n3. Developing a framework for socio-economic development: 3.1 What is socio-economic development?\n4. Integration of DRR into post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction: Disasters are opportunities to realise particular areas of vulnerability, such as the general level of underdevelopment (Stephenson and DuFrane, 2005). Reconstruction can, therefore, be used as a development opportunity or as a tool to help reduce disaster risks by paying particular attention to various vulnerabilities (Shaw, 2006). Christoplos (2006) asserts that the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted after a disaster than before for many reasons such as, new awareness of risk after a disaster that leads to broad consensus and disclosure of fault lines in development policies.DRR is aimed at tackling the fundamental elements of disaster risk: vulnerability and hazards (Department for International Development (DFID), 2006). United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) (2009) defines DRR as a \"systematic development and application of policies, strategies and practices to minimise vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout society, to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of hazards, within the broad context of sustainable development\". There is a wide range of DRR strategies which are categorised differently by many scholars and practitioners. Table III summarises some of those classifications.Table III is evident that the concept of DRR includes not only physical and technical strategies but also a wider array of strategies involved in solving much more complex political, social, economic, cultural, environmental challenges (Hamilton, 2005). It was further realised that the application of this concept into infrastructure reconstruction sector can be done at different levels. Accordingly, this research proposes an integrated model, based on all previously tabulated strategies and their classifications; the possible levels/areas to link infrastructure reconstruction with DRR are at the international, national, institutional, project/programme and community/individual level as modelled in Figure 1. Project level DRR strategies can be categorised into physical/technical strategies, emergency preparedness strategies, natural protection strategies and knowledge management strategies. Policy and planning, guidelines and frameworks are higher level strategies which exist at international, national and institutional levels. All these higher level strategies have a direct effect on each other from top to bottom as well as at project/programme and community/individual level DRR strategies.\n5. Proposed approach to assess the influence of integrating DRR into infrastructure reconstruction towards socio-economic development: Infrastructure (re)construction, socio-economic development and DRR are issues frequently discussed in isolation or in relation to each other in the current literature, but the exact relationship between the three of them is not adequately established. Establishing the exact relationship between these three areas would require development of an approach to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development. An approach to assess this influence was able to be developed based on the understanding gained through the critical literature review and the research gap identified through the same. Before adopting the proposed approach to achieve the overall aim of this study, it was piloted among three construction professionals involved in the post-tsunami infrastructure reconstruction sector in Sri Lanka. The rest of this section describes how the literature review was helpful in developing this approach.Literature suggests that \"development\" and \"disaster management\" are both aimed at vulnerability reduction, i.e. vulnerability reduction plays a central role in both the development and disaster management (Stenchion, 1997; Weichselgartner, 2001). Although the terms \"development\" and \"disaster management\" used here emerge with broader meanings, they symbolise \"socio-economic development\" and \"DRR\" concerns respectively. Moreover, Jigyasu (2002) suggests that reconstruction must take into account the implications of reducing disaster vulnerability in the long term because lack of DRR practices within post-disaster reconstruction results in major failures in reconstruction projects, exposing them to extreme vulnerability even in future small scale disasters. Therefore, it can be presumed that the reconstruction process can be improved by the integration of DRR strategies that may result in vulnerability reduction and ultimately improve the process of development.Substantiating this argument, McEntire et al. (2002) emphasise the importance of considering vulnerability reduction through development and disaster management activities, i.e. both DRR and socio-economic development should be aimed at vulnerability reduction as depicted in Figure 2. This implies the need for effective DRR strategies for vulnerability reduction where they might affect a reduction in different vulnerabilities at various levels. Having identified that socio-economic development also stands for vulnerability reduction, the influence of DRR strategies on socio-economic development can be assessed through the potential contribution of DRR strategies on vulnerability reduction.Vulnerability represents a series of resultant states of social, economic, political, cultural, environmental, physical and technological underdevelopment processes, before, during and after disaster situations (Jigyasu, 2004; McEntire, 2001). Based on a similar argument, Wisner et al. (2003) claim that vulnerability involves a combination of factors that determine the degree to which someone's life, livelihood, property and other assets are put at risk by a discreet and identifiable event. Eshghi and Larson (2008) note that vulnerability is influenced by factors such as location, state of housing, level of preparedness and ability to evacuate and carry out emergency operations. Different societies have differing levels of vulnerability; this is one reason why hazards of a similar type and intensity can have quite varied effects on different populations (Eshghi and Larson, 2008). McEntire (2001) claims that there are innumerable variables interacting to produce a future of increased vulnerabilities that in turn have been categorised under physical, social, cultural, political, economic and technological headings as depicted in Table IV.Accordingly, it is suggested that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development is to assess the level of impact of DRR strategies on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities (see Table IV for factors forming vulnerabilities). Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio-economic development (see Table II for performance targets of socio-economic development). All influences can be assessed based on an attitudinal study among (re)construction professionals in order to gather their perceptions/experience of the above mentioned relationships.\n6. Conclusions: Critical infrastructure is regularly subject to physical, technological, social, cultural, political, and economic vulnerabilities. High risks to critical infrastructure due to their vulnerabilities and hazards would result in severe losses to societies. While pre-disaster prevention is a vital part of disaster risk management cycle reconstruction following a natural disaster remains a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological and technological aspects. However, significant development benefits of disaster-inspired reconstruction can be further enhanced by integration of DRR strategies. This paper proposed an approach to realise the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio-economic development process from a qualitative stance.The paper reveals that the application of DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction sector can be done at different levels: international, national, institutional, project/programme and community/individual levels. Further to that it was realised that policy and planning, guidelines and frameworks are the higher level strategies which exist at international, national and institutional levels. Project level DRR strategies include physical/technical, emergency preparedness, natural protection and knowledge management strategies.Although developing an integrative framework for the concept socio-economic development is not straightforward, a range of literature that present a variety of indicators for economic and social development, and the CSF and performance targets of MDGs provided a combined set of indicators that facilitates measurement of the entire socio-economic development concept. These CSF and performance targets of socio-economic development were identified with the aim of assessing the influence of integrating DRR into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development. The influence is assessed mainly through the impact that this integration could have on performance targets of socio-economic development.\"Development\" and \"disaster management\" are both aimed at vulnerability reduction which means that vulnerability reduction plays a central role in both the socio-economic development and DRR concepts. Having identified that socio-economic development also stands for vulnerability reduction, this paper suggests that the first step to assess the influence of integrating DRR practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development is to assess the level of impact of DRR strategies on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities as there are innumerable variables interacting to produce increased vulnerabilities. The second step involves assessing the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio-economic development.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - Disasters provide physical, social, economic, political and environmental development windows of opportunity particularly through housing and infrastructure reconstruction. The reconstruction process should not be neglected due to the opportunistic nature of facilitating innovation in development. In this respect, post-disaster \"infrastructure\" reconstruction plays a critical role in development discourse and is often essential to sustain recovery after major disasters. However, reconstruction following a natural disaster is a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological, and technological aspects. There are significant development benefits of well-developed \"Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies\" and, for many reasons, the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted following a disaster. In this respect, a research study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio-economic development process from a qualitative stance. The purpose of this paper is to document part of this research study; it proposes an approach that can be used to assess the influence of the application of the DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The research methodology included a critical literature review.\nFindings: - This paper suggests that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development is to assess the level of impact that DRR strategies has on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities. Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio-economic development.\nOriginality/value: - This paper primarily presents a framework for the concept of socio-economic development and a modelled classification of DRR practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Impact of product structure on order review/evaluation procedures	[ "Inventory control", "Simulation", "Production scheduling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Production scheduling is a crucial aspect of manufacturing planning and control (MPC) systems (Metaxiotis et al., 2002). This scheduling process is often compromised and complicated by component part availability problems. Availability problems arise for two reasons. First, production schedules may not be executed as planned. For example, capacity problems may prevent timely completion of component orders or excessive scrap may reduce component availability. Second, production plans change as new information becomes available. Orders that were appropriate when initially planned may not match revised parent item requirements.The order review/release (ORR) process is used to discover component availability problems. ORR encompasses three major activities: order preparation, order review and evaluation (ORE), and load levelling (Melnyk and Carter, 1987a). This paper focuses on the ORE activity.Vollmann et al. (1992) state that ORE is an important step prior to releasing an order to the shop. This process involves an availability check for the necessary components. If all required components are available in appropriate quantities, the shop order can be released and processing can begin. If a component shortage occurs, a partial order could be released using available components or the planned order could be delayed. When a planned order is delayed, component reservation can be used to allocate currently available components to that order.In the only previous experimental study investigating ORE activities, Bragg et al. (1999) considered component reservation methods and partial order releases as short-term options for dealing with component shortages in an MRP-controlled multistage production-inventory system. They concluded that partial order releases improved system performance, while component reservation methods did not. However, the generality of their results is limited because of the narrowly defined set of end-item product structures that they used.Product structure has been an important concern in research on MPC systems, though results have been mixed. Collier (1981, 1982) found that higher levels of component commonality (CC) reduced system inventory due to a pooling effect, while Benton and Krajewski (1990) found that higher levels of commonality were disruptive to customer service when high commonality components were out of stock.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to integrate and extend the research on product structure and ORE by evaluating the effectiveness of component reservation methods and partial order releases under a more robust set of product structure conditions.\nBackground: Relevant studies associated with the product structure literature are discussed first; studies dealing with the ORR research are addressed next.Product structure\nMethodology: This study focuses on the effects of product structure characteristics on the ORE process. A set of simulation experiments and a hypothetical multistage production-inventory system were developed (Kritchanchai and MacCarthy, 2002) to examine these effects. The following sections present the key aspects of the environment, as well as a description of the experimental factors, performance measures, and data collection procedures used in the study.Experimental environment\nResults and discussion: Data on the primary performance measures, PLATE and WINV, were analysed using the ANOVA procedure in SAS. Three-way and higher interactions were included with the error term. Results from this analysis are shown in Table III; mean values for PLATE and WINV for each experimental factor are shown in Table IV.As indicated in the Table III, a number of interaction effects were significant (a=0.01) for both performance measures. For the customer service measure, the interactions for NCxCC, NCxSC, NCxRP, CCxSC, CCxRP and SCxRP were significant. For WINV, two-way interactions were significant for NCxCC, NCxSC, NCxRP, CCxRP and SCxRP. The two-way interaction effects between RP and each of the three environmental factors (NC, CC and SC) were significant for both performance measures. A discussion of these experimental results follows.Release proportion x number of components\nConclusions: Production planning systems attempt to ensure that the right materials are available in the right quantities at the right times. However, component availability is not guaranteed. As previously stated, component availability problems arise for two basic reasons. First, production schedules may not be executed as planned. And second, production plans change as new information becomes available. Component shortages should be the exception, and organizations should strive to identify and remove the causes of material availability problems. However, in the short-term, component shortages may occur as the improvement process continues. This study advances a broad-based understanding of the manner in which component reservation and partial order releases can be used to address component availability problems. Strategic and tactical recommendations suggested by the study's results are discussed below.Strategic recommendation\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - To investigate the impact of number of components (NC) and component commonality (CC) (i.e. product structure characteristics) on the effectiveness of component reservation methods and partial order releases (i.e. order review and evaluation (ORE) procedures).\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Simulation experiments were conducted using a multistage production-inventory system with MRP for planning. The results were analyzed using analysis of variance.\nFindings: - The results indicate that: in the presence of component availability problems, partial order release is a more effective ORE procedure than component reservation; product structure characteristics should be considered when selecting partial order release proportions; and high levels of shop congestion (SC) mitigate the influence of ORE procedures, regardless of product structure characteristics.\nResearch limitations/implications: - This study used fixed lot sizes and two factors to characterize product structures (NC and CC). Thus, studies that investigate the impact of alternative lot sizing strategies and a wider range of product structure factors could provide additional insight into the order release process.\nPractical implications: - The results provide a useful source of information for managers to consider when addressing problem orders related to material availability.\nOriginality/value: - Although the literature on order review/release (ORR) recognizes the possibility of material availability problems, very little guidance is provided on how managers should react to the situation. This paper fulfils an identified information need by integrating and extending the research streams on product structure and ORE activities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Emerald authorship data, Lotka's law and research productivity	[ "Research results", "Brand loyalty", "Publishing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nBackground: In May last year, John Peters, an Emerald Director, broadcast an e-mail to members of the Literati Club containing facts and figures drawn from their author database, as of April 2003. The data comprised the numbers of times that individual authors had published with Emerald and the purpose of the message was to stimulate discussion on an issue of strategic commercial significance for any publisher: the question of author loyalty.I quote extensively from John's e-mail below:We recently ran a count on our up-to-date author database, where we have active and live e-mail contact. This includes editors, and regular \"columnists\". Total number (as at April 2003): 20,624. Of these: 13,428 (65 per cent) have written once only for us7,216 have written more than once are repeat authors (35 per cent) Of these 7,216 repeat authors: 3, 327 have written twice 16 per cent1,437 have written three times 7 per cent782 have written four times 4 per cent487 have written five times297 have written six times218 have written seven times149 have written eight times99 have written nine times95 have written ten times79 have written 11 times45 have written 12 times37 have written 13 times31 have written 14 times30 have written 15 times 110 have written 16 times or more. This includes some freelances. 418 (2 per cent) have written ten times or more, and 1,668 (8 per cent) five times or more. These are our most \"loyal\" authors. A handful of authors have been published 100 times or more by us. These are largely people who have co-authored papers with, e.g. research students. In almost every sphere of business, existing (satisfied) customers are an organisation's most likely future customers. It is easier to sell to a (satisfied) current customer than to a non-customer. I hope you find these figures and the stories behind them interesting. If any thoughts or actions occur to you, please feel free to share them with me. John Peters, Director, Emerald/MCB.In his message, John makes the obvious connection that authors who publish frequently with a particular journal or publisher might be said to display a degree of brand loyalty. Repeat authors are of particular interest to publishers because as existing and demonstrably satisfied customers, they may reasonably be expected to submit manuscripts in the future, thus securing an editor's access to a steady flow of research findings. From our knowledge of consumer behaviour in other areas of life, we can predict that loyal authors are less likely to switch brands. Even better, they deliver indirect benefits to the journal publisher, such as an advocacy role within the academic world, encouraging their research students and peers to consider publishing with Emerald and their library committees to subscribe to their offerings.Although not stated explicitly, the question being presented by John Peters was \"How can Emerald manage its author relationships to encourage more repeat business?\" In other words, how can it shift the frequency distribution above to its advantage?As a bibliometrician, my immediate impression of the data was that the author distribution appeared to comply with Lotka's \"law\". This short communication explains that law, its applicability to the data, some immediate practical consequences for Emerald and other publishers, and it reflects on some issues for further investigation.\nWhat is Lotka's law?: Alfred Lotka investigated author productivity and modelled it mathematically during the last century (Lotka, 1926). Essentially, his law describes the very regular patterns that are seen in subject bibliographies when authors are listed by the number of times they have published.A definition of Lotka's Law\nWhy is author production patterned like this?: Why are some scholars more productive than others? The first thing to say about Lotka's law is that it may well describe but it does not explain what is going on: the underlying human behaviour that gives rise to these patterns is far from being fully understood. There is pretty good evidence that frequency of publication correlates significantly with frequency of citation and professional reputation (Merton, 1988) and that being part of a stimulating, privileged intellectual environment is a necessary condition for being productive. This line of argument stresses that, independent of talent, authors require the right conditions to become productive: they need the confidence that feeds on success, access to research grants, freedom from teaching and administration, the esteem of their peers, access to specialist equipment, the stimulation of teams of fellow researchers, and a supportive and well managed research culture (David, 1994; Bozeman and Lee, 2003; von Tuzelmann et al., 2003). These resources are all in scarce supply, and because publishing itself carries certain rewards (like credibility, standing), then there is a virtuous circle whereby these necessary resources flow disproportionately to those that publish more. But since competition for resources is so tough, only a few manage to break away from the rest of the pack. This \"success breeds success\" phenomenon or \"Matthew Effect\" was certainly understood in principle, albeit in a different context 2,000 years ago as illustrated in a famous Biblical passage:For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath (Matthew xiii:7).This principle is embedded in UK higher education policy which is to focus money where it will have the most visible and immediate impact, through research selectivity mechanisms such as the UK Research Assessment Exercises. In this model, money and influence chase publications with a vengeance.An alternative hypothesis has been proposed by Dogan and Parhre (1990) to explain the highly asymmetric contribution of authors to a given literature. All things being equal, one would expect that the more research effort that is applied to a particular set of problems, the greater the number and quality of research outputs. Dogan and Pahre argue that this may not be the case in particularly well researched (or \"dense\") subject areas. As more and more researchers and funds pile into a given area, the amount of innovative work increases, but at a decreasing rate. In this \"paradox of density\" scenario, publishing opportunities also increase at a decreasing rate as the new recruits to the field find that most of the pioneering work has already been achieved by those who originally saw the opportunity and capitalised (i.e. published) on it.The potential implications of these theoretical models, both for public policy and for publishing business development is enormous, yet sadly neglected by the research community itself.\nAreas for future research: One implication of Lotka's law is that past publication increases the probability of further publication, for the reasons outlined above; it is very much more likely that someone who has already written 49 papers will write a fiftieth than it is for someone who has published four to write their fifth. The problem, if we frame the question \"who is most likely to publish again with Emerald?\" is that we cannot say simply by looking at the existing data (the \"art gallery\" problem, compounded by the fact that there are other shows in town). However, Lotka's law provides a robust general framework within which future propensities to publish may be assessed.By analysing survey data including variables such as chronological and \"academic age\", numbers and frequency of previous publications, access to research grants, job status, etc. etc., it should be possible, within very broad parameters, to identify clusters of say high, medium and low research activity authors. This would provide Emerald with insights into potential \"hot spots\" of future publishing intent and, in the case of dense and overworked research areas, early warning as to when to start looking elsewhere for future articles.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This paper offers a practical insight into the application of Lotka's law of author productivity to the question of how likely it is that an author will return to a particular publisher (rather than make another contribution to a subject literature, which is its usual application). The question of author loyalty, especially repeat visits, is one which is of great interest to publishers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This paper shows, possibly for the first time, that the author productivity distribution predicted by Lotka's law for subject literatures also holds for publisher aggregates, in this case, all Emerald authors.\nFindings: - The ideas presented here are speculative and programmatic: they raise questions and provide a robust intellectual framework for further research into the determinants of author loyalty, as seen from the publisher side.\nPractical implications: - The implications for commissioning editors and marketing departments in journal publishing houses are that repeat visiting authors are indeed scarce commodities, not necessarily because of barriers put in their way by publishers, but because research production is very asymmetrically skewed in favour of a small productive elite.\nOriginality/value: - By analysing survey data it should be possible, within very broad parameters, to identify clusters of say high, medium and low research activity authors. This would provide insight into potential \"hot spots\" of future publishing intent and, in the case of dense and overworked research areas, early warning as to when to start looking elsewhere for future articles.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ethical leadership, frustration, and humor: a moderated-mediation model	[ "Ethical leadership", "Humour", "Frustration" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: The story of unethical behavior in organizations is common (Trevino et al., 2014), and the experience of working under or with unethical leaders destroys reputations demoralizes employees and degrades shareholder value (Brown and Mitchell, 2010), contributing to a recent emphasis on the study of \"dark side\" leader behaviors (e.g. Unal et al., 2012). While much about ethical leadership has been investigated (Brown et al., 2005; Chen and Hou, 2016), perhaps it is time to direct our attention to developing mechanisms to respond to, survive and potentially thrive in the face of the inevitability of ethical lapses in organizations.\nJob demands-resources theory: Job demands are the physical, psychological, social or organizational aspects of a job that require sustained cognitive and emotional effort to manage and are therefore associated with certain negative behavioral and psychological outcomes (Bakker and Demerouti, 2007, 2014). Chronic job demands, like those associated with working for an unethical leader, may deplete and/or exhaust employees' mental and physical resources (Demerouti et al., 2001). Although not all job demands are negative and lead to stress, we believe that it is the sustained cognitive and emotional effort needed to manage job demands under an unethical leader which leads to the same negative outcomes associated with other extreme job demands (Meijman and Mulder, 1998). Experienced stress (via unethical leader treatment) should act to drain resources such that employees are less able to maintain positive work attitudes (Hoobler and Brass, 2006) and engage in productive work behavior (e.g. deviance, Mitchell and Ambrose, 2007). The depletion of resources in the face of the demands of unethical behavior may explain the higher incidence of frustration.\nHypothesized relationships: Ethical leadership and frustration\nMethod: Participants and procedure\nResults: The descriptive statistics and the correlations among our variables appear in Table I. As predicted, ethical leadership was negatively related to frustration and surface acting and positively related to positive mood and affective commitment. Frustration was positively related to surface acting and negatively related to positive mood and affective commitment. In addition, two of our control variables, age and job tenure, were significantly related to our dependent variables, offering some empirical support for their inclusion.\nDiscussion: Relying on a JD-R theory, we explored mediating influences in the relationships between ethical leadership and outcomes. We found that ethical leadership was negatively related to employee frustration, and that frustration mediated the relationships between ethical leadership and surface acting and positive mood but not affective commitment. Results also demonstrated that humor moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and frustration such that when humor was low, the relationship was stronger. We found that the moderated effects of the mediated relationships were significant when humor was low for surface acting and positive mood, but not when humor was high. Neither effect was significant for affective commitment. The integration of frustration as a mediator (Brown and Mitchell, 2010), and the use of humor as a moderator (Mesmer-Magnus et al., 2012) extends theory and research in the ethical leadership literature by introducing new factors affecting ethical leadership-outcome relationships.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of ethical leadership on surface acting, positive mood and affective commitment via the mediating effect of employee frustration. The authors also explored the moderating role of humor on the relationship between ethical leadership and frustration as well as its moderating effect on the mediational chain.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected in two separate surveys from 156 individuals working fulltime; data collections were separated by six weeks to reduce common method variance. The measurement model was confirmed before the authors tested the moderated mediation model.\nFindings: Ethical leadership was negatively related to employee frustration, and frustration mediated the relationships between ethical leadership and surface acting and positive mood but not affective commitment. Humor moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and frustration such that when humor was low, the relationship was stronger.\nResearch limitations/implications: Interestingly, the authors failed to find a significant effect for any of the relationships between ethical leadership and affective commitment. Ethical leaders can enhance positive mood and reduce surface acting among employees by reducing frustration. Humor may be more important under conditions of unethical leadership but may be distracting under ethical leadership.\nOriginality/value: This study demonstrates how frustration acts as a mediator and humor serves as a moderator in the unethical behavior-outcomes relationship.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Business process modeling through the knowledge management perspective	[ "Knowledge processes", "Knowledge management", "Business process re‐engineering" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge management (KM) with no doubt could be considered as one of the hottest research topics of the past decade. However, the question emerges about the interest in KM, while the basic techniques of KM, which help people to capture and share their knowledge, experience and expertise, have been known and applied for a long-time?The authors believe that the great interest in KM is being conditioned by several driving forces. First, the birth of KM, which occurred in the early 1990s, grew from recognition of how difficult it is to deal with complexity in an environment of ever increasing competition spurred by technology and the demands of sophisticated customers (Bennet and Bennet, 2002).Second, the idea of KM has created considerable interest because it gives a deeper explanation to managers' interest in core competencies, their communication, leverage and possible transfer. It also creates awareness of knowledge as an important economic asset, and of the special problems of managing such assets (Spender, 2002).The awareness of the importance of company knowledge (in the form of the company's core capabilities and resources), has also been reflected, recognized and investigated in the strategic management field, e.g. the resource-based view (RBV) regards knowledge as a basic source of competitive advantage. It is argued that a company's competitive strength is derived form the uniqueness of its internally accumulated capabilities (Conner and Prahalad, 1996; Schultze, 2002). The RBV approach therefore implies that not all knowledge is equally valuable for the company. Knowledge that can freely be accessed or traded in the market has limited ability to serve as a source of competitive advantage; however, this knowledge could improve the organization competitiveness.Third, many companies have a worldwide distributed organization, and the dissemination of company knowledge requires suitable techniques of knowledge management (such as knowledge acquisition and sharing). This situation is made even more difficult in organizations that operate in culturally diverse environments.Fourth, the pace of adoption of internet technology, especially the establishment of intranets, extranets, web portals, etc., has created a networking potential that drives all of society and corporations to work faster, create and manage more interdependencies, and operate on global markets (Bennet and Bennet, 2002).Finally, as a fifth driver, in the 1990s companies became aware of the threat and risk of losing valuable key organizational knowledge, that is often present only in employees' heads (knowledge which is not explicit, externalized or formalized and is consequently not available for use by other individuals). At the same time, the demand for quicker growth of knowledge (competence) of employees has become a new driver to manage organizational knowledge.Even though the concept of KM has emerged only recently, there are a number of initiatives that organizations have already adopted and that have become useful components for KM implementation. The result of the learning organization, business process re-engineering, business process modeling, quality management and business intelligence movements can be used as a foundation for a comprehensive adoption of KM and the building of knowledge-based companies.This article discusses the role of business process modeling (BPM), which has recently been receiving increasing attention from the business and research community, through the perspective of knowledge management, and raises the issues regarding the management of company specific knowledge. The authors believe that BPM is an important tool for KM that allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge and facilitates its externalization (in the form of knowledge artifacts), sharing and subsequent internalization.The article presents findings of the mapping process of the BPM concepts into the knowledge life-cycle model, proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) and knowledge categories defined by different authors (Polanyi, 1958, 1966; Skyrme and Amidon, 1997; Beijerese, 1999). During mapping, the authors experienced a lack of explicit and widely accepted definitions of knowledge categories and knowledge processes in respect of all knowledge features. The mapping process has also shown important differentiation between various categories of knowledge (identified in the BPM process) as a basis for a new knowledge categorization and definition of key knowledge processes, presented by the knowledge category model and the knowledge process model.Beside the definition of knowledge categories, the article discusses a theoretical framework which presents an account of how enterprise models capture and allow the sharing of the knowledge of business processes - whether they are possessed by individuals or groups of individuals in the company.The article starts with the brief introduction of the theoretical background of business process modeling and its basic concepts. The second section of the article gives a definition of \"business process\" and \"business process model\"; it also defines main categories of process models and process types.The third section presents definitions and concepts of major knowledge categories, knowledge processes and knowledge resources, as have been given by different authors in the KM domain. The presented definitions are used as a basis for the knowledge category model and knowledge process model proposed by the authors.The final section of the article discusses issues, which consider the application of contemporary knowledge management systems and the role and value of BPM in the process of knowledge externalization, formalization and sharing. This section also presents the knowledge life-cycle model as the mapping of BPM concepts into the field of KM. The presented framework describes, in detail, the knowledge categories and associated knowledge processes in the process of business process model development.\nBusiness processes and business process modeling: Business process\nThe nature of knowledge and its sharing: What is knowledge?\nBusiness process modeling and knowledge management: Many knowledge management systems (KMSs) are primarily focused on solutions for the capture, organization and distribution of knowledge.Rouggles (1998), for example, found that the four most common KM projects conducted by organizations were creating/implementing an intranet, knowledge repositories, decision support tools, or groupware to support collaboration.Spender (2002) states that the bulk of KM literature is about computer systems and applications of \"enterprise-wide data collection and collaboration management\", which enhance communication volume, timeliness, and precision.Indeed, current KM approaches focus too much on techniques and tools that make the captured information available and relatively little attention is paid to those tools and techniques that ensure that the captured information is of high quality or that it can be interpreted in the intended way.Teece (2002) points out a simple but powerful relationship between the codification of knowledge and the costs of its transfer. Simply stated: the more a given item of knowledge or experience has been codified (formalized in the terminology of Figure 1), the more economically it can be transferred.Uncodified knowledge is slow and costly to transmit. Ambiguities abound and can be overcome only when communication takes place in face-to-face situations. Errors of interpretation can be corrected by a prompt use of personal feedback.The transmission of codified knowledge, on the other hand, does not necessarily require face-to-face contact and can often be carried out by mainly impersonal means. Messages are better structured and less ambiguous if they can be transferred in codified form.Based on the presented features of business process modeling (and in the broader sense enterprise modeling) and the issues in knowledge capturing and shearing, BPM is not only important for process engineering but also as an approach that allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge, and that facilitates externalization, sharing and subsequent knowledge internalization. BPM has the potential to improve the availability and quality of captured knowledge (due to its formal nature), increase reusability, and consequently reduce the costs of knowledge transfer.BPM and KM are related issues\nConclusion: The great interest in knowledge management, as one of the hottest research topics of the past decade, is being conditioned by several driving forces:* recognition of how difficult it is to deal with complexity in the business environment;* interest in core competencies, their communication, leverage and possible transfer;* issues concerning the dissemination of company knowledge in world-wide distributed companies;* rapid development and adoption of ICT; and* company awareness of issues concerning individual's knowledge and its externalization and formalization.Companies have already adopted a number of different initiatives, which could become useful components for KM implementation. BPM represents one of these initiatives and a key KM component. BPM as an important tool for KM allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge and facilitates its externalization and sharing.Beside supporting the knowledge awareness and formalization process, BPM has the potential to establish the criteria for uniform understanding and improve the availability and quality of captured knowledge (due to its formal nature), increase reusability, and consequently reduce the costs of knowledge transfer.The article developed a further differentiation between various types of knowledge and processes and their mutual relationships (relative to existing knowledge categorizations available in the literature). The proposed knowledge categorization and definition of key knowledge processes represents the authors' attempt and contribution as a basis for more explicit definitions of key notions in the KM domain. However, further research should be done to create a unified and widely accepted knowledge management ontology.Because business process models embody process knowledge, a better understanding of the extent and effective communication of business process models must be achieved. Therefore, by use of the presented theoretical framework this article gave an account of how enterprise models capture and allow the sharing of the knowledge encapsulated in processes. The framework also:* helps to avoid the raising of unrealistic expectations regarding the effects of business modeling efforts;* presents major knowledge categories, stages in knowledge transformation and activities in this process;* defines the correlation between the formalizable and non-formalizable knowledge categories and process types; and* emphasizes the importance of the transformation process on the formalizable part of the knowledge, into its formal presentation as one of the crucial processes in knowledge management.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - As economies move into the information age and post-industrial era, information and knowledge become important resources to organizations. The article sets out to discuss the role and contribution of business process modeling (BPM) in the knowledge management initiative and in the management of company-specific knowledge.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The authors consider BPM as a tool for knowledge management that allows the transformation of informal knowledge into formal knowledge and facilitates its externalization and sharing. The article starts with the brief introduction of the theoretical background of business process modeling and its basic concepts, and also presents definitions and concepts of major knowledge categories, knowledge processes and knowledge resources, as have been given by different authors in the knowledge management (KM) domain. These definitions are used as a basis for the knowledge category model and knowledge process model proposed by the authors.\nFindings: - The article presents findings of the mapping process of the BPM concepts into the knowledge life-cycle model, proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi and knowledge categories defined by different authors. During mapping, the authors experienced a lack of explicit and widely accepted definitions of knowledge categories and knowledge processes in respect of all knowledge features.\nOriginality/value: - The article emphasizes an important differentiation between various categories of knowledge, identified in the BPM process, as a basis for the business process-related knowledge categorization and identification of key knowledge processes. The article also presents the theoretical framework, which gives an account of how and when business process models capture and allow the sharing of knowledge. The framework identifies key knowledge categories, stages in knowledge transformation, and activities in this process.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How to enhance organizational learning: Some factors that influence creativity competency	[ "Organizational learning", "Creativity competency", "Creativity training" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Conditions in the current business world are unmistakably tough. Firms compete in a global marketplace and face levels of competition like never before. Throw the relentless advance of technology into the mix and the challenges become even greater.\nThe creativity conundrum: However, designing such programs is not as straightforward as it may seem. Creativity is subject to considerable debate that can be traced right back to Ancient Greece. A universal definition remains elusive even now. Much of that is down to the tendency for creativity to mean different things to different people in different fields.\nFrom idea to solution: There is more than one way to skin a cat, the old adage claims. Such a mindset is what drives creativity. For that reason, creative employees try and craft as many ideas as possible when faced with a problem. They can never have too many.\nHow to increase creativity competency: Companies aiming to enhance creativity competency should strive to ascertain employee perceptions of creativity and design programs according to their needs. Training will ideally:\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: Creativity remains an elusive concept that lacks a universal definition. It is open to different interpretations depending on the domain. This makes it difficult for firms to make creativity competency part of their development programs. However, certain assumptions can be made about creativity. These include the notion that creative thinking involves forming associations between seemingly unrelated experiences to create new meanings. The need to generate multiple ideas seems likewise to be widely acknowledged. Companies would also be best served by making efforts to ascertain employee perceptions of creativity and the factors and obstacles that influence it. Incorporating such knowledge into training programs can enhance learning effectiveness.\nPractical implications: The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.\nOriginality/value: The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perhaps the Dodo should have accounted for human beings? Accounts of humanity and (its) extinction	[ "Narratives", "Humanity", "Biodiversity", "Extinction", "Accounts", "Utopian method" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A human being is a part of the whole, called by us \"Universe,\" a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness[1].(Albert Einstein, 1950)\n1. Introduction[2]: We already have accounts of species and their well-being, or more usually, their endangerment. Whilst more detailed accounts of the specific conditions of endangerment of specific species (bees is an unusually good example, Atkins and Atkins, 2016) are clearly valuable from the point of view of that species and its management - or (perhaps more accurately) humanity's management of itself with respect to that species - there is a danger that as Rickards (2015) argues, we are privileging our narratives of humans as steward over other, more complex narratives of humans as systems dynamic and/or over humans as geological force (see also, Latour, 1998).[3] Although management and activity in the face of species extinction appeals to our humanity at some level, such a response must, we argue, be cognisant of its essential modernity and reductionism. We wish to argue that the causes of species extinction are systemic and human; and that such extinctions are only one - albeit critical - manifestation of un-sustainability.\n2. Accounts of non-human extinctions and their cause(s): Humanity in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been well provided with accounts of species extinctions[10] from Carson's (1962) Silent Spring through such seminal works as Blueprint for Survival (Goldsmith et al., 1972) to the now widely accessible narratives provided by the United Nations (see e.g. United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; UNEP, 2012) and WWF. WWF in particular have tracked and reported the detail of, what Kolbert (2014) amongst others have called, the \"6th extinction crisis\"[11]. The WWF (2014) Living Planet Index (LPI), for example, reports that the number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish across the globe has, broadly, declined by 50 per cent in the last 40 years. And the WWF (2016) \"Living Planet Report\" predicts a 67 per cent demise in vertebrate populations by 2020. This is placed in a context which argues that species loss today is between 1000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural \"background\" extinction rate[12] (Barnosky et al., 2011; Ceballos et al., 2015; see also, Jones, 2014). The LPI argues that between 1970 and 2010 terrestrial species have declined by 39 per cent; freshwater species by 76 per cent and marine species by 39 per cent. In all, 82 per cent of this decline they attribute to a combination of exploitation and habitat pressure or loss. As Spash (2015a) pointedly reminds us, however, and a point we return to in the penultimate section, constructions of species loss may distract us from underlying causes and potential contradictions:[...] statistical decline of species on Earth is another reminder of how humanity watches, observes and statistically enumerates the ongoing destruction [...] the LPI is not a measure of life but rather the death toll relating to human appropriation of resources for human ends. Presenting death as life seems to fit well with the optimistic messages in the rest of the WWF report [...] Meanwhile they treat Nature as capital that is valued for supporting production to provide new greener consumption possibilities and financial rewards. This is the economic discourse now common amongst the environmental non-governmental organisations. The contradictions of supporting extractivist capital accumulation and consumerism while wanting to conserve Nature are reconciled as easily as calling death life.(Spash, 2015a, p. 1)\n3. Accounts of humanity?: If we have plentiful, if disjointed and frequently ignored, accounts of species endangerment and if, as we contend, humanity's core complicity in this endangerment is vividly self-evident, then how do our narratives about ourselves, our species, reflect this? Hardly at all, seems to be the case.\n4. Accounts of human extinction: [...] However forward-looking we may pretend to be, humanity is far more interested in its past than it is in its future.(Leslie, 1996, p. vii)In the majority of accounts of non-human species extinction, as far as we are able to assess, there are two striking omissions. The first omission we have referred to above: the failure to recognise that global human organisation is, in most cases, the root cause of accelerated species extinction. The second striking omission is that the concern with species extinction is not extended to the extinction of humanity. To extend our thinking to embrace human extinction would seem a very sensible mental exercise, if for no other reason than in recognition that with the extinction of humanity the rest of the planet's species could go about their normal business.\n5. Utopias and dystopias: If utopia is a space for the fictional resolution of problems that humankind has not (yet) solved, incommensurability can only enter as a dystopian shadow.(Levitas, 2013, p. 120)The late Donella Meadows did not simply understand that there are limits to growth and that humanity was pressing up against them, she also understood that in changing (human) systems the greatest challenges lay in the systems' goals, and the mindset out of which the systems, their goals, power structure, rules, and culture arise[24]. For Meadows, the greatest leverage point lay in transcending that mindset. It seems that new stories, narratives, accounts, are essential if humans are to be helped to imagine the currently unthinkable, (Atkins et al., 2015). To a considerable degree, it seems as though western, modern humanity does not (currently) possess the necessary imagination to conceive of a possible future in which humanity is steadily taken to a state of near extinction or the imagination to conceive of a world where humanity renews, what Caldwell (1999) called, our reciprocity with the natural world: to imagine what a path towards a state of grace might look like. That gap in imagination can be filled by a variety of endeavours: new accounts (as we accountants might choose to understand them) is one; stories, music, film, poetry and other cultural communications are others which satisfy the need that a society has for new narratives when faced with substantial upheaval (Norminton, 2013, p. vii). Other commentators reinforce this notion: so, for example, Benking (1999), in one of the responses to the Caldwell piece, calls for more attention to the \"... pictures and icons we use to paint and communicate possible futures\" (p. 203) whilst the novelist Ursula LeGuin says \"Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words\"[25].\n6. Conclusions and reflections: Our principle purpose in this short essay has been to try and add a counter-narrative, a counter-account, to the mostly excellent literature that is building around accounts of species extinction, biodiversity and possibility/utopia. This narrative is self-consciously designed to sit within the context of the AAAJ special section on extinction accounts. Accounts of endangerment and extinction very properly engage us in the process of exploring how such threats might be explained, overcome, mitigated or even reversed. However, our primary challenge here is to suggest that we must balance all such accounts - i.e. accounts about symptoms - with meta accounts about causes. In that sense, this essay might be seen as a (counter) account for counter-accounters. Such an account, hopefully, might: offer an alternative account to those concerned with specific species' endangerment; encourage wider consideration of context in the act of species accounting; and suggest that a very proper lens of species accounts might embrace an analysis of threats to human continuance. Indeed, such hopes bring us to the edge of the work of Mouffe and of Latour (Vinnari and Dillard, 2016) in which multiple accounts, including those which embrace nature as actor, offer one, albeit complex and contentious route to generating new accounts that may escape the essential problems on singularity and immanence[29].\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a counter-narrative to accounts of specific species extinction. The authors place humanity's ways of organising at the core and recognise that only fundamental re-appraisal of humanity's taken-for-granted narratives offers hope for biodiversity and sustainability. The authors challenge producers of accounts of all sorts to reconsider the context and level of resolution of their accounts. The authors argue that humankind is the root cause of most (if not all) current species extinctions; that such extinctions represent one reason why humanity might itself be threatened with extinction; and why human extinction might be a good thing. The authors need to imagine other, better, futures.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The piece is an essay which assembles a wide range of literature in order to support its contentions.\nFindings: There are many individual accounts of species which explore the (albeit very serious) symptoms of a problem without, the authors maintain, examining the systematic source of the problem. The source problem is western mankind's organisation and somewhat taciturn conception of humanity. There is a lack of accounts offering new possibilities.\nResearch limitations/implications: The piece is an essay and, consequently, limited to the quality of the argument presented. The essay suggests that the principal implications relate to how producers of counter-accounts frame their construction of accounts and how accounts of species extinction need to be more cognisant of underlying causes.\nPractical implications: Without substantial change, planetary ecology, including humanity, is very seriously threatened. Imagining a plausible future is a most practical act of faith.\nSocial implications: The essay suggests that as accountants the authors might think to approach the counter-accounts with a lower level of resolution: one that is directed towards a more challenging notion of what it is to be human.\nOriginality/value: Whilst building upon the growing sophistication in the understanding of (new) accounts and responding to the emerging literatures on biodiversity, species extinction and utopian vision the authors offer what the authors believe to be a unique suggestion in the accounting literature about the extinction of mankind.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Cooperation in organizations	[ "Communication", "Organizational processes", "National cultures" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Cooperation is one of the most important themes for modern organizations. Cooperation as a synergistic force is a core organizational process driving organizational effectiveness (Chen et al., 1998; Smith et al., 1995). There are various forms of multiparty relations (including cooperation) within and between organizations (Bouwen and Taillieu, 2004; Schruijer, 2006). Clashes between the interests of stakeholders inside and outside organizations are not uncommon. In some organizations, heavy competition to acquire resources leads to a focus on short-term gains, neglecting the long-term gains of cooperation. In other organizations, cooperation seems to be rooted in informal agreements between the parties involved in such a way that it leads to benefits for all. If the level of cooperation is high, the goals of the organization as a whole will be better served.\nThis special issue: Our call for papers listed several research topics that have both practical and theoretical implications for cooperation in organizations. We received 20 proposals for submissions to this special issue. After reviewing these abstracts/proposals, 16 were invited for further elaboration. The papers were subjected to the peer review process and finally, after several revisions, five papers were accepted to appear in this special issue. The submitted papers addressed a variety of topics using several research designs. Table I presents a summary of the research questions addressed in the submitted papers.The papers that are included in this special issue of the Journal of Managerial Psychology extensively address the core of the issues presented in Table I: the role of cultural differences, virtual communication, team processes, leader behavior, and the impact of norms on cooperation.\"The multicultural workplace: interactive acculturation and intergroup relations,\" by Wido G.M. Oerlemans and Maria C.W. Peeters, is a survey-based study that explores how the type of cultural value orientation (acculturation orientation) of native and immigrant employees impacts on the development of their working relationships. The findings of this study highlight how interpersonal cooperation depends on the extent to which the cultural value expectations of the native employees accord with the preferences of the immigrant workers. This relationship is also moderated by the amount of inter-group contact. The authors show that, whenever the acculturation orientations of the two groups conflict, the quality of cooperation is lower as compared to a situation where these expectations are congruent. For the host community employees, however, the amount of contact with immigrant workers reduces the negative effect of incongruent expectations, while for the immigrant employees the amount of inter-group contact aggravates the negative effect. These results therefore suggest that different mechanisms should be considered in explaining how inter-ethnic relations work in modern organizations. A de-categorization explanation seems to work in the case of autochthonous employees, while a self-fulfilling prophecy explanation seems applicable to minority members.\"Can conflict management be an antidote to subordinate absenteeism?,\" by Renee de Reuver and Marianne van Woerkom, is a survey-based study that tests the extent to which employees' affective commitment mediates the impact of supervisors' conflict resolution strategies on employee absenteeism. The most important insights produced are that the non-confrontational strategy only impacts on affective commitment and not on absenteeism, while the integrative conflict management strategy impacts on absenteeism by fostering affective commitment. The study thus shows that supervisors' management styles (their attempts to manage cooperation) are highly relevant for employee attitudes, which will ultimately impact on their willingness to cooperate. In line with previous research on conflict management, the study shows the superiority of an integrative style over the controlling or non-confrontational strategies.\"Electronic negotiations in intercultural interfirm relationships,\" by Andrea Graf, Sabine T. Koeszegi, and Eva-Maria Pesendorfer, is a quasi-experimental study that explores how cultural values impact on negotiation strategy and outcomes. Negotiation is closely associated with cooperation, as the integrative potential can only be discovered once the parties have engaged in dialogue and negotiation. The main results of the study show that people operating in individualistic cultures are more likely to claim value for themselves, while people with a collectivist background seem to adopt more integrative strategies during negotiation. In line with previous results in face-to-face negotiation, the authors show that when using IT to communicate, integrative strategies seem to be closely linked to the collectivistic values.\"Procedural fairness and cooperation in public-private partnerships in China,\" by Zhe Zhang and Ming Jia, is a survey-based study in which the authors investigate the mediating role of formal and informal contracts in the relationship between procedural justice and quality of cooperation. The study attempts a daring extrapolation of equity theory to make sense of public-private partnerships. The core argument presented by the authors is that private-public partnerships boil down to interpersonal relationships between boundary spanners, and that procedural justice impacts indirectly on the quality of these relationships. If partners evaluate each other's decision processes as fair they will be more likely to establish both formal and informal contracts as a consequence. The use of formal and informal contracts as cooperation control mechanisms reduces the chance of opportunistic behavior and improves the quality of cooperation. The paper opens interesting possibilities to explore cooperation processes at two levels of analysis, considering both interpersonal relationships as well as firm constituencies as core elements of inter-firm cooperation.\"Struggles for cooperation: conflict resolution strategies in multicultural groups,\" by Smaranda Boros, Nicoleta Meslec, Petru L. Curseu, and Wilco Emons, is a survey-based study that examines the influence of group composition as regards individualism and collectivism on conflict resolution strategies. The study goes beyond the direction envisaged (and gives answers to some paradoxes mentioned) by Wagner III (1995) in that it conceptualizes individualism and collectivism on vertical and horizontal orientations and also uses recent developments in the group diversity literature to consider different \"types of group composition.\" The results of the study show that cooperation in multicultural groups is positively influenced by the average level of within-group horizontal collectivism, as well as by the variety in horizontal and vertical collectivism. Moreover, the study shows that group similarity as regards horizontal individualism and vertical collectivism is beneficial for cooperation, while group dissimilarity in vertical individualism is detrimental for cooperation. It is, therefore, suggested that a simplistic distinction between individualism and collectivism is inadequate to uncover the impact of cultural values on conflict management strategies in groups.\nFuture research directions: This special issue brings together studies that enhance our theoretical understanding of cooperation. However, as highlighted in Table I and reflected in the diversity of topics addressed by the papers in this special issue, the diverse findings in this research area still require integration. Future research should, therefore, strive for a better theoretical integration of the insights into and empirical results on cooperation. In this respect, a particularly relevant aspect is the relevance of explicit versus implicit norms for cooperation: a topic that has been explored in several research traditions. Illustrative examples are the issues of formal versus informal contracts in inter-organizational relations literature (see also the paper by Zhang and Jia in this issue), as well as the issues of explicit and implicit cooperation and coordination which are central in negotiation and team dynamics literature (Rico et al., 2008). Future research should further investigate the antecedents as well as the consequences of formal and informal norms in cooperation processes. Knowledge is an important organizational asset and this is often seen as the core resource exchanged in cooperative relations. So far, fairly disconnected research traditions have addressed knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing as essential for cooperation. Research on inter-organizational relations has addressed knowledge transfer in inter-organizational networks as a main antecedent for organizational innovation and performance (van Wijk et al., 2008), while in the group cognition literature there is extensive research on information sharing in groups as the main driver of group creativity and performance (Mesmer-Magnus and de Church, 2009). This is yet another example of rich, but disconnected, areas of research that investigate aspects of cooperation. Further integrative models of cooperation and information sharing/transfer could bridge these research traditions.A potentially fruitful endeavor in future research would be to study cooperation using multilevel approaches. As shown in several studies in this special issue, whenever people cooperate, factors at several levels need be taken into account. An instructive example offered in this special issue concerns the impact of cultural orientation on cooperative behavior. Although value orientation seems a clear-cut individual level variable, cultural value orientations impact on cooperation through multi-level dynamics. At the individual level, cultural orientation is highly relevant for integrative versus distributive strategies used in negotiations (see the paper by Graf et al.). At the dyadic level, the fit between cultural expectations plays an important role in shaping interpersonal relations (the paper by Oerlemans and Peeters). At the group level, different compositions in terms of individualism and collectivism impact on group interactions (the paper by Boros et al.). Other multilevel issues refer to inter-organizational versus interpersonal cooperation. Organizations often join hands to cooperatively solve complex issues (labeled complex task systems by Vansina and Taillieu, 1997). Nevertheless, it is the individuals who have to do the job. Engaged in multiparty cooperation they are subject to attitudes, cultural values, expectations, and personality attributes, but they are also organizational units. Therefore, in inter-departmental and inter-organizational relations, interacting individuals should be conceptualized as constituents of the mother organizations, bringing organizational level influences into the cooperation process (the paper by Zhang and Jia), but also as distinctive individuals with personal attitudes, preferences and expectations (Vansina and Taillieu, 1997). Finally, studies on inter-group negotiation and cooperation are scarce (Curseu and Schruijer, 2008). Groups are systems that exhibit specific dynamics that are distinct from the sum of individual actions (Curseu, 2006). Research on inter-group cooperation should therefore focus on the group level of analysis. We hope that future research on cooperation will focus more on exploring the complex interplay between multilevel organizational dynamics.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The paper aims to introduce the papers in this special issue which highlight the importance of cooperation in organizations, and outline future research directions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Conceptual approaches to cooperation in organizations are described and a brief outline is given to each paper in the special issue.\nFindings: - This special issue brings together studies that enhance our theoretical understanding of cooperation, addressing core issues related to the role of cultural differences, virtual communication, team processes, leader behavior, and the impact of norms on cooperation.\nPractical implications: - Factors that facilitate or hinder cooperation in organizations are highlighted, and suggestions on how to deal with those issues in practice are provided. The papers facilitate understanding of the role of cultural differences, communication, team processes, and leader behavior on cooperation in organizations.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides an introduction to the special issue.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Recruiting abroad: an empirical analysis	[ "Germany", "Internationally oriented businesses", "Labour market forces", "Recruiting abroad" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: As a consequence of the substantial recovery of the German labor market from 2005 to 2011 and the demographic changes, both leading to a more demand oriented labor market, the problem of a skilled labor shortage arises. In June 2011, 27 percent of all German firms reported a current or upcoming demand for skilled labor, and in total, more than 800,000 vacant positions were reported across Germany[1]. However, a demand oriented labor market is not solely a German phenomenon. Demographic predictions project a shrinking labor force in most Northern European countries (European Commission, 2012), such that shortages in skilled labor are of increasing general relevance.\n2. The case of Germany: Germany's tradition as a Guest-Worker country in the 1960s and early 1970s provides an interesting case to study recruiting abroad. Such as the recent development toward demand orientation, Germany experienced the economic miracle after Second World War. Along this post-war economic upswing labor supply became scarce. The scarcity of labor became even more problematic after the GDR government stopped the massive East-West migration by the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961. In response to the shortages, the West German Government signed bilateral recruitment agreements with Southern European countries, which were willing to temporarily send workers[4]. The German Government set up between 500 and 600 labor recruiting offices in the sending countries. These offices posted available positions and signed candidates for initial one-year contracts (Rist, 1978).\n3. Hypotheses: Employers have the choice over recruiting channels and markets from which they recruit. I analyze the use of recruiting abroad and consider two sets of hypotheses addressing internal and external mechanisms of a firm. The internal mechanisms address whether an international orientation, reflected by an international business strategy and an international work force, affects the use of recruiting abroad. The external mechanisms discuss whether market conditions, such as high demands for skilled labor or low levels of supply, lead toward recruit abroad.\n4. Data and empirical model: The IAB-Establishment Panel and the Establishment History Panel\n5. Descriptives: The analysis sample comprises of a representative sample of 11,292 establishments located in Germany. Descriptive statistics in Table I provide a first impression of the analysis sample, the incidence of recruiting abroad, and other variables of interest. While panel (a) of Table I reports frequencies and means of the variables of interest, panel (b) presents a matrix of pairwise correlations of the respective variables.\n6. Identification of the effect of the share of foreign employees: The share of foreign employees is highly endogenous to the dependent variable of interest. This arises because the share of foreign employees might not solely affect the recruiting channel, but recruiting abroad also leads to a direct increase in the share of foreigners. This reverse causality can cause biased estimates. I pursue two strategies to address this bias. First, the share of foreign employees is lagged by one year to exclude that current recruits from abroad directly increase the share of foreigners. However, this does not rule out reverse causality as recruiting abroad is not necessarily a temporary strategy. Therefore and second, I also estimate the share of foreign employees using an IV approach, which corrects for any potential biases if the IV is exogenous to recruiting abroad. The IV, which I propose here, is the share of foreigners at other establishments of the same industry. The intuition of the IV is as follows: employers within the same industry have a similar demand for foreign workers and therefore the industry share of foreign employees should be a good predictor for the observed share of foreign employees. The industry share of foreigners is a demand driven instrument, based on the idea that establishments of the same industry have similar needs for skills.\n7. Empirical results: The multivariate regression results in Table III present partial effects of a simple OLS specification and of two IV specifications, both estimated by 2SLS.\n8. Conclusion: When analyzing which employers recruit from abroad, literature in international human resource management suggests that three aspects are of particular interest: first, internationally operating businesses characterized by high export shares are likely to reflect their strategy with an international human resource strategy. Second, internationally oriented firms, with a high share of foreign employees in the contemporary work force indicate an environment enhancing recruiting abroad. Third, labor market forces, such as scarcities in supply and high demands for skilled labor, may require the employers to search for new and rather unexploited recruiting channels (Henkens et al., 2005, 2008), which leads to an increased use of recruiting abroad.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: In many European countries labor markets became more and more demand oriented. However, the average use of recruiting abroad is still low. From a firm perspective, recruiting abroad comes at substantial costs and risks. The purpose of this paper is to identify mechanisms leading to the use of recruiting from abroad.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Effects are retrieved from simple OLS regressions as well as from demand-sided instrumental variable specifications applied to a large German establishment-level dataset.\nFindings: The share of foreign workers in the contemporary work force enhances recruiting abroad, which is in line with theoretical considerations that foreigners indicate of successful international assignments. The results also indicate that internationally operating businesses more likely recruit from abroad. Furthermore, the author finds that market forces are relevant for the strategy to recruit abroad. Both, the regional scarcity of labor and a high demand for skilled labor affect the employer's decision to recruit abroad.\nSocial implications: The results indicate that internationally oriented businesses more likely recruit abroad. Furthermore, labor market mechanisms, such as scarcities, are functional and foster the use of foreign labor markets.\nOriginality/value: This study adds to the literature by providing first empirical evidence on recruiting abroad, which is the use of foreign labor markets.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Usability and affordances for inquiry-based learning in a blended learning environment	[ "Design and development", "Learning", "Usability", "Affordance", "Collaborative knowledge creation", "Engaging learning environment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Designing new learning environments (LEs) typically aims at improving learning outcomes and promoting the overall learning experience. In addition to creating completely new and refurbished spaces for learning and teaching, also current LEs can be re-designed and re-thought by implementing both physical and digital (virtual) platforms that make the environment more technologically embedded and agile. By agile, this paper refers to physical LEs that are flexible, adaptable and provide a rich variety of different environments based on need (for a conceptualisation of the modern term learning agility, see DeRue et al., 2012). Learning activities that take place in different environments can be enhanced by embedding different modern elements, such as platforms for knowledge co-creation and sharing of ideas and conceptualisations (Hakkarainen et al., 2004a, 2004b; Hakkarainen, 2009; Scardamalia and Bereiter, 2014). The design process of such LEs, however, does seldom make use of the participation of all stakeholder levels including the students (Konings et al., 2014), thus forming a potential gap between intended use and eventual end-user experience of the usability of the space. End-user needs are even today still an abstraction in many building projects (Kaya, 2004). On the other hand, ways of using personalised mobile technologies and social platforms have also challenged the roles that physical facilities play in affording different spaces, places and functions in different learning communities (Cardellino and Leiringer, 2014).\nEngaging learning environments and usability: considering the frameworks together: The concept of space has changed during the past decade because of the massive increase in mobile applications, leading to a seemingly spaceless world where for instance mobile work is a growing trend (Vartiainen and Hyrkkanen, 2010). In education, more and more student learning and learning activities take place in informal LEs that may not have been designed for teaching and formal learning (Harrison and Hutton, 2014; McFarlane, 2015) Changes that are taking place on all levels of education also bear an effect on the physical facilities (Lee, 2014). The overarching development of information and communication technology (ICT) plays a major role in these changes. One of the major challenges of universities and different educational facilities is the gap that has been said to be forming between new knowledge practices that involve different ICT and evolving knowledge practices (Lonka, 2012). The entrance of these shared social knowledge practices in HE is also seen in the growing need for spaces for collaborative knowledge creation (Hamilton, 2009; Loyens and Gijbels, 2008). Planning the physical spaces for learning has become more complicated as the notion that learning happens in different settings physically and virtually is more widely understood (Dugdale, 2009). Like schools (Alexander, 2009), university facilities are increasingly conceptualised in and for the communities they serve, and they are considered essential in changing the educational landscape.\nMethods: Participants and study context\nResults: The interviews were performed at the Minerva Plaza living lab so that the students could have the context active in their minds. This led many of them commenting and indicating concretely on the dimensions of the space. The group of students was readily using and always testing new technological applications for structuring, brainstorming and sharing of information and knowledge and for individual reflection. Many times, they mentioned, for instance, the Flinga application even when it was not triggered by the lead question.\nSummary of results: The results can be applied both in assessing and developing usability in future LEs. The agile and embedded LEs can support socio-digital practices both for the process itself as well as in forming and re-forming the environment. The findings for usable embedded LEs in this study include the following dimensions:\nDiscussion: A course unit based on progressive inquiry-based pedagogy contains numerous phases and requires varying knowledge practices and different spaces. Human interaction has become more socio-digital than before with emerging technological applications. Some of those applications enhance communication when people are not present in the same place but importantly also when people are in the same space. These dimensions were brought up by the informants of this study. This is also a challenge for the usability and affordances of the facilities, and the context studied here is a powerful one for defining changing user needs to improve usability and user satisfaction through more user-led design.\nImplications and future research: Taking the results from this study back to the development of LEs, it is important to listen carefully what really works for the users in a given context performing given tasks with certain goals. Studying co-creative processes entails the acknowledgement of the affording dimensions in any given learning and working environment, how the affordances are approached and taken advantage of. It is interesting what the user experiences in such occasions are and how the user satisfaction can be supported by agile affording and usable spaces and facilities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of user experiences in a physical and technologically embedded learning environment (LE) designed to support active student-led inquiry-based studies and collaborative knowledge creation in higher education.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper integrated the USEframe of usability of built environments and the inquiry-based engaging learning environment (ELE) to test and develop the usability and pedagogy of future LEs. A group of ten teacher students was studied and interviewed semi-structurally after a seven-week inquiry-based course unit. The findings were considered in light of the two frameworks.\nFindings: The physical and embedded LEs provided the students with socio-digital affordances that promoted experienced study engagement, knowledge co-creation and sharing and a sense of safety and belonging in the scientific community. The application of the ELE model and the agile physical setting complemented and supported each other and promoted learning.\nPractical implications: The results shed light on how to integrate understanding the user process, user experience and use of embedded LEs to develop usability of new LEs.\nOriginality/value: The living lab provides different stakeholders with tangible information about usability and helps the designers in concrete streamlining of pedagogy and physical LEs.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Audit of an inpatient liaison psychiatry consultation service	[ "Clinical audit", "Quality", "Continuous improvement", "Evidence‐based practice", "Hospital management", "Benchmarking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The need for guidelines in liaison psychiatry has long been recognised (Stoudemire et al., 1998), but implementation of this has proven difficult. A recent review of high quality systematic reviews in key areas of liaison psychiatry demonstrated that much of the practice of clinical liaison psychiatry is based on lower quality evidence, or on use of research in other areas of psychiatry, where higher quality evidence is available (Ruddy and House, 2005). It has been recognised that clinical expertise is essential in day-to-day management of patients, but that it should be used in conjunction with the best available external evidence for optimal patient care (Sackett et al., 1996).Quality improvement efforts, through auditing, should be an integral part of any service. Audit and feedback has been shown to be effective in improving professional practice (Jamtvedt et al., 2006). Development of clinical indicators and establishment of a database in a liaison psychiatry service, have been shown to improve clinical performance by leading to the identification of problems and introducing effective interventions (Holmes et al., 2000).Comparing services through benchmarking facilitates quality control, and promotes service improvement (Bayney, 2005). This involves comparing practices with standards established by other services. A recent study in the UK benchmarked timeliness of response to patient referrals in a liaison psychiatry consultation service (O'Keeffe et al., 2007). They set targets for timeliness of response of 90 per cent of all referrals to be seen by the end of the next working day, and 90 per cent of all referrals following self-harm to be seen by the end of the same day. They achieved compliance rates of 93.8 per cent, and 87.5 per cent, respectively, for these standards. Another study performed in Switzerland set standards of 95 per cent of referrals to be seen by the end of the next day (Archinard et al., 2005). They introduced measures to improve the timeliness of response and increased compliance with this standard from 80.3 per cent to 93 per cent. Guidelines were also set out for defining certain referrals as an emergency, with a target of 95 per cent of these referrals to be seen within two hours. Compliance with this standard also improved from 69.2 per cent to 82.6 per cent. As part of our audit we benchmarked timeliness of response against these standards.Aim\nMethods: All liaison psychiatry inpatient consultations were recorded in a consult diary between 1 July 2007 and 31 December 2007 by the three psychiatry registrars attached to the service. Patient demographics, referring team, medical reason for admission, referral reason, clinical diagnosis, and management by the liaison psychiatry team, were documented. This audit was conducted in a naturalistic study setting where clinical diagnoses, based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), were used by registrars with a similar level of clinical expertise, and with the supervision of two consultant psychiatrists. Diagnoses and management of cases were confirmed at meetings between registrars and consultants. Consultation details were documented routinely at the time of assessment in paper form. Referral forms from the referring team were kept, and date of referral was compared with date in which the patient was seen. The data obtained were transferred using an Excel spreadsheet into the statistical package STATA 8.2 for analysis. Hospital ethics committee approval was obtained prior to commencing the audit.\nFindings: Referral reason and diagnosis\nDiscussion: More studies need to be performed in order to further develop the specialist area of liaison psychiatry, and to ensure evidence-based practices are being used. Liaison psychiatry inpatient consultation services provide essential specialist care to the inpatient population, and as psychiatric comorbidity has been associated with longer inpatient stays, improved services may reduce inappropriately delayed discharge (Saravay and Lavin, 1994; Hall and Frankel, 1996), as well as potentially leading to better outcomes for patients with some psychiatric morbidities (Francis and Kapoor, 1992). In spite of this there is a paucity of studies on management in this area, and as mentioned earlier, evidence base in this setting is relatively weak (Ruddy and House, 2005).Referral reason and diagnosis\nConclusion: This paper provides important information for improving general management of inpatient liaison psychiatry consultation services, as well as discussing current evidence based practices in this area. Management of a number of common disorders including alcohol related disorders and delirium were sub-optimal in our research. Provision of training in the use of brief intervention therapies for management of alcohol and some other drug related disorders may improve outcomes, however, it should be noted that more studies are needed to fully evaluate their use in the ward setting. Further research in the management of delirium is long overdue in order to produce a stronger evidence base for various interventions. Nonetheless efforts should be made to implement current national guidelines in order to provide best standard of care. Measures to improve timeliness of response should be widely utilised by liaison psychiatry services. Supervision of junior staff, with frequent meetings, is also essential in implementation of all these recommendations, as well as for provision of a quality service.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine an audit that was performed of all patients referred to a liaison psychiatry inpatient consultation service which sought to establish a baseline for demographics, type of referral, and management of referrals, with a view to introducing improved evidence-based treatments. It also aims to examine timeliness of response to referrals benchmarked against published standards.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - All inpatient referrals to a liaison psychiatry service were recorded over a six-month period, including demographics, diagnosis, management and timeliness of response to referrals. The data were retrospectively analysed and compared against international standards.\nFindings: - A total of 172 referrals were received in the six months. Commonest referral reasons included assessments regarding depressive disorders (23.8 per cent), delirium/other cognitive disorders (19.2 per cent), alcohol-related disorders (18.6 per cent), anxiety disorders (14.5 per cent), and risk management (12.2 per cent). Evidence-based practices were not utilised effectively for a number of different types of presentations. A total of 40.1 per cent of referrals were seen on the same day, 75.4 per cent by the end of the next day, and 93.4 per cent by the end of the following day.\nPractical implications: - Use of a hospital protocol for management of delirium may improve outcomes for these patients. Evidence-based techniques, such as brief intervention therapies, may be beneficial for referrals involving alcohol dependence. Referrals were seen reasonably quickly, but there is room for improvement when compared with published standards.\nOriginality/value: - This paper provides valuable information for those involved in management of liaison psychiatry consultation services, providing ideas for development and implementation of evidence based practices.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leadership for change: Proposed organizational development by incorporating systems thinking and quality tools	[ "Quality improvement", "Cybernetics", "Quality management", "Higher education", "Private universities", "Systems thinking" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: The university[1] started as an institute established in 1995, which authenticated the services in pre-university college education, followed by skills-based professional education; over time, it had become a brand name for the reliability and assurance of its educational services. The system was supported by healthy incentives of fee concessions and scholarships for its college alumni and created a very successful business model resulting in its exponential growth. The hub of growth has been the business and IT schools.\n2. Purpose of the study: The purpose of this case study is to observe the organizational dynamics of a university through systemic analysis to identify shortcomings in its management and gaps in leadership action for change and quality improvement. For systemic analysis of an organization, first of all, it is important to know how the organization is conceptualized. This examination is done from outside the system as a subject/object study, while it is assumed that private universities with their relative degree of freedom and autonomy in their own decision making are loosely coupled living organizations dependent upon human interaction (Weick, 1976; Orton and Weick, 1990). Therefore, a systemic analysis may help us to find out how private universities may generate their own autopoiesis (auto productive system). The study asks following questions:\n3. Cybernetics: We are living in a complex world and the quality of decision making is affected by their mental models (Conant and Ashby, 1970), therefore, they need to tune up these models regularly to their environment. Cybernetics is one such science; it is identified as a science of self-regulating and equilibrating systems (Maruyama, 1963). Organizational Cybernetics (OC) proposed by Beer (1983, 1984, 1989, 2004) provides a framework to managers of an organization, whether public or private to diagnose or design the organization to ensure its viability (Rios, 2010, p. 1529).\n4. Systemic analysis: The systemic analysis is presented using Beer's viable system model (Beer, 1983, 1984, 1989, 2004; Rios, 2010). Rios (2010) contends that viability of system means that a system can maintain its independent existence, facing all challenges of the environment. A system has to show self-regulation, learning, adaptation and evolution. Variety indicates \"complexity of a system referring to a number of states, and actual or potential behavior a situation or problem may contain\" (p. 1531). Deriving from the principle \"communication and control\" of Weiner (1948). Beer (1983, 1984, 1989) suggests that viability of system is ensured only if a system has five sub-systems in it. This study has followed Rios (2010) model to check the viability of the university as a system, attempting to diagnose all ills, social or psychological that may defeat a system restraining it from its natural autopoiesis (Varela et al., 1974, 1997; Maturana and Varela, 1980).\n5. The system at the university: The \"purpose of the system is what it does\" (Beer, 1984), and system in the university exists to provide higher education to students, and the main function of the system is to provide conducive environment for teaching and learning. Therefore all degree programs are the goods, and higher education is a high quality service which adds value to the human product - the students, who become employable graduates after getting the service. According to Espejo (2008), structure emerges from stable forms of communication, or mechanisms, which permit the parts of an organization to operate together as a whole. These parts are understood as various roles that people adopt in an organization and the units that they form, such as teams, departments or business units. The organization's structure is thus, viewed as a network of stable \"real life\" on-going communications, or organizational processes, and not as static formal reporting relations (Rios, 2010).\n6. Reflections on the system: The systems 3 and 4 highlighted in red are missing in the university. In absence of these fully functioning sub-systems the system appears to be bureaucratic in its feel and function.\n7. Application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS): Higher education is facing many challenges and some of these are connected with creation of efficient systems (Sirvanci, 2004). Contemporary businesses have become leaner with pursuit of quality and adoption of total quality management (TQM). HEIs are slow in adopting this trend, therefore, they are in increasing pressures to manage their costs and become more efficient. The meaning for quality and purpose of leadership, both have changed in twenty-first century: \"Quality leadership for the future means that every individual in a system is empowered and inspired to own his or her 'patch' of the place\" (McChrystal and Evans, 2015, p. 7).\n8. Conclusions: It is important to reflect upon the whole process, its strengths and weaknesses, what made this process successful and what could be our future challenges. People's attitude matters the most, and it is important to consider how much \"ready\" people are to involve in an activity. Leadership ability was found to be most critical in creating favorable attitude in the faculty (2015a, b). The most critical readiness factors were the leader's ability to:\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the scope of application of systems thinking and cybernetics for change management by presenting the case of a private university of Pakistan. Six Sigma has been tested as a possible solution to the problems faced by the institution.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Stafford Beer's approach of running the system on trial at five levels has been used to estimate system's efficacy. The system analysis helped to identify lapses in the system as well as the leverage points for quality improvement. Six Sigma DMAIC tools have been applied for the possible improvement in the process of course management in a private university of Pakistan.\nFindings: Private universities in Pakistan are operated as a business and the business owners are busy to keep their system stable unmindful for the protocol for sustainability. What will make the system viable and sustainable is yet to be learnt by the private universities of Pakistan. There exists a sharp divide between bottom line approach of businessmen and the academia's confidence in the quality improvement. However, it has been learned that the organizational development is the job of every academic manager, and managing the process through creative innovation is the only solution.\nOriginality/value: The case study is a unique contribution in theory and principles of quality management for checking the application of Six Sigma and lean techniques for organizational development of a private university.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital literacies through an intersectional lens: the case of Javier	[ "Digital literacy", "Intersectionality", "Learning disabilities", "Literacy and identity", "English learners", "Disability studies" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In this paper, we present a case study of the digital video composing practices of Javier (all names are pseudonyms), a Latinx English Learner (EL) who had been identified as having several learning disabilities. We set out to examine Javier's digital literacy practices through an intersectional lens to understand the ways in which digital video composing offered him a chance to compose semiotically powerful messages with socially powerful digital literacy tools. This form of authoring involves multiple modes of expression (e.g. voice, image and gesture) mediated by digital tools (e.g. iPad apps, computer programs). Pandya and Avila (2017) argue that children with disabilities are often left out of productive digital literacies practices; this project both redistributed those practices to a student with special needs and afforded us the opportunity to explore the intersectional identities visible in Javier's digital artefacts.\nTheorizing digital video composing in the inclusive classroom: Our work with Javier was undergirded by sociocultural perspectives on how people make meaning in digital modes combined with a universal design for learning (UDL) approach, while an intersectionality framework and research in disability studies guided our understanding and interpretation of Javier's intersecting identities.\nBuilding Javier's case: methods for data collection and analysis: We write about Javier to explore, and explain, what Siebers (2008) describes as Javier's \"complex embodiment\" of his disabilities. To us, this meant examining the ways he engaged the composing process in the classroom as a person with learning disabilities, an English learner, a child of immigrants and a Latinx student in a complex social environment. When we met Javier, he was nine years old and was repeating third grade for the second time. We worked with him as part of a larger research project in a K-8 school, in which we helped third- to fifth-grade teachers weave multimodal digital compositions on iPads into the fabric of the regular language arts and social studies curricula (Pandya, 2018). Javier was included in almost all regular classroom activities, including composing sessions. We chose to construct a case study of Javier (Yin, 2009) based on a combination of interpersonal, methodological, and theoretical rationales. On an interpersonal level, we chose to write about Javier because he had a zest for life, and a willingness to talk with us and try new things, that made him a complex and intriguing child to spend time with and study. In the larger project, we worked with approximately 150 children in the course of four years and had human subjects' permission to write about 15 children with individualized education plans (IEPs). Methodologically speaking, Javier had made the most videos with us - five - in the course of the research project of any child with an IEP, and we had the most data (in terms of quantity and kind) about him.\nFindings: meaning-making in and across modes: Javier's digital video composition practices were complex, and, like those of his peers, his compositions showed moments of sophisticated multimodal authorship and moments of less sophisticated composition. We begin by describing his work in linguistic modes, which seemed intertwined with his identity as a bilingual learner and a student with learning disabilities. Then we discuss the meanings of his music and sound effect choices in the audio mode. We look then at his communication in the visual mode, where his popular culture references were most present. Ultimately, we examine his efforts to connect with his audiences through video. Throughout, we address the intersections we saw between his various identities and draw inferences about how those intersections may have influenced his composing practices.\nDiscussion and implications: There are key lessons here about digital video's utility for all students as a composing tool based on the ways Javier made meaning, and the reflection of his intersectional identity in his multimodal meaning-making and his digital artifacts. Javier's self-focused videos personified the intersection of his identity as a bilingual, Latinx boy who celebrates Dia de los Muertos and as a boy living in America who celebrates Halloween. Celebrating the two holidays simultaneously, as if they were inseparable, is likely how Javier experienced them. Javier's case study also helps to reveal how important it is to recognize the intersectionality of disability (Garcia and Ortiz, 2013). Javier's proficiency in video production was influenced, in part, by UDL-related flexibility in language support, affording opportunities for him to intentionally and systemically access curricula from the start (CAST, 2018).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine, through an intersectional lens, how digital video composing can be an act of redistributive social justice for students with learning disabilities.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors draw on two years' worth of observation, interview, survey and digital video data to present a case study of Javier (all names are pseudonyms), a Latinx English Learner with several learning disabilities. The authors worked with him, making digital videos in a general education classroom as part of a larger design-based study. The authors describe how he made meaning in various modes, across modes, and how his intersectional identities inflected his meaning-making and were visible in his video artifacts.\nFindings: Javier was an able digital composer, made meaning across modes and was attentive to audience. His videos offer a portrait of a child with learning disabilities navigating his complex cultural worlds.\nResearch limitations/implications: This is a single case study built to bridge multiple theoretical and disciplinary backgrounds. Javier was able to compose semiotically powerful messages with socially powerful digital tools.\nOriginality/value: The authors argue that the use of such tools is a chance for redistributive social justice. Children traditionally underserved by innovations in digital making should not be left out.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
User studies and user education programmes in archival institutions	[ "Archives", "Reference services", "User studies", "Public services", "Public programming", "User education" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: From the 1960s to the early 2000s the archival profession, especially in North America, engaged in evaluating its perception of services offered to the public (Brett and Jones, 2013). The debate was characterised by two schools of thought, on the one side the material-centred and on the other side the use-centred (Feliciati and Alfier, 2014, pp. 174-175; Sinn, 2007, pp. 52-53). While the material-centred school of thought was associated with the archival profession's past heritage, the use-centred school of thought was the result of a robust debate on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the basic tenets on which the profession has been based (Cross, 1997; Greene, 2010; Harris, 2010; Marquis, 1997/1998). The material-centred school of thought was identified with the truism of archivists traditionally seeing themselves as \"keepers of records\", and their primary task being to preserve the integrity of the documentary heritage within their sphere of responsibility. The risk in this exclusive view is the high likelihood of limiting provision of service to information seekers that were already in constant contact with archival institutions. The view sought by the use-centred school of thought was to shift the attention from the archival material to current and potential users and their needs, thereby justifying the preservation of the records (Murambiwa and Ngulube, 2011). While this view prevailed in many of the discussions, there is need for balance in order for it to be purposeful and effectual. Several commentators noted that, at the very extreme end, the material-centred viewpoint may misunderstand the primacy of the need to protect the integrity of archival records (Eastwood, 1997; Todd, 2006, p. 184). Eastwood (1997, p. 28) added that Hilary Jenkinson advocated the primary duty of archival professions being to protect the integrity of materials and secondary duties being to make them available, highlighting that such primacy is just a sequential order.\nUser studies: User studies are often considered as activities that involve the development of user profiles through the collection of information about institutions' clientele. However, the activities should include analysis and interpretation of that information for integration into other institutional programmes and services (Brice and Shanley-Roberts, 2009, p. 15; Cordell, 2013, p. 10). In the most elementary sense, users are those seeking information on archival materials (Conway, 1986, p. 395). But this simplistic definition may not serve any purpose in user studies since viewing information seekers in one large category means that the unique needs of individual groupings are not identified and addressed. Several commentators have argued that users do not come to archival institutions to use the historical material, but rather to address their own problems or satisfy their own curiosities (Blais and Enns, 1990; Freeman, 1985). Freeman (1985, pp. 89-97) used the analogy of people going to a hardware store to buy quarter-inch drill bits but in their minds they really needed to create quarter-inch holes, and if there was a better way of getting the desired results, they would no longer buy the quarter-inch bits.\nUser education: One of the ways in which user studies can be incorporated into the services of archival institutions is through user education. User education is aimed at increasing public understanding, appreciation and utilisation of archival material, benefiting from knowledge gained from user studies (Kemoni, 2002). Several commentators including Freivogel (1978, p. 147, footnote 2) and Phillips (1995, p. 99) have noted that the concept of user education had often been used interchangeably with other public programming activities such as the exhibitions programme (whether in-house or travelling), or the publications programme (whether designing brochures or school kits). However, over the last few decades there has been a differentiation of these concepts (Dewey, 2001; Ruan and Sung, 2003, p. 83). In user education, the archival professionals will identify a target audience and their level of sophistication, think of how to present the institutional mandate and activities in formats that best suit the users' needs, and prepare a venue and time for training them (Freivogel, 1978, p. 150; Vilar and Sauperl, 2014). User education, therefore, contrasts with exhibition programmes, for example, where the archivists will prepare and display archival material and may target a specific type of audience but do not necessarily dictate who will visit the exhibition (Gelfand, 2013; Gordon, 1994). In publications programmes, brochures and leaflets may be used to package and disseminate information on the archival mandate and activities but these are often broadcast as opposed to being targeted to a specific audience (Cook, 1990; Myres, 1979).\nConcluding remarks: Commentators have lamented a dearth of archival literature on both user studies and user education (Eastwood, 1997, p. 32; Yakel and Torres, 2003, pp. 53-54). This paper attempted to highlight some of the key aspects that constitute both concepts drawing from history in order to provide a better understanding within the current professional discussions within the context of public services offered by archival institutions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine user studies as well as user education within the context of public services offered by archival institutions. It highlighted some of the key aspects that constitute both concepts drawing from history in order to provide a better understanding in the context of current professional discussions.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The review analysed peer-reviewed articles ranging from the late 1970s to the present time to illuminate debates in the archival professional underpinning the current understanding of user studies and user education.\nFindings: The paper outlined the different paths used in user studies to ensure data collection is exhaustive and provides a nuanced assessment of user needs. It also outlined the two related paradigms of structuring user education programmes, highlighted the points at which they differ and the rich discussions resulting from comparative analysis.\nOriginality/value: The paper demonstrated that there is a rich corpus of professional literature on both user studies and user education, expounding on different aspects that would ensure both are designed and implemented effectively.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Isolating the value-relevant part of advertising spending	[ "Institutional investors", "Shareholder value", "Advertising spending", "Analyst coverage" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Marketing executives are under increasing pressure to justify their budgets and pinpoint the positive financial impact of those expenses (Rust et al., 2004a), and chief marketing officers are the most frequently fired executives in the boardroom (Welch, 2004). Top marketers may have difficulty in precisely demonstrating the marketing function's contribution to shareholder value (Rust et al., 2004b), and may be challenged to show that marketing resources, such as advertising expenses, are effectively spent to create shareholder value (Kumar and Shah, 2009). Those difficulties may explain the decline in marketing's influence in firms over time (Verhoef and Leeflang, 2009; Webster et al., 2005). The academic literature offers only limited support for marketing managers, providing equivocal empirical results regarding the relationship between shareholder value and advertising spending (Table I).\n2. Disentangling advertising spending: The inconclusive empirical findings (Table I) regarding the relationship between advertising spending and shareholder value are puzzling from a marketing theory perspective. Advertising plays a critical role in building and maintaining brand equity, which is an important marketing asset. Marketing assets positively affect firms' market position (e.g. unit sales), which results in a better financial position (e.g. profits) and, hence, should lead to greater firm value (Rust et al., 2004a). Specifically, strong brands allow for greater differentiation from competitors and thus build customer preference, generating unit sales through larger and repeat purchases, customer referrals and a greater willingness of distribution partners to shelf the products (Boulding et al., 1994; Cobb-Walgren et al., 1995; Russell and Kamakura, 1994). These effects enhance a firm's financial position by generating larger revenues, also because customers are willing to pay premium prices, and by saving costs, such as customer acquisition costs (Ailawadi et al., 2003; Kumar et al., 2013). As the translation of advertising spending into these positive market and financial outcomes often only materializes in the long run, marketing scholars emphasize the investment character of advertising spending (Hanssens et al., 2009). Financial market investors are assumed to use advertising spending as an early signal of a firm's future economic benefits and factor those into the firm's stock price (Joshi and Hanssens, 2010).\n3. Moderating effects: 3.1 Investor mix\n4. Data, measures and model: For our empirical investigation, we used publicly listed US firms included in the COMPUSTAT database as our sampling frame. This sample is highly representative, with total annual revenues of COMPUSTAT firms accounting for a major part of the US gross domestic product (GDP). To ensure generalizability of our findings, no industries or specific firms were removed from that sample. From the COMPUSTAT database, we extracted annual accounting information from 2003 to 2015[4] and matched those observations with data from the Thomson Reuters Holdings Database (13-F filings), I/B/E/S and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) required for our moderating variables and some of our control variables. As we explain in detail below, we used the lagged observations of our dependent variable (Tobin's q) to redress endogeneity concerns from time-varying omitted variables (Germann et al., 2015). This step means that for our final sample, we required at least two consecutive years of data per firm, with the first available observation per firm used only to measure our dependent variable and not in our estimations as such. The sampling procedure yielded an unbalanced pooled cross-sectional time-series panel of 10,017 firm-year observations for 1,824 unique firms operating in 242 different industries defined by four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. The operationalizations of variables in our data set are summarized in Table II and are described next. Descriptive statistics and correlations for those variables are presented in Table III. We winsorized all variables at the 1 per cent level to redress the influence of outliers (McAlister et al., 2016). As all correlations between our variables are below. The correlations \"are below\" the suggested thresholds (<0.70), multicollinearity is not a concern in our data (Cohen et al., 2003).\n5. Results: We estimated two models to examine the relationship between advertising spending and shareholder value (Tobin's q). The first model contains, in addition to our control variables, only advertising spending (Adit) without the share of contemporaneously productive advertising spending (Adit) and interaction effects. We estimated this model to offer a generalization of the advertising spending-shareholder value relationship using our large-scale data set. In the second model, we added the share of contemporaneously productive advertising spending to assess whether the financial market distinguishes, and prices differently, this distinct component of advertising spending from the remaining part (i.e. long-term investment) of advertising spending. We also added the hypothesized moderators to the model to test the influence of the investor mix and analyst coverage on the valuation of advertising spending's short-term productivity vis-a-vis its long-term investment part. We note that the pattern of results for the second model does not change when bootstrapped standard errors are used to accommodate that the short-term productive advertising spending (Adit) is an estimated regressor (Wooldridge, 2010)[8]. Both models are estimated using robust standard errors, clustered by industry, to account for within-industry correlation and heteroscedasticity. The models fit the data well (Wald kh2 > 5,878, p < 0.01). Moreover, common model specification tests for system GMM indicate no issues in the models' specifications (Roodman 2009). In particular, consistent with system GMM assumptions, we found significant first-order autocorrelation [AR(1) < -10.79, p < 0.01] and non-significant second-order autocorrelation [AR(2) < 1.10, p > 0.10] in the residuals of the differences equation. The Hansen J-statistic is insignificant (J < 207.63, p > 0.10), indicating no model misspecification and valid instrument over-identification restrictions. Also, the Hansen C-statistic is insignificant (C < 31.16, p > 0.10), suggesting instrument validity in the differences equation.\n6. Discussion: Building strong brands is one of the key activities of marketing, and advertising spending is a necessary input for that process. Hence the financial return to advertising spending, and ultimately the creation of shareholder value, is an indicator of marketing's success (Rust et al., 2004a). However, empirical investigations of the association between advertising spending and shareholder value have produced ambiguous results (Table I). A possible reason for those mixed findings is that investors, who determine shareholder value by the price they are willing to pay for a firm's stock, evaluate differently distinct components of advertising spending (Erickson and Jacobson, 1992; Joshi and Hanssens, 2010). In addition, moderating factors can create heterogeneity in the pricing of advertising (Edeling and Fischer, 2016). Drawing on concepts and anecdotal evidence from finance, we have proposed that investors pay attention to and value separately the share of a firm's advertising spending that generates revenues immediately and the share that represents a longer-term investment in building and maintaining brand equity, and hence safeguards cash flows in the future. We further derived that important financial market contextual variables (investor mix and analyst coverage) are likely to influence investors' pricing of the different advertising spending components. By decomposing firms' advertising spending and examining the impact of contextual factors, we were able to contribute to a deeper understanding of how investors value marketing expenditures.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine how much importance the financial market attaches to advertising spending's short-term productivity vis-a-vis its investment component and the impact of important contextual factors (investor mix and analyst coverage) on this trade-off.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A stochastic frontier estimation (SFE) approach is used to help disentangle advertising spending. Using a panel internal instruments model and 10,017 firm-year observations from publicly listed US companies over a 13-year period, this study relates aggregated advertising spending and disentangled advertising spending, together with important contextual factors, to Tobin's q.\nFindings: The results do not indicate an effect of aggregated advertising spending on Tobin's q. However, after advertising spending is disentangled, results show the component with an efficient immediate revenue response to have a positive effect on Tobin's q, whereas the effect of the remaining investment component is negative. Contextual factors moderate investors' valuation of the components.\nResearch limitations/implications: Findings are limited to US publicly listed firms, and are based on secondary, non-experimental data. The results imply that investors reward firms only for short-term advertising productivity, casting doubt on investors' understanding of the long-term value of marketing.\nPractical implications: The results confirm managers' belief that not all money spent on advertising creates shareholder value. Managers should use the outlined SFE to benchmark their firms' short-term advertising productivity against that of industry peer firms.\nOriginality/value: This study advances a new perspective, suggesting that advertising spending can be decomposed into two distinct parts by considering how financial market investors evaluate advertising spending. Important contextual effects on this evaluation from firms' investor mix and analyst coverage are also shown for the first time. The findings help in reconciling conflicting prior results, and shed new light on how the financial market evaluates marketing expenditures.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The development of trust over time in an emerging market context: the case of the Tunisian automotive sector	[ "Tunisia", "Trust", "Emerging markets", "Business relationship management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The characteristics of business in the increasingly important and rapidly growing emerging economies is one of the business-to-business (B2B) marketing knowledge gaps identified by Lilien (2016). Our knowledge of marketing derives almost exclusively from research conducted in high income, industrialized countries (Burgess and Steenkamp, 2006). However, emerging markets (Kearney, 2012) are dramatically different from traditional industrialized economies in terms of their market heterogeneity, sociopolitical governance, chronic shortage of resources, unbranded competition and inadequate infrastructure (Sheth, 2011). These differences require us to rethink the core assumptions of marketing (Sheth, 2011) and also create a research context in which theories and assumptions and their underlying mechanisms can be studied (Burgess and Steenkamp, 2006). Answering the call for research from Burgess and Steenkamp (2006) and Kearney (2012) about emerging countries, we investigate the emerging economy of Tunisia and its automotive spare-parts market, to study how trust evolves during the relationship development process (Ford, 1980; Mandjak et al., 2015).\nTheoretical background: trust and trust building: Trust is a highly complex phenomenon and several different dimensions can be found in the literature (Lane, 2002). A thorough literature review emphasizes that trust has many definitions, none of which is unanimously accepted (Castaldo et al., 2010). Our starting point is the multidisciplinary definition of Rousseau et al. (1998, p. 395) that \"trust is a psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another\". In a business context, trust is an integral part of buyer-seller relationships (Schoorman et al., 2007). It is a necessary condition for smooth and efficient business transactions to take place between partners, but it is also a highly intangible and volatile asset, being difficult to create and also easy to destroy (Usunier, 2002). Trust itself is not a behavior or choice \"but an underlying psychological condition that can cause or result from such actions\" (Rousseau et al., 1998, p. 395). The predictability of another person's behavior and the fact that behavior produces outcomes that are favorable to the person creating trust objectives are two typical outcomes of trust (Castaldo et al., 2010).\nMethod: We studied how trust, as an important component of relationship quality, it is related to the dynamics and the management of the relationship in the Tunisian automotive spare parts market. The relatively simple structure of the industry meant that the mutual integration of needs between wholesalers-importers and the resellers is fairly easily understood. We take a monadic view, having interviewed the resellers about their relationships with their wholesalers-importers. Our paper is based on a qualitative study of the relationships of 15 spare-parts resellers.\nFindings: To obtain an in-depth understanding of the role of trust as a component of relationship quality, the study focuses on two main aspects, namely relationship dynamics and the negotiation process. We study relationship dynamics by considering the development phases through which the relationship goes, and business relationship management is conceptualized by studying the negotiation process. In this section, we present our findings about the characteristics of the distribution network and Tunisian business relationships.\nDiscussion: Investigating the actors in the Tunisian automotive spare-parts network, we were interested in the way in which trust developed in the relationships between the resellers and the wholesalers-importers that supplied them. Table II shows the main empirical results of our investigation.\nConclusions: In this paper, we have looked for answers to our research question regarding how trust is related to the dynamics and the management of business relationships in an emerging market context. Applying the IMP interaction approach as our theoretical basis, we have studied the business relationship management practices of the local resellers of the Tunisian automotive spare-parts market.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how context influences the quality of business relationships. This theoretical question is studied from the point of view of trust, one of the important components of business relationship quality. The authors study how trust is related to the dynamics and management of the business relationship in the context of an emerging market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper is based on qualitative interviews with 15 spare-parts resellers in the Tunisian automotive industry. The authors take a monadic view, interviewing resellers about their relationships with their wholesalers-importers. The decision to undertake the research in Tunisia is based on three factors. First, Tunisia is an emerging country and there is very little published research based in the Maghreb countries. Second, the Tunisian automotive parts market structure is relatively simple and, hence, easily understood, with most spare-parts being imported because of the low level of local production. Third, the actors in the study are all Tunisian companies, so research allows us to explore relationships between local companies in an emerging country.\nFindings: The authors find that different kinds of trust play different roles over the dynamics of the relationship. Perceived trust is more important at the emergent stage of a relationship, and as the two parties learn from each other, experienced trust becomes more important in the established relationships. The initial perceived trust creates the possibility of building trust, and when mutual trust exists between the parties, it motivates them to maintain the relationship, but there is always the threat of the degradation of the quality of the relationship because of the violation or destruction of the trust.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper shows that more care should be taken when using trust as the variable under scrutiny. Different aspects of trust manifest themselves at various stages of the relationship building cycle.\nPractical implications: The results emphasize that when initiating a business relationship, managers first need to create perceived trust. Thereafter, once trust is built up, it is the trust that may \"manage\" or act to control the on-going relationship as long as the partners' behavior or network changes do not violate the trust.\nOriginality/value: The results of this paper show that there is a mutual but not necessarily symmetrical or balanced influence of trust on the behavior of the partners involved. The influence of the different parties is dependent on the power architecture, the history of the relationship and the network position of the actors.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Is enterprise education relevant to social enterprise?	[ "Entrepreneurship education", "Relevance", "Social enterprise", "Enterprise education", "Wider interpretation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Enterprise education may have stated as long ago as 1947 or even 1938 (Hannon, 2004). In the UK in particular it received a stimulus from a speech given in 1976 by James Callaghan, then the Prime Minister, in which he accused the education system of being \"out of touch with the fundamental need for Britain to survive economically in a highly competitive world\" (Jones and Iredale, 2010). A further major impetus came at the beginning of the 1980s when, at a time of rising unemployment, research by Birch in the USA had shown that small businesses were net creators of jobs (Birch, 1979).\nEnterprise, or entrepreneurship, education: Distinguishing between the terms enterprise education and entrepreneurship education can be difficult because both terms are used in the discourse (e.g. Hytti, 2002; Hannon and Scott, 2006) and sometimes synonymously as observed by Gibb (1993) and by Jones and Iredale (2010) who point out that: \"the terms enterprise education and entrepreneurship education are used interchangeably by policy makers and in much academic discourse\". Nevertheless, as the introduction indicates, under one name or the other this education has been promoted at government level, for instance in the UK in the Dearing Report which says that: \"We recommend to higher education institutions that they consider the scope for encouraging entrepreneurship through innovative approaches to programme design and through specialist postgraduate programmes\" (Dearing, 1997). The result has been a lot of enterprise education programmes.\nSocial enterprise: How might social enterprise relate to this? One problem in assessing social enterprise is defining it. There are many different definitions of it and, while some are relatively simple, others include a relatively long list of criteria. For instance one advanced by the European research group EMES lists nine economic and social criteria including autonomy, continuous economic trading of goods or services, having paid employees, having an explicit aim of community benefit, governance decision making not based on capital ownership, and limited distribution of surplus profits (EMES, 2001). Other criteria sometimes used include holding assets for community benefit, reinvesting profits for the social aim, encouraging local mutual co-operation and providing innovative solutions for local social needs. However, Bridge et al. (2014) suggest that there is little that these definitions all agree is an essential criterion except having a social purpose because even the reinvestment of profits requirement is not always an absolute condition. Nevertheless, despite such confusion, interest in social enterprise has clearly grown.\nComparisons and conclusions: The aim of this paper has been to explore the concepts of enterprise education and social enterprise in order to consider what are the connections between them, what relevance they might have for each other and, therefore, what further links should be established.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Both enterprise education and social enterprise have become fashionable but what, if any, should be the connections between them? The purpose of this paper is to explore those connections and to reflect on what relevance the two concepts might have for each other.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Both enterprise education and social enterprise have a number of different interpretations. Therefore those ranges of interpretation are first considered and then compared to see what there might be in common between the two concepts and to identify the desirability and practicability of linking them.\nFindings: If enterprise education focuses on a narrow, private sector, business-creation interpretation of enterprise, and if the advocates of social enterprise insist on clearly separating it from other enterprises, then there will be little connection between the two. But if enterprise education takes a wider view of enterprise as part of life skills, and if social enterprise is seen as essentially enterprise, albeit with social objectives, then there is a clear case for linking the two and including social enterprise in enterprise training.\nPractical implications: The implications of these conclusions are that, while some interpretations of enterprise education and social enterprise may suggest that they have little common ground, interpretations which link the two, and therefore the deliberate adoption of such interpretations, may actually be beneficial for the practice of both.\nOriginality/value: Little of the existing literature on enterprise education and social enterprise links the two concepts. This paper seeks to rectify that.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Examining employee security violations: moral disengagement and its environmental influences	[ "Information security behaviours", "Information systems security", "Moral disengagement", "Social cognitive theory", "SETA", "Deterrence", "Organizational commitment" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Organizations face costly cleanups resulting from security breaches that often stem from employee misdemeanors or naive mistakes. A recent industry study found that 48 percent of security breaches involved malicious activity, of which 27 percent involved business and information technology process failures, and almost 25 percent were due to negligent employee behavior (Ponemon, 2016). It is now accepted by academics and practitioners alike that effective information security cannot be achieved by technology alone. As Dourish and Anderson (2006) suggested, \"Privacy and security are difficult concepts to manage from a technical perspective precisely because they are caught up in larger collective rhetoric and practices of risk, danger, secrecy, trust, morality, identity and more\" (pp. 319-320). Thus, managing employee behavior has been identified as the cornerstone for achieving holistic organizational information security. Employee security actions may be a combination of knowing and unknowing. A recent survey conducted in a large multinational organization indicates that while at times employees are unable to identify appropriate security actions, at other times they deliberately divert from the stated requirements in company security policies (Grispos et al., 2017). This paper explores one such avenue by which employees may divert from security policy requirements - moral disengagement (MD) techniques that cognitively rationalize security policy violations. The paper also investigates how organizations can limit employees' MD tendencies through certain organizational interventions.\nTheoretical background: Moral disengagement theory and its relevance to information security\nHypotheses development: Based on the foundations of MD theory and social cognitive theory as discussed above, Figure 1 presents the research model considered in this study. In the next section, we elaborate the hypotheses in detail.\nMethodology: To test our research model, we used a paper-based survey for data collection and drew upon well-accepted methods and instruments used in recent behavioral IS security literature. The instrument used in this study is presented in Appendix 1. The MD and security policy violation likelihood (SPVL) questions were measured in the context of four scenarios. Based on recent IS security literature and industry surveys, we identified four commonly observed security policy violation behaviors and based the scenarios on these behaviors: password sharing, password write-down, log-off failure, and prohibited information transport on USB sticks. The scenarios were adapted from Guo et al. (2011), Siponen and Vance (2010), and D'arcy et al. (2014). SPVL was measured using two questions adapted from D'arcy et al. (2009). For the measurement of MD, items were adapted from D'arcy et al. (2014). In an effort to keep the scale as parsimonious as possible, we followed the approach in Detert et al. (2008) and selected three items for each of the MD subcomponents (eight subcomponents; 24 total items) after confirming with a practicing IT manager. PA was captured with one scenario-specific item developed for this study. SETA and training frequency (TF) were measured with items adopted from D'arcy et al. (2009), while deterrence (perceived certainty, severity, and celerity of sanctions) was measured with three items adopted from D'arcy et al. (2014). Similar to extant related literature, we included age, gender, education, and IT vs non-IT job role as control variables.\nData and analysis: Demographic characteristics\nDiscussion: We drew upon MD theory and its parent theory, social cognitive theory, to develop a model of the antecedents of SPVL. This research contributes to the literature in IS security that has emphasized the need to investigate non-malevolent yet deviant employee behaviors that often result in security breaches and costly cleanups. It also contributes to the literature on MD by extending its application to employee security behaviors that violate standards of conduct set by organizations.\nConclusion: This study examined why employees might not comply with information security policies using a MD perspective. Using a sample of employees from six large Korean organizations, we found general support for the earlier research on MD in information security contexts (D'arcy et al., 2014) thus enhancing the generalizability of MD theory for the study of employees' security-related behavior. The study also provides fresh perspectives on the drivers of MD in IS security contexts. Namely, awareness of security policies, SETA, and deterrence appear to reduce employees' MD and in turn promote security policy compliance. The practical ramifications of the study include appropriate design of policies, SETA, and penalties for achieving security policy compliance, along with the role of frequency of training and awareness for the appropriate design of SETA, as well as the caution needed in considering the implementation of sanctions for policy violations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Employee security behaviors are the cornerstone for achieving holistic organizational information security. Recent studies in the information systems (IS) security literature have used neutralization and moral disengagement (MD) perspectives to examine employee rationalizations of noncompliant security behaviors. Extending this prior work, the purpose of this paper is to identify mechanisms of security education, training, and awareness (SETA) programs and deterrence as well as employees' organizational commitment in influencing MD of security policy violations and develop a theoretical model to test the proposed relationships.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors validate and test the model using the data collected from six large multinational organizations in Korea using survey-based methodology. The model was empirically analyzed by structural equation modeling.\nFindings: The results suggest that security policy awareness (PA) plays a central role in reducing MD of security policy violations and that the certainty of punishment and immediacy of enforcing penalties are instrumental toward reducing such MD; however, the higher severity of penalties does not have an influence. The findings also suggest that SETA programs are an important mechanism in creating security PA.\nOriginality/value: The paper expands the literature in IS security that has examined the role of moral evaluations. Drawing upon MD theory and social cognitive theory, the paper points to the central role of SETA and security PA in reducing MD of security policy violations, and ultimately the likelihood of this behavior. The paper not only contributes to theory but also provides important insights for practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transforming culture through personal and career empowerment	[ "Career development", "Work-life balance", "Talent management", "Culture transformation", "Personal empowerment", "Success at work" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: First think, second believe, third dream and finally dare (Walt Disney).\nNew mind-sets and skills required for a shifting landscape and an emerging workforce: The world of work is shifting from traditional and predictable career paths, to relentless change, leaner structures, evolving roles, global opportunities, portfolio lives and a need to find meaning and purpose through the work we do. This leaves a lot of people uncertain, confused and anxious about how to secure a sustainable income and ensure they are rewarded for adding value to a business or industry.\nCritical questions for career empowerment - an approach to discovering the answers: If we really want to optimise the talent we have entering the workforce and enhance existing potential at all levels, there are some big questions we need to ask. My business partner and I were faced with some of these questions when we were reeling with the impact of the economic meltdown at the end 2008, beginning 2009 (Figure 2).\nI am talent - design principles and highlights: These key questions are unpacked with other thought starters allowing participants in our workshops to reflect, assess, share, debate, give each other feedback and ideas for greatest impact and influence (Figure 3).\nPersonal empowerment: Personal mastery or empowerment is the ability to make powerful, conscious choices in every moment to take you towards your goals and to who you want to be. One of the big questions we ask is: what is success? Once we dig a bit deeper than the standard wealth, power and possessions, we discover that purpose, meaning and fulfillment are the key drivers. The wheel of life helps to understand in which areas you are fulfilled, which need more attention and how to find a greater work-life balance. Visual goal sheets help to make your dreams and goals visible for greater attention and focus everyday. Another great tool that people love is the Realise 2 strengths finder which identifies your realized and unrealised strengths (enegisers) as well as learned behaviours and weaknesses (de-energisers). When playing to your strengths and exploring unrealised strengths, that underlying energy enhances both enjoyment and performance.\nCareer empowerment: Career empowerment is having the knowledge and skills to develop yourself, make wise career choices that suit your strengths and enhance your talent and transition effectively from one to the next role. To build wise choices, it is important to stay abreast of global workplace and career trends, in order to prepare yourself for future careers and skills that are both in demand and aligned to your purpose and passions. In this dynamic world, it is important to prepare yourself for all eventualities including employment, contract work and being an entrepreneur. Building a broad business skills base gives you more options. Building a portable personal brand can also assist with broadening opportunities. Practicing an \"elevator speech\" with your unique value proposition generates lots of ideas and energy of how to accentuate your best aspects.\nImpact on culture, engagement, learning and performance: The workshops were fabulously received with many positive comments and insights. However, we wanted to know the lasting impact of this type of workshop that focused on personal and career empowerment - on both individual and work success. We therefore conducted a post-workshop impact survey, 12-18 months post the workshops in a key client of ours. The participants were from multiple levels including roles such as laboratory assistant, process technician, graduates in training, engineers, sales reps, business development managers, account managers, production managers, R\nConclusion: If organisations invest in learning initiatives that stimulate the quest to find answers to these questions, they are far more likely to shift attitudes and mind-sets from passive entitlement to active accountability for career and talent development. An added benefit is greater employee engagement, a shift in culture and a greater pool of talent ready for future challenges and opportunities.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The world of work is shifting from traditional career paths, to relentless change, leaner structures, evolving roles and a need to find meaning through the work the author do. A new skill-set is required to survive and thrive in the new economy. The purpose of this paper is to explore how learning programs focused on personal and career empowerment can build these skills, increase engagement, enhance performance and impact culture positively.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper summarises these new skill-sets required and raises critical questions: how do we create an environment for self and career empowerment? How do we act as catalysts for cultural and social transformation? It then outlines an approach to discovering the answers based on experiences facilitating I am Talent workshops for personal and career empowerment. Key insights and suggestions for personal and career empowerment topics and tools are highlighted.\nFindings: The paper goes on to share the post-intervention impact results of a case study organisation, on culture, engagement, learning and performance.\nPractical implications: The paper covers some practical skill areas that can significantly improve work and life results, in a world that is dynamic, uncertain and continuously changing.\nSocial implications: Millennials come with whole new set of expectations and preferences in the way they interact with work. In a South African context, this is compounded by our educational and skills crisis resulting in many work entrants not being sufficiently prepared for the new world of work.\nOriginality/value: The learning programme is based on a book, I am Talent, by the author of this paper and is a unique approach to building personal and career empowerment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Customer and employee co-creation of radical service innovations	[ "Service-dominant logic", "Cross-functional teams", "Customer involvement", "Frontline employees", "Process complexity", "Radical service innovation" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Radical innovations use a substantially different core technology and provide substantially higher customer benefits compared to prior products in the category (Chandy and Tellis, 2000). Examples of radical service innovations are streaming movie content as a replacement for renting DVDs, use of telematics to monitor driving behavior and reduce auto insurance premiums and scanning checks for immediate deposit via smartphones. Although the uncertainty of outcome increases with higher levels of innovativeness, the financial reward for commercializing a radical service innovation concept can often be substantial (Ordanini and Parasuraman, 2011).\nLiterature review: Radical service innovation\nHypotheses: Ordanini and Parasuraman (2011) used the service-dominant logic (SD logic) perspective when developing their integrative framework of service innovation antecedents and outcomes. Under the SD logic framework, customers are co-creators of value who integrate their own resources and competence with those provided by others and assess the overall benefits and costs associated with consuming the service when determining its value for them (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). Ordanini and Parasuraman (2011) found that greater collaboration with customers leads to greater volume of innovation in NSD programs, but did not improve the radicalness of the innovations. However, the work of Desai (2010) suggests that the complexity theory might explain why prior research has found no direct effect of customer co-creation on radicalness of service innovations. NSD is a value network, and greater interaction of resources leads to adaptation of the perspectives of diverse actors and ultimately to new concepts, learning and more complex knowledge. Therefore, involving customers at the appropriate NSD stages in varieties of activities that stimulate interaction and creativity may improve the innovativeness of the service offering. Melton and Hartline (2010) found that customer involvement in the design stage significantly affects service marketability and launch preparation, but customer involvement in the development stage only affects launch preparation and not the service marketability characteristics that set the service apart from others.\nResearch method: Sample and data collection\nDiscussion: Prior research has examined the influence of customers, FLEs and CFTs as success factors in NSD, but few studies have empirically studied their influence, separately or as a group, on radical new service innovation. We were particularly interested in the effect of customer involvement on service innovativeness because customers' insights are limited by their prior experiences, thereby making their ideas less useful for exploring bold new service solutions (Baker and Sinkula, 2007). As prior empirical research provided mixed results of the impact of customers on service innovativeness, we proposed that a process which provides extensive interaction of diverse operant resources leads to greater creativity and more complex ideas which result in a more innovative new service and better sales performance.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The study demonstrates that firms can effectively involve customers in new service development (NSD) to create radically innovative, high-performing new services. Prior research found no effect of customer involvement on radicalness in NSD programs, but the current study provides evidence that customer involvement in the design stage of NSD projects can increase the radical innovativeness of a new service.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Surveys from 160 firms captured information on the development process, participants and outcomes of recent service innovation projects. Direct effect and mediation hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: Customer involvement in the NSD process increases the innovativeness of a new service when customers are involved in the design stage and when the influence is mediated by process complexity. Customer involvement in the development stage has no significant effect on service innovativeness. Process complexity also mediates the positive influence of frontline employee and cross-functional team involvement in the NSD process on service innovativeness.\nPractical implications: To produce radically innovative new services, managers should: focus on customer involvement in the design phase and build an understanding of how the customer creates value-in-context, and use a detailed but flexible development process and provide extensive opportunities for interaction of customers, frontline employees and cross-functional teams throughout the NSD process.\nOriginality/value: The study draws on complexity theory to explain how a complex NSD process enhances participants' creativity and learning and increases the innovativeness of a new service.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Patriarchal hegemony: Investigating the impact of patriarchy on women's work-life balance	[ "Women", "Nigeria", "Flexibility", "Work", "Gender discrimination", "Flexible working hours" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Nigeria epitomises a typical patriarchal African society in which a system of social stratification and gender differentiation enable men to dominate women in all spheres of life. Patriarchal hegemony or what Connell (2005, p. 830) referred to as \"hegemonic masculinity\" has a huge impact on social hierarchy and women's activities, specifically in the global south Through the lens of patriarchy, this article uses semi-structured interviews with women who are engaged in full-time work and who also have private life commitments (including domestic and care responsibilities) to investigate women's work-life balance (WLB) in an extremely patriarchal society, Nigeria. This paper contributes to the contemporary debate on women, work, non-work obligations and the issue of WLB and gender (Sorensen, 2017).\nWork-life balance in context: The concept of WLB is derived from role theory (Kahn et al., 1964), which provides that the different roles that individuals undertake in their lives are incompatible and can conflict with each other (Grzywacz and Marks, 2000). As a result, individuals are confronted with the challenges of balancing their work and private life roles (Freeney and Stritch, 2017). Such challenges are often more acute for women than men, as they have many familial responsibilities (Matos, 2015). The need for flexibility to accommodate these roles has given rise to the concept of WLB. WLB is both a social construct and a discourse. It tends to be defined either as an individual experience or aspiration or it is used as an adjective to describe workplace policies or practices that purport to enhance employees' work experiences (Lewis and Beauregard, 2018).\nPatriarchy: Patriarchy is a social and ideological construct which considers men as superior to women (Rawat, 2014). Walby (1990) describes patriarchy as a social system in which men hold authority over women, children and property. Patriarchy encourages male leadership, male domination and male power. It is a system in which women are subject to economic dependence, violence, domestication and the peripherals of decision-making. It imposes structures that categorise some types of work as \"men's work\" and some as \"women's work\" (Reardon, 1996).\nMethodology: As this study was inductive in nature, a qualitative in-depth approach was adopted (following Cassell and Simon, 1994; Mason, 2002). The research sought to investigate the impact of patriarchy on women's WLB in Nigeria. Interviews were guided by a semi-structured format, which sought to explore the participants' experiences of how patriarchal norms impact their WLB. This research approach is appropriate for this study as it is concerned with life as it is lived, activities as they unfold, and situations as they occur in the activities in the participants' day-to-day lives (Bryman and Bell, 2011).\nDiscussion and conclusions: This article has examined the impact of patriarchy on women's WLB in Nigeria. The article found that hegemonic masculinity, which is prevalent in Nigerian society, poses huge challenges to women's ability to achieve WLB. At its core, the research suggests that patriarchy and patriarchal norms are deeply ingrained in Nigerian society and have a debilitating effect on women's WLB. Patriarchy systemically withholds women's freedom to freely engage in some non-work-life activities, which constitutes a seeming act of domination of men over women.\nImplications and agenda for future research: This research makes an important contribution to the literature on women and WLB in that it expands the theoretical understanding of the impact of patriarchy on women's WLB. The findings suggest that women's WLB suffers in highly patriarchal environment. Furthermore, the insights from this research also suggest important implications for organisations, practitioners and policymakers regarding the lingering impact of patriarchy on women's WLB. It may be argued that the issue of patriarchy primarily affects familial relations and domestic affairs. However, researchers have argued that a lack of WLB often results in absenteeism from work and a lack of productivity, which negatively impact employee performance and organisational effectiveness (Antai et al., 2015; Cole and Kleiner, 1992).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Research on the impact of patriarchy and patriarchal norms on women's work-life balance is scarce. A typical patriarchal society, such as Nigeria, tends to be organised based on gender, and the construct is embedded in the culture. This paper aims to investigate the impact of patriarchy on women's work-life balance in a non-Western context: Nigeria.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The authors adopt a qualitative research approach to enhance their insight into the issue of patriarchy and women's work-life balance. Data for the study were collected over a four-month period, using semi-structured interviews as the primary method of data collection.\nFindings: The findings of the thematic analysis reveal the impact of patriarchy on women's work-life balance in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Nigeria. Women's aspirations to achieve work-life balance in this part of the world are often frustrated by patriarchal norms, which are deeply ingrained in the culture. The findings of this study reveal that male dominance of and excessive subordination of females, domestic and gender-based division of labour and higher patriarchal proclivities among men are the ingredients of a patriarchal society. These issues make the achievement of work-life balance difficult for women.\nResearch limitations/implications: The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample size and the selected research context.\nPractical implications: The insights gleaned from this research suggest that there are still major challenges for women in the global south, specifically Nigeria, in terms of achieving work-life balance due to the prevalent patriarchy and patriarchal norms in the society. Strong patriarchal norms and proclivity negatively affect women's work-life balance and in turn may impact employee productivity, organisational effectiveness, employee performance and employee punctuality at work. However, an Australian \"Champion of Change\" initiative may be adopted to ease the patriarchal proclivity and help women to achieve work-life balance.\nOriginality/value: This paper provides valuable insights by bringing patriarchy into the discussion of work-life balance. This issue has been hitherto rare in the literature. It therefore enriches the literature on work-life balance from a patriarchal perspective.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Price discounts in rights issues: why do managers insist on what investors hate?	[ "Market efficiency", "Equity financing", "Right issues", "G14", "G32" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction and motivation: On 23 September 2014, Mothercare's shareholders were told that they would be able to buy, in a PS100m rights issue, 9 new shares for each 10 shares already owned with a discount of 34 per cent to preannouncement stock price. The shares ended up -2 per cent lower on that day.\n2. Literature review and research questions: In a rights issue, shareholders of listed companies that decide to issue new equity capital are given an instrument (the \"rights\") that entitles them to exercise a free option to acquire new shares at a predefined price, typically below the preannouncement stock price. In contrast, in an open offer, currently, the most used seasoned equity issue form in the UK, shares issued are privately placed before being offered pro-rata to existing shareholders. Thus, in sharp contrast to rights issues, shareholders cannot sell their entitlements in an open offer (Armitage, 2007). Contrary to other seasoned equity issues, Espenlaub et al. (2009) show that the market reaction to open offers is a positive one.\n3. Sample, methodology and summary statistics: 3.1 Sample\n4. Results: 4.1 Determinants of price discounts\n5. Conclusions: We document that price discounts in right issues for non-financial and financial firms are determined by a set of firm-characteristics and market sentiment (Tables V and VI). We bring evidence that price discounts are not arbitrarily determined by firm managers. Indeed, our results show that when determining price discounts, managers take in consideration the firm's level of debt, the stock price volatility, the firm's recent financial performance and the market conditions. Examining in detail how firm characteristics affect price discounts we find that leverage impacts differently on non-financial and financial firms. In fact, larger debt ratios prior to the right issues announcement for non-financial firms increase the probability of larger price discounts, whereas this is not observed for the financial counterparts. We interpret this difference as consistent with the idea that the benefits of equity capital for financial institutions with low equity ratios are perceived by investors as strong enough to incentive these to take up the new shares even with relatively low discounts.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the causes and impact of the significant mean price discounts (25 per cent for financial and 29 per cent for non-financial firms) in rights issues in the UK using a sample of 268 observations for the period of 1994 to 2012. It is observed that for non-financial companies, the issue terms announcement returns are negatively affected by the discount size, while firm size, growth prospects and good previous stock performance have a positive impact. It is also investigated which factors seem to influence managers to engage in deeper discounts when these are so disliked by investors. Evidence is provided that firms with more leverage, larger bid-ask spreads or suffering losses tend to choose deeper discounts. The authors conclude that managers balance the expected negative reaction of the market to a price discount with the risks of a costly issue failure, with these being higher when the firm experiences losses, has a higher volatility and also when the stock market climate is more adverse.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The analysis is divided in two stages. In a first step (thereafter pre-announcement), the authors evaluate the firm's and market conditions that determine the price discount. In a second stage (post-announcement), the authors measure the market reaction to the rights issues announcement by calculating the abnormal announcement returns by cumulating the difference between daily returns (R) and expected market returns (ER) for the period of -2 to 2 relative to the announcement day.\nFindings: The authors document that price discounts in right issues for non-financial and financial firms are determined by a set of firm-characteristics and market sentiment. They also bring evidence that price discounts are not arbitrarily determined by firm managers.\nOriginality/value: The results are consistent with the idea that despite the negative signal to investors conveyed by a significant price discount in the new shares, managers of non-financial companies still engage in substantially price-cutting.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Digital Korean studies: recent advances and new frontiers	[ "Digital Korean studies", "Digital humanities", "Korean studies", "South Korea", "Digital archives" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: A century ago, the French historian Marc Bloch had a well-known exchange with the medievalist Henri Pirenne, at a conference held in Stockholm. As Bloch was about to head out to historical sites and museums, Pirenne set out to explore and soak in the modern and contemporary aspects of the Swedish capital. \"If I were an antiquarian, I would have eyes only for old stuff\", Bloch recalled Pirenne having said, \"I am a historian, however, and therefore I take delight in the living\" (Bloch, 1953/1941, pp. 43-47)[1]. The past, according to Pirenne, does not refer to the fossils of a bygone era but to that which is in a symbiotic relationship with the present day. That is, to the extent that the past enriches our understanding of the present, the past should be understood from the standpoint of the changing present situation. In a lecture I attended circa 2010, Carlo Ginzburg playfully remarked: \"Anachronism is the most powerful tool available to the historian\".\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to reflect on the past and prospects of digital Korean studies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Discussion includes the remarkably early adoption of computing in the Korean humanities, the astounding pace in which Korean heritage materials have been digitized, and the challenges of balancing artisanal and laboratory approaches to digital research.\nFindings: The main takeaway is to reconsider the widespread tendency in the digital humanities to privilege frequentist analysis and macro-level perspectives.\nPractical implications: Cha hopes to discover the future of digital Korean studies in semantic networks, graph databases and anthropological inquiries.\nOriginality/value: Cha reconsiders existing tendencies in the digital humanities and looks to the future of digital Korean studies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Revenue sharing contract coordination of wind turbine order policy and aftermarket service based on joint effort	[ "Aftermarket service", "New energy", "Revenue sharing contract", "Service effort level", "Wind farm" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was published in 1992, the concept of low-carbon transition has been carried out in global society. By 2050, Germany plans to raise the ratio of renewable energy generation to 80 percent; Denmark proposes to get free from the dependence of fossil energy; the French Government is looking forward to cut down the use of nuclear energy from 75 to 50 percent. Varied proposals have been put forward by most of the countries in the world based on their own specifications.\n2. Literature review and model development: Earlier studies on revenue sharing contract were mostly based on risk-neutrality and perfect rationality of contract participants. Recent works, however, illustrate that revenue sharing also increases the order quantity of retailers, and thus, promote the profits of supply chain under the condition of random demand and multi-echelon supply chain coordination mechanism (Giannoccaro and Pontrandolfo, 2004). Both retailers and manufacturers have the motivation to raise their revenue by introducing revenue sharing contract (Linh and Hong, 2009). On revenue sharing contract design, Cachon (2004) compared revenue sharing contract with buy-back contract and wholesale price contract and made the conclusion that revenue sharing contract was able to coordinate the channel when retail price is given or retailer price is decided. This contract has a better performance than the buy-back contract and discount contract which only deal with a single case. Besides, revenue sharing contract shares supply chain revenue with no limitation, independent from order quantity and price decision. From then on, revenue sharing contract was widely used in channel coordination. Wu et al. (2014) introduced revenue sharing contract to coordinate the decisions of investments and services of sponsors and agents. Kunter (2012) solved the problem of decisions of retailers and manufacturers with revenue sharing and cost splitting cooperative mode. Dan et al. (2012) coordinated risk-averse dual-channel supply chain with a revenue sharing contract.\n3. Model: 3.1 Parameter settings\n4. Decision-making model when effort level and quality follows a linear relationship: 4.1 Centralized decision-making model\n5. Decision-making model when effort level and quality follows an exponential relationship: 5.1 Centralized decision-making model\n6. Comparison between centralized and decentralized decision-making model: From the discussion in linear relationship (Section 4) and exponential relationship (Section 5), we find the optimal decisions on effort level and order quantity under two types of effort level and service quality relationships. Results are summarized in Table I.\n7. Model numerical analysis: The channel devoted cost includes not only purchase of wind power generator and other related equipment and infrastructure investment of wind power plant but also the establishment cost of substations and power transmission system for grid-connected power generation. An investigation of Jungar Wind Power Plant, Qomul Wind Power Plant and Emin Wind Power Plant shows that the typical scale of wind farm is around 50-70 megawatts and the cost of channel establishment is about RMB 470,000/megawatts. Therefore, the cost of channel establishment is about RMB2300000 and typical cost of O&M of wind farm is about RMB800000.\n8. Conclusion: The present paper discusses the application of the product plus service business model innovation using a product service system theory in the wind turbine's aftermarket service. The wind turbine manufacturer provides wind turbine product and maintenance service at the same time. Under decentralized decision making, since there is a channel maintenance cost during the process of O&M service, wind farm shares part of the power generation profit with the manufacturer as encouragement and stimulus. Meanwhile, with the consideration that the channel effort levels affect the process and quality of the wind turbine's maintenance, the manufacturer shares part of the service profit with the wind farm to stimulate the effort level of wind farm while trying its best to promote effort level.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how wind farms attract wind turbine manufacturers to get involved in wind turbines' maintenance service with revenue sharing contract of bundled service under which the background of operation and maintenance (O&M) aftermarket of wind turbine exists. The authors also try to extend the results to the application of product plus service business mode on large-scale equipment O&M service. At present, Chinese wind power industry is suffering from production capacity redundancy. The profit levels for both wind farm and wind turbine manufacturers are relatively low. It is significant for Chinese wind power industry development to coordinate the supply chain of wind power in order to reduce O&M costs and increase revenues.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The present paper discusses product plus aftermarket service contract design on the background of closed-loop product service chain and uncertain equipment demand using revenue sharing contract model.\nFindings: If centralized decision making is assumed, the authors find that the wind turbine order increases as the aftermarket service effort level and aftermarket service profit increase; aftermarket service effort level is positively correlative to the service efficiency. On the other hand, if decentralized decision making is assumed, the wind turbine order increases as share of the aftermarket service chain by manufacturer to wind farm increases and share of product supply chain by wind farm to manufacturer decreases. The optimal effort level of wind farm increases as the share of aftermarket service chain increases while the optimal effort level of the manufacturer is a concave function of share of aftermarket service chain if service quality linear correlates with effort level. Meanwhile, the authors find that the revenues of the product supply chain and aftermarket service chain have a concave relationship. This relationship is not affected by the format of relationship between service quality and effort level (linear or exponential).\nPractical implications: The results could potentially be used to provide the wind turbine manufacturer with a greater profit space and satisfy wind farm's equipment maintenance demand at the same time. It can also guide the practice of revenue sharing in the aftermarket service and manufacturing servitization.\nOriginality/value: In this model, the authors assumed that both the forward revenue sharing of power generation by wind farm to manufacturer and the backward revenue sharing of maintenance service by the manufacturer to wind farm exist in closed-loop product service chain. Then the authors discussed channel coordination of such cross-revenue sharing contract.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
An introduction to the work and well-being of older workers: From managing threats to creating opportunities	[ "Work identity", "Older workers", "Ageing (biology)", "Equal opportunities" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The population of a growing number of countries is ageing rapidly and it is estimated that between 2005 and 2050, half of the increase in the world population will be accounted for by a rise in the population aged 60 years or over (United Nations, 2007). This is more and more acknowledged in the literature. For instance, Van der Heijden et al. (2008) emphasize that in the EU, the number of people aged 55 and over is expected to grow by more than 15 percent between 2010 and 2030. Alley and Crimmins (2007) recognize the same trend for the US, where the number of workers over 55 is projected to grow at nearly four times the rate of the overall labour force. So, as it is expected that the number of older employees will vastly increase in the near future, it is not surprising that more and more attention is devoted to the current situation of older workers in organizations.This article focuses specifically on the well-being of older workers. Older employees are often considered to be dispensable, a greater expense and of less value than younger employees. Age stereotyping is not seldom at the cause of such perceptions. Because of the vast amount of literature that pertains to issues of age, work and well-being, many limitations were put on the scope of this brief overview. For example, while issues of career development, learning motives and early retirement are clearly significant to the topic, this article will not address these issues directly (for an overview of these issues see for example Van der Heijden et al. (2008)). The general purpose of the present article is fourfold: First, we start with discussing briefly different conceptualizations of the factor age and with considering who is actually termed older workers. Second, we focus on the process of aging and discuss the consequences of cognitive, physical and mental changes during the aging process for work and organizations. Next, we will plead for a more positive approach to older employees. In this respect we will argue that it is timely to shift our focus from threats to opportunities Finally, we will present a general introduction to the research contributions that follow.\nConceptualizations of age: When is an employee considered as an \"older worker\"? This is a very subjective and difficult to answer question. The vagueness in defining who is termed an older worker is reflected in the literature, probably because aging is a multidimensional process that is difficult to capture in a single definition or measure (Cleveland and Lim, 2007). Very often empirical studies distinguish between age-categories, but the differences between studies with regard to the categories they use is huge and the scientific underpinning for the chosen cut-off points is often lacking. A related problem with distinguishing between age-categories is that there exist large individual differences. This appears to be especially true for older workers. The term \"differential aging\" refers to individual differences increasing with age. Differences within age groups can become bigger than differences between age groups (Boerlijst et al., 1998). The older, the more unique employees become and as such older employees form a very heterogeneous sub-group in which the variability in health and well-being is very large.Cleveland and Lim (2007) list a number of approaches to define an older worker's age and categorize them into two general groups:1. person-based age measures; and2. context-based age measures.Person-based measures of age\nChanges in cognitive, physical and mental abilities and the consequences for work: In order to consider the impact of aging on well-being it is important to discuss some of the major changes that occur as one grows older. Jex et al. (2007) distinguish in this respect between cognitive ability changes, physical and functional changes and mental health changes.Cognitive ability changes\nTowards a more positive approach: from threats to opportunities: In general, most past research on older workers has taken a negative psychology approach focusing on what is wrong with older workers or on the threats that older workers might face and the problems and threats associated with having to manage the careers of older workers. In line with Peterson and Spiker (2005) we believe that a new, positive way of looking at older workers, more in terms of opportunities, is desirable. Ever since Martin Seligman introduced in 1998 the positive psychology movement, positive psychology has emerged and gained popularity as an approach that redirects focus from what is wrong with people or organizations towards an approach that emphasizes human strengths that allow individuals, groups and organizations to thrive and prosper. In this respect, Peterson and Spiker (2005) introduce their so-called PIES model (Psychological, Intellectual, Emotional and Social capital) and apply it to older workers. They argue that human capital could continue to increase with experience and time and those workers with greater human capital will bring more positive contributory value to organizations. While PIES relates to workers of any age, they argue that older workers are at minimum more underutilized than younger workers. Very recently, Bakker and Schaufeli (2008) in their editorial for a special issue on Positive Organizational Behaviour (POB) have argued that nowadays the focus in modern organizations is on the management of human capital:Currently, organizations expect their employees to be proactive and to show initiative, collaborate smoothly with others, take responsibility for their own professional development and to be committed to high quality performance standards (p. 147).By fully utilizing older workers' human capital to create value, organizations will encounter numerous positive organizational outcomes, such as increased employee loyalty, decreased employee turnover, retention of institutional knowledge and memory and increased employee productivity.According to Peterson and Spiker (2005), it is imperative that organizations offer various incentives to attract and retain older workers, such as:* Flexibility in HR policies: policies, procedures and systems should be created which - also- fulfil the unique needs of older workers, such as training opportunities, mentoring, phased retirement, flexible scheduling etc.* Attitude change: as more organizations challenge the negative stereotypes surrounding older workers and create new positive images, older workers will begin to flourish and thrive.* Knowledge transfer programs: these refer to programs that help define, capture, manage, disseminate and measure valuable organizational knowledge information in order top prevent that this knowledge will disappear when older workers leave an organization.Another positive approach to older workers is offered by the literature on successful aging. Robson et al. (2006) argue that in the past, successful aging has frequently been conceptualized as the absence of disease or illness. More recent research has employed a broader multidisciplinary approach. Although no single model by itself offers a comprehensive and unified theory of successful aging, there is now a broad consensus that it must be regarded as a multidimensional construct involving socio-cultural, psychological, physical and environmental factors. Furthermore, it has been argued that it should be defined in terms of adjustment and performance in specific domains, such as the work domain, rather than evaluating successful aging from a general perspective. In this respect Robson et al.(2006) developed and tested five criteria that employees themselves use to determine how successful they age in the workplace:1. adaptability and health: this reflects the importance of the ability to adapt to changes and retain physical, psychological and cognitive health;2. positive relationships: this factor indicates the importance of positive workplace relationships to successful aging;3. occupational growth: represents the importance of being able to grow and to remain competitive on the job;4. personal security: involves perception of safety and workload demands;5. continued focus and achievement of personal goals; focuses on the importance of continuing to set and achieve goals.Important in this respect is that these five criteria reflect continuity rather than change. Specifically, the findings indicate that the importance of the five domains was related similarly across the age groups. That is, older workers continue to place considerable value on their adaptability, health, personal security, achievement of goals and occupational growth and as such they do not differ from workers in other stages of their careers.To conclude, this brief overview shows that it is indeed in both employers' and employees' interest to make the best use of employees of all ages and to manage employees in accordance with individual attributes and capacities rather than by making assumptions based on age.\nOverview of articles in this special issue: This special issue encompasses a selected number of studies that each focus on topics that enlarge our understanding of the work and well-being of older workers, and especially of the potential opportunities for both employers and employees when older workers continue to work. To gain more insight in the conceptualization of age and motivation of older workers, this special issue starts with a paper by Kooij, De Lange, Jansen, and Dikkers \"Older workers' motivation to continue to work: five meanings of age: a conceptual review\". This study addresses different conceptualizations of age in order to distinguish specific age-related factors that influence older workers' motivation. In this conceptual approach, the authors identify age-related factors that influence the motivation of older workers to continue to work that can be addressed by the use of HRM policies, e.g. polices aimed at ergonomic adjustments, job redesign, and continuing career development.The second paper focuses on stereotypical beliefs about older workers. \"New measures of stereotypical beliefs about older workers' ability and desire for development: exploration among employees age 40 and over\" by Maurer, Barbeite, Weiss, and Lippstreu, examines stereotypical beliefs about older workers' ability and desire to learn and develop in a group of senior workers from across the US work force. Stereotype measures appear to be associated with important outcome constructs relevant to retirement, interest in development, and self-efficacy/concept for learning and development. The authors suggest that their scales might be used as a kind of diagnostic tool to get a \"read\" on employee thinking about older worker ability and motivation for development.Since much of the research that has been conducted has focused on negative age stereotyping and its implications for older workers' access to development opportunities, Armstrong-Stassen and Schlosser in \"Benefits of a supportive development climate for older workers\" emphasize the learning and development component. These authors examine how older workers' propensity to engage in development activities and their perceptions of their organization's support of the development of older employees contribute to older workers' commitment to their organization and their intention to remain with their organization. This study found that older workers who had a propensity to engage in development activities and who perceived their organization and their job provided them with development opportunities were significantly more likely to be committed to their organization and to intend to remain with their organization than older workers who were not inclined to pursue development activities and whose organization and job did not provide them with opportunities for development.In \"Age and creativity at work: the interplay between job resources, age and idea creativity\" by Binnewies, Ohly, and Niessen, older employees' creativity at work is studied. They examine the interplay between age and job resources (i.e. job control and support for creativity, and idea creativity) in a sample of younger and older nurses. Findings show that job control and support for creativity as well as age are unrelated to idea creativity. Job control and support for creativity moderate the relationship between age and idea creativity. Implications of these findings for managers are to train managers to provide supportive, non-controlling feedback and to create a climate of psychological safety at work and by acting as a role model, managers may increase co-worker support for creativity.The final paper concentrates on the retirement process. Taylor, Goldberg, and Shore in \"The effects of retirement expectations and social support on post-retirement adjustment: a longitudinal analysis\" examine the shifting effects of retirement expectations and social support on adjustment and it appears that retirement expectations play a central role in predicting retirement satisfaction and life satisfaction. Expectations thereby appear to be a central determinant of adjustment early and later in retirement. The results regarding expectations, and this ends the special issue, suggest that giving workers realistic information about retirement and allowing them to plan for retirement will have a beneficial impact on work and well-being of older workers.We hope that - with this special issue - we will inspire and motivate researchers to further investigate the work and well-being of older workers from a more positive perspective that focuses on individuals' capabilities and opportunities instead of stereotyping them by age.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The article's aim is to introduce the papers contained in this special issue of the Journal of Managerial Psychology.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Specifically the present article starts by discussing the meaning of the factor age and by considering who is actually termed an older worker. Next, the consequences of cognitive, physical and mental changes during the aging process for work and organizations are being discussed. Before presenting a general introduction to the research contributions that are included in this special issue, a plea is made for a more positive approach to older employees. The article presents a literature review, a discussion of the main topics and suggestions for future pathways for research and HRM.\nFindings: - It is indisputable that some cognitive, physical and mental changes take place while people grow older. However, what is less certain is how these changes impede on employees' well-being. Recently, scholars seem to agree that the picture is not as negative as one used to think.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The implications are: use different conceptualizations of age; focus on the process of aging instead of on age as a factor; shift the focus from managing threats to creating opportunities.\nPractical implications: - It is in both employers' and employees' interest to make the best use of employees of all ages and to manage employees in accordance with individual attributes and capacities rather than by making assumptions based on age.\nOriginality/value: - The article frames the issues and sets the stage for a more positive approach towards older workers.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Talking about digital textbooks. The teacher perspective	[ "Digital resources", "Teacher professional development", "Digital technologies", "Information and communication technology (ICT)" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: New digital technologies are now used widely in society and schools, with policy continually pushing to boost the use of these technologies in education (OECD, 2018). Digital technologies such as laptop computers, tablets and mobile phones are in place in many classrooms. Many teachers and students work with their own laptops or tablets in one-to-one (1:1) initiatives, meaning one laptop or tablet per student (Richardson et al., 2013; Zheng et al., 2016). According to Balanskat et al. (2013), the possibilities for teaching and learning with these technologies and technology-enhanced learning (TEL) appear to be strong for helping teachers to help students gain twenty-first century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and digital competence (OECD, 2012). This involves moving beyond pure technology use through integrating skills and technology, in which the role of the teacher is important (Freeman et al., 2017). In the Swedish context, these intentions are also expressed in policy. However, despite high levels of access to digital technologies in schools, use remains at a low level (National Agency for Education, 2016; The Swedish Schools Inspectorate, 2012).\nAim and research questions: The aim of this paper is to explore, identify and describe the possibilities and challenges related to the uptake and use of digital textbooks in the upper secondary classroom. The paper seeks to explore teaching activities in the use of digital textbooks from the teacher perspective. The following research questions are put forward:\nResearch on digital textbooks: Digital textbooks can be seen as an important part of an electronic schoolbag as well as a main resource for learning (Gu et al., 2015). It appears that a definition of digital textbook appears to be somewhat unclear, with researchers applying different definitions (Joo et al., 2017). According to Knight (2015), a digital textbook, or electronic textbook, may provide infographics and videos, in which students \"can engage with such textbooks, respond, create, negotiate co-construct and share with other members of the learning community\" (s. 3) or may be a \"structured textual and visual content using a digital format\" (s. 3). Thus digital textbooks may comprise highly interactive aspects or may be a digitalized textbook.\nTheoretical framework: If learning is seen as an interaction between the learner and the learner's sociocultural environment (Vygotsky, 1978; Saljo, 2010), the Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) can be used for designing or redesigning learning contexts, as well as improving particular learning contexts or activities. The possibilities and challenges for teachers regarding digital textbooks will be analyzed using the three resource elements environment, knowledge and skills, and tools and people and the theoretical concept of filters (Luckin, 2010). In the model, filters may restrain the learners' (teachers') access to the resource elements available. By studying and identifying possible filters, it is possible to alleviate the filters and gain access to the resources to a greater extent. In this paper, how possibilities and challenges related to the uptake and use of digital textbooks can be said to manifest filters is used from the teacher perspective. The Ecology of Resources of Model is illustrated in Figure 1.\nMethod: The case study approach is said to be strong in reality, regarding context as an additional determinant of behavior, recognizing complexity, uniqueness, and unpredictability and permitting generalization and application to similar situations (Simons, 2009). The data for this small, exploratory case study were gathered through semi-structured interviews (Brinkmann and Kvale, 2015) with a sample size of two teachers. The teachers were chosen as they both were teachers of Swedish and English and both had experience of working with digital textbooks. Both teachers work at an independent upper secondary vocational school, which provided an interesting opportunity to study teachers' use of digital textbooks specifically with vocational students. The school provides vocational training in 11 different programs, from building to electrical programs to florist and restaurant programs. The school's work is characterized by very close relationship between students and teachers, and in many cases, students who need both personal and academic support and motivation through teachers. At the time of the interviews, which took place during December 2017 and January 2018, there were some 110 students and 12 teachers at the school.\nData collection design: As noted above, semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection method to explore and capture the views of the teachers. In the interviews, an interview guide was used, with 12 questions, regarding both background information and how the teachers used digital textbooks in the classroom in practice at the upper secondary school level. Examples of the questions were how the teachers used digital textbooks in the classroom, the choice of digital textbook and possibilities and challenges from their perspectives as teachers as well as their views on the student perspective. Both interviews took approximately 1 h. The interviews were transcribed in verbatim. In this paper, the teachers' views have been reported using fictitious names, Sara and Jane. Sara is 35 years old and has been working at the school for about one year. In her present position, she is temporarily employed at the school and teaches the subjects of English, Swedish and Swedish as a second language. Jane is 56 years old and teaches the subjects of English and Swedish at the school. She is also responsible for the subjects of English and Swedish at the school.\nApproach to data analysis: In line with Hjerm and Lindgren (2010), the interview transcripts were coded and categorized in which the teachers' answers to the interview questions were coded using content analysis. These codes were then analyzed and placed into categories of meaning. The categories were then analyzed using the Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) and the theoretical concept of filters.\nResults: In this section, the findings from the interviews are presented according to themes found within the resource elements environment, knowledge and skills, and tools and people. A summary of the themes within the resource elements is provided in Table I.\nDiscussion: The possibilities and challenges as perceived by the teachers can be analyzed using the Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) and the theoretical concept of filters within the resource elements environment, knowledge and skills, and tools and people. In their teaching activities it will be necessary for teachers to support the use of digital textbooks in the classroom (Environment), promote own digital competence and students' digital competence (Knowledge and skills) as well as increase their own use and students' access and use of digital technologies and digital textbooks in their learning (Tools and people).\nImplications for practice and future research: The findings of this small case study are of important, as they show teachers' interest and initiative in the uptake and use of digital textbooks as well as alternative digital resources in their teaching. Here, the teachers prioritize this time-consuming task in order to support students' learning in the digitalized classroom. How schools as organizations can support teachers' activities, both individually and collaboratively, to make the work with digital textbooks more efficient is an important question for future research. Furthermore, how beneficial conditions for TEL can be created in the classroom to support students' learning with digitalized textbooks is of importance to study. Noting the low amount of investment in digital textbooks, teachers' reviews and use of other digital resources are also interesting areas for future research.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: An increasing amount of students' and teachers' work in the classroom involves digital technologies such as tablets and laptop computers. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the possibilities and challenges related to teachers' use of digital textbooks and, through this work, the conditions for technology-enhanced learning (TEL).\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study was based on interviews with two teachers. In the analysis, The Ecology of Resources Model (Luckin, 2010) was used.\nFindings: The findings of this study show that teachers see challenges in finding time to review digital textbooks and support the work with the textbooks in the classroom. However, the teachers in this study prioritize this work, seeing it as providing structure and improved accessibility for students.\nPractical implications: The findings of this study point toward the need to support teachers in their work with reviewing and using digital textbooks, as well as other digitalized resources. How schools as organizations can support teachers' activities, both individually and collaboratively, will be important. If this work is supported it may, in turn, have impact on TEL and promoting students' use of digital textbooks and improving student outcomes.\nOriginality/value: This small study provides interesting insights into how teachers prioritize their work with digital textbooks to, despite challenges related to time, individualize and support students' work with digital textbooks and other digital resources. Research on teachers' use of digital textbooks in practice is limited.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Optimizing preventive maintenance: a deteriorating system with buffers	[ "Preventive maintenance", "Quality loss", "Buffer sizing", "Degradation system" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Nomenclature\n1. Introduction: Maintenance arrangement and buffer size setting are two fundamental activities in the industrial environment. Both research literature and manufacturing sectors pay considerable attention to these topics (see Barlow and Hunter, 1960; Baker et al., 1990; Cheung and Hausman, 1997; Zhao et al., 2014; Bousdekis et al., 2015 and so on). Optimizations of these two activities are usually studied separately in traditional practices, despite the fact that these two activities are closely linked and interact with each other. Recently a joint consideration of optimal preventive maintenance (PM) policies with buffers has become an interesting research subject.\n2. Related works: Recently, there is an increasing trend toward the studies seeking to integrate the maintenance arrangement and buffer sizing in a degradation system. Many models have been proposed at different levels by using various methods.\n3. Problem statement and assumptions: According to the TOC, a bottleneck machine should be paid more attention to because of the vital role it played in the throughput of a production system. So, assume that the bottleneck machine and its downstream machines are regarded as a workstation with CCR (W2), and its upstream machines are regarded as a workstation with non-constrained resources (NCCR, W1). Thus, the production system, as it is depicted in Figure 1, is considered to comprise two serial workstations (W1 and W2) and an intermediate buffer (B) with finite capacity. W1 supplies semi-finished products to the buffer and W2 pulls them from the buffer. To inspect the product quality, quality check stations are installed at the end of each stage.\n4. Model formulation: The details of the model and methodology used in this paper are presented in this section.\n5. Case study: In this section, an illustrative case is used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model. This case is about two machining centers processing a kind of box-type workpiece. The schematic drawing of the final product is shown in Figure 3. There are two major operations including milling the surfaces A-C by the first machining center and drilling the holes D and E by the second machining center. The machining states S1(t) and S2(t) have a considerable impact on the dimensional quality. These quality features have a significant influence on the performance of products. So the quality features of surfaces and holes are regarded as the product quality instead, which is denoted by m(t). Based on data from the case, parameter values of the joint model are obtained, which are listed in Table I.\n6. Conclusion: In this paper, a joint model integrating maintenance and buffer has been proposed for a deteriorating system, which takes quality loss into account. Instead of treating two machines as equal, the two machines are assumed as CCR or NCCR based on the theory of constrains, which are maintained under the condition-based PM policy and the time-based PM policy, respectively. In addition, a TOC-based OM policy has also been developed. To deal with the non-liner constrains included in this model, an iterative search algorithm with Monte Carlo method is proposed. The optimal PM schedule and buffer size are obtained by minimizing the average operation cost, including PM cost, minimal repair cost, holding cost and quality loss, over the planning horizon. Finally, a case is studied to illustrate the effectiveness of the joint model and validate the proposed methods. Through comparing the TOC-based OM to separate maintenance strategy, it reveals several benefits of the method, including higher yield, lower total cost rate, lesser quality loss and and a lower frequency of maintenance actions. It can be concluded that the joint model is more effective to the conventional PM model for a two-stage system considering quality loss.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Making decisions on preventive maintenance (PM) policy and buffer sizing, as is often studied, may not result in overall optimization. The purpose of this paper is to propose a joint model that integrates PM and buffer sizing with consideration of quality loss for a degenerating system, which aims to minimize the average operation cost for a finite horizon. The opportunistic maintenance (OM) policy which could increase the output and decrease the cost of the system is also explored.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A joint PM and buffer size model considering quality loss is proposed. In this model, the time-based PM and the condition-based PM are taken on the upstream and the downstream machine, respectively. Further, the OM policy based on the theory of constraints (TOC) is also considered. An iterative search algorithm with Monte Carlo is developed to solve the non-linear model. A case study is conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed PM policies.\nFindings: The superiority of the proposed integrated policies compared with the separate PM policy is demonstrated. Effects of the policies are testified. The advantages of the proposed TOC-based OM policy is highlighted in terms of low-cost and high-output.\nOriginality/value: Few studies have been carried out to integrate decisions on PM and buffer size when taking the quality loss into consideration for degenerating systems. Most PM models treat machines equally ignoring the various roles of them. A more comprehensive and integrated model based on TOC is proposed, accompanied by an iterative search algorithm with Monte Carlo for solving it. An OM policy to further improve the performance of system is also presented.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Perceived justice, service satisfaction and behavior intentions following service recovery efforts in a South African retail banking context	[ "Behavioural intention", "Service encounter", "Service satisfaction", "Perceived justice" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: It is well-known that services are intangible and created at the same time they are being consumed, leaving the distinct possibility of something going wrong in the service delivery process resulting in customer expectations not being met (Sparks and Fredline, 2007). It is widely accepted that when retail banks interact with customers service failures often take place (Jones and Farquhar, 2007). In the instances where service failures take place, customers can react in various ways that include negative emotional responses and dissatisfaction toward the service provider, such as complaints and customer defection (Piha and Avlonitis, 2015; Sparks and Fredline, 2007; Tronvoll, 2011).\nTheoretical framework: Framing retail banking in South Africa\nMethodology: Research context and sample\nResults: Profile of respondents\nDiscussion: Subsequently, it is contended that the findings back the idea that the two dimensions of perceived justice, namely, the interactional and distributional dimensions impact on SS and SS in turn impacting the BI of retail bank customers in South Africa.\nTheoretical implications: In South Africa where the retail banking environment is competitive service failures often occur. It is therefore important to become aware of service failures through customer complaints and to respond to these complaints to restore customers' satisfaction levels and influence their future BI toward the banks.\nManagerial implications: The empirical findings indicate that customers' perceived justice relates SS positively, which in turn relates positively to BI. The findings also indicate the importance of perceived IJ when considering service recovery efforts in a post-complaint setting.\nConclusions: This study contributes to build a nomological framework of constructs in service encounters consisting of service receivers' perceived justice, SS and BI. The measurement properties as well as the structural properties were satisfactory.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The interactional and distributive dimensions of perceived justice as one of its objectives are to reveal the link between perceived justice and service satisfaction (SS). The purpose of this paper is to consider the influence of the perceived justice that South African retail bank customers experience based on the service recovery efforts of these banks in response to their complaints, the customers' SS, and, consequently, the behavioral intention (BI) toward these banks.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study focuses on the perceived justice construct where a service failure has occurred followed by a customer complaint and a resultant service provider response. In total, 281 respondents completed a structured self-administered questionnaire.\nFindings: The study found that interactional and distributive justice (DJ) experienced in response to the service recovery efforts of a bank significantly and positively influence SS, and that SS in turn significantly and positively influences the BI of these customers. However, it was found that interactional and DJ had no direct effect on BI.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research model tested addresses the interfaces between service receivers' perception of interactional justice, distributional justice and SS as well as the interface between SS and BI. The tested research model indicates that both are interrelated through SS.\nPractical implications: It is evident from the findings that retail banks should utilize the service encounter that follows a customer complaint as a desirable prospect to implement strategies to recover from service failures in an effort to bring about perceived justice that will ultimately influence customers' levels of SS and BI.\nOriginality/value: This study makes a complementary contribution to previous studies and existing theory building a nomological framework of constructs in service encounters consisting of service receivers' perceived justice, SS and BI.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Are you a cistern or a channel? Exploring factors triggering knowledge-hiding behavior at the workplace: evidence from the Indian R&D professionals	[ "Distrust", "Knowledge hiding", "Career insecurity", "Grounded theory approach", "Hiding strategies", "R&D", "Knowledge management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Knowledge, being valuable, rare, hard to imitate and non-substitutable, is a strategic competitive asset for any organization to gain and nourish competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Grant, 1991; Nanda, 1996; Perry-Smith, 2006; Wernerfelt, 1984). Knowledge assets may be created by sharing information at the workplace, as an individual's knowledge on its own is insufficient to create competitive advantage (Drucker, 1993; Swart, 2007). Organizations gain immensely when knowledge is shared at the collective level; therefore, knowledge creation and sharing are crucial to sustain competitive advantage, especially in knowledge-intensive industries, such as IT, banking and finance, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, among others.\nTheoretical background: Knowledge hiding is a common phenomenon among employees (Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002; Riege, 2005), despite efforts by organizations to discourage this trait. Existing studies have identified potential knowledge-sharing barriers and have categorized them into three levels, namely, organizational, technological and individual (Huo et al., 2016; Kukko, 2013; Lindsey, 2003; Riege, 2005). Of these, it has been observed that individual-level barriers are the most difficult to address, as no matter how hard organizations try, they can at best motivate individuals to share their knowledge but by no means can force them to do so (Webster et al., 2008). Connelly et al. (2012) explored an individual's willingness to conceal knowledge from others and also explained the difference between intentional and unintentional individual barriers vis-a-vis their impact on knowledge sharing. Connelly et al. (2012) further differentiated knowledge hiding from knowledge hoarding. While knowledge-hiding behavior refers to an intentional concealing of knowledge by knowledge creators, knowledge hoarding is \"an unintentional accumulation of knowledge that has not necessarily been requested by another individual\" (Connelly et al., 2012). In other words, knowledge hoarding is not necessarily motivated by an intention to conceal requested knowledge (Webster et al., 2008; Kang, 2016). Knowledge-hiding behavior is triggered by factors other than motivating knowledge-sharing behavior, as both are not opposite ends of a continuum (Connelly et al., 2012; Connelly and Zweig, 2015; Tsay et al., 2014). Exploring the factors contributing to knowledge-hiding behavior will shed light on why knowledge management initiatives of organizations fail to yield the desired results (Webster et al., 2008). Personality traits (conscientiousness, openness to experience, Machiavellian, etc.), for example, are one among several characteristics, which have been found to influence knowledge-hiding behaviors (Anand and Jain, 2014; Webster et al., 2008).\nContext of the study: The Indian pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country, showcasing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.46 per cent in 2005-2016. The low cost of production in India provides competitive advantage to the Indian pharma industry over its US and European counterparts. The current market share of the Indian pharmaceutical industry stands at US$36.7bn, with 70 and 21 per cent of revenues, respectively, attributable to generic drugs and over-the-counter medicines (Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2016). Additionally, India is the world's largest supplier of generic medicines, enjoying a 20 per cent market export share in terms of volume; this being said, the Indian pharma industry needs to focus more on R&D, as patented drugs form a very small portion (i.e. 9 per cent) of its total revenue. In an era of innovation, this industry is struggling for qualified and skilled employees, with a high attrition rate of 20 per cent making matters worse (Gupta, 2012). As a matter of fact, this scarcity has forced the pharma organizations to explore ways to create their own knowledge base. By and large, more and more organizations are investing in in-house research to develop innovative products and services; however, the knowledge-hiding behavior of employees has been hampering research innovation, thereby offsetting the advantage to be gained. It has therefore become imperative to understand the motivations behind this knowledge-hiding behavior so that organizations are better equipped to address these issues and thus gain from the benefits of new research developments. The Indian pharma industry has the potential to take a leading position in the global market in the coming years on the basis of developing new molecules/drugs. However, this will only be possible on the back of innovative research, which is possible only when employees would be driven by knowledge sharing rather than knowledge hiding. This study attempts to highlight the knowledge-hiding behavior by R&D professionals; it is this behavior among others, that needs to be harnessed to ensure India's expected growth rate of over 15 per cent per annum between 2015 and 2020 (Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2016).\nMethodology: This study principally aims to answers two key research questions:\nFindings and interpretation: This study confirms the findings from earlier studies on the subject of the antecedents of knowledge-hiding behavior, such as distrust, knowledge sharing climate, task-relatedness (Connelly et al., 2012) and types of strategies used by knowledge hiders in an organization, such as playing dumb and rationalized hiding behavior. However, this study also identified some new antecedents of knowledge hiding at the workplace, especially in the R&D setting, such as knowledge self-efficacy, lack of recognition, fear of losing importance, job insecurity and future reciprocation of knowledge from others.\nAntecedents of knowledge hiding: Distrust\nKnowledge-hiding strategies: This study also addresses the second research question: \"What strategies do individuals employ to hide knowledge from their colleagues?\" Looking into both aspects, i.e. why knowledge creators hide knowledge from seekers and the strategies they adopt to hide will help organizations to devise strategies to address the issues. This study corroborates with Connelly et al. (2012) study, which identified three strategies that knowledge creators use to hide knowledge: playing dumb, being evasive and rationalized hiding; in other words, hiding by asking counter questions from the knowledge seeker. Figure 2 summarizes the characteristics of each of the hiding strategies.\nDiscussion: This study brings to light factors that trigger knowledge-hiding behavior among R&D professionals: distrust, career insecurity, lack of rewards, competitive work culture, lack of confidence in own knowledge and lack of reciprocation (see Figure 1). An exploratory study helped the researchers understand the influencing mechanism of these factors on knowledge-hiding behavior of R&D professionals. For instance, threat to own supremacy and fear of potential growth of colleagues made employees feel insecure about their careers. The interactions that the researchers had with the respondents belonging to the pharma industry highlighted that the introduction of the forced bell curve as a technique to evaluate performance has further worsened the situation. The respondents felt that they were already under pressure to invent new molecules, and the burden to obtain a good rating on the bell curve further added to their woes, prompting them to hide their knowledge from other team members. The prevailing competitive environment in the organization also triggered hiding behavior as knowledge creators' fear of losing importance or being outperformed by their peers or juniors. It is also observed that while some individuals were open to sharing information with their boss, they were not willing to share in public forums, necessitated by the need to claim acknowledgement from their superiors, and consequently, gain higher performance ratings during appraisals.\nImplications for theory and practice: This study makes a significant contribution to existing literature on knowledge-hiding behavior by identifying new antecedents of knowledge hiding (i.e. career insecurity, lack of reciprocation and sharing knowledge being perceived as additional work with no recognition). As mentioned earlier, the salient feature of this study is in the introduction of the fourth strategy: the counter questioning strategy, which is deployed as a means for engaging in knowledge-hiding behavior This study also identifies two types of triggers for knowledge hiding: personal (distrust, lack of reciprocity, lack of confidence in own knowledge) and organizational (additional work with no rewards, career insecurity). In terms of the personal factors, it is already observed that people develop a sense of possession about what they have created, and therefore, they wish to retain complete control over the creation, or in other words, take psychological ownership of ideas/knowledge (Van Dyne and Pierce, 2004). Besides, the knowledge also gives a sense of power and security, in that individuals feel that they will be valued both by the organization and peers as long as they have control over the knowledge (Huo et al., 2016). In knowledge-intensive firms, knowledge is a very crucial asset (Law and Ngai, 2008), and sharing knowledge is necessary for organizational success. Therefore, from the performance perspective, organizations need to reduce the psychological ownership of knowledge possessed by the knowledge creators. In a recent study, Geofroy and Evans (2017) suggested that organizations can control knowledge-hiding behavior by fostering a culture of trust, teamwork and organizational commitment. Organizations also need to enhance the emotional intelligence of their employees to ensure that they are more confident and less insecure about themselves. Huo et al. (2016) suggested that task interdependence weakens the relationship between psychological ownership of knowledge and territoriality. High task interdependence increases team work and is most likely to reduce the hiding behavior among employees, especially for those working in project-based industries like pharma R&D, consulting and IT. In such a work setup, individuals who own the specific knowledge, because of high interrelationship between the different tasks, tend to share the knowledge with colleagues.\nConclusion: Despite many initiatives undertaken by organizations to facilitate knowledge transfer within their facilities, knowledge hiding persists, being triggered by employee's sense of insecurity of losing prominence, career opportunities or even jobs. It is well understood that knowledge creators per se cannot be forced to share their knowledge; however, a conducive environment can be built to foster a culture of knowledge sharing; to do this, organizations need to ensure that the employees are given their due (reward and recognition), address their fears and insecurities and create/modify HR practices so that it does not encourage knowledge-hiding behaviors. Further, both organizations and its leadership need to understand and appreciate the different types of knowledge-hiding strategies, and thereby look to remove the road blocks, thus making the knowledge-sharing process smooth and hassle-free, as in the long run, it will serve the organizations in good stead by rationalizing tangible and intangible costs.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: Knowledge is considered as a strategic asset for the organizations, especially for knowledge-intensive firms. Research and development (R&D) is a significant unit in organizations, as it is devoted to knowledge creation and transfer. The success of any R&D project in an organization depends on its innovative value and the transfer of knowledge to the employees. This study aims to focus on factors triggering knowledge-hiding behavior among R&D employees, thus disrupting the knowledge creation in the organization.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The grounded theory approach has been used to analyze qualitative data collected from 19 in-depth interviews of R&D professionals (middle and junior level) working in Indian pharmaceutical firms.\nFindings: The study identified factors that triggered knowledge-hiding behavior among employees. These factors include distrust, competitive work environment, perceived career insecurity, lack of recognition, lack of reciprocation and lack of confidence in own knowledge. In addition, four hiding strategies used by employees to hide their knowledge from their fellow members were explored and identified: playing innocent, being misleader/evasive hiding, rationalized hiding and counter-questioning.\nResearch limitations/implications: Besides improving the understanding of knowledge-hiding behavior, particularly in the Indian context, this study has implications for both managerial practices and organizational policies.\nOriginality/value: This paper highlights the factors influencing knowledge-hiding behavior among R&D employees. Knowledge-hiding construct has not been adequately studied; however, it prevails in the organization and has potential to influence various individual- and organizational-level outcomes. In addition, ways of hiding knowledge used by employees were identified and new forms of strategies named \"counter-questioning\" were found.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
How and when does grit influence leaders' behavior?	[ "Leadership", "Leadership development", "Grit", "Leadership Practices Inventory", "Leader personality" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leadership theory began with trait-based approaches (Northouse, 2012; Yukl, 2012), and recent studies are once again examining the effects of leader traits (Deuling et al., 2011; Judge et al., 2002). For example, evidence has accumulated connecting the Five Factor Model of personality to leader behavior (Bergner et al., 2016; Bernerth et al., 2007; Washington et al., 2006), and increasingly studies are linking other traits to leadership outcomes (e.g. Carnevale et al., 2011; Siegling et al., 2014). Consistent with this growing attention, meta-analysis has shown that leader traits can explain more than 20 percent of variance in ratings of leadership effectiveness (DeRue et al., 2011).\nGrit: Grit, which is defined as one's passion and perseverance in pursuit of long-term goals (Duckworth et al., 2007), is an important individual difference. Previous study has shown that grit is more than just work ethic (Meriac et al., 2015) or the hardiness to endure setbacks (Maddi et al., 2012). Grit is an individuals' ability to maintain passion despite a lack of positive feedback, which is important for success in many domains, including leadership. Experience shows that talent and intelligence do not assure success; sustained effort is also essential (Duckworth et al., 2011; Ericsson et al., 1993). Consistent with this reasoning, grit has been linked with better outcomes in many contexts, including personal relationships, education, military training and work performance (Eskreis-Winkler et al., 2014). Nonetheless, grit is not universally valuable, and appears to offer more benefit in some contexts than in others (cf. Ivcevic and Brackett, 2014; Tedesqui and Young, 2018).\nLeadership behavior: Leadership may be the most studied topic in social science research, which is reflected in the vast and complex array of behaviors associated with it (Northouse, 2012). Nonetheless, reviews of this literature consistently find that leadership behavior can usefully be summarized with a few broad categories (DeRue et al., 2011; Yukl, 2012; Yukl et al., 2002), and this inclusive approach is the one adopted in this study. In particular, this research defined and measured leadership behavior using The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework (Kouzes and Posner, 2017).\nMethod: Participants\nResults: Table I shows the descriptive statistics and correlations for all measures. Preliminary analysis suggested that these data were appropriate and useful. First, all Cronbach's a reliability scores exceeded the 0.65 threshold (DeVellis, 2003). As well, based on Hu and Bentler's (1999) fit criteria, a confirmatory factor analysis of all measures had an acceptable fit with the data (kh2=13,223.56, df=804, SRMR=0.08, RMSEA=0.06). Second, the expected six-factor model had a significantly better fit than a two-factor model in which the five leadership scores were combined into a single factor (Dkh2=3,904.04, df=14, p<0.01). These results suggest that, despite sizable correlations, the leadership factors were distinct from each other. Third, power analysis revealed that in a multiple regression with six independent variables and a level of 0.05, a sample of 1,360 would provide 0.80 power for an effect size of 0.01. Even the smallest subset in the data, those leading at work, exceeded that number indicating sufficient power for reliable analysis. Finally, the multi-factor structure of the data means that Harmon's single factor test suggests that common method variance was not a significant concern (Podsakoff et al., 2003).\nDiscussion: This study responded to three needs in research on leader personality: a focus on new, behavior-focused traits; an examination of desirable, rather than negative, traits; and investigation of how context matters. Using a large, international sample of work and non-work leaders, the current research examined how the personality trait of grit influenced self-reported leadership behavior using The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership framework. The results have both theoretical and practical implications.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of grit, which is the tendency to pursue long-term goals with perseverance and continuing passion, on leaders' self-reported behavior in terms of role modeling and innovating, as well as inspiring, empowering and supporting followers.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Data were collected from an international sample of 3,702 leaders in work and non-work contexts. They reported their level of grit and how frequently they engaged in five leadership practices. Moderation analysis was used to test the influence of grit on leadership behaviors across contexts.\nFindings: High grit leaders reported more frequent role modeling and innovating behaviors, but less inspiring behavior. Grit's effect on empowering behaviors depended on the context; grit caused leaders to empower followers more in non-work contexts, but not in work-related ones.\nResearch limitations/implications: That grit is an important predictor of leadership behavior yields both practical and theoretical implications. For practice, the results suggest that grit is a desirable trait in managers, corresponding with their greater use of various leadership behaviors. For theory, the results suggest that part of the effect of traits in leadership arises from influencing the frequency with which leaders engage in particular behaviors.\nOriginality/value: This is the first study to examine grit's role in leadership, and it has practical and theoretical implications. For practice, the results suggest that grit is a desirable trait in leaders, but one which requires unique supports from the leader's environment. For theory, the results begin to fill an important gap. It is well-established that personality influences leadership outcomes, but it remains uncertain how and when. The current study suggests how, since traits influence the frequency with which leaders engage in particular behaviors, and begins to define when, highlighting differences between work and non-work contexts.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Organisation and supply chain for quality control in luxury companies	[ "Organization", "Luxury industry", "Supply chain", "Quality management" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: For many years, the luxury industry has attracted the attention of researchers who have mainly focused on sociological, marketing (e.g. Vickers and Renand, 2003) and branding aspects (e.g. Atwal and Williams, 2009). Although branding and marketing aspects are fundamental for the achievement of success (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004), these efforts alone are not enough to guarantee long-term sustainable profitability. On the contrary, little attention has been paid to operations and supply chain management (SCM) perhaps because luxury firms sometimes look for voluntary inefficiencies (e.g. manual labour, long waiting lists, etc.) by pursuing competitive advantage over rarity and brand exclusivity (Luzzini and Ronchi, 2010). In particular, very often the literature does not present SCM as strategically important in determining the success or failure of luxury companies, as otherwise happen for other industries. Despite such consideration, however, preliminary studies have also highlighted the importance of SCM for luxury companies with a strategic perspective (Brun et al., 2008; Caniato et al., 2009; Luzzini and Ronchi, 2010): in fact, these companies cannot focus only on marketing efforts if they aim to move brands towards a higher positioning and add more valuable features to products and services.\n2. Literature review: In this paragraph, the main literature review about the relevance of SCM for the luxury industry and about TQM is presented.\n3. RQs and research methodology: 3.1 Research objective\n4. Results and discussion: 4.1 The organisation of the quality department\n5. Conclusions: In the present paper, we discussed how French luxury companies organise their quality department and manage quality control and quality improvement activities. The analysis has been conducted through eight in-depth case studies of French luxury companies. The main outcomes of this research are that there seems to be no \"one best way\" approach to organise the quality departments in the French luxury industry. Indeed, the levels of luxury and craftsmanship bring select structures of the quality department and, to some degree, different roles for the department. Globally, French luxury companies are becoming more aware of TQM techniques developed and widely adopted in other industries, such as the automotive industry. Nonetheless, the needs and wills of these French luxury companies vary from one company to another. As shown by our case study analysis, a group of apparently similar French manufacturers of luxury goods, there is not a common way to apply TQM methodologies and approaches. Specific situations may be widely different, from the full implementation of a formalised process through the company (Cartier) to an informal process in which quality is implicit but, nevertheless, an evident requirement (Hermes) and includes the implementation of a quality cell focused on quality control (Louis Vuitton).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the organisation of the quality department and the management of the supply chain (SC) used by luxury companies to achieve quality requirements.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper follows an exploratory approach using a case-based methodology. Data are collected through eight case studies with French luxury companies.\nFindings: The paper offers insights into the management of quality for luxury companies. The paper illustrates the main determinants of the adoption of the specific quality organisations; moreover, the paper identifies the main approaches adopted by luxury companies at the SC level to control the quality along the whole chain. For example, the paper raised that all accessible and aspirational luxury companies present a full-time quality department whereas a part-time approach is identified for high-luxury companies. In high-luxury companies, quality issues are perceived as critical elements to be monitored not just by one specific department but by each and every company employees; on the contrary, in the other companies the approach towards quality is more similar to the one of mass-market companies.\nResearch limitations/implications: The research provides initial insights into the important role of quality in luxury companies. To date, the analysis is predominantly qualitative and not sufficiently statistically significant to generalise the results.\nPractical implications: This paper raises a number of important issues for luxury companies who are not advance yet in structurally managed quality issues into their companies but especially their SCs.\nOriginality/value: This paper is one of the first attempts to study quality management specifically applied to luxury companies, with a main focus on the organisation of the quality department as well as the SC.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
iGeneration well-being in the workforce: a conceptual model of materialism and social comparison	[ "IGeneration", "Social comparison theory", "Materialism", "Social media", "Employee well-being" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Leon Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory (SCT) draws on the premise that humans have an innate drive to self-evaluate by comparing themselves to others. This theory asserts how people actively seek to determine their own worth and gauge more information about their self-efficacy through comparisons (Festinger, 1954). In other words, people rank themselves among others. To make these comparisons, dimensions such as wealth, social status, education, and size of homes are used.\nConceptual Framework: Exposure to Materialism via Social Media\nDiscussion: This conceptual model illustrates direct effects from exposure to materialism via social media to both upward and downward comparisons (H1 and H4). At the top of the model, a direct relationship between upward comparison and status consumption is hypothesized (H2). Next, we postulate a relationship between status consumption and well-being (H3). At the bottom of the model, we predict a relationship between downward comparison and conspicuous consumption (H5). The last path hypothesis presents a relationship between conspicuous consumption and well-being (H6).\nFuture Research: Future research involves empirically testing this model through structural equation modeling to validate each path. This future research includes partnering with organizations to design well-being strategies based on this framework. Pre-test/post-test research will be conducted to examine the effects of this model.\nConclusion: This article provides a model to better understand how social comparisons via social media among the iGeneration can produce extrinsic rewards, leading to higher levels of intrinsic satisfaction. Since the iGeneration are hyper-connected, they are more likely to engage in social comparisons. Because they consume materialism, they are likely to compare themselves among others based on possessions. Thus, these natural behaviors and extrinsic rewards may produce higher well-being levels among iGeneration employees.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This conceptual article applies Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory (SCT) within a materialism and social media environment to assist organizations with improving the well-being among iGeneration employees. By identifying SCT, this article proposes a conceptual model based on how iGeneration engages in upward and downward comparisons and how these comparisons influence materialistic consumption. Rather than altering human behavior, this article addresses how organizations can tap into their employees' natural field of play and advantageously leverage these innate traits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This article illustrates path analyses to elevate the iGeneration's well-being through the following: exposing themselves to materialism via social media, comparing themselves among similar and dissimilar people, and possessing materialistic items to set themselves apart. This article then provides future research.\nFindings: This study reveals how organizations can harness SCT within a materialistic and social media landscape to improve employee well-being.\nImplications: This theoretical model helps to develop organizational well-being strategies to produce lower employee turnover and higher productivity.\nOriginality/value: This article contributes to academic research by providing a theoretical model based on natural social media behavior and materialism.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The emergence of sensemaking through socio-material practices	[ "Sensemaking", "Practice", "Organizational change", "Socio-material" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Organisational change is a collective effort and hence requires collective sensemaking. In sensemaking research, scholars often distinguish between sensegiving (how senior management pursues change) and sensemaking (how change recipients act as active participants in translating the change initiated by management) (Gioia and Thomas, 1996; Rouleau and Balogun, 2011; Sonenshein, 2010). While this approach is very useful in analysing sensemaking as a dialogue between different organisational actor groups, it suggests that sensemaking occurs sequentially rather than as a continuous process (Brown et al., 2015; Luscher and Lewis, 2008; Maitlis and Christianson, 2014; Sonenshein, 2010). However, there is an emerging opposing viewpoint that adopts a relational ontology and approaches sensemaking as an ongoing process influenced by practices and materiality (Hultin and Mahring, 2017; Nicolini, 2012; Orlikowski and Scott, 2015).\n2. Theoretical framework: Organisational change is a complicated, dynamic, dialectical process that is influenced by its own progression (Castel and Friedberg, 2010; Jian, 2011; Schreyogg and Sydow, 2011). Sensemaking is widely understood as the process of building understanding of ambiguous or complicated phenomena such as organisational change (Brown et al., 2015; Mills et al., 2010). Research shows that there is a strong relationship between sensemaking, emotions, change commitment, efficacy and expectations (Helpap and Bekmeier-Feuerhahn, 2016; Steigenberger, 2015). Wider societal institutional logic helps organisational actors make sense of change initiatives, especially in cases with no clear local logic (Khan, 2017).\n3. Research context and methodology: Social and discursive practices influence and are influenced by the institutional context and pressures in which they occur (Bertels and Lawrence, 2016). The research context of this study was healthcare, a field that has been shaped by strong traditions but faces strong pressure to renew. Factors such as digitalisation, changing work environments, the economic recession, and shortages of physicians and nurses pose significant challenges to healthcare organisations (Aiken et al., 2014; Alameddine et al., 2012; Lu et al., 2015). Moreover, healthcare organisations are generally harder to manage than organisations operating in other fields, making organisational change management in healthcare particularly complex (Dyck et al., 2006; Ramanujam and Rousseau, 2006; Swensen et al., 2016).\n4. Results: sensemaking practices: The analysis revealed four sensemaking practices through which the personnel made sense of the development of ward inpatient rounding during the organisational change: facilitated meetings, a status board, video analysis and humour (see Figure 2). These practices can be seen as sites of engagement in which discourse and practice intertwine (Jones et al., 2017; Nicolini, 2012; Scollon, 2001).\n5. Conclusions: This research expands our understanding of organisational change and sensemaking, and addresses calls for a better understanding of sensemaking as an iterative process wherein practices and materiality are central elements (Hultin and Mahring, 2017; Nicolini, 2012; Orlikowski and Scott, 2015).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of how sensemaking occurs as a holistic, processual phenomenon during an organisational change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A longitudinal, qualitative case study was conducted by analysing video-recorded meetings among the staff of two recently merged surgical departments in a university hospital. Sensemaking was approached through the lens of socio-material practices.\nFindings: The analysis revealed that material-discursive practices produce sensemaking in various ways, creating a holistic process and a dynamic agency. Four sensemaking practices were identified through which personnel made sense of the development of ward inpatient rounding: facilitated meetings, a status board, video analysis and humour.\nOriginality/value: This paper identifies diverse sensemaking practices, each of which increases understanding of sensemaking as a holistic, processual phenomenon that emerges through socio-material practices. The paper also enhances practical understanding of how sense is made of a working practice, as well as how a working practice is developed and improved during an organisational change.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Involvement in consumer-generated advertising: Effects of organizational transparency and brand authenticity on loyalty and trust	[ "Brand authenticity", "Trust", "Transparency", "Consumer-generated advertising", "Loyalty" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Consumer-generated advertising (CGA) is a brand communication designed by consumers with the intent, look, feel and form of a traditional brand advertisement (Lawrence et al., 2013). Taco Bell aggressively exploits social media and repurposes fans' user-generated content in their company-driven CGAs: \"Live Mas to Win Mas\" contest and Live Mas Scholarship \"Feed a Dream\" campaigns showcasing fan lifestyles while enjoying tacos (Luttner, 2017; Polese, 2014). Although successfully exploited by Taco Bell, Marriott, Starbucks, TripAdvisor and McDonalds, CGA remains an under-examined area in hospitality research. Despite the many benefits CGA may bring a hospitality company, such as higher viewer ratings, lower costs, valuable consumer insights and a sense of collaboration and engagement with the community (Thompson and Malaviya, 2013), hospitality research is mainly centered on consumer-generated content through electronic word-of-mouth and social media (Sotiriadis, 2017). With estimates of social media advertisement revenues reaching US$11bn in 2017 (Stambor, 2013), understanding how CGA initiated by a hospitality company can build long-term relationships with both customers and non-customers has not received any attention.\n2. Literature review: 2.1 Consumer involvement\n3. Methodology: 3.1 Study design\n4. Results: 4.1 Overall measurement model\n5. Discussion: This study aimed to examine consumer involvement with CGA, to test whether organizational transparency serves as a building block to consumer perceptions of brand authenticity, how these antecedents affect CGA outcomes while also investigating the differences between two groups of consumers: customers and non-customers of the brand. This study combined signaling theory and SDL to explore the effects of CGA on long-term relationship development between a brand and a multi-actor consumer community. The well-known coffee-shop brand sponsored CGA contest was the basis for this examination. CGAs were co-created by members of the brand community and observed by consumers (respondents in this study). This study is the first to explore consumers-observers' cognitive and behavioral involvement with a video commercial, created by members of the brand community.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine consumer involvement with a popular US-based coffee-shop brand consumer-generated advertising (CGA) and its effect on brand loyalty and trust, to test the influence of antecedents: organizational transparency and brand authenticity on CGA involvement, and to analyze differences among customers and non-customers of the brand.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Grounded in the service-dominant logic and signaling theory, a scenario-based survey describing a contest to co-create a video commercial, as CGA, for a prominent US-based coffee-shop brand, yielded 492 responses from recent restaurant patrons. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of involvement in CGA on loyalty and trust. Multi-group comparison examined the differences between customers and non-customers of the brand.\nFindings: Involvement in CGA had positive effects on loyalty and trust for both brand customers and non-customers. Transparency builds perceptions of brand authenticity; both authenticity and transparency significantly and positively affected trust, but only authenticity influenced loyalty. There was a stronger impact of involvement with CGA on loyalty for non-customers than brand customers. Non-customer perceptions of the brand's authenticity influenced brand trust more significantly than customer perceptions.\nPractical implications: Coffee-shop brand marketers should leverage online and physical brand exposure to involve both customers and non-customers in company-driven CGA, as a relationship management and marketing tool. Marketers should enhance transparency, which builds perceptions of brand authenticity, leading to greater CGA involvement.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to hospitality research and literature, revealing that non-customers can be converted to brand customers through authenticity and indirect involvement with CGA, leading to long-term relational outcomes. The results identified consumers' perception of organizational transparency is an antecedent of brand authenticity and established CGA contests as a relational marketing tool for hospitality brands.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The pivotal roles of corporate environment responsibility	[ "Taiwan", "Corporate governance", "Politics", "Social responsibility", "Environmental management", "Environmental product policy", "Corporate environmental responsibility", "Environmental performance", "Structural equation modeling" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: Recently, firms consider corporate social and environmental responsibility as legitimate and voluntary activities that could bring firm's competitiveness and reputation under the pressure of different social and economic agents. In fact, international organizations and governments in both developed and developing countries have not only encouraged firms to practice environmental responsibility voluntarily but also regulated these practicing for sustainable development.World Commission on Environment and Development highlighted sustainable development as a critical global task, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The transition from traditional to sustainable development represents a significant change of economic and social activities, regarded as key for countries that aim to promote human capital, raise standards of living, and preserve natural capital.In business, many firms take environmental protection as the strategy of corporate sense of responsibility to enhance company's competitive advantage (Orlitzky et al., 2011. The significant impact is that more companies focusing on the implementation of environmentally friendly management systems to promote a more positive image (Kuo et al., 2010). The actions focus on the whole supply, production, and distribution system (Cambra-Fierro et al., 2008) and adopt environmental management system standard in the industries such as ISO14000 to monitor the environmental performance (ECOP). Environmentally friendly product has become key to promoting a firms' environmental policy as new product development (NPD) generally affects all the downstream activities including supply, production, and distribution systems (Rehfeld et al., 2007; Mascle and Zhao, 2008; Choi et al., 2008; Wagner, 2008). With shorter product life cycles and increased competition, NPD represents a critical activity consisting of not only marketing, technology, organizational theory and engineering, but also environmental issues and other specials stakeholder needs (Pujari et al., 2003; Keimerer, 2009).It is clear that, the corporate environmental responsibility (CER) is a fundamental issue with regards to adopting green environmental policies in developing new products. Empirical evidence showed that Chinese firms have not practiced responsibility since they employ cost-cutting as their main competitive strategy, meanwhile multinational firms operating in China do tend to obtain competitive advantages by practicing CER in their daily practices (He and Chen, 2009; Kolk et al., 2010). It raises the research interest to explore why and how firms practice environmental responsibility in other countries, especially the earlier social development country like Taiwan.Although there have been many studies explored the environmental issues, few empirical investigations have examined the roles of the various motivations for CER, the adoption of environmental product policies and the related enhancement of ECOP. This study thus conduct a research among Taiwanese firms using structural equation modeling (SEM) to empirically test competing models of the different causal relationships regarding the aforementioned constructions.\n2 Literature review and hypotheses development: CER is known as the environmental perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is widely adopted and can be categorized into three approaches:1. institutional, organizational, and individual;2. economic, legal, and ethical responsibilities; and3. stakeholder (Wood, 1991; Peters et al., 2009; Carroll, 2004; Freeman and Philips, 2002; Garriga and Mele, 2004; Mazurkiewicz, 2008; He and Chen, 2009; Thompson et al., 2010).Practicing CSR with the environmental protection and sustainable development perspective would become the strategic decision that influences the internal development of the firms, the relationship among stakeholders, organizations, and governments. Therefore, firms should focus on different aspects such as economic, environmental, and social in sustainability strategy development based on legitimacy, economic, and social theories (Szekely and Knirsch, 2005).Corporate responsibility can be used as the strategic intangible assets, which can be a source of competitive advantage (Hillman and Keim, 2001). From the resource-based view (RBV), CSR activities may represent the development of inimitable resources of the firm (Shum and Yam, 2011). Firms can take their ECOP as the significant key to gain the competitive advantage, reputation, and image.Furthermore, research on organizational citizenship behaviors claimed the motivations, leadership and culture on ECOP of the firms could promote the effective functioning of the organization (Bolivar, 2009; Nur and Organ, 2006; Daily et al., 2009; Babiak and Trendafilova, 2011).These approaches are the mainstream routes to develop a framework to implement CER and environmental product development policies, from production to distribution and thus to enhance the ECOP of firms (Al-Tuwaijri et al., 2004).2.1 Corporate environmental responsibility\n3 Measurement development: Five constructs were measured in this study: IM, PM, CER, EPP, and ECOP. The constructs were measured via a multiple-item scale constructed from pre-validated measures. All items used a five-point Likert scale anchored from \"strongly disagree (=1)\" to \"strongly agree (=5)\". Table I provides the definitions and scale items for these constructs.3.1 Sample and data collection\n4 Data analysis and results: To assess the hypotheses presented above, our research relied extensively on confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 5.0. The following common measures were used to assess the model's overall goodness-of-fit: kh2/degrees of freedom (df), normed fit index (NFI), comparative fit index (CFI), and the root mean square residual (RMR). Using these measures, we assessed the measurement model and determined whether the variables reliably reflected the theoretical constructs. Furthermore, we checked the proposed research model's overall goodness-of-fit to verify our hypotheses.4.1 Assessment of the measurement model\n5 Discussion: Based on the validated measurements and AMOS analysis, the fit of our research model adequately represents the relationships among the constructs and well fits with the collected data.Figure 1 shows that all of the hypotheses are supported. The ECOP is directly influenced by IM and PM. Meanwhile, these two constructs have indirect effects on ECOP through CER, including the effect of IM on cooperate environmental responsibility and the effect of PM on cooperate environmental responsibility. These results suggest that IM have marginal effects on both cooperate environmental responsibility and ECOP. Notably, the marginal effects of PM on ECOP are clearly presented.The findings also suggest that a firm will institutionalize its environmental policies based on its motives and responsibilities in doing business, which will then affect its ECOP (Garriga and Mele, 2004; He and Chen, 2009; Wood, 1991; Carroll, 2004), while there is less of a direct impact from instrumental and PM, even though they still have significant effects on ECOP.Furthermore, the results for H5 show that cooperate environmental responsibility affects environmentally oriented product policy, and those for H6 suggest that EPP is associated with ECOP, indicating the indirect heavy loading of CER on ECOP. Therefore, CER is the pivotal factor in the environmentally oriented policies in an organization.Two competing models were used to test the direct effects between \"IM\" and \"EPP\", \"PM\" and \"EPP\" (competing model 1), and \"CER\" and \"ECOP\" (competing model 2). However, no significant relationships were found.Using competing model 1, the hypotheses tests showed that the level of conducting EPP was not significantly influenced by either IM or political ones.These results suggest that while implementing EPP matters with the eco-performance, but neither instrumental nor PM have direct effects on such actions. Strong motivations alone cannot lead to action, such as thoroughly implementing an EPP in an NPD project. However, stronger motivations could enhance the willingness to implement environmental responsibility, which increases the possibility of adopting environmentally sound practices and achieving higher eco-performance. Keimerer (2009) argued that there are positive effects from providing benefits to customers and implementing regulations on environmental product innovation, and Chen et al. also found that green product innovation and green process innovations could enhance competitive advantages.In competing model 2, there is no direct influence of willingness to take CER on ECOP. This result also suggests that companies should not overlook the important role of EPP and should integrate it into their NPD processes as soon as possible. Pujari et al. (2003) conducted a large-scale investigation to explore the relationships between a firm's performance and the integration of NPD with environmental management philosophies. They found a statistically significant relationship between market performance and environmental benchmarking, effective environmental database management, effective groundwork, and cross-functional coordination.\n6 Conclusions: The results of this study have implications for both academic researchers and practitioners with regards to promoting environmental issues in conducting business. The models have confirmed that firms need to develop their culture in accepting and practicing the environment orientation for higher ECOP, reputation, and image to gain the firm competitive advantage. As the source of competitive advantage, CER should be considered as the pivotal activity in implementing an environmentally oriented strategy in business.This study contributes to the CER literature by developing a framework for environmental decision making regarding CER willingness, IM, PM, product policy, and ECOP. It is obvious that environmental decision making can be undertaken in any organization, regardless of whether it is governmental, nonprofit, or private, and this process is having an increasing impact on the market orientation policies and activities conducted by firms. This empirical study proposed a model to explore the roles of the various motivations for adopting CER, particularly with regards to EPP and enhancing ECOP.The study reviewed the previous research to address the benefits of implementing CER for business organizations, with particular focus on their environmentally oriented performance. This empirical research has also provided researchers and policy makers with a framework to study environmental responsibility in different business environments.From a practical business perspective, practitioners should implement corporate responsibility policies that are related to their specific political environments. Previous research on implementing CSR showed that while some firms take serious action in this regard, others, especially in developing countries such as China (He and Chen, 2009; Zhu and Tan, 2008), seldom engage in CSR-related practice and prefer to focus on cost-cutting policies. Thus, there is a considerable gap between Chinese businesses compared to those in Taiwan, as well as compared with multinational firms. When doing businesses in Taiwan, the PM in environmental protection will be the key to success when implementing CER. After experiences of economic growth, Taiwan government has directed to development focus to environment protection and green policies widely. These changes in Taiwan have been marked in different growth periods in it development process (Chi, 1994; Agoramoorthy and Hsu, 2007). We can thus expect that the level of implementing CER in Taiwanese firms will be lower than in more developed countries, but much higher than in Chinese firms. The involvement and commitment of some firms to CSR is so significant that roles such as Chief Green Officer (CGO), Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), and Chief Environmental Commitment Officer (CECO) have been created, which operate at a vice president level (Willard, 2005). This conclusion comes along with the fact that Taiwanese firms are more voluntarily practicing environmental management system and green products development, which are encouraged by various policies and programs created by Taiwan government. For example, the Basic Environmental Act passed in 2002 further clearly proclaims the principles that economic, social and technology development should make environment concerns their priority. It is time for Taiwan to develop strategies to sustain economic growth and protect the environment for future generations.Therefore, more comparative research needs to be conducted to generalize the results of this study regarding the business environment. To the extent of this research and its implications, the author suggests that future studies should undertake a deeper analysis to better understand business and organizational cultures and business environments with regards to implementing the environmentally oriented policies.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to empirically test competing models of the different causal relationships regarding the motivations for corporate environmental responsibility, the adoption of environmental product policies and the related enhancement of environmental performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - This study uses a mail survey and employs structural equation modeling to test the different relationships among the constructs examined. By testing the fitness of the competing model models, the appropriate relationships are identified.\nFindings: - The environmental performance is directly influenced by instrumental motives and political motives, which have indirect effects on environmental performance through corporate environmental responsibility. These also reveal that instrumental motives have marginal effects on both corporate environmental responsibility and environmental performance, and the marginal effects of political motives on environmental performance are also clearly shown. Notably, the results reveal that the corporate environmental responsibly is a pivot in these cause-effect relationships.\nResearch limitations/implications: - Although this study provides researchers and policy makers with a framework to study environmental responsibility in different business environments, it did not undertake a deeper analysis to better understand business and organizational cultures and business environments regarding the implementation of an environmentally oriented policy. Furthermore, the model was only tested with survey data from Taiwan, although some of samples operate internationally.\nPractical implications: - From the perspective of a practical business context, practitioners should implement corporate responsibility policies that are specifically related to their political environments. For example, when doing businesses in Taiwan, the political motives involved in environmental protection will be the key to success when undertaking policies related to corporate environmental responsibility.\nOriginality/value: - The results of this research indicate that there is an indirect heavy loading of corporate environmental responsibility on environmental performance. Therefore, corporate environmental responsibility is the pivotal factor in firms' adoption of environmentally oriented policies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Ownership structure, board gender diversity and charitable donation	[ "Corporate social responsibility", "Ownership structure", "Board gender diversity", "Charitable donation", "Critical mass theory" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The 2008 global financial crisis has led to greater attention towards corporate governance, in which the board of directors plays a crucial role, especially during times of crisis (Cheng, 2008). Bernardi et al. (2009) found that a higher percentage of women on the board of directors of Fortune 500 firms was associated with the corporation being included in Ethisphere Magazine's list of the World's Most Ethical Companies. However, a survey by Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) in 2015 found that women held an average of just 9.8 per cent of board seats in 19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies. That is, women still hold very few seats on the board, and men dominate in board positions for top ranking companies in APEC economies. Although the issue of how board gender diversity affects corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted researchers' attention in recent years, most empirical data have come from the USA and from European countries, and the effect of firm performance on CSR activities has been little explored in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, we have studied how board gender diversity impacts CSR in the electronics industry in Taiwan. We have selected this particular industry because of its contribution to Taiwan's economic growth in recent decades, and firms in this industry continue to enjoy tremendous growth. Although there are many forms of CSR activity, in this study, we focus on charitable donation, which has increasingly been regarded as an important CSR activity (Wang et al., 2015).\nTheoretical background and hypotheses: The firm that ponders whether to engage in CSR activities faces the conflict of interests among managers, shareholders and stakeholders (Rees and Rodionova, 2015). Managerial and various other types of ownership result in different concerns and interests. Therefore, the ownership structure of corporations is an essential factor when investigating corporate philanthropy.\nData and methodology: Data set\nResults: The descriptive statistics in Table I summarize the means, standard deviations and correlations of variables used in this study. A total of 760 observations were used. In the regression analysis, multi-collinearity among variables did not exist because the variance inflation factor values for all models was below 3 and within acceptable parameters, that is, below 10 (Kutner et al., 2004).\nConclusion: This article provides evidence of the relationship among ownership structure, board gender diversity and corporate philanthropy by using monitoring view of agency theory, altruistic perspective of stakeholder theory and critical mass theory. Our findings show that domestic institutional investors have a negative view point towards charitable donation. This result is in line with the logics of agency theory. When ownership structure consists of domestic institutional investors, such as mutual funds and corporate investors, it negatively impacted CSR. As for stakeholder theory and critical mass theory, companies with at least three female directors make greater charitable donations. Finally, board size, firm financial performance and foreign institutional investors were irrelevant to charitable donation. This means that these factors are not key drivers of charitable donation in the context of Taiwan.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This paper aims to examine the effect of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations for a group of listed electronics companies in Taiwan.\nDesign/methodology/approach: Using linear regression analysis, this paper analyses the ownership structure, board gender diversity and charitable donations of 380 Taiwanese electronics companies (2011-2013).\nFindings: While domestic institutional investors, such as domestic mutual funds and corporate investors, take more of agency logic view, it negatively impacts on charitable donations. However, the empirical findings of this paper indicate that board gender diversity with the critical number of female directors was positively related to charitable donation. Thus, it is clear that female directors reaching critical numbers were taking more of a stakeholder view of institutional logic, emphasizing the balance of interests of internal and external stakeholders.\nResearch limitations/implications: This paper is limited to selected Taiwanese electronics companies over a two-year time frame, and charitable donations are the only proxy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. The paper suggests that, as predicted by stakeholder theory and critical mass theory, companies with boards composed of at least three female directors make higher charitable donations.\nPractical implications: This paper indicates that female directors on the board should have more voices on the board regarding the necessity and importance of CSR.\nOriginality/value: The paper contributes to existing literature by looking into the effects of ownership structure and board gender diversity on charitable donations.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Testing multidimensional models of person-group fit	[ "Person‐environment fit", "Groups", "Multidimensional constructs", "Personality", "Employees behaviour", "Manufacturing industries", "Republic of Korea" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Person-environment (PE) fit is a central topic in managerial psychology. Considerable research has investigated how fit relates to outcomes including: occupational choice, job satisfaction, job performance, organizational commitment, turnover, and wellbeing (e.g. Edwards, 1991; Kristof, 1996, Spokane et al., 2000; Verquer et al., 2003). Yet, despite widespread popularity, research on PE fit continues to be plagued by questions regarding the fundamental nature of the construct (Edwards, 2008; Harrison, 1978, 1985). One of the key, lingering questions is how the broad array of possible types of fit combine to produce the experience of PE fit (Edwards, 2008).\nA review of PG fit: Content dimensions of PG fit\nMethod: Data and sample\nResults: Means, standard deviations and correlations for all variables are listed in Table I. Coefficient alpha reliabilities are located on the diagonal.Measurement model testing\nDiscussion: This study investigated the multidimensional nature of PG fit perceptions and their relationships with team-focused attitudes and behaviors as well as performance. Using Edwards (2001) process of investigating the relationships of distinct dimensions, while simultaneously testing the usefulness of a multidimensional model, we explored three potential models. First, in support of a distinct dimensions model, we used CFAs to demonstrate the uniqueness of three types of PG fit: values-based, personality-based, and abilities-based. The predicted model, in which values-based fit predicted commitment to the team, personality-based fit predicted voice behaviors, and abilities-based fit predicted knowledge sharing, was mostly supported. Only the relationship of abilities-based fit and knowledge sharing was not statistically significant, although the direction of the relationship was as predicted. Each of these attitudes and behaviors, in turn, were positively related to supervisors' ratings of individual task performance.We then explored whether the fit dimensions might be meaningfully related to a latent factor of overall perceived PG fit. We examined both aggregate and superordinate multidimensional models. Results did not support a model in which the fit dimensions combined together into an aggregate perception of overall PG fit. Support was found, however, for multidimensional PG fit as a superordinate construct. Specifically, model fit statistics improved slightly when we made the specific fit dimensions reflective indicators of a superordinate PG fit perception.Theoretical contributions\nConclusion: This study has tested an integrative multidimensional model of PG fit. We take an important first step in examining how different content dimensions may relate to individual affect, behavior and task performance. We find support for a superordinate fit concept that also is related to important outcomes. These results expand current knowledge regarding the multi-faceted relationship between fit perceptions and outcomes.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - This study seeks to investigate the multidimensionality person-group (PG) fit. It first aims to examine values-based, personality-based, and KSA-based fit as distinct PG fit dimensions. It then also aims to examine fit as an aggregate construct (each dimension combines to form a latent PG fit construct), and as a superordinate construct (an overarching assessment of compatibility drives the individual fit dimensions). It also aims to propose that the distinct dimensions or the overall perception predict commitment to team, employee voice, and knowledge sharing, resulting in a final outcome of employee task performance.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Data were collected using longitudinal survey methodology from three different sources (793 employees, their supervisors and the Human Resources department) in a manufacturing firm in Korea. The various models were evaluated using structural equation modeling.\nFindings: - The distinct dimensions model, in which values-based fit predicted commitment to the team, personality-based fit predicted voice behaviors, and KSA-based fit predicted knowledge sharing, was mostly supported. Each of these intermediary factors predicted supervisors' ratings of individual task performance. Although each dimension had unique impact on the outcomes, results suggested that a superordinate PG construct might be driving the more specific fit assessments. The aggregate model was not supported.\nOriginality/value: - This study is the first to show how different dimensions of PG fit may differentially influence affect and behavior, to predict task performance. It also shows the first evidence for PG fit as a superordinate multidimensional construct. Results provide a basis for new knowledge regarding the multi-faceted relationship between fit perceptions and outcomes.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The influence of marketing and innovation investments on alliance type choice	[ "Marketing strategy", "Innovation", "Pharmaceutical industry", "R\n\t\t\t\t\t&\n\t\t\t\tD", "Strategic alliances", "Resources" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: Firms that are able to develop strong marketing and strong innovation capabilities are thought to be better positioned for longer-term competitive advantage (Atuahene-Gima, 2005; Levinthal and March, 1993; Mizik and Jacobson, 2003; Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999). Most of the academic research has focused on how firms trade-off internally between marketing (e.g. advertising, branding and sales teams) and innovation (e.g. research and development [R\n1. Theory and hypotheses: 1.1 The RBV of the firm and alliances\n2. Empirical study: 2.1 Research setting: the pharmaceutical industry\n3. Results: Table I reports descriptive statistics for all key variables, as well as their inter-correlations. A feature of our data is that firms may engage in more than one of each alliance type in a given year. In fact, some firms engaged in up to five marketing alliances and ten innovation alliances in a given year. However, this is a rare event, as 96 per cent of firm-year combinations engage in either 0 or 1 of each alliance type in a given year. This helps us justify the selection of a choice model for our empirical analysis.\n4. Discussion and managerial implications: This paper investigated whether investments in marketing and innovation influence the type of alliance choices a firm makes, drawing on a long-term rather than a short-term view. First, much of the more recent literature implies that firms can complement marketing with innovation or vice versa in such a way that pursuing both will have long-term benefits (Atuahene-Gima, 2005; Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999). Thus, one might expect that firms that invest internally in marketing (innovation) will complement this with external investments in innovation (marketing) to balance their total efforts in the market. The results of our study suggest that over a long period, firms gravitate to what they know rather than attempt to pursue both approaches. Firms that invest in marketing resources in such activities as selling, building customer relationships, building brand or communicating the message to current customers in the hope of appropriating value engage in alliances that further enhance those investments. Similarly, firms that invest in innovation through R\n5. Limitations and future research: We focused our attention in this paper on marketing and innovation investments and alliances, as these are typically critical thrusts for management. However, future research may investigate the role of other types of alliances such as those formed for purposes of sharing knowledge and information in manufacturing. The combination of the three investment and alliance types may generate additional insight for managers.\n6. Conclusion: Firms that invest resources in marketing tend to form marketing-oriented alliances. Firms that invest resources in innovation tend to form innovation-oriented alliances. This seems to go against recent theories and literature that, at various levels of the firm, managers should complement innovation with marketing or vice versa. Firms do appear to stick to what they know best. Yet, when new product introductions combine with strong marketing or innovation investments, firms exhibit complementarity by engaging in alliances that are different from their internal resource orientations.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the gap in the literature as well as investigate how the combination of internal marketing or innovation investments with new product introductions influences alliance type choices. Most research on marketing-innovation resource allocation decisions has focused on trade-offs in internal investments such as advertising versus research and development. Absent from this discussion is whether firms offset a weakness internally by reaching outside the boundaries of the firm through alliances. As a result, managers lack a clear understanding of the potential for complementarity using internal-external approaches to a market.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This paper draws on the resource-based view of the firm, using a longitudinal secondary data set and a choice model.\nFindings: The authors find that firms that internally emphasize either marketing or innovation maintain the same approach externally with respect to alliance type choices. Thus, efforts to complement internal marketing (innovation) resource investments with innovation (marketing) alliances are not seen. However, the interaction of new product introductions with internal resource investments does result in a complementary firm approach.\nOriginality/value: The authors bridge a gap in the resource investment literature by exploring how the internal decisions impact the external alliance choices. The authors draw on longitudinal data and show that the action of making the choice is important, as it impacts future resource decisions. The authors explore the interaction between new production introductions and internal firm investments on alliance type choice. Given that new product introductions are a key to longer-term firm success, examining these relationships enhances the managerial impact.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
US experiences with STEM education reform and implications for Asia	[ "Active learning", "STEM education", "Authentic research experiences", "Confucian classroom culture", "Scientific teaching" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. What is scientific teaching?: The first sign that traditional lecture-style forms of teaching are less effective was provided by Dr Donald Bligh in the 1980s and 1990s. His work provided the first empirical evidence that lectures may not be a very effective mode of learning (Bligh, 1985, 1998). Given the entrenched nature of lecture use in higher education, it was not surprising to see his findings met with some skepticism and backlash (Wilson and Korn, 2007; Matheson, 2008). Nevertheless, subsequent work by a variety of authors has empirically confirmed that lectures are not the best practice for achieving a variety of important educational outcomes (McCarthy and Anderson, 2000; Niemi, 2002; Armbruster et al., 2009). This lack of efficacy was confirmed for knowledge learning (Laws, 1991; Sivan et al., 2000; Powell, 2003) and determined to be an even greater issue for skill learning (Hake, 2002; Handelsman et al., 1997; Pukkila, 2004). This latter result was especially worrisome in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education because the application of science knowledge, along with the development of laboratory and science process skills, is usually the most important goal (Roth and Roychoudhury, 1993; Harlen, 1999; Padilla, 1990).\n2. What is active learning?: As mentioned above, many of the pedagogical techniques empirically derived through scientific teaching have been combined in various ways. For STEM education, the most successful of these combinations has been active learning (Petress, 2008; Machemer and Crawford, 2007). At its core, active learning is essentially a redesign of in-class activities to maximize interactivity and feedback through facilitated problem-solving environments (Ebert-May et al., 1997; Taraban et al., 2007). By combining group discussion with discovery-based inquiry, active learning concentrates in-class time on the application of knowledge while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of cooperative learning between students (Bot et al., 2005). This cooperative effort is frequently enhanced by controlling the physical considerations of the learning space as well as providing technological implements such as personal response devices (Hoffman and Goodwin, 2006; Gauci et al., 2009; Pierce and Fox, 2012). These implements have the collective effect of making the learning space student-centered instead of instructor-centered.\n3. The importance of assessments: One of the critical ingredients that have allowed such significant improvements in student performance through active learning is the development of a wide range of assessment tools for quantifying different educational outcomes (Stiggins and Chappuis, 2005; Stiggins et al., 2004; Bennett, 2011). Some of these tools have been very basic and straightforward, such as those used to quantify knowledge retention (Heritage et al., 2009; Shepard, 2005; Cox et al., 2014) or skill competence (Griffin and Care, 2014; Gormally et al., 2012; Dasgupta et al., 2014) in specific subjects. Not only have these tools been essential for establishing the need to empirically investigate pedagogy, they have also served as the basis for quantifying learning efficiency (Ebert-May and Hodder, 2008; Pfund et al., 2009).\n4. Authentic research experiences (ARE) vs cookbook lab courses: In STEM education, classes are generally separated into two types: lecture classes, where knowledge content is delivered, and lab classes, where skill practice is supposed to take place. Along similar lines with traditional lecture-style teaching, most traditional lab courses are designed in ways that make them less efficient and less useful for long-term retention of information and skill competence. One of the reasons why is because traditional lab courses are designed like cookbooks with everything explained beforehand and nothing new left for students to discover (Brownell et al., 2012; Longo, 2011). This creates two basic problems. The first is found in the simple fact that a cookbook-style lab course is a poor representation of a real research environment. In a real research environment, many things are not known and success is often dependent on how the researcher responds to these unknown elements. If a lab course does not contain such unknown elements, it becomes a poor practice ground for developing a wide range of research skills such as troubleshooting or experimental design.\n5. Challenges to implementing scientific teaching: Although scientific teaching and active learning have been studied and confirmed in a wide range of empirical works, the dissemination of these two platforms in general teaching has been slow, even in the USA (Anderson et al., 2011). The first significant impediment has been a general lack of awareness of the two systems and their virtues (Niemi, 2002). In the USA, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the National Academy of Sciences have taken the lead in advocating for the expanded use of scientific teaching and active learning in STEM education, especially at the post-secondary level. HHMI has been especially active in supporting training programs and scientific teaching education development through various investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The most significant and well received of these training programs has been the \"Summer Institutes on Scientific Teaching,\" an annual circuit of regional training conferences designed specifically to spread awareness of scientific teaching and active learning by training faculty in the implementation of each (Pfund et al., 2009).\n6. A \"roots up\" approach: Another important space that HHMI has actively targeted with some success is the graduate student and post-doctoral training process itself (Boyle and Boice, 1998; Nerad, 2004). Traditionally, this training process has been focused almost exclusively on research production, benchmarked by the publication of high-impact journals: for STEM, in SCI journals. The typical science PhD program does, of course, usually contain teaching requirements of two or more semesters. The problem is that this requirement is rarely accompanied by an organized effort or curriculum that provides specific training in pedagogical techniques. It is this empty space that HHMI and others have begun to target by instituting training infrastructure for scientific teaching and active learning. Not only does this infrastructure allow for an earlier exposure to the possibility of alternative teaching methods, it also provides an important vantage point for bringing about education reform in a \"roots up\" approach by targeting the instructors and faculty of tomorrow while avoiding direct confrontation with the entrenched skepticism of those more established (Austin and McDaniels, 2006).\n7. Scientific teaching outside the USA: The issues of awareness and skepticism observed in the USA are, unfortunately, even more pronounced in other countries. In Europe, for example, a centralized institution like HHMI has yet to take up the mantle of scientific teaching, supporting its dissemination through educational reform. Although general knowledge about flipped classrooms and reverse design has appeared in some European countries along with the sporadic implementations of group work activities and technology use in countries such as Germany (Tolks et al., 2016) and the Netherlands (van Vliet et al., 2015), the vast majority of education research published using scientific teaching and active learning principles remains of US origin, leaving much room for improvement.\n8. Confucian classroom culture influences: In East Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, an important consideration is the presence of a strong classroom culture rooted in Confucian beliefs. Taking South Korea as the example, the basic structure of the modern South Korean education is very western in design (Sung and Lee, 2017). However, actual interactions within the classroom are very Confucian (Shin, 2012). In simple terms, these classroom interactions are defined by two key characteristics: high levels of instructor authority and high levels of student obedience. Nonverbal immediacy is used as a common measure to quantify these types of interactions. When compared with US peers, Korean instructors have been shown to exhibit much lower levels of nonverbal immediacy (Park et al., 2009) despite the fact that high levels of nonverbal immediacy have consistently been correlated with higher levels of student satisfaction in many different academic contexts (Pogue and AhYun, 2006; Zhang, 2006; Jaasma and Koper, 1999). Since this Confucian classroom culture persists today, one must ask how it may interact with efforts to implement education reform through scientific teaching.\n9. Concluding remarks: A few items in the literature have suggested that flipped classrooms may be less practical or useful for East Asian students compared to their western peers (Lin and Chen, 2016; Han, 2013; Zhong et al., 2013). Given the many unique aspects of Confucian classroom culture, this possibility remains a complex and important issue to work out. The few head-to-head comparisons between traditional learning and flipped classrooms conducted in East Asia have generally favored flipped classrooms (Lo and Hew, 2017; Lin and Chen, 2016), although there are also assertions that a combination of lecture and flipped might be better (Westermann, 2014; Berrett, 2012).\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The first indication that traditional lecture-style teaching is not very effective was provided by Dr Donald Bligh in the 1980s and 1990s. As empirical evidence about this fact has continued to accumulate, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the USA has undergone a significant change in emphasis away from lecture-based approaches in favor of systems emphasizing more interactive learning. The paper aims to discuss this issue.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A wide range of experimental research has employed the principles of scientific teaching to investigate the efficacy of an ever widening range of pedagogical methods. For STEM education, the most successful of these has been active learning.\nFindings: At its core, active learning is a redesign of in-class activities to maximize interactivity and feedback through facilitated problem-solving environments. Although the efficacies of both scientific teaching and active learning have been verified in a wide range of empirical works, the dissemination of these platforms, in general, teaching has been slow, even in the USA.\nResearch limitations/implications: The first significant impediment has been an overall lack of awareness coupled with general skepticism about alternative learning methods.\nPractical implications: This paper first reviews the education literature behind scientific teaching and active learning before reviewing some of the challenges to their implementation on an institutional level.\nSocial implications: These challenges and known solutions are then applied to the European and East Asian contexts to examine why scientific teaching and active learning remain predominantly an American phenomenon.\nOriginality/value: For East Asian countries, the authors offer a commentary on how certain aspects of Confucian classroom culture may interact negatively with efforts to install scientific teaching and active learning systems.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Exploring gender discursive struggles about social inclusion in an online gaming community	[ "Social inclusion", "Gender", "Computer games", "Online gaming", "Contrapuntal analysis", "Critical relational dialectics" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: For more than two decades, researchers have reported that video game designs are highly masculine (Bryce and Rutter, 2003; Cote, 2017; Downs and Smith, 2010; Hartmann and Klimmt, 2006; Kaye and Pennington, 2016; King et al., 1991; Maccallum-Stewart, 2008; Salter and Blodgett, 2012). Content analysis by Glaubke et al. (2001) found that females were included in only 16 per cent of the characters in popular video games. Similarly, Downs and Smith (2010) found bestselling games to include far more male characters than female characters. In fact, Downs and Smith (2010) added that players had far more choice in playing non-human than female characters. Irrespective of genre, game lead characters were disproportionately biased towards males. In contrast, female characters were more likely to be limited to playing the role of a \"prop\", \"bystander\" or as a victim of aggression (Glaubke et al., 2001; Burgess et al., 2007; Near, 2013). Female characters generally wore sexually revealing clothing compared to male characters - that is female characters were ten times more likely to be shown partially or fully nude than male characters (Jansz and Martis, 2007; Glaubke et al., 2001) and female characters, especially females of colour, serve as \"sexual eye candy\" (Leonard, 2003). Even game reviews mentioned male characters 75 per cent of the time, while female characters are only mentioned 33 per cent of the time (Ivory, 2006). In the massive multiplayer online games, customised avatar characters created by users were still disproportionately white males compared to females and other minority groups (Fox et al., 2015; Waddell, 2014). This trivialisation of women is also evident in professional or competitive video gaming. Compared to the highest male gamer's total career earnings of about $3.5m, the best-paid female gamer earned a paltry $180,000 (Needleman, 2017).\nOnline gaming communities as gendered spaces: Social exclusion is viewed by some scholars as a contested concept that has multiple meanings. According to Taket et al. (2009), this concept has been used by socialist politicians in France to refer to citizens not covered by the social security system. Social exclusion has been used to refer to the unemployed, disaffected youth and the homeless. It has also been used to describe people who have no access to employment, education and technology. A broader definition views social exclusion as a dynamic process of marginalising, silencing or segregating people from social, cultural, political or economic life (Byrne, 2005). This definition assumes that social exclusion is not self-induced but refers to action taken by a one group to deny or block out another group. On the other hand, social inclusion recognises the rights of excluded groups to equity, justice, acceptance and opportunity (Taket et al., 2009).\nA critical relational dialectics analysis framework: RDT, a dialogical theory developed by Baxter and Montgomery (1996), is a popular communication theory employed by communication scholars. Dialogical theories conceptualise meaning-making between relating parties as an ambiguous, contentious and fragmented process (Deetz, 2001). As a theoretical framework, the first iteration of RDT produced novel insights about the discursive tensions concerning people in the midst of difficult relational experiences (Baxter and Montgomery, 1996). Discursive tensions refer to the \"dynamic interplay of opposing forces or contradictions\" (Baxter and Braithwaite, 2006, p. 3). For example, Baxter et al. (2002) found that the wives of Alzheimer's patients expressed discursive tensions as they attempted to make sense of their husband's physical presence and mental absence. Baxter et al. (2006) found that stepchildren expressed discursive tensions with the involvement of their non-residential parents. Golish and Powell (2003) examined the dialectical tensions surrounding the ambiguous loss of a premature birth and the communication strategies used by parents to cope with the loss. Toller and Braithwaite (2009) found that parents who had lost a child expressed discursive tensions between grieving together as a couple and apart as individuals. As these studies illustrate, human relations are fraught with discursive tensions.\nMethodology: Following the guidelines of McKenna et al. (2017), we collected data from a popular community website's discussion board for South African online gamers, called GameZone (www.gamezone.co.za). GameZone's \"Opinions\" menu is easily accessible to local players and the public. Users can also type their query into a search bar on the main menu to access threads posted on specific issues of interests. All discussion threads are open to the public and are not password protected. Once directed to the opinions forum, the initial thread appears first and every subsequent response follows it. The discussion board posts about five to ten threads a day. Each response is located in relation to a name and picture of the commentator. A few players raised their concerns about gender on the discussion board. Our data collection began in 2017. All threads since the inception of the online community that matched our criteria of \"gender\", \"women\" and \"female\" were included in our analysis. There is a general lack of attention towards gender issues in this particular gaming community. The majority of the discussion boards focussed on upcoming gaming events, tournaments, the latest gaming technologies, news, video game previews and reviews. The GameZone player community is very diverse in their choice of games and thus discussions can occur on any genre. In the threads we looked at, the games most commonly discussed were Overwatch, a first-person shooter and various role-playing games such as Tomb Raider. We found only eight threads concerning topics of gender during the period 2013-2016. In total, about 200 comments were made in response to these eight threads. In these threads, 53 unique commenters were identified. Only 9 per cent (n=5) of these were female, the majority of 66 per cent (n=35) were male and a further 25 per cent (n=13) of them were marked as unknown. In addition, only one of the eight threads we examined was created by a male author. Names have been anonymised to prevent harassment to the subjects (Eysenbach and Till, 2001).\nResults: Activist gamers used the posts on gaming blog platform to engage gamers about opposing gender discourses. For the most part, they described their relationship with many male gamers as negative, as well as sought solidarity from other male and women gamers. The majority of male gamers continued to marginalise these attempts to improve gender relations in favour of the prevailing sexist and exclusionary norms using dialogically contractive discursive practices. Overall, the posts focussed on four topics: female gamer harassment, female character stereotyping, male gamer hypercompetitiveness and collusive employment networks in the gaming industry. The findings show how four interrelated gender discursive struggles about social inclusion animated the meanings of online gamer relations: dominance vs equality, stereotyping vs diversity, competitiveness vs cooperativeness, and privilege vs empowerment (Table IV).\nDiscussion: As depicted in Figure 2, analysing the FGAP and comments, using a critical relational dialectics framework, provided interesting insights on the gender discursive struggles about social inclusion facing a South African online gaming community. The framework presented in Figure 2 revealed four key discursive struggles male and female gamers confronted as they attempted to negotiate appropriate roles and statuses for each other. These were dominance vs equality, stereotyping vs diversity, competitiveness vs cooperativeness and privilege vs empowerment.\nConclusion: This paper develops and uses a critical relational dialectics approach to understand the discursive struggles about social inclusion present in gamer gender relations. Although researchers are making great strides in understanding the lived experiences of online gamer gender relations, more research of a critical nature is needed to understand social inclusion within these contemporary forms of relating. This study adds to the extant online gaming and IS literature by examining the broader, often prejudicial and exclusionary, relational and cultural discourses that interplay to impede social inclusion among gamers with different gender identities. Online gaming and other technologies have become sites for broader discursive struggles that constitute gender relations in broader society. Since women gamers continue to experience social exclusion in a male-dominated online gaming culture, it is important that researchers explore the formative role of traditional, relational and cultural discourses in the creation, maintenance and change of online gamer gender relations. Future research should also provide insights on how gamers representing the different gender groups are working through these discursive struggles, in order to open up more inclusive and richer democratic discursive possibilities in an increasingly complex social and technology-mediated world.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to adopt a critical relational dialectics framework to identify and explore gender discursive struggles about social inclusion observed in an online gaming community, in South Africa.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper uses a technique called contrapuntal analysis to identify and explore competing discourses in over 200 messages on gender struggles about social inclusion posted in the local community's gamer discussion board, based on seven threads initiated by women gamer activists.\nFindings: The findings show how four interrelated gender discursive struggles about social inclusion and social exclusion animated the meanings of online gamer relations: dominance vs equality, stereotyping vs diversity, competitiveness vs cooperativeness and privilege vs empowerment.\nPractical implications: Game designers should reinforce more accurate and positive stereotypes to cater for the rapidly growing female gamer segment joining the online gaming market and to develop a less chauvinistic and more diversely representative online gaming community. Enlightened gamers should exercise greater solidarity in fighting for gender equality in online gaming communities.\nOriginality/value: The critical relational dialectics analysis adopted in this study offers a promising avenue to understand and critique the discursive struggles that arise when online gamers from the different gender groups relate. The findings highlight the unequal discursive power and privilege of many white male gamers when discussing social inclusion. Advancing our understanding of these discursive struggles creates the possibilities for improving social inclusion in online gaming communities.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The role of cooperation agreements in the internationalization of Spanish winery and olive oil family firms	[ "Family firm", "Strategic alliances", "Wine industry", "International commitment", "Cooperation agreements", "Olive oil industry" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Internationalization is one of the main challenges that family businesses (FBs) must address to remain competitive and thrive in an increasingly global and complex environment (Fernandez-Olmos et al., 2016). Additionally, given the demands of global competition, firms are increasingly engaging in a variety of collaborative agreements (Madhok, 2006).\n2. Literature review and research hypotheses: Operating in multinational markets may be critical for the growth and profitability of many businesses, including FBs (Lu et al., 2015). Internationalization is one strategy that can guarantee growth (Hynes, 2010) and the long-term survival of companies (Donaldson and Lorsch, 1984).\n3. Methodology: 3.1. Participants and procedure\n4. Results: Before testing our hypotheses, we checked whether common method variance (CMV) might inflate the data. We followed Lindell and Whitney's (2001) method and used a theoretically unrelated construct (marker construct) to adjust the correlations among the principal constructs. To conduct the marker construct test, we used an empowerment three-item scale adapted from Fuller et al. (2006)[4]. This construct met the required criteria (Lindell and Whitney, 2001); specifically, it is theoretically unrelated with at least one of the other variables. Moreover, the construct is a multi-item measure (composed of three items). The correlation among all latent variables and marker variable (empowerment) was less than 0.30, indicating no evidence of CMV[5] (Tehseen et al., 2017).\n5. Discussion, implications, limitations and future research directions: This study aims to enhance our understanding of FB managers' perceptions of the difficulties of engaging in cooperation agreements as an international strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: This study aims to identify the mediating role of cooperation agreements in the relationship between family involvement in international firms and their level of international commitment.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The study focuses on Spanish international wine and olive oil companies that have varying levels of family involvement. The final sample consists of 263 companies. SmartPLS was used to perform the analysis.\nFindings: A higher level of family involvement in business implies greater difficulties with cooperation agreements. Additionally, family involvement is negatively associated with the firm's level of international commitment, and the perceived difficulties of cooperation agreements mediate this relationship.\nPractical implications: This study is of interest to business managers with different levels of family involvement. The study clarifies their perceptions of cooperation agreements and international business commitment. Managers of firms with a high level of family involvement should emphasize the multiple benefits of cooperation agreements for international strategy performance rather than the drawbacks of cooperation. Additionally, through cooperation, companies can learn about destination markets, which may help them to focus their resources effectively in those markets.\nOriginality/value: This study contributes to the literature on the internationalization strategies of family businesses. This study is the first to address the mediating role of cooperation agreements in the relationship between family involvement and international commitment.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
The effects of price-matching guarantees on consumer response in an online retail context: The moderating role of consumer search costs	[ "Purchase intention", "Price perception", "Consumer search costs", "Price-matching guarantee" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1. Introduction: Acting as the bridge between a product and consumers, price is an important marketing mix component. Price is directly associated with the goals and survival of a store and has become the primary basis of competition, particularly in relatively undifferentiated retail environments (Srivastava and Lurie, 2001). To satisfy consumer demand for better prices, retail stores have to adopt various pricing strategies. This era of consumer consciousness has resulted in most consumers becoming very price sensitive, always looking for the \"best\" or \"lowest\" prices when buying goods. If they cannot find the expected price for a desired good, their purchase intention generally decreases. These types of price effects on consumers are even greater during periods of economic recession. Levy et al. (2004) have proposed that a good pricing strategy must be constantly adjusted according to changes in the market structure and consumer habits to help firms achieve business goals and retain customers.\n2. Literature review: 2.1. Types of price guarantees\n3. Research model and hypotheses: This study aims to investigate the effect of PMGs on consumer response within an online shopping context. As mentioned earlier, the primary PMG variables are refund depth, refund period and competitive scope (Sivakumar and Weigand, 1996; Arbatskaya et al., 2004), while price perception and purchase intention are the main consumer response variables (Jain and Srivastava, 2000; Srivastava and Lurie, 2001; Biswas et al., 2002). This study examines the effect of the three PMG variables on consumer responses with consumer search costs as a moderating variable. The following sections elaborate the hypotheses based on previous literature.\n4. Research design: 4.1. Experimental design\n5. Data analysis: 5.1. Samples\n6. Implications for research: The results of this study provide some important implications for online PMG research. Among the three PMG variables, refund depth had a significant effect on both price perception and purchase intention. Specifically, consumers had lower price perceptions and higher purchase intention toward the online retailer with a high refund depth. The findings are partially consistent with Kukar-Kinney et al. (2007) who found that a deep refund is interpreted as a signal of low prices by nonprice conscious consumers, and that high refund depth leads to a higher store purchase for both price conscious and nonprice conscious consumers in a brick-and-mortar retail context.\n7. Implications for practice: 7.1. Refund depth strategies\n8. Limitations: While this study was conducted with methodological rigor, there are some limitations that could be addressed in future studies. First, despite our effort to create scenarios that conform to consumers' real life shopping experiences, we were unable to provide participants with an interactive and real online shopping journey due to the design limitations of our experimental tools. The authenticity and complexity associated with the online shopping context were absent from our simulated scenarios. Further, participants were required to visualize a situation where they were planning to buy a notebook computer, which allowed us to observe their response to the PMG offered by the virtual retailer. As the participants were unable to search and compare prices at other stores as they could in a real environment, we chose not to investigate all consumer response variables, such as search intention. As a result, our results may not include all consumer response variables that are significantly related to PMGs. Future research could continuously investigate other consumer response variables by designing an experiment in a real online shopping setting. Second, all participants in this study were highly homogeneous: they were all university students in Taiwan who indicated they were experienced with shopping at online stores and familiar with electronic devices. As a result, our findings may not be fully generalizable to other consumers. Future studies are needed to increase the external validity and generalizability of our findings by incorporating other consumer groups besides Taiwan. Finally, the experimental product was a notebook computer: a high-price shopping product characterized by high-price dispersion. Since the effects of PMGs vary across product categories, an online store may obtain different effects when a PMG is applied to other shopping or convenience products. Therefore, cautions need to be taken when generalizing our findings to other types of products. Future research is needed to generalize the findings of this study and extend the discussion to other types of products.\n9. Conclusions: The contributions of this study to research on online retailing PMG are sevenfold. First, this study contributes to a more thorough understanding of the effects of PMG on consumer response in an online retail context. As such, this study also represents a new direction for online retailing PMG research. Second, this study provides empirical support to show that refund depth negatively affects price perception and positively influences purchase intention. Third, refund period is found to have no influence on both price perception and purchase intention. Fourth, this study supports that competitive scope has a significant positive effect on purchase intention, but has no influence on price perception. Fifth, this study shows that consumer search costs have a moderating effect on the relationship between refund depth and price perception; specifically, the negative effect of refund depth on price perception is greater for consumers with high search costs than for consumers with low search costs. Sixth, this study finds that consumer search costs do not moderate the effect of refund depth on purchase intention, the effect of refund period on both price perception and purchase intention, and the effect of competitive scope on purchase intention. Finally, consumer search costs are shown to moderate the effect of competitive scope on price perception; specifically, when consumer search costs are high, competitive scope has a positive influence on price perception; when consumer search costs are low, competitive scope has a negative influence on price perception. The above-mentioned results represent a new finding in an online retail context, which is somehow different from that in a brick-and-mortar retail setting. The findings of this study provide several important theoretical and practical implications for online retailing PMG strategy.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of three price-matching guarantee (PMG) variables, including refund depth, refund period and competitive scope, on consumer response; the moderating role of consumer search costs is also examined.\nDesign/methodology/approach: This study uses a scenario simulation method with a 2x2x2 factorial design to test the research model and hypotheses.\nFindings: The results indicate that refund depth has a significant effect on price perception and purchase intention, while competitive scope has a significant effect on purchase intention. In addition, the effects of both refund depth and competitive scope on price perception are moderated by consumer search costs.\nOriginality/value: This study is a pioneering effort to explore the effects of PMGs variables on consumer response in the context of online retailing. These findings provide several important theoretical and practical implications for the PMG strategy of online retailing.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Diversity in the middle : Broadening perspectives on intermediary levels of school system improvement	[ "United States of America", "Educational policy", "Educational administration", "Schools", "Diversity in education", "School system improvement", "Levels of improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n__NO_TITLE__: In the North American literature on school system administration and improvement the word \"school district\" conjures up images of an organizational entity that exists in-between government education authorities and local schools, and that is politically and administratively responsible for managing and supporting distinct sets of schools within a specific geographically defined jurisdiction. Historically, these school districts have been governed by locally elected school boards. These elected officials, in turn, set local education policies within the parameters of government policies, and hire district and school administrators, teachers, and professional support personnel to manage and deliver educational programs and services in the schools to students of families within that community (Elmore, 1993; Tyack, 2002). Although there is considerable variety in the governance, organization, and size of school districts, much of the literature on school districts and their role in educational reform and improvement has tended to treat them as a common organizational form. The major thesis of this commentary and reflection on the preceding papers is that there is a need to recognize that \"school districts\" as known in the USA are examples of a more general phenomenon of intermediary organizational entities in education systems in North America and elsewhere in the world (Mourshed et al., 2010), and that there is a need to problematize, not take for granted, the form, purpose, and influence of these mediating layers of the school system on the quality and improvement of schools, and on the implementation of government policies that are intended to regulate and support education in schools.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to present the author's commentary on the special issue of Journal of Educational Administration entitled \"Systemwide reform: examining districts under pressure\".\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The major thesis of this commentary and reflection on the preceding papers is that there is a need to recognize that \"school districts\" as known in the USA are examples of a more general phenomenon of intermediary organizational entities in education systems in North America and elsewhere in the world and that there is a need to problematize, not take for granted, the form, purpose, and influence of these mediating layers of the school system on the quality and improvement of schools, and on the implementation of government policies that are intended to regulate and support education in schools.\nFindings: - This issue of the Journal of Educational Administration presents a series of papers that highlight different aspects and contemporary trends in school district practice and research - organizational characteristics associated with district effectiveness (see Trujillo this issue), how districts are responding to political and public demands for accountability (see Hamilton et al., this issue), the invention of school district authorities as portfolio managers of diverse school provider systems (see Marsh et al., this issue), and how social communication networks linking school and district staff interface with the use of evidence to support school improvement (see Finnigan and Daly, as well as Wohlstetter and Smith this issue).\nOriginality/value: - The simple thesis of this commentary is to argue that school districts function as an intermediate level of education governance, management, and support within national and state education systems, and that current research and discussion on the school district role in improving and sustaining the quality of education would be strengthened by broadening the scope of research and discussion to alternative kinds of intermediate level governance and support systems that exist in North America and in other regions of the world.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Creating sustainable development change agents through problem-based learning: Designing appropriate student PBL projects	[ "Universities", "Curricula", "Sustainable development", "Problem based learning", "Wicked‐problems", "Interdisciplinary", "Experiential", "Transformational" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\n1 Introduction: The starting point for this study was an action research project concerned with the embedding of interdisciplinary experiential sustainable development (SD) education within the curriculum to achieve transformational learning. This has already been widely described both in conference papers and in journal articles. A report detailing the fundamental approach, structure, facilitation support and evaluation of the module was produced and published for the UK Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) that sponsored the initial project, which been published more widely (Tomkinson, 2008). Year 3 undergraduate students from across the university undertake a series of short projects in interdisciplinary teams. Their own reflections and external formative feedback about each project is used by the teams to improve their performance in the next, applying an iterative or \"double loop\" approach to learning (Argyris and Schon, 1974). Key to the project's success has been the design of appropriate interdisciplinary problem-based learning (PBL) challenges that incorporate multi-stakeholder scenarios and conflicts of interest, span disciplinary boundaries and are focussed on skills and an approach to problem solving rather than on the students learning theory as content. Finding an appropriate term is not easy; at times they have been called cases, problems, tasks, projects, exercises, challenges and scenarios. These are not straightforward problems that can be solved, but complex scenarios that must be investigated, leading to new strategies being proposed that must be justified by the teams that created them.Scenarios have been developed on a case by case basis working with a wide range of academics, to form a coherent series of topics for each cohort of students that delivers the module's learning outcomes, as is described in the RAEng report (Tomkinson, 2008). Several new projects are devised for each cohort, to satisfy the requirement for scenarios to be current and topical. Example scenarios are shown in Table I. However, when the \"subject\" of each project is mainly a means to an end, different disciplines have different understanding of sustainability and it is the approach, skills and processes that students are learning rather the content of the project, developing suitable tasks and knowing what makes a \"good\" problem is not straightforward.Using feedback from staff and students, we are asking the question: from \"rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic\" to \"inciting social revolution\", where should student projects be pitched?The PBL process itself has critics and PBL comes in many forms, of which the model applied here is just one example. Other inter-disciplinary course units include the \"Sustainable City Project\" module and the \"Manchester Leadership Programme\", each of which applies a different approach to undergraduate SD education.\n2 PBL project design process summary: The student project design and execution processes can be divided into a series of nine steps:1. identify a trigger (encounter/document/media article/interview/web site/image/film);2. analyse the trigger material and carry out further background research;3. frame the problem (set objectives and boundaries, bearing in mind constraints);4. define the specific student task and its associated success criteria;5. identify areas for investigation/research to seek data;6. find, sort and critically evaluate data to acquire relevant information;7. apply appropriate information;8. produce required deliverable; and9. reflect on learning experience.In \"traditional\" technical problem classes, having gained inspiration for a project idea, the lecturer normally then frames the problem, fully defines the task, carries out research to acquire appropriate information and then presents this to the students in order for them to \"solve\" the problem (i.e. carry out steps 7 and 8). The key difference with PBL is that steps 5-9 are the responsibility of the students, not the lecturer. In the context of the project, the student briefing is a one page written document, but a \"trigger\" can take a variety of formats. In this instance staff also produce a \"project template\" detailing the learning outcomes and \"wicked\" aspects, with additional written guidance for facilitators, to ensure that projects are thoroughly thought through and discussed before being tested on students.\n3 Methodology: This project has evolved over a number of years largely as an action research project. In the initial stages a rigorous process of evaluation of the original pilot course unit was conducted, using student questionnaires and a nominal group process (Tomkinson, 2008). To examine the aspect of PBL project design in more depth, a comparative analysis was later conducted of three related course units and, following a review of the relevant literature a common questionnaire focussed on reaction to each project was devised and applied to students on these three course units in 2009/2010. This is described in more detail in Section 5.1. Further work is ongoing in collaboration with two other universities.\n4 Criteria for PBL project design in ESD: The criteria for selecting student projects in the original curriculum design project included:* Complexity. They must be \"wicked problems\" requiring a non-reductionist approach.* Currency. Problems should be topical, unsolved projects rather than historic cases.* Content. The projects must effectively lead to students learning about change processes and SD, working across disciplinary boundaries.* Context. Projects should be appropriate for undertaking by young professionals.* Cumulative. The series of projects must form a coherent learning experience.Applying these criteria has not been straightforward and other issues have arisen during module delivery, particularly since working with facilitation staff and project authors drawn from across the university has given the opportunity for a wide range of differing opinions to be expressed.4.1 Complexity: \"wicked problems\" requiring a non-reductionist approach\n5 Issues arising in PBL project design: Some of the further issues to be addressed for PBL project design that have arisen during the five years the PBL course unit has been delivered have included:* Challenge. Designing PBL projects of an appropriate difficulty level for students.* Theory. Do didactic interventions help or hinder empirical experiential learning?* Authenticity. Comparing \"real\" with \"theoretical\" projects.* Ethics. Ethical considerations in ESD.5.1 Challenge: designing PBL projects of an appropriate difficulty level\n6 Conclusion: Complex issues of SD can never be \"solved\" uniquely. In order to manage such problems, their complexity has to be recognised and an inter-disciplinary method helps to underpin a systemic approach to addressing these issues. Higher education demands that these aspects are taken seriously and this paper has described how this has been implemented within one group of PBL modules at the University of Manchester. Designing appropriate PBL ESD scenarios that are current and applicable to the circumstances of each university is easily achievable once the different aspects of project design are understood and considered. This paper has set out to describe some of the important features to take into account in designing ESD scenarios for complex global issues, and some of the areas that we believe will require further experience, analysis and debate to determine best practice.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues involved in designing appropriate problems or scenarios suitable for sustainable development (SD) education, in the context of problem-based learning (PBL) and experiential learning. Manchester's PBL approach to interdisciplinary Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been well reported, for example, in papers at the Educating Engineers in Sustainable Development conference in 2008. This paper poses the question: to achieve transformational education, is design of student problems for ESD itself a wicked problem? The design process that has been used to generate ESD projects for one PBL unit is reflected upon, to share good practices and highlight points of ongoing contention.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - Working from the background to the original pilot project to develop an inter-disciplinary course to heighten student skills in sustainability and change management, the paper looks at some of the theoretical approaches taken to the design of PBL scenarios and tries to place these in the context of education for SD.\nFindings: - The initial project found that using inter-disciplinary, problem-based approaches to embedding SD in the curriculum is not only practicable but also desirable. However, the approach to design of problem scenarios has to be adjusted to the nature of the \"wickedness\" of sustainability issues and be appropriate to the student cohort and institution.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The approaches are felt to be applicable to a much wider range of situations than is demonstrated in the paper but, clearly, the findings can only be grounded on the particular situation of the project.\nOriginality/value: - The 2006 curriculum development action research project was intended to help other institutions to replicate the process but, much of the external attention since that time has focussed, inappropriately, on simply re-using the scenarios that were described in the initial project rather than applying the design process that has been developed in order to devise new scenarios more appropriate to another course or institution.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Clinical audit on treatment of depression in CAMHS	[ "Clinical effectiveness", "Continuous quality improvement" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: Child and adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, chronic, familial, and recurrent condition that usually persists into adulthood. The prevalence of MDD is estimated to be approximately 2 per cent in children and 4 per cent to 8 per cent in adolescents, with a male female ratio of 1:1 during childhood and 1:2 during adolescence (AACAP, 2007; Birmaher et al., 1996; Burns et al., 2002; Fleming et al., 1993). 40 per cent to 90 per cent of youth with MDD have other psychiatric disorders, with at least 20 per cent to 50 per cent having two or more co morbid diagnoses (Goodyer et al., 1997; Hammen et al., 1990; Kashani et al., 1987a, b). The lifetime risk for MDD in children of depressed parents has been estimated to range from 15 per cent to 60 per cent (Kovacs, 1996; Lewinsohn et al., 1994; Orvaschel et al., 1988).\nObjective: The first phase of the audit cycle was performed with an objective to compare the initial management of children and young people with moderate to severe depression in secondary care (CAMHS County and City community teams, LPT) with the guidelines produced by NICE (2005). Areas of deficits in the practice were explored and recommendations were made to implement changes. The objective of the second phase was to reinvestigate the current practice to establish the level of compliance with the NICE guidelines and to find out whether the changes recommended in the first phase were being implemented and to what extent.\nStandards: The standards against which we compared our current clinical practice both in the initial audit in 2008 and the re-audit in 2010 is the NICE Clinical Guidelines for management of depression in Children and Adolescents (NICE, 2005). The main points of the guidelines that we focused on in our audit are:\nMethodology: We collected our sample from the children and young people who were open to the Tier 2/3 CAMHS community teams in the LPT and had a primary diagnosis of moderate or severe depression. The age criteria to be recruited in the sample were from five years till 18 years. Tier 2/3 CAMHS community service in the LPT is divided into the City and the County teams. Sample was collected from these two teams covering the catchment area for Leicester City and Leicestershire County. The total sample size was 40 in both the audits of the audit cycle. Twenty patients suffering from moderate to severe episodes of major depression were randomly selected from each of the teams to ensure equal representation.\nResults: Although in both 2008 and 2010 most of the patients were females, the proportion of male patients increased from 22.5 per cent in 2008 to 40 per cent in 2010. More young persons than children presented with depression on both occasions (2008: 2.5 per cent children, 97.5 per cent young persons. 2010: 10 per cent children, 90 per cent young persons).\nDiscussion: Following the completion of the initial audit of the audit cycle, and subsequent recommendations in 2008, our tier 2-3 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service community teams demonstrated improved compliance with most of the NICE guidelines when treating children and adolescents with moderate to severe depression. These areas of comparative improvement included using specific psychological therapy as first-line treatment, applying psychological therapies for longer durations, and offering alternative psychotherapeutic approaches if the initial treatment had failed. Results also showed an increased adherence to prescription protocol when administering medication, a reduction in the use of anti-depressants, and an improved rate of monitoring and reviewing the side effects, mental states and general wellbeing of patients on pharmacological measures prior to and during their treatment courses. Medication also became more likely to only be prescribed in combination with concurrent psychological therapy.\nRecommendations: A number of recommendations were made at the completion of the current audit cycle. We need to consider different ways of increasing the frequency of organising MDT reviews, especially for resistant depression and patients with complex needs. It is advised to ensure proper documentation of any multidisciplinary CPA or any other meetings on the treatment plan, so that the current practice is not under-represented in the audit findings. Prescribing clinicians are to be further educated about the importance of initiating drug treatment at a lower dose to avoid unnecessary side effects and providing written as well as verbal information to the service users and carers. This can also be done by proper dissemination and publication of the outcomes and recommendations of this audit to all the responsible clinicians within the trust as well as outside, who are involved in the care of children and adolescents with depression. The importance of documenting in the notes, all the aspects of management is to be reiterated. This can prevent any misrepresentation of clinical practice in the audit.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The purpose of this audit cycle was to compare the clinical practice of treating children and adolescents with moderate to severe depression with the NICE guidelines. The second aim was to recommend changes in practice to improve compliance to the guidelines and reinvestigate the degree of change two years after the initial recommendations.\nDesign/methodology/approach: A total of 40 patients within Secondary Care with moderate or severe depression were selected. Data were collected, analyzed and recommendations were made. The second phase of the audit cycle was completed after two years, following similar methods.\nFindings: On most of the parameters the clinical practice improved in the re-audit, indicating better compliance with the NICE guidelines. However, on a few areas the compliance did not improve or even deteriorated.\nResearch limitations/implications: The implications of the results were discussed and final recommendations were made based on the findings and the perceived change in practice.\nOriginality/value: Literature searches revealed no previous audit cycles to have been conducted on CAMHS compliance to NICE guidelines with regards to treating depression.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Leadership role and employee acceptance of change: Implementing environmental sustainability strategies within Nordic insurance companies	[ "Leadership", "Strategy", "Implementation", "Acceptance of change", "Environmental sustainability" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: To address some of the pressing economic, social, and environmental issues we are faced with, the principle of sustainability was developed by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. Sustainable development is defined as \"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations\" (Bruntland, 1987, p. 43). This requires a balance between economic, social, and environmental prosperity. To address sustainability issues on a corporate level, corporate (or business) sustainability requires firms to commit to supporting sustainable development. In this context, corporate sustainability has been defined by Bansal and DesJardine (2014, p. 71) as \"the ability of firms to respond to their short-term financial needs without compromising their (or others') ability to meet their future needs\".\nLiterature review: Acceptance of change and resistance to change can be viewed as opposite poles (Coetsee, 1999). When implementing strategies, resistance to change must be overcome; if this does not happen, the change management effort will not be successful. If you can encourage acceptance to change, a positive outcome is more likely. Organizational change is rooted in personal change (Steinburg, 1992), meaning if organizational change is to take place, individual change is needed as well (Evans, 1994).\nMethodology: The Nordic states ranked high on the 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) (Esty et al., 2008)[1]. Furthermore, they have a strong climate profile within the European Union (EU), and are regarded as front-runners in protecting the environment (Magnusdottir, 2009). Magnusdottir claims that \"Sweden, Denmark and Finland have been more influential in EU policy making than their modest size indicates\", and are able to act as \"eco-entrepreneurs\" within the EU by using their positive image based on \"expertise, knowledge and/or national examples\" (Magnusdottir, 2009, p. 2). However, a research gap exists in studying whether the environmental front-runner role of Nordic countries translates into proactive actions of Nordic insurers through implementation of environmental sustainability strategies, supported by leadership and employee acceptance of change. The actions of financial institutions concerning environmental issues in the context of corporate sustainability is an understudied area, as studies of this nature are heavily skewed towards large, heavily polluting firms and producers of tangible products (Johannsdottir, 2012).\nStrategy implementation, leadership role, and acceptance of change: To demonstrate how Nordic insurers implement environmental sustainability strategies, we use strategy maps (Kaplan and Norton, 2001, 2008) grounded in the data. In these maps, we define different actors (or stakeholders), internal and/or external; the business processes involved; actions taken, and the expected outcomes. Additionally, we use interview quotations to discuss leadership role in implementing environmental sustainability strategies and the elements that shape employees' acceptance of change, as these are critical factors when implementing environmental sustainability strategies successfully. Strategy maps presented have to do with insurers' own operations, product offerings, loss prevention and claim settlements, investments, and influencing authorities and society, as these are key business areas for development with respect to environmental sustainability, as emphasized by interviewees. The first quotation is used to explain the importance of environmental issues for Nordic insurers. In a ClimateWise report, Tom Anders Stenbro, CSR Advisor from Tryg, explains the company's motivation for addressing climate change issues (ClimateWise, n.d.):\nDiscussion and conclusion: The scientific contribution of this paper is the empirical mapping of a hitherto unexplored area of the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies within the Nordic insurance industry. This is done by explaining how environmental sustainability strategies are implemented by Nordic insurers and by highlighting the leadership role that is evident in the maps and in interviewees' quotations. Particular points emphasized by interviewees were the role of leaders in setting the course, establishing a sense of urgency, acting as role models, sharing a vision, providing necessary resources, empowering employees to act, and committing themselves wholeheartedly to the implementation of successful environmental sustainability strategies. The elements shaping employee satisfaction and acceptance of change when implementing environmental sustainability strategies include whether employees' personal values are aligned with the company's values; ethics; pride; work with meaning and content richness of the job; involvement; and the feeling of making a difference to society and the environment. This paper adds valuable insights to the academic literature, and offers a practical contribution as well beyond the scope of the Nordic insurance industry, as the acceptance of change is an understudied area in general. The study results offer increased understanding of the situation with respect to the research questions.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: The change management literature on strategy implementation identifies different dimensions of resistance to change. The contrary view - that of dimensions of acceptance of change when implementing strategy - has received less attention. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies by Nordic insurers, the role of leadership in implementing these changes, and employee acceptance of change.\nDesign/methodology/approach: For achieving this purpose, this paper reports on an explanatory case study of Nordic non-life insurers, where interviews with insurance executives and specialists were the primary source of data.\nFindings: The authors have developed simple strategy maps, focusing on insurers' own operations, product offerings, loss prevention and claims settlements, investments and influence on stakeholders, to show how common elements of environmental strategies are implemented within the insurance industry. The importance of leadership in organizational change is evident in the data, as well as in employees' positive attitudes towards implementation of environmental sustainability strategies.\nOriginality/value: The scientific contribution of this paper is the empirical mapping of a hitherto unexplored area of the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies within the Nordic insurance industry, highlighting the leadership role in implementing environmental sustainability strategies and the elements shaping employee acceptance of change when implementing environmental sustainability strategies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Key determinants of small companies' pension scheme adoption	[ "Pensions", "Stakeholder analysis", "Small entrprises" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: The prospective long-term financial benefit to employees of belonging to an occupational pension scheme, particularly where the employer makes contributions, is well recognised - so much so that the Government's Green Paper of December 1998 (DSS, 1998) described these schemes as \"one of the great welfare success stories of this century\". Indeed, membership of such schemes has offered considerable financial advantage over reliance on the basic state pension which, as a result of indexation to prices rather than average earnings, has continued to decline in value. However company pension schemes are more common in larger firms and their membership declines with a decrease in company size distribution. Table I shows the different sizes of private sector employers and their pension schemes. Smaller employers often offer pension schemes that involve less administration for them, such as group personal pensions. Larger employers who can take advantage of economies of scale often run their own occupational pension schemes and are more likely than smaller employers to provide defined benefit schemes.Membership of occupational pension schemes, after reaching a peak in the 1960s, stabilised at around 50 per cent of the working population. No defined benefit schemes have been set up since the early 1990s and an increasing number of companies are closing defined benefit schemes to new employees in favour of defined contribution schemes (The Economist, 2002). The vast majority of pension schemes were set up at the beginning of the twentieth century when pension provision developed from an ad hoc treatment of retirement in the nineteenth century to a more structured approach with state encouragement. The majority of the early schemes were designed primarily for managerial and white-collar employees of large companies, the main motivation for their construction being to reward the male white-collar employee who stayed with one employer for most of his working life. After his death, his wife and children would be given financial security, but only as dependants and sometimes only at the discretion of the trustees. Pension plans are an important incentive device in labour contracts, affecting employees' turnover, work effort, and the timing of retirement.To increase private pension coverage, in April 2000 the government launched \"Stakeholder Pensions\". This is a \"no frills\" personal pension with regulated costs and structure primarily targeted at \"middle earners\", individuals who earn between PS9,000 and PS18,500 a year and who do not already have a private pension. According to Emmerson and Tanner (1999) the middle earners without a private pension are more likely to work for a smaller employer. Employers (except those employing less than five people) have to designate a scheme to their employees and enable them to make contributions direct from their pay packet. From October 2001 those employers who do not will be penalised for non-compliance, which includes fines of up to PS50,000. There is no requirement for employers to make any contribution to these schemes.The present role of pension provision within the small company as part of a wider reward package is less than clear. Research literature has confirmed that the provision of a company occupational pension was, if not a sign of benevolent employer paternalism, then a perceived device for attracting, retaining and fostering the loyalty and commitment of employees (Taylor and Earnshaw, 1995; Terry and White, 1997). What has been missing from any consideration is an exploration of the rationale for adoption or rejection of employer sponsored pension schemes by small firms.The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the motivating and hindering factors to setting up sponsored occupational pension schemes in small companies. It outlines the development of occupational pension schemes examining the literature relating to why companies adopt a pension scheme and discussing government pension policy. The paper then reports the findings of a two-stage research study which was undertaken to examine the issues relevant to managerial decision-making in small firms when considering the adoption or rejection of an employer sponsored pension scheme.\nThe development of company pension schemes: Governments have always encouraged occupational pension schemes within the UK through various tax incentives. Alongside the development of state pension policy, tax incentives have been particularly generous to savings ear-marked for retirement. The government's first intervention in and regulation of pensions emerged from the Inland Revenue when in 1916, deferred annuity contracts were given tax relief if made in connection with \"any superannuation or bona fide pension scheme\" (Sabine, 1966). Tax relief for pension schemes as opposed to an individual arrangement was granted in 1921 for contributions into the schemes, and subsequent growth of the funds. Successive governments since 1921 have encouraged pension provision via generous tax breaks through company and personal pension schemes, despite the abolition in 1997 of the 20 per cent dividend tax credits to pension funds (Murthi et al., 1999). Precise data for the membership of occupational pension schemes at the start of the twentieth century (i.e. before the State social security scheme was introduced in 1908) are not available but, given that most were restricted to non-manual workers, it is likely that the total membership was less than 1 million (DHSS, 1971). By 1936, however, some 2.6 million workers were members of occupational pension schemes (Ministry of Labour Gazette, 1938), while before the Second World War the membership was only about 2.5 million (about 15 per cent of the workforce). During the 1950s and most of the 1960s the number of people in pension schemes grew rapidly to reach about half the number of employees in employment, at which level it has broadly remained.The UK pension system is very complicated due to numerous reforms over the last quarter of a century; a simple method of clarification is to divide it into three tiers. The first tier is mandatory, flat rate and publicly funded on a pay-as-you-go basis. There is also a significant and growing amount of means-tested benefits available to low income pensioners. The second tier is also mandatory to employees although individuals are faced with a large degree of choice over the type of pension that they can accumulate. The state second tier pension is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis as are the vast majority of public sector occupational pension schemes. Private sector occupational pension schemes, personal pensions and stakeholder pensions are financed on a funded basis. The third tier consists entirely of voluntary private savings, all of which operate on an individual basis.This paper is concerned with the second tier which is compulsory to all those in paid employment earning above the lowest earnings level (although not the self-employed). Let us first discuss the default position. In the event an employee does not belong to a pension scheme, he/she will automatically become a member of the State Second Pension (SSP), which has superseded the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). Contributions made since April 2002 accrue rights which will be an earnings-related pension, although the government has stated that in the near future this will become a flat rate top up to the Basic State Pension (DSS, 1998). The SSP is more generous towards lower-earners than its predecessor SERPS. Since 1978 individuals have been able to \"opt out\" of the state scheme into a private pension, between 1978 and 1988 this had to be a defined benefit (final salary) scheme that guaranteed to pay at least as generous a pension as the state alternative. In return for forgoing their rights to this pension, individuals and their employers paid a lower rate of National Insurance contributions. From 1988 onwards the field was opened up to include \"defined contribution\" money purchase schemes.The provision of an occupational pension scheme by an employer must be viewed in the broader context of human resource strategy, since pension provision is generally regarded as having an important place in a range of benefits that may be offered to employees as part of an overall reward package (Armstrong, 1995; Terry and White, 2000). It is argued that the provision of an employer contributory scheme attracts staff by demonstrating a willingness on the part of the employer to provide a reasonable level of security and a willingness to invest in their long-term future. This is achieved through a variety of inter-related mechanisms: first, by signalling that the organisation \"cares\" about employees' long-term interests thus engendering their loyalty; second, by rewarding seniority through \"backloading\" (where a disproportionate amount of pension wealth accumulates in later career); third, by deterring turnover through the financial cost involved in leaving a pensions scheme early or moving to one that is less generous; and fourth, by various investing rules (Taylor, 2000).Small businesses provide a major source of employment opportunities in the UK (Storey, 1994); firms with less than 50 employees provide 45 per cent of non-government employment (Seldon, 1990). The Better Regulation Task Force (1999) in its interim report on the small firms and regulation in July 1999 stated that owner-managers might actually decide to stay small if it means they can minimise the effects of regulation, which includes the requirement for the provision of stakeholder pensions (www.publicnet.co.uk/publicnet/99073001.htm). The feeling of over regulation is sensed so strongly within small businesses that the Small Business Federation has suggested the cumulative effect of regulation is \"making them think twice before creating that extra job\" (Becket, 1999). This may have adverse consequences in terms of adoption of stakeholder pension schemes by owner/managers of small businesses. Stanworth (2004) in a survey of a panel of small firms found that the adoption of stakeholder pension schemes was closely linked to the size of firm and increased from 19 per cent participation for the smallest firm (none to four full-time equivalent (FTE) employees) to 92 per cent for their larger counterparts (20-49 FTE employees).Although there are many pension scheme legal structures aimed at the small firm, such as the \"Small self-administrated pension schemes\" (SSAPS), they are designed to provide pension and other benefits for the directors of the small companies and not the employees. The scheme most often used for employees in small companies with fewer than 100 employees is the group personal pension. This is a collection of individual personal pension schemes organised by the same employer. There are about half-a-million such schemes in the UK (ABI, 2002). The individual personal pension schemes are completely portable, so employees can transfer them when they change jobs. They can also decide on an individual basis whether to use their schemes to contract into or out of the SSP. The main advantage from the employer's position is administrative convenience - they can decide which employees belong to the scheme, how much to contribute for different employees and the process automatically deducts employee contributions from payroll to make a single payment to the company providing the scheme. The only information that the employer needs to provide on individual employees to the scheme provider is their age, sex and salary; the proportion of salary contribution from employee and employer; and their expected retirement age. However, because they are fully portable, there are few economies of scale in administration costs and so commissions are similar to those for individual schemes.\nThe research study: Methodology and findings\nConclusion: The evidence reported in this paper has shed some light on what has hitherto been a largely hypothetical discussion of the attractions of and barriers to small companies setting up their own sponsored company pension schemes. Our findings, although far from definitive, suggest some clear patterns. For the majority of employers the decision to operate a scheme was largely based on impressions of advantages to the firm in terms of recruitment and retention of key staff and extension of the company's values by adopting the benchmarks within their industry. Conversely the disincentives to adopting a scheme were the restrictions posed on work structures by pensions and the absence of a paternalistic style of management in the companies in question.Our findings suggest that companies who are particularly involved in growth or are entering new markets regard pension schemes as the means to attract new staff and to gain their loyalty. Those that have a dependency relation with larger companies are likely to adopt a pension scheme as an attempt to offer similar working conditions as those offered by larger companies.We found no evidence to support companies being influenced by their trade unions. The introduction of the stakeholder pension has had two significant outcomes: first, it has raised the issue about which the management has to make a decision on, and second, it has allowed the management to pass the responsibility of pension income on to the employee by nominating a pension plan provider.The tax benefit of a pension scheme was recognised, but by itself was not a sufficiently strong driver for implementing a scheme. The implementation of a pension was seen as a method of matching the benefit packages offered by other companies in the industry to maintain staff retention. The two strong barriers to implementation were the need to keep the company pay structures as simple as possible, and the aspiration to keep costs low within the firm. Associated with the attempt for a low cost structure was the belief that it would allow the firm to be more flexible to meet the needs of its environment.Our findings suggest that the decision to adopt a pension although triggered by a number of factors cannot be divorced from the context of operation of the firm, the market environment, the stage of the company's life cycle, and the general economic conditions. The other important contextual issue that influences the decision is the management's future objectives for the firm and the management style of the owner or owners.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the motivating and hindering factors to setting up sponsored occupational pension schemes in small companies.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The study is conducted in two stages: the first stage is a qualitative study consisting of eight focus groups and the second stage is a quantitative investigation comprising a postal survey of 108 respondents. The themes that guided the focus groups were developed through a review of existing literature. Those that informed the survey design emerged from the focus group findings.\nFindings: - The findings suggest that the decision to adopt a pension although triggered by a number of factors cannot be divorced from the context of operation of the firm, the market environment, the stage of the company's life cycle, and the general economic conditions. The other important contextual issue that influences the decision is the management's future objectives for the firm and the management style of the owner or owners.\nResearch limitations/implications: - The limitations of this study are the over representation of certain industrial sectors in the sample from which the focus groups were formed, and the rate of response (38.6 per cent) to the survey.\nOriginality/value: - The paper provides useful information on the factors affecting the setting up sponsored occupational pension schemes in small companies.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Enhancing sustainability education through experiential learning of sustainability reporting	[ "Sustainability education", "Experiential learning", "Sustainability reporting", "Interactive case study", "Sustainable development" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nGlobal context: the challenge of teaching about sustainability in higher education: It is hard to ignore the many warnings that humanity's relationship with the natural environment is not sustainable in its current form (Kowalski, 2014; Orr, 2010) as reflected in alarmed calls to action from Tbilisi to Rio and on to Johannesburg (UNESCO, 2009). For many the answer has been to emphasize the role of education in helping to bring about change (Cortese, 2003; Moore, 2005; Orr, 2010), leading to the declaration that the years 2005 to 2014 were to be the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (Sammalisto and Lindhqvist, 2008). However, the response to these calls for action has been patchy at best (McMillin and Dyball, 2009).\nLocal context: challenges particular to sustainability education in Poland: Institutions of higher education in Poland are no exception to the general observations described above. To begin with, the European Union Social Fund Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in Poland to 2020 (Ernst and Young, 2010) makes no direct reference to education for sustainable development but speaks only in general terms of looking after the environment (Koscielniak, 2014).\nSustainable development and the practice of sustainable reporting: Ultimately, the concept of sustainable development presumes it is possible to decouple economic prosperity and human development from environmental harms; countries vary greatly in terms of their impacts relative to their comparative levels of development and wealth (Sulkowski and White, 2016). Progress in achieving stronger sustainability - that is, thriving while reducing harmful societal and environmental side effects - can be measured in various ways and addressed to all types of organizations, including farm businesses (Majewski, 2013, 2008), as well as universities. Reducing harmful side effects requires that a business entity deliberately manage a combination of fundamental aspects of its operations, and is predicated upon a simple but vital change of mindset (Sulkowski and Waddock, 2016).\nThe initiative: experiential learning applied to sustainability education: As set out in Figure 2, the current sustainable development problem is, at least in part, dependent upon the involvement - or lack thereof - of educational systems at all levels, including higher education. The Warsaw University of Life Sciences is no exception and our response, as faculty, has focused upon the curriculum and engagement with stakeholders - in particular commercial enterprises - as an opportunity to create initiatives and momentum for change.\nConclusions: The process of drafting the integrated report for the Polish National Sugar Company in line with a recent iteration of the GRI guidelines achieved several aims. Students, the company, the professors associated with the project and their higher education institutions all benefited. First, as detailed above, the students through experiential learning gained first-hand knowledge, skills and experience that are valuable in a variety of professional settings. Second, the company received a free report (Kowalczyk et al., 2013) that collected, in one standardized format, a single ledger of its societal and environmental impacts, ready for communication to stakeholders. The benefits for professors and their higher education institutions included fresh first-hand knowledge of the experience with the company, which can inform further instruction and research. To illustrate one of these insights that could inform future teaching and research: it seems Polish National Sugar Company was an example of a company that may have initially been motivated with building reputation and brand, but quickly began to enjoy the benefits of sustainability improvements. These included reduced operational risk, lower costs and greater revenues. This, arguably, has been a contributing factor to a more stable financial condition and higher valuation as a sustainable enterprise, by the capital markets, in the long run.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: While progress has been made in the realm of teaching about sustainability to business students, integrating sustainability into experiential learning with a systemic mindset has been identified by leading scholars as an area for improvement. The purpose of this paper is to describe a pilot project in which students prepared a sustainability report for a client company and to answer the question of whether the experiment yielded the anticipated benefits.\nDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents an initiative that was part of an MBA course delivered at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland by an international team of professors. The multinational group of students was confronted with the task of preparing an integrated sustainability report for a large corporation.\nFindings: The initiative creates opportunities for both students and commercial organizations to understand large business commercial activities from a sustainability perspective. This paper identifies the next steps for others to build upon.\nOriginality/value: The paper explains the experiential learning opportunity that was created, describes how students rose to meet the challenge, discusses the benefits that accrued to students, professors and a commercial organization and shares some guidance for those seeking to emulate this practice.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]
Transferring home price risk to investors from individual borrowers	[ "Investments", "Risk management", "Housing pricing", "Borrowing" ]	[ { "content": "Summarize the following paper into structured abstract.\n\nIntroduction: With the advent of the 30-year fully amortizing mortgage product in 1930s the USA restructured the mortgage product to reduce the risk of American families losing the equity in their homes (Taff, 2002). The recent housing crisis provides an opportunity to examine the mortgage product for further innovation. In this light, it is clear that single-family home price volatility is a big driver of rational default which has been to date modeled via the default put option. Under this model, once the value of a home falls sufficiently below the loan value the borrower can exercise their right to the put option by exchanging the collateral (house) in exchange for the mortgage. In this model exercising the put option \"corresponds to 'selling' the house to the lender for the mortgage balance, since the borrower essentially gains the difference between the mortgage balance and the value of the house\" (Elul, 2006). The default option takes as input \"the current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, the mortgage amortization schedule (i.e. the monthly schedule of how the mortgage balance is paid down), the volatility of house prices, and interest rates\" and lenders use \"option-pricing formulas to determine how high an interest rate they must charge in order to compensate them for the risk of default\" (Elul, 2006). \"Initial LTV, price volatility, price trend and vulnerability to trigger events\" are all important factors in the mortgage default modeling (Van Order, 2007).The current incarnation of mortgage products thus expose individual borrowers to home price risk. Traditionally, the 20-percent down payment constraint has served to reduce exposure of home prices to lenders or investors owning the mortgage. That said the down payment served the secondary purpose of dis-incentivizing borrowers from default for fear of loss of their equity. Stepping back, it is possible to maintain the positive psychological aspects of down payment, i.e. equity in home and remove the home price risk posed to borrowers by restructuring the mortgage product. Macroeconomic risks such as home price declines should be born rightly by mortgage investors and lenders who should manage the home price risk by hedging the risk via home price option markets as suggested by Shiller et al. (1995).The data on home price appreciation over the long-term shows that the path of home prices after 2000 zoomed to unsustainable levels (Shiller and Bltizer, 2007) (Figure 1).Brunnermeier and Julliard's (2006) analysis showed this housing frenzy may have resulted from the decline in mortgage rates thus triggering housing frenzy due to money illusion as borrowers \"wrongly attribute[d] a decrease in inflation to a decline in the real estate rate and consequently underestimate[d] the real cost of future mortgage payments\" causing \"upward pressure on housing prices when inflation declines\" (Brunnermeier and Julliard, 2006). This coupled with the fact that as lenders raced to offer lower prices to meet mortgage demand it resulted in \"underpricing of [the default] put option\" which resulted \"in inflated asset prices\" (Pavlov and Wachter, 2006).The extreme rise in home price volatility in this period ended with the bursting of the home price bubble, which resulted in a steep decline (Figure 2).From a portfolio risk management perspective the entire mortgage crisis can be viewed as a failure to hedge extreme home price volatility risk effectively. This viewpoint is more productive than simply focusing on the spurious theory that government emphasis on minority homeownership led to lax credit standards ushering in the bubble. Taking a systemic view one can see that the excessive home price volatility which was unhedged caused most of the losses faced by the largest mortgage portfolio holders.\nNature of home price risk and need for its transfer: Transferring home price risk to mortgage investors and portfolio managers is sensible as these entities are more capable of hedging the risk appropriately. An important characteristic of home price risk which makes it especially risky is the autocorrelation in home prices which has been long known (Shiller and Case, 1989). The fact that [...] noise in individual housing prices is so great relative to standard deviation of changes in citywide indexes that any forecastibility of individual house prices due to forecastibility of city wide indices will be swamped by noiseis another reason why home prices are best managed in aggregate baskets rather than by individuals (Shiller and Case, 1989).Performing a fractal analysis of home price index changes, a technique pioneered by Mandelbrot (2006) shows a strong tendency to long memory in home prices. Calculating the Hurst coefficient using historical data from Case-Shillers' ten largest metro city indexes shows that from October 1987 to April 2008, the Hurst coefficient is 0.62. A perfect random walk has a Hurst coefficient of 0.5 (Peters, 1994). Consistent with autocorrelation, it is clear that home prices have memory. The rolling 12-month Hurst coefficient is 0.67 and continues to be around this value over time (Figure 3).The strong evidence of memory in home prices should be of concern to risk managers as the tendency of home prices to feed on themselves makes home prices riskier as the bearer of the risk must allocate enough reserves to withstand multi-period losses. This risk not for the faint of heart or for unsophisticated individual families to bear.\nModified mortgage product to transfer home price risk to investors: To address the systemic risk caused by exposing individual borrowers to unhedged home price volatility the following alternative mortgage product is described below. The restructured mortgage product suggested here is one where borrowers pay interest and principal on adjustable home loan values and not on the origination loan amount. This means borrowers would pay interest and principal towards the LTV ratio in the origination contract multiplied by the current home value at different time periods. Thus, if home value drops then the amount the borrower would pay would change based on a function of LTV and current home value. For example, assume a borrower purchased a home at 80 percent LTV for a home worth $100,000. Then, if the value of the home fell to $600,000, the borrower would owe $48,000 (80 percentx$60,000). From an accounting point of view lenders can be allowed to write off the loss over time vs a lump sum loss as evidenced by a default. This change in the mortgage contract terms transfers the risk of home price volatility completely to lenders and mortgage investors.To make this product safe for consumers, it is important to limit the impact of home price volatility in the downward direction only. The point of a long-term mortgage contract is to lock in the cost of living for borrowers and as such the terms should not allow the borrowers to owe more money, than at origination, if the home value appreciates. That said, it is reasonable to let lenders and investors share in the upside of home price appreciation as they are taking on the downside risk.Giving lenders or mortgage investors a right to a fraction of home price appreciation, contingent on borrowers selling the house when they want to, in turn has the added benefit of reducing homeowner investment return which dampens the likelihood of speculative bubbles in home prices. The prospect of investors sharing a portion of home price appreciation would be similar to the same feature of shared appreciation mortgages (Caplin et al., 2007).\nCalculation of monthly payment for adjustable loan mortgage: Equation 1 H(t) = Current property value based on recent automated valuation model based on repeat sales/tax assessment quarterly or yearly data.M(t) = Value of mortgage obligation at time t=LTV(t)xH(t).Monthly payment =F(LTV(t), i)I = Interest rate/12 Equation 2 This monthly mortgage payment calculation is a modification of the traditional fully amortizing mortgage calculation (Fabozzi, 2001).With a traditional mortgage, using put option symbols consistent with Epperson, Kau, and Keenan, a borrower defaults or exercises the put option when M(t)>=H(t) (Epperson et al., 1985).Using the adjustable loan mortgage concept, introduced here the M(t) is always <=H(t) at all time t as M(t) = LTV(t)xH(t).To make the product more manageable, it is possible to set up thresholds such as +-5 percent property value decline, which must be exceeded before the loan is adjusted. Also, it well known that individual house volatility is three to four times that of index-based housing price volatility for city areas (Shiller and Case, 1989).Exposure to mortgage investors of the adjustable loan mortgage is the: Equation 3 Lenders can, over time, face a loss equivalent to the value of property value declines over the life of the mortgage.Expectation of appreciation (upside for mortgage investor): Equation 4 Gordon and Rosenblatt (1995) have shown closing costs impact the optimal exercise of the option as well. In Buist et al. (1998) seminal paper, they showed that factoring in a stochastic component for income/credit constraints along with correlations with housing price, and interest rates predicts actual borrower behavior much better than default based on the put option alone. Removing the default due to property value still leaves credit risk in the form of ability to pay problem due to inadequate reserves or employment shock. Risk managers must be aware that geographic income/employment trends are correlated with home prices, which make the home an even riskier asset for borrowers as it is an asset which can dissipate in value when it is needed the most, after loss of job (Caplin et al., 1997).The advent of a mortgage with adjustable loan balance derived from the LTV of the contract and quarterly home price adjustments insulates borrowers from risk and dampens the upside wealth generation, which reduces the likelihood and severity of home price bubbles systemically. Geographic areas with more constrained home price volatility due to stringent laws such as disallowing cash out refinances in the state of Texas have resulted in much milder home price bubbling. The proposed product here is not as stringent as making cash-out refinances illegal but instead allows risks to be transferred and managed at aggregate portfolio levels. Lenders and mortgage investors engaged in these products will be able to securitize their rights to equity appreciation and buy and sell the upside of home price appreciation made possible by such a product. The restructured mortgage product leaves borrowers with risk of ability to pay, which can be handled well by traditional sound underwriting guidelines. Future extensions of the adjustable loan amount mortgage proposed here might involve settings caps and frequencies of home price changes warranting revaluation or adjustment of the loan. It would also be worth studying whether allowing home price appreciation following home price declines allowed up to the value of the original loan amount. These terms would make the product more complicated but may result in easier management and implementation of the product.That said there is a strong need to develop a more robust pricing approach to forecasting default due to the put option as using a \"random walk model of home prices will lead[s] to mispricing of options\" (Kuo, 1995). Despite this every major study of home price put options leading to default use log normal home prices, which are normally distributed (ranging from Shiller to Kau to Buist). The only extension of the model to account for catastrophic risk came with the addition of a term for jump diffusion-based decline following a Poisson process (Kau and Keenan, 1996). In addition, to developing more accurate home price volatility risk tools, it is important to note that for hedging purposes correlations between home prices and other assets are dynamic and vary over time (Berg et al., 2003). Recent work at the Santa Fe Institute has shown that even normally distributed asset returns can result in fat tail loss distribution clustered volatility (Geanakoplos et al., 2009). The simple models examined in this study involve leveraged asset purchases with margin calls. A margin can be viewed as an inverse of the LTV as it is \"the ratio of the asset value to the cash needed to purchase it\" (Geanakoplos, 2009). Given that home prices have memory and are extremely leveraged, it is no surprise that these mortgages are riskier than the stocks and the risks are too difficult to be left to individual mortgage owners to bear. Disentangling home price volatility from individual borrowers to investment managers is a step in the right directions for systemic risk to be better managed by markets.\n", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Purpose: - The purpose of this paper is to outline a new approach to risk management that will create an innovative marketplace mechanism to deal with risk.\nDesign/methodology/approach: - The paper discusses current risk management practice and proposes a novel new approach to risk management with an example.\nFindings: - This paper proposes the creation of a restructured mortgage product to transfer the home price volatility risk explicitly to investors and portfolio managers.\nOriginality/value: - This paper proposes product innovation to transfer risk. The idea is original and is a conceptual viewpoint aimed at urging the industry to implement the concept. The recent credit crisis highlights the problem of unhedged home price volatility born by individual borrowers. As borrowers are not equipped to hedge this risk, it is important to restructure the mortgage to explicitly transfer the risk of home price volatility to investors and mortgage lenders.\n", "role": "assistant" } ]

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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